Oh My...Last Post for the Month of July!!!

Hi there everyone. Can you believe it? The last day of July, I think it was just a few days ago that it was July 4th.....right?!?! The summer is flying by way too fast. I am still working on my yard, planting, painting, pulling weeds and what ever tickles my fancy. Sometimes I just prefer to be lazy and do NOTHING!!! I read someplace, that in retirement, everyday is Saturday.....I am still waiting for that, guess I have not been retired long enough....lol!

So, Sunday I cooked on the grill. I am surprising myself, I've grilled more this year then I have in previous years....not sure why, one reason might be that I moved the grill to the patio area rather then in front of the garage.....seems more cozy here and I can sit on the chair and watch the fire. The walk into the house is shorter...…(ha, by a few steps). 

I have chicken (from Sam's Club) was marinated and sprinkled with my homemade seasoning....soooo good! The red potatoes were halved, sprayed with avocado spray, seasoned with my homemade seasoning. I then put them in the microwave for about 15 minutes then put on the grill. I should have taken a picture when the food was done....potatoes and chicken browned perfectly! I just finished up the last of chicken about 30 minutes ago. Good meal with plenty of left overs for JP's dinners. This definitely will be a regular for the grill the rest of this summer.

 So now I will take you on a tour of my back yard.....mind you, there is so much to do yet, probably by the time I get everything done....it will be late Fall and time to put everything in the garage and shed. In the above picture, I have one cherry tomato plant growing....gives me a handful of tomatoes almost every day. My white rose bush died....we will have to dig it up one of these days.....no rush.

In the above picture, I have 3-4 bean plants growing...yep have gotten some beans off the plants. In the black container above the beans, I have a basil plant growing. I took a bunch of leaves off, rinsed them, and placed them on the chicken, cooked a little bit longer, then put mozzarella on top of the basil and chicken...oh yes!! A little marinara sauce helped also.

See those purple and red drawers and broken brown chair? Eventually I will fix the chair and spray paint it and the drawers will eventually have shade flowers growing in them....any ideas?

Here we are at my pond area....love this part of my yard. I need another layer of mulch to brighten things up. See the ceramic cow down in the right corner??? I will be spraying her white with black spots, she will be a Holstein cow. I think she was originally all brown and the paint wore off....time to repaint.

A few hosta's and inpatient's growing in my pond area. Not a lot of sun shines in this area....it's mostly shade. See my Flamingo's....love Flamingos. 

Here is my little sitting area....although I have not had time to sit, cause every time I sit down on my red bench....I see something that needs to change or moved some place else. See my tires? Been spray painting them and growing things in them....still not done. I have a tire that I will paint bright pink. That will be a colorful addition. Bought a "popcorn hosta" and it will go in the pink tire.

This is my second planter that I received free from Habitat for Humanity. This one has beans, pepper plant and a tomato plant. I am planning on planting some chives, and lettuce and maybe some spinach.

If you have made it to this point, I congratulate you and hopefully I didn't bore you. 

In this planter are onions, carrots, a new planting of radishes, beans, pepper plant and cucumber plant that is really producing an abundance of cucumbers. As I mentioned in a previous post....these plants get the morning and early noon sun.

So there you have it. A walk in my garden. I have a few more pictures to share, but that will come in the next post, hopefully within the week.

Talk to you all later, have a great week and coming weekend. Keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Okay....Cards We Made at Betty's 13 Days Ago

Hi there everyone. Well, as my title says, okay, here are the cards we made at Betty's 13 days ago. Guess I am kinda slow at posting them. It's always a joy to go to Betty's and learn something new.

The top card was stamped with the flowers and the die cut lady bug is from a set Betty got from www.wish.com for just $1...I think she got a few other things along with this little guy. Cute as a bug, isn't it.

I Love Flamingos. This was fun to make. The card was sponged with blue ink for the sky and water. The Flamingos came in five pieces, so you had to match each piece in different colors, oh and get the beek right too.....I must have tried 3 times....this was one of those times, we needed a "Misti". The Flamingo turned out pretty good after a couple of tries.

This was a pretty fishy card....lol! We colored the fish with copic markers. The netting was stamped and a few gems to pop. The waves were from a patterned paper....looks almost real!!

This was an easy card....I really need to find me one of these die cut deer's, hopefully by Christmas so I can make a few of these cards. I have the trees and snowflakes and a die cut something like this one....just need the deer!!! I shall be on the hunt!!!

I've taken a week off from making cards....not sure why, for it is something I really enjoy. My yard keeps calling my name....there still is so much to do. I have been painting tires and planting things in them. Also, I transplanted a tomato plant for the 4th time....I am wondering if it will ever take root. We'll see, it's a Rutger, still has 2 months yet to grow. I still have not gotten all my garden animals out yet......

Can't believe there is only 3 days left in this month....where is this summer going to so fast!!! Well, I think I will close here, as there really is not much to talk about. Do you have times like that? Where there is not much going on to even do a blog??? I used to do a post every other day or so....now it's every week or so or more....

Oh well....keep looking up, better days are coming. 
Cheers ~ Louise

Last Month's Card Making @ Betty's

Hi there everyone...yes that is right, these are the cards we made at Betty's last month....I guess I am a little behind, as this Wednesday is another session of card making....my how time flies. I have not figured out where this year is going? Going so, so fast. Haven't even finished my outside work yet. Tomorrow, it's suppose to be a little bit cooler, so I might do some stuff outside, like paint another tire and plant my Popcorn Hosta in it....yes, I am still planting things. 

Need to start another row of lettuce soon, gosh the lettuce I planted in the spring was good, a little sesame oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, stevia...makes a good dressing along with cherry tomatoes and radishes from the garden....heaven!!!!!

So these are some of the cards we made last month...I even took pictures of them right after I made them. To make sure I would post them right away....nope, that did not happen. I like the verse, "I hope thistle cheer you up." with purple thistles in the jar colored with copic markers. Cute, cute.

Cute little possum laying on a hammock, colored with copic markers.

This ladybug was fun to make. Betty said she saw a sample of it on Pinterest and duplicated it....I do that a lot....I see a card I like and duplicate it with the stamps I have on hand...never quite looks the same....but close.

When I used to be a hairdresser, I could duplicate hairdo's. The lady would come in with a picture of what she wanted to look like and I almost always would come close. Of course it always depended on the head of hair I was working on. If the picture of the lady had real thick hair, the lady wanting that hairdo had thin, fine hair.....would be kinda hard to make it look like the picture....but I tried to please.

You probably recognize this card, as it is my header card...I thought this was a very pretty card. In order to duplicate this card I would need the die cut of the tree....the trees in the back ground were stamped and embossed then the tree was dabbed with brown and black to make it look like a birch tree. All was done on iridescent paper to give it that shine.

I just got done cutting JP's hair, he was getting pretty shaggy. Gave him a pretty short hair cut, using the clippers and trimmed his beard too...this cut should last till about September or October....he has had free haircuts since 1971, when we first met and he has never tipped me....HA....cheap, cheap!!!!!

UPDATE: Sitting at my computer and noticed $2 by the lamp...I said, "what is this for?" JP says, "it's your tip!" Oh my goodness, my first tip from him in 47 years!!!

Oh, I need to tell you....I have been dieting for over a year, watching and writing the things I put in my mouth....yeah, it's been tuff, but I am glad to say as of today....I have lost 26 lbs....it's been a very slow process. But, hey, I did not put it on fast.....it was a slow process of gaining a pound here and there. I am hoping to eventually eliminate all these pills I am taking for diabetes and high blood pressure. The Doctor says he wants to see "less of me" at my next visit. Meaning he wants to see me weighing less then what I have....I think I might be able to accomplish that....at this point.

Lately I have been making Dr. Atkin's shakes in the morning and it seems to hold me over till the evening....I will take it. The shakes are so delicious, I put a half frozen banana and handful of frozen strawberries, a few ice cubes and the shake....mix it up in my blender and "wa-la" a delicious, thick shake that I have to use a spoon with....soooooo good.

Well, it is time to make JP's lunch as he will be leaving for work in about an hour and half. Talk to you all later, keep looking up as better days are coming....you just watch!!!! Cheers ~ Louise

A Few Cards and My Gardens

Hi there everyone....did you miss me?? Yeah, been busy I guess. Working on cards, growing my gardens, enjoying my flowers to the trickling sound of my little pond. Such is retirement, not a whole lot goes on in my life.

So in these two pictures are some cards I put together. My secret stamper sent me the ladybug image, of course in black and white and I colored it in with alcohol inks. I really liked the way it turned out. When I first got the images (12 of them), my first thought was that it was a turtle, so I colored it in greens....but wait a moment....turtles don't have antena's do they???? Nope, it was then I realized this image was a LADYBUG!!! Big difference!!!

The image of the giraffes is what I sent to my secret stamper. I used pearl-x to color in the giraffes, so they have a little bit of shimmer. This is what I came up with, using the giraffes. Now on to August and a new image. Maybe next post I will take pictures of the cards I made using my image and the image sent to me by my secret stamper. Kind of a preview of what I have been doing of late.

In the pictures following, is one of my little gardens. From this end, is my cucumber plant, pepper plant and two bean plants. I already got a pepper off the plant, I cheated, it was already growing when I bought the plant. So I waited till it got bigger then we ate it!!! These plants get the morning sun.

In this picture, onions, lettuce, carrots  and radishes. I think I may cut some lettuce tonight...getting pretty big. We've had a few radishes....very small but good. I do have another planter with beans, a pepper plant and tomato plant growing. These plants get the afternoon sun.

Here is my garden pond....always fun to listen to the trickle of the pond. Hostas and white Impatient's grow in this garden as they like shade. I do have another Hosta to plant....a Popcorn Hosta.....not sure if I will plant it here or by the other planter along side the fence. I still have time before Fall. Don't want to rush things, you know?

It sure has been warm, some days going in the 90's and humid. We have all the fans going 24/7 just to keep a breeze flowing in the house. The basement has been tolerable. There is a fan going down there too, along with my "artic blast" a wee little air-conditioner that you have to sit by, in order to keep cool. I do have a window air conditioner in the kitchen. BUT, it only works for a short time and begins to spit. So I have to turn on the fan till it stops spitting, then I can turn it back up to #1 till it starts to spit again, then I turn it back down to the fan. The intervals are about 1/2 hour, it does get cool for a short time. I guess I really need to look into finding a new air conditioner. To tell you the truth....I prefer this kind of weather, struggling with the heat rather then struggle with the snow....the picture below is from this past snow storm in April....I guess I like my gardens.

Time to close here....you all have a great weekend, don't we all love Saturday and Sunday....yay!! Have a good one, keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Happy 4th of July

Secret Stamper Images Pt. 2

Hi there everyone....how's life by you? Well, here we are the first day of Summer!!! Hip-hip-hoo-ray!!! The weather is lovely today, I like it when the weather is in the 70's....so comfortable.

So in my last post I said, I would continue my secret stamper images in 3-4 days....today is day 4 so I thought I better get my rear in gear and do what I said I would do.....(gosh there sure are a lot of "I's" in that last sentence.....6 I's!!! 

November....Tis Thanksgiving of course. I sent the turkey, my card is on the right, secret stamper card is on the left. My background is a napkin....one of my favorite ways of making a card. Glue card stock with a glue stick then layer the card stock with a single layer of the napkin and smooth it out like you would with wallpaper. Makes for a nice effect. I have quite a collection of napkins for every season just about.

December......I sent the green wreath...my card is on the right and secret stamper is on the left. I am always amazed at how the secret stamper comes up with a completely different idea....always fun to see.

In January, I sent the spider holding a heart, thinking in advance for Valentine's Day of course. I liked her little verse. "Your friendship lifts my heart!"

February, I was thinking ahead to Easter with my card on the right and secret stamper on the left. I sent the background. She came up with a great idea for sure.

For March, I sent the green frog. I love this card..."I am hiding, can you find me?" The frog was a digital off the Internet. I cut him out then layered him, cutting his leg and eyes out, then layered him on some succulent patterned paper. My card is on the right, her card is on the left. 

April was the Dragonflies. I had a bunch of these dragonflies colored in, so I thought it would be fun to see what the secret stamper would come up with. My card is on the right, hers on the left.

So there you have it....we have started a new session already....May and June with July coming up. I better start thinking about what I will send to my secret stamper for July. Something summery, I am sure!!!

If you have noticed on my blog....I have not added any more cards to my Etsy store. The items that are still in the store all expire in September. After that, I will be closing my store. I will have been on Etsy 10 1/2 years and only had 67 items sold. I have decided, it's not worth it for me anymore. Everything is for a season, and I guess my season on Etsy has passed. Etsy is also making a few changes and I guess I just don't feel like jumping through the hoops with more learning curves....nope, not no more. That's okay, I was never much of a good entrepreneur. I have tried many times to sell things. I have made cards, crafts, etc. grown vegies and sold eggs, or sold for someone else (ie. Mason Shoes, Herbalife). Guess I am just not a good salesperson. So, I guess for now on...I will just donate or give away.....that's what people like much better, everything for free. Maybe I have been dealing with a bunch of liberals and didn't realize it. Now a days….you just don't know.

On that note, I will close this post for today. Stay tuned, next post will be either about my little garden or the cards we made at Betty's. Talk later, have a great evening and keep looking up, better days are coming. Cheers ~ Louise

Secret Stamper Images Pt. 1

Hi there everyone. How has your week been? I am a little bit slow at getting these cards posted on my blog. These cards were from the Secret Stamper Image Reveal Party from April 22nd....oh well, guess spring has been a bit busy or, not so busy. No excuses. 

Have really been enjoying May and June. Not so much April though, when we had that bad snow storm....gosh that was a mess. It took my husband 3 days to get the snow shoveled and the car going down the driveway. He missed one day of work and then his supervisor picked him up the 2nd day. Third day he got out. I think by the end of the week you would never have known we had a snow storm of about 22-23 inches.

I had a really neat Secret Stamper. With each image, she sent a letter and where she got  the different stamps and dies. So the above cards were for December. She sent the deer, her card is on the left, my version of her deer image is on the right.

February being Valentine Day, she sent a Valentine kit, the white back ground with a cut out heart, the silver heart, pattern paper for the heart and the little strip of hearts. Her card on the left, my card on the right. I embossed the white back ground with hearts, running it through the cuttlebug. Adding the Love die also.

March, being St. Patrick's Day. She sent the leprechaun, again, her card is on the left and my colored in leprechaun is on the right.

Well, I guess I did not get October in the right order. She sent the small leaves. Her card is on the left, and my card is on the right.

January....She sent the "hello" her card is on the left and mine is on the right......I love that giraffe. I saw the idea at Hobby Lobby and made quite a few of these cards. When my secret stamper sent the "hello" I thought that would fit perfectly for the giraffe.

April's card was the flower. I have this stamp, but she also had the die cut to go along with the flower. Her card is on the left and my card is on the right.

I know I did not get the months straight, should have put them in order when I was taking these pictures. Well, next group of cards will be better....I hope!!

So there you have it. there is another Part 2 to these cards. The images that I sent to my secret stamper. That will be my next post....maybe in 3-4 days or so.

I am still working and planting my gardens....planting flowers, tomatoes, peppers, onions, beans, lettuce, zucchini and what ever else I can get in my planters. When I am finished, I will take pictures of the things I have been working on.

Time to close, church tomorrow and I need to get some sleep, that's if I can sleep, drank too much iced tea. Talk to you later, 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!!!!

Some Wednesday Card Making from 2 Weeks Ago...Already!!!

Hi there everyone....can you believe it....May is almost over!!! This sure was a tough month on all sides. Physically, financially and emotionally....still trying to come up for air!!!! We had Doctor appointments, a tooth pulled, extra $$$ spent for co-pays and teeth, taxes due on the house, sometimes it seems like I just get done paying a bill and it shows up in my mail box again! How does one keep their emotions at an even keel??? I don't know, have not figured that out yet and here I am...71 years old!!! My mother never told me....everything was always "calm and quiet" by her. Geez....I'm still waiting for calm and quiet days.

Well, probably the only thing that keeps me sane is my card making. At least I can make sense of that. Made these cards 2 weeks ago at Betty's. The top card was interesting. Sponged in the brown, then stamped the trees and embossed. Then colored in the brown with copic markers...stamped the ducks and Thinking of  you. The bird is a die cut. Really nice card, maybe this could be a sympathy card also.

These next two cards....I have always liked these two girls....they come from Stampin'up. Betty got these stamps from www.wish.com for 1 dollar for the set. The only thing different is that the girls are smaller then the original set AND you have to wait 4-6 weeks for the stamps to show up in your mail box. Guess they come on a slow boat from China. They still make for a nice card though. I really like the bottom card the best, the girl and saying are stamped on a grey card stock then white and grey pencil used to color in the girl.

The above card was embossed with a folder, sponged in the blue and then speckles to outline the swirls. The girl was stamped, a second stamped girl was colored and cut and pasted to the original girl....cute huh??

The card below with the birthday mouse was cute...just colored in with copic markers. Sweet and simple.

Now this card.....was not made at Betty's. I have a friend whose birthday was coming up, and found this pug saying and doggie at the Revealing party last month. This is what I came up with for a card for her. She loved it!!! 

The side panel is braided. I had seen this technique a long time ago and wondered how it was made. Finally found the directions to make it myself. Colored in the pug with copic makers, the blue is iridescent blue taped on white card stock, then run through the cuttlebug with a doggie paw print folder.

It has been SO warm here...we go from cold and snow to warm and 90 degrees in about a month....how crazy is that. But I guess I will take this weather change, it's a breeze compared to being in flood areas and volcano areas!! That's for sure!!! So much going on all around the world, such devastation everywhere. Do you think God is trying to get our attention???? He has mine!!!

Well time to close here....need to get something done around the house...like maybe the dishes in the sink. I have some planting to do....a few tomato plants. Got my onions planted, radishes, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, pepper plant. We did something different this year. I got 2 big planters and dirt. I have one on the drive way, where it will get more sun. The other planter is along side the fence, it should get about 4-6 hours of sun. I don't have to bend down to plant....the ground is not so far away at least!!! I took pictures of the planters...JP and I were putting wheels on the planter in the driveway, so I can roll it around to catch the sun rays....we'll see how that works. Next blog I will show you how my garden is growing.

Have a good evening and keep looking up.....better days are coming, here, there, or in the air!!!! Cheers ~ Louise

Talking About Cheese Cake and Blue Apron Dinners

Hi there everyone...how you all doing this fine day. I should be outside pulling weeds.....but....I am dreaming about cheese cakes!!! I have had this post in a draft for over a month or more. Thought I would bring it up and drool a little bit today. I finally bought myself a (promised at Christmas) spring form pan. I had a couple, but they were rusted and old, inherited from JP's mother and grandmother. I decided to sell them, some lady bought them....months later I saw them in her garbage, they were moving.

I have been wanting to make a cheese cake for a very long time, checked out many, many recipes, till I found this one, which was easy and to the point. My graham cracker crust was VERY thick, which JP liked. As you can see, I had a few crumbs left over and sprinkled them on top of the finished cake.

This is my first "real" Cheese Cake, I shall have to make another one, as the spring form pan sits in the dinning room on a desk, for me to look at every day, if I put it away, I will forget about it. This way, I see it everyday and it reminds me to make another cheese cake. I have seen some recipes using the spring form pan....shall have to try them all someday.....sometimes, someday never comes....right?

A slice of heaven in one bite! Yes....this was! So good, plain and of course embellished with strawberries and  Cool Whip!!! No calories.....right?!?!?

Below are some meals I made from Blue Apron. Sorry to say, I have cancelled my subscription to Blue Apron. They were great and I really enjoyed them.....but to keep JP happy I had to eliminate spicy seasonings....like below, radishes were spicy....so no radishes on his Ginger Pork Burgers with Black Bean Mayo and Roasted Broccoli. Ginger makes things spicy too, so eliminating those two things kind of defeats the taste of what the burgers were supposed to taste like. This meal, by the way was delicious because for my burger, I kept the ginger and radishes in my burger.

Top Chef's Winner - Seared Steak and Mushroom Sauce with Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli.....now this was delicious.....really liked this recipe and will do it again...no spicy in this dish.

The next meal was Chicken Paillard and Olive-Raisin Sauce with Warm Fennel and Potato Salad. No spice here either. What was interesting about this meal, was working with the fennel bulb. Never worked with that before. Again the meal was delicious with no spice.

I had to think long and hard about cancelling my subscription, and had to think of all the pros and cons. The meat and vegetables were always fresh and if there was something missing from the box, all I had to do was contact them that an item was missing and they would give me credit for the next meal which would be FREE!!!

Blue Apron is a good company to deal with. Never had a problem with them. Don't know about the other companies that offer meals. But I think just for now I will stick with the basics for JP, meat and potatoes and fruit. Simple, simple and more simple.

I found too, that being on the Keto/Atkins diet, Blue Apron was not conducive to those diet needs. Too much salt and carbs are added to the delicious meals. So that was another reason to cancel. Blue Apron said they were sorry to see me go and if I ever had a change of heart, I could come back. I guess, no change of heart is in the future for me at this point.

Well, time to close, I guess my weeds are calling my name as are my cards in the basement....yeah, there is always SOMETHING that calls my name. "Hey Stupid" (my step-father always called me a "stupid idiot" so I am used to that name.)

Talk later....I shall have more cards for you from Betty's class last Wednesday. Keep looking up....better days are coming soon and very soon. Cheers ~ Louise