Happy Birthday to Me

All Aboard! Called the Conductor. Sarah and Skip took me to the Tow Path yesterday for my birthday. We had lunch first then went to the station. The path is just a bike and hiking trail now with the trains running so bikers can ride one way then bike back. It use to be used to push the boats through the locks. Back when Cleveland had lots of industry, and they were shipping things back and forth.

We gave the guys working on the trains the bikes then they stowed them in a freight car. We got to ride in the passenger car.

One of the bridges along the way. Since my knee has been giving me a pain lately we decided to get off at the Brecksville exit. The ride back was a little over 6 miles. Couldn't have asked for better weather. Sunny, dry, and in the mid 60's. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to see more of Fall colors. Trees will start turning really nice colors come mid October.

I wanted to get a picture of all of us on the bikes. Since Skip has long arms he held out the camera to get all of us in.

Since today will not be as warm and the rain returns I'll be staying warm and dry at home for my birthday. Planning to make some banana chocolate chip muffins instead of a cake. I'll also be working on a Halloween outfit for my niece's American Girl doll. She is going to be a pumpkin. I started working on it yesterday. Cute project. I'll post when I'm finished.

Happy birthday to me....trails
Karen 

Birthday card Share

Wanted to share one of my favorite birthday cards I received this year. Thanks Kat! Love, love, love the colors, embossing and the background doily stamp. Kat also sent me the cute glass elephants photo holders. Way too cute!

Here is a picture of both of them. 

We will be hoping on the train today. Going to stop for lunch, ride the train, and bike back. The plan was to do this on my birthday, but Sunday is suppose to be rainy with a high of 58. Today has better weather. Going to be in the upper sixties with sunshine. So we decided best go today. Here is the link if you'd like to see were we will be going. I'm sure we will see lots of Fall colors. Sarah, and Skip are going with me. Wish John could come but he is starting his new job today.

No weight loss to report, but no gain either. Just maintaining. Hopefully with the knee getting back to normal I'll be able to start working out again. 

Biking trails

Karen

Stitched Cat

I had to share this cool cat card that my friend Marianne made me. Love the stitched cards! I think she used liquid pearls for the cat's eyes. Just too darn cute! Even hubby had to comment on it when he saw the card. He really liked it too.

Close up view of the fish in the fish bowl. Don't know how you do it Marianne. I don't think I would have the patience to make all those stitches. Big thanks for cheering up my day. Really help chase away the gloom as you guessed it.....still raining here!

Good news it the knee is feeling a bit better. I'm going to start taking the meds today. Wish me luck. I called my family doctor and discussed taking them. I'm feeling a bit better now about them. I'll keep you posted.

Stamping trails
Karen 

Silly Witch

So what is a broomstick without a witch? Since I made broomsticks I had to come up with a witch favor also. This one is just a jumble of things. 

Legs are Cow Tales. I wanted to use two for each leg and put them in the thin cello bags, but they wouldn't fit so had to chuck that idea. I used glue dots to adhere the two Cow Tales at the top. Wicked Cool stamp set provided the shoes, hat, and greeting. Jack of all Trades used for the witch's body. Since I wanted the shoes to stand out and not get lost at the end of the legs I used the 1 1/4 scallop circle punch in black and layered them on that. Hat band was made using a scrap of designer paper. 

Its silly as I said, but I think the nieces will love it. 

Rained and rained and rained some more yesterday. Never saw so much rain. We got some good thunder and lightening too. 

Nanny duties this afternoon then I'm off till Monday. Looking forward to the weekend as Sunday is my birthday. Going to have some fun with the family. 

I'd like to thank all my friends for the great birthday boxes I've been receiving. I'm sure the mail lady is glad that my b-day will be over soon as I'm sure she is getting tired of bringing boxes to my door. I'll be posting some of the great stuff this coming week. My friends sure did spoil me! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Witches Broom

Really late posting today. Our internet service has been out since yesterday morning. OMG what did we ever do before having the net?

For today's project I made brooms using Halloween pencils for the broom sticks. I'll be giving these to my nieces.

I used Mixed Medley and embossed the spider web in black then punched with the new 1 1/4 scallop circle punch. The broom was made using a strip of Crumb Cake cardstock cut 8 x 8 and 2 3/4 inch wide. First I broke the cardstock by rubbing the strip along the edge of my desk several times. Next I cut slits about 1 3/4 inch long spacing about 1/8 inch apart. To attach to the pencil I used just one glue dot on the pencil attached one end of the cardstock and started to wrap. Used more glue dots to finish it off. Used Early Espresso ink to sponge the bottom of the broom then tapped it on the table a few times to get the broom to fan out.

Here is a close up of broom and embossed web. 

Very quick and easy project. 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Shake your Booty

Little bit of everything on the Shake your Booty card. Lets see....I started with natural cardstock for the base. Inside card was run though Big Shot with spider web embossing folder. If you look at the second pic you will see I didn't emboss the entire inside. I left a strip open so the card greeting could be written. The bottom front image is from an old SU set, called Elegant Embroidery. Pom Pom trim is Tangerine Tango. The broom was made in part because of the saying under the boot....Grab your broom, but it was also added because of a "Halo" at the end of the word Booty. I didn't check my stamp before I put it on the card to made sure I didn't have any stray ink around the rubber part. That is the only thing I don't like about these clear stamps....gotta be careful of the "Halo" effect. I made the broom with a strip of black cardstock. The broom part was made with a piece of lace that I sponged with Elegant Eggplant. I frayed the edges to make it look old and used....come on even a witch sweeps her floors so it had to look used. I added a black safety pin and used a white gel pin to add detail.

Inside view of the card. After it was finished I used the spritzer tool with a black marker to add some spots.

Knee was a bit better today. Hoping upon hope that it was the affect of all the rain we have been having and the temps being a bit cooler.

Stamping trails
Karen

Case Thank you Card

I made thank you cards last evening. The card was cased from Tami White. 

Pretty easy to do. The leaves were inked with More Mustard then rocked and rolled in Cajun Craze, other leaf was done the same way but using Baja Breeze and Night of Navy. Before stamping I took a mist bottle and misted water on the inked stamps. 

After the card was layered I sprayed it with Tattered Angels iridescent gold Glimmer Mist. So very pretty! 

I'm only baby sitting 3 days this week. So that will be nice to have an extra two days off. Pretty sure I'll be spending it working on more holiday stuff. That and trying to keep warm. Been pretty chilly here. Skip turned on the heat yesterday. That's a first. We normally don't turn the heat on till late October. I think he feels bad for me because my knee is hurting. What a guy!

Stamping trails

Karen

Some Birthday Cards

Just wanted to share a few of the birthday cards I've received from friends during the past week. 

Doily card from Kat, Birdy card from Connie, and Doily Dress card from Marianne. 

Thanks girls! Love all of them. 

Been having knee problems again. Think I'll be calling the doctor on Monday to see if anything else can be done. Really getting tired of this. 

We picked the last of the tomatoes ( I hope anyway) I did get some salsa made that came out really good. I'll post the recipe soon for that. 

Stamping trails

Karen

Found a Notebook

I found this purchased notebook in a drawer this week. Decided it was too plain and needed to be stamped. But of course....have to stamp everything don't you know. Since I had not inked up Scentsational Season yet thought it was a good time to do so. Colors Real Red, Crumb Cake, and Early Espresso. Use white gel pen on his piping, and rhinestones for the little buttons. Added a strip of glitter red paper. Word from Got Treats stamp set.

I like that there is a band that keeps the book closed. The pen was already covered with kraft paper so I tried to add some stars. Inked up the stamp then carefully rolled it around the pen.

Well I wasn't used for a chew toy yesterday at the bus stop. That's a good thing. The girls were thrilled with the puppy chow and the little dog I attached to the top of the bags.

Today I plan to pick hopefully most of the last tomatoes. Going to water bath and put up some salsa. I found a good recipe so wish me luck!

Didn't lose anything this week, but I didn't gain either. I did an easy week with the workouts as I wanted to rest the knee a bit. Hopefully I'll get back on track this coming week.

Stamping trails
Karen

Puppy Chow, Puppy Punch Art

Yesterday I had an interesting day. I walked down to the bus stop to pick up my niece and I was startled by a very long garter snake that crawled across the side walk in front of me. I don't know who was more scared me or the snake. Now I don't have any problems with snakes it just surprised me. I was so close to it that I almost stepped on his tail. Well he goes into the grass and heads right for the road. I tried to get him to turn around but he was not seeing my line of reasoning. Just happened that a man came by walking his dog. I told him about the snake and he said well if you hold my dog I'll try get the snake out of the road. So I take Bailey's leash and try to hang on to her. She had other ideas. She wanted to hang on to me. She was all over me trying her very best to use me as a chew toy. So I really hope that snake is thankful that I didn't want him to get run over by a car or the school bus as I suffered some scratches on my arm and one little nick where Bailey's tooth went through my sweater.

On Friday's I bring my nieces treats as long as they behave for me during the week. They asked for puppy chow this week. I thought it would be cute to dress up the bags of chow with some puppy punch art. I never made puppy chow before and I really don't think I'll be making it again. Sort of messy, and very tasty. The rest of it is also going to the nieces but I'll give it to their mom as I'm sure she doesn't want them to eat it all at one sitting. 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Broom Stick

I had some scrap designer paper still on my desk from the twisted card I made earlier in the week. I wanted to use it up so I cut it into strips and layered it on a base card of Basic Gray. 

The broom was made by using the Owl Builder punch. Before punching I put the More Mustard card stock on the Simply Scored tool and scored every 1/8 inch. I rubbed on some More Mustard ink on the score lines to give the piece more depth. Broom stick is just a strip of Basic Gray that I rounded on the top with the Word Window punch. Other punches used, 2 3/8 scallop circle, and 2 1/2 circle. 

I went for a little bike ride yesterday. I haven't been on it for a while since the bike and my knee where not on speaking terms. Sarah wants to take me on the Tow Path on my birthday. There is a train that runs and you are allowed to take bikes on it. That way you can ride the train one way then ride the bike back. So regardless if the bike and the knee don't like each other I'd really like to take the train ride....that means I have to ride a bit every day.Wish me luck! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Rainy Days and Tuesday?

It was rainy, windy, and cold yesterday. I hate to think that all the warm weather is gone for the year. I miss Summer already!!! I'm sure we will have a few more warm days, saying this with my fingers crossed....have you ever tried to type with your fingers crossed? In a word....hard!!!!

Spent yesterday morning with Sarah. We went out and hit a few stores and just did some shopping. She is still looking at stuff to pick up for the house. While we didn't find anything for the house, we did find a really nice pair of leather sandals for her and a sweater for me.

We came back to the house and had some lunch, and just hug out. She spent the afternoon with John when I left for Nanny duties. Wish I could have my girl around more!

Since I didn't have time to craft yesterday, and as I look around I see my camera is missing... (John) I don't have a picture to post for you today.

Since Halloween is coming up I had to share this inspiration for my weight loss journey.

I saw this while surfing. It just makes me smile!

I'll be home today going to work on some Christmas gifts. Joy to the World....Christmas is only  97 days away!!!

Stamping trails
Karen

Let's Twist..Tutorial Tuesday

As promised I'm back with pictures and directions to make that twist card I shared with you last week.

 "This card will fit into a standard A2 size envelope"

Okay lets get started.

Start with a piece of cardstock cut 4 1/4 x 11 inches.

Place the cardstock on an angle on the Simply Scored tool. I placed the corners at the 6" mark. Score the cardstock from one corner starting at the top and continue to score to the bottom corner.

Fold the cardstock over at the scored line. Your cardstock should look like the picture.

Turn the folded piece of cardstock over and put the straight edge at the top of the Simply Scored tool with the center at the 6 inch mark. I used a pencil to show you where the score line needs to be.  Score.

After you fold the cardstock over at the score line your card should look like the picture.

Now that the card is made you'll want to make some layers for it using designer paper. Start by cutting a sheet of designer paper to 3 3/4 x 10 1/2 . Now take that piece to the cutting tool. Angle the paper in the cutter tract and cut corner to corner.

Take the two pieces of designer paper and lay one on top of the other as shown in this picture. It will look like the folded cardstock did after it was scored and folded. 

Take the paper back to the cutter and cut in the center. You will now have 4 pieces of cut designer paper that will fit in the two pockets and two pieces that will fit on the two outside pockets.

This is how the card will look after the designer paper is adhered to the base card. 

Since I was making this tutorial I decided to use my base card to make another twisted card. For the front panel I decided to use a new set Toxic Treats I also added another layer on the front pocket so I would have a solid space to stamp the word. See that cute little frog in the corner? Love it!

Here you can see the inside card. I added another stamped image layered on more Howlstooth & Scaringbone Designer series paper.

Hope you liked this tutorial. If you have questions about it just post a comment and I'll try to answer them for you.

Stamping trails
Karen 

Cards from Friends

I wanted to share some great cards I've recently received from friends. This one is from Kat. Just love the colors and the birds are so cute! Great layout.

Owls are from Marianne. Great way to use the wood embossing folder. Like how she made a "knot hole" in the wood to show the owl stamped on the inside card.

Thank you card is from Connie. Love the colors on this one also. Well worth the wait Connie!

Thanks girls!!!!

I spent yesterday cooking. Made a big pot of chili, some 0 point Italian soup, red pepper hummus, salsa, and I even made some bread crumbs. I'm a lovin my new food processor. I was telling MIL Kate that I don't know how I ever lived without one! Its staying on my counter top as I'm sure I'll be using it everyday. I don't even have to drag down the blender anymore as I can my smoothies in it. I'll be trying that today. I like that the machine came with a DVD. Lots of good tips, and recipes.

Skip and I went to Plum Creek yesterday afternoon and did some hiking. The Browns were losing so we thought it would be great to get outside away from the TV. We also washed and waxed the van. What a job that was. Well I helped wash and dry the van, but I told Skip that he was on his own when it came to the wax job.

Stamping trails
Karen

Seeing Red

Red tomatoes that is. OMG I'm swimming in them! I can't believe he planted 16 plants. I can't keep up to them. We gave a lot to several neighbours this afternoon because I told Skip to stop bringing them in to me.

I plan to make a pot of chili today. Also salsa, and 0 point Italian vegetable soup. That will use up a lot of them.

Needed to go grocery store shopping yesterday so I didn't  get to play with the food processor. I'll get to that today. I did watch the DVD that came with it so I have the machine washed and ready to go.

I squeezed in time enough to make this tag. I wanted to play with the new stamping toys too!. This is just a quick tag using the new embossing folder in the Holiday mini. I sponged the embossed image with Crumb Cake. The outer part of the tag is sponged with Early Espresso. The winter boot is from Bootiful Occasions. I colored the boot with Baja Breeze, and the cuff is painted with Champagne Mist All Purpose Ink. I wanted to use pom-poms for the ends of the laces but all I had was white. So I decided to roll them in Crumb Cake ink to make them look "vintage".

My friend Lisa got me this cool tool years ago. Works really well to hold small things that you want to ink up. Saves getting ink all over your fingers.

Stamping trails
Karen 

Happy Day!

My MIL Kate is so sweet! She planned to buy me a food processor for Christmas, but she wanted me to pick it out. So yesterday after work I stopped by her house to go shopping. We found this one at Khol's, and she used a 30% off coupon to purchase it. I was going to bring it in the house for her to store away till Christmas but she insisted on giving it to me before that. Tickled pink to get it early! This will be so handy to use all the stuff in the garden. 

After doing some research on them I decided the Cuisinart 12 cup Elite would be perfect in my kitchen. So today I'll be testing it out. It came with a recipe book. What's the first thing I'm going to make you might wonder......to which she replied...hummus. Love hummus but it can be pretty pricey to buy. Next thing I'll be making is salsa. Have everything in the garden to make that. The "boys" may not eat the hummus but they will be beating a path to the kitchen table to eat the salsa. 

Big thanks Katie!!!! Love you!

Lost another .5 this week, so I was able to move over another pearl. Only 28 more to go! I know it doesn't look like much but I think these next 28 pounds are going to keep getting increasing harder for me to lose. Say a prayer for me to keep with it! I need all the encouragement I can get.

Stamping trails

Karen

Twisted Card

Isn't this a cool shaped card? Although the card is an odd shape it will fit into a standard A2 size envelope. The base of this card is made using a piece of cardstock cut 4 1/4 x 11 inches. After scoring the card then folding shut the card will have two pockets. One on the outside front and one on the inside of the card.

I'll be posting the directions in the next few days with a picture tutorial for you. I made a bookmark to put in the front pocket.

On the inside you could use this as a gift card holder, or to hold photos, or just more artwork.

Stamping trails
Karen 

My Friends Favs

After seeing this cute project in a recent Stampin Success magazine I knew I had to make them for Christmas gifts. Of course I didn't have the pocket die, but I added that to the birthday order, and I already had the two tags die. I like the personal touch this gift has by hand writing the list of my friends favorites. I know they will see this early, but hey I'm counting on them forgetting about it between now and Christmas so they will still be surprised. 

The doctor told me that there are three places in the knee that arthritis forms in. I only have it in one place (behind the knee). The front of my knee is fine. As far as knee replacement maybe one day or not at all, just a resurfacing may need to be done. Since the cortisone shot is working I can get them every three months. She also put me on Diclofena 75MG for when my knee flares up. Although after reading the possible risks with taking this drug I may just pass on taking it. 

Made homemade spaghetti sauce yesterday. The family liked it. Only complaint was the color. I should have taken a pic of it but forgot to. Since the recipe used a small amount of carrots, when I pureed it the sauce wasn't red any more. Took on orange huge, but the taste was great. I used my fresh basil and of course carrots, and maters from the garden. I think I'll have more luck with this recipe using a food processor. MIL Kate is going to get me on for Christmas this year. Can't wait! 

This afternoon I'll be off to babysit...I tell the girls they are too old (or I'm) to old for it to be called babysitting. I prefer Nanny. I can be Mary Poppins. Hey where can I get that flying umbrella? Going to rain on Friday so I just might need it! 

Stamping trails

Karen

Christmas....I mean my Birthday came....

early this year thanks to my hubby......I told him I wanted a SU order for my birthday so he let me pick out what I wanted and put the order in for me. I swear it feels just like Christmas! I have so many new toys to play with I just don't know where to start! See that large pile of ribbon spools in the center? Got those FREE from SU. They have a ribbon special for the month of September. Isn't it nice of them to give away ribbon for my birthday?

Total of 10 new stamp sets. I just had to have the new Toxic Treats for Halloween and of course with that I needed the matching wheel and designer paper. But of course!

I got 4 new framelits, and Kathy I know I said I didn't order Apothecary, but it appears that I did! I'm such an air head sometimes. Also got the new Holiday frame embossing folder.

Some other things Festive paper-piercing pack, and early espresso scalloped tulle ribbon. Now I'm wishing I had also got crumb cake and cherry cobbler. Oh well they will be on my next order.

Had to have new punches. The 1 1/4 scallop punch will work well with the larger scallop circle punches. Since I got Merry Minis stamp set I had to have the matching punch pack.The new designer vintage faceted buttons are just so pretty!!!!

See all those white boxes? They contain fat quarter fabric. Since it was on sale for 99 cents each on the clearance rack I couldn't pass it up, and I have plans for the fabric.And for Christmas I had to have the champagne glimmer paper. So pretty!!!!

Since I'm not babysitting today I'll be playing with my new toys so if you need to talk to me you know where I'll be....in the stamping studio. Now I have to find a home for all the new stuff!

I did 45 on the treadmill yesterday. I did have a doctor appt. this morning about the knee, and since I'm writing this in advance I'll have to let you know how that went tomorrow.

Stamping trails
Karen