Some Cards Made for Secret Stamper

Hi there everyone, hope you are doing well....guess the virus is still going strong in some other places in our country....be glad when life can go back to normal, when ever that will be. Our Governor has allowed some places to be opened and still others are still closed. Such a shame. Some people have lost everything or are about to lose everything. The world has turned up-side down for many.

April 18th, I started my sourdough starter. 6 days later, I started making bread, pizza crust, doughnuts, waffles, cookies (yes, sourdough cookies) fried bread, muffins, corn bread, scones, cinnamon raisin bread, short bread, biscuits and more bread. (Not all in one day...lol over the course of 5 weeks) I finally put my starter to rest yesterday, just for awhile. 

Actually I have 4 cups of sourdough starter in the freezer. So when I want to start another month of baking, I will pull out one cup of frozen starter, defrost and add 1 cup of warm water and 1 cup of flour. Starting all over. Some of my favorites were the pizza crust, cookies, scones and short bread and of course bread.

I have gone shopping 3 times this month and possibly tomorrow. That will be 4 times this month. Saving some money and YES, I will wear my mask, but I will need to lift it up to get some oxygen in my lungs. We are running low on TOILET PAPER!!!! Least now there will be some on the shelves this time around.

So I made some cards, finally got myself downstairs to finish up the cards I needed to make for the secret stamper group. This butterfly card was easy, I die cut the butterfly. My secret stamper lady gave me the "On your Special day" background.

I sent the flower to my secret stamper....this is my rendition of the flower, done in yellow. Her rendition was in pretty pinks. If I receive the cards from Staci, I'll show you both cards together.

In this card, I sent the die cut of a Heart, being it was for February, it made a good Valentine Card.

Here's my vintage man by a bike....always a good one for Father's Day. Traci's card turned out cute too.

I will show you more cards next month, maybe by then I will have received the cards from Traci and Carrie (my secret stampers). You can compare the cards I made, to the cards Traci and Carri made. Always fun to see how each person comes up with one idea and the other, another idea using the same images.

I planted some seeds in my planter on Saturday. (last years planter). This year so far, Roma Beans, Cucumber seeds, Morning glory seeds, scallions and oregano seeds. Covered the bean seeds with wire fencing so the squirrels and chipmunks would stay OUT!!!

So I went outside today to see how things were growing...…..holes all over the place. The planter with scallions and oregano seeds  planted, the divider was knocked down and there were holes all over.....that upset me very much. How do you grow things when the critters destroy everything????? I would like to know!!!! 

Well, I asked "Cortina" what keeps chipmunks and squirrels away from the garden....."add SPICE to the garden"!!! Cayenne pepper!!! I found some in the cabinet and marched out to the planter and peppered it down. So much so, I started sneezing....that should keep those critters away!!!! We will see how that works. I still have a larger jar...just have to find it. Do you think my Roma Beans will be spicy???

Gonna close here now you all take care and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Summertime Projects

Hi there everyone....I hope you had a nice day off and enjoyed your 4th of July holiday. We enjoyed the day. Made a pork roast, corn and beans on the grill and played in my gardens, oh and got bit up with the mosquitoes.

Today I am going to show you some of my projects I have been working on. Just a few. These drawers were all blue and I repainted them, put handles on them, filled with dirt and planted onions, radish, swiss chard. In the wheel barrel is cucumbers.

In this yellow drawer is sunflowers and more onions. The pie tins and wire mesh were to keep the squirrels out.....but that did not stop the chipmunks though. Out of 15 seeds planted the chipmunk left me 8 plants. I did transplant the sunflowers into bigger pots and protected wire mesh.

These drawers are still in their re-purposed process, the pink one is ready to plant....I just have to get some dirt in there....maybe flowers for this one. The red drawer will probably have lettuce planted when things cool down a bit. I have to get some more red paint for that one yet. Along with some white paint to spray down an old ladder and wicker stool for the porch. (no pictures as yet). Still on the back burner is my "Freda the Frog and daisies painted on the shed door.

See my pretty red bench??? This is my "Red Garden" Eventually everything will be red. I want to get a bamboo 6 foot fence to hide the neighbors junk and make my "red garden" a little bit more private, but that may be down the road a bit. Also on the agenda is some red mulch. This area gets the morning sun and evening sun, will be a nice place to meditate. (hopefully minus the mosquitoes)

I am painting rocks too....I thought different colored rocks thrown around would add a bit of color here and there. A few other things I have been working on....stepping stones, I made one so far. Turned an old tea cup and saucer into a bird feeder, it is still drying, as I used A LOT of liquid nails on it....that might work. Fixed my old picnic table umbrella with liquid nails too....the stick broke and it is still drying.

This is what my neighbors side of the house looks like when I first pulled the weeds and planted some tomato, cabbage and pepper plants. I tried zucchini, but the seeds were too old. If I had not done that....the weeds would have taken over the side of their house. This picture was taken May 28th.

Here is what the side of their house looks like as it is growing....looking good. Least I can keep an eye on the plants and know when they need water. This picture was taken July 1st. Lots of growth, but the two cabbage plants on the left are not doing so good, I had to transplant them because the rain from the gutter was beating them down. Poor things, if they make it, it will be a miracle.

So there you have it....keeping busy outside and inside making cards.....maybe next post will be a few cards. We shall see. You all have a great day and keep looking up.....better days are coming.
Cheers ~ Louise

Cherries and Apples

 Hi Everyone, how are your days going? Keeping cool has been a priority lately. Gets pretty warm in the house, like almost 90 degrees, but we keep the air conditioner going in the kitchen and fans going in the other rooms. So it is bearable. I like when it is cool enough and I can put a blanket on to keep warm. Looks like there is a big cool-down for the next week so we all will be comfortable till the next heat-wave.

 The other day a friend called and asked if I would like some cherries......I said yes. So I went to pick them up and spent the evening cleaning, sorting, pitting and cooking them. After they cooled I put them in containers and froze them. I pulled a few recipes from the internet, Freezer Jam, Cherry Dump Cobbler and Sara's Famous Cherry Crisp are on the agenda for these cherries along with a couple of smoothies and maybe some cherry frozen pops.

 The cherries that did not make the pick landed on the ground for the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and flies to eat. Nobody touched them, so they landed in the compost pile. The little chipmunk in this picture was checking them out....maybe he thought they were too sour though.

 I am really excited, cause I finally have apples growing in my apple tree. I sure do hope they make it, the limbs are bending over cause there are so many apples in the tree. I think these apples will remain green. I have another tree that is supposed to have red apples........but that one has not produced yet. These trees are over 10 years old. So hopefully this is the year for apple pies and sauce!!!!

Another shot of the apples from a different angle. So you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh.

One of these days I will get some cards up. I have not been working on cards for awhile as my studio is still all torn up and I am still re-organizing. And I have been so busy with my gardens......time just gets away. Cheers ~ Louise