So sorry for my absence....

I guess I just needed a break or ran out of things to say. (I guess that one is hard to believe).  Then, a few days ago, I got locked out of my google account and couldn't get into my blog. Well, I am set now and expect to be much more regular about posting. I take my hat off to those of you that manage to post daily and keep it interesting. Speaking of interest, I have been spending a lot of time on Pinterest. I am a very visual person and I enjoy having a place that I can keep the cool stuff I find on the web and share it with friends and family. If you haven't checked Pinterest yet, you really need to try it. It doesn't take long to become addicted! Okay now for some cards:

Supplies all from Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Certainly Celery, Not Quite Navy and Whisper White. Ink: Basic Black and Night of Navy Classic. Designer paper is retired "Green Tea". Stamps: "Fifth Avenue Floral."

 

Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' Up!'s Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, and Whisper White. Stamps: Retired  incentive stamp (mouse in cup), and Delightful Dozen stamps. Ink: Early Espresso and Pumpkin Pie.  Retired DSP, "Autumn Vine". Stampin' Write Markers.  Generic brass star brads.

Supplies All from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Not Quite Navy and Whisper White,  Designer paper is Paisley Petals . Stamp is from "Four Frames" which fits the Decorative Label punch. Ink is Not Quite Navy. Accessories: Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon. SU embossing folder Finial Press.

Thanks for visiting!

My first fried green tomatoes...

My daughter Carol gave me some beautiful Brandywine tomatoes that were still green so I decided to try making some fried green tomatoes. Now I had never tasted these so I was taking the word of the southerners I know that they were a real treat. The green tomatoes were so pretty I had to take a photo. I found a highly rated recipe on the web and started cooking. (or should I say frying?) Fried foods are not seen too often at our house so you can believe me when I tell you, I went through a roll of paper towels, draining and blotting these babies off. Truth be told, they were delish and we totally enjoyed them. The other photos show the tomatoes after frying and some of my tomatoes I have canned. Note to self: plant fewer cherry tomatoes next year. Thanks for checking in at my blog. I will have some cards next post.

If you would like to try this and have some green tomatoes, here is the recipe I used .

Ingredients

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 medium-size green tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch slices
• Vegetable oil
• Salt to taste

Preparation

• Combine egg and buttermilk; set aside.
• Combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl or pan.
• Dredge tomato slices in remaining 1/4 cup flour; dip in egg mixture, and dredge in cornmeal mixture.
• Pour oil to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch in a large cast-iron skillet; heat to 375°. Drop tomatoes, in batches, into hot oil, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels or a rack. Sprinkle hot tomatoes with salt.

3 Cards from my last workshop...

Last weekend I had a workshop focusing on sponging and reverse masking. We made three clean and simple cards using those techniques. We all had such a good time making these, I will definitely do another workshop using sponging.
First is a simple birthday card. Sorry about the glare on the black cardstock. Black does not photograph well. I always seem to get a glare. I used painter's tape to mask off the edges of the sponged area. Make sure you get some of the "sticky" off the tape first by putting it on your clothing or an old tee.

All from Stampin' Up! Cardstock: Basic Black, Very Vanilla. Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Petite Pairs. Ink: So Saffron, Cajun Craze and Basic Black. Ribbon Black and White checked Gingham (Ret).

 Next a super-simple thinking of you card. You could use different colors of ink to suit your taste instead of the pinks. I think this would work really well in the sunset colors. Painter's tape used again.

Supplies all from Stampin' Up! Cardstock: Whisper White and Certainly Celery. Stamps:  Autumn Days and  Three Little Words. Ink: Perfect Pink Pirouette, Pretty In Pink and Rich Razzleberry. Basic Rhinestones accents.

 This last one is a sympathy card. I think it is very serene and calming. I used torn paper to do the masking for the hills. Another clean and simple card.

Supplies all from Stampin' Up! Cardstock: Whisper White and Wisteria Wonder. Stamps:  Just Believe and Thoughts and Prayers. Ink: Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant. Basic Pearls accents.

Monster 'maters....

The garden has turned into a jungle! I can hardly turn around in there.

The cherry tomatoes especially have gone wild. Note to self: next year, only plant one cherry tomato. It is not the size of the tomatoes that makes them monsters but the vines have taken over three trellises. The good part of dealing with the jungle. Maters, beans and carrots. Yum!

Butterflies in the grass.....

I have to name all my cards that I photograph for my gallery so there will be some way to organize them if I need to find them again. I've noticed that some stampers seem to come up with such clever names for their cards. Me, not so much. So here is another card with a lame name "Butterflies in the Grass"

Supplies all from Stampin' Up! Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Pretty In Pink, Chocolate Chip, and Whisper White. Ink Old Olive, Basic Black, Pretty In Pink, and Cherry Cobbler. Stamps: Inspired by Nature, Butterflies in Flight, and sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes. Ribbon- Old Olive Satin 5/8 inch. Punches: Word Window and Modern Label, and Scallop Edge Border.

I made pesto yesterday...

I had a lot of basil in the garden and I just didn't want it to go to waste. I love pesto but DH doesn't so I put it in mini muffin pans and put it in the freezer. Then I popped them out and stored the individuals servings in a zip-lock bag. I am growing Summer Long basil and the leaves are tiny so it took me a long time to pull 4 cups worth off the cut bunches. So worth the effort though, and the kitchen smelled so good all day. I love the smell of basil! Here is a pic of the basil before I made a big mess in the kitchen.

I also made zucchini relish this week. I got a kick out of the fact that everything except the onions came from my garden. My zucchini plants, the two of them, look like they are about finished for the season, so I cut them back and I will remove them in a couple of weeks.  We sure have enjoyed the zucchini!  I got 14 jars of the relish put up for the coming year.

I will post a card for you tomorrow. I haven't touched anything from the new Stampin' Up! catalog yet, and there are a lot of cute stamps and some great new colors. I just need to carve out a little crafting time. Take care and thanks for visiting.

Super simple little card...

I call this one Cupcake Shoppe. Super easy, just a little coloring, and a bit of cutting. Another card from my last Stamp-A-Stack.

Supplies: Stampin' Up! Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, and Whisper White. DSP Candy Lane (retired). Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes, and Perfect Punches. Sentiment is an incentive stamp. Ink: Basic Black Punch: Round tab punch. Stampin' Write markers: Pink Pirouette, Pretty In Pink, More Mustard and Crumbcake.
Red Stickles for the cherries.

Garden update....

The garden continues to thrive and I am still enjoying the work despite the extreme heat and humidity we've been having lately. I usually go out early before my coffee and breakfast and try to get most of the work done before it gets too uncomfortable out there. Knowing that I've grown most of the plants from seed gives me a great deal of satisfaction.

After all the work of starting my first year garden I am finally getting to the best part of vegetable gardening. The harvest! Cucumbers and tomatoes right from the garden.

I made my first batch of pickles. Bread and Butter pickles with thin sliced onions. I enjoy canning but it is even more enjoyable using fresh produce from your own garden.

The garden has been consuming me but I promise to post another card tomorrow. Stay tuned and thanks for looking!

Large prints...

on papers are a problem for cardmakers. A pattern that looks beautiful for a scrapbook page is often too large to use to make a card. A solution for using up your scraps of large print papers is to use the paper itself as the focal image. Just add a sentiment and some ribbon to complete. Not only does it look pretty, it is really quick to do.

Inspired by this card by Connie Collins
Fabulous Friends

 Supplies all from Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, and Whisper White.
DSP Greenhouse Gala.(retired)
Stamps: Four Frames.
Embossing folder: Finial Press.
Ink: Chocolate Chip. Ribbon: Chocolate Chip Satin.

Adding to the mix....

I know this is supposed to be a crafting blog, but I've already added the food storage and garden, so humour me. I joined Weight Watchers yesterday after a lot of encouragement and a little arm twisting from my younger sister, Chris. I hope you won't mind the occasional post about my weight loss journey. Food is involved so maybe you won't mind so much. Here is today's breakfast. Looks good, doesn't it? Cottage cheese, fresh strawberries, blueberries and Kiwi nicely arranged in a little bowl. So fresh, so healthy, so little! Actually, along with my morning coffee, it was very filling and tasty. Thanks for indulging me, I'll post a card later.

What do you know, I'm posting a card...

Here is another of the cards we did at the Stamp-A-Stack. I saw a similar card in the big Idea book and catalog and I just changed it up a bit. I love the purple with the green. The stamp set is retiring on the 30th of this month so I made sure I got it before it is gone!

Supplies all from Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, Certainly Celery, Whisper White and Basic Black.
Designer paper from Subtles Patterns Paper Stack.
Stamps: "Chic Boutique".
Ink: Basic Black.
Tools: Mat Pack and piercer.

Time for some pictures of my garden...

This project has been consuming me since I started the seeds indoors a few months ago. It is so much fun to watch the plants getting so big and starting to produce.
East side of garden enclosure

My little zucchini plant

Square Foot Garden plot

West end of garden

Cukes and greens for dinner

One of my Stamp-A-Stack cards...

Saturday I am having a Stamp-A-Stack at my sister's home in Silver Spring. This is one of the cards that the ladies will be making. There will be five designs and they will be making two of each for a total of 10 cards. I will post the others after the workshop. I like for them to see the cards first. Thanks for looking!

All supplies are from Stampin' Up!
Stamps: "Upsy Daisy", "Because I Care", and A to Z.
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Whisper White and Very Vanilla
Ink: Early Espresso
Designer Paper: Delicate Dots (retired)

What I've been up to ......

After the holidays last year, I did some soul searching and came to the conclusion that my life needed more balance. I was tired of the chaos and haphazardness of my daily life and felt a need to simplify and organize my home and thoughts. One area of need for us was preparedness. Although we have been blessed and not had a major natural disaster in our area that affected us, I wanted to be as ready as I could be if we did have an extended time that the electricity is off, or our food supply was diminished. Inspired by my daughter I started to work on an "extended pantry" Shopping at sales for items, storing, organizing, dating, and rotation of these items was first on the list. Canning, dehydrating and learning about cooking from food storage was next. I am not going to expound on these subjects as there are so many wonderful blogs and websites available that say it much better than me. I will show you a photo of part of my pantry area which is downstairs in the basement. I'm not finished, as it is an ongoing project, but I think I have a good start.

I'm back......

and so sorry I was gone for so long. I had a little burn out and just needed to regroup and recharge. I hope I still have some readers. Before I tell you what I have been up to the last few months, I want to make sure you don't miss out on the latest from Stampin' Up!

In order to make room for all the new products coming in July, hundreds of stamp sets, accessories, and home décor products are retiring! These last-chance items are only available June 1-30, so click the links below to get your favorites before they’re gone. Shop last-chance Wood-Mount Stamps Shop last-chance Clear-Mount Stamps Download the last-chance stamps PDF Shop last-chance Accessories Shop last-chance Definitely Decorative® Download the last-chance Definitely Decorative PDF Shop all discounted last-chance items

Christmas cards in January

Happy New Year, everyone!
Now that Christmas is over, I am posting some of my Christmas cards from the Holiday Happenings class. Sadly, I got sick before Christmas and sent out very few Christmas cards this year. I can't decide to keep them for next year or send them out this month. It seems like I should be thinking about Valentine cards and January birthdays instead.

 

Supplies all Stampin' Up!
Jolly Holiday designer paper pack. Old Olive, Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, and Very Vanilla cardstock.  Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents. Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon, and the Contempo Christmas stamp set. Thanks for looking!