Hospice Cards for February 3rd.

Hi there everyone, been awhile since I last blogged. No sorry's, just not much to talk about, I guess. Since Jay's death 16 months ago (now where has that time gone?) life has been quiet but there has been a lot of hoop jumping for me. And I do so hate the hoop jumping at times. Going around and around and getting no place.

Making cards has been at a minimal because the inspiration has been probably at about 45-50%. I look at a lot of ideas, but none click. I had a lot of Christmas cards made for Hospice, but then, I came down with the flu, or was it Covid, or was it a virus....I just don't know, but I was out of commission for 6 weeks, after which I finally started feeling better. It took a lot out of me, wonder where I would have been if I had not gotten that one shot, no, no boosters, just one shot and I got it when Jay was about to enter the assisted living. I thought, better get the Covid shot or assisted living people won't let me in to see Jay. I did run into a couple of times that the nurses almost did not let me in to see Jay, but only after they realized who I was and who I was visiting.

So, I missed the December meeting and now the next meeting is on the 3rd so for the last couple of weeks I was into making Valetine cards and using different techniques as you can see by some of these cards.

The 1st card is embossed, and I just added a cardinal at the bottom....pretty simple. The 2nd card is an old valentine card that I ran off on my copy machine, then fussy cut and glued onto some fancy background cardstock.

Now the above cards were kind of interesting to make as it was an idea from Simon Hurley. I found my stencils and placed the stencil on cardstock and taped it down so the cardstock would not move. Then smudged with ink where I wanted color, lifted the stencil and "wah lah" this was the result. Check out Simon Hurley on YouTube, he has lots of great ideas.

"Sending BIG hugs" card is from a card kit from the UK. I have had this in my stash of stuff to make for a couple of years and finally put them together. Sent 2 cards off to someone in VT and one to WI. They were so cute; I could not resist.

Valentine cards are so much fun to make. These are a few I put together with odds and ends I had sitting around. Of course, the bottom two are copies from the original Valentine cards which I copied, fussy cut and glued to the background.

Now these were fun, the backgrounds are from a pad of cardstock, probably in my stash for a couple of years and finally used the cardstock. The flower is from Stampin Up. Embossed with gold, pretty flowers with many ideas for using it.

Now this was a fun technique and another Simon Hurley idea. Using a 3-D embossing folder, the inside of the folder was inked (ink the indented side) then spray with water, place cardstock in folder and run through the cuttlebug or whatever machine you have. Take out of the folder and let dry and run the process over again. I am going to try this technique today with another 3-D folder I have using multi colors. Want to see how it works.

Last but not least, I had these 4 prints from wherever I received them, cut them out and placed them in a frame, simple but pretty. Well, now I suspect, if you are still with me, you probably got bored and clicked on to the next blog....that is okay, this is getting pretty long and anyways I am ready for it to come to an end. I need to get started on doing some work around the house.

So, I had 61 cards made for the January meeting and now that I have an extra 4 days to make cards, I shall try for 75 cards total. That would make a record for me as I usually make 50 or so cards.

Well, I shall close this blog before it turns into a BOOK!!! Here's hoping the weather by you is not so cold and with little snow. It's supposed to be sunny and cold here for the next 5 days, that will be nice. You all have a great February and keep warm and looking up, Jesus is coming soon!!!! Cheers ~ Louise
 

December Already??

Hi there everyone, how you all doing??? Can you believe it...December already, how did that happen? Guess I should start putting a few things up for Christmas. Well, I have this snowman on the front door so far. Put my Christmas finger tip towels up in the bathroom. Maybe I will pull out the Christmas tree tomorrow. I still have to do my Christmas cards yet. Don't know why I am so late ?!?!?!

Thinking I would like to make some Christmas cards like this one below. I did not make this card, but I can try to duplicate it. I guess I just like the pink and white colors, very soft looking. Wish I had that jolly snowman though, he is really cute.

So, the Hawks are playing the St. Louis Blues tonight. St Louis Blues are Stanley Cup Champions this year. So everyone wants to beat them, but then the St. Louis Blues want to beat all the other teams. Hope not tonight.

I called the plumber today, our toilet is not working properly. Plumber says it needs a new seal. We had this toilet installed in 2015....this is the 2nd time we have had to have it repaired. (Our last toilet lasted 24+yrs. with no problems). He will be here tomorrow. Gosh, I hope it is not too expensive, I am trying to get bills paid down, not add to them. Oh well, guess that is life.

I am going to cut this post short...the game is about to start in 10 minutes or so. When the game is over I will PS you the score at the end of this post. You all take care, see you later. Keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

PS. Hawks lost 4 to 0 not a happy game at all. I think the Hawks are in last place in the Central division. Gonna be a miracle for them to crawl out of the hole they got into. But nothing is impossible.

Prepping for Christmas

Hi there everyone. Been Missing in Action lately. Christmas is right around the corner. Just have to decorate the tree.....well, it's a little table top tree. Probably have had 15 years or more....but I manage to decorate it differently every year. Last year it was red, white and blue......this year maybe red and white lights then it will be good for Valentine's Day.

 This is a picture of my little tree from last year.....

 Above a picture of my village and manger scene from 2016. My village changes from year to year, because I place the houses in different places. This year I bought a scenery picture for the back ground, a snowman water tower and new fencing for the village. I like to buy something new every year. I will wait till after Christmas to get some 1/2 price stuff for the village. Gosh, I think I have had that manger scene for at least 25 years.....wow!

 In this picture above is the birthday card I made for my 3 year old great niece.....she is into Minnie Mouse. I saw a few Minnie Mouse cards on the Internet, this is what I came up with.

Thought I would add a few jars of my canned tomatoes. I had a bumper crop of tomatoes this summer. I dried tomatoes, froze tomatoes, canned tomatoes, ate tomatoes, made soup, sauce, BLT's. Yep, we had a tomato good year. I think this winter I will buy a couple bags of dried beans and can those also. I love my Power Pressure XL because it does so many things. Last night I made spare ribs, gosh they were good, cooked them in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes then under the broiler for 3 minutes.....sooooooooooo gooooooood!

So tonight, I will decorate my little tree and make some Christmas cards....just a little bit behind here. Don't know why, just don't feel like putting myself under more stress. I told JP all he was getting for Christmas was a $3.00 (maybe $5) gift certificate filled with quarters so he can buy a few apple juices at his work place. I gave him 3 Christian work books that I found while cleaning a file cabinet and gave those to him. I had the intentions of going through them myself, but never got "A Round To It." Maybe I will look for something that he can open on Christmas Day. He told me to go find myself something and use his SS check. Well, that won't be till after the 20th. So I better start thinking now......I am thinking of getting one of those "SodaStreams" so I can make seltzer water. JP goes through a lot of seltzer and I like it too. Will have to look into that. I really need a new radio that has better reception. I like to listen to Sean Hannity and Mark Levine and all I am hearing is a bunch of static.....uge, that drives me nuts!!!

Well, time to close here....thought I would post something before it got too late into the month of December. You all have a good night and keep looking up ~ better days are coming!!!!
Cheers ~ Louise

Cooking Up a Storm

Hi there everyone.....let's see, it is now December 8th??? Where is the time going? Goodness, it has been a week since I last posted on my blog. Actually, I did start a post but never posted it. It's still sitting in my "draft file" so here you have a new post.

Guess I have been busy with cooking up a storm, making cards and decorating for Christmas has been taking up my time. Below was one of my Blue Apron meals from last week. "Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Browned Butter-Grape Sauce & Farro" Yep, this was one of those keepers. Never cooked grapes before and they were delish. Butter was melted and browned then the grapes added with shallots and rosemary and the juice of a lemon, salt and pepper added to taste. This was poured over the roasted cauliflower

Here is a closer look of the dish, the cooked farro was added to the arugula and lemon zest, drizzled with oil and tossed with salt and pepper.

Yesterday I made this stew....McCormick's Slow Cookers Savory Pot Roast with beef, mushrooms, onions, potatoes and carrots. Cooked for 7 hours.

In this picture is the result......oh my, the meat was so tender. I would give this a #10 on the meter scale of comfort food. And so tasty too. There will be a couple of meals here....so we'll eat well for a few days.

Tonight I finished putting up the Christmas decorations. My little tree is in blues this year....blue and white lights and blue ornaments, very pretty. Decorated the front porch this year with the same blue and white lights and a few snowflakes. I will take pictures for my next post.

Well, time to close this post....this computer is acting up tonight. You all keep looking up.....things will get better. Cheers ~ Louise

A New Year Begins With a Fresh Pumpkin Pie

Hi there everyone and Happy New Year!!! Hope you had a good first day of this New Year!!!

My day was relaxing. I finally cooked up that pumpkin I bought back in October. Had plans of making a pie with it in November but, it never made it to the oven. Neither did it make it to the oven in December.

But here it is...January 1st and that cute little pumpkin got cooked up.....sorry no pictures in it's original state. Here it is all cooked up. I put the pumpkin in the oven for about an hour. Took it out and let it cool down a bit. Peeled off the outside shell, then sliced it and scooped out the seeds and stringy stuff.

Then I put the pieces of pumpkin in the blender and added some water....it became very creamy (Thanks Biz for the blender). See the pie shell crust? I tried something new, using a spoon, turned it over and pressed down on the crust-ridge making a different kind of design. Think I will do this from now on.

In this picture is the recipe I followed from www.cooks.com , the pie shell and the pumpkin liquid all mixed together.

Here is a closer look at the recipe....hope you can read it.....tis very simple.

AND.....wah lah....here is the pie all baked up....my crust got a little burned, next time I will add some tin foil for protection.

Here is the end result of that pie....OMG...guys was it ever delicious....this will be my "go-to pumpkin pie" for now on. YUMMY I want another piece but my blood sugars might be too high tomorrow morning, so I will reframe from having another piece tonight.

New Years dinner was hamburgers, mushrooms and cheese, potato hash browns, beans and salad. Simple but delicious. Well, time to close. I am recording "The Taste" so I want to get downstairs and watch that. (gee, I wonder if I could get the taste on a spoon of what we had tonight...that would be a challenge.)

JP is sleeping right now, he had the day off. Sooooo, my schedule changes quite a bit when he is home. Can I say, I enjoy my evenings when there is just me and Kylie. Well, you have a great day and I shall post again when something exciting happens...or not. Cheers ~ Louise

Cards Made @ Stampin'Up Camp

Hi there everyone. How has your week been going so far. I have been a little lackadaisical lately. Was not feeling well yesterday, so I took the day off. Today? I woke up with the side of my chin and side of mouth swollen. A complete mystery to me. Not sure if something bite me during the night or I if had been chewing on the side of my mouth during the night...never had that before. The inside of my mouth is a bit sore, so maybe I was "chomping at the bit" during the night. Must have been having some stressful dreams or something. Well, today I am feeling okay, except for the swolleness. Got up kind of late today, like 12noon. Yikes, half the day was over.

Well yesterday JP finally went to a foot Doctor, after suffering with planter warts and corns for over 3 years. The last couple of weeks he could hardly walk around. I said, "Go to a Doctor"!!! I have so, come to the point that I am tired of his moaning and complaining of his arm pains, feet pain, gout and arthritis pains and a few of his other ailments. He does not listen to me when I say, go to a Doctor....finally he did. Whew, the doctor shaved his corns and wart off and put acid on them. He can actually walk without pain. He can go for follow-up if need be. Hopefully this will work out for him.

Well on to some better news. Sunday I went to a Stampin'up Camp and in the following pictures are some of the things I was able to make. In the top picture is an envelope. Stampin'up has a neat gadget that can make any size envelope you want.....I think I may buy this...it was only $19.95....just think of all the pretty envelopes I could make.

In this picture is a little box. Stampin'up has another neat gadget that makes all sorts of different size boxes....cute...but I don't think I would get a lot of use out of this box maker. So, it's not on the list of things to get.

This was a fun craft. Making bags, I guess you could buy the bags from Stamping up....also buy the stamp set and the die cuts. The bag turned out cute...just need something to put in it now.

Now this was a pretty card...the stars were stamped then die cut. The little stars are a punch. The back ground (light blue) went through the Big Shot to give it a textured look.

I liked doing this card, just a simple tag that was stamped "thanks". I actually bought the punch for the top of the tag, which you cannot see too well. I think this will make a nice card for Hospice, where I could stamp most anything seasonal on the tag, happy birthday, thinking of you etc. and make it work for any season I decide.

Here is a cute Christmas card....for some reason I had a problem following directions on this one and needed to re-do the card. The green back ground just barely fit the white card. I probably needed to cute it down a bit. The green back ground with the candy cane and saying was originally on a square, but I had it turned around and could not fit it right. So we just die cut another piece of green to fit the white piece. Oh well, that's how cards are made....from "sometimes" mistakes. 

Last picture, this is what I won as a door prize....yay...I don't usually win things at doings like this, so I was happy to come away with something. It is something I will actually be able to use for my Christmas cards. Of which I probably will be working on in the next few weeks. Better hurry....December is right around the corner. Oh my so much to do and so little time.

Well, I guess that should be all for today. Thursday, weather permitting, I will be going to another card making session and 4 more cards. Watch for them on Friday and maybe even a recipe for "Toad in the Hole". In the mean time, have a great day and keep looking up. Cheers ~ Louise