Happy Easter 2013

For Easter 2013 ~ my Walmart special "Hibiscus Plant" for $1.50 (three years ago), decided to make some beautiful blooms!! Isn't this just so lovely and this is on a cloudy day. Imagine it's beauty on a sunny day!! Need to get some job picks and fertilize. I water this plant 2 times a week, usually Wednesday's and Saturdays, watering till the water comes out the bottom of the holes of the planter. The leaves turn yellow a couple times of year. But new ones appear. So she just keeps blooming and blooming......best investment I have ever made for $1.50!!

So Wednesday I went to my friends house to color her hair and see some of things she is making on her cameo. She will be selling some of her creations as soon as she gets her inventory built up. She gave me lots of ideas too.......if I can figure out how to get it on my blog, I will show you what I made last night on my Cricut. MUSTASHES!!!!!
The above picture is the scene out her frontroom window.....beautiful....like a mini-vacation and home all wrapped up into a bundle!!!! I shall take a picture when the snow melts and the grass turns green....it will be very inviting then.
Her husband is having a heart operation this next week....pray for her and her husband Dougie.

Well, time to close here and get some things done around the house, oh and make some mustashes on my Cricut. Have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise

Zzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!

Have a good day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh....Cheers ~ Louise

"Oh Spring.....Where Art Thou? ~ Boating and Baking!!"

Where ARRRRRE YOUUUUUUUU Spring??? Everyone is looking for you, why are you hiding???
The above picture was taken in January, and this is what we expect for January. BUT it is March 23rd and is supposed to be SPRING!!!  My back yard is still full of snow!!! This time last year we were in the 80's! We went from winter to summer in the twinkling of an eye!!
Hopefully we will taste a bit of spring this year, I for one am ready!!!

READY for boat rides and mini vacations!! Yes I am looking forward to this ride.....winter vanishes away.....not to be seen again, for at least 6 months or more!!!! I will enjoy my summer this year and look forward to every day!!!

So I was on Facebook today...my usual place to go after checking emails and such. Found this recipe that I just needed to share today.....have not tried it yet, but will today for sure!!! I will give you the ingredients here, so if you are so inclined, you can try it also and let me know how it worked out for you.
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This is Red Lobster's Cheese Biscuit recipe done in a loaf pan.


3 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
... 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
4 ounces cheddar cheese, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 1/4 cups milk
3/4 cup sour cream
3 Tablespoons of butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan with oil. In a bowl, whisk together the first 5 ingredients. Carefully stir in cheese cubes until covered in flour mixture, this will help prevent your cheese sinking to the bottom of your loaf of bread.

In a different bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Fold the wet mixture into the flour and cheese mixture, stir until just combined, do not over stir. Spread the mixture into the loaf pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes and then remove from pan. Allow to cool for one hour before slicing and serving.
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Sounds good, doesn't it, this could be a keeper for sure!!!
Well, time to close this blog for today, need to get some things done. Saturday, wonder what I can get into??? Well, for one, make the above bread!! 
Have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!
Cheers ~ Louise 

Wordless Wednesday

Okay.......it's time to get the lawn mowers and lawn chairs out!!!! Today is Spring!!!
Have a great day despite all this snow!!
Cheers ~ Louise

New Products to Play With and New Cards

So today the mail man delivered these little treasures to my house. Exciting!!! 3 different purple patterned washi tapes, maybe just in time for Easter. AND....ta da ta!!!! Finally my Martha Stewert balloon punch. Been looking for this punch for a couple of weeks now. Archivers, Hobby Lobby, Micheals did not carry it. Didn't check JoAnns though. But now I have my punch and can make the colored balloons I desire and maybe even sell a packet of balloons in my Etsy store. just as I bought a packet of balloons from another etsy seller. Hopefully what goes around, comes around and someone will buy from me.....If I make the sale look interesting.

This is a sample of a card made with washi tape and some of the colors I have. This was a very fun card to make and has much potential to be most any card you desire it to be. I cut each end for the tapes to look like banners. I will be putting this card in my Etsy store sometime next week. It will be priced for $3.00 + postage, making it $5.00. still cheaper then a store bought card and it is homemade!!!

Here is one of my "anchor cards" this can be for a the sailor in your life, the retired sailor, the boat man, pontoon man, anyone having to do with water and boats!!!
I have a cricut machine (thanks to Sandi, who gave me one). Finally figuring out how to use it, took me long enough!!! Anyways I was looking for an anchor, looked all over the internet and also on SVG.cuts.com  No, no anchors. Finally found a site where they sold svg die cuts for $4 and can be downloaded to your computer......I found this anchor and it was FREE....my kind of shopping. Sooooo, I had it downloaded, now the project was to find it and transfer it to my Sure Cuts A Lot 2 program. Well, I managed to do it and here is the result of my efforts. Not a bad looking card, even if I have to say so myself.....LOL!!!

The above card, and this one are cut from the same card stock. I used the anchor in the above card and the cut-out anchor in this card.  Same anchors, two different looks.

I have decided to use a new background for my cards.....finally took down my little Christmas tree, but kept a string of lights....(I enjoy looking at the lights), can you see the little bunny peeking around the card??? Sort of a Christmas/Easter effect, but it makes for a nice place to take pictures of my cards.

Well time to close for today.........have some things to get done. Work is never done, there is always something to do. You all have a great weekend and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise

Ode to my Little Coffee Maker - Part 2

So here is a little snap-shot of my Melitta Coffee maker. I bought it back in 1972 or so. Used it for quite awhile, then put it away, often thinking I should sell it in one of my garage sales. It actually did make it in a sale but there were no takers...(thank goodness for that...huh??)
So one day I brought it up from the basement and started using it after my regular coffee maker died and have used it ever since. That has been a couple of years now....maybe longer. I have found that I am better off with 1 or 2 cups of coffee a day, rather then a whole pot.

Years ago I over-dosed on too much coffee, aspirin and diet pills, a bleeding ulcer developed and I was rushed to the hospital, bleeding from both ends in 1981. Actually, I did not learn my lesson the first time and again drank too much coffee and aspirin minus the diet pills. This episode was in 1986 and resulted with an operation and cutting the nerves in my stomach and my spleen taken out. Guess I almost died from that one but did recover. To this day, I do watch the caffeine intake. For many years I did not touch coffee and drank only tea. I started drinking coffee again about 2001 when I started working for someone who loved coffee. One of my many jobs was to make coffee and every morning would give him a cup. I had to learn how to make that PERFECT cup of coffee. Well, that boss left and I inherited a "new boss" who was also a coffee drinker, so by then I was close to being a "professional coffee maker." Also, another one of the bosses in the office liked his coffee too....but much stronger. I was making his coffee also!! So you see, I was making LOTS of coffee and I think that is where my down-fall came, cause that coffee would smell so good, I started drinking it again.

So here I sit.....my little coffee maker has bit the dust so to speak. I don't want to go with a 10 or 12 cup coffee maker because the temptation would be there to drink it allllllllllllllll and that would be dangerous for this girl. So, I shall continue my quest to look for a new one-cup coffee maker. Until then, I shall use T-filter sacs and dunk them in hot water.....makes for a good cup and I can keep it down to 2 cups a day. Oh, I still drink tea, lots of water and at the moment coconut milk and vegie and fruit smoothies. Not a soda drinker, too much sugar in that substance. 

The above picture is one of JP's meals that I make him for his late night dinner. Stuffed pork chops and roasted vegies. Cabbage, red potatoes, onions and kale. There's a dab of butter on top with some Mediterranean seasoning. Parsley embellishes the dish. He also likes his fruit with a dollop of yogurt on top. I think he had soup with this lovely meal also.

Tonight's menu is fish, broccoli and potatoes, fruit with yogurt and toast. He eats pretty good, but we do have to watch that his "gout" does not flare up and erupt cause that can last 4-6 weeks at a time. So we keep things simple with chicken, fish, chicken and fish and pork, chicken and fish, chicken and fish, beef and back to chicken and fish. With LOTS of vegies and fruit. Oh and he likes a fruit smoothie every day for lunch along with his big lunches.

Smoothie of the day:
1 apple
2-3 florets of broccoli
1/2 banana
1/2 cup coconut milk
Mix together and enjoy!!!

You all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!! Cheers ~ Louise

What........No Coffee????

AND.........my little personal one cup coffee maker BROKE!!!!!!
AND..........there are NO words to express how I feel!!!
My days just have not been good since you died!!
OH my little coffee maker I will miss you!!!
Millita Personal One-cup Coffee Maker, is there no way I can revive you???? Your year of make was in the 1970's, what must I do to find another just like you?????
I am sooooooo sad..........(sigh)
What will I do, do, do!!!
What will I replace you with????
How will I find that perfect little cup of coffee every morning???
OH....please do not leave me.....(sigh)

Sorry......no cheers here ~ Louise

More Birthday Cards

Hi everyone!!! How's your day going? It is a beautiful, bright, sunny and a springy looking day here in Wisconsin today. I need to take a walk around the block and get some fresh air, sometime today. 

Adding some more cards to my Etsy store in the next week or so. Here are a few more. #8. As you can see, it's a little girl with her balloons. I really need to get a little boy also....one of these days. Most likely it will be a "Magnolia" boy stamp, just have to find him.

Here you have the Number 10 card. Number 9 is in a previous blog down a ways a bit. You can read about it there. For now, I just have these two cards posted for now. I did have another card up but realized that too was in a previous blog. So I deleted them and inadvertently deleted my "furnace story" and Mug Cake Recipe.

Bummers! For some reason this computer is acting up too, so honestly, I am thinking of closing this blog for now. These things take much to long time to write and then when I lose half of what I wrote, makes for a discouraging day. So, I think I will just title this blog.........."More Birthday Cards" The mug cake and furnace story will come at a later date.........that's good though, you and I have something to look forward to and when my mind is mush and I don't know what to write....I will actually have two things on the back burner ready to write about.

So listen, you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
 (so actually I have 3 things to write about, if memory serves me correctly, I was going to write what the previous scripture meant....keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise

Birthday Cards and a Smoothie

I was asked to make a card for a man in Hilbert who turned 105 years old this week. Put the card on Facebook and thought I should add it here too. So what do you think??? Been having lots of fun making these cards, cause no two have been alike. I just picked up the "model T Ford" stamp at Hobby Lobby. So when I was asked to make the card, just so happened, I had the stamp.....good timing!

This is the inside of the "105 year old" card.

Here is a look at another one of my "Children's Cards" for a 9 year old. (that's a long way from being 105!!!). I can make this for a little girl also.....the ideas are endless, as long as there is a stamp, there is an idea!!! I will be putting this card up in my Etsy store in about a week or so. I think today I am putting #7 in my Etsy store today. The card will be for $3 + postage ($5 total). I should be charging much more for these cards as I put a lot of time into them. But I figure postage will cover that. I guess this is just a labor of love on my part and hopefully lot's of people will enjoy my cards and I will see a few more orders for them.

Had a smoothie this morning..........didn't exactly have THIS ONE. The above picture is one from a few weeks ago. BUT it looks pretty much the same........GREEN!!!!
Today's smoothie:
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 T Chobani yogurt (chocolate or any flavor you desire)
3-4 strawberries
handful of kale (what fits in the cup)
a few leaves of mint
a few sprigs of parsley
Mix altogether and enjoy!!

I bought a smoothie recipe book at Sam's club and found a few smoothies I want to try. There are so many recipes out there....guess it is just your preference as to what you want to drink.....they all look great. For me it is what I have in the house at the the time. Guess I will always have strawberries, blueberries, bananas, spinach and kale.....so that will be my "go to" every day.

Well, today will be a quiet day....guess I have to take my Christmas tree down.....it has Valentines on it right now.........thought about a St. Patrick's tree. Saw some Easter lights at Shopko yesterday and thought well, why not an Easter tree!?!? Don't think the husband would go for that though.

Took the taxes in yesterday.......now the wait to see if we get a refund.....hoping, hoping....please be kind Obama!!! Have to work on bills and balancing the check book today....another chore that takes awhile. There's never quite enough money to cover the bills....but it always seems to work out at the end of the month for some reason. Miracles upon miracles!!

Well, time to close here for today. Time to go make JP's lunch and get him ready to go off to work. You all have a great day and enjoy the weather that comes upon you. We are starting to get some of that snow that is hitting the midwest and 10 inches for Chicago. Guess we are getting snow-showers, better then rain-showers, ceiling doesn't leak with snow-showers.
Keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!!
Cheers ~ Louise



More Cards Made and in the Making......

Well, here are some more cards for you to take a peek at. The above #4 card is one I sent to the great nephew (or is it grand nephew) for his 4th birthday. Making this card is what got me started into making these # cards for children. You can seen how my cards have "evolved" from this one with more balloons. Which the above card could have used more of. 

Good news.....I just got an order last night for a card........the person having a birthday is going to be 105 years old!!! So guess what....I am making a card with "105" and a "model T Ford" with lots of balloons to fill the card up!! The inside will say "God loves you".

I have also made a card for someone in "blog-land" that I am a regular visitor to who is having her 45th birthday this month. So, guess what again....I made a "#45" birthday card! Been having fun with these cards, hope I don't get tired of doing them, but then again, I doubt it, 'cause every card is different, so how can I get bored with that????

When making cards, I usually make 10-12 cards the same then switch to something different....boredom sets in and I need a change. So making the "# cards" has been fun because no two are alike. That's good for me, keeps me interested.



Here is #7 with my little girl. I need to find a little boy also....these "magnolia" stamps are a little expensive with shipping and handling, costing close to $17.....so it may be awhile before I get my hands on that stamp.

The above Birthday card is for both man and woman adult cards. I used that new "washi tape" which is fun to use and can have many creative ideas. With this card I taped and cut the bottoms to look like banners and stamped the Happy Birthday. Then ran the card through my cuttlebug the placed "candy circles" on the card. Fun, fun, fun.

Went to the Hospice group yesterday and had a little fun. Donated 52 various cards, Birthday, Easter, Thinking of You and Mother's day cards. We made 100 Mother's Day gifts...Hersey candy wrapped in cardstock and a ribbon...they were real cute and simple.

After the Hospice meeting, visited Archievers and Hobby Lobby and found some more washi tape at "buy 2 and get 3rd tape free" so I bought 4 tapes and got 2 free!!! So now I have enough tape to last awhile and to make many lovely cards for Hospice. Found a "model T Ford" stamp that will look cute on the "105" card also.

Time to close this blog, as I can spend tooooo much time on this and not get much done around the house. Still have to finish my taxes and get them ready for the due date on Monday the 4th. 
Dinner is already made, so all I have to do is heat that up...."crock pot" pork and sourkraut and roasted vegies. AND make the "105" number and Birthday Card for the party tomorrow. Not sure we are going as yet....if there is food, oh yesssss, by all means!!!!

You have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise