Thrift Store Find and Refections of a Fat Girl

So me and John were out yesterday afternoon thrift store shopping. Something that my brother Tony got me doing years ago, and of course both my kids love to shop at the thrift stores and the Goodwill. Anyway......I was looking at the dishes and my eye found this bowl. Now I remember this well. The bowl is Melmac, and made during the 40's through the 60's. My mom had this color of dishes. I haven't seen any in years and just had to have it. Only cost me a dollar.

I show it to John and he goes oh this will be perfect for a food and water dish for Burbank. Now I love my cat but have no intention to give it to him for his food. Nope this is my bowl, and will find a place in the kitchen cupboard. I'm thinking chip and dip bowl.

This is yesterdays bounty from the garden. Lots of tomatoes, a head of cabbage, and hot peppers. I had to water yesterday as we are not due to have any more rain till Sunday and Monday. Looks like me may be getting some of the rain from the Hurricane. Today it is suppose to be in the mid 90's. Way to hot for me! So I'll get the workout done early in the morning.


I spent part of yesterday morning going through some of my clothes. I was able to donate some of the items that I "shrunk" out of. Wow is that a good feeling. I also came across one pair of pants that I kept from when I was at my largest size. When I reach my goal weight I'll be able to show you pics of me standing in them. I put them on and was just amazed at how large I really use to be. Boggles the mind. I know I lost a lot of weight but as it comes off slowly the change is gradual and you don't see the full scope of the picture till you stand in your old pants. Glad I kept them.

Happy last day of August. I have no idea where this month went but it seemed to fly by!



We can reverse years of damage to our bodies by deciding to raise our standards for ourselves, then living differently. Old wounds heal, injuries repair, and the whole system improves with just a few changes in what we put into our bodies and how we move them.

Stamping trails
Karen

Christmas Packaging

Well here it is August 30th and I already have one Christmas present wrapped with a homemade ornament on top. How cool is that? The ornament/package tag is made from a single toilet paper roll. I started by cutting the empty tube at 5/8 intervals. I just flatted the tube and cut it with my paper cutter. Next thing was to heat up the old trusty glue gun. I glued three bands together first, then glued together three more. Then I just glued the two sets together to make the six sided star.

So I have my wrapping theme for this year. Colors white, kraft, and red. Doesn't this look nice as a package topper? The person that receives the gift can also use the topper as an ornament. Love things that have a dual purpose. Hmmmmm.....this looks like it might be a case that SU clear stamps come in.............wonder who this could be for?

Close up of the tag. I used 25 & Counting stamp set, bakers twine, small scallop circle punch, and 1 inch circle punch.


I did 55 minutes on the treadmill yesterday morning. Go me! I was just in the mood and feeling good so I pushed to do a bit more than I normally do. Also made a big pot of chili and used a lot of the garden tomatoes. Came out pretty good. It wasn't as hot yesterday and Skip has been asking me to make chili. Good thing I made it yesterday as it is suppose to be 85 today and in the 90's on Friday. Good Grief!!! I know I know....don't complain as I'll be missing these days in the middle of January when its freezing outside.

Rather than aiming for being perfect, just aim to be little bit better today than you were yesterday.

Stamping trails
Karen  

How Many Points are Bugs?

So for all my Weight Watcher followers out there....how man points are bugs? 

Okay let me explain. With Weight Watchers you have to account for everything you put in your mouth. If you eat spoonful of that, or lick the frosting spoon you have to assign it a point. 

While out in the garden yesterday afternoon I was bending down to pick some ripe tomatoes at the bottom of one of the plants and I swallowed a bug. It flew right down my throat. Now it wasn't a big bug. I think it was just one of those pesty little gnats. So since I had to swallow it I have to count it. Bugs are protein are they not? Oh and if I get on the treadmill can I assign it an activity point so it gets canceled out? 

YUCK I really need to keep my mouth closed while I'm in the garden. Then I also need to wear some type of glasses while riding the bike.....remember on Sunday I had two bugs fly into both eyes while riding the bike. I think the bugs are out to get me! 

Enough about bugs onto the card.

The base card is Crumb Cake. Images stamped on cream cardstock. Stamp set Creative Elements. Ink colors used: More Mustard, Riding Hood Red, Cajun Craze and Early Espresso. Added just a few little pearls, and punches used Window, Modern Label. 

Had a nice visit with MIL Kate yesterday afternoon. Brought her some tomatoes from the garden. We talked about the upcoming family picnic that we have every Labor Day weekend. Also looked at photos. She has a ton of them and now she is trying to get them into some type of order. Lots of memories! 

" nothing tastes as good as losing weight feels "

Stamping trails

Karen

Clean and Simple Guy Card

It rained all day yesterday. Not just a gently misting rain I'm talking raining cats and dogs rain. It let up for 10 minutes around 5 pm so I ran out real quick and picked tomatoes. There were a ton of them red on the vine. I picked two baskets full and I know I didn't get them all. 

Simple card today. Crumb Cake base, cream, More Mustard and Cajun Craze layers. Word Play stamp set. I had these brads that look like upholstery  tacks, and thought they would look good. Card is sponged with Soft Suede.

I didn't sleep so good Sunday night. Went to bed early but then got up at 2. My legs and knees were bothering me and I just couldn't get comfortable. So I got up made more cards, played on the computer, watched The Honeymooners, and finally fell asleep on the couch at 5:30 then got up at 8. Rough night! 

 

Today I'm going to finish up the guy cards, and maybe go visit my mom in law.....got to get rid of some of these tomatoes, and I know she loves them! 

" Eating to live, not living to eat "

Stamping trails

Karen

More Guy Cards

Still working on those guy cards. I used Established Elegance stamp set with Early Espresso ink. Strip of Not Quite Navy cardstock, brown brad, and a key at the bottom of the card to finish it off. Clean and simple.

On this one I used some "Vintage" designer paper by Stampin'Up! I don't remember what the name is but the colors of the paper are all Chocolate Chip and Vanilla. The date on the paper is 06 so I've had it for quite a while now. I need to blow off the vintage dust and use this stuff! I thought the stripes on the designer paper went well with The Open Sea stamp set. I used the round map of the globe as a moon for the ship to sail under.


Was really hot here yesterday. Got up into the 90's. I did get my 45 minute treadmill in before it got to hot in he garage, but the temp was reading 80 in there. What a way to sweat off the fat! LOL

Pretty relaxing day. Got some stamping done, watched a movie, then took a late evening bike ride with Skip. We were going to go out to Applebee's yesterday, but I decided to stay at home, as I had some food that I needed to make. I got to grill salmon. That was really good! 

Stamping trails
Karen

Pinterest Case Guy Card

This was such a great guy card that I found on Pinterest that I had to CASE it. Love the way the designer paper was used as books. I used the simply scored tool from SU to make score marks in the paper to make them look like book bindings.

Here you can see a close look at the words used. Lately I've been on a guy making card kick. I never seem to have a good guy card in my stash when I need one so I figured I best get busy and make some.


Speaking of busy.......we washed 3 cars yesterday and waxed one. That was a workout! It was pretty hot outside. I started off with bare feet, but the soles of my feet got pretty hot and to the burning point on the hot driveway so I had to put the shoes back on. After we cooled off rested and had dinner we headed out to the park for a nice long walk. It was nice as John helped with the cars and also went walking with us. Great day!

I have to share with you....after my weigh in yesterday and a 1.2 lost I am exactly 30 pounds away from my personal goal weight. So as a visual I'm using 30 pearls in a clear jar and will move them over to the empty jar as the weigh loss journey continues. I'm feeling confident that I can make it. Seems fitting for me to use pearls in the jar to represent the pounds. I just love pearls!

Stamping trails
Karen 

Bugs!

EWWWW can we say YUCK!!!! I was weeding the garden yesterday and found these slug like things all over my eggplant. GROSS!!!!!!

Of course I had to get Skip on the problem bugs right away. We normally do not use any chemicals in the garden but these things called for it. There were so many of them. Funny that they were only on the eggplants.

Wasn't as busy yesterday as I had planned to be. After working out in the morning then weeding my back decided it had had enough. I think the double workouts on the treadmill caught up to me. So I decided to take the rest of the day slow. I wrapped some birthday presents for my friend Lisa, and did what my friend Connie calls "piddle". Which means I did things but didn't really accomplish much.

Hoping the back will feel better today and I'll be able to get more done. 

Weigh in - Lost 1.3 pounds

Stamping trails
Karen

Crocheted Heart Barbie Outfit

Well thank goodness my daughter Sarah kept all her Barbie dolls. I collect them but mine are all there original boxes, and I needed one to fit the outfit I made. This is a birthday gift for a friend who requested that I make it for her.

This is a closer look at the detail. I have to say it was not fun making the stitch on the skirt, but it does look like little hearts. I got the pattern at Amber's Crochet Cottage  
She has lots of great crochet projects on her blog.

Love the matching heart purse. Everyone knows that Barbie needs her accessories! 


I was really on fire yesterday as far as workouts goes. I did 45 minutes on the treadmill in the morning, then later in the day around 8 pm I did another 30. The knee is back to normal, and I'm so thankful that it is. I am doing a little bike riding but not as much as I was before.

Today I'll be doing some cleaning, and maybe do some weeding in the garden. The tomatoes are coming in. I've already frozen 4 large bags of them. Not to mention how many I've eaten! I'm also planning to make homemade tomato sauce with some today. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Stamping trails
Karen
 

Stocking Stuffer Snowman Gum

I'm so happy with how this project turned out. So cute! I used a black and orange Sharpie marker to make the faces on the clear plastic part of the gum pack. Just to make it more fun I tried to change up the faces and have them looking in different directions, and have different size carrot noses.

Then I got the bright idea to give each one a top hat. So easy to make using the new Little Labels Punch Pack from the SU catalog. I just added a strip of cardstock at the bottom to make the hat brim. Colors: Black, Not Quite Navy, and Baja Breeze.

On the front of the holder I used Snow Much Fun stamp set. Snowman stamped on Shimmery White cardstock then colored with aqua painter. Added some glitter with Dazzling Details.

I used the box that the gum was packaged in to make a template for the box I created. One inch circle punch to make the notch on the front of the package. Also used: Modern label punch, 2 3/8 scallop circle punch, and 1 3/4 circle punch.

What a fun project this was to make! These would make great stocking stuffers,and I know its early to be thinking about Christmas, but for a crafty person its never to early!

Stamping trails
Karen

Washer Jewlery

I have been seeing decorated washers around on Pinterest then again in the new issue of stampin success (demo magazine) and I knew I had to make some. Went out into the garage and raided hubby's stash of washers to create these. This first one uses two washers different sizes. The circle punch from the punch pack is the perfect size to punch out the center of the designer paper, then I used a 1 inch and punched again to get the size needed to cover the smaller washer. The larger washer needed a 3/4 circle punch for the center and 1 1/4 for the outside. After covering the washers with a thick layer of crystal effects I added a bit of fine glass glitter. I let these dry over night. After they were dry I used silver wire to attach the ghost charm to the large washer, then glued the top washer to the bottom one with more crystal effects. The designer paper used is retired SU paper. Rat tail cording used to turn it into a necklace.

Did these washers the same way. I even covered a square nut because....you know..... sometimes you feel like a nut.....sometimes you don't!

Stamping trails
Karen

Fresh Tomato Soup

So we have tomatoes getting ripe on the vine. I'll be freezing them soon as we will have to many ripe to eat. 

I did make some tomato soup last week, and Sunday for Skip to try. The recipe called for 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons flour. This was used to thicken the soup. Well I wanted to find another way to thicken it up without the use of butter and flour. I surfed the recipes on the web and found there were several ways to do this. One was to use cornstarch, but I didn't have any in the house, and I wasn't about to run to the grocery store (the grocery store is not my favorite place to go)

The second way was to use pureed vegetables. Sweet potatoes were sugested, but I didn't have those either (which was a shock to me as I always have these on hand) 

Another way was to use potatoes. Well of course I had those on hand, but didn't want to use them because of the carb factor. 

I did finally find something to use that I had....carrots! I thought perfect! Carrots go well with tomatoes. So I steamed 3 large ones and mashed them up then used the blender to mash them more ( I really need a food processor...one of these days)

So it came out very good. Here is the recipe just in case you have a ton of fresh maters in your garden.

4 cups fresh tomatoes cut in fourths. No need to peel or seed them as they will get strained in the end. 

2 cups chicken broth

1 slice onion

4 whole cloves

1 tsp sugar (recipe called for 2 tsp but one is enough I'm thinking next time to cut it down to 1/2 tsp)

Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer 20 minutes. 

If you plan to use the carrots get them ready by either steaming or by boiling, then puree them.

Strain the tomatoes. I just get another pot and put my strainer on top of that then pour them in. Add the carrots to the tomatoes, over low heat for additional 5 minutes or so. Then just enjoy your soup! 

If you would rather use the butter and flour to thicken use 2 tablespoons butter and melt in pot. Add 2 tablespoons flour and whisk over medium high heat till the flour browns. Add spoonful of the hot strained tomatoes and whisk making sure there are no lumps then add the remaining tomatoes.

Happy eating, and stamping trails

Karen

Inchie Back Again

Back again with another inchie card. These things are like potato chips....can't just have one.
Still making cards with Creative Elements stamp set. I can see now I'm going to have to buy my own set.

Colors used: Baja Breeze, So Saffron, Early Espresso, Riding Hood Red. Base card cream.
Did some sponging to add color to the squares. I thought I  would give my pop dots a rest and didn't use them on these cards.


Weather has been beautiful for the last few days. In the mid 70's. I'm just loving it! Not to hot, not cold, and its been really nice sleeping weather. No rain in the forcast this week so I'll be watering the garden. We still have lots of rain water left in the barrels from the last hard rain.

Today I'll be working on more Christmas gifts. Tick, tick, tick.....it will be here before you know it!

Stamping trails

Karen

More Knot Bags

Thought I'd share a few more bags with you. I'm making 25 of these to give for Christmas gifts. Some are going to my Red Hat sisters, others to friends and family. Since I've received some questions about the bags I wanted to post some answers.

You can use interfacing as shown with this pink butterfly bag. It is a little more difficult to turn if you use the interfacing. I prefer not to use it. I think the bag is a little to stiff when hanging from the wrist, so I'm not making any more with the interfacing. You can also mix up the bottoms and use the lining fabric for them. I did that with the red and gold bag. Hubby who doesn't really comment a lot over my projects really loved the red and gold one.

And here you can see what the bag looks like before it is "knotted". The smaller handle just loops over the larger one. The bags take two fat quarters to make. One for the outer bag, and one for the inner bag. I found the pattern while surfing Pinterest. Designer Helen Heath. Her blog is: http://showyourworkings.wordpress.com

I was having some problems with her pattern, so I looked around again and also found a pattern from Mirwood Designs for the bag. Mostly the same, but there is a few differences. I was having problems with the handles, but the diagrams from Mirkwood helped. Seam allowance 1/4". Hope this has answered your questions. Thanks for asking!



 Stamping trails
 Karen

Last VC Hop of the Season

Welcome to the last VC Rocks Hop of this season. Sorry to see the last hop roll around, but I had fun with the Hops and I hope all the other Rockers did too. You may have arrive at my blog from Barb Furlong blog 
I'm number 15 on this hop. If you'd like to start at the beginning please visit here

 Theme for this hop is Simply Scored, Big Shot, and Punches.

I made a card using circles to create a fun border on a card.

Step one: using 1 inch circle punch and designer paper punch out enough circles for the border you are making. For this card I used 8. If you want to go all the way across a standard A2 card you'll need a few more.

Step two: After the circles are punched take them to the the scoring tool. Score the circles on two sides at 1/4 inch. Fold them and make sure you have a crisp score. I used the larger end of the scoring tool to score designer paper, and vellum. The smaller end of the tool to score cardstock.

Step three: run a line of snail adhesive where you want the border to be. I put mine down the center of a Baja Breeze Top Note die cut.

Step four: place one circle in the center of the line of adhesive. Then working out from the sides continue to place the circles. Make sure you butt them up close together as there shouldn't be any gaps showing the cardstock beneath.

Step five: there will be a bit of an overhang after all the border has been place. Take a pair of scissors and trim this off.

Finish off the card as desired. I added some rhinestones to my finished card. You may also want to do any stamping on the card before the border is glued to the card.

Another tip for the scoring tool. Every once in a while I'll take wax paper and rub it on both ends of the scoring tool. This makes it glide across the cardstock and paper for me.

Next up: The ever talented Mary Campbell

Weigh in - loss 1/2 pound

Stamping trails
Karen 

Creative Elements Inchie

Having fun playing with this borrowed stamp set. First card is just white and gray with 12 one inch square. I staggered the center row just a bit to get the card some interest. All the squares are attached with pop dots.

Base card for second card is still white, but this time I added three accent colors, Melon Mambo, Basic Gray, and Old Olive. I used a 1 3/8 inch square punch to make the border. Ink used Basic Gray. Really like both the cards. If I had to choose I'd say the second one is my favorite.




So me and John run out to Medina yesterday afternoon. I needed to go to JoAnn's and get some black fabric to use for lining in a couple of the Japanese knot bags I'm making. We had the windows open as it was hot. Pretty darn windy also. A yellow jacket decided that it would be so great to fly in the car. We were totally unaware of his presence, until of course till I was getting out of the car. I felt a sting on the underside of my left arm. Then I saw him fly out the window. Thank goodness I'm not alergic to bee stings. The spot did swell up a little. At at the time I'm writing this (11 pm) it still hurts! OUCH!

Stamping trails
Karen 

Creative Elements

Update

Okay I didn't like the card so I did a re-vamp this morning. I think I like this one better. Instead of embossing the tag I added a layer of the word designer paper. I think it brightened up the tag a bit. Also did away with the Pacific Point color flowers.

The scrap of lace ribbon that the flower is on I grudged it up by sponging it with Night of Navy ink.

 My friend let me borrow this great stamp set. I'm looking forward to playing with it this week and making us some great cards! The first one I made is just a collage. I also used Established Elegance. Colors Night of Navy, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, cream, and Pacific Point. Not sure I like the Pacific point used for the flower. I may go back and change that.

Close up of the flowers. I do like the lace and pearls on the card.


Not much else going on here. I worked on Japanese knot bags yesterday. Got four of them done. WOW! Skip is working a later shift today. He will be heading off to work at noon, so I'll be bringing him his lunch around 4. Maybe I'll ride the bike up there. I could carry the food in a backpack. Something to think about.

Stamping trails
Karen

Is that a Pumpkin?

I just have to smile after checking out the garden the other day. Hubby said this was a zucchini plant. Well that would be no unless zucchinis are now round instead of being long. I'm thrilled we have pumpkins! This plant is a volunteer. It just sprang up in the garden.

I counted there are 4 pumpkins on the vine. Most are green except for the one in the first photo.

And this is a also a volunteer plant. It is a decorative gourd vine. Will be great for Fall decorating.


I had a good day with the workout. Yesterday I did 51 minutes on the treadmill, then later we took a bike ride and also walked around the lake. Knee is feeling better, but I can't ride the bike to far as it is not 100% better yet. At this point I'm happy with the progress.

Tony's son Neil had a birthday on Monday. Tonight we are all getting together and going to one of his favorite Chinese places for dinner. Hmmm....maybe I better workout more today also (and don't over eat).

Stamping trails
Karen 

Crochet Wrist Pin Cushion

Well I went from sewing on Sunday to crocheting on Monday. Just call me the Krafty Lady! I have been on the hunt for a lid to a 2 liter bottle for about two weeks now. I finally just bought a 2 liter pop and told John to drink it but not to throw away the lid. So yesterday morning I found the lid on my desk.

I started by using pink thread and a number 2 steel crochet hook.

 Base

Chain 2 slip stitch to form ring. Chain 1, 4 single crochet in ring, join to 1st sc (single crochet)chain 1
Two sc in each stitch around join in 1st sc chain 1, repeat around, 32 sc on last round.
 Sc in back loop around, join in 1st sc, chain 1
Sc in both loops around, repeat for 5 rounds.
Fasten off weave in ends.

Top

 Repeat base ending with 32 sc.
 Add one more round of 32 sc. Fasten off leaving a long end of thread for sewing.

 Matching stitches on base with top sew together about halfway around. Insert the bottle cap. continue to sew leaving about 9 stitches open. Fill the pin cushion with poly-fil. Pack it tightly. Finish sewing the top to the base.

Ruffle

 Join thread in any stitch chain 3, Two double crochet in same stitch. Three double crochet in each stitch around. Fasten off and weave in end.

Measure 1/8 inch elastic to fit your wrist. Thread one end of elastic through tapestry needle. Thread the elastic through the bottom of the base. Sew edges of elastic together then pull the elastic so the sewn edges of the elastic are on the inside of the cap. To use just slid the elastic around your wrist.

Here you can see how the completed pin cushion fits on the wrist.

Side view to see the ruffle. I'm pretty happy how it came out. Going to make several of these to add to Christmas gifts so who knows....you may just get one!

 Stamping trails
 Karen

Japanese Knot Bag

I found this cute pattern on Pinterest to make a Japanese Knot bag. Well I couldn't resist it. Yesterday afternoon a went through fabric and selected several combinations of outer and lining fabrics. The pattern also called for interfacing. I didn't have any on hand so I decided just to do a dry run without it. Turned out fine, but I did take a drive to Joann's yesterday and picked some up for the next one. Well actually I plan to make several of these. Will make great Christmas gifts. I did have to play around with the handles as I was having a senior moment. It was so bad I put it away and went back to it this morning then the light bulb went off. So simple don't know why I had a problem with them in the first place.

This is how the bag hangs from your wrist. The smaller handle loops

 over the larger handle. 

Okay now that I solved my problem and finally got my blog updated, I need to go jump on the treadmill. 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Not so Inchie Vintage Card

I used a 1 1/4 inch square punch on the stamped images instead of using a 1 inch punch for the normal inchie cards. My images were a bit bigger and I wanted to get more of them in the square. Cardstock colors Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, and Always Artichoke, adhered to a cream 5x5 base card. Stamp sets Timeless Treasures, and Established Elegance. Black ink used on the images, and sponged edges. Bow is a cream color wool scrap.

 We had more rain yesterday. Not a good day for being out or grilling outside. John was a trooper for me and did the grilling since Skip had to run out on errands. So other than the rain it was a pretty nice day. Stamp Camp went well, and had a nice visit with mom in law Kate, Skip's sister Lisa and her two girls. Today I'll be hitting the treadmill and doing some serious working out since I didn't get one in yesterday. Shame on me! I also need to run out to the fabric store. I'm looking for some burlap....I'll tell you why later..or show you why I needed it.

Stamping trails
Karen

Snowman Cello Bag

Just a quick little post. We will be making these cute little pee-a-boo snowman cello bag toppers today at Stamp Camp. I got the peek-a-boo frames die last year but have not used them much (shame on me!). They make cute toppers for the cello bags. Added some Dazzling Details to the snowman and stocking.

Inside of the topper. 

Going to be very pretty out today. In the low 70's and the rain has moved on....I think it went to Texas according to my friend Kat. I just had to blow it her way!


Weigh in - lost 3.5 pounds. GO ME!!!!!

Stamping trails

Karen