Some Wednesday Card Making from 2 Weeks Ago...Already!!!

Hi there everyone....can you believe it....May is almost over!!! This sure was a tough month on all sides. Physically, financially and emotionally....still trying to come up for air!!!! We had Doctor appointments, a tooth pulled, extra $$$ spent for co-pays and teeth, taxes due on the house, sometimes it seems like I just get done paying a bill and it shows up in my mail box again! How does one keep their emotions at an even keel??? I don't know, have not figured that out yet and here I am...71 years old!!! My mother never told me....everything was always "calm and quiet" by her. Geez....I'm still waiting for calm and quiet days.

Well, probably the only thing that keeps me sane is my card making. At least I can make sense of that. Made these cards 2 weeks ago at Betty's. The top card was interesting. Sponged in the brown, then stamped the trees and embossed. Then colored in the brown with copic markers...stamped the ducks and Thinking of  you. The bird is a die cut. Really nice card, maybe this could be a sympathy card also.

These next two cards....I have always liked these two girls....they come from Stampin'up. Betty got these stamps from www.wish.com for 1 dollar for the set. The only thing different is that the girls are smaller then the original set AND you have to wait 4-6 weeks for the stamps to show up in your mail box. Guess they come on a slow boat from China. They still make for a nice card though. I really like the bottom card the best, the girl and saying are stamped on a grey card stock then white and grey pencil used to color in the girl.

The above card was embossed with a folder, sponged in the blue and then speckles to outline the swirls. The girl was stamped, a second stamped girl was colored and cut and pasted to the original girl....cute huh??

The card below with the birthday mouse was cute...just colored in with copic markers. Sweet and simple.

Now this card.....was not made at Betty's. I have a friend whose birthday was coming up, and found this pug saying and doggie at the Revealing party last month. This is what I came up with for a card for her. She loved it!!! 

The side panel is braided. I had seen this technique a long time ago and wondered how it was made. Finally found the directions to make it myself. Colored in the pug with copic makers, the blue is iridescent blue taped on white card stock, then run through the cuttlebug with a doggie paw print folder.

It has been SO warm here...we go from cold and snow to warm and 90 degrees in about a month....how crazy is that. But I guess I will take this weather change, it's a breeze compared to being in flood areas and volcano areas!! That's for sure!!! So much going on all around the world, such devastation everywhere. Do you think God is trying to get our attention???? He has mine!!!

Well time to close here....need to get something done around the house...like maybe the dishes in the sink. I have some planting to do....a few tomato plants. Got my onions planted, radishes, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, pepper plant. We did something different this year. I got 2 big planters and dirt. I have one on the drive way, where it will get more sun. The other planter is along side the fence, it should get about 4-6 hours of sun. I don't have to bend down to plant....the ground is not so far away at least!!! I took pictures of the planters...JP and I were putting wheels on the planter in the driveway, so I can roll it around to catch the sun rays....we'll see how that works. Next blog I will show you how my garden is growing.

Have a good evening and keep looking up.....better days are coming, here, there, or in the air!!!! Cheers ~ Louise

Talking About Cheese Cake and Blue Apron Dinners

Hi there everyone...how you all doing this fine day. I should be outside pulling weeds.....but....I am dreaming about cheese cakes!!! I have had this post in a draft for over a month or more. Thought I would bring it up and drool a little bit today. I finally bought myself a (promised at Christmas) spring form pan. I had a couple, but they were rusted and old, inherited from JP's mother and grandmother. I decided to sell them, some lady bought them....months later I saw them in her garbage, they were moving.

I have been wanting to make a cheese cake for a very long time, checked out many, many recipes, till I found this one, which was easy and to the point. My graham cracker crust was VERY thick, which JP liked. As you can see, I had a few crumbs left over and sprinkled them on top of the finished cake.

This is my first "real" Cheese Cake, I shall have to make another one, as the spring form pan sits in the dinning room on a desk, for me to look at every day, if I put it away, I will forget about it. This way, I see it everyday and it reminds me to make another cheese cake. I have seen some recipes using the spring form pan....shall have to try them all someday.....sometimes, someday never comes....right?

A slice of heaven in one bite! Yes....this was! So good, plain and of course embellished with strawberries and  Cool Whip!!! No calories.....right?!?!?

Below are some meals I made from Blue Apron. Sorry to say, I have cancelled my subscription to Blue Apron. They were great and I really enjoyed them.....but to keep JP happy I had to eliminate spicy seasonings....like below, radishes were spicy....so no radishes on his Ginger Pork Burgers with Black Bean Mayo and Roasted Broccoli. Ginger makes things spicy too, so eliminating those two things kind of defeats the taste of what the burgers were supposed to taste like. This meal, by the way was delicious because for my burger, I kept the ginger and radishes in my burger.

Top Chef's Winner - Seared Steak and Mushroom Sauce with Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli.....now this was delicious.....really liked this recipe and will do it again...no spicy in this dish.

The next meal was Chicken Paillard and Olive-Raisin Sauce with Warm Fennel and Potato Salad. No spice here either. What was interesting about this meal, was working with the fennel bulb. Never worked with that before. Again the meal was delicious with no spice.

I had to think long and hard about cancelling my subscription, and had to think of all the pros and cons. The meat and vegetables were always fresh and if there was something missing from the box, all I had to do was contact them that an item was missing and they would give me credit for the next meal which would be FREE!!!

Blue Apron is a good company to deal with. Never had a problem with them. Don't know about the other companies that offer meals. But I think just for now I will stick with the basics for JP, meat and potatoes and fruit. Simple, simple and more simple.

I found too, that being on the Keto/Atkins diet, Blue Apron was not conducive to those diet needs. Too much salt and carbs are added to the delicious meals. So that was another reason to cancel. Blue Apron said they were sorry to see me go and if I ever had a change of heart, I could come back. I guess, no change of heart is in the future for me at this point.

Well, time to close, I guess my weeds are calling my name as are my cards in the basement....yeah, there is always SOMETHING that calls my name. "Hey Stupid" (my step-father always called me a "stupid idiot" so I am used to that name.)

Talk later....I shall have more cards for you from Betty's class last Wednesday. Keep looking up....better days are coming soon and very soon. Cheers ~ Louise

JP's 71st. Birthday!!!

Hi there everyone. Hope you are enjoying May....it's going quite fast isn't it? Well, we celebrated JP's 71st birthday on Wednesday....just him and I. His brother called in the morning and sent a card also. This is the card I gave JP....a vintage boy wishing him a Happy Birthday. He wondered who that was, and if that was him?!?! NO JP....not you!!! I didn't make it specifically for him, it's just one of the many cards I've made, that I happened to like, so I gave it to him.

This is the present I gave him, you probably have seen it on TV. Got it for $40, it has the whole Bible on it and plays continuously till you stop it or change the verse or chapter. It also has some meditation songs on it. I am sure JP will not listen to the songs, but I will. Sorry the picture is so blurry...but you get the drift.

It's King James Version. So JP likes that, and the voice of the reader has a slight English accent....which I like. Easy listening.

I bought JP this little 6" New York Cheese Cake from Festival Foods. Lite a candle and he blew it out....make a wish, I said, and he gave me the stink eye and said that was superstition!!! Oh geez Jay.....then name a blessing!!!

This sure was a yummy cheese cake, will buy this again. Only $6.99. It was on sale....so I am not sure what the regular price was....but for a birthday cake for two...not bad.

See the cards in the back? The one on the left is the one I gave him...the middle one, his brother gave him, the one on the right, our insurance man gave.

So here we are, piece's of cake cut with strawberries and whip cream. No calories here, right????

This is what is left.....actually half of that cake left, JP had another piece last night and this afternoon....probably another piece tonight. OOOOO and I have to have a piece too!!!

Tomorrow I am going to a plant sale, hope I can find the same tomato plants I got last year.....they were the best tomatoes ever!!! "Beef Steak", the plants got SO BIG and had over 50 tomatoes, that was 3 plants. Maybe this year I will get 2 plants.....it was a very good year for tomatoes!!!

I think we are going to have a nice weekend....so I may work in the yard and try and clean things up a bit. Bring my ceramic animals out from the shed. There's enough for me to do....maybe too much. If I take a little bit at a time, it won't be bad, but I want it all done right away. So I can enjoy the summer, is that possible???

Time to close here...the Schwan's Man will be coming soon and Hockey is tonight, the Vegas Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets....it should be a good game!! Kylie wants to go for a walk too.

Talk to you all later, keep looking up cause better days are coming, whether here, there, or in the air!!! Cheers ~ Louise

PS How do you like my new background.....I needed a change and a new look. You may see me change the background many times. BlogSpot was so limited in their designs, Glad I found this site. I have about 26 new backgrounds to try...so stay tuned!!!
http://thecutestblogontheblock.com

Cards, Hospice and Plantings

Hi there everyone. Sorry....I have been missing again, living life can sometimes get in the way!! We have had a few doctor and dentist appointments along the way, since my last post on May 3rd.

JP had another tooth pulled again. Pretty soon he won't have many teeth left in his mouth...my cooking skills will have to change to accommodate his toothless mouth. Plus, the Doctor said today his cholesterol was getting a little high, which means we have to lower that with a different meal plan. (Doctor wanted to put him on medication, but JP did not want to be put on more meds.....more meds means more side affects.)

More fish and chicken, less red meat and maybe cut down on the carbs. That would help me a bit, then I won't have to cook two different kinds of meals. What he eats, I can eat and what I eat, he can eat. We have 3 months to work on his diet and I think, 6 months before I see the doctor again for my A1C and lose a few more pounds. My A1C was down a few points. 6 months ago it was 6.7 the 1st of May it was 6.2. I attribute it to the keto diet. Less carbs that turns to sugar. Maybe JP will find more energy in his step, he always seems tired.

So these following cards are what I made last month at Betty's. I really love the card above, plumbers tape placed on card stock and run through the cuttlebug. Then we took alcohol inks and dabbed on the tape. Added the butterfly and embossed the birthday wishes verse. Pretty easy peasy.

This is a really cute card. On the front of the card you see the frog taking a dip into the water. As you can see, acetate was used, stamped on ovals, the inside of the card is the frog coming up for air....funny card...we all laughed when we saw this card.

This was an easy card to put together. The little bird was colored in with copic markers and cut out. The green was white and we colored it, stamping the dots and star flowers, adding the thank you and speckles for embellishments.

The card below was another easy card. Colored the flowers and stamped the verse and added the ribbon. Love the colors.

Wednesday we have another session of card making at Betty's, I always look forward to making cards and getting new ideas. 

I have 3 weeks to get more cards made for Hospice, then that will be our last meeting till September. We get the summer off...that is always nice, then I can leisurely make cards and get geared up for the next session and Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas! Gosh....time do fly when we make cards according to the seasons.

I have done a little planting....onions, radishes and spinach.....not too sure the spinach seeds will grow, as they are vintage '92, just thought I would try. I did buy some new spinach seeds today....tomorrow I will plant them along side the old seed and see which grows 1st......any guesses??? I will show you in the next post my planter, I am pretty excited about it and maybe getting some vegies this year.

Well, time to close here....it's getting late and I am getting tired. Talk later. Keep looking up cause better days are coming around the corner. Cheers ~ Louise

Some Cards I Have Been Working On

HI there everyone....hope your week went well. Mine was quiet....which is fine with me. Monday I went for my A1C blood test.....hopefully everything is fine. Will have my Doctors appointment next Tuesday. JP has his blood tested next Monday and his appointment with the Doctor the following Monday. I think he has a dental appointment also....but I did not mark it on the calendar....oh, oh I better get that checked out.

So lately, I have been working on some cards. 5 early Christmas cards in May.....I picked up these die cuts at the secret stamper reveal party. When I saw the card on the table I quickly ran back to the "extra image table" to see if there were more angels....and yes, these 5 were left. I had some sparkle backgrounds in my stash of paper and made my own angles. I must look for this die, I have no idea where the die for these angels was bought at a store or ordered online. I would like to make all my Christmas cards this year with this angel die.....so pretty!!!

Here we have some "Just a little note to say..." I saw this idea on the Internet. The wavy lines is a SU die and the notes I picked up at a stamping store.....I will get the name and place it here, when I look in the garbage for the package. I had originally made my own notes....but alas, they were backwards and upside down. Although the original card on the internet was the same, so I thought that was the way it should be.

When JP saw the card (he plays accordion and keyboard) he smiled and said my notes were wrong. So he went and got a music sheet to show me what the notes should look like. So, I proceeded to take my handmade notes off and replace with these notes....looks much better, if I have to say so myself. I have no idea what the tune is on each of these cards....maybe someone musical can tell me?

Now here is my "secret stamper image for May" I have probably had this stamp for 4-5 years and have no idea where it came from or who I bought it from. Sorry. I thought she would make a great "Mother's Day Card" I colored her in with copic markers, the real beauty of this card is the background. I used iridescent foil. Which was really fun to work with.

There are many ways to use colored foil....I thought only a laminator could be used, which I did not have. I went on YouTube and found other ways to foil. Tim Holtz has a few techniques to foil using sticky embossing powder (I shall check that out tomorrow at Hobby Lobby.) The foil is laid on top, tapped and rubbed then the foil slides off. Now I can't remember if a heat gun was used, I will have to check that out again.

Another lady used her cuttlebug with the foil papers and embossing folders, getting the right amount of pressure, she ran the folder through with the foil. It did not look like much, but she used painters tape to rub the foil off in the places foil did not stick.

Another lady used different colored embossing powders, a stamp and heat gun. While the image was still hot, foil was laid on the embossed image, if it did not take, she heated the embossing up and laid the foil on top again. You could use words or flowers, the ideas are endless.

My method was using foil paste. Rub the paste on the card stock with an old artist spatula (maybe I will look for a plastic one, mine was metal and all rusted.) Place the foil on the paste and I used the heat gun. The top one turned out better then the bottom one. But then, it really doesn't look bad either.

Here is a question for you....do you think these cards need something more, like ribbon, sequins, gems???? Or maybe it is fine just the way it is? Or, maybe it is too busy??? I might add a "Happy Mother's Day" greeting using the embossing powders.

Let's see, what else could I talk about??? I have started a couple of blogs and saved them in a draft. I made my first cheese cake a couple of weeks ago....pictures and blog to follow and maybe another cheese cake.

Another draft, is the cards made and received at the "Secret Stamper Image" reveal party, Part 1 and Part 2. There will also be a draft for the cards I made at Betty's house last month. My how time flies, I will be going for another session next week, maybe I should hold off on last months cards till I get another set of cards made at Betty's.

Hospice is next week Friday, so I need to get cards and Father's Day favors done for that. That could be another blog....Mother's Day and Father's Day favors.....we'll see.

Well, time to close, hockey is on...Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets. I am rooting for the Predators...so far the score is 2-0 Predators leading. I am also rooting for the Vegas Golden Knights....so we shall see what happens. Hopefully next season it will be the Chicago Hawks in the Playoffs!!!

Have a good evening and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise