Hope everyone has a Happy and Healthy 2018!

Wishing everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year for 2018!!
This is one of my laser cut laces in one twelfth scale that I thought was very fitting for today to bring in the New Year.  It is from an antique Needlework magazine and is a copy of filet lace to Take a Cup for Auld Lang Syne! The lovely tea set and goodies are from my collection from Janet Uyetake of Tiny Towne Hawaii, she makes such beautiful miniatures.

I have been very pleased with my past New Year's resolutions. One from quite a few years ago was to read one fiction novel a week and I often read many more than that but I do enjoy nonfiction too.

Last year my resolution was to make as many of our dinners from scratch as possible since we are Vegan and Gluten free. Many of the recipes we enjoyed lasted almost 4 meals so that was a bonus and great for freezing. They are more time consuming than traditional meals but really worth the effort, My favorite Vegan recipe book is "Oh She Glows" and "Oh She Glows Everyday". I've learned so much and have really enjoyed the creativity these dishes have brought to our meals. There are so many great recipe books for Vegans now! 

Mini Hugs, Jean

2014 A Year of Choices with free printable

2014 A Year of Choices and Free Printable Above

We have so many choices in our lives and I’m always very aware of these at the start of a New Year! For the New Year I would wish for you joy and happiness. 

Joy and happiness are choices, especially with everything that is available on the web or to watch on TV. This year I’m going to try even harder to just watch TV shows and movies that are filled with laughter and joy. My choices should reflect the best part of who I am.  I would like to be more generous. I like to express this through free projects or printables when time permits for AIM magazine as well as my blog. Quite a few years ago I chose to sponsor two children through World Vision, every time I look at their pictures and wonder how they are doing, it makes me feel good to know that I have maybe helped them in some way.

   

Another choice that makes me feel good is taking time each day to read a good book, a book I have chosen, not because it is on the best seller list but because the author is enlightening and makes me feel good.  Ballroom dancing brings joy to our lives as well both physically, socially and mentally, entertaining, and spending time with our children feels so good too. Going to visit beautiful gardens and long walks is refreshing and so uplifting to my spirit.

Finding more time and ways to be creative is so important too. Designing for my miniatures and digital downloads, sewing and cooking. Last year I tried to take time each day to learn something new about Photoshop that was a great choice that has really had lasting benefits.

Whatever your choices are for the New Year, I hope they make you feel great!!

You can find a higher resolution version of the printable page on 4shared with other images you might like to download. Please note that the download link is near the bottom of the page.
http://www.4shared.com/folder/ILtK6LJE/_online.html

All the very best, Cheers, Jean

Happy Valentines Free Printables and New Years Resolution

A lovely friend of mine gave me the sweet Valentine card this year that is the first image and I just had to share it with everyone. She knows I love vintage cards. I am also offering a larger version of thee Valentine Gift card that I offered in 1910 that you can also find on one of my blogs smaller as a previous free image. You can right click on the images to same them for printing.
If you do a search on my blog for Valentines, you will see other freebies I have offered for Valentines in the past.I also put a larger version of the first Valentine gift card if you prefer to right click and save.

My New Years resolution this was to learn something new in Photoshop and my other programs everyday. I would say that this resolution has had the largest impact on my life of any I have made.  I usually use the same painting techniques and creating techniques in the programs. Corel Draw, Photoshop, Painter and Corel PSP are my favorite programs and each has so much to offer. To learn some of the techniques, I creating photomontages and collages from stock photos in Photoshop recently. It has been very exciting and so creative. I use Photoshop all the time for my digital downloads but like any computer program there is always so much more to learn. Here are a  few I have been working on, the last is a freebie Valentines card too.