Monday 18 November 2013

Frosty the Snowman

I've had another busy weekend with no crafting, but lots of DIY, shopping and cooking, and sharing time with family.  On Saturday DH drove us to the Farmer's Market at Bodmin Herbery where we picked up lots of lovely goodies, chatted to the stall holders and made plans for ordering the festive food.  We then went for a walk with the dogs along the Camel Trail and after a general shop at Tescos came home to find the new laminate flooring going down .. .. albeit with a few curses when things didn't quite go according to Jason's plans!  His girlfriend is on a gluten free diet, and mostly dairy free too, and as this way of eating is something I'd been thinking about trying for some time I decided to see how it would go over the weekend.  I've added a short blow by blow account at the bottom of this post if you are interested .. .. ..

I made this card on Friday but have only just got around to uploading it to my blog, it's a Serendipity Stamps snowman stamp, coloured with Copics and then lots of Stardust Stickles added for sparkle .. .. gotta be done at Christmas!


The card is a scallop base with paper scraps from an old K&Co pad plus a piece of white paper I've embossed with a swirly folder.  All the layers have been given the Stickles sparkle treatment, and my organza ribbon is also shimmery with a pretty ruffled edge. The Marianne die cuts to create a snowflake are embellished with lots of little gems, and more added to the corners of the white layer - oh yes it sparkles!  So, perfect for the Christmas Card challenge this time which is for bling! and the Papertake Weekly challenge for snow and ice. Divas by Design would like to see something snowy too, while the Crafty Little Fairies are asking you to be inspired by song .. .. Frosty the Snowman of course!  And, look what I got .. ..


I might not have a card to share with you for a while as my stash is still put away, although I have managed to get the dining room table back into the lounge so if there's no pressing DIY chores for me to tackle I might be able to get around to making something to share with you, fingers crossed!

Here's my Gluten Free diary: now tweaked and transferred to a separate page so you can keep up with me if you are interested.
Day 1 on Saturday I certainly didn't feel like snacking so much and didn't get the mid afternoon foggy head, in fact I only had breakfast (banana, Greek FF yogurt, honey and my seed mix sprinkle), a mid afternoon slice of GF bread and spread, then our evening meal of GF pasta, locally smoked GF sausages and a tomato based sauce.  I did add a little of my favourite Cornish Gouda cheese with Italian herbs .. .. and perhaps that is what caused the tummy ache later!  I browsed the GF recipe book they had brought along with them and it did explain that dairy can be a temporary problem until your gut gets back to normal and you can digest it properly again.  The symptoms are bloating and wind - oh yes we know that feeling!

Day 2 Sunday - Jason's birthday (36 years old already!) so after all his hard work on the DIY front the least I could do was make him, and us, a proper breakfast - with the GF twist of course.  We had more lovely local sausages and bacon, eggs, tomatoes and hash browns (from the supermarket, just check the labels - the ones I got were from Morrisons and had a lovely onion addition).  That set me up for the day and although DH kept asking me if I wanted a snack/lunch/biscuit etc (bad man) I really didn't feel hungry.  My brain was certainly less foggy and I managed to clean and rearrange the conservatory now that the furniture got moved back into the lounge - I even cleaned the inside of all the windows!  And swept up lots of sawdust and plaster dust that seemed to get everywhere, then prepared the evening meal of venison steaks with roast potatoes and veg, followed by apple crumble I made with the GF flour. I did start to feel tired, so Jason took over cooking the steaks and dished up the meal, it was delicious, but a little naughty again with a dollop of pepper Boursin on top of the steaks!  The down side of two days without gluten or chocolate (I can have it I just didn't feel like it!) .. .. constipation .. .. so a milk thistle tablet before going to bed.

Day 3 Monday (today) with just me and Mum here and biscuit temptation in the cupboard, but so far so good.  I had the same breakfast as on Saturday then baked beans on a slice of GF bread and spread for lunch.  I am not being as picky as the book says to be with separate toasters and watching out for cross contamination.  I have a 4 slot toaster and generally just use the 2 slots on the right hand side, so will keep the 2 slots on the left for my GF toast.  Hopefully I wont need to go down the route of cleaning and separating the contents of the cupboards and using separate utensils for the GF all the time.  The milk thistle tablets have worked but I am rather windy now .. .. perhaps the little cheddar cheese I had on top of the beans, or the milk in my coffee?  I can easily get the lactose free milk from the supermarket so that might help, and as it's only me that has it in coffee I don't mind the extra expense as long as it lasts (I wonder if it will freeze).  Giving up cheese though is going to be a BIG issue for me - I might not eat a lot of it, but I do like it little and often, perhaps not if I am going to be going out in public though if the windy situation continues!  Tonight I have a large chicken breast defrosted so I will do something with it, not sure what though.  There is left over crumble too - and the Kelly's Cornish ice cream is gluten free so a scoop of that to melt into the crumble will be perfect!  I am hoping that if I eat a good meal this evening I wont be tempted to nibble chocolate or biscuits later on - being on my own in the evenings can be a bit lonely and depressing and I know I comfort eat if I'm just watching tv.  It will be better when the tv is connected back up in the living area then I can craft at the same time so my fingers wont be tempted by the packet of biscuits or chocolate nibbles!

7 comments:

  1. Love your card, the frosty feel, gorgeous colours and love the adorable snowman image. Hugs, Claire x

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  2. The beautiful colours for this card are a great choice to go with the cold feel of a snowman! Lovely card, and the sparkle and bling are perfect for this week's challenge at Christmasb Card Chaallenges #51. TYFS.

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  3. Lovely card Annie, the turquoise is so pretty x

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  4. Gorgeous card Annie! So pretty with the soft colors, the glitter and embossing. Thanks for joining Papertake Weekly :)

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  5. Annie your card is just beautiful and I love your colours.

    Hope you are going on ok with the GF diet and I hope your not so windy!!! lol

    Take care Chanelle xx

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  6. Wonderful card. Thank you for sharing it with us at Divas by Design this week.
    Sarah-Jane xx

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  7. Gorgeous card, I love the image and beautiful colours.
    Thank you for taking part in the Crafty Little Fairies Challenge this week.
    Sue xx

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