Thursday, October 29, 2009

Fancy Christmas Cards

Okay! Here are the pictures I promised yesterday. I ran into some difficulties (namely, my camera was dead so I charged it and when I went back to use it the darn thing had dissapeared), but here they are as promised.

I am quite pleased with the mini-scrapbook, and believe me, I meditated on that one for a long time. I wanted to get the colours just right, and I had a tough time choosing from all my new Christmas stamp sets... But I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

When I made this one I thought I may have gotten a bit carried away, but people seem to really like it. Wonderbar.
The Ornament ones are my favourite. They are super busy, but unapologetically so. They were super fun and easy to make! I used two different ornament stamp sets AND the new ornament punch. Beautious.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Scrapbooking

I am planning some serious scrapbooking for tonight! Not only am I prepping for an upcoming workshop (November 14, mark your calendars!) but I have developed a new rule for Christmas gift giving this year.

The Rule

Gifts must be handmade or recycled.

There are some loop holes to this rule, which I should mention, I have committed my family to as well!

The loop holes are as follows:
- Handmade gifts don't have to be made by you. You can support local artisans by shopping at craft shows, pottery shows, and online.

- Recycled does not mean your old junk (but it could). Antique stores are a great place to find unique gifts for someone special, and you never know what treasures you might find at Value Village or the Goodwill.

- AND you can do double the good deed by using recycled items to make something handmade.

I am trying to make most of my gifts myself, though I do plan to do some antiquing as well. Here's a challenge though: what do I make/seek for the gentlemen on my list? I am finding the ladies way easier to create for. Ideas?

For those of you who think it's way too early to be talking about Christmas, bear in mind you have to think about it way in advance when you're making your gifts!

I'll post pictures tomorrow!

Monday, October 26, 2009

H1N1 Advice

This may not be the most pleasant inaugural post for a new blog, but I have some information I am wanting to share and thought, 'why not?'.

Here is some interesting H1N1 advice passed to my Mom by a friend who works in health care. It seems like good, sound advice, and may include some things you haven't thought of.

In addition, but off-topic, I felt I needed to post this because when I went to forward it I realized I no longer have email contacts for many of my closest friends. Most of the addresses in my contact list are for business - all of my social e-comms take place on other formats. How do you keep in touch with friends?

K

Good Advice for Preventing H1N1

1. Frequent hand washing

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach

3. Gargle twice daily with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). H1N1 takes 2 - 3 days after initial infection in the throat/nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple. inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3, clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. Not everyone may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but blowing the nose hard at least once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral populations.

5. Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure it also has Zinc to boost absorption.

6. Drink as many warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. It washes proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive or do harm.

* This advice comes from Dr. Vinay Goyal, MBBS, DRM, DNB (Intensivist & Thyroid Specialist) . He is presently heading the Nuclear Medicine Dept and Thyroid Clinic at Riddhivinayak Cardiac and Critical Centre, Malad (W).*