Well, Hello June!!!

Hi there everyone!! Yes, I know, been awhile since I last communicated on this blog. Just been a lot of this and that going on. Doctor appointments, changing meds and checking blood pressure. Don't know what is worse, changing meds and stopping a few others which changes and discombobulates my whole body....now I am dealing with swollen ankles because the diuretic was discontinued, uncomfortable to say the least!!! Oh well, not a happy camper right now. Next Doctor appointment is the 18th.

Yeah, signs of old age, I guess. Would rather stay at home then go out and mingle with people and drive around with maniacs on the road who speed around me, because I am going the speed limit!!!!

Next Hospice meeting we will meet in September. So, we have the summer off, no rush making cards and I can work outside. I have lots to do and have had a bit of help with the neighbors. Will have to take some before/after pictures of their work and mine.

Here are the cards I created for Hospice. The meeting took place yesterday, and now I'm taking a break from everything, essentially doing NOTHING!!! The cards showcased are foiling cards. I purchased some new red foil and lace toner cards. The flower design was crafted using two different punches at the Thompson Center.

Once again, we see foiled cards, two birthday cakes, and birthday wishes set against various backgrounds.

Creating these cards was enjoyable with the use of 3D embossing folders and vellum, followed by processing them through the Cuttlebug. You apply color to the bottom side (the indented side), for which I used Copic markers. Once fully colored to your liking, you then sweep black ink over the colored bottom side, from top to bottom, achieving the coverage you desire. Afterwards, you can adhere it to the card and affix your chosen verses.

It's fascinating to see the evolution of this blog. The initial two paragraphs remain untouched, penned by my own hand. The subsequent three paragraphs, along with this one, were crafted by "copilot." While the words were altered, the essence remained intact, and arguably enhanced. It's curious to observe the outcome of this paragraph. AI is becoming increasingly ubiquitous. Initially, its presence on this blog eluded me, but upon engaging with it, I found the articulation to be superior to my own... hence, I'm inclined to let AI articulate on my behalf...haha!

What fun, the above paragraph cracks me up, makes me sound very intelligent to say the least!!! This is me speaking....lol!!!

Question: Shall we let AI speak for us now!!!!

Well, I think I shall leave you now with this question to ponder. Talk to you later, maybe I will try for another blog this month just for the fact of having another round with AI and letting it rewrite my paragraphs. Hope you have a great June, don't let the bugs bite you too badly. Cheers ~ Louise

My Birthday Today November 21st!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to me today!!! I made it to 77 years old!!! God's perfect number, I hope it will be a perfect year!!!! I added a few birthday cards to this post, a new one and a few old ones. 

Today I will be going to the Thompson Center to make some cards, maybe work on Christmas cards, that is coming round the corner pretty fast. 

Yesterday I went shopping for my Birthday and Thanksgiving dinner. Buying a small turkey breast and a steak for the BIG birthday!!! Hope there is a $5.00 bouquet of flowers to buy also!!!!! 

Looks like there will be rain and snow on my birthday....no surprise....it ALWAYS snows on or before my birthday, good tracking weather for the deer hunters.

OH!! just got a call from a friend, she is taking me out for Chinese food Wednesday for my Birthday oh yummy!!! What a surprise!!

So, this is going to be my Birthday dinner, gosh this looks delish. The date says Dec. 25th, 2017, it was our Christmas Dinner 6 years ago!!! Not too sure my dinner will look like this. I will have to take a picture of what my dinner will really look like.

Will have to find a bouquet of flowers or at least something to cheer up things around here. I bought a new little white Christmas tree for $18 and will put red decorations on it for a simple change. My old green one will go outside, it's over 20 yrs old. This may be my last Christmas here as I may sell the house in 2024. Not sure when though.

Well, going to close this blog for today. If you are celebrating a Birthday, I would like to wish you a Happy Birthday and a Happy Thanksgiving!!! Keep looking up better days are coming!!! 

Cheers ~ Louise
 

Hospice Cards for May 5th

Hi there everyone, how you all doing??? I've been busy with life, guess that is why you have not been seeing me on this blog, sorry about that. I do keep busy though, it's been a long hard winter and not going anywhere. Life changes quite a bit when one becomes a "widow" it's not the happiest place to be in the world. I guess you make your own happiness and I have not figured out how to do that as yet.

These two cards, I apparently colored these turtles a couple of years ago, ran across them and thought, let's make some cards for Hospice with this girl. Yeah, so the background is an embossing folder that I inked and ran through the cuttlebug. I covered the corners with black cardstock because I accidently ripped one corner while cutting it, so to camouflaged it, I covered it.

This card was run through the cuttlebug with a 3D folder on black cardstock. Then I covered with it gold paste with my finger. The white star like pattern is what is called Spirilla (thread art) and a gold dot for the middle. I need to add a Happy Birthday or Happy Father's Day at the top yet.

This card is just sticky back shiny paper. I added a flower that I embossed with 3 coats of embossing powders, gave it a real glossy look, kind of hard to tell in this picture. Again, I need to add a Birthday, Thinking of You or Happy Fathers Day greeting on it.

This card was fun. The black background was run through the cuttlebug (flowers). I used 4 different size circles of different colors, glued them together then cut them in half. Then you place the half circles on the card and it looks like swirlies, kind of a cool look.

This card, the embossing folder was inked and run through the cuttlebug. I added butterflies where the folder showed butterflies, simple birthday blessings.

This flower, along with 3 other flowers, apparently, I colored a couple of years ago and again ran across them and thought they needed to be used for a Hospice card. I think I used pearl-x powders but not to for sure.

Now this card was run through the cuttlebug with a tin looking paper that I had for YEARS stashed away and pulled out.....lets use this for a card, then it sat on the counter for a month or so, turned out really neat, wish I had some more of this stuff. The "Thanks" was stashed away and I added it to the card...guess I am just using stuff that's been laying around for years. Never know when stuff comes in handy.

Here again, these giraffes were done years ago and I just added them to these cards that I had foiled and ran through the laminator.

So, there you have it a bunch of cards I have made for Hospice this month. I should have between 60-75 cards when finished. I still have tomorrow to work on them. The meeting is Friday at 9am. We pass the cards around to each other so we can see what the other card makers made and get ideas for the next meeting which will be June 2nd. We sit around and gab and this month we will be putting together Father's Day favors and we put a Hershey's candy in each favor. We are usually done about 11pm

I suspect this month will go by pretty fast, most months fly by in a twinkling of an eye almost. A friend said, she closes her eyes Monday night and it's Friday morning already!!! That's how fast time flies for her!!!

Well, it you are still with me, I hope you enjoyed my review of some of my cards, the creative juices are running finally. You have a great month and hopefully I will be back again with some more cards. Take care and keep looking up, better days are coming. Blessings ~ Louise

Some Cards & Sourdough Muffins

Hi there everyone...how you all doing this 1st day of the Merry Month of May???? We are still in quarantine till the end of May. I must say....Been doing a lot of baking and cooking of different things. Been really having fun using my sourdough starter. She was in the fridge for a couple of days and I brought her out today to warm her up and then take 1 cup out, gave her another feeding and will probably put her back in the fridge for a couple of days. I will be needing some bread in a couple of days. Still have some buns in the freezer, so that will be good for a couple of days. 

While doing this post, I am in the midst of making "easy sourdough muffins" (okay I am back, another pan of muffins going in the oven). I will give you the recipe at the end of this post.

So these two cards, I made Wednesday night. The top one is going to my brother-in-law down in Illinois. I really like the way it turned out....very manly-man card. It's a die-cut, forget the name of who makes it. I just taped it to white card stock then used copic markers to color in the triangles and squares (guess there are not too many squares)...kinda fun to do, very relaxing. The Happy Birthday is a die-cut also, used sparkly paper, then glued the back to the top of the card.

The Hello card below is done the same way, except in pinks, blues and lavenders. The Hello is a die-cut done in silver. I then added gems to embellish the card. The card is going down to Indiana to a fellow blogger....she has been missing from blogland for a month or so....found out her computer pooped out. Gosh, being in quarantine and not able to be on the computer, that's got to be a double whammy!!!!

So here is what my muffins look like...not quite.....lol!!! Picture looks good though, doesn't it??? I shall have to try one before I end this post and give you a rating!!!

These easy sourdough muffns use up some discard to give your muffins a delicious sourdough taste!

This recipe is for a 10-12 muffins. 
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 c. sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 large egg, room temperature
1/3 c whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c liquid fat(oil, or melted butter, shortening, lard or coconut oil) 1/2 c. sourdough discard (make sure you stir down the bubbles before measuring.)

1. Preheat oven 425 degrees, Line a muffin tine with muffin liners or spray with nonstick spray.
2. Mix Dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
3. Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, vanilla, oil and sourdough discard until well combined.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients together, stir with spoon or spatula until well combined. The batter will be lumpy. Do not over-mix or the muffins will become tough. If using, fold in any add-ins.
(blueberries, raisins, chocolate chips, etc.) I topped the muffins with a butter, flour, sugar crumble. (this mixture added to the muffin very nicely. I usually use this crumble for my apple pies)
5. Divide the batter evenly between the 10-12 muffin cups.
6. Bake at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes and then turn the oven heat down to 350 degrees for about 5-7 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs.

Okay, these muffins were dangerously delicious, cooled down with a smear of butter....ummmmm....not thinking there are too many calories in these muffins....but they sure were GOOOOOOOD!!

I am rating these muffins from a 1-10??? I think they are a 10

Well hopefully JP will have enough goodies to last him for the week end. Chocolate chip cookies from Schwans, one donut and some soft sourdough cookies from last week.

Well time to close here....did lots of stuff today and I guess I am a little tired....so much to do so little time. Looks like it is time to work outside and do some planting...maybe some radishes and spinach...cold weather stuff that grows better in the early spring.

Keep looking up better days are coming and us prisoners will be set free!!!! Yes, free at last!!! Cheers ~ Louise 

Hello????? A Few Hospice Cards

Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a good April so far. Guess I have been missing for awhile as this is my 1st post for April. As I look at my calendar....there has been something going on just about every day. Doctor appointments, the Stanley Cup playoff Hockey games on TV (now that is VERY important), Doggie appointment, shopping, card making, etc. Little things that take up a lot of time. I had to miss my Hospice meeting this month as it conflicted with JP's Doctor appointment. Hard to be at two places at one time. So I took my Hospice cards to Betty's and she took the cards to Hospice for me. I will make the next meeting though.....Lord willing.

Oh...I made something different last week...a carrot pie. Yes, it was very good too. The pie actually tasted like a pumpkin pie. So if you ever want to make a carrot pie, just use your favorite pumpkin pie recipe and it will work out fine. The only thing I did different is I made it an "impossible pie" using a 1/2 cup of flour mixed in with the liquid, it will settle down to the bottom to form a crust. Don't forget the whipped cream!!!!

Following are a few cards I made for Hospice this month. Below is my Llama....love this guy. I think he can adorn any card I make. In this card I used glue and laid foil on top to make the strips. Laid the die cut Llama on top....and that was that.

The card in this picture was made by using a butterfly die and black embossed "Happy Birthday." The beautiful colored bookmark was covered with silver plumber's tape, embossed with an embossing folder. Then drops of different colored Distress inks and smooshed with a sponge to get the effect I wanted. Pretty, pretty. I need to make more of these cards. Probably for my Secret Stamper.

Here is my Llama again, this time he is on a "Thank You" card. I used a rainbow foil to give it a different effect.

This is a die cut....palm leaves I think. I make different backgrounds then just lay this die cut over it....makes for a very lovely card. The sayings are "Thinking of You" and "Happy Birthday" stamped on vellum. If I remember correctly, I used "brusho's" a powder like substance and spray the paper either before or after and sprinkle the brusho colors on and the little beads spread and mix with the other colors and make for a lovely back ground.

In this picture are the favors for Mother's Day. We make 20 favors, different assorted colors and ribbons. Then we put chocolates inside each favor. We will do this for Father's Day and Veteran's Day also.

Well, time to close here, getting late and this hockey game is about over, Calgary 2 and Colorado 6, it's been a ruff and tumble game, of playoff caliber!!! I wish the Chicago Blackhawks could have made the playoffs.....but that will be for the 19-20 season...for sure.

I am rooting for the Washington Capitals, my favorite player is  Captain Ovechkin. The other team I like is the Las Vegas Golden Knights....favorite player, Mark Stone. There you have it....it will be interesting to see who gets the Stanley Cup this year.

You all have a great rest of the month.....keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Some Donated Cards for Hospice

Hi there everyone. Hope you had a great Saturday.....I did, although Saturday's go much too fast! The weather was much cooler today and much more comfortable. As I get older, warm, warm weather bothers me more and more, as does cold weather. Wish there was a happy medium, don't you??? I do like the 4 seasons, but not so hot and not so freezing cold. Guess Spring and Fall is my kind of weather....wonder where that is???

So the following pictures are cards I made for Hospice this past Friday (June 1st). The cards above are my 4th of July cards. Which were fun to make. I used a technique I found just recently using Sakura Cray-pas.  Using a star, draw a line where you want color, then using your finger, spread the color over the card stock. Depending how much color or how little color depends how heavy you press the cray-pa. Then after I got the affect I wanted, then layed the star down and stamped with another star. Added silver stars and a Happy 4th of July stamp.

This is a neat card....these were the only 3 I made....really need to make more. The leaves are a die cut. The back grounds.....the top left was a Brusho painted background, using different colored crystals and water. The top right, is patterned paper. Now, the bottom card...which is the prettiest, honestly forgot how I made it. Sorry!!!

These cards are flowers that were pasted onto velum, very simple cards. The Happy Birthday is embossed on velum and glued on the card.

Here again, Sakura Cray-pas. Using the same technique of rubbing the cray-pas onto the card stock, this is the affect I got. For sure I will be making more of these cards.

These cards are from my stampin'up June card kit. Fun to make, and all the papers, ink and stamps are in the kit to make 8 cards. These were the two styles for this month. I am thinking of canceling my subscription....I have about 6 kits I have not touched, so I am sure I have enough card making along with a few other ideas for cards I want to try making......will keep me busy for the summer along with my gardening.

Watching Hockey right now....Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights. I thought I was rooting for the Knights.....but I like the Capitals also....they are both good teams....BUT....the Capitals have yet to win a Stanley Cup. I have been known to be for the under-dog. I guess this is one of those times. I like Alex Ovechkin the captain for the Capitals...he would like to be the first Russian Captian to win a Stanley Cup....that would be fun to see.

The Capitals just scored, it's 2-0......GO CAPITALS!!!!! But you know, if Vegas wins....it won't be such a bad thing. Both teams have great stories behind them. The next game is Monday, June 4th. Stay tuned.

Don't have much planned for this next week, but that could get filled up in no time. It's time to get things done in my gardens and get my ceramic animals out of the shed in between the mosquito bites. Just as soon as I get bite, I hightail it into the house and spread Icyhot cream on the bites....that soothes the itch and pain away after 5 minutes, must buy another tube soon.

Well, I think I will close this post for tonight, there is one more period left and I want to give full attention to it.....it may be a rough and tumble game. You all have a great weekend and keep looking up....better days are coming, here, there, or in the air!!!
Cheers ~ Louise

PS....Washington Capitals won 3-1 GO CAPS!!!!

Cards I Made the Other Night

Hi there everyone. Thought it was time to change the winter scenes....to something Spring-like!!! The weather is beautiful outside...sunny and in the 60's. It actually feels WARM and I turned down the heat in the house. Maybe I should bring the fan up from downstairs. Was looking at air-conditioners today at Walmart....guess I must save my pennies for a new one this summer. Our old air conditioner conked out, it never really cooled down the room and then it started spitting at me. So, I think it is time for a new one.

I made these Spring like cards last week. Need to make more....they were a very easy process and fun to make.

First I stamped the "Thinking of You" and "Happy Birthday" then taped the verses with painters tape.

Next step was to ink the top and bottom of the card with Distress ink....any colors you might have, after I got the desired look, I then sprinkled the cards with water to get the water spots. Dabbed with a paper towel to pick up the water. Let them dry for awhile.

I had these flowers already colored. The flower is from Stampin'up, I fussy cut out each flower. Each petal, I drew lines and colored in the tips of each petal with an ink pen. Then took copic markers and finished the petals off with different colors that would coordinate with the colored card.

WA-LA....a very lovely card. Think I will make some more like these for Hospice. I have two weeks to get about 60 cards done and 20 favors for Fathers day. There's still time.

Yesterday I went to a Revealing Party. For 6 months I took part in a secret stamping group. You send 12 images, could be a stamped, die cut or back ground to the name you received. Then make 2 cards with that image, one for your self and one for the person you sent the images to. Someone has your name and has done the same. So I came home with 6 cards from the lady I sent images to and 6 cards from the lady that had my name. Making sense much???

When I get the pictures taken of the cards, I will put them on my blog. My card and the other ladies take on the image sent and vise versa. I should add, that the reveal party was at a new stamping store in Neenah, and we could buy anything we wanted and get 10% off....dangerous place for me to go. Yes, I bought something, musical notes for another card I am making.

Well time to close here, JP just left for his job. I got our dinner planed out.....spare ribs in the pressure cooker....they turn out soooo good. Talk to you later...have a great night and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Been Busy Making Cards

Hi there everyone. Well, just as I said in my last post, that I would show you some of the cards I have been making....when the creative juices are flowing, you must go with the flow......or it dries up!!! Lol!!!

Hope you had a nice Saturday. But for some, it was not so good, there were many people in the Baton Rouge area whose homes flooded. Jimmy Swaggart Ministries was flooded and services are cancelled for tomorrow. So we will be seeing last week's service.....I hope there was not a lot of damage.

So here are some of the cards I have been working on these past few days and weeks. This lovely maiden is my most recent card. She is a digital and I paid $4 for her. There are two more digital maiden's that I want to get.....but I don't have enough in my paypal account to buy them yet.

I copied this one to my computer and ran her off on card stock. I can do just about anything I want with her and even color her dress different colors.....I think my two nieces will be getting this card for their birthday this year and next.

I put her in my Etsy store tonight for $3.50 + postage $2.50... I know, it's the postage that kills the sales but I can't very well give my cards away.....can I???? I do add a bonus card to my sales though, hope that compensates for the high postage.

"Happy Birthday Bluebirds of Happiness in Orange" I stamped and embossed the birds and flowers a couple of years ago and just recently turned it into a card. Smudged some gold paste on the card, it added a little depth $3.50 + postage.

"A Pink Flamingo Thank You" I love this Flamingo....so elegant. Colored with Copic markers and Wink of Stella and of course some gold paste to add depth. $3.50 + postage.

A Purple Violet Hello Greeting" Sometimes I don't know what to do with a card and then something pops as I put the card together....that is what happened here. Colored the flower with copic markers and outlined with a gel pen. I had a bunch of these Hello tags made and just added it to the pansy with a bunch of purple sequins for pazazzzzzz!!! (oh I know, spell checker says...no such word!!! But in my world, there is pazazzzzzzz)

"Live Laugh Love Thinking of You" This is another one of those "adult color" stamps that I picked up. Have you tried your hand at adult coloring, it is amazing how relaxing this is. I am so glad I have the creative juices to turn these works of art into a card.

Happy Birthday Bluebird of Happiness in Turquoise" Same as the orange card up above.

"The Frogs Have It Birthday Card" This is a print of a frog. I liked the idea of the background and frame and made lots of these cards....I need to put a few more cards like this up.

"Adult Coloring Birds and Flowers Thinking of You" These two cards actually go with the two cards in my banner. This is a set of 4 cards for $10 + postage.

So there you have it....a taste of some of the cards I have been working on. A lot of these cards will be going to Hospice and then there are some that I made a couple years ago that will end up in the Hospice box.....yeah, I have a LOT of cards. Probably more then I will ever use. I can't remember the last time I bought a card.

Well, time to close.....I need to go to my favorite place.....the basement to make some more cards. Have a great rest of the weekend and keep looking up, better days are coming.

Cheers ~ Louise

April Came in Like a Lamb....I Guess

Hi there everyone. Well, it's the first day of April and April Fool's day.....nope, no one played a trick on me...and I did not play tricks either....guess I am not that much into trick playing. AND, April seemed to come in like a lamb....at least for today. Guess there is snow coming over the weekend, not much I don't think. 

So, today's post is about the cards I have made recently. The rose card and cross card were both made at Betty's card class two weeks ago....see how slow I am in getting things posted??? I love that Rose card.....as I told Betty, I think I will send it to "myself" when my birthday comes around....lol!

The cross card, I thought came out really nice....amazing, I do have this stamp and probably will make a few more....maybe use it for a "sympathy card". I usually don't have sympathy cards on hand, so this would be a good one to have....or it could be an Easter card for next year. The color on the card is chalks and then a fixative spray was used to keep the chalks from smudging.

The following cards are my "vintage lady" cards.....aren't they gorgeous??? A few years ago Betty gave me these pictures that were printed on plastic.....I never used them. At my last class, Betty had some cards made up and I bought a few for samples. She borrowed me her die cut for the frames. Actually the one below is mine....I just bought it the other day at Hobby Lobby. It sure turned out beautiful, I think I will send this to me also....lol!!!

The purple vintage lady below.....gorgeous again....the die cut frame is Betty's. I have made about 10 extra frames so I can make a few more cards using this frame as I need to get this die cut back to her.

The blue vintage lady is another frame I picked up at Hobby Lobby....she turned out lovely too.

In the picture below are the "Steak Tacos and Mole Verde with Radishes and Avocado" from Blue Apron. I made these a few weeks ago....then made them again with flank steak.....goodness these were good. I love the Mole Verde sauce on the steak which was made with tomatillos, spice, chopped pepitas, cilantro and juice of a lime.....gosh, so deliciousness!!!!

My next 3 recipes came yesterday from Blue Apron and they are "Steak and Eggs with Quick Kimchi Fried Rice", "Chicken Fried Chicken with Baked Sweet Potato & Collard Greens" and "Dukkah-Spiced Cod with Warm Beet, Carrot & Arugula Salad"

I have decided to get these meals once a month, so whatever they are.....it will REALLY have to be superb in their presentation and ingredients!!! We'll see what happens. I still enjoy making these meals and learn so much from them, it's like going to culinary school once a month for $60.00...guess that is pretty cheap when I look at it that way.

Well, tomorrow is SATURDAY.....yay, how I love Saturday's!! It's  supposed to rain or snow, I think I will go downstairs and make some more cards....Hospice meeting is next Friday....so I need to get some cards put together for that. You may see another post with cards I made and probably one of the recipes from Blue Apron.

Time to close....it's getting late and I need to start thinking about JP coming home and what to make for his dinner. Probably leftover spaghetti and chicken, toast, fruit...maybe a salad too. I guess this is why I always have dishes in the sink, I can never quite catch up with dirty dishes.

So you all have a great weekend and keep looking up....better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise