Week One Weigh-In

I know it hasn't been a full week yet, but my weigh-in days are going to be Mondays, so I'll just have to take the loss of 2 days to lose weight this week. And I still lost weight, I'm so excited!!

Starting weight - 260.4
Week One weigh-in - 254.2
Difference - 6.2 lb.

That's right! I lost 6.2 pounds this week! WOOOOOOHHOOOO!!! =] I made sure to stay under my calories on myfitnesspal every day and I did some sort of exercise every day too.

Wednesday - walking dog 33 min.
Thursday - Gym - bike 30 min.
Friday - Gym - treadmill 30 min.
Saturday - Gym - elliptical 30 min.
Sunday -walking dog 30 min.

Mondays are initally going to me my work-out days off, because I'll be working 2 jobs every Monday. However, I have today off and probably only work one job next Monday, so I think I'm going to do extra gym sessions while I have the time, before life gets too crazy. =] I'm so excited to keep it up! I will lose weight, I will get healthy, I can do this!! =]

Giveaway!!

In an effort to promote my business and the crafty things I do, I've been doing giveaways every time I get to a milestone of "likes" on Facebook. I'm only ONE like away from 75 likes and a giveaway! I'll do another one once I hit 100 likes too! Come on Facebook and Blogger followers! =]

Go Like She's Freaking Crafty on Facebook!!

Starting Over - Starting Fresh!!

For my family, the holidays are over! My hubby and I don't really celebrate the new year, he usually has to work (sometimes I do too) so we just treat it like a regular day/night. Nothing special or fancy. So with our vacation, Thanksgiving and Christmas all behind us, we are starting today by getting back into our life changes! Dieting, exercising, cleaning/organizing the house, all that fun stuff! We plan on moving at the beginning of September 2013. I want to be a completely new person by then, having lost all the weight I need to lose before we move. I also have smaller goals I want to complete before then. But they aren't that much smaller, because I want to push myself. Eat less, eat healthy, exercise and watch the weight come off. I don't want to be fat and unhealthy anymore. Plus, Brian and I had been trying to get pregnant for over 2 years and nothing happened. When I finally went to a doctor to just check me out, he was very mean about it but just told me to lose 100-120 pounds and I'd get pregnant without any problems. I understand that part of what he said is probably right, although he was very rude about it. And my goal isn't to lose that much weight. But I don't want my weight to be an excuse anymore. So I'm making a change. And hopefully, after I've lost the weight, we've get pregnant!! And if we don't, then I can go to a new doctor and really get some answers, without anyone blaming my weight. Including myself.

Starting Weight - 260.4

Goal One - Lose 30 pounds before we leave to renew our vows.
We leave March 13th. So I want to weight myself March 12th and be at or under 230.4. We have 11 weeks to the day until we leave. That is 3 pounds a week. It's going to be hard, but I'm going to work hard. After I'm finished with this blog post, I'm going to hop over to myfitnesspal.com and update all my info to input calories every day.

Goal Two - Lose 30 pounds by my birthday.
Once we come back from our vacation March 19th, I will have 12 weeks before my birthday. My goal will be to weigh myself the morning of my birthday and be at 200 pounds or less. That is 2.5 pounds a week. Assuming I don't gain more than just a couple pounds while on vacation. Brian and I plan to still work-out while we're down there.

Goal Three - Lose 20 pounds before we move.
We move Sept. 1st. My finish goal weight is 180 pounds. Once I hit my birthday goal weight, I'll be just 20 pounds away. So I will have 11 weeks to lose 20 pounds, making it about 2 pounds a week.

Completely not on purpose, my goals are harder in the beginning and seem to get a little easier throughout the year. (More time to lose less weight.) I'm hoping that will give me a little wiggle room, since I assume it will be hard to continue to lose weight the farther I go along. I also hope to combat that by doing longer work-out sessions the farther along the months go. Right off, I will be doing 3 days in the gym for 30 minutes each AND walking our dog 3 days a week for 30 minutes each. Once I'm in the groove of things, exercising regularly and working out my schedule with work, I'm going to add longer work out sessions in the gym and start walking the dog longer times too. At some point, I'll have to add more days in the gym, I'm sure, but for now, I'm starting small.

Exercising, on top of cutting down how many calories I eat a day, should be a huge step in the right direction. Plus, I've gotten a promotion at the daycare, so that should also be a bigger part of the day that I'm on my feet and moving around. I'm ready to get started!

Jack Skellington Ornament

So awesome! So cute! So simple! 

I made this for a friend who likes The Nightmare Before Christmas. She got it just in time for Christmas, to tell me that she doesn't have a tree this year! lol

Super Simple Tutorial - I bought a plain, plastic ornament at the craft store. Then a took a little white paint and watered it down a tiny bit and poured it inside the ornament. Swirled and twirled it around in there until the entire inside of the ornament was covered. (I left the ornament upside-down in the sink for a little while, to drain the excess paint out.) After it was drained and on it's way to drying, I popped the top on! Then, I took a sharpie and free-handed the faces! Happy on one side, not so happy on the other side. Bam! All done! lol I'm already planning on making myself one too! =]

New Hat!!

Side note - I did lose one pound this week, but I didn't go to the gym or really eat under my calories, so I have no idea how that happened.. But I'm trying harder this week! I know that everyone says this, but it will be easier after the holidays. Not because I'm eating all unhealthy, but because I'm making Christmas presents and filling orders! It seems to take up all of my time right now.

In other news - here is my newest hat I just finished! I'm super excited about it, might have to make one for myself. =] This is for an order, but I'm a little sad to see it go! lol

 Jack Skellington hat!! 

I love it, already going to have to make myself one. And maybe one for my best friend.. =]

Weigh-In

Oops! I forgot to post this yesterday! I was working almost all day, so by the time I got home it had just slipped my mind! Anyways! Yesterday morning I weighed myself and I'm weighing in at 256 pounds even. I'm not entirely happy with that weight, however it's 4 pounds less than I thought it was going to be, so it will do for now. =] I hope to see a big difference after going to the gym and eating right this week! =]

Beardly Hats!

My newest project -

Beardly hats!! I whipped one of there up in about 2 days, and now I'm making 2 for an order and 5 for Christmas presents. And at least 4 other orders that I know of for sure! Once I'm caught up on Christmas presents that I'm making, I'll be posting these in my store for sale.

Also, I'm going to do a giveaway when I get up to 75 likes on my facebook page. I'm thinking it will probably be one of these beardly hats! I'm only 10 likes away! Please go and like my page! =]

Go Like ShesFreakingCrafty on Facebook!

I fell off the wagon..

with dieting and exercising. I know, it's horrible!! We went on vacation and once we got back, I never really recovered. So basically, in the last month, I have gained 10 pounds. Ugh. I'm starting up again today! I don't want to be overweight and unhealthy! And I'm making this my starting over weight. I'll be going back weighing in once a week, but I'm also committing to going to the gym 3 times a week, slowly working up to 5 days a week. And I want to start going on at least 30 minute walks with my dog 3 times a week, working up to 5 days a week. He has been suffering too, because we stopped walking him as much. So I'm going back to myfitnesspal.com to track my food starting today, but I'll be weighing in tomorrow and making Mondays my weigh in days again. Getting back into the groove of things is going to be difficult and losing all this weight is going to be hard, but I can do it! =] It's going to happen! I know I've probably gained 10 pounds this past month, it's so crappy, but I have 3 major events on my timeline that I'm going to sync up my weight loss goals with -

If my new starting weight is 258 pounds -

March 17th - I'm getting remarried on the beach, goal weight - 225 pounds
That's only week shy of 4 months to lose 33 pounds.

June 15th - My 25th birthday, goal weight - 205 pounds
Not if, but WHEN I meet my anniversary weight, this is 3 months to lose 20 pounds.

September 1st - We are moving out of New Mexico, goal weight - at or under 180 pounds.
We aren't sure where we're going yet, but I want to start our new place thinner and healthier! That will give me 2 1/2 months to lose 25 pounds. Then I'll be moving at my lowest weight in a long time. I'm already excited!

The only thing that will change my goals will be if something amazing happens and we get pregnant before then. But we have stopped trying right now, we'll start again sometime in the summer. So I can do this! =]

Week Seven!!

As you know if you've been reading these, I have been trying to lose weight every week. My first goal was to be at or under 250 pounds before going on vacation for Halloween. Today is my last weigh-in before we leave bright and early tomorrow morning. I was a little apprehensive getting on the scale this morning, because I know I didn't go to the gym that much this past week. Actually, I think I went once. My hubs and I are kinda already in vacation mode! But I hopped on the scale this morning and ..

I DID IT!!!!!!! =] My weight this morning is 248.8!! 

Woot woot! I'm so happy! Yay! Go me!! **happy dance** 

Starting weight  -
September 12th - 262lb.
Weight after week one -
September 19th - 255lb
Weight after week two -
September 26th - 253lb
Weight after week three -
October 3rd - 253.4lb
October 6th - 255lb
Weight after week four -
October 8th - 251.4
Weight after week five -
October 15th - 251.4
Weight after week six -
October 23rd - 250.8
Weight after week seven -
October 29th - 248.8

Lost 2 pounds this past week! Now I'm going to go on vacation a super duper happy camper! =] 

Very cunning indeed..

This is my newest project I just finished! On the right is the hat, worn by the character Jayne Cobb in the tv show Firefly. My best friend asked me a little bit ago if I could possibly make the hat as close to the original as possible. Quite a feat, since only about 5 original pictures pop up if you google "jayne cobb hat firefly". And about half of those pictures are stills from the show! So after researching and reading up, I had to basically find colors of yarn that were the closest I could get. My colors are a bit brighter, but I feel like I made a hat super similar. I'm happy with it and excited to get it shipped off! I might even have enough to make a 2nd one.. =] Hopefully, whomever my bestie is giving the hat to for Christmas loves it too!

Week 6

I am still sick, but well enough to write a bit about this week's weight loss! I lost a little bit this past week, I'm excited about that! It's not as much as I was hoping for, but it was a loss. So yay! 

Starting weight  -
September 12th - 262lb.
Weight after week one -
September 19th - 255lb
Weight after week two -
September 26th - 253lb
Weight after week three -
October 3rd - 253.4lb
October 6th - 255lb
Weight after week four -
October 8th - 251.4
Weight after week five -
October 15th - 251.4
Weight after week six -
October 23rd - 250.8

So I only loss .6 pounds this week, but yay for seeing the scale go down! And this mean I have one week to lose at LEAST .8 pounds so I can hit my goal of weighing 250 or less by the time we go on vacation. Woot woot! I'm excited! 

Sick..

Vegging out on the couch and not going a darn thing today! I'll post weight tomorrow, along with an awesome project I just finished. =] Until tomorrow!

Week Five

Weigh-in this morning. I was happy, but still a little disappointed this morning as I weighed the same as last week. Part of me is happy about this because I spent the last 2 days eating pumpkin zucchini chocolate chip bread that I made on Saturday. It was so good!! But I went to the gym for an hour AND took a 45 minute walk on Saturday, and took a 40 minute walk yesterday. So I plan on taking at least a 30 minute walk today, and I'm going to the gym tomorrow while my hubs is at work. Taking little steps! I only have 1.4 pounds to lose in 2 week in order to make my goal for weight loss before I go on vacation! I can do it!!!!!!! =]

Starting weight  -
September 12th - 262lb.
Weight after week one -
September 19th - 255lb
Weight after week two -
September 26th - 253lb
Weight after week three -
October 3rd - 253.4lb
October 6th - 255lb
Weight after week four -
October 8th - 251.4
Weight after week five -
October 15th - 251.4

I have 2 more weigh-ins before vacation, but my hubby and I still plan on going to the gym while we're on vacation, so I won't miss the weigh-in after we get back! =] More gym and less eating this week, I will lose this week! =] 

Week Four

I was a little skeptical about changing my weigh in day, only giving myself about 2.5 days to show a loss this week, instead of the normal 7 days. But yesterday morning I woke up and instead of eating a huge breakfast first thing, I cleaned house a little and then went to the gym. So once I got home I ate about a 500 calorie breakfast. Since I know my stomache is shrinking too, I was full for a while after that. My two other meals kept me pretty full, so for once I didn't snack and still felt full when I went to bed last night. After the gym I REALLY cleaned house - laundry, dishes, sweep and vacuum. So I felt super productive and healthy yesterday. And it showed this morning!! =]

Starting weight  -
September 12th - 262lb.
Weight after week one -
September 19th - 255lb
Weight after week two -
September 26th - 253lb
Weight after week three -
October 3rd - 253.4lb
October 6th - 255lb
Weight after week four -
October 8th - 251.4

I lost 3.6 pounds!! Woot woot!! =] I'm pretty excited! Now it looks like my goal to be at or under 250 before we go on vacation is just that much closer! =] I'm going to keep going to the gym 3 days a week for now - Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. And the other 4 days a week, I'm going to take my dog on at least 30 minute walks. Like today, I think we might walk over to the park across the street and give him a little run around. =] I'm back to being excited about losing weight! 

I thought I had posted this last Monday, but apparently my blogger decided to save it instead of publishing! Darn blogger! =] So late, but here it is! 

New Etsy Store!!

I did it! I made the leap and opened my own shop on etsy! I can be found HERE! I'm nervous and excited! I hope I can get some orders, and any feedback is greatly appreciated! =]

Week Three

Sad this week! Gained weight, bummed. It's completely my fault. I didn't go to the gym again this week, I always found an excuse not to go. I worked like crazy and I'm working on orders, but I would honestly rather sit at home and craft instead of going to the gym. It's not even a hard choice. So I gained.. Boo!

Starting weight  -
September 12th - 262lb.
Weight after week one -
September 19th - 255lb
Weight after week two -
September 26th - 253lb
Weight after week three -
October 3rd - 253.4lb
October 6th - 255lb

I weighed myself Wednesday morning and had only gained .4lb but when I weighed myself today I weighed 255. So I'm going with what I saw today, to be completely honest with myself. Also, I will be changing my weigh in date to Mondays. So although I just weighed today, I'm also going to weigh on Monday the 8th and record that as week 4. And I'm heading to the gym bright and early in the morning, so I hope to see a little progress by Monday morning. As long as it doesn't show that I've gained!! I still want to be at or under 250 before we go on vacation, so I have 3.5 weeks to lose at least 5 pounds. I can do it!! I will do it!! I'm also going to commit to blogging about my weight ON THE DAY I weigh in. That should be a little easier as I work Monday afternoons, so I should be able to weigh and blog right away. Instead of weighing and rushing to work on Wednesday mornings. So, I'll be back to blog on Monday!! See you then!

My newest creations...

Monster wreaths!! I had this idea a few weeks ago, when I realized that I had this yarn I received for free that I just couldn't knit with! It was way to thin and slippery on my knitting needles. So, I was like "wait a minute! Wouldn't this furry yarn be so cute for a monster wreath for Halloween??" and VOILA!! Monster wreath was born! I made mine just the other day (so quick and easy!) and then my mother-in-law asked for one the same day! So here are the two I have made!

 This green one is mine, so furry and soft!!

And then this one is for my mother-in-law. Her front door is green, so she asked for orange. Love it!! 

QUICK TUTORIAL - I bought a wreath form at hobby lobby and some furry yarn. (One skein was 130 yards and I have just a little bit leftover.) I tied the yarn to one side and then just started wrapping it until I couldn't see the white wreath form underneath anymore. Then I tied the yarn and cut the end. I cut the horns, teeth and eye parts out of felt, then I used craft glue to glue the felt to pieces of white cardstock, to keep it sturdy. After the glue dried, I cut around the felt and hot glued everything to the wreath. I used a bit of leftover yarn, braided and hot glued to the back, to hang it. VOILA!! A monster wreath!! =]

I WAS FEATURED AT Two Yellow Birds Decor & Rae Gun Ramblings!! 
THANKS SO MUCH!! =]

I'm linking up!! =] Two Yellow Birds, Rae Gun Ramblings, Funky Polkadot Giraffe, A Pretty Life In The Suburbs, Six Sisters Stuff, The Gunny Sack, Or So She Says, One Creative Mommy, Navy Wife Peters =]  

Chili's St. Jude's Shirts

Every year Chili's does a fundraiser for the St. Jude's Children's hospital. Part of their fundraising is to sell shirts that can be decorated with sharpies. And every year I do at least one shirt. I love it. The shirts have blank spaces on the front and back, so here are the shirts I did this year.

The front of my hubby's shirt. Red boxing gloves, an outline of Muhammad Ali and his all-time record.

The back of my hubby's shirt. A butterfly and a bee, for Ali's famous line "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

The front of a manager shirt I did. She loves to travel and dive. So there is luggage and a airplane taking off, then the flag for "diver down" and a small coral reef. 

And the back of her shirt, I did an outline of the continents, to make it look like a globe. =] 

I'm happy with them both, sorry for the crappy pictures, taken by my cell.

Week Two!

I have another weigh in to blog about! I weighed myself this morning before I had to go to work. I was running on about 2 1/2 hours of sleep, so I wasn't as excited this morning as I am now, but I'm happy!

Starting weight  -
September 12th - 262lb.
Weight after week one -
September 19th - 255lb
Weight after week two -
September 26th - 253lb

I have lost another 2 pounds!! Woot woot!! =] So far since I've started my 12 week challenge I have lost 9 pounds! Yay! And my goal was to be under 250lb by the time we go to Denver for vacation, and we leave in a little less than 5 weeks. It's going to happen!! =]

My diet was really great this week, I didn't go over the allotted calories once this week, even when we ate out. I didn't go to the gym once though, so I'm definitely going to bring that back in this week. I have been walking, but I need to hit the gym more. Once I add that back in, I'm sure I can keep up the steady weight loss. =] More next week!!

Baby girl accessories!!

Another girl from Brian's work was pregnant and found out that she is having a girl. So with some yarn I already had at the house, I was able to whip up these cute little girl things. =]

 Little hat! Purple and white stripes with pom-pom. 

Another little hat! Purple hat with a white band on the top and a white pom-pom. 

 Little headband! This was an experiment, but I'm so happy with how it turned out! 

And another little headband, I think this one is my favorite!! =] I passed them off to one of our mutual friends to take to her baby shower, and she messaged me later with a thank you and that she loves them. =] 

Linked up at - Six Sisters' Stuff, Shaken Together, Two Yellow Birds Decor, Gluesticks, Southern Lovely, and Rae Gun Ramblings.

Minnesota Vikings Baby!!

A couple from my hubby's work told us all they were pregnant at a Superbowl last February. She's not really into football, but he is a HUGE Minnesota Vikings fan. So I decided to make them a baby blanket (Brian told them I would, so it was pretty much decided! lol) using the Vikings colors, but baby-fied! =] I only have 2 pictures off my cell phone, this was during the "can't find the camera charger" period..

 Here it is!! I absolutely love it! A light yellow, a girly purple, with a little white too.

It took me a little while to knit, because I wanted it to be a good size. It is super stretchy and perfect. 

They both loved it. She knew I was knitting a blanket for her the whole time, but I didn't tell her what colors or anything. She was actually the one who pointed out the Viking s colors to her husband, and he was stoked. They had their daughter a few weeks ago (I haven't seen her yet) but I'm hoping they use the blanket and love it. =]

Linked up at - Six Sisters' Stuff, Shaken Together, Two Yellow Birds Decor, Gluesticks, Southern Lovely, and Rae Gun Ramblings. 

Week One

So I didn't get the chance to write about my weight yesterday. Brian had to leave for a day in Phoenix super early this morning, so after I worked 830-430 yesterday, I spent the rest of the day/evening hanging out with him for a night off.
But, back to weight!!
Starting weight  -
September 12th - 262lb.
Weight after week one -
September 19th - 255lb.

7 pounds!! Woot woot!! I'm super excited about this! =] I had only one "off" day with eating under my calories, but I've already noticed that my stomach has shrunk a little bit. I'm not eating as much and I feel like I can tell when I get full and stop eating. It's exciting!!
I'm going to go enter in my food for today that I've eaten so far, I'm excited about weighing in weight two!!

My next goal is to weigh 250 or less by the time we go on vacation. At first I'd thought that might be a little too hard, but after losing 7 pounds this past week, I'm confidant that I'll be able to make it!! We leave on October 30th, which is almost 6 full weeks from now. I can do it!! Less than 250 - here I come! =]

**I had to do a little update, because I went to myfitnesspal.com to update my weight and I weighed 262 last Wednesday morning, not 260 like I had thought. So I had been thinking I'd lost 5 pounds when I actually lost 7!! Woooooooohhooooooo!!!! =]

12 weeks?

I just read on another blog that it take "4 weeks for you to notice your body changing, 8 weeks for your friend to notice and 12 weeks for the world to notice." Since tomorrow is my weigh in day anyways, I think I'm going to commit to posting every Wednesday about my weight and dieting.
My hubs and I have already started myfitnesspal.com and we really like it. It's online (and an app) where you can enter in how much you weigh now, how much you want to weigh, how much weight you want to lose each week and how much you'll be exercising a week, and the site will tell you how many calories you need to you need to eat a day to meet your goals. And you enter in all your food you eat each day, and it automatically tells you what your calorie count for the day is and how many you have left. Plus, you can enter in what type of exercise you did for how long and it calculates how many calories you burned, giving you more calories to eat for the day. Plus it's FREE!! We have been keeping track for about a week now, and my hubby and I have already lost some weight. It's exciting!! =]
So, my starting weight was 260lb. I'll weigh myself again in the morning and update here. I'm hoping to see a lost of at least a pound!! We are going on vacation the last week of October, ideally I would love to be 250 or less. It's a little over 5 weeks from now, so depending on what I weigh in the morning, it might be achievable!!
Anyways, I'll be back tomorrow and we'll see what I weigh! =]

Mike Wazowski!

My newest creation! I really like it! I was requested to make a minion hat by a coworker of my husbands. As soon as I had finished that one, he loved it so much he asked if I could make a hat of "that green guy from that monster movie." Thus, MIKE WAZOWSKI hat was born!! I think he is super cute, I might have to make one for myself. He's green yarn, felt and horns and a sewn on yarn mouth. I already have so many ideas for more hats! =]

 - I linked up at - 

 

 

  

My newest project..

It's a Kitty-Lovey!! Sorry for the crappy picture, it was taken late last night with my cell! =]

But this is my newest project, a little lovey, for a little one to cuddle with at nap or bedtime. I think it's adorable!! Of course, this is just the prototype, so it's a little rough around the edges and I think the head is a bit too big. But I'm already planning the next one, it's going to be so cute!! =]

Dallas Cowboys Hats

Some more hats!! I just finished 3 Dallas Cowboys knit hats, two for an order from a friend and one just because I wanted to try something new. =] They are just knit with yarn, and then I hand sewed felt stars on each hat.

 The first one, smaller gray stripes and wider blue stripes with a larger gray background on the star. 

Then this one, where the gray and blue stripes are the same size.

And this one is my favorite!! The order is for the other two, he wants gray and blue stripes with a big star on the front. But I had some white yarn leftover from a different project, so I decided to make this hat. I really like it! I'm hoping someone else does too! =]

Magnetic Boards!

I found a tutorial at Two Yellow Birds and I knew that I just had to make some!! Instead of using scrapbooking paper, I decided to paint them. Next time I'll try the paper and see how it turns out. But here is what I did! =]

 Here is a Bengals board for our friend Matt, as a thanks for helping us move all our stuff! =] 

And this one is for our other friend, and Matt's gf Patricia, for her birthday. They are both awesome!! =]

Patriotic Wreath!

I made a new tulle wreath last week that I'm completely in love with now! 

I marked off 1/4 of the wreath for the blue tulle, then just tied the tulle all around the wreath. First, all the blue, then I alternated the red and blue tulle until I had filled up the entire wreath.

I painted 3 wooden stars white, spray painted them clear since it's an outside wreath, and hot-glued them to the wreath. I took 3 strips of leftover tulle and braided them together to make the hanging ribbon. It's just hot-glued on the back of the wreath.

I love it! It's so pretty on the front door! I'm excited to move into our new apartment, because our new front door will be visible on the street. Right now, the only people who see our wreath besides us are our neighbors and anyone who comes over. =] Excited to move even more now!

I was featured at Shaken Together!

I was also featured at The Gunny Sack!



I was featured at  Healthy Mommy!!

 

Linked up at -

 
Not sure why ^these^ pictures aren't showing up, but the links still work. =]

More Minion Hats!

 I had a giveaway on my crafty facebook page, and after that I had 5 more hats ordered! =] 

 I tried to make each one a little different, especially ones that were going to the same household. 

 Some people requested 2 eyes..

 And some wanted one!

 Pretty much everyone asked for pom-pom hair and a smiley face. 

 Everyone has gotten theirs already, and they love them! 

 Handmade with love! 

 And this one is for a newborn! =]

Plus, I made a Dallas Cowboys hat for a friend of my husbands.

I'm linked up at -

Shaken Together!