The Wheel of Life...

There's nothing like a diagram to put things into perspective for you.  Deb at Home Life Simplified... challenged us to audit our current reality, using a "Wheel of Life". Once again, this is a tool that I haven't applied to my personal life, but I was up for the challenge.

"The Wheel of Life is powerful because it gives you a vivid visual representation of the way your life is currently, compared with the way you'd ideally like it to be. It is called the "Wheel of Life" because each area of your life is mapped on a circle, like the spoke of a wheel." - Mind Tools

The idea is to rate your level of satisfaction for each area of your life, and map it out on the wheel. For my wheel, I have ten categories (see below); 0 representing deep dissatisfaction, and 10 being completely satisfied.  I don't know of anyone who is completely satisfied with their life, and to be honest, if you are...you may just be kidding yourself! 

A. Home / Physical Environment Score: 6
I'm starting to see the home I have always envisaged. It's been a long time coming, but slowly and surely, our space it starting to be the beautiful home I always thought it could be. It's taken a long time to figure out a style that suits our whole family.  I have plans for the future regarding more decluttering, organising and beautifying...while retaining functionality.  This area of my life is under constant improvement. Sometimes it feels like it's one step forward, two steps back...but on the whole, our home has improved dramatically over the last 12 months.

B. Partner / Love / Relationship
Score: 8. Andrew and I have a great relationship, but like every couple, it's not perfect. We are constantly working on our relationship and talking things through. We never go to bed cranky, and I often fall asleep mid sentence. lol. It's actually my favourite part of the day...laying in the dark, talking about the day's events and what's on our minds.

C. Health / Fitness Score: 3
My actual health is not too bad. I don't have diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol. My doctor is always surprised when my blood test results come back. For a morbidly obese woman, I should be displaying all of these signs. I'm really thankful, I'm not.  This is the lowest score on my wheel, and therefore the biggest priority for me to work on.  I'm too young to give up on myself, and there's too many fun things I want to do that involve me being fit and healthy. Watch this space...

D. Growth / Learning Score: 7
I feel like I'm continuing learning and seeking out new information. It's like I crave it! I'm pretty happy with this area of my life. People often ask me how I know certain things...it's because I'm constantly on the path of learning. I'm self taught in a lot of areas of my life.  I taught myself how to drive, how to do all kinds of technical computer stuff, and my knowledge of useless trivia would astound you! lol. Of course, there is always room for improvement. :-)

E. Career / Business / Work Score: 6
I don't really consider myself a "career woman", and I never have. That was never my goal in life. I live by the motto of "work to live, not live to work". I would like to be a higher grade than I am right now, but that's more for my self esteem, not the actual work involved.  I have started taking on more work recently, and am learning new things which I love. I think you do tend to get a bit stale after a while. It's time to inject a bit more interest into my working life. This isn't a priority for me, but definitely something to think about in the future.

F. Money / Finance Score: 5
I earn a pretty good wage, and so does my hubby. We're not rolling in cash, but we do okay.  The one area we're not good at is saving. At the moment, most of our income falls under the "spendings" category. It would help if we set a budget, and stuck to it. This is one area I really want to improve. I have always spent way too freely, and it's time to reign it in a little.

G. Family / Friends / Social Relationships Score: 7
I have a good relationship with my family, and I'm very lucky to have a good relationship with my in-law family too. I have some really lovely friends...some in real life, and some I only talk to online...but I know that they're there for me when it counts. Love that!

H. Community Score: 6
This was a difficult one to score. I feel that I am community minded, but perhaps I could do more. There are small things I do, like shopping in my local area, and promoting what's great about our local area to help boost the local economy; giving to charity, by either donations of cash or items; and other things, but I don't feel like I'm "serving" my community if you know what I mean. At the moment, I do what I can. Hopefully in the future, I can do more.

I. Fun Score: 5
I definitely need to have more fun.  I feel like I'm only half way there on the fun-o-meter! I want to laugh more and play more...this is most certainly a priority for me.

J. Spirituality Score: 7
I am not religious, but I am spiritual. I am happy with the spiritual path I'm on. It's a journey I'm taking day by day.  Eme has suggested that I need to pray more often (the kids go to a Catholic school), and I let her know that in my own way, I do.

Have you ever analysed your current life in this way? It's a lot more difficult than I thought!  I have used Mind Tool's "Wheel of Life" tool to compile this information graphically. Have a go, and see what you come up with...

Linking up with...

Week 4...Home Life Simplied

Creating my family mission statement...

This is something I've been sitting on for a little while, and mulling over...what is our family mission statement? To me, a mission statement is short and succinct. It's relatable and achievable. I have used them in business before, but never though of applying one to our family life. A mission statement needs to apply to everyone in the family, so I set about finding out what the kids thought. Here's a little of what they came up with...

• As a family we are at our best when...we work together, we catch up together and we play together.
• We will try to prevent times when we don't listen to each other...when we don't cooperate, we get in trouble because when we do naughty things and we don't listen.
• We will find more time with each other...to play the Wii, cuddle together in the big bed, play board games together, and eat dinner together.
• We will help each family member by...helping each other solve problems, listening to each other, make better use our time together, cooperate with household chores, and take responsibility for our belongings.
• We will help others by...making them feel better. We can go through our things and donate them to charity. Eme suggested giving people back massages...hmmm...
• We will stop procrastinating and start working on...listening to each other, exercising together, go for family walks, take the dog for a walk, and we should clean up after ourselves.
• We will be viewed as a family that...sticks together through thick and thin, as a family that loves each other, and leads positive and active lives. The Warrens are the kind of family you want to spend time with...laughing, talking, and sharing experiences.
• We will fill our home with happiness.
• We will make choices and decisions based on...trust, honesty, kindness, creativity, togetherness, cooperation, supportiveness.
• We will constantly renew ourselves by focusing on...eating healthier, exercising, and playing together; spending time alone to recharge.
• We can embrace each other's differences and ideals
• We can learn from our mistakes
• We can seek out new challenges
• We can laugh
• We can be nice to each other

I must say...I really underestimated Seth and Emeline. Some of the things they came up with were great! So, how do we put this into one statement?  To me, a mission statement is a set of rules or guidelines for living, and this says pretty much what I want to say about our family. It embodies the essence what our family is all about...

[available from Danielle Hardy]

I might just invest in this, and post it right at the front door so that we're reminded every single day.


Does your family have it's own mission statement?

Linking up with...

52 weeks to simplify your life

Scribble Shop | The challenge begins...

I have an exciting project going on at the moment. I've been selected to join in a challenge for the Scribble Shop...your one stop shop for all your creative supplies!   So, what's the challenge all about?   Scribble Shop have sent me a box full of crafting supplies. I had no idea what I was going to receive, and the challenge is to create something using one, or hopefully all of the products!  This afternoon, hubby picked up the box from the post office for me (seriously, why do I always miss the delivery person by about 15 mins?), and here's what I have to work with...


Not bad for my first video, hey! As you can see, it's quite an eclectic mix of product. I may well need more than one packet of Ferraro Rochers to get creative. lol. I have something in mind already, and I'll be posting my project here very soon...so stay tuned.
What do you think you might create with these products?

Wordless Wednesday | So, that was February...

I know February is the shortest month of the year...but did it have to fly by so fast?  Loved playing along with Fat Mum Slim's photo a day challenge...so much so, I'm playing along with March too!  Here's how our February panned out...

All of my photos were taken on my iPhone and loaded to Instagram. You can view all my instagram pics here...




 Linking up for Wordless Wednesday with My Little Drummer Boys; Wordless Wednesday; Better in Bulk; Live and Love Out Loud; Project Alicia; Angy Julie Monday; Naptime Momtog; Crazy About my Baybah; And The She Snapped; The Divine Miss Mommy; Tots and Me

Scrapbooking Sunday | Getting girlie...

This week on the WOW blog, I have this layout featured in the inspiration post! What can I say about these photos...you have to scrap the funny ones too, not just the ones where people are smiling nicely. lol. I love these photos of my friend Wendy and I. We always have so much fun when we're together.  Such a shame that we live in different states and only catch up once or twice a year!

For my layout, I have used WOW's "boys and dirt just go together" chip title, but only the "together' part of it. I have coloured the title with marker, then outlined each letter in a fine tip pen.  The "Whirlicious" flourish has been coated in the same colour marker as the title. The heart "ribbon slide" has been coloured yellow, and the edge defined with fine tip pen. A bit of twine threaded through finishes it off.

In other WOW news...WOW AltaMATZ are now on the market! I love this product already.  You can check out all of the fabulous designs here! Ask for them at your local or online scrapbook store.

WOW's filigree heart promotion is still running, but time is ticking. Entries close 31 March 2012. Make sure you head to your local or online scrapbook store to pick up some WOW chipboard for yourself so that you can enter! For all the details, click here.

WOW is also sponsoring CSI: Color Stories Inspiration at the moment, a fabulous and new colour challenge site!  Case File No. 9 has just been revealed. Here 'tis! Make sure you enter to win some great WOW products for yourself.

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Just for something a little different...I thought I'd have a go at the Bella! March sketch challenge. The criteria was to create a layout based on this sketch using Bella and/or Ruby Rock-it products.

I love a good sketch, and I just happened to have a couple of photos handy that would go beautifully with Ruby Rock-it's "August Moon" collection. I have also used products from the "Nostalgia" collection, as their flowers, coloured twine, stickers and diecut bunting.  I really liked the outside edge of the "Arbor" paper, so instead of covering it up, I cut out the centre and rolled back the edges in a bracket shape like the sketch.

These photos were taken at Eme's high tea birthday party. She looked so adorable in her pretty dress, spring hat and lace gloves. I would have loved to have had a party like this when I was a little girl. I'm so thankful Eme loves everything girlie too.

The tickets were cut from the "Nostalgia" tickets paper, then clustered with a floral trim, seam binding tape and diecut bunting.

Hope you're all having a great weekend! I've been busy getting scrapbook inspiration ready for the Storyboard Kits retreat I'm hosting in a couple of weeks. It's going to be a chaotic few days, but I'm really looking forward to it!

Scrapbooking Sunday | Frames, fonts and fun

Yes, I'm aware it's Monday...don't you love it when a scheduled post doesn't magically appear on your blog when you plan it to? On with the show...

Back in January, we went to Darling Harbour for the day, and came across a good ol' fashioned photobooth! They're such a rarity (at least in Wollongong), so we jammed all of us in there and proceeded to pull many a funny face.  I think we'll be making this a tradition every time we find one from now on.

I have kept this layout pretty simple...a splash of yellow paint, and some black ink around the edges to start, then layering of the photos, some stickers, and of course, some WOW chipboard.  I have coated the mini heritage frame with ink and glaze, then adhered it directly onto my photo to highlight us all being super silly.  The title is a combination of WOW's uppercase and lowercase Classic alphabet...coloured with a black market and glaze.

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Words or Whatever's filigree heart promotion is still going strong, and loads of entries have been flooding in. Have you entered yet? There's some great prizes to be won. Not sure what I'm talking about? You can read all about it here.  WOW's filigree heart is such a versatile piece of chipboard, and it can be yours for free!

Here's my layout using the filigree heart...and as I found out...it fits perfectly on WOW's lamp post sign!  I have coated the lamp post sign in a metallic bronze, then coated with glaze.  The heart has been coloured in teal and cranberry to compliment the Crate Paper patterned papers and stickers I've used.

To add more dimension to the heart, I have pushed a decorative pin through the centre, raising the chipboard as it went through. Here's the tip...if you want to add a pin to your chipboard, do it before you glue the heart down! I didn't, and had a troublesome time trying to push it through. lol. As they say...there's no mistakes, just creative solutions.

Did you do some scrapbooking over the weekend? I managed to create three layouts at my local crop night, which I'll share soon.

If you're looking for more inspiration, head on over to the WOW blog to see what the rest of the team has been creating...and don't forget to head to your local or online scrapbook store to pick up some WOW chipboard for yourself!

Home design made easy with Ethos Design! Part 1

Whether you're selecting a colour scheme, deciding which large pieces of furniture to purchase, or trying to discover your personal style...decorating your home can be a very daunting task.  Wouldn't it be nice if someone could do all of the hard work for you! Not all of us can afford the services of a professional decorator...so what can we do?

Introducing Anna Williams, owner/decorator at Ethos Designs...the answer to your decorating prayers!

I recently had the pleasure of being able to utilise Anna's design skills to reinvent our family/dining room, and her suggestions are fantastic! But more on that later...let's meet Anna!

Hi Anna! Tell us about yourself and Ethos Design...
I started Ethos Design in September 2010, but really, I’ve been designing my whole life. I can remember building houses from Lego blocks as a little child, and when I was a tween I used to cut furniture out of catalogues and use it to create moodboards. It must be in my blood!

When I first looked at establishing an interior design company I felt I had an opportunity to offer design services to those people who wouldn’t normally hire an interior designer. It doesn’t mean they don’t want a beautiful home; they just want to spend their money on furniture, and not on someone’s design fee! The idea behind Ethos Design was to create an interior design service that offered great advice and creative ideas but kept the costs down by using an online service.

The whole business is based around ‘Design Kits’; a customised design plan which gives someone all the information they need to create their dream house. It includes inspirational photos, lots of ideas, tips and instructions as well as a shopping list and floor plan layout. The idea is that by doing some of the implementation yourself, you are only paying an interior designer for the most important part, the designing!

What are the most common design questions you're asked?

There are so many! A lot of my clients know what style they like, but have trouble re-creating it in their homes, because they don’t feel like their existing furniture is working. Another really common problem is that clients have bought all their furniture, but just can’t work out how to finish it off and make it look polished like the rooms they see in magazines.  Simpler questions always relate to colours, such as…I want a warm white that isn’t too cream….I want a grey with a blue undertone…I want a neutral colour that isn’t boring!

What space do you find is the most challenging for your clients?

Bathrooms and kitchens are always tricky because the decisions are long-term and expensive to make. For decorating, most clients find the living room most challenging. A living room is the heart of most people’s homes and has to incorporate lots of activities from dining, entertaining and watching TV through to homework and craft. It can be tricky to include all these activities and still have a stylish space.

What has been your favourite space to design?

To be honest, I really love every client’s space, no matter what room or what style. There is always something so exciting to me about seeing somebody’s house and the things they love, and then seeing the fantastic ‘after’ pictures when people have received their Design Kit.  If I had to pick a particular project though, I always love to come home to my own home. The design process has barely started but I have big dreams!

What is your favourite designing resource?

I’m going to cheat and pretend that said ‘resources’! If you’re having trouble with planning your furniture, a website like www.floorplanner.com is a must. It allows you to draw the room, and then put in furniture. You can view it as a 2D plan, or a 3D elevation.  If you have a layout and need to start the decorating process, always, always have a mood board! Include your favourite furniture pieces, inspirational rooms, fabric samples and paint colours. It helps to have a clear vision of where you are going.  Now, my favourite resource for accessories on a budget has to be Etsy.com. Etsy is a treasure trove of creative and affordable art, pillows and home accessories.

Where do you see home design heading in the future for Australian home owners?

Toward colour and character. For a long time, Australians have been very conservative in their decorating. We saw lots of brown and beige, lots of leather and timber and the use of only one or two accent colours. Everyday I see people asking for more and more creative things; we are wanting to incorporate a more layered approach to ‘neutral’ using grey, beige, brown, black and white, along with more vibrant colours. People are starting to embrace pattern more with creative rugs, beautiful textiles for cushions and curtains and colourful wallpapers. And of course, there is more and more use of vintage and handmade items. It’s great to see a more colourful and authentic feel developing in interiors and I can’t wait to see more!

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Thanks Anna! I love that Australian home design is evolving, and becoming more our own.

I have had an interest in interior design for a really long time...watching countless hours of home shows (much to hubby's dismay), and reading piles of glossy magazines showcasing gorgeous homes.  Of course, this makes you look at your own space and question what can you do differently. I would love a home that looks like it belongs inside the pages of one of my favourite glossies, but wasn't confident enough to achieve it.


Here's how our family/dining space currently looks. It's an awkward L-shaped spaced with a floor to ceiling bay window and angled walls. Who knew that the house we fell in love with ten years ago, would be so hard to decorate?!!

I have no trouble choosing larger pieces of furniture for our space (ignore the tv cabinet...that was bought out of necessity, not design, and it's going!).  The problem is committing to art, rugs, lighting, curtains, and those little decorative items...resulting in an unfinished space (the vinyl forest on the wall was purchased 18 months before we installed it because I wanted to choose the right paint colour first!).    It's all of the elements pulled together, that lift your home from a functional space; to one that truly speaks to your style.  Thank goodness for Anna! I now know where I am headed...

Join me tomorrow to see how a "Refresh" kit works, what Anna has recommended for the Warren family room, and your chance to win a Ethos Design "Refresh" kit valued at $249!

Wordless Wednesday | At peace...

Last night, Andrew's grandmother, Nanna Chris, passed away...just four months after the passing of her beloved husband George. She was a lovely lady, and we will miss her dearly.

Nanna was so proud to witness Nathan and Racheal get married - 25 November 2011.

Nanna Chris pictured here with her daughter Annette, grandson Andrew, and great-grandchildren Seth and Emeline...Christmas 2010.

Rest in peace Nanna Chris...give Poppy George a big cuddle for us.



Linking up for Wordless Wednesday with My Little Drummer Boys; Wordless Wednesday; Better in Bulk; Live and Love Out Loud; 5 Minutes for Mom; Project Alicia; Angy Julie Monday; Naptime Momtog; Crazy About my Baybah; And The She Snapped; The Divine Miss Mommy; By Word of Mouth; Tots and Me