Nightwolf's Den

Baby watch

We’ve welcomed our newest addition!!

Keep up to date with the latest at From the Wolf’s Den

Could you be happy for 100 days in a row?

I’m inspired. Jodie @ Polka Dot Creative has inspired me to see if I can find something each day for 100 days that makes me happy. Could you be happy for 100 days in a row? It can be anything big or small.

I’ll be sharing my 100 days over on Instagram using the hashtag #100HappyDays and then blogging them once a week.

You can read more over at 100 Happy Days and if it sounds like something for you sign up. Let me know if you do so I can cheer you on 😀

So bring on the next 100 days and bring on the Happy 😀

Scrap Teal You Drop 2014

Ovarian Cancer Australia invites groups and individuals around Australia host an Afternoon Teal® – a summer tea party for a great cause! Raising awareness of the symptoms, risks and impact of ovarian cancer, as well as raise vital funds to support their work in awareness, support, advocacy and research .

For the last two years mum & I have organised an Afternoon Teal® event called Scrap Teal You Drop. This year we organised a full day event and spent a couple of months planning and organising, sourcing donations for our raffles and supplies for our scrapbooking challenges.

We received some AMAZING donations from private individuals meaning those who have no scrapping ‘stash’ to raid had an wonderful selection of papers & embellishments to use. Mum bought some gorgeous teal products from Sawyer’s Place to help create our Teal challenge pack but I’ll get to that in a moment.

Saturday night we set up our space, organised tables and packs for our attendees – a teal ribbon and information about Ovarian Cancer plus a symptom diary.

Sunday morning, the day of our event. Our all dayers and the morning crowd arrived and were welcomed and given a run down of our morning schedule. We had a couple of quick quizzes to warm up the brains and just for a little bit of fun. Then the ladies were shown a demo of some gorgeous handmade cards and an idea for using calico and stamping to make some lovely, individual gift ribbon.

We then had our first challenge of the day – a blind scrap. The ladies were given a list of products and after about 10 minutes sat down so I could read them their steps. Some followed along pretty close, others added their own spin and a few did their own thing.

Lunchtime and a wonderful spread provided by mum and a few others. A group photo was taken once the afternoon group arrived and before our morning group had left

Mum shared with us that the day marked 3 years since she had her surgery and was given 18 months to 3 years. In Australia, the overall five year survival rate for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer is approximately 43% so fingers crossed we make it past the 5 years and beyond. This set me off – thanks pregnancy hormones so I had to have a quick teary break before struggling to read the first part of my afternoon speech discussing Ovarian Cancer and the symptoms. So after that slightly teary start to the afternoon our group got stuck into our Teal Challenge. It’s amazing to see how everyone created such a wide variety of pages were created using the same supplies (some seasoned scrappers who joined us added their own supplies) and the majority used the same photo.

Our pack consisted of a white cardstock base, some Sawyer’s Place sticky paper (I love this stuff), flair and washi tape plus some other pattern paper, teal ribbons and a teal ribbon sticker.

We finished of the day with afternoon tea. Lots of yummy goodies including a fruitcake made by mum, a delish mars bar slice and my Teal Ribbon cake, teal ribbon biscuits and teal cupcakes.

I must give a few thanks. To the lovely Ruth from Polly Scrap Kits who, apart from letting me share about Ovarian Cancer on the Polly Scrap site, added some teal products to the February kits (& had a teal add-on kit) AND donated 50c from each kit sold to our fundraising tally. To the local George Town businesses who donated prizes for our minor raffle. To Hawthorn Football Club and Phil Kuruvita who donated prizes for our major raffle which is being drawn at the end of April.

After speaking to Mum today so far our fundraising tally is sitting at $1738! Thank you to all who have donated so far. If you’d like to donate, you still can by going to my GoFundraise page

Soft drinks while pregnant? You bet! {review}

Being pregnant means you should watch what you drink. I had gestational diabetes last pregnancy and really wanted to do whatever I could this time around to reduce my chances of getting GD again this pregnancy.
One of the things I did when I first found out I was pregnant was to stop drinking Coke, well to tell the truth I had to stop because it was making me sick – hello morning sickness!!

Thanks to the morning sickness I was a bit limited to what I could drink without feeling ill – water, sometimes juice, the occasional water cordial. No milk and nothing of the fizzy variety.

Enter the 2nd trimester and the end of morning sickness (yay!!) and I slowly introduced milk back into the diet and was ok. There was a definite craving for something fizzy but the amount of sugar in soft drinks is a bit frightening – 28g per 250ml in lemonade and 27g per 250ml of cola. Before you ask no I don’t do diet drinks or no sugar drinks, for one thing I’m not convinced that fake sugars are good for us and secondly I’m not a huge fan of the taste.

When I was offered the chance to try a low sugar, organic alternative I must say I was extremely curious. BIONADE (pronounced Bee-oh-nah-deh) is a range of organic fermented and carbonated beverages from Germany.

On first glance, you could be fooled into thinking it’s a trendy new post-mix alcoholic drink but no it’s a tasty low sugar drink that looks as good as it tastes.

So what is BIONADE and what makes it different from your average soft drink?

it’s 100% certified organic
it’s low in sugar (15.5g per 330ml serve)
Brewed like beer, but non-alcoholic
No colourants! No preservatives! No artificial flavours!
Gluten free. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

There are 4 flavours – ginger & orange, lychee, elderberry and herbs.

First up in my trial was the ginger & orange. Ginger is meant to be pretty good when you feel ill, be it from morning sickness, travel sickness or maybe just feeling a little seedy after a night out. I thought it might taste a little similar to IronBru (it’s a Scottish citrus, slightly gingery, soft drink, often described as “Scotland’s other national drink” (after Scotch whisky) and is the number 1 selling soft drink there closely followed by Coke) but it was more gingery with an nice orange aftertaste. Quite nice. I imagine it would make a good mixer.

I tried the Herb flavour and really wasn’t sure. Don’t think I would drink this one again.

Now I’m not a fan of lychees at all so was pretty hesitant about trying this flavour. Pleasantly surprised! It was sweet and a little tangy. Again it would probably make a good mixer.

I’ve left my favourite til last – Elderberry. It is super yum, sweet, fizzy and very moreish.

Hubby wasn’t taken with any of them but he’s pretty fussy. Miss K loved all of them and they are something I’d be happy to give BIONADE to her as a treat over lemonade or cola.

At this stage BIONADE is available online from http://www.drinks-logistics.com.au/ and selected retailers

And cause I love my readers I have a mixed case of 24 bottles of BIONADE to giveaway to one lucky Nightwolf’s Den reader. Leave us a comment with what you loved to drink when you were pregnant OR what you’d miss drinking if you were pregnant. Entry is open to Australian residents only. Winner will have 1 week to respond once the giveaway is drawn. Giveaway closes 26th March 2014

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100 things in 2014

I’ve been doing these lists now for 4 years and I still struggle to get 100 things 😉

This year I’ve broken my list down into 6 sections – Blog (& Social Media), Family, House, Craft, Work and Me. As with previous years bold is started, strike thru is finished & red isn’t done

So here we go

Increase my social media following
Go to a blogger meet up in Tassie
Get more Twitter followers (Jan 1 – 626)
Get more Facebook followers (Jan 1 – 127)
Organise my Pinterest boards
~~Blog everyday for 1 month~~ (March #30Lists)
Learn a new recipe each month. Blog about it.
Get a ProBlogger event digital pass – looks like this isn’t happening this year 🙁
Attend more Brand meets Blog Twitter chats #bmbchats
Use twitter more, especially for my blog
Sort bookmarks (not really a bloggy one but it does need doing)
Do the June blogathon
Create a back up of my blog monthly
Try something I’ve pinned and blog about it.
Finish garden beds and start to use them
Get a garden shed
Set up a gazebo/outdoor dining area
Do HabitHacker –Nest
Get front yard finished
Finish custom recipe book
Finish laundry – need to paint
Finish lounge – need to paint and get curtains
Finish kitchen – need curtains
Start our bathroom reno currently getting quotes
Organise RPG room (aka the garage) so hubby & mates are out there by August
Re-organise K/bub’s room
Re-organise our bedroom
Pull up carpet in lounge/dining room
Start a garden journal
Work thru Creating your Goddess Haven e-course
Redo the pantry
Sort linens and make less cluttered
Have a candlelit dinner
Birth a healthy bub in August
Tattoo for J
Family holiday to Qld or Melbourne
Have parents and in-laws over for dinner more
Go to the Dawn service
Get a family photo of me, mum, dad & bro done
Get a family photo of me, J, K & bub done
Have a dirty weekend away with hubby
Put min. $5 a pay into Christmas club account
Write a letter to Miss K to open on her 18th
Have a family movie night (complete with popcorn & choc tops)
Write a letter to bub to open on his/her 18th
Spend a day at the beach
Go on a picnic
Go for a drive somewhere for no reason other than getting out
Spend a rainy day in PJs watching TV/movies
See more of Tassie
Work on family tree
Go to the Botanical Gardens
Visit QVMAG
Get some guinea pigs for K
Get BAS in on time
Keep up to date with work accounts
Get office sorted and start using it!
Work thru Business Goddess e-course
Finish work portfolio
Upgrade laptops
Make laptop & pc better organised – less double ups of files
Setup server
Find an inspirational quote & make it into a piece of artwork
Finish JYC 2012 & 2013
Scrapbook with mum more
Art journal once a week
Finish wedding scrapbook
Do #30Lists (started March)
Organise all my paper scrapbook supplies
Organise & cull my digital scrapbook supplies
Scrapbook with others more
Organise a scrapbook day
Complete a cross stitch
Work thru Creative Goddess ecourse
Project life date one weekend a month
Do some more classes & finish them
Do Before your story class
Create a scrapping binder
Apply for more design teams
Get dt work done before it’s due
Actually DO some of the things I’ve pinned
Create more pages about me
Start bub’s PL book
New tatt for me
Get my L’s
Rejoin the biz & life academy
Raise at least $1000 at Afternoon Teal (we’re up to about $500 so far before the event!)
Do Frocktober
Watch sunrise & sunset in the same day
Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years
Keep a gratitude journal every day for a month (0/30)
Do Habit Hacker’s Create
Get a massage
Get a manicure
Make a list of 30 books I want to read & then read those books (0/30)
Exercise every day for a month (0/30)
Create a mini Goddess altar
Meditate more
Enjoy life
Live a more spiritual life

2014 Life Workbook

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I use affiliate links to help pay for some of my blogging costs. All opinions are my own.

2014 Create Your Amazing Year (Life Ed)

I had grand plans of getting my Amazing Year workbook all started and ready to post about at the beginning of the year but a little person growing inside me had other ideas and my body decided to give me horrid morning sickness for most of December and January.

Now that I’m in the second trimester I’m starting to feel much, much better and made a Life Book date with myself.

Before we get started on my Lifebook journey, what is the Amazing Year workbook?

The 2014 Create Your Amazing Year workbook & calendar is an incredibly popular & useful tool to help you plan out & make happen your most incredible year in life or business (or both!). Over the last five years, thousands of women have used this workbook with the most amazing results. It’s the best planning tool available to help you make your year your most exceptional yet!

Used by entrepreneurs, artists, mamas, creatives, coaches, teachers and women of all ages, the Create Your Amazing Year in Life and Biz workbooks are filled with dozens of pages of powerful worksheets & a printable calendar to help you create your amazing new year.

I’d already done the closure for 2013.

2014 Create Your Amazing Year (Life Ed) - Closure

I love this part of the workbook as it allows me to look back on the previous year and brings closure

I invoked 2014 listing things i want to experience, feel and give to myself. I gave myself permission to do more

2014 Create Your Amazing Year (Life Ed) - 2014 lists

I’ve started my list of things for 2014 but struggled at the start to get 100 things. A few are repeats rom last year or things I didn’t get done last year and some are from my 101 things list. I’ve broken my list done into topics to this year – blog (& social media), our house, our family, work, crafts, and me. The list will be posted in a day or two.

I loved having ritual days last year and have decided to make a few changes this year. I’ll continue with the Go to bed early Mondays (get to bed by 10pm), Foodie Friday (trying a new recipe) and Switch off Sundays (no laptop or social media time – this one was hard). In 2014 I’m adding Scrapbook Wednesday (making myself scrapbook at least one day a week) & Art Journal Saturdays (the new Art Journal Caravan prompts are released on a Saturday my time so I spend Saturday evenings working on them).

This year I even made goals for 2014. I’ve never been good at goal setting (or keeping) so I’ll be interested to see how I go. I even created a TO DO LIST BOOK in an old journal

2014 Create Your Amazing Year (Life Ed) - Goals

and finally I did my oracle reading for 2014. I used the Earth Magic Oracle cards online single card reading. I picked a card for each month. I really love this card deck and really want to grab the physical cards sometime soon.

2014 Create Your Amazing Year (Life Ed) - Oracle 01

So that’s my 2014 Life workbook in a nutshell. I’ve printed it A5 again this year and added it to my Inner B journal so I’ll have it with me at all times.

Do you use the Life workbook? If not, I can highly recommend it

Creating Your Goddess Haven

A six-week adventure for when you’re wanting & needing & craving a space that is a true haven for your the Goddess in You! You’ll use space clearing techniques to make your space’s energy sparkle. You’ll learn how to divinely declutter. You’ll dive into inspired interior design. You’ll be empowered with all of the wisdom, tools & techniques you need to make your space feel & look amazing to you. And you’ll end up with a home that is a sanctuary just for you.

That’s the description for Leonie Dawson’s 6 week e-course Create Your Goddess Haven. I’ve decided to give it a go (again) so this week is week 1. I’ll be blogging my results here each week. A bit for myself and as a bit of a motivator.

If you want to join in you can sign up here or join the amazaballs Amazing Life & Biz Academy and get access to this course, a HEAP of other goodies and a great group of wonderful Goddesses.

So I’ll see you back here in a week with a wrap-up of week one.

Is teal the hot colour for nails this summer?

Well it is this February! Chemmart Pharmacies along with Ovarian Cancer Australia (OCA) are holding Colour for a Cause this month as part of Ovarian Cancer Awareness month.

Chemmart Pharmacies around Australia are stocking a limited edition teal nail polish pack during February with proceeds going to OCA to assist the delivery of its awareness, support, advocacy and research programs.

During February, call into your local Chemmart Pharmacy to see if they are one of many stores offering an in-store manicure for a gold coin donation, which will also be passed onto OCA.

And girls aren’t having all the fun with guys being challenged to sport some teal nails in February. So guys, man up and go teal this February. My dad went teal on his thumbs and even some of the Melbourne Rebels rugby union went teal. I dared a few of the boys at Hawthorn FC via Twitter but none have done it yet.

Check out this gorgeous mani over at More Nail Polish (I’m a little obsessed with her blog lol) and has another planned for 26th February (today) – Teal Ribbon Day.

Mum & Dad got in on the action

and Miss K and I have had some fun

Have you gone teal with your nails this February? I’d love to see them if you have 😀

Fan-fairy-tastic party food

Invites were sent, RSVPs given, decorations and games planned, it’s time to think food…

The first thing on the list is fairy bread because what fairy party, well any kids party, is complete without it! Ours were cut into butterfly shapes. (and cause I was totally into party mode I forgot to take some photos)

Then cupcakes. We priced buying some cupcakes and at $8 each! I made my own.
Vanilla cupcakes with fairy sprinkles

and orange jelly cups which were more of a pain than I thought. I was hoping to get the orange out neatly so I could make caramel oranges (another yum recipe for another day) but it didn’t happen. We did get a batch of yummy orange juice instead 😀

and I decided last minute (like Saturday night) to make giant chocolate freckles and honey joys

plus the usual sandwiches, mini savs (cocktail savs/franks), mini party pies, mini sausage rolls and mini quiches. With 10 little people and 10 adults there wasn’t a lot of food left – which I think is always a good sign 😉

and then there was the cake. It turned out ok. It got eaten so must have been alright.

And with that, another party is done and dusted. Next year I guess I’ll have 2 parties to organise! Any tips for me?

Planning a fan-fairy-tastic 4th party

Miss K turns 4 this Sunday. Wow, feels strange typing that. Seems like yesterday I was still pregnant with her. Now she’s turning 4 and I’m pregnant with her little brother/sister (place your bets – I’m thinking a boy but I thought that last time round lol)

Anywho, I digress. When asked what she wanted for her party theme the answer was a very quick ”fairies” closely followed by her getting my well worn copy of the Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake book and saying “with this cake please”

Insert a huge sign of relief from me cause that should be a lot easier than last year’s cake

mine looked nothing like this. The jelly melted and ran everywhere.

So we have a theme & a cake. I did a search for free fairy printables and found lots. We decided on this cute fairy invite and after much looking decided to use some of these fairy party printables

Yup, this year I’m not making my own bits and pieces like invites & decorations. Don’t have the energy. Plus why reinvent the wheel 😉
Next on the list was food choices. Still keeping it simple but that’s another post.

P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day 🙂