Busy Making Cards and FOOD!!

Hi there everyone...hope you had a wonderful weekend....it flew by fast, didn't it?? I was busy making cards and food this weekend. Guess I must have definitely gotten my Mojo back for card making and cooking since my hernia surgery.

Cooked up a "pumpkin pie" pumpkin and spaghetti squash (sorry no pictures.) I still have 4 pumpkins yet to bake and make pumpkin bread or pies...yummy. I found a really good recipe for the pumpkin bread, very simple and easy to make. I will leave you the recipe at the end of this post.

So Thursday JP and I went to the dentist to get our teeth cleaned. While Sue was cleaning my teeth, (I don't know how we got on the subject,) but she mentioned wanting some "apple" cards to give to her patients when she hears they are sick or whatever. I mentioned that I make cards...."Oh, could you make some for me???" She wanted cute cards with an apple, (this is what I came up with so far.) I borrowed an apple stamp from my friend Betty....so I could get a variety of apple cards for Sue. So this is just the beginning.

I want to make a lot of these apple cards, as I plan to put a set of 4 cards in my Etsy store for $12.00 + shipping. That would be $3.00 per card. If I make enough of these cards, perhaps I may donate some to Hospice for next month. They are very cheery....don't you think??

I went on Hallmark.com today to see what kind of cards they have and what their prices are going for. My goodness the prices are really high. I saw a cute card with a snowman on it and they were asking $6.99....yikes!!! Selling my cards is cheap, cheap!!!

So these 3 cards were simple to make. I stamped the apple, ladybug and sun. Using copic markers, I colored in the apple and ladybug, the sun is stamped. Then I sprayed the apples with iridescent spray, layered on black card stock then on the card itself. The second card was layered on silver card stock that was run through my cuttlebug with an embossing folder. I had some sticky silver paper, and thought I would use that for a couple of cards. I liked the way they turned out too.

I also have an order for Snowman Christmas cards...not sure how many as yet...so I have been busy making those also and again, I want to make lots of them so I can put some of the snowmen in my Etsy store and donate  a few to Hospice. Yes, I shall be busy this whole month, making cards. Making up for lost time.

Made this meal on Friday with Blue Apron.....this was yummy, I could not stop eating these Spicy Korean Chicken Wings....man they were good. I shall make these again for sure.

MMMMM my mouth waters as I look at these pictures!!!!! Actually went to Penzey's Spice store and bought some black and white sesame seeds for my next Korean Chicken Wing dinner.

Saturday morning I made a ham, egg, cheese and potato cup cake breakfast, (again, sorry no pictures) They did not last long....pretty good. Saturday afternoon I baked the pumpkin, thinking I would make a pie, but ended up making pumpkin bread. Then Saturday evening I made a pizza.

Today I made Lasagna Soup....oh gosh was that good, tonight's dinner was chicken, hash browns, spaghetti squash and salad. Yep, we ate well today.

So here is the recipe for the "So Easy Pumpkin Bread"
2 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
2/3 cup olive oil (recipe called for 1 cup oil)
1 cup sugar (recipe called for 3 cups)
4 eggs
3 cups flour (recipe called for 3 1/4 cup flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (shelled) this was not in the recipe, I added, just because I wanted to, so I guess this could be optional.
2 tsp. Pumpkin Spice (I got this at Penzey's Spice store)
(recipe called for 1 tsp. each of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon)

Sift ingredients together. Mix pumpkin, oil, sugar and beaten eggs. Stir in flour mixture. Bake in 3 loafs at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes.

Yep....this is a keeper for sure. So much better when you cook up  your own pumpkin.

Well, you all have a great evening....what's left of it. Enjoy this new week and keep looking up.....better days are a coming!!
Cheers ~ Louise

Finally On A Roll.........

Hi there everyone......hope you had a great "hump day". My day was good. Finally got to go to my friends house to make some cards...it has been awhile since I was there....mostly because her road was being redone....so it was hard to get into her apartment complex. So we just called off making cards for a couple of months. And, of course I was recouping from my hernia surgery in September. It's been a long hard haul......but we made it through.

These following cards are the ones I made at home....they actually are the backgrounds made from shaving cream and alcohol inks. Here is the post. You can check out what they looked like before embellishing the backgrounds with stamps, gems, iridescent spray and embossed leaves.

I love the way they turned out....my favorite card is of course the red card. I let the shaving cream backgrounds sit around for awhile....my idea finally came to me to stamp them with my Tim Holtz stamps, actually he was doing a tutorial using these stamps (if you can see them in these pics.) all over one of his backgrounds, I thought, how cool is that. Think I will try that. I sprayed the card with some iridescent spray, then layered the embossed leaves on each card. (that idea came from another card I saw on a card from the internet.)

Again.....the top and bottom pictures are in different colors.....I like that each card is different and unique.

In this picture are all the cards together.

This next picture is the first card we made today. We colored in the leaves and pumpkins and then used some glitter on the leaves....hard to see the glitter, but it really turned out nice.

Now this card was really putsey....it took a while to make as each little piece of the penguins had to be pieced together. We decided  this card would have to sell for $6 in order to pay for all the time involved and so much work to it.

This was a fun and easy card....I like the leaves, they are a die cut...they almost look like a real leaf, and they colored up really nice.

This was my favorite card....so very pretty. The music stamp comes from "My Daily Bread" and is embossed on a blue card. Then we added the die cuts to embellish the card with flowers, pearls, blue branches and a white branch.

Well, I shall pause here....I am making some matzo soup....and I am sure the matzo is ready to be dropped into the chicken soup. Be back in a little bit. Here is where I got the recipe. Okay....this is definitely very delicious!!! JP will really like it and one bowl will not be enough for him. I predict this soup will not last long in the pot!!!

Time to close this post....I need to get downstairs....as long as I am on roll.....best not waste the time and get some cards done whilst I am rolling...lol!!!

Have a good day tomorrow and keep looking up! Cheers ~ Louise

Finally.....Did Some Stampin'

Hi there everyone. Well, FINALLY.....I did some stampin' and marbling. After many moons, finally got downstairs and did something creative. It took me awhile to even get started, don't know why, maybe something in my brain is not firing, who knows what happens to the brain when you are put to sleep for a colonoscopy and hernia surgery, back to back. My motivation has been slow to fire up.....but tonight.....the juices were flowing!!!!

Here is the card I made tonight, kind of a fast one using the "Shaving Cream and ink" technique.  It was really lots of fun, once I got the hang of it. I think next time I may use alcohol inks....might be less messy.

Here's what my left hand looked like after playing with the shaving cream and inks.

Here is a sampling of the different papers. Made quite a few as you can see. I was able to use the shaving cream on quite a few pieces of card stock and got quite a few different colors.

Here's what my right hand looked like after playing the shaving cream and inks.....pretty messy?!?!?!? Oh but lots of fun!!!

What you do is, cover a paper plate with shaving cream then dab the shaving cream with dots of colored inks. Then swirl the cream with a stick to marble it. Lay the card stock on top the shaving cream and press down. Then pull the card stock off the cream. Lay it down on paper towel for a few minutes, then take paper towel and wipe off the cream from the card stock and you will get these lovely marbled pieces of card stock. I added different colors and more shaving cream to get the different affects......but as you can see.....my hands took a beating. Perhaps next time I will use rubber gloves.

Some of the tutorials I watched on YouTube said, alcohol inks would work, acrylic paints and food coloring.....I shall try those also, just to see which is less mess on the hands. This is an old technique, as I found it in a 2002 "Stamp It!" magazine.

I was going to make an apple pie tonight, but decided not to, as I was afraid the pie doe and apples would take on the colors that were on my hands. So I shall wait a day or so, just so the colors will fade from my hands. LOL.

I did manage to make that potato cheese soup this morning....oh yum, was it ever good. Guess I better write down the recipe....it was a keeper.

Well, it is getting late and I need to get some sleep.....I think I wore myself out tonight....did way too much. PLUS I straightened my stamping area and found some mouse droppings.....uge better get out the mouse traps!!!!

Have a good day and keep looking up!!! Cheers ~ Louise

~ Feeling Better ~

Hi there everyone. So yes, as my title says, "Feeling Better" and that, I am. Each day brings a little bit less pain. It is hard to believe for me that this little hernia could have caused so many problems. Recuperating time has been tuff, but thank God for pain pills, they have helped. I did not take a pain pill last night, I have cut them down from 3-4 a day, down to one and none today so far. The pain is livable at this point. I walked Kylie by myself today, down the block and back. She was a happy camper. Picked a few red tomatoes and a green pepper. Maybe next week I might start walking my ceramic yard animals into the shed for the winter months....sniff...where did the summer go????

Since last October, I have lost 43 lbs. so maybe the weight loss has helped some with the recuperation. My motto for this year has been, "eat less, I guess, I guess, eat less" although there have been days I get very hungry and wanted to eat everything in sight. Dr. Flanigan, who preformed the hernia surgery said she was glad to hear I had been working on losing weight. It should also help in lowering the blood sugar numbers. Which will make my regular Doctor very happy.

I took a few pictures of the my "Star Clementius" this vine is about 5 years old now and seems to like where it is living....only problem is it is very messy and attracts lots of bee's, so sitting on the front porch can be scary at times. Don't want to get stung.

Here is a closer look.....abundant in flowers. I don't do a whole lot with this plant, don't even think I have fertilized it much....usually the only watering it gets is when it rains. Come fall when the flowers have died off, we will cut it down. So yeah, it must like where it is living.

In this picture, the Black Eyed Susan's have taken over my front yard this year....I am so happy they made their debut in my front yard. I would miss them very much. My only wish is to get them to grow in the back yard.....maybe next year.

Today Blue Apron came to my front door again.....Oh yum. I was looking forward to this dish. It is "Fresh Gnocchi and Maitake Mushrooms with Corn, Thyme and Browned Butter." The other day I made a beef roast in the slow cooker....delicious with mashed potatoes, gravy and asparagus. So making the fresh Gnocchi along with the beef was for today's lunch. UMMMM....not sure what I will make for tonight as the Gnocchi is almost gone. Maybe something quick and fast.

Tomorrow, depending on how I am feeling, I may take a trip to the store and bank (JP being the driver of course). It's been two weeks since I have gone shopping. JP is running out of fruit and there are a few things we are running low on. JP will probably come in the store with me and I might just drive that little cart around, just in case I get tired half way through the walk in the store.

Well, time to close for now, keep looking up. Cheers ~ Louise

Hernia Update and Blue Apron Meals

Hi there everyone. Sorry for the long absence. Guess I just did not feel like doing my blog. My only excuse is having surgery last Thursday for this hernia....I am so amazed how this hernia could cause so much Gut pain and just not feeling well for all these months.

So to update you on the colonoscopy and Hernia Surgery.....

I ended up having a colonoscopy last Wednesday. Dr. Flanigan thought she had seen something more in the CT Scan (from Friday, 8/28, there actually was a cyst on a kidney, 2 gallstones and the hernia was the size of a plum, she also saw a suspicious black spot in the intestine) and wanted to check it out more by having the colonoscopy. Well thank God....there was not anything there. I was so amazed by the Doctor that preformed the procedure. He came into my room before the colonoscopy, told me what he would do and what would be expected and then he asked me if he could pray with me....I said, yes!! I just wanted the peace of God to be with me and he prayed for that. I was far more at ease with this one then I was with the first colonoscopy to say the least. The first one, I woke up in the middle of it and felt the pain in my stomach. The Doctor realized I was awake and put me back to sleep. Guess that is why I just did not want to have another one and managed to put off a second colonoscopy for 14 years!!!!

So the colonoscopy was on the 2nd at 7:30 am. I went home after that about 12:00 and rested the rest of the day. Then came back to the hospital the next day at 5:30am, they prepared me for the operation....the waiting was the hardest and the anticipation. Got to watch TV and they gave me warm blankets. We decided that I would stay the night as I just did not know how JP would be and if he would be able to care for me. We made the right decision.

So they wheeled me into the operating room and prepped me, moving me from one bed to the other. My arms were apparently tied down, the nurse said we are going to give you something......and that is the last thing I knew.

Waking up was not so easy....I remember ice chips being put in my mouth and my name being called quite a few times.....oh the blessed sleep. I finally came to and was wheeled out of recovery into a my room. I did rather enjoy my stay at the hospital. JP showed up about 8 or 9pm and stayed till 10pm. As I said before, I am so glad I stayed at the hospital one extra night. I was able to eat, my first meal was an omelet with cheese, mushrooms and spinach and toast with peanut butter and jelly.

So, I went home about 4:30pm. It was decided that JP should take another day off from work. Dr. Flanigan wrote a day-off permission slip so he could watch me for the evening. He had to take that to his employer, by the time he got back, I was ready to go home.

Well, it has been 9 days since the surgery and yes, I am still in some pain and taking pain pills although not as many as in the beginning. Yesterday, 2 all day and maybe today it will be 2, will see by the time I am ready to go to bed. I am getting around now and walking more each day. Hopefully next week I can take Kylie for a walk.

In the following pictures are some of the meals I was able to muster up. The first one is my absolute favorite, so easy to make. JP helped me by making the vegies. I cooked some chicken in the "Nu-wave" and some quick frozen mashed potatoes. It was a very good meal, although it knocked me out for the rest of the evening. We made this pie on Labor Day, so yeah, it was a Labor of Love!!!!

"Tomato & Goat Cheese Pie"

"Fresh Lemon Linguine with Summer Vegetable Sauce & Seasoned Ricotta"

 

I made this meal on Wednesday....see my new bowl....it's a corel dish, I think the meal looked rather nice. This meal was "okay" probably not one of those meals I would make again. Although I did rather like the idea of making the quick tomato sauce with tomatoes and squash, though I may use zucchini next time.

 

I like that I am getting different ideas on making new dishes. Sort of expanding my horizons.

 

Now this meal was really good, I made it tonight. Loved the Freekeh and the way it was cooked, I shall have to look for it at the stores. Not even sure what nationality it comes from. But yeah....this meal was really good and I am sure JP will like me to make this one again.

"Crispy Catfish & Freekeh with Corn-Cherry Tomato Saute &Marjoram"

My next box from Blue Apron comes this Thursday...I am looking forward to it and it will have some great new recipes. If you are interested in receiving a free box of food from Blue Apron, let me know as I was given a chance to give 3 friends a box of food. Just leave a comment that you are interested and I will send your email to Blue Apron Here is their site.



Kylie, nesting on my chair with our new purple blankey, that both of us enjoy.

Last but not least here is Kylie, being a good nurse to her mommy. She has liked that I have hung around the house with her.

 

Well, I better close this blog down....it has gotten pretty long and wordy I suspect....but hey...it's been 16 days since I last posted...must be a record for me.

 

You all have a good evening and keep looking up. Cheers ~ Louise