14 loves {February 2014}

Welcome to a new series for 2014 based on the original concept by my beloved friend, Pam, back in January 2013. I enjoyed sharing my loves so much through last year that I decided I needed to continue through 2014. I hope you will come back each month to see if there is anything in my list to inspire you.

one

No February these days would be complete without our favourite LOAD of the year. This month is no exception with many of my scrappy friends joining in - two for the first time *waves* and one very special one coming back to us in a creative way after being busy with life the last 6 months or so :-) *waves to Pam* 

two

I think that one month, I will fill my 14 loves with inspirational or moving quotes (all Pinterest of course!) but for now, this one spoke to me. I've had several of these moments in my life. It's so true.

Pinterest source here

three

Of course, I've been shopping at Scrapabilly - a lot - recently! Full of gorgeous products that I simply have to have. But the winner in recent weeks is the Crate Paper gold foil doily. *sigh* I love it. Bought several sheets in fact. I cut up the first one earlier this week.

See the full sheet in the shop here

four

Chinese New Year fell on a crop night this year so we did our bit by breaking open a bottle of sekt and treating ourselves to some fortune cookies. These girls know how to have a good time :-)

five

Talking of Chinese New Year, dear R was in Singapore over the holiday and was under strict instruction to get me some scrapable photos of the event. I literally shrieked with delight when I opened up this image! Wow. The fact that he has taken photos and picked up memorabilia on this trip for an album makes me love him a little bit more - if that's possible!

six

I was reading a lot about green smoothies on-line, and never one to pass up a trend, thought I'd check them out. The first day wasn't so successful but since then I've found the best combination for me. I make a large one, enough for two large glasses and drink them during the day, saving real "food" for the evenings. Delicious and healthy - 5 portions of fruit and veg in a glass:

Large handful of curly kale

Two large tablespoons 0.1% fat yoghurt

Orange juice (or freshly squeezed oranges)

Juice of one lemon

One apple

Quarter pineapple (I prepare mine ahead and pop the ready chopped quarters in the freezer)

Ice cubes if available

Recently I've also been adding a peeled kiwi

Blend well - c. a minute

I'm sure my body doesn't understand why I'm suddenly feeding it so much healthy stuff, but I love it and it's tasty (honestly - so delicious!) so that's all that matters.

seven

These days with Instagram and Facebook, no one seems to take real photos any more - at least everyone else, I still do! And because it's all so instant, it seems as if no one remembers to send me the photos as in the past so I "steal" a lot like this one here from Amber or Libby's feeds!

This one make me feel warm and fuzzy. This is delightful Phoebe and the Steif Rabbit that we bought her for Christmas - seems she likes it! What a gorgeous photo. This will be hitting a scrapbook page soon.

eight

I saw these on Pinterest (originally on Etsy) and just knew I had to save the idea for a future present. Being big EJ fans round here, and given the fact that we have tried singing this song twice at karaoke events - OH SO BADLY - I know this will be the perfect present!

Etsy source here

nine

As shocking as it seems, to me as much as everyone else, I have been taking baby steps in the exercise department. Determined to do something, we got a treadmill and I've been making the time to do the standard 2.2km walk/jog as often as I can. I managed four days last week, fast walking and  then slow jogging for 2x 3.5 minutes. Then this week, I've managed four times already with fast walking and then a bit faster jogging for a full 10 minutes. This is HUGE for me and I'm pretty proud of myself. Can't say I'm loving it but I certainly feel very virtuous and I know it's good for me. 

ten

A Christmas present. Much wished for and already much loved. I just need to organise things so that I can have it out and accessible so that I will use it more often. 

eleven

Talking of Silhouette, I took a Lori Whitlock class to learn the basics, picking up some great tips and creating this cute mini book. Kind of blows my mind with the possibilities of the machine but it's going to be fun learning. The mini book is gorgeous and I have a plan for it already.

twelve

Modern technology has been my best friend over the last few years with us being apart so often. Thank heavens for Skype! 

thirteen

I love my Scrap Happy family, even if I'm rather absent a lot of the time. But it's great to check in and see all those lovely familiar faces and hear what's been going on. Swaps of one sort or another are organised on a regular basis so I jumped on board with the Valentine tag swap. Of course I was late, always am. But they finally hit the post this week and I'm excited to see the cute tags that hit my door too. Of course, I'm not going to give away what's under those doilies! Let's just say they sparkle!

fourteen

I pin a lot of layouts on my/our Pinterest boards LisaInRe Whimsical Musings . I pin them because I love them and might want to be inspired by them later. But this one? This one grabbed me and made me sit up and smile. I LOVE this layout. I'm determined to give it a try. Check out the link below to see more of this stunner..

Adrienne Alvis for Chic Tags (source here)

I’d love you to share your own {14 loves} lists with me. Why not link up in the comments below?

{14 loves} is a series that will feature on my blog oneach 14th of the month