Winter Flurries

Wow!  It's Thursday already.  Where has this week gone?  Definately not to posting on this blog ... sorry about that.  Yesterday was my Newcomers Coffee.  We had an antiques expert there who assessed some of our valuable antiques and gave us an estimate of what they were worth.  I took in a couple of items and learned a bit about them.  I have a beautiful porcelain pin that was my grandmothers.  Her son brought it back to her from France when he was in the Army in the spring of 1946.  On the back, it says "Imoges France".  Turns out these were popular for soldiers to purchase back then for $5-$10.  But it is worth a bit more than that now.  He estimated about $50.  (I was hoping for more!)  I also took in a stein of Sonny's that was given to him by my mother's cousin.  It has a German slogan on the front that loosely translates to "Dr Luther speaks well, Water alone does not make you happy"  Turns out it is worth more than my pin - around $100.  Really, what difference does it make?  These are our treasures and we will not be selling them!

I received a bunch of new goodies Tuesday but have not had time to play with them much.  This morning I was determined to make a card with something new.  So, I got out the Northern Flurries embossing folder and a piece of SU's vellum.  (I love their vellum because it is thick similar to cardstock.)  I ran the vellum through the Big Shot with the Flurries folder and dabbed a little glue on the back where the snowflakes were so it wouldn't show through.  Then I glued it to a piece of Bashful Blue cardstock and tied a Bashful Blue bow on the front.  The final touch was adding a few little pearls to the center.  Voila!  A Christmas card .... my first!  It was so simple but looks so gorgeous. 

I love SU's embossing folders ... combined with the Big Shot, you just get such a deep impression and it shows up so well.

Well, I am off to a luncheon at a friends house.  One of friends and neighbors moved away a few months ago.  She is back this weekend so we are having a luncheon for her.  I am making brie in a new brie pottery bowl that Ashley gave me.  Hope it turns out!!  I am going to top it with a little Pepper Jelly and pecans.

Friends

"It takes a long time to grow an old friend."   ~John Leonard

I had a wonderful day Monday with my girlfriends.  My two college friends come for a visit Monday.  It is so wonderful that we have kept in touch all these years.  We met in 1966 when Jackie and Brenda lived across the hall from me at Umstead Dorm at ECU.  They were such a livesaver to me since my roomies weren't the greatest.  They were both from the mountains and called me the rich city girl.  We were pretty inseparable and all three were education majors.  Those were the days!  We have come a long way from those silly college girls to now be silly senior citizens! 

This is us at the end of the night drinking our usual strawberry daiquiris!  I used to make daiquiris for us in the dorm room - sitting on the floor with the blender and the contraband rum.  Of course, drinking was against the rules in the dorm but that didn't stop us.  So, everytime we get together one of us brings the rum and we have a drink or two. 

We started out the day Monday with lunch which Brenda treated us to since she will be first one of the three of us to receive her Social Security check!  Her birthday is next week, mine in October, and Jackie in December.  Then we headed out to do some damage with our credit cards!  We shopped till we dropped and finished up with appetizers at P F Chang's.  We had to watch our time because Brenda had forgotten to bring the rum so we had to get to the ABC store before they closed! 

It's funny - in college, everyone thought Jackie and I were sisters.   We really never saw the connection.  Jackie told us about one time when she was stopped in the hall of our dorm by a girl from Charlotte that I had gone to school with and who knew me.  The girl, Jane, asked Jackie if she was my sister.  Jackie replied, "no - are you Dracula's sister?"  That is so funny now and so unlike Jackie who was always pretty quiet and shy.  (Of course, around Brenda and I, we didn't give her much opportunity to get a word in edgewise.)  Well, last night I found an old picture taken our freshman year.  It was of the three of us pretending to be in a band.  Brenda was playing guitar with the broom, one of us was drumming a washpan and the other was singing in a pretend mike.  Would you believe Jackie and I had a hard time trying to figure out which one of the two was her and which one was me.  Brenda had to tell us.  I guess we really did look alike back then.  Jackie said she felt bad now being a smart-ass to Jane!!

Do you have a friend you haven't connected with in a long time?  Give her a call!  Girlfriends are the best!

Bird Cards

I've had a pretty busy weekend.  I taught a class at the stamp store in Mooresville Saturday morning.  We had 9 gals - a lot of new faces.  The class was a little challenging but we got through it!  After class, Marianne and I had lunch at Friendly's and then drove to Charlotte.  We had gotten a deal through Groupon a couple of months ago to a scrapbook store and had not used our $$.  Well, the store was a little bit of a disappointment.  It was mostly a stationary store where you can order invitations of every kind.  They did have some Bazzil paper and other scrapbook paper and a few accessories.  Marianne got a good deal on a guillatine cutter.  When we left there, the people in the shop directed us to another scrapbook store that was just a couple of miles down the road.  It was much better with stamps and scrapbook supplies plus they offer classes. 

Today I did my least favorite job .... cleaning house!  Ugh!  Two of my college friends are coming to visit tomorrow.  We are planning on going out for lunch and then do a little shopping.  Where they live, there is not a lot of shopping places so we will be headed to the mall.

We are also babysitting Sammy, mom's cat again.  Mom and Angela have gone to Pigeon Forge (I think that is where) for a couple of days.  Unfortunately, they forgot to bring us any litter!  I am trying out shredded paper tonight - we'll see!!

The class I taught on Saturday was a Northwoods stamp class with a lot of embossing, glitter and watercoloring.  So, when I got home, I decided to do a couple of cards myself of birds.  Here they are: 

I colored a couple of other ones but haven't made them into cards yet.

Clearance!!

Just a quick note to you - SU has just put a bunch of great items on Clearance.  These are retired cardstock, buttons, ribbon, etc. but they are a great deal.  There are TEN pages of goodies.  So, check it out HERE.  Click over on the left side at Clearance & you can submit your order from the site.  I hope you'll go and check it out.

Challenge Central

If you are like me, you enjoy a good challenge.  Well, this site has all the challenges out there in Blog World listed - or at least they have all they know about!  Check them out.

More Cards and a Box

I did my Flower Brooch class today and it went so well.  I was really pleased.  I had about 15 ladies.  One of my friends from Club came to help me.  The only problem the ladies had was figuring out how to weave the pieces.  But once they tacked that, they were off to the races.  Most of them made 2 pins but a few made 3 or 4.

Tonight one of Sonny's groups had a raft-up on the lake.  We had about 8 boats and it was a beautiful night.  We watched the sun go down and the full moon go up.  The weather has finally started to cool down a bit and I'm loving it!  Although that is not the case everywhere in the country.  When I spoke to Ashley yesterday, she said they were breaking records there and it was miserable.

I want to share another project I made this week.  Here are four cards and a great box to put them in.  I got the box directions from Andrea Walford.  She really does some great projects.

The box has an acetate cover over it.  It opens from the back.

These cards use Sahara Sand, Chocolate Chip and Bermuda Bay (retired) card stock.  The stamp set is Watercolor Trio, which will be retired real soon.  I stamped the flowers in white craft ink and embossed them.

Tote-ably Awesome Tote

I had a full day of playing today!  Most of the morning was spent getting every ready for tomorrow.  I am showing the Garden Club how to make the fabric flowers.  I think I have everything packed and ready!  I've got about 20 ladies signed up and a one of the gals from my Club is going to help me out.

This afternoon I made a this little tote for four of the cards I made last weekend.  This is Becky's Tote-ally Awesome Tote (Inking Idaho).  It took a little more time than I had planned so I don't know that I will be making too many of these.  But I thought it turned out cute.

These are little bookmarks or tags in the outside pocket.

This is the top closure (velcro underneath).

This is the box open.  I made acetate pockets on either side for the cards.

And here are the cards:

The DSP is called Urban Garden and I got it several months ago from the Clearance Rack.  The stamp set I used is Friends Never Fade.

"Will you walk into my parlor?"

"Will you walk into my parlor?" Said a spider to a fly" 

Sonny and I watched the most fascinating spider do her weaving today.  I just have to share the pictures that I took.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE THE WHOLE WEB!!

The web is just huge and right in the center, she is making her weave.  I don't know what kind of spider it is, but she is really pretty!  I know my sister is skipping this post.  She HATES spiders!! 

Sonny was so good today - he worked out in the yard just about all day pulling those dratted weeds while I whiled away the day playing bridge!  Our yard is just awful and all my flower beds are overgrown with weeds.  It has just been so hot and humid that I would not go out and work in the yard.  This weekend is supposed to be in the low 80's!  I'm looking forward to fall!!

Several of you have inquired about my daughter, Ashley.  Well, she reported to Ft Hood (in Texas - about 2 hours from her home) last Monday.  She is by herself in a barrack and had to bring her own set of sheets.  She called that night after getting settled in to report - no wi-fi, no pillow, no shower curtain and only a small refrigerator & microwave.  Going out to eat for a month will get old.  The next day, she showered to no hot water!  So after she was done, she drove to her cousin's to spend the night (an hour away).  Wednesday didn't get much better - she went out to dinner and locked herself out of the barracks!  She couldn't get anyone to respond to unlock for her so that night was spent in a motel.  She'll probably be glad to get to Iraq!!  Luckily, she has her weekends free so she can go back home or to Austin to her cousin's home.  She was successful this weekend in renting out her house while she is deployed so that is one worry off her mind.  She will be leaving September 12th for Iraq.  Don't know how long it will take to get to her final destination of Mosul or for her to have a mailing address.  Many have requested her address for sending letters.  I will let you know when I receive it.  Thanks for all your kind words and prayers for her safety.

OK - I do have a card to share with you.  This is my Monday Mailer I did on Sunday.  I was on a roll this weekend and actually got quite a few cards made for my craft fair which I will be sharing with you later this week.

This card uses the Seasons of Friendship stamp.  I almost forgot I had this stamp.  I used some DSP from the mini catty (which retires next week!) for the grass.  I sponged clouds behind the tree with Bashful Blue.

Flip Flop Art

I thought you might like to see my flip flops that I made a couple of years ago.  I get comments on them everywhere I go.  Tonight we went out on the boat and stopped at a restaurant for dinner and several people wanted to know where I had purchased them.  I actually saw a pair of these flip flops at Myrtle Beach 3-4 years ago and told my family that I could make my own.  So I did!  I started out with a pair of rubber Okabasi flip flops in blue and green.  I bought a couple of bags of long skinny balloons at a party store and cut them in half.  Then I just tied them onto the top of the shoe.

Aren't they the cutest?  Of course, the flower on my toe gives it that little added touch!!  When Ashley was in town, myself, my mom and Ashley all had a pedicure and all had a flower painted on our big toe.  So, if you want a conversation piece on your feet, get you some balloons and tie them on!!  Wouldn't it be cute to do a 4th of July shoe with red, white and blue balloons???

I finished another CKC project today.  It was one of my favorite classes taught by The Button Farm.  We made a recipe book out of an acrylic album.  Here are a few pages of mine:

This is the cover.

This page has an envelope glued down with recipe cards inside.

This is the back of the book.

I'll be having this for sale (I think) at the Newcomers November Craft Fair.

Breakfast Smoothies

I have been trying to get more dairy in my diet to fight my osteopenia.  Plus I've also been trying to cut back on bread.  It is always so easy to just pop a couple of pieces of toast in the toaster in the morning, spread it with margarine and/or jelly and enjoy a lazy person's breakfast while catching up on news and e-mails.  

I have been a fan of Weight Watcher smoothies for breakfast for a few years but I get tired of them after a while.   My favorite one though is Weight Watcher chocolate powdered smoothie mix combined with about 1/2 cup of low-fat milk, 1/4 cup brewed coffee and 3-4 ice cubes.  I am not a coffee drinker so I keep instant coffee in the freezer, make a cup and leave it in the fridge for a few days.  These smoothies are so yummy - they taste like the Mocha Cappochino drinks you get at Starbucks and places like that. 

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article in our local newspaper (HERE) about making easy fruit smoothies that aren't full of calories.  The columnist said she liked to use Greek yogurt with a variety of frozen fruits and non-fat milk.  The more colors, the more variety of nutrients you're getting.  The added touch is adding a handful of frozen spinach because it will boost the fiber and iron you're getting.  She said with all the blends of fruit and colors, you wouldn't be able to taste it or spot it in your cup.  Well, last week, I bought a package of frozen spinach to give it a try.  I like spinach as a vegetable so figured it would be ok.  Wrong!!   Number 1 - I could see pieces of the spinach in my drink - not appetizing!  And, worse, I could taste it.  Not good!  I ended up drinking about 3/4 of the smoothie and then it met with the disposal!  Oh well - I gave it a try!  I'm sticking to my fruit smoothies.  They are much better and also pretty easy.  This morning I had half a banana and half a mango with my milk and Greek Yogurt.  Other fruits I've tried are strawberries, blueberries and peaches.  If the fruit is not frozen (my peaches, mango and banana were fresh), I throw a couple of ice cubes in the blender.  I like the Greek Yogurt but my favorite is Light & Lively Vanilla.  So get out that blender and make you a quick and nutritious breakfast.  Let me know what flavors are your favorites!