SC421 - Thank You

This is my card for the Sketch Challenge on splitcoaststamper.com located here.  This is a really cute sketch, but I couldn't seem to get a focus.  So I just kept doing things until this pretty card turned up.  Someone called it "the Creative Process".

The background is an A2 sized scrap of Co'ordinations Tim Holtz Ranger Distressed cardstock.  I guess they all get a piece of the profit today.  I love the stuff.  The stripes are Recollections from Michaels and the pennants - there are two together  - on top are what was left of a discarded paint chip.  I tied a doubled piece of twine - actually a "thread" pulled out of a big piece of burlap, and when one end was longer, I just let it hang because I liked the look.  Didn't want it swinging, so I attached it with a brad.

I cut a Spellbinders Petite Oval from a scrap, embossed the edge and then got to use my new Memory Box Honeyblossom Sprig die which I love.  I just glued it over the top.  Then I decided it better say something.  Ask anyone who knows me, I'm big on "saying something", so I added a Rubbernecker "Thank You".  I am pleased.

Yes! Snow!

This is unbelievable.  I have wanted snow for a long time now and we just never get any - at lease not any to talk about - and this is Wisconsin.  We got some this morning and I wanted this picture here to prove it.  This was taken through my upstairs front window about 15 minutes ago and yes, we have snow.  It's OK.  We are supposed to have snow in Wisconsin, but somehow this year, we keep getting missed.  It's not a lot and if you look closely, you can see the grass through it.  AND the sun was out in this picture, but my camera was facing right into it, so the picture is bad.  But the temperature is high enough that it might just melt so here's my proof.

FS312

This is my card for Splitcoaststampers.com Featured Stamper challenge this week located here.  I used a piece of dp cut to A2 size for the background.  Anything left over from a 12x12 piece for me is a scrap, so this is a scrap.

Next I glued vintage music which is pretty frail to a piece of sturdy cardstock and punched Tim Holtz Tattered Florals to make a couple of musical flowers.  I wanted to use four flowers as the Featured Stamper - Bonnie - did, (she used four squares)  but they were too big to fit and it was out of balance, so I "went artistic" for a minute and thought I would add to the music theme.  The notes are Stampabilities stamped with Archival Jet Black, cut out with scissors, and popped up to make the entire card a symphony.  The Happy Birthday sentiment is from a stamp fair.  Yay for Stamp Fairs.  I love this card because it's lighthearted at a dreary time of year.

Victorine Originals

This is my card for the current Queen on Splitcoaststampers.com located here.  I used two Victorine Originals snowman stamps for this card.  I used a scrap of dp for the background, then embossed a piece of white CS and tore it for the snow on the bottom.  Next I glued on the snowmen, gluing only the bottoms so they stand out a bit from the background.  The snowflakes are ProvoCraft dies - some of my very first and I glued them on.  Then I colored the noses, and scarf, hat and arms on the right with copics.  I think they are so cute.

Oh, by the way, if you check out and LIKE Victorine Originals facebook page located here and then click the Giveaway button, you just might win some stamps.  Check it out.  Aren't these just the cutest snowmen.

Homemade Granola

Today I made another batch of Homemade Granola. I wish I could share with all of you. I found a recipe in a magazine - Feb 2012 - and decided to try it. The first time I burned it really bad and had to pick out all the dried fruit and pitch it, but I practiced and it's downright good now. The recipe is from a Vermont Maple Farm and was from Country Living Magazine. I just wanted granola - not overly healthy, or astoundingly gorgeous to look at - but just good tasting granola that I could eat for breakfast every day because my doctor said my cholesterol needed help. This is what I found.

4 cups rolled oats - Old fashioned
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup almonds, chopped
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
6 T. raw pumpkin seeds
3 T. raw unhulled sessame seeds

1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. salt

1. Preheat oven to 300 F. Mix together first 7 ingredients.
2. Whisk remaining ingred. in small bowl Pour over first ingredients and mix well. Spread in two oiled pans (I use two glass pans - 12x13 and 8x8 Bake about 45 min, turning every 10 min I turned my oven off and left the granola in for another 15 min. It got crunchier this time. Usually I like it really chewy. Adjust to your own taste. I hope you try it.

HSCRC13 -Lift High the Cross

This is my submission to Patter Cross's Hymn and Scripture Challenge #1 for 2013. The challenge is located here:

The Hymn this time is "Lift High the Cross" and the scripture I chose is an excerpt from Exodus 15: 1,2 from the Message - as the Cross is the Victory.

The hymn was provided by Patter Cross. The verse is computer generated and the cross and heart are cut and/or punched from a cupholder.  The background cardstock is Basic Grey Aged and Confused.

Upside Down is Better

This is my card for the Queen for the Day challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com posted here.  I started with the card upside down with "sand" for the bottom and "dark cloudy skies" for the top color because I have had a few of those lately and I just thought it was great idea to show how I felt. But then I slept on it.

The next morning things looked a little different.  Isn't that just the way life goes!  So I turned the thing over.  Now it looked like "angry waves" in a deep sea, but with a very pleasant sunset, so I kept it this way, added the ship and got to use my brand new HOPE stamp from Paper Inclinations.  Hobby Lobby is such a grand place.  I'm always looking for a sale and they had one.  Yes! 

So now this says to me that the seas are still angry and sometimes I am out there in the middle feeling all alone but God is there and has plans for me, plans to prosper me and not harm me, plans to give me hope and a future.  What a great verse.  I am "hanging onto it" because the other option is not so good.

Winter Decorations

I don't know about you, but I usually have a tough time with Winter Decorations for my house.  I think it's maybe because all the glitz and glory of Christmas and then Winter is here is full force and I feel SO PLAIN.  And what can you do with "plain".  I try to make some simple seasonal decorations from things I already have around the house.  Goodwill is a good spot, but I already have LOTS from Goodwill so I just start digging.
This decoration is in a small corner by the front door,  at the foot of our stairway and is intended to move your thoughts to Valentine's Day.  I have lots of "collections" and at my house something that you have more than two of is a collection.  I have more than two Vintage Purses, more than two Vintage Hats and at least two Vintage Umbrellas, so we started there.
The lampstand is from Goodwill.  I found it this fall.  The cord was already cut off and the hat or whatever else I put on usually covers the "lampy" part on top.  Bob is an electrician and will take it apart for me in a minute if I ask, but as long as it doesn't show, I am fine using it as a display.  Goodwill has lots of different kinds of these.  The hunt is the best part.  The cloth is probably a yard of something I couldn't resist once and is not hemmed, but just put over the round covered box underneath.  I store wrapping paper in there.
I am not completely happy with this and keep moving the purse around.  I might try one that lays flat next.  This one has to be propped and I want the lampstand base to show.  Any ideas are welcome.  I sure won't feel offended.

City Lights

Sometimes I struggle with making a card and sometimes I just have a ball.  Today I  had a ball.  I wanted to try out my new Memory Box dies and I got a chance to do it - with a bit of a "wild hair" added on this Splitcoaststampers Wed. Sketch.  I used yellow cardstock for the first die cut which is the Cityscape Silhouette.  They I cut the Cityscape Nightline out of black and put them together.  I wanted a big moon and Nestabilities Petite Oval came to mind, so there you have it.  That's a BIG moon.  I did change some shapes and flip the sketch, but I think that's ok.  I added the red flower instead of the bow on the sketch sample.  The flower is Memory Box Honeyblossom Sprig.  What a cute name for a die.  The stars are from one of my oldest ProvoCraft dies.  I don't know the name but it's stars and snowflakes and I use them all the time.  The sentiment is my only stamp and is Victorine Originals.  I hope you like it too.

Sparkle and Shine

This is my card for the current Victorine Originals Challenge located here.  Just posted today, it's called Sparkle and Shine.  So if you didn't get enough sparkle over Christmas and New Years, go for some more this week.  Embossing is what sold me on stamping in the first place and this card is simply stamped and gold embossed.  It sure does shine.

Taking Down Christmas

Today is the day we take down Christmas.  It always gives me a few sad feelings.  Seems as if I am "undoing" the joy it gave me to trim the tree - hanging all the homemade ornaments made by the grandkids when they were small and beautiful ornaments made over the years by my more artistic friends.  I know this is not the case, but you know "feelings".  They sometimes tell the truth and sometimes they don't.  When the tree comes down, they LIE a lot.  I first need to "undress" the tree and then take a few walks around the house to find things like  my jar with the vintage ornaments and cookie cutters that's on top of the kitchen bookcase.  I think one year that one stayed up all year.  (There's no excuse for me)  We seem to collect doorbell ringers - you know thos pretty decorated big bells that you hang on the doorknob and they jangle loudly when someone walks in?  They are packed in their boxes.

 The Manger is empty.  It was under the tree and is now all folded up and packed away.  The angel over the doorway blowing the trumpet to announce the birth of Jesus has been taken down and is replaced by a Winter Greetings snowman sign.  The sparkley garland on the mantel  is down, but I did leave some of the other pretty stuff that just says "Winter" to me.  (Happy thoughts)  There are several spots in the house that are filled with greens from our bushes outside and the greens are now bone dry.  I worry about the ones on the mantel as we have had lots of fires this weekend.  So those greens will go today, but I may replace them with new ones soon.  Greens are SO NICE in winter and we have so many bushes that need trimming.  So most of my part is done.  Now Bob will take the lights off the tree and it will go outside for the birds for the rest of winter.  I hope taking down Christmas is not sad for you.  January is a good cooking month.   Get out some of your good recipes and dream a bit today.

Pointsettia

It's no fun being sick all week and especially on Christmas Week.  I have not accomplished much as I get way too tired out, but I AM pleased with this card that I made for the Queen for the Day Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers.  QFTD145 is located here.  The End of Year Challenge was to find the person who was Queen nearest your birthday and I was pleased to get Roberta.  I had not been able to make a card in her honor then.  Too much partying you think??

So I wanted so badly to play with my Tim Holtz Poinsettia and I was able to use it here.  I used a plain piece of tan cardstock for the Background that I ran through the Cuttlebug with a snowy Christmasy folder.  I hit the finished  piece with VersaMark and embossed it with some Tarnished Gold Embossing Powder.   The oval was left from an earlier project.  I touched the edges with VersaMark and also Tarnished Gold.

Then I found two pieces of K&CO cardstock from a mat that were different colors and cut out the Tim Holtz Tattered Pointsettia.  I stamped the blue petals/leaves with Hero Arts Old French Writing and the red ones with All Night Media music - two old favorites of mine that just never die.  I punched holes in the centers and was intending to attach the entire flower with a brad, but I found this button that I liked better, so I glued the flower down one section at a time and put the button on with a Zot.  The leaves and petals are all curled a little with my fingernail.  The colors are a bit richer than the picture shows, but I am pleased.

For Teri

I sure do hope everyone is getting shopping, cleaning, cooking and traveling all done in time for Christmas.  I am kind of stuck in the middle of all this and my poor dog is wondering just what is going on.  Because I am so far behind, I am posting this Birthday Card for my friend, Teri.  I will also send it, but it will be late. 

Teri is an old employee - the best ever - who moved away about 4 years ago and I still miss her terribly.  Some people you just can't get enough of and Teri is one of them.  So, Teri I hope you are having a wonderful birthday.  I love you.

Round Robin Cards

 My Paper Inclinations stamping group met on Saturday for a nice  Christmas Brunch and some fun.  A Round Robin card was to be the project - just for fun.  There were seven of us and we devided into two groups.  Each person got a blank card to "start".  You ended up with the card that you started.  We decided it should be that way because if you started the card out hot pink, some other person might not be overjoyed to get a hot pink Christmas card.  The idea worked well.  I am going to attempt to tell what happened for the ladies who were not able to attend.

Most of the cards start out white or off white, so I am going to put down the steps as well as I can.  On the above card this was the order.  The polka dot background, next the Christmas light sticker, then the corner doily and last of all the greeting, flower and gold cord.

 Card on Right: First the three pieces of patterned designer paper were glued on, then the sentiment, then the flowers and last the pinecones. All but the base on this one are stickers.

Card to Left:  This card started out red.  Green square was added, then the flower attached with a brad, then the Santa sticker and last the piercing and greeting.  These are by no means the prettiest in the bunch.  The ladies did an awesome job working together with the colors that came to them, and making each card look like a well coordinated piece of art.  I am so proud of them.  All you are seeing here are the ones I got to bring home.  All of them were very pretty.  Ladies, you rock!

Graduation Card

I have this wonderful Art Impressions graduation stamp that I just love.  So all my Congratulations/Graduation cards get made this way. I use the school colors which are usually on the announcement. This one is for a graduate from Ohio State University.  As you can see, the colors are red and white.  It's done in Print Shop Deluxe and is a tri-fold card size, but I cut off the third "flap".  "On Your Graduation" is printed on the front.  Then I glued a piece of red cardstock across from the greeting, stamped on white and glued it to the red with a border showing.  I added the piece of flower to this one because this is a girl and she is an artist.  I always love how they turn out.  They fit perfectly this size in a #9 envelope, but as you can see, you can cut off the top and bottom quite a bit for a different fit.  Try it.

Tattered Pointsettia-Just for Fun

Good Morning!  I have a day off and can play.  When I get a new stamp or die I have to play with it for awhile to see how it works best, so this card is just for fun and I am playing.  This is the Sizzix Tim Holtz Tattered Pointsettia die.  I have used a scrap of map dp that I love for background.   I cut the Pointsettia out of a piece of double sided  Close to My Heart cardstock and used both sides.  I inked the edges somewhat with Ranger Distressed Vintage Photo and Fired Brick and attached them all with a brad.

I need to say that the entire card has very deep rich tones, but I am camera challenged - among other things and I accidentally reset my picture taking  things, so need to get help getting it back where it was.  This picture looks very washed out compared to the real thing.  It IS very pretty and I'm excited about the die.

IC366

Still working on Christmas cards, so this had to be one.  This is my card for the Inspiration Challenge on splitcoaststampers.com located here

  I was inspired by a picture with beautiful soft tones of brown and white and an awesome brown tree here.  I made the background an off white because I wanted the stars to show up when I took my picture.  The tree is made of torn strips of Kraft type cardstock from a 6x6 mat stack.  Any brown paper bag would work.  This was already printed.  Next I stuck on the brown pearl flourish and some of the stars.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up Peaceful Wishes set.  These are not falling stars, but star shaped snowflakes.  Some fell last night and we had a little white on the ground  and some of the roofs and flowers this morning.  Yes, it's all gone now.  Falling snow is so peaceful, so I captured it on my card.

SC414 Ride to Work

The Sketch Challenge on splitcoaststampers.com this week was a challenge for me.  It reminded me of a half shuffled deck of cards, and what do you do with that?  Shuffle it some more, so that's what I did.  Lately when we drive in to work in the morning, the sun is just coming up, and beside complaining because it's in my eyes, I do enjoy the beauty of it.  Some days it's been awesome.  It starts low as a big orange ball.  Then you see it through the trees and finally it's over the top.  Just glorious.  I am such a wannabe artist that I tried to capture it here.  The sun is made with a cork and PSX ink.  The other images are all Victorine Originals and you can find them here.  The flowers are silk from Michaels.  When they get to $1 a stem, I get some and take them all apart.  My background paper is Basic Grey and the tissue strip is Tim Holtz.

Snowman Unassembled

This is my card for the Technique Lovers Challenge on 12-3-12 .  This is the link.  www.splitcoaststampers.com My computer is not cooperating right now.  The challenge is to build a snowman.  The idea here was that the snow was falling and the snowman was just waiting to be built.  I think he's waiting for a body.  I used ProvoCraft dies for the snowflakes and punches for the eyes and cut out my own hat and scarf.  Cheesecloth provided the snowbank.

IC365

I am extremely behind again and am starting to think it will be this way for the rest of the year. (I was going to say "life")  We have to think positive.  This is my card for the Inspiration Challenge for Sat. 12-1-12 located here.  The inspiration site was a wonderful place called Signals and I was inspired by the Caroline Abalone Cuff .  If you are looking, you need to click on the LARGE view for my inspiration.  The brown background is embossed with an inked folder and the sides are torn.  This CS was adhesive backed, so it tore really well.

 The flowers are done with the INK SMOOSH method.  That's the only name I know to call it and I don't know where I found it, but I fell in love with it as a use for reinkers.  A short tutorial is this.  Put drops of several colors of ink on one piece of glossy cardstock starting with the lightest first.  When you think you have enough drops, take another piece of glossy CS and smash it on top.  I always get too much ink on and have to hunt some for a color that doesn't look muddy and black.  After the ink dried and I found my colorful spot, I stamped the flower on it and cut it out.  It's glued to the log and I added amber jewels.  I like it.

Golden Ornaments

Hi Everyone,  I am so pleased with this card that I just had to post it.  This was made for the Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com last Sat.  Took me this long to get it done.  (IC365)  Check it out.  I started with a piece of Basic Grey Aged and Confused cardstock.  I first stamped a Victorine Originals evergreen branch two timea and then two different greetings - Victorine Originals Christmas Wishes and a Stampin' Up Holiday Greetings that I think I picked up at a thrift shop.  The ornaments are the fun part.  I used a Basic Grey 6x6 paper pad print and stamped the Stampin' Up ornaments - one with Close to my Heart and one with Ranger inks.  Then I used the dies and cut them out and embossed the edges.  They were already looking pretty good to me at that point, but I wanted a bit of sparkle, so I had two square charms in a bag and I attached one to each ornament with a gold brad.  I love them and want to make more.

Thanksgiving Tradition

Thanksgiving at our house is a menagerie of people who like to play games, watch football and do crafts.  On occasion we do a Thanksgiving craft and many times we have done Gingerbread houses as was the case this year.  This is my grandson, Ryan, and I at the start.  Usually I don't get to make one because I am so busy beating the frosting, but this year I threatened them with taking turns doing the beating and they were all very careful and used small amounts so I never had to make a second batch.  :)

This is the end result.  I call it The Neighborhood.  There was one more, but she managed to get away before the picture was taken.  No one EVER likes what they built.  Mine is the one with the TV tower.  There is also a pool in back that you can't see made from Sweet Tarts. 

The next one cheated (found an easier way)  She found a box the right size and just glued everything on.  OK...  The third is supposed to be something from Dr. Who. (I don't relate.)   I think there's a window on the back.  The last belongs to Ryan and everyone was horrified that he didn't unwrap the candy on the roof.  Less messy that way though, and I sure like it.

All of this is stuck together with Royal Frosting and if you don't know what great glue this is, you need to try it.  Here is a link to the frosting on cooks.com if you think you'd like to try it.  http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,163,153160-252200,00.html  It works at Christmas too.  :)

Cards for the Homeless

If you see this in my yard, you better come in because something good is going on.  I am a bit behind, but on Sat Nov 17th, My Paper Inc. group got together to make cards for a homeless shelter in Milwaukee called The Guest House.  There were 15 of us and our goal was 86 cards.  I had asked the girls to start at home and bring some card kits ready for the beginners to assemble.  Bless their hearts, they did.  Then my sister, Melody, who has been cleaning in her craft room, donated 65 beautifully made Christmas cards that just needed an inside sentiment.  These wonderful ladies finished off 183 cards and Bob - my sweetie - took them along with him to work this morning with plans to deliver them to The Guest House.  I am more than pleased and I know they will be too.

Vacation Cards

I can hardly remember the relaxed feeling I had when we were on vacation in Oct. Life had sped up more than I want to admit since we got back.  We rented a "cabin in the woods" as Bob is always wishing for one.  No phone service and no TV reception.  I LOVED it.  The weather was perfect and I mean PERFECT.  We went for walks, watched DVDs, did email, went on an ancestor hunt with great success and most of all, I was able to sit and just make cards.  This is a picture of most of the cards I made.  I did mail a couple.  The place we were is called  Cabin Creekwood and is in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.  You can find it online.  www.cabincreekwood.com  if you want privacy, solitude, gorgeousness all around you, wonderful host and hostess, and total relaxation.

New Victorine Originals Stamps

Hey Everybody,  I just got an email from Vicki of Victorine Originals.  She is offering some brand new Christmas stamps today.  They can be bought as a set right now at a DISCOUNT and will be sold individually starting next week.  Here is the link.  Check it out.  I think they are adorable.

More Sauerkraut

Hello again, After all the hoopla about my sauerkraut in the gal. jars in the back hall, I totally forgot to post when I finally processed them.  Here they are.  We have already tried some with bratwurst and it's yummy.
     I know not everyone processes kraut, but I just feel safer that way and I also love the look of the sealed jars sitting on my kitchen counter.
They are now looking good on the basement shelf.

Bookmarks

Hello Everyone!  I am finally getting a chance to post the bookmark picture to show you the type of bookmarks my stamping group made last time we met.  These are large print and decorated for a nursing home.  Even if they don't read, they all love getting a little gift and we made 60 wonderful bookmarks to hand out.  I have a pattern done in Word and can print out the bookmarks and change the verses if I want to.  Then each person  decorated in their style or however they were feeling that day.  They were all gorgeous!  It's a wonderful thing when something this small can give the person who made it pleasure and the person who actually handed them out AND the person who received them.  We will do this again!

Mr President

Hi Everyone,  I am excited to share a biggy in our family.  Our youngest grandson was elected Class President today.  We are so proud we are about busting our buttons.  This is the card I made for Ryan.  Let me tell you the story behind what's on here.  I have a whiteboard on my fridge and when Ryan was quite a bit younger, I used to put messages for the kids on there.  For a long time I had "Ryan for President" on the board.  He didn't like that, so one day I explained that it didn't necessarily mean President of the United States, but that it could be president of a corporation or even class president.  That calmed him down and this week he took me up on it.  I am so proud.

The sign - as close as I could get to his class colors - is there because when Ryan checked out a couple colleges last month, he had an appointment at one and when they drove in there was a special parking place with a sign - in lights - with his name.  He was bigtime impressed.

The inside of the card says, "Follow your dreams and expect them to come true".  We look forward to new exciting things for you.  We couldn't be more proud!!

More Mushrooms

Mushroom Soup!

Hi Everyone,  Today this is what's keeping me from making more cards.  My friendly neighbor up the road called last night to ask if I wanted some Puffball Mushrooms.  I don't think I have found one for about 5 years, so I was very excited and went to pick up three of them this morning.  This one is at least basketball sized.

Tonight when we walked the dog, we went through the woods and what do you think!  We found a couple small ones in our woods.  I make mushroom soup to freeze.  I don't add the milk until I am ready to use the soup, as I am not sure milk freezes well.  My recipe is below.
1 qt chicken stock
1/2 c onions - chopped
1/2 c celery - chopped

Peel and cut/dice mushroom and add to chicken stock with onion and celery.  Simmer for about 20 minutes, or longer. (I used half a mushroom this size for two batches)

Melt 1/2 stick butter or a bit more.
Add to 1/2 c flour 

Add some of the 'soup' to the flour mixture in a separate bowl and mix till smooth.  Then pour it into the soup and stir.  Careful.  It's hot.

Add milk and half and half to taste when you are ready to eat it.

I love it.  I love it, but mostly I think I am so excited because I conquered a mushroom.

Radically Grateful

Good Morning Everyone,  I just subscribed to a new blog called Transforming Common Days which you can find here.  I absolutely LOVE the first thought today and that's to be Radically Grateful.  What a super idea.  Susan started with "the sound of insects at night" and compares it to God's first deep breath.  Awesome.  I think we could all use some Radical Gratefulness and I will start by listing a couple of things I am grateful to God for today.

1. The ability to make greeting cards
2. The resources to make them with
3. Friends to send them to and that they give a lift.
4. The strength to do all the crazy canning I have done this summer
5. The 'beauty' of all the jars on my basement shelf
6. The GOOD feeling I get looking at all those jars - knowing God is providing and always will.

Have a wonderful day and You be thankful too.

Sauerkraut! Yes!

Good Morning.  Now that I have the cabbage all cleaned off the counters, table and floor, I will show you what I have been doing this morning.

                      Making Sauerkraut
I have done this once before and for a year the jars sat on a shelf in the basement.  I was afraid to eat them.  My friendly neighbor heard my story, asked how I made it and told me to eat it as sauerkraut was almost impossible to spoil.  I believed her and lived to tell the story.  :)  So here is the start of another batch.

       I start by cutting off the cabbage and slicing it in my food processor.  Easy, but messy.  I LOVE chewing on the cores.  They are so yummy and good for you too.  All you see here is going in the compost pile though.  And that's another story.  I made one when we moved here and my guy didn't like where it was so he tore it out.  Sigh.  Today he said he's making me one.  I think he got tired of all the "stuff" I kept putting in his Worm Bed, as he informed me this morning that it was a worm bed, not a garbage dump.  Fancy that.

Next picture is after I had the cabbage shredded and weighed.  I am trying to follow a couple recipes.  I really think I should stick to one at a time, but the easiest one that I really wanted to use, was a bit scary for me.  I needed more than "it spits and sputters for six weeks and then seals itself".  I think I would again be afraid to eat it.  So I asked my friendly neighbor up the road some more questions.

She told me that I could put a bag of water on top of the cabbage, tucked in all good and no air would get in and there would be no scum.  Woopie!  I have wasted a lot of cabbage after looking at that scum, so I'm hoping for the best here.  I don't have a crock without a crack, so I have this in three gallon jars and right now it's hiding in the basement stairwall in the dark.  My cousin told me that if you leave it in the light, it turns a yucky yellow color.  Hmm.  So that's what happened last time.

So next on my list is pizza sauce.  I found a recipe to can some on cooks.com and am working on it today.  I need to get down and get it on the stove and put the spices in.  Wish me luck.

Card Boxes

I will never be a teacher.  I have a stamping group that meets at my house - just for fun.  We make cards and bookmarks and STUFF.  Our extras go in a box and we give them away to a homeless shelter in Milwaukee.  I recently have made some boxes for my cards for a craft sale and was showing them off.  You always have to take the consequences when you show off.  The ladies decided they wanted to learn how.  I made the boxes from cereal boxes, backs of legal pads and whatever kind of cardboard I can find to recyle.  Remember I am the Recycle Queen.

So today was the planned day to make boxes.  I really stressed making samples of Step one, Step Two etc. and we dug in.  I don't know how you people who teach a class do it.  Maybe doing a class in front of a camera is different, but 8 ladies who all go at different speeds, is really HARD for me.  I am not complaining as I enjoyed every minute, but when we finished, I ate lunch and then took a nap for an hour and a half.  THAT tells me it was hard.  The picture is of the sweet girls who all made a box under my direction.  Hard to believe.

These boxes are covered with everything from designer paper, old sheet music, brown paper bag (on back of the sheet music box), page from Penneys Catalog and wrapping paper.  The wrapping paper is the butterfly box on the right.  I think they did a wonderful job.  (Clap  and hoot please)

The most important part is that we all had fun recycling.  Enjoy your weekend.

Yum! Sweet Pickles

Another canning day today.  Well, sort of.  These are wonderful pickles that don't have to be processed.  You just keep them in the fridge.  I never really liked sweet pickles much until I tasted these.  They are awesome.  I must have cut the recipe out of the newspaper - somewhere - years ago as it's awfully yellowed.  I tried it last year and watched Bob eat them all.  So this year I thought I would taste them myself.  I decided immediately that he would have to share, so I made another batch today.  There is nothing 'fancy' to learn.  Just throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them up.  I have reused some old lids here, but I DO STERILIZE the jars and lids.  It's just that no seal is necessary.  I will share my recipe.

6-8 cups thinly sliced cucumbers

1 cup onion sliced thin

1 green pepper sliced thin

2 T. salt

2 cups sugar

1 cup vinegar (white)

 1 T. celery seeds

I also found a recipe that is almost the same on cook.com called Never Fail Refrigerator Pickles (sweet) and they add alspice.  Check it out!  The recipe makes two quarts or four pints.

Corny Corn

Hello again,  Besides tomato soup, we did up some corn.  I was kind of worried we would not get any this year and we were lucky and found a farm stand on the way home from church last week.  We stopped again today and bought some corn that turned out to be wonderful.  I wanted to freeze it so asked Bob to help.  We used this method of microwave cooking to blanch the corn.  I didn't cook it the full 8 minutes.  But don't take your life in your hands and copy me.

With two of us, it went pretty fast and we now have corn in the freezer.  Next on my list is spaghetti sauce, and the bowl of tomatoes you see here is the beginning of what I will probably really get into tomorrow.  Today I need to just sit for awhile.  Oh!  Sitting is a great position to make a greeting card.  And I sure need to start sorting out what I will take to the craft sale in Sept.   Can you see my mind is going faster than my body?  Toodleoo...

Ahhhh! The Harvest

If you've been wondering why I have not put many posts on here lately, it's because it's Harvest Time.  At Harvest Time, my house becomes a wreck.  The floors are sometimes sticky.  The trash is always full.  The compost pile and the worm bed gets fed really well and I get stuff on the shelves in the basement and freezer for next year.

This year with the bad drought, I was starting to wonder, but I think Harvest has exploded and it's my favorite time of year.  The weather is wonderful.  You can sleep with the windows open - if you can stand the tree frogs around here, and you even get a surprise shower once in awhile.  We just got one that lasted about 5 minutes.  The drops were so big they looked like huge snowflakes.

Friday night our son and daughter-in-law came over with their tomatoes.  We combined them with some I had and made tomato soup.  Gramma's recipe.  This is it...
1 peck of tomatoes - 16 lbs. We weighed it AFTER we juiced them
6 small or 3 large onions - We used two large
16 cloves - these get put in a muslin bag and taken out after it's "soup".
1 hot and 1 sweet pepper - We have anti green pepper people so used one hot pepper
1 small bunch celery
We added basil too
Cook all together.  Run through food mill.  Return to stove and add some of hot soup mixture to mixture below (rue)

1 small cup sugar
1 c. flower
1/8 c. salt - 1/3 cup was just way too much.
1/2 c. butter.
Rub together.  Cook soup til creamy.  Pack in jars and process.

First let me tell you that I had added more words to this than there were.  It was basically notes of Gramma's to herself I think and I worked with it a lot to get it right.  My experience in making it with too much salt, too much sugar etc. and my son's modern ideas and a lot of "tasters" made the very best soup ever.
 I wish I had a beautiful picture of all the jars of soup sitting on the counter, but I was efficient this time and they are in the basement on the shelf already.  Here's the proof.  And anyone who uses the recipe takes their chances.  :)

Brown & White Plus One

Hi Everyone,  This is my card for the upcoming Victorine Originals Challenge.  I'm a little ahead of time, but wanted you all to know that there is only ONE MORE DAY of a Back to School Sale on Victorine Rubber Stamps online website.  Vicki is offering 30% off ALL rubber stamps AND  if you spend over $40 you get free shipping.  Get the heavy ones NOW Ladies.  This is a great deal!  And it ends tomorrow August 19, 2012.  www.victorineoriginals.com gets you to the site and to the Online Catalog.  Isn't this just the cutest vintage Santa!

CAS183 - Sunset Sailing

Hello Everyone,  I have had a really BUSY streak that I can't seem to get out of.  It's Harvest Time and I can't pass up all the good stuff out there, so I have been finding some to put in the freezer whenever I get the chance and it takes time.  I am even thinking of canning some things but that takes more time.  Anyway today I got some free time and did the CAS challenge on Splitcoast located  here.  It's a wonderfully easy sketch by Tenia and I used a sheet of Basic Grey Designer Paper and a PSX sailboat stamp.  I stamped the boat on the dp and then stamped it again on white CS and cut out just the sails and glued them on top.  Easy Paper Piecing!  The waves are run through the Cuttlebug and the top is cut.  Sentiment is Victorine Originals.

DTGD12 - Mistake

Good Morning, I need to show you all this card as I am embarrassed big time that I didn't follow all the directions on Splitcoast DTGD12 challenge.  It was a sketch that needed to be tall and thin.  I got the tall and thin part, but totally missed the sketch.

Did you ever have so much fun making a card that you forgot what you were doing?  I have to say it happens to me on a regular basis, but usually before I upload.  This time I realized it afterward.  Too late.  So I figured out how to delete the photo, but could not for the life of me fiture out how to delete the rest of the upload.  Now I don't want to show my face over there.  Don't worry.  I'll get over it, but today I'm hiding.

This is a long, tall card and will probably fit well in a #10 envelope.  The top butterfly is popped up and the bottom one is just glued on with three black pearls on the left side.

Now I'm going back to cleaning this craft room.  I always seemd to get distracted and it never gets done.  You would be amazed at how many cards I get made while cleaning.  I did find a missing stamp, so life it good.

WT385 - Tinkerbell & Pete

Hello Everyone.  Today is my anniversary and I needed a card for my sweetie.  I think this image fit as we are going to a local concert tomorrow in Waukesha and I do believe there will be dancing.  So here we are.  This is for the WT385 challenge on Splitcoast located here.  We were to be inspired by music or use music and I used a Tim Holtz tissue tape.  The image is not us - yet - but we may be heading in that direction.

Church Plant

Some of the reason for being so busy lately is that I am a total social butterfly, but another reason is that Bob and I are involved in a Church Plant right now.  For those of you that have asked "What THAT"? I will explain.

When an Independent church finds that a lot of the people who attend are coming from a different area or areas, then that church may decide to start another church in a different area to make themselves more accessible to the current members who are already travelling further than they really want to.  This is called a Church Plant.  (It's being planted in a different area and expected to grow by finding people who don't attend any church and inviting them).

We have never been involved with something like this before and it's new and exciting.  The first thing that has to happen is "awareness" which is basically advertising.  The people in the area who might be interested need to know that a church is starting, what it's all about and when it will open it's doors to the public.  So our small group of people which I think number about 65-70 including children is getting involved in every community thing going on this summer in the city where the church will be.  We have a pastor and a children's minister who are leading and organizing.

There is a Street Fair every first Friday and we have a spot.  There will be a festival with a parage and we have a float.  There is a city craft fair and I will have the church booth.  I get to sell cards.  Whooie!  We are basically trying to get very involved  in the community as this is the kind of church we will be when the doors open.

I know I'm long winded, but I hope this answers a few questions.

SC395 - Spotted Butterfly

Hello Everyone,  Can you believe this is my second post in one day.  Can you imaging what life would be like making cards if I didn't have to work.  I might even design something that was not rushed!  The problem with hurrying so fast is that I never get time to clean up.  So that's what I do if I can't sleep at night and that has not happened for awhile.  This card is for the Splitcoast SC395 located HERE.  The butterfly is from a Store Bought cared that someone gave me several of a long time ago.  I decided to put it to good use, cut it out and popped it up on the designer paper.  I like it.

TLC387 - Enlightened Ribbon

Hello Friends,   This is the card I made for TLC387 on Splitcoast located here.  The ribbon was supposed to be pleated or ruched.  I can't pleat too straight and what the heck is ruching anyway.  Mine's gathered.  I guess that's half cheating.  I've decided I can't make a decent card when I'm in a rush, and there doesn't seem to be anything but RUSH, RUSH lately.  And I have had the Gas Company AND the Phone Company here this week to check if we are falling apart or what.  We DID get some rain though and I am still very thankful for that.  In about a week I will be complaining about mosquitoes, but right now it's gorgeous here.  My flowers are even blooming again.