Some Plantings Today

No pictures today, as I just got some new plants to plant today. A lovely purple impatient for the front porch. Two more tomatoe plants, a strawberry plant, shasta daisies, Zenias and a lemon Verdana herb that makes tea. Got them all planted just before it started to rain a gentle rain, so they won't get drowned. Only bad thing about the rain is that our roof leaks.

Can you believe we had the roof reroofed in 2002 which at that time, had never leaked. But now it does...........thanks to a man that called himself a "Christian" who was trying to cut corners.....no, he was not a Christian. Bible says "to trust NO MAN" and that is so true. Anyways now we deal with a leaky ceiling which gets worse with each rain. Why don't you fix it, you say? Costs money which we do not have at this time...............so the roof continues to leak into the kitchen...........sue him? He is no longer in business, sold all his stuff and who has the money to sue now adays? So we deal with it with pots and pans.......until our ship comes in.

Well, so much for my tales of woes............You have a good day...:)
Louise

PS.......if I can find the pictures of our roof, I will add them to this blog.

♥Etsy Tap Dance♥

Okay....I am doing the Etsy Tap Dance!!! Sold 2 cards tonight.....gosh that makes me day!!! Another Father's Day Card and Garfield's Scale........yay for Garfield!!!! So, tomorrow and Monday I will put up another Deer for Father's Day and another Garfield card. Was having fun making Garfield, so I made quite a few cards of him.

Thought I would add a few pictures of my two dogs. To your left, the white dog looking out the car window is Hyko, he is a Bolignese from Italy (a real lover), we got him at the animal shelter April of 2003, he was already 4 years old at the time, well, he is getting kinda old now, but he still acts like a puppy. He's got alot of things wrong with him but he just keeps going. I think Kylie keeps him going. Kylie is the grey dog to the right. We got her in 2005? Is that possible? My how time flies. She is a rescue dog also, she was found running homeless in Osh Kosh and taken to the shelter. She sure has turned out to be a good dog, and she likes her picture taken alot. Kylie is a Schnoodle and doesn't shed. Hyko and Kylie have been very good friends to JP and I, when people fail ya.....our dogs are right there beside us, sort of like God, he'll never forsake or leave us alone. Dogs are like that too. I think dogs are God's special angles to watch over us humans.....don't you think so?

Hope you all are enjoying your Memorial Day Week-end. I plan to do some gardening and planting of tomato plants and cucumber plants.......also throw some seeds down for flowers and plant my marigolds. Busy, busy, but fun. Oh and there are those darned weeds that have to be pulled too....a never ending battle, if Adam and Eve had not sinned, would we have been weedless?????

I had the flu this past week and it shut down every inch of my body, all I wanted to do was sleep and then sleep some more. But what ever the name of the flu was. it worked its way out. But now JP has it....we like to share things so I thought sharing the flu would be a nice thing to do. Made a big pot of chicken soup with garlic. Have some rhubarb cut up to make rhubarb custard tomorrow. If JP eats the rhubarb dessert I will know he is feeling better.

Well, I am going to close here for now, it is getting late and I need to let my dogs out.....see pictures above. Aren't they sweet, Hyko and Kylie

Louise

Father's Day Card

Just added another Father's Day Card to my Etsy store last night. Thought I would add it to my blog. Sold a card like this on the 20th, mailing it out on the 22nd. Gosh, that just makes my day when a card is sold. Well, I thought I should get another card up on Etsy just like it, or close to like it.

Very fun to make using Dreamweaver paste, smear it over a gold stencil, then let it dry. The next day I used my mark-it pens to color in. Trying to come as close to looking like deer colors as possible. Well, it turned out pretty good. The inside of the card is stamped "Happy Father's Day" The price of this card is $4.oo plus postage ($5.50) but you will receive one bonus card and bookmark or thank you card for your use. If you are interested in this card or any of my other cards go to: http://www.cards4ubylouise.etsy.com

I am in the midst of making butterflies using this same technique....so far they are turning out pretty neat using the Dreamweaver paste, glitter and chalks.

Well, so much for todays blog, time to hit the bed for some down time. See ya next time around.
Louise

♥6 Birthday's and 1 Anniversary♥

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday God Bless you......Happy Birthday to you!!!!

14th - Susie

16th - Linda

17th - JP, Tom, Dawn

18th - Mary

Happy Anniversary to Howard and Linda on the 18th. Here is your card, a "purple heart" card.

Hope you all had, and are having a great day. JP (my husband) was treated to dinner today (Sunday) by a friend and tomorrow (Monday) I will be taking JP out for a dinner......hope I can find one of those places that gives a free dinner for Birthdays.......JP has the day off, so I shall check around to see who is giving a free dinner for the Birthday Boy. We just might get a really good hamberger at Windy City's....who knows. Dessert will be strawberry cheese cake, which is a complete surprise at this point. An $8.99 cheese cake on sale for $3.99....I got a deal!!!! Hopefully it taste good.

The above cards are my new ones which I made this week-end. I bought a new Nestabilities die- cut to use with my cuttlebug.....been wanting this die for over a year and finally invested. I really think this is a card that can be used for most anything, birthday's, anniversary's, thank you's and you guessed it..........Valentines!!!!

Not much news today, we'll see what this week brings. Have a great day~~~~Louise

The City Plants a Tree and I planted basil and onions

Well, we got a gift today. The City of Appleton Parks and Recreation Department planted a little Linden Tree in our front yard. So sweet...only thing we have to do is water it every couple of days. They mulch, prune, stake, fertilize and replace if it doesn't take. OUR cost........water the baby, 2-3 gallons of water every other day.....pray for rain. See that blue line on the sidewalk, far left......that is our water line....oh my, wonder how big the roots will get? I looked up to see what a Linden tree is......from the basswood family, will get to be 50'-60' tall and 40' wide. Will have little flowers in the spring and heart shaped leaves.............good for lots of raking. Oh, and it is fast growing too. Cheers, have a great day.

Well, I did some planting of my own today, basil and onions........that is a start. Will take a picture when the seedlings begin to grow. I have them in the old barbeque and covered with chicken wire to keep the squrrel out of it. He is a pest sometimes. JP bought me 4 tomato plants Mother's Day. Two Romas and 2 cherry tomato plants. So begins the planting, hopefully the weather will cooperate, been kind of cold lately and we have taken in the plants. Here you see my Geranium plant that JP got me for Secretary's Day....that was a pleasent surprise. I have decided to do Geranium plants for the front and back of the house.........they are hardy and bloom all summer long. I saw some Martha Washington geraniums, dark maroon. I shall have to pick one of those up Wednesday on my way home from Kaukuana. Never saw such a pretty plant before. Well, little by little I shall get things done..............so much to do, so little time. I shall close for now, it is almost 3:00am.........really time for bed.

Louise

Went to the Annual African Violet Society Sale in Osh Kosh Saturday

Saturday JP and I went on a date to the Annual African Violet Society Sale in Osh Kosh........oh my, such beautiful flowers. And where, might you ask are African Violets from.....Africa of course. Violets were found in eastern Africa near the equator in what is now Tanzania. A number of additional species have been found in Tanzania and Kenya, but all were within this fairly small region in Africa that includes several mountain ranges.

In the late 1800's specimens of African violets were found growing in the wild by several individuals. The first person to recognize the value of them was Baron Walter von Saint Paul-Illaire who brought flowers and seeds to Germany for further study. By 1926 a commercial operation in the West Los Angeles area, obtained seed. Armacost and Rouston chose ten of the best new hybrids and introduced them to the American public in the 1930's. Interest soared, and by 1946 (just 54 years after the first violet (Saintpaulia) was discovered) there were enough avid growers and colletors that the African Violet Society of America was founded.

We bought two little plants, Kohleria "Ampallang' Violet toned - red-pink flower with dark green, mottled leaves. Dick, who sold us this one, said it was not a violet but will get many blooms and they will look like little horns. Our second little plant is a miniture "Ballet Blueberry Swirl" double blue and white flowers. We got a cute little pot to keep it in. Maybe in a couple of blogs from now, I will take a picture of it.
The blue violet is called "Ness's Blueberry Puff"

The pink flowered violet is "Pink Rose Coral - Optimara Calif. II

The violet with large verigated leaves and maroon flowers is called "Powwow"

The pink with fuscia edges is called "Kev's Heavenly Star"

On our way home we stopped at a truck stop....JP's passion in life, giving tracts, tapes, CD's and bibles out to truckers. We then stopped off at Sandi and Doug's home for a short visit. They live on an island with lots of water around them........gosh, everytime I go there it feels like vacation to me.....I may become addicted to going there alot. Should be a wonderful summer if that is the fact....lol.

All in all we had a wonderful day, something we should do at least once a month.......JP and I have been workaholics most of our lives always doing something, running here and running there....maybe it is time to slow down a bit, at least for the summer.

Have a great day.

♥Jesus Loves You♥

I ran across this picture last week cleaning my husbands room. We ran a bus ministry for about 4 years and these were some of the kids we would pick up for Sunday School and Church.

1983 was the year we started....my goodness 27 years ago....these kids must be in their early 30's to 40's now. My how time flies, we truely are just a puff of smoke aren't we. I will have to send this picture to the pastors at that time.....wonder where all these kids are now and if they are following after God. I remember a few names, there's Billi jo, Brock, Johnny, Stevie.......once knew all their names......my how time fades the mind.

Today I figured out how to scan a picture and put it in a folder. A major step for me and I also sent a fax today......my goodness this old dog can still learn new tricks. (give me a doggie bone)My next major experiment will be to put all my pictures on a flash drive. Hopefully removing all the pictures will give me more memory on the hard drive.

Well, time to close this blog. Want to go take some pictures and download into the computer. I have a few more Mother's Day cards and some birthday cards to get into my Etsy store, be sure to check it out at: http://www.cards4ubylouise.etsy.com/. Talk to you later have a great day in the Lord.

~~No Exercise Today Please~~

Nope......no exercise today please.........just don't feel like it....lol.

This is my new little series of exercise cards...."Garfield's Scale" included. Been having fun coloring my exercise lady with Mark-It and Copic pens. Have a few cards made and just put this card up on my Etsy store also, go to: http://www.cards4ubylouise.etsy.com/ She is $3 + postage and you will receive a bonus card plus and bookmark and thank you card along with this card for your use. Here is a full view of the card.

Made this Seagull card, it is called "Seagull on Watch" which turned out really nice. Using Mark-it and Copic pens and my new large scalloped punch which gives the effect of a curtain, mmmm wonder what other uses it could have. This card is also up in my Etsy store as well.....$3+postage....and you will receive one free card plus a bookmark and thank you card.

I am going to try to upload a picture of my husband (if I can find it)....mmmmmm....year unknown, standing along side his 1924 model T Ford dump truck...........that sure was a fun truck to have, I think we gave it away though, if we'd have kept it and had it restored it would have been worth thousands, who knows, we would be just guessing at it's worth.

We had quite a few tractors also, that we actually used on our 20 acres.....not like this one ....>

which my friend Kandie took on her trip to MN. Here is her blogsite if you would like to see more of her lovely pictures. http://www.khixkrafts.blogspot.com/ I think this would make a wonderful painting, it has such character........aaaahhhhh yes, to have the time I would like to have, to do all things swirling around in that grey matter upstairs in my head...hahahaa.

Have a great day in the Lord.....are you getting enough vitimin D....just a day in the Sun can lift your spirits, a good vitimin pill and it is FREE!!!!!

♥1971 Barn Painting♥

Here is a painting I did in 1971. It is actually unfinished though.....never finished the forefront, meant to, but in my young years (25yrs old) I must have gotten side-tracted or something. Oh I know.....met my husband and got into racing in more ways then one. Painting was one of those things I never got back to. Still have my acrylic paints down stairs and check them every now and then. Really should try my hand at painting again. I have 3 other paintings in the house, another farm, a sea scape and a little girl. (She was my first try at painting.) Will have to take pictures of those paintings also.

Farms were always intriqueing to me for some reason. Wasen't till 1976 we actually moved to the country on 20 acres with cows, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats, a big garden and lots of hay and corn and oats for the animals.................we really enjoyed that living, alot of work and alot of tears, but also alot of good times and memories. Oh that we could have back "the way we were" maybe change a few things so as not to end up where we are. Would it have made a difference, I wonder. Well time to shut down for the night.

~~~Facebook~~~

Well, as you can see I am on Facebook. It has been really amazing to me to find so many people that I know and have known. I shall have to look for a few more people, never know who I may run across. Still learning the ropes on facebook. Tonight I just figured out how to make the badge/button. NOW if I could figure out how to make badge/buttons from other blogs and bring them to my blog and visa versa. Got Etsy onto my Facebook page, now if I could just figure out how to get Etsy on my blog. As you can see I have much to occupy my time.

Don't you just love this barn???? My friend Kandie in Indiana took the picture of this barn, I love old barns and I believe this barn was found in Wisconsin someplace. You can go to http://www.khixkrafts.blogspot.com/ and find her other lovely pictures and many ideas for cards and other treasures.

Some day I will have to take a picture of the barn I painted back in 1971..........a real painting in acrylics.............I wanted to be an artist........well, I wanted to be alot of things, but somethings just did not pan out......like gold I guess, am still panning away. Anyways shall have to figure out what I shall do with this barn, once I print it out. Any suggestions?

Well, you have a great day.

Easter Sunday Card Making

Well, we had a great time making cards for Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa and the Pastor.

I had much to much to choose from, but the kids had a great time using everything I presented before them. You would have thought it was Christmas the way their eyes lit up with all the stickers, pens, paper, stamps and ink. They followed directions very well and made the front of the card the way I showed them. Then I said do the inside anyway you would like..........WOW did they have a ball decorating the inside with stickers and butterflies, stamps and christian sayings and scriptures and crosses.

Following is another picture of the fun. We decided that we will do this again for Mother's Day. So will be fun to come up with something for that special day also. Lord Willing.

I read a little poem to them about the jelly beans and what each color meant. And we talked about what the cross of Jesus Christ meant to them. We talked about the New Jerusalem and what it might be like. It was a fun morning for us, hopefully it will be remembered. I still remember things I did in Sunday School and that was years ago. Well you all have a great day.

Easter Cards of Kids.

Here is a picture of the two cards I will be teaching the Sunday School kids at church to make. Hopefully they are simple enough for them to do. I am sure the kids will have their own ideas on what they want to do........that's okay, we are all individuals with different ideas on how to do things. I will have to take my camera along and take a few pictures. Will be fun to see what they come up with.

I have most of the cards folded, the clouds are made and I just bought some construction paper tonight, cheaper then cardstock, will be using the construction paper for the ground, (green, gold and brown). They will be able to put the cross, sun, flowers and stamp the words Hope, Faith, Rejoice and Happy Easter where ever they want.

Well, I think I will close this blog for tonight, it's getting late. Almost 2:15 am. Bye Bye~~Louise

WOW~~MOM Cards

These three Mother's Day cards were designed last year, I sold the green card but still have the blue and yellow card in my Etsy store. This was my first attempt to make a stamp, can you tell which stamp I made..................no not the flowered stamp.........yup that's right the MOM stamp! It was fun, but took me all night to make...........one thing that's good, it can be a WOW stamp too.

Anyways, I used versa mark on the card with the flower stamp, then layered and punched the white and black cardstock to give it the laced effect. Then stamped the flower and colored in with Mark It Sharpies.

Made some Children's Easter cards for this Sunday. Pastor's wife asked me to have a class teaching the kids how to make an Easter Card for their parents. There will be about 10 kids if they all show up. So I made two different cards. I will take a picture of them tonight and add to my blog tomorrow.

Have to go now and get ready for work and exercise at Inches A Weigh. Still at 10 lbs and holding and 26 inches. I found that I consume too much salt. 2000 mgs should be
what I take a day.............I must have exceeded that. Now I am shocked to see how much salt can be consumed a day if we are not watching it. Maybe this has been my hold-up in losing weight. I will see after this week. Reading labels has been a real eye opener for me.

Well, have a great day~~~~~Louise

♥Busy makin' cards♥

My sediments exactly!!!! Everytime I get on the scale it is lying to me, UP and DOWN and all around. I dislike the scale like I dislike the devel himself!

This was a fun card to make and I will probably take it to Inches A Weigh to see if it sells from my box of cards. Plenty of people look at my cards and say how wonderful they are..........but alas.....just nibbles and no bites.

I stamped Garfield with versa mark then embossed him with black. Colored him in with my Mark it pens then layered on black cardstock then a blue card. Punching each corner for a little excitement. The inside of the card says "I have been dieting for the past month. All I've lost is 31 days!"

Here is one of my fun Easter Cards. I found a little lamb at Hobby Lobby 40% off and had to buy her. Learned a fun technique making clouds and thought the little lamb would look cute jumping in the clouds and that she does. She is stamped with black ink, then I used a glazed gel pen and outlined her then place sparkles on her wooly parts and gave her a blue bow.

The card is blue with clouds, Happy Easter is done with versa mark and blue embossing powder. The inside of the card is stamped with two crosses on either side of the word Faith.

Well, have a great day..........can you believe March is almost over...........where is the time going.
Louise

Another Group of Mother's Day Cards

So here is another group of Mother's Day Cards I have been making. All fun to make and each one is different from the other. I will be selling these cards seperately on Etsy and at Inches A Weigh at the end of this month. Each card will be selling for $3.00.

If you are interested in buying my cards as a set, let me know by emailing me at http://www.louisellen@juno.com and let me know which cards you desire. Scroll down my blog to another set of cards I put up for Mother's Day. I am getting quite a varity of Mother's Day Cards.............makes me wish I still had a mother, gosh, I don't know which one I would send her.

Well, it's Daylight Savings and I turned my clocks ahead, my computer says 12:13, the clocks say 1:13, so I think I shall close this blog for tonight...........

Happy Mother's Day Early,
Louise

mmmmmmmm...mushrooms

Yep.......these are portabella mushrooms. Grown in my basement!!!!! They are delicious, saute'd with vegies and imatation crab or over chicken or hambergers or steak or turkey.........you name it MUSHROOMS are always a part of the meal!!!!! I took the largest mushrooms and broke off the stem, put them in a pan and when they were cooked I put a piece of cheese on top and let it melt..............oh gosh it was like eating a hamberger. I was in heaven for a few minutes.

Well, I have another wave (the above mushrooms are the second growth) of mushrooms growing in my little box in the basement. Will be looking for them in the next few days, right now they are the size of a little button. In a couple of days they will be eating size.

I just read that mushrooms are very good for you. Although they've gotten a bad reputation for being largely nutrient-free, they're actually a great source of selenium, a mineral that helps to boost your immune system and decrease your risk of cancer. They're also extremely low in calories (about 20 in a cup), so they help you feel fuller at little cost to your weight loss program.

I have been a mushroom fan for many years. But there was a time I snubbed my nose at them. Looking back now I wish I hadn't. Remember the mushroom and gravy bowl being passed around and I would look for the gravy cause there were so many mushrooms in the gravy..........and these were the mushrooms found in the woods. My stepfather's family would go mushroom hunting and come back with baskets full of mushrooms. My mother's chore was to clean 'em and wash'em and cook 'em and bag'em and freeze'em. Then cook'em when the family got together every Sunday for the big meals. Out came those mushrooms..............gosh I wish I had loved them then.................but I didn't.

Now I can't seem to get enough mushrooms which need to be a part of my many meals, breakfast, lunch or dinner. With so many varities to choose from, you can add mushrooms to soups and salads, or saute' them with a little bit of olive oil and seasongs for a wonderful side dish.

Well, you have a happy mushroom day!
Louise

Three St. Patty's Day Cards

This St. Patty's Day card is my spirelli (looks alittle blurry, but I am sure you get the idea). I used a scalloped punch and ran embroidery around the punch topping it with an irridescent shamrock. I then used two pieces of fancy papers, running the marbled paper through a cuttlebug. Happy St. Patrick's Day is stamped on white paper, scalloped and outlined with a gel-pen and 4 green studes placed in each corner. The inside of the card is blank.


This second card is layered with two large shamrocks and 4 little punched out shamrocks taking up the slack. The Happy St. Patrick's Day is stamped on paper and the edges scalloped and then outlined with a gel-pen. The embellished with black yarn. The inside of the card is blank.

This 3rd card was made alittle different then most of my cards, I got the idea from a tutoral on YouTube. They were actually showing how to make the bow, which was really unique. Really not sure if I can explain it but I will try. Take a piece of ribbon and tie a loose knot then draw another piece of ribbon through that loose knot and tighten from both ends. The bow will actually lay flat, then you can secure the ribbon to the back of the card. The card measures 5.50"wide X 4.25"tall. So the green part of the card is glued to the white and opens length wise. The top end is finished off with a scalloped punch. The inside of the card says "celebrate your blessings".

The shamrock is stamped with a heart stamp and then embossed with green and layered on fancy paper. The corner Happy St. Patrick's Day is stamped on paper and outlined with a gel-pen and glued on shiney scalloped paper.

All three of these cards are in my Etsy store and are selling for $3.00 each plus postage. Go to: http://www.cards4ubylouise.etsy.com/

I am so looking forward to St.Patrick's Day. Hopefully this year I will be able to buy a slab of corned beef....mmmmmm....so looking forward to some REAL corned beef sandwiches on rye bread. OH and don't forget sourkraut and mustard.

Well the big game is tomorrow.....USA and Canada Hockey game at the Olympics. Gonna be a great game no matter which way the outcome.

Well, time to close this blog, have to go to my etsy store and put up another card.

Louise

Something NEW in the making..............

This is frame #3 (and my favorite)...........something new I made tonight.........a frame that can hold a picture of your favorite person, a poem, a scripture, an affirmation, or a saying. This frame is actually hanging on the refrigerator.

I was given a challenge the other day at Inches A Weigh by Dave. "Make an affirmation and put it on a card, something that you can look at and read and make it a part of you to help you lose weight"..............I thought, that's a good idea.

Well, while I laid on one of the excercise beds at Inches A Weigh, this thought came to my mind, "Make a frame and decorate it" It can then hang on a wall, or put magnets on the back and hang it on the refrigerator decorateing it anyway I would like.
This is frame #2...................... This is the first frame I made........frame #1

They were alot of fun to make and I am sure I shall make more frames. I am planning on making a few frames for my Etsy store in the near future, so that will be something new for http://www.cards4ubylouise.etsy.com/ I probably will sell them for $10, with this you also will receive a one free card and/or a bookmark and thank you card.

Well, time to go to bed, it's getting late and tomorrow comes early~~~~~~Louise

More Peeks at some Mother's Day Cards

Two more different Mother's Day Cards for you.

I may make a few more Mother's Day Cards with different fancy papers and continue using the spirelli art technique. Stop back again.

Louise

A Peek at a Few of My Mother's Day Cards

Here's a spirelli card, the idea came to me as I was laying on an exercise bed at Inches A Weigh.

A scalloped punch was used and embroidery thread wound around the circle. Then I scalloped one side of the fancy paper and punched a hole in the middle using that as the beginning point drawing the string around each scallop.

The card on the right is two scalloped circles taped together and I used gold thread and embellished with a yellow button.

The three cards on the left are glued on a brown card, the fancy paper glitters from different angles and each corner is punched with a different punch with different colored bows embellishing the front of the card. In each flower is a rhinestone.

I am thinking I will sell the cards as a set of 6 cards (3 pink, 3 green) with one free card at $15 plus postage.

The inside of each card will have the saying "Thinking of you on this special day"

I have a few more ideas for Mother's Day Cards. So keep checking back as I make more and add more to this blog and eventually to my Etsy store.

Have a great day and talk to you soon.

Louise