Sufficient Grace

Happy Monday, blog friends!  I hope that you are having a great start to your week. Lately I've had renewal on my mind a lot.  Which is a little odd, because that is normally more of a spring thing.  But with the change of the season, as nature around us begins its journey to hibernation....I realize that I'm kind-of on the same path.  Another long, cold winter is ahead of me, and I will be the first to admit it is not my favorite season.  But I really need it to not get the best of me.  So each day this week I am going to share how I am renewing the different areas of my life.

Today I am going to talk a little about the health side.  Here are some things that I am doing to get myself healthier & feel better about myself.

• I'm trying to drink my weight in ounces of water per day....it doesn't always happen, but I'm at least striving for it.  :)  And, once I lose about 10-15 pounds...it will be so much easier.  Lol!  
•  I started doing Oula (it's a dance fitness that I LOVE) online again, and my plan is to do it every Monday-Friday, then take off the weekends to rest & relax with my hubby.  But, I'm not going to beat myself up if some weeks I only get in 3-4 workouts...that is where I fail.  I have to remain positive with myself, & not get down if I miss a mark or slip up.  
• We have made a resolution to start cooking & eating more at home again.  This summer was full of eating out, quick meals, etc...& I kind-of hate that.  Josh is an excellent cook, and I'm not too bad myself.  We mostly eat really fresh & unprocessed food when we cook for ourselves, and that is what we are getting back to.  
• This time of year is when I like to start baking again, & I'm okay with that.  I am going to look for healthier recipes for some of my faves, but when I really want pumpkin cake with honey cream cheese frosting....I'm making it!  I'm just going to make sure there are plenty of people to share it with so I don't eat the whole thing myself.

Thanks for hanging with me as I post some personal stuff!  If you have any thoughts on my health renewal or you want to be a renewal buddy with me...feel free to share them with me in the comments!  Now...I'm assuming you might like to see a card?  Well, I've got a really feminine  & pretty one to share with you today!!

I made this for my cousin who just lost her dad this past weekend.  We have been really close our whole lives, so I wanted to send her something that is really personal & beautiful...something that would at least try to portray how much I am feeling for her right now.  I hope that it does that...I hope that it shows a little bit of my heart.  When we were kids, she lived in Montana & I lived in Arizona.  We wrote letters to each other quite often, and in those letters we talked about any & everything.  So, I think I'll include a letter with this card as well.  It just seems fitting.

I pulled out the "Pretty Things" collection from the My Mind's Eye Record It! release earlier this year...the weathered woodgrain & flowers were exactly what I wanted for this card.  I've paired them with some older Prima Marketing flowers & wood button.  I've combined stamps from Verve & Papertrey Ink for the sentiment...most everything will be linked below.

I used the Viva la Verve October week 1 sketch to start my design, and just switched a couple elements at the bottom to flow better with the flowers.  This month's challenge at House of Cards is to use punches &/or dies, and I've used three different butterfly dies & a banner die on this card.  They are all about defining the style of your card...and I feel like this card fits the classic & elegant style, although some might say it is shabby.  What do you think?  I also wanted to link it up at Word Art Wednesday #153, which are always "anything goes".  Since my card uses a Bible verse on it, I really wanted to share it over there.

InLinkz.com

I know that this supply list isn't totally complete.  All of the flowers & the wooden button are from Prima Marketing, but they are all at least over a year old.  I don't keep any of them in their packaging, so I don't know the names, etc.  If you want to replicate my card, there are lots of beautiful flowers & buttons out there that you can substitute for what I've used. :)

That is all that I have for you this evening.  I hope you have a great night!!  Thanks for letting me share my heart a little bit.

Until later,
~L.