Dark Chocolate, Power Bark.

 This Dark Chocolate power bark have been a godsend over this Holiday season.

I work in a very high stress, retail job

 and during the holiday season I sometimes work 15 hour days.

I was trying to create a quick snack I could eat that would satisfy  my cravings for sweets and also give me energy, without spoiling my low carb, no sugar,  lifestyle change that I have been pursuing over the last 7 months. I have lost 20 pounds on this lifestyle change.

These power bars are packed full of nuts, chia seeds, papitas, dried fruits and organic dark chocolate.

All the things I love in one bite sized  piece. 

Believe me it is delicious and a life savor when I needed a pic me up,

 not to mention super easy to make.

The Black Cat Shirt, DIY

 Tulip Color Shot Fabric paint is like spray paint for fabric.

Quick an easy to use.  It has quickly become one of my very favorite products when I do any kind of painting on material (and I do a lot of T-shirt DIY's ) 

This shirt idea came after my family and I took a trip to Epcot this past week.

Pairs is my favorite place to wonder around. Sometime I just sit in the gardens and watch people.

I have never been to Pairs, hopefully that will be a place I see someday soon.

XXOO

Little,Yarn, Bottle Brush Trees: DIY

Who doesn't love tiny,  little things.?

  Ever since I can remember tiny little objects always make me smile and say 

"Oh look how cute this little tiny thing is!"

 My obsession with these little yarn, bottle brush trees is no different.

 I sit down after a very long day, turn on an old movie and begin to decompress 

by making these cute little trees. 

But before I mastered the tree making frenzy,

 I did a little research on the internet. 

This tutorial is a combination of a few ideas I have come up with 

to make these cute little trees a little easier  to construct, 

you wont even need hot glue.

I am thinking pink and red little trees for  Valentine's Day would be so cute.  

I hope everyone is enjoying their weeks before Christmas. 

 I am most definitely enjoying them because 

I have made a deal with myself to take the time to enjoy this Holiday Season.

How am I going do this working about 50 plus hours a week?

Well First off, I have taken time for a trip once a week over to  Walt Disney World to enjoy it all dressed up for the Holidays. "We have Passes".

Watching a Christmas movie every night

(even if it is after a 13 hour work day and only for the ten minutes that I can stay awake.)

To eat something Christmasy. 

Make something Christmascy.

Give something Christmacy.

Get dressed up and go out and enjoy a Christmacy dinner

 somewhere beautiful three(3)... more times before Christmas.

*"I have three more Christmascy Dresses I want to wear.:)"

and Listen to something Christmacy.

Every Day.

If you are in the retail world or have a crazy paced life, 

sometimes you get so wrapped up in the crazy 

that you forget to enjoy Christmas.

I made a vow to myself this year that I would not let this season pass  without me enjoying it.  

So here is one of my "Make something Christmacy" promises to myself.

I hope all of you enjoy too.

Dark Chocolate, Almond, Coconut Bites.

 Here is another yummy, healthy snack you can munch on during this Holiday season.

When I decided to go Sugar and Carb Free, normal chocolate was off limits because of how high in carbs and sugar it is. I have always been a fan of dark chocolate but the 60% kind not the 80% kind. Now I love the 80% kind.  If you have ever given up sugar you understand that your taste buds change and the things you use to think were just sweet enough become too sweet, almost to the point of being unable to enjoy. When your brain finally says "Hey! Thank you for getting off the  Sugar/crack!" you start to enjoy the little sweet things you can eat. Dark chocolate is one of the best things for you.  HERE are 7 reasons why you should eat it. With that being said, all things need to be done in moderation. One should not sit down an eat 10 bars of dark Chocolate

 all at once that might prove to be quite bad for your stomach. 

Dark Chocolate is something to eat when you really crave that snickers bar or that Reese's cup.

I hope you all enjoy as much as I do.

Parmesan Cheese Crisps : Seasoned

Over the last 6 months I have changed the way I eat completely. Which has resulted in me losing 18 pounds.  "I am down one more pound since my last update."  

I have always been a healthy eater but I consumed way more sugar and foods that are full of chemicals than my body could handle.  This Lifestyle change started as a support system for my husband who was doing a low carb diet that was suggested to him by his doctor. This particular diet was what he wanted Kevin to to help monitor his cholesterol. My goal in life now is to never be on any medicine, so I want to eat the best way I can and maintain a healthy body weight.  Deciding on the weight you would like to be  is a personal choice.  When choosing what weight you would like to achieve, talk with your Doctor.  Also, If you are loosing more than 20 pounds please do not try to loose it in 2 weeks or even two months. Starving yourself  is just not at all healthy and the weight will come right back when you inevitably have to start eating again.

 I am talking about a change in how you think about food, detoxing off of sugar and chemicals and making your body function the way it should.When you go this route please don't do any fat free or sugar free foods.  Foods like this  are all modified and full of terrible chemicals that your body can not process. I also want to highly suggest if you are drinking any diet drinks or anything with aspartame in it please stop. It is just pure poison. 

Your body cannot process the chemical and it stays in your

 nervous system messing up everything.

But that is a whole other story. 

Let's talk about this crunchy, yummy snack that is low carb and delicious.

I crave crunchy salty things sometimes and Chips are out of the question for me, so I have a great alternative and it is these Parmesan cheese crisps. 

These crisps are super easy and can be made in big batches and eaten later. 

I have to stress that using the best ingredients is the key,

 the better the ingredients the better your food will taste.

 It might be a $1.00 or two more but  you are worth it.

 I never understood while people pay top dollar for makeup but eat the cheapest food to save money. This is the beginning of you looking and feeling better spend the extra money on your health.

Reindeer Glitter Sweatshirt.

 There is nothing cuter than a Reindeer with a Red nose. 

Here is my take on a super easy sweatshirt you can make for the Holidays.

Holiday Mixup Glitter Tee

 Do you ever want to mash mix up your holidays when crafting? Well I do and I have a friend who suggested  we mix up Halloween and Christmas and make a sweatshirt out of it.

Here is what we came up with.

Low Carb, Lifestlye Change, Update

I was looking for a picture of me before I started my low carb lifestyle change
that I could compare side by side.

When I finally came across the perfect picture I was a little taken back.

 In the picture on the left was about a year ago and  I weighed 150lbs.

In the picture on the right, my weight this morning was 133lbs,  that is 17 lbs "WOW.!"

Starting this journey 6 months ago was not really something I had planned to do,  sure I wanted to lose 20 -25 lbs but I wanted it to be gone in 2-3 weeks tops!.  You know, Instantly and without much effort.

What happened was short of a revelation on my part. Like I blogged about before,  starting this diet was not my choice, and not by any means  easy at all.   When I hear "Low carb." that means giving up sugar and bread and pasta all the things I love. My brain could not even comprehend that nonsense. Originally when this all started I was just trying to be a good Wife and Friend, by supporting my husband and eating exactly as he did to help him not be tempted.
 Little did I know this would change me and my feelings about food forever.

Fast forward to present time and I have never felt better. I still need to eat more greens and a bigger variety of vegetables.  I still need to exercise more and I still need cut back on my coffee intake and  drink more water, but hey like I  said "Baby steps." I was so addicted to sugar  and I felt like  ate better than most of the people I knew. We as a society eat so much hidden sugar and it is so bad for you. The only  sugar I get presently is in fresh fruit and an occasional piece of really dark chocolate 85% which tastes sweet because  I have not had sugar in so long. My mind feels clear, I have less mood swings, I have more energy and I am still enjoying life just as much.

I am almost to my goal, I have a few pounds left to loose( I loose about 2 pounds a month,) but I can promise you that I will get there and most importantly stay there. I have lots of tips and tricks on how to achieve a low carb lifestyle without feeling deprived.
 I am currently working on a few post about that.
Hopefully that will be coming very soon.
Have a beautiful day,
and a wonderful Thanksgiving with your Family and Friends.

Lots of Love,
Anne

Tulle Skirt

I have been wanting a Tulle skirt for a long time, 

so finally  decided  that I needed to make myself one.

Did you know that Tulip makes crystals that you can add to almost anything.

Check out how I added them to this tulle skirt.

*This was a Tutorial I did about a year ago for I Love to Create

I wanted to put the instructions up on my blog so here they are.

A Tulle Skirt would be a great party skirt to wear this Holiday season,

and when you add sparkle it is even better.

Jean panels

I have seen so many leggings and jeggings with different panels added to them. I thought that using  Tulip's holographic, iron on transfer sheets would be a great way to add a little spark to an old pair of jeggings or jeans.

 I really love the way they turned out.

There are a few tricks, so lets get to the DIY.

Inspiration

 Via

Cut Out Sweatshirt DIY.

 I love it when you can change something so simple into something fun 

and different with just a pair of scissors.

This sweatshirt has been a thought in my brain for a while now. I finally decided to sit down and make it a reality. Scissors seem to be my best friend when it comes to DIY's.

This super easy Sweatshirt can be yours on about 15 minutes.

Video
HERE

Leopard, Heart Flats: DIY.

I saw these beautiful Christian Louboutin heart flats( picture below) and thought 

I would love a pair of these but the $695.00 price tag was just a little steep for me.

Why not create something similar for way less.?

Even though the white and red look stunning, leopard and black is more my style.

You could do any color combination I think a red heart on the leopard shoe would have been pretty.

 These shoes took about one hour to make and they wore perfectly. 

I hope you guys enjoy this super easy DIY, 

and I do mean easy.

Lace Cuff Jeans, Revisited

If your jeans are too long  cut them and add a touch of lace in minutes.

 Tutorial

Things you need.

1.  Jeans
2. Lace about 2 to 3 inches wide and about 30 inches long.
3. Scissors
4. Sewing machine or you can hand sew this.

 #1 cut the jeans to the length you want
#2 measure and cut your lace.
#3 Pin the lace to the inside of your jeans sew about an a half of an inch from the bottom of the jeans.

You can stop here and this is what they look like..peeking out from under your jeans.. OR......

 You can cuff the jeans,

Sew around the top of the lace to anchor it and have a lace cuff.

Roll them up 

or down

 I also added a little lace to one of the pockets. (Optional)

I hand stitched this.

Possibilities are endless.

Why not Dye the lace a color,  then sew  it on.

Have a Super Day!

Lots of <3,

Anne

No Sew, Ombre Halter.

I know we are full into Fall but I wanted to share this Easy No sew Shirt I did.
 I love creating different no sew designs in tee shirts.

Here is an easy no sew halter design I did 

that you can tie up in multiple ways

to create diverse looks.

Ombre is optional, but it is really fun and very easy to create
thanks to Tulip Tie Dye.

Fun In Georgia

Secret Message Bracelet

 Want to send a secret message to the one you love, family or friend?

 Here is a great way to sneak a message into a bracelet. 

When they wear the bracelet, it will always remind them of you.

Sugar Skull T-Shirt DIY.

 Crafty Chica, Kathy Cano-Murillo has a new line of Day of the Dead crafting amazingness! 

If you have not seen it you have to go and check it out HERE.

When I saw this iron on Skull applique I had to make a Shirt. Not only does Kathy designs her own craft line, she runs a Blog a Youtube channel and is a full time Mother and Wife. She is an inspiration to everyone around her.  FYI, it's available at select Michaels stores and will also be able to order online through iLoveToCreate.com and Amazon.com.

Glitter plaid

 I really loved the look of causal plaid with Gold Glitter,

I saw this sequin plaid shirt on Pinterest and I could not wait to recreate my own version.

 Below is my inspiration.

  VIA

Now let me show you how easy it is to re-create using Tulip Glitter and Glue

Rhinestone Choker

 I love simple elegance, not too fussy but makes a statement. 

I have been looking  for a choker like this forever
but could never find anything close to what I had pictured in my mind.
 I finally had to make what was in my head,
and Aleene's  jewelry and metal glue made it super easy to create.

Bananas with Dark Chocolate, Coconut/ Peanut Butter Spread and Toasted Coconut.

 Watching what you eat is probably one of the hardest things to do, especially if you are and on the go and never home.  I am the biggest sweet eater. I always love to have something sweet after I eat a meal.  Giving up sugar was one of the hardest things to do but I knew I had to cut sugar from my diet because it is just plain not healthy.  I needed to make better choices and really after the first few weeks it gets a lot easier.  It seems like your mind gets clearer and you are calmer, not so emotional.  Well that's how it effected me anyway.  Fruit has been my saving grace. I now grab a piece of fruit when I want something sweet and I have to say it works.

There are some days that fruit alone just does not do it.   This little concoction I made up has helped me on those rough days. It is just the right amount of sweet to satisfy me and believe me when you really are needing that little extra decadence this will work.

To date I have lost about 11 pounds and that is something pretty remarkable for me.  I have been trying to get past a certain weight for about 2-3 years and nothing has worked. This little diet I am doing has been the first time I have seen any true weight loss happen and I could not be anymore thrilled. I  have just a few more pounds until I am at my goal weight,  but like I have said before, this is a marathon not s sprint so maybe by Christmas I will have reached my goal.

I really wanted this to be a lifestyle change.

This Peanut Butter, Chocolate Banana with toasted Coconut is delicious

 and satisfying. Eat it as a snack or as an after dinner treat. 

I try and use  Organic Dark chocolate, bananas and coconut when available.

It will definitely help when you feel like grabbing that pint of ice cream.

The Black Cat T-Shirt: DIY

 My Latest DIY for I Love To Create

Tutorial for the little Black Cat Shirt

HERE

Have a Beautiful Day

Love to you All.

Anne

Gold and Black, Sequin Shirt DIY

 I just love sequins. The sparkle and shimmer. 

 They are so mesmerizing to look at.

 Clumping them together gives an even  more mesmerizing effect.

I made this top with an Black Hanes T-shirt, some of Tulips sequins in Gold and Black 

 and  tulip fashion glitter bond, or Aleene's  Quick Dry Fabric Fusion.

The sequins have made this inexpensive tee look like something you bought for much, much more.
 

Oh yeah, did I mention it is completely no sew.

Color Block No Sew, Fringe Shirt DIY

 This Shirt was made because of my Tee shirt scrap pile and the many

 Fringe shirts that I searched for on Pinterest.

Many of the fringe shirts I came across where  just cut out of one shirt which leaves your colors limited. I thought it would be nice to color block a fringe shirt using two different shirts. Super exciting  if you have a favorite Football team. Like Garnet and Gold or Orange and Blue.   These are Carolina Tar Heel colors which is pretty appropriate since my Family roots are from there.
 Another great thing about this shirt is it is completely no sew. My personal favorite.
 I found this half used white shirt from another project that  I had done and this poor blue shirt that was faded in the front, a match made in heaven. A great way to recycle.

Today I hope to finish this post and go outside to enjoy the beautiful Sunshine and Air.

there is just something different about the way the Sun hits the earth this time of year. I think even if I didn't have a calendar I would know that it is September. 

It just feels different, you know what I mean?

I had a fabulous day with my Mom and Grandmother Polly on Saturday.  My Mom and I meandered through Marshals and I found an awesome Teal Kate Spade crossover bag for Fall.

 My Grandmother gave us a list for the Grocery Store so we headed there to pick up her groceries.   After that we  picked Polly up and took her to have Coffee at Dunkin Doughnut
 (Our favorite meeting place.).

We took a selfie. Did I mention that she is 99 and will be 100 on October 13. Big Party is planned.
Then Grandmother mentioned how she wished she had some Liver and Onions so we went and picked her up some for her dinner (eww), then me and my parents went to dinner.

more Selfies with the Parents.
 All and All it was a wonderful day spent with the people I love.
I am really so very Lucky to have all of these wonderful people in my life.
Thank you  parents for being so awesome.

Ok let's go make stuff.