A Few New Birthday Cards and Shopping

Just added this card to my Etsy store the other day. The black and white tape is called "Washi Tape" which is fast becoming my favorite thing to play with. The card is priced at $3.00 + postage. As will all the cards be in this post tonight.

Again I was playing with my "Washi Tape."  Made one like this in Pink.

Here is my "bumble bee" card. I bought a honey comb embossing folder at the Milwaukee Expo. The bees are colored with copic markers, but the bee stamp was borrowed. I did stamp enough bees to make more though.

Another "Washi Tape" Birthday card. I finally picked up a balloon punch so I am now able to  coordinate my balloons with the tape I use........such fun!!

Today I went to Archievers, using my coupon to copy a free page from JP's racing scrapbook. A friend wants a page from the scrapbook.......soooo instead of sending the page, I was able to get a duplication of the page for FREE!!! My favorite kind of shopping. I also bought some more Washi Tape..........Yay for Washi!!

Silver, blue and red plus red and green chevron. I have an idea for July 4th cards, using the red and blue. When I figure it out, I certainly will post it here.

Here is that amazing copy of the page from JP's racing scrapbook. I was very impressed. I hope Mark likes it, he wanted the news clipping of "Gatti does it all." It is from August 1972, so I was not too thrilled to let it go, even though he was willing to pay $100 for it. Hopefully we can get it sent, without it getting crushed or bent!

Well, time to close here, it is getting late and I need to get dinner ready for JP, he'll be home in a couple of hours. So you all take care and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.........someday I will do a post on that phrase I so often use.  Cheers ~ Louise

Dismantling a Water Fountain & Another Tree

A beautiful SPRING DAY on the Fox River!!!! Yay......it feels so good to experience a day like this!!!    It's been a long, long hard winter!!



This is on the Fox River, taken from Sandi's backyard.........beautiful day on April 27th, 2013!



When Sandi and Doug moved into this house, they asked if we would like this fountain. Yes! I said, I love the sound of water falling...probably I would like living near Niagara Falls too!! So on this beautiful day, we began to dismantle the water fountain along with the help of Sandi's grandson and his 3 friends. We got 2 loads of rocks, many of them were cemented together and had to be sledge hammered apart, but the boys enjoyed showing off their manliness and the walls came tumbling down!!!

Here you see JP and Doug relaxing while the 3 boys took another load of flagstone to our house. I think retirement is agreeing with both men!!!

In this picture you see all the flagstone dumped in our back yard. Now the fun begins. I think I will put the fountain in this area by the garage as the fountain will be nearest the electrical outlet. I am going to build the stone around the lining (some how). It may take me all spring and summer to finish it, but it should be good exercise moving the flagstone around. I may check some of the stores in town to see their displays before I start though and then check out prices for water pumps....not sure what I want yet, but I know I want a pump that SOUNDS like a fountain.......some fountains can sound so wimpy. So I will be listening to a few fountains, they are so relaxing!!!

I will need to get a picnic table to sit by the fountain, as we already had someone saying they would like to come over and picnic with us when the fountain is finished! Deal.....sounds like fun!!! Hot dogs and hamburgers coming up!!

Today, April 29th. We woke up to the sounds of chain saws and men cutting the tree down across the street!!! Ha....the demise of another tree!!! These trees get so big, then they become a problem....sorry to say, we have two trees needing to come down or be trimmed.
Do I hear a bid to donate the work or $$$$???
I guess the cost of this tree was $1200. The tree in back of this one, to take down was $3000-yikes!!!
I am afraid to ask what our trees might cost!! 

LOOK OUT!! Here comes a limb!!!

One of the limbs came down and hit the side walk of the neighbors house, made a big dent on their walk-way.

Well, the big, bad tree is down...not sure what they are going to do with all the chunks of wood.
 The  neighbor on the right likes to burn wood in his out-door fire place, perhaps they will keep it.
Maybe we will see lots more sun and flowers cause the neighbor on the left likes to landscape!!!

Time to close this blog, you all take care and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!
Recipe tomorrow, if it turns out good. Lental soup, "Jacobs Way"
Cheers ~ Louise

PS...I am not sure what is going on with the above paragraph, looks fine from here, but when I update and view blog this is what it looks like........sooooo.....I guess I will leave it. Have played and played and can't seem to fix it so, I will leave it........se' le' vee!!! That's life!!!

In Answer To My Prayers...and The Tree Finally Came Down!

Yep..........hip-hip-hooray!!! I have hated this tree for 22 years and FINALLY it came down yesterday with the help of the City of Appleton. I am soooooo thankful that this tree met it's demise. It was a messy tree that caused many problems.

It's name is "Siberian Ash"......it should have stayed in Siberia. I never cared for it's spreading of little seeds, on a windy day it would look like snow....but those little seeds would start to grow into little trees with roots going so deep, it was sometimes hard to pull out those roots and they had to be snipped off. I was always pulling those little trees, like weeds, before they got started, all summer long. Fall would come and this Siberian Ash was always the last to drop it's leaves and there were little spots on the leaves.....diseased???? There I was, after raking leaves from my "Soft Maple".......finally this dreaded tree would drop it's leaves. They weren't big leaves, no, little leaves that were hard to rake!!! 

Another thing it did was drop limbs and twiggy branches all over our yard after a storm and there I was, picking up after it. My biggest fear was that we would have a bad storm and it would fall and land on our house while knocking out the electric. The above picture was taken from my back yard.....I think now we will get more sun in our backyard. This tree was done growing and was matured, so the workers said. When I pass by walking Kylie, I shall count the circles to see just how old this tree is.

In this picture, the storm of April 10th caused a lot of problems for the neighbors. You can see all the limbs this tree dropped plus one of the branches sheared the neighbors electric meter and shut down electric for us and the rest of the neighbors on this block.

Many times I would pray....God, get rid of that tree. I often thought I would drive some copper nails into the base of that tree....trees don't like copper and it kills them, so I have been told. So, God took care of it........I was not looking forward to the stuff this tree drops, the seeds, leaves, branches, twigs. This kind of tree needs to be in a forest, not in the "city limits" Amen and Good-bye you miserable tree.......Good-bye!!!! I was not a fan and will not miss you!!!

We are celebrating today, so you all have a great day and enjoy the season of Spring and
 keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers and more Cheers ~ Louise

Some Happy Birthday Elephant Cards

Hello everyone, how is your day going??? It is bright and sunny today with a chance of being in the 70's this week-end.  Maybe I will work in the yard the next couple of days. The tulips are popping up along with the crocus's. Noticed my chives are popping up too!! Have not checked the rhubarb yet....but I am sure they are about to make their appearance too.

Added some birthday cards to my blog today, will be putting these cards into my Etsy store today and tomorrow. I am trying to get more of an array of cards in my store....I don't have a high traffic flow, so maybe doing a couple of cards a day for a week might help, may hurt the pocket book, but it is worth a try. I do promote my cards on different teams and get lots of lookers, but no buyers. Hopefully with the economy picking up, things will be better on Etsy for everyone.

Both these elephant cards are called "Polaroid Picture" technique where I taped off a rectangle or square then dabbed ink on the inside then stamped the image in the same color ink. Then inked in red the hats and balloon.

Both are Birthday Cards and will be for sale in my Etsy store for $3.00 + postage a piece. The inside of both cards say "Simply enjoy it all." This still is cheaper then buying a card at the store....I have seen cards for $5.00 to $8.00 at high end stores. Low end stores are $1.00 to 3.00, but you get what you pay for and my cards are all handmade with much love and creativity goes into each card.

Well, time to close here for today. Have to go get some things done. Chicken in the crock pot for today. Will be a simple recipe:
1 whole chicken (fryer or roasting)
pam spray
salt and pepper
seasonings
Pam spray lightly your crockpot. Place whole chicken in pot. Cover with lid and cook on high for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, put on low and cook for 6-8 hours. DO NOT ADD WATER!! The chicken makes it's own juice and gets golden brown.

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

Wordless Monday..............

Me....on a Monday morning..........another cup of coffee please!!!

A Card for Etsy and Turkey Soup

This might turn out to be a short blog, depends on how wordy I get. Goodness, it's been five days since my previous blog and a lot has transpired since then! Whilst typing at the computer on my last blog;

• Two explosions erupted at the finish line of the Boston Marathon......many people hurt and mangled. Then the hunt began for the terrorist.
• A few days later two poison letters were sent to Obama and the Senator......the terrorist captured.
• Then the explosion at Waco Texas and again many people hurt and killed and much damage for many blocks. Haven't heard who or what started that explosion yet.
• Then the killing and capture of the terrorists from Russia who bombed the Marathon finish line.

During all this the weather has not been good to us, with spring STILL not making it's entry. People are talking that we may see Summer come first. The weather will go from cold and rainy and snowy to warm and no in between. My goodness so much to make your head swirl. Life sure can be over-whelming at times.

On a lighter side...........I had U-Verse was installed on the 12th and it is working wonderfully well, there were a few kinks, but they got worked out. If ever you are deciding to change your TV-Internet-phone bundle, do go with U-Verse, I have the basic and that has enough channels to keep me as a happy camper. I don't have to fool around with rabbit-ears anymore and that just about drove me crazy!!!! So it is true everything has a happy ending eventually.

I was able to go to the Scrap Booking Expo in Milwaukee yesterday. Really enjoyed the outing, weather was good for traveling. We left at 7:00am, stopped for breakfast at 9:00am and got to the Fair Grounds about 10:15am. We followed "Mr Garmin" all the way down there and did not get lost!!!! "Mr Garmin" is something I shall have to get if ever I take a trip to someplace far away.

Anyways, we got to the Expo and received a free gift of a glue stick and hot pink color pen. The first vendor I went to she was making butterflies with a die cut that cost $15 and running the butterfly through her cuttlebug. Well naturally I had to get that butterfly..........wish I had had the $$$$ to get a few more die cuts. But, maybe next time. Found a few other things that I will eventually use....probably tonight.

Well I think I shall close this blog for today. I have some turkey soup cooking. Put the carcase in hot water and added some chicken stock. Time to take the turkey out of the hot water and add some onions and noodles and then debone the carcase.....nothing more added, just a simple basic soup for today. You probably noticed the card way above.....That is a birthday card using the "Polaroid picture" effect. Taping off the edges then sponging the card and stamping the image. I will be putting this card in my Etsy store today for $3.00. Just a simple basic Birthday card.

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

Baked Oatmeal, Wolves and Ice

Hi everyone.........how's your day going??? We had a fun weekend, went to an Antique Show at the Tri-County Ice Rink, so much old stuff and sooooo much jewelery!!! I did end up buying an old ring for $12, fit me good on Saturday but now today, it flops around, should have gone with a smaller size. Oh well, it will fit again on another day.
The above picture is "'Baked Oatmeal with fruit" which I made Saturday night for Sunday morning. Needless to say it did not last for Sunday Morning, half of it was gone. I was going through my recipes and found this one, still having some bananas on the counter, was a good excuse to use them up. Here is the recipe:
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or I used almonds
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooked slightly
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen), divided (I used strawberries and blueberries)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine the rolled oats, half of the nuts, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir with a fork to combine. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the maple syrup, milk, egg, butter and vanilla. spread the sliced bananas in a single layer over the bottom of the baking dish. Top with half the berries. Sprinkle the dry oat mixture over the fruit in an even layer. Pour the liquid ingredients evenly over the oats. Sprinkle the remaining nuts and berries over the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is browned and the oats have set. Let cool 10 minutes before serving. 

In this picture you are seeing my freshly made "Wolf" cards. I really like th is wolf, I borrowed it from a friend, so had to stamp lots of wolves so I could have lots of wolf cards. These cards will be in my Etsy store today or tomorrow. I will be selling them for $11.00 a set. Otherwise the cards would sell for $3.00 a piece. The inside of the cards are stamped with Happy Birthday and Thinking of you.

Here is a close up, I like the diamond cuts and sewing lines adds a little something to all the cards.

Another picture of the ice that caused so much trouble on April 10th. Our electric went out for 7 hours and when it came back on I was not able to go on the internet........had to have an upgrade via AT&T. All in all, it turned out okay. I guess the one thing I notice the most is how much I depend on Electric and most certainly take it for granted.  What, oh what will we do when the electric goes out for good, like in the TV show "Revolution"????

Well for the last hour and half I have been watching the news.....The Boston Marathon was running and two explosions took place at the finish line as the runners were coming to the end.....2 people dead and 23 wounded. They don't know if it was bombs, but it might be what it was. How sad. This will be news for quite a few days. I know a lady that was going to run the Boston Marathon but decided to go to California for the marathon out there.....I think God directed her steps for sure. She could have been in Boston and got hurt. How Great is God to care for even the little things in our lives!!!!

Well, time to close and go make JP his lunch and dinner as he is getting ready to go to work. I need to get dressed as I still have my robe on while typing this blog. So you all take care and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!!!
Cheers ~ Louise

Missing In Action ~ But Still Alive

Hi Everyone....hope you all made it through the storms that passed by your way. The above picture is our backyard...as you can see a few limbs fell and the yard is under water, almost like a little river back there. We have lived in this house for 22 years and it seems the last couple of years there has been lots of water back there...not sure why.

We really need to get the tree trimmed as it has been losing lots of limbs...last year a big limb fell on my swing and bent it in the middle....it still works but is not as cute as it used to be. 

In this photo you can see how the limbs are weighted down by ice. Was such a strange day with the wind blowing and the sound of the cracking ice......was almost an eerie sound. Didn't want to be out there too long for fear of getting hit by ice.

The next store neighbor is cleaning the front yard. That big old tree (which I dislike cause one day it may drop on our house) dropped a lot of limbs and his electric meter broke from the house, causing no electric for him or the neighbors across the street. We were fine till about 11am.

Here you can see limbs fell on both houses across the street AND on their electric meters cutting them off also. It sure was a mess. I was thankful we did not have a mess to clean up and then about 11am or so the electric went out on us too. 

I had to get really creative, getting JP ready for work was a challenge. I brought out the fondue pot that works with sternos, so I was able to heat up my coffee and make him some soup and peanut butter sandwiches.  He usually likes a smoothie for his lunch, so rather then that just gave him a bowl of fruit and yogurt.

Another problem that arose with no electric.............uge.....no computer. How in the world do you keep in-touch with the outside world????? Well, I had my transistor radio so I could listen to Rush, Sean and Mark, so that was okay........that passed the time. But when you realize, we take electric for granted don't we.....what would we do without it??? How did people do without it in the old days??? I just don't know.

The electric finally went back on about 6pm......whew.....I sure was happy. I had the candles ready for a long night. So, when the electric went on, what was the first thing I turned on??? Right, the computer.......everything working but the Internet....nope, could not get on the Internet....now what?????

So I was "Internetless" 3 days!!! I called "AT&T" to see if I could get back on.....nope I had to get an upgrade in my Internet service...........so I thought while doing that I might as well get an upgrade with the TV....I have finally turned in my "rabbit ears" for a better TV service........hey, now I can get "American Pickers" I am a happy camper now.

So, just in case you might have missed me, this is the reason I have not been around. No Internet can make a person very anxious and depressed.....that was me. I had to revert to doing things that did not need a computer.......good grief, was like living in the "old days." Well, hopefully things will get better. Now with all this new "high tech stuff" I have to think about getting a new computer....still using an XP and XP is about to run out of time by the end of this year............I see another up-grade coming!!!
You all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise

New Coffee Maker and a Cooking Show

Hello There Everyone. Hope you all are doing great.
Well, finally I found my Keurig Coffee Machine at Kohl's. I was intending on getting a red coffee maker (as it would match my Dutch Oven.) The Keurig came in 4 colors, white, black, silver and red.........well guess what???

I thought we would try Bed, Bath and Beyond, they only had black. The salesman sent me to Kohl's saying he hated to send me there, but because they only had the black mini-coffee makers, he knew Kohl's had many more colors.  Like yellow, purple, blue and turquoise. Now the dilemma was Kohl's had NO red coffee makers....so now what???? Well, my next favorite color was Purple, so I settled on this color, even though it matches NOTHING in my kitchen, I still like it and it makes a great cup of coffee.

Here's a front view.....the interesting thing about this color.....it changes colors!!!!

See? Now it is blue!! Two colors in one.....hahahahaha

JP and I went to a cooking show this past Saturday. The 12th Annual Cooking Extravaganza. Chef Jeff and Chef Mark made some tasty meals.....this is one of them. "Sausage and Lentils with Spinach" I will walk you through it.....it tasted oh, so delicious and is one of those soups that "sticks to your ribs."
We weren't going to go, but then Friday night I decided I wanted to go and I am glad we did, cause we came home with some good recipes to try. My next recipe will be Zucchini Cornbread........the zucchini is sitting in the fridge right now.
Following is the recipe for "Sausage and Lentils with Spinach"

1/4 cup oil, canola or other
1 cup onions, medium diced or omit if you don't like
1 cup celery, medium diced
1 cup carrots, medium diced
In a large kettle, saute' the onions, celery and carrots in the oil until translucent.

1 1/2  pounds kielbasa sausage (I used turkey sausage) sliced
Add the sausage and cook until it begins to render.
Add 2 quarts (8 cups) water
2 Tablespoons soup base (I used chicken base)
1 pound lentils
1 teaspoon thyme leaves, dry
1 teaspoon pepper (I used 1/2 tsp.)

1 pound of Lentils
12 cups spinach, fresh and chopped

Here I am stirring everything together except the spinach,
letting it simmer uncovered for approximately 45 minutes.
Add the chopped spinach and wilt it for 5 minutes.
When finished, the dish should be well-bodied and the lentils tender.  Serve immediately with rustic bread for a healthy and satisfying meal. This is one of those meals that it would be wise to always have lentils on hand........I think I will.

So there you have it....my little tutorial on making this wonderful meal that JP will eat tonight along with bread and fruit.......hope it fills him up.
You all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise

My Friend Kylie and a Few Cards...............



Hi Everyone, how is your day going. We are dreaming of warm summer days on the front porch, peeking out and seeing flowers and butterflies.........yes many beautiful days to look forward to!!! I took this picture of Kylie last year and played with www.picmonkey.com really should go there and play some more.....but seems I find other things to occupy my time.

Here is one of my anchor cards I made a while back. Using my cricut........found the anchor on a site where it was free to take and as I was looking for anchors that was a pretty good deal for me. So I made a bunch of anchors in blue and red and in different sizes and just went about making lots of cards. I will be putting one of these two cards in my Etsy store....been a while since I listed a card on Etsy, must be more diligent at listing if I want to sell a few cards. Either my cards are no longer appealing or the economy is bad cause none have sold for a long time. Oh well, guess I will donate them to hospice so I can just keep making them. Always nice to have a card for every occasion and not have to go out and buy cards. Have you seen the price of a card lately? Yikes!! Enough to choke a chicken!!!

This is my second anchor card in blue. The tape at the top and bottom is "washi tape" which I love working with. I did pick up some 12 X 12 paper like the tape, so will have to sit down and play, see what I come up with.

I have some wolf and elephant cards in the making.......will take pictures of them and add them to this blog in the next few days and then list them on Etsy. Haven't been downstairs to make cards in a few days....was spring cleaning my bedroom last night, whew, do things get dirty and dusty and moved the bed around, TV and sewing machine....makes things look a little different, almost like a new room. I heard a long time ago, that when a person moves their furniture around that they are longing for a vacation.....yep, that sure is true....JP and I have not been on a vacation since 2005, went down to Indiana for a conference.....would be nice to take a road trip again to someplace we have never been. I hear Hawaii calling my name.............someday!!!

Well time to close, have to go get ready and run an errand, you all take care and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!
Cheers ~ Louise

Just Some Pictures.............

Hi everyone.......thought I would add some pictures to this blog today. My last entry was March 31st.....guess I have not done anything to merit a blog lately, so I will just add these pictures.
The above picture was taken at Sandi's house looking out her front window to the right towards the City bridge. Pretty soon the river will be busy with boats passing by and then it will feel like SPRING has sprung!!! Sandi's craft room faces the river and is always sunny (when the sun is shinning of coarse). I am afraid if I had a craft room facing the river, I would be looking out the window at the river all day and not get anything done, craft wise. Hahahaha.........



This is a picture of a blooming Christmas Cactus????? I thought they bloomed at Christmas time???? This is April now and.....LOOOKIE....they are blooming. Guess they are a bit confused too. JP got these plants from a lady a couple of years a go. They usually were predictable but now they seem to bloom when they want to and not when they are supposed to bloom.



Here we have Kylie. I was playing around with picmonkey.com and this is what I came up with. Should really go back there and do some more playing and make a new banner for my Etsy store, maybe a change in the "window" would help change things up.

Nothing much happening here.....JP and I have date plans to go to an "antique show" on the 13th and possibly the following week I will be going to the "Milwaukee Expo" for the stamping and scrap booking show, if all goes well. There is a lot of things going on this month.....Paper Sale, Lucky Dogz Sale, Cooking Show........but can't go to everything, and everything does cost lots of "Moola Money"!!!! So I will forgo the last 3 and do the first 2, golly and this is just the first 3 Saturdays of April!!!
SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!!! YAY!!!!!

Time to close here.....told ya' not much going on, and that is fine, don't want too much excitement!!! So you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.
Cheers ~ Louise