CreativeJeaux

Confessions of a Craft-a-holic.

2013-01-20T23:56:00.002-08:00

Well, HELLO.... long lost craft blog. Not lost, really, nor forgotten. Just pushed waaaaay to the side for waaaay too long.

After a surprise pass into Winter CHA this past week, I really started to feel bad about my half-ass blog intentions. So here we go again.

Confession: The MCR (Master Craft room) is a fuckin' mess. Yes, strong language, because THAT's how messed up it is. And the really bad thing is, because of its condition, I am reluctant to craft anything. And because I am reluctant to craft anything, I'm feeling all blah. This is a bad, bad cycle.

So, tonight, I am trying to be motivated enough to stay up late to tidy things up.
Of course, in my usual stupidity, I've decided to take everything OUT before putting anything away, reorganizing and moving stuff around etc. Sigh. It looks even more horrendous than when I started, but the cupboards are more organized- I promise!

So, confession #1- I am apparently a patterned paper hoarder. As in, Jeezus Christ- did I really need to buy like every single paper pack DCWV ever made? Surely my Mastercard doesn't seem to think so. And neither do my Craigslist-found cupboards that seem to be bowing because of the weight of it all.

I need to be on paper probation. Seriously. No more buying paper- ever! OK, so that's not realistic. So how about, unless I've checked/used some of the stash I already have. I know we all say it- but this is serious. I look at all of the paper stacks and feel bad. Such a waste for it to all be sitting in the cupboard when it should be made into pretty things to make people happy. So that's it. Need to make stuff with all that paper I already own.

The only way how? Calendar in some scrapbook/craft time. And no wavering, feeling sleepy, or any other excuses. Just do it.

C'mon Staples. OPEN.

2011-10-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

All ready to print off some super cute B-Day tags for little Austin's Bday party favors, and of course, the color printer runs out of Cyan. Grrr. Since my creative juices are the most free-flowing in the early morning hours, I've been working on this project for a few hours already. I'm anxious to get the text to print so I can start cutting and assembling the tags!

Anywho, it's now day 6 of the cleanse and the home scale says I have been the exact same weight for the past 3 days. Uh.. ok. Down a couple of lbs from day 1- but even while I was doing WW the point would be to see the lbs drop by one or 2 each week. Well, Wednesdays are my official weigh-in- so I have a few more days to go. We will just have to wait and see. Of course, I am not doing the cleanse to lose weight, afterall. Nope. I'm going it to give my insides a break, and to learn healthier eating habits in general. Yes, I am still craving a cheeseburger- but the craving is not as bad as it was days 3 and 4. But then again, it's only 7:30 am. (Not like I've never eaten a cheeseburger for breakfast- I've done it many times!)

So, the morning's agenda:
Make my breakfast shake. Shower. Go to Staples and Wal-Mart. I need ink, cardstock, and workout clothes. (Tomorrow is the 10K AIDS Walk LA!!) Take cat to get a bath and her nails did. I did mine yesterday :) Then, craft craft craft!

Alkaline Broth

2011-10-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

So, as part of the 28 Days to Health Program, I am to have 1 serving of this "alkaline broth" daily. There are also supplements you can purchase, but I opted to make my own, with their provided recipe as a guide.

For my first batch- this is what I did:
Purchase all organic everything! The point of all of this is to detox, and to do that, you should try to eat as clean as possible. Therefore, the less pesticides, hormones, additives, etc., the better.
I went to my local Sprouts (which I have always loved!) and shopped in different areas than I ever had before. Here's what I got:
Organic russet potatoes
Organic yellow onion
Organic celery
Organic baby spinach
Whole flax (I had never bought anything out of those bins before!)

To make the broth, use a 1:3 ratio of the potato, onion+celery, and spinach.
Just scrub everything really good and rough-cut it- do not peel. Then dump it all into a saucepan with filtered water that just covers the veggies. Bring to a boil. Transfer to a crock pot unless you like a high gas bill, and simmer on low for 4-6 hours. I did mine for 6. Then, strain the broth- and make sure you are straining INTO a pot of some sort. I almost threw mine down the sink!

Drink warm for brothy goodness, and try not to nuke. You can refrigerate/ freeze any extra. I figured that I will just use this broth as a substitute for anything that calls for chicken stock- like for cooking the quinoa.

Tonight I reheated a mug-full on the stove and am currently eating it with a chinese soup spoon. Not a bad way into tricking myself that I am actually eating soup!

28 Days to Health- Days 1 and 2

2011-10-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I embarked on a program called "28 Days to Health". It is offered by my chiropractor, and I learned about it just as I happened to be looking to do a serious detox and cleanse. It is a colon, kidney, and liver cleanse, supplemented by lessons on eating "clean" and development of a new way to think about food and your consumption of it.

On the program, you eat one clean meal a day, minus any traces of gluten, caffeine, sugar, soy and dairy. For the other two meals, you eat their special protein/fiber shakes packed with what your body "needs" to survive.

I thought I'd post some updates on my progress- as a way to get back into blogging. I am doing it here because my idea is to include some "clean" recipes- which are surprisingly hard to come by on the internets.

Last night's dinner:
Chicken with Quinoa

Ingredients:
1 cup rinsed quinoa
2 cups alkaline broth (recipe to follow)
2-4 tbs EVOO
2 organic garlic cloves, minced
1 small organic yellow onion, diced or cut into strips
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (free-range, grain fed, etc. etc.) cut into chunks
1 organic zucchini, diced
1 small organic tomato, diced
1 tbs lime juice
Pink Himalayan salt, fresh ground pepper

1. Bring the quinoa and broth to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover the pan. Simmer until the broth is absorbed, the quinoa is fluffy, and you can see the white line in the grain (about 10 mins).

2. Heat 2 tbs of EVOO in a skillet, and add the garlic and onion. Cook until they are translucent. Once that is ready, throw in the chicken. Cook the chicken until it is still slightly pink in the middle, then remove the chicken and set aside for now. Add some salt and pepper to it while it is cooking, if you'd like. Add a bit more oil and add the zucchini and tomatoes. Cook until the zucchini is tender (5-8 mins). I covered mine while doing this- and stirred occasionally- it seemed to work all right. Return the chicken to the skillet and sprinkle with the lime juice. Continue cooking until the chicken fully cooked and hot, about 10 more minutes. Again, I covered it while doing this.

Serve the chicken and veggies over hot quinoa! Mine came out really moist. You can add raisins to the quinoa if you'd like to make it a bit fancier.

I saved half for lunch today- so I guess it was about 2 servings.

*Disclaimer: I am by far, no chef- lol! I do all right with recipes, but my palate tends to enjoy greasy, sugary, well... YUMMY comfort food most times. Which is why eating clean is a challenge for me. So I figured, hey- might as well try something out of my comfort zone and try to get a bit healthier too.

Long Lost Friend

2010-07-10T15:23:00.000-07:00

A day in photo class...

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

Here it is.. 2010! What a fun year I know this is going to be. Sunrise was beautiful this morning- I snapped a couple of pictures outside my front door towards the east with the palm trees lit up by all of the beautiful oranges and pinks. First resolution- learn how to get that darn camera out of auto mode! LOL. I've been sayin'.. but time is right. Or is it 'ripe'? Anyhow. I'm going to spend this weekend getting my house/self/life organized some (a lot). That's the good thing about New Years- fresh starts!

It's That Time of Year...

2009-12-29T02:19:00.000-08:00

Again! Where we are all thinking about our New Year's Resolutions... and of course, my blog is at the top of my list! I feel good about it this time, though, thanks to the help, support, guidance, and motivation of my awesome friend, Sylvia Diaz. She has motivated me along all holiday season to be the crafting maniac I truly am! Crystal earring sales ended up being pretty good this year- especially considering it was the first time I made crystal earrings, or any earrings for that matter, lol. What didn't go so well was the posting-to-etsy-before-Christmas task- but oh well- my bad, not hers. Good thing Christmas comes every year!

Sylvia has helped me cute-tify everything I need for CreativeJeaux- and our goal is by the end of January this blog will match as well. Her awesome graphic design skills were key in making my logo ideas come to life- THANK YOU SYLVIA!!

So, time to think about putting those resolutions in writing. Studies show you've gotta write down and share anything you want to be serious about (goal-wise).. so time to start planning!

Quick Post

2008-11-23T07:22:00.000-08:00

Running off to pack my tote, but wanted to link up to Laura's blog candy! Thanks for looking!

A New Year, New Blog!

2008-01-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Thanks for stopping by to my new blog. Hopefully, someday I will look back at this post in amazement and say, "Wow! That was before I had any subscribers!" lol.

Well, about what I am up to...
I have been scrapbooking and crafting for years and years. If I had to categorize myself these days, I would call myself a "PaperCrafter". I have always loved paper and paper products. Growing up I always told my father that someday, my goal was to own a Staples office supply store. Yes, I have been weird for a long time :) Although an office supply store would be great, my new dream is to someday own a scrapbook-type store. I am always a sucker for organized color-schemed displays and eye-candy of the sorts. I am always drawn to packs of paper that have a rainbow display-style to them... and someday I hope I can make (and keep!) my craft room in a similar eye-pleasing type of way.

But for now, I am living in a cramped condo in a highrise dowtown. My supplies are shoved into plastic totes and it is definately not the ideal situation! And worse, I have sooo much stuff from my many years of crafting that the bulk of it is in storage (AKA: old room at mom's!) which is about 2 hours away. :(

I am really hoping to "get back into" crafting this year, after a hiatus which was too long for my taste! I am also trying to get organized (I guess I'll probably be trying to do that for the rest of my life!), and organize my product and pix to make the little time I do have the most efficient (instead of digging digging digging for that whatever it is!)

I got a new desktop computer for myself which I intend to put the appropriate time into making it the most organized machine ever! Along with that, I am hoping to install photoshop and a photo software program for my new Nikon that should help make the images more deliver-able to all of you!

One big goal (resolution?!) of mine for this year is to keep up with my crafting and this new blog.

Wish me luck!

Day One!

2007-11-30T09:49:00.000-08:00

First day of the CreativeJeaux Blog! I'm so excited to finally have a place to share some of my creations! Welcome everyone who stops by! This site will focus on all things crafty and creative, with maybe even a splash of artfulness and flair! My interests are card-making, scrapbooking, rubber-stamping, jewelry-making, and photography. Stay tuned....