Square Foot Garden

We are headed to the parkway this morning on the Harley's and will hit a few country stores and general stores on the way, if you haven't been in one of the old stores in a while you really should check them out. I have had my eye on a apple corer/peeler tool for a year at the Williams Sanoma store, it runs around $40.00, we have 3 apple trees in the yard but they put out just enough apples to feed the squirrels and birds, Bob got lucky last year and harvested 2 apples!! We live close enough to some great apple orchards that have pick your own area's that I want to try out this year, we love apple butter, apple pies, sliced apples the works so I was thinking the apple tool would be a good investment (love kitchen tools as much as scrapbooking tools). So here is the deal I made a trip to a general store Monday looking for some asparagus plants and low and behold there was the exact same apple tool William Sanoma had for only $22.95, hot diggity dog I scored big!! Not only did I pick up the apple tool I also picked up some great tips and information from the owners on finding asparagus starters.

Pictured here are our square foot gardens, we have added 2 this year to see how it will work, they have been in for 2 weeks now and are growing like weeds, everything looks incredibly healthy except the corn, I have my fingers crossed that the whole square foot garden thing will work, weeding the traditional garden is a pain in the butt.

The roses in the photo are from my Grandmothers yard in Indiana, my Aunt knew how to propagate plants and trees so she had a little of everything from the homestead that she shared with me over the years, we are talking eons ago, I know the original rose bush is much older than I am, so along with everything else this year I want to learn how to graft a plant from this rose for our 2 daughters that bought homes this year, I would love to pass Mamaws roses along. I have a CTMH order due in today so maybe just maybe I can get in the scraproom tonight and play a little I have missed the room so much this spring!!

Real Cherry O

As I was running around trying to get all the weekly errands finished so I could get back home for housework, garden and yard work I ran into a super deal on sweet cherries. They run $6.99 a pound here but the sale had them down to $2.00 a pound, well I loaded up on 20 pounds of them thinking that would be a nice little job for the afternoon then I could get back to my to do list. Needless to say I bite off more than I could chew, I did get the cherries canned but only got around to mowing the front yard. Today I am working double time trying to get everything from yesterdays list done, Bob will be in for the long weekend and we have guests coming is as well this afternoon, the weekend is jambed packed full of holiday stuff to do and I have Tyler for the day. Tyler is wound up tighter than a spring knowing Papaw is on his way home so it is a very challenging day. I need to be showered, dressed and ready to enjoy Bike Night for supper out at the track by 6:00, then we will head to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a day of riding on Friday. I need to learn to pass up sales no matter how good they are!! But you must admit my cherries look pretty good and will be dynamite in breads, cobblers and pies this winter. I really could use an additional 20 pounds of cherries to have enough to last all winter but I will have to see how the long weekend goes, I am not ready to take on another marathon canning right now.

Today

WooHoo, my Hydrangea bush's are doing great this year, the blooms are huge so I should be able to refresh all of the arrangements around the house that are looking pretty dusty.

I was able to finish the nursery art for Kelli yesterday so I am officially done with my part of the nursery. Tyler took a good long nap which gave me time to do a little housework, finish the pictures, and start the "Splendor" workshops on the go, it is such a cute kit, can't wait to find the right pictures to use on the layouts today. I have a ton of yard work to do today and of course the garden is always on the list along with a few errands.

I am very close to hitting the buy button on a dehydrator but haven't taken the plunge yet, I really don't mind canning and I get pumped when I see all the cans lined up on the shelves but they take up so much space that I have been thinking a dehydrator might be a good option to help with storage and prepackaging my own soups and mixes has a real appeal to me, I can't eat most of the prepackaged side dishes and meals at the grocery store, the food additives do a number on me and the rest of the family don't need all the extras that none of us can even pronounce in the package soooo I am gonna kick the idea around for a few more days. I wish they weren't so darn big, I hate trying to store all the big appliances that only get used a few times a year. Off to the garden now, I will post some layouts from the "Splendor" workshop tomorrow

"Cherry" O Recipe Box

Finally found a few minutes to post photo's of the recipe box, however the recipe cards did not come in on Monday's shipment so I will have to share that with you later. This was a fast easy and inexpensive project that would make a great gift. I used 2 pieces of pattern paper from the "Cherry O" line, a leftover button from the "Cherry O" wotg, the stamping on the front is also from the wotg stamp set. What a deal, you can get a lot of bang for your buck with the wotg kits. I inked all of the edges of the box in tulip before adhering the paper, I gave the box a couple of days to set then finished it off with 2 coats of Mod Podge. I am a super messy cook, and we are true southerners so lots of frying goes on in the kitchen, I wanted to give the box a nice layer of protection from the kitchen elements.

We had our new mattress and box springs delivered this morning, YAAAA it has been 14 years since Bob and I had a new mattress, that seems a little gross but it was in perfect shape when they took it out other than the deep wells we had worn in it over the years, even with turning and flipping we were both stiff each morning, we definitely got our money out of the old mattress.

Also installed 2 new stainless steel shelving units in the laundry room yesterday, I HATE building!!! I loaded both of them up with canning supplies, cast iron and more Williams Sonoma baking dishes than anyone should have. I now have lots more room in the pantry and a full 5' x 5 shelving unit in the laundry room to hold all the caning jars I am working on this summer.

Working on Kelli's art for the nursery, have my fingers crossed I can get it finished today, her book case should also be in today so the babies room will FINALLY be done!!! One baby down one more to go, Heather and Shannon will move in their new house the second week of June so I am sure she will keep me busy nesting before the baby comes along.

Short Post

I promised an altered project to be posted today and I will do that as soon as the sun comes out and I can get a good photo to post, we are having a cloudy overcast morning so for now I will entertain you with a few picture of my other creations from the garden!! We have more lettuce than we can use so I have been cutting and bagging that to give to friends this morning, also bringing in broccoli to put up in the freezer and the 2 square foot gardens we put in last week are both doing great, only took 3 days for the little sprouts to come in, WOO HOO, we now have our fingers crossed that they will really give use vegetables and not just cute little sprouts. I am off today to the garden center to pick up and additional raspberry bush and a few more tomato plants and who knows what else, then on to the grocery store to stock up on tenderloins that are on sale. Gotta make sweet with the butcher so he will cut it all up for me then I will only have to use my food saver to package and get it in the freezer, we are down to our last package of steaks so the sale came at a perfect time. Last but not least another grocery store is running triple coupons today, just typing the words triple coupons has my heart beating faster. I will post the so very cute scrapbooking project a little later today, need to hit the road and get the errands finished before the rain comes in.

NASCAR Tailgating

Tyler's a true Southern boy, tailgating in the back of a pick up with a lawn chair, gotta love it!!

Saturday was our annual NASCAR All-Star tailgate/race day. We didn't have as many folks as in the past and didn't play as many games since the field had tons more campers than in the past but it was still a fun day with way more food than any of us could ever eat, I will be throwing out and cleaning up lots of covered dishes today. What a waste, I always make too much food, normally that's not a problem I LOVE leftovers (food or scrapbook supplies) but with the heat and flies there is no way I am gonna use the leftovers from tailgating. This year I didn't attend the race, I decided to stay back with both prego daughters and Tyler, we had a Mom daughter trip to Babies R Us planned, had hoped to finish up Kelli's nursery and last minute baby needs.

We are having a nightmare of a time finding the baby a dresser/changing table, the girls buy (Mom/Me) regular furniture for the babies rooms so when they are ready to come out of the crib they will only need to purchase a bed. Kelli is doing black furniture which is so cool, very versatile no matter what look she wants to go with later, the problem has been everything she sees at the baby store has to be ordered, then they tell us sorry but it is back ordered and we can't order right now, when we continue to check back they say the same thing, then low and behold they tell us oop's sorry that has been discontinued UGHHHH. Baby girl Hines is due in 6 short weeks, we have no time for the baby stores craziness so we hit the furniture stores all afternoon, didn't stop until 10:00 PM last night, so much for a fun evening!! We ran into the same problem at ever store we went to, they were out of stock, not sure when they could order again or if they could order again, had one store who was willing to sell us the floor model but they would only give us 10% off and the piece had lots of scratches, now here is the really crazy part, the store was having a 25% off store wide sale so I checked with the salesgirl to make sure the price would be 35% off right? 25% store wide sale 10% off floor sample, nope only 10% off, WHAT is that all about. Heather is running into the same problem ordering furniture for the new house, she is at it every night after work and every weekend, they had thought by now they would have everything ordered and ready for delivery at the new house the week they move in. Not sure what is up with furniture right but it seems like the manufactures have made so many cuts to the workforce that they can't fill orders and are afraid to do rehires yet, in the meantime baby girl Hines needs her room finished. I have my fingers crossed, we made a call to a store in one of the small towns around us that has a dresser she wants, he has one floor sample and is willing to sell it to us at a good price so I am off this morning as soon as the doors open to hopefully make the deal happen. Some really odd things are happening in the consumer wold, makes me wonder what the heck is going on. Sorry for ranting and raving today, just tired and frustrated to no end, I need to get back in the garden and play in the cow poop!!

On The Run Friday

Here is a quick easy card using what else but leftovers, most is from the "Cherry O" Wotg but the chipboard is from the "Caboddle" Wotg, can't say enough how much I love these kits, they give you a real bang for your buck!! On Monday I will post a super cute altered project that I worked on yesterday, I am not much into the whole altered stuff or Mini albums. I think I have done so many workshops and classes with Mini albums that I am just over them, I have baskets that are overflowing with them that rarely get touched. I would much rather spend my time and money on scrapbook pages for our family.

I have tons of errands to get done today that I put off from Wednesday, I HATE doing errands on Friday. In our area so many people are off on Friday that the traffic is crazy add to that we have the NASCAR All-Star race Saturday and next week is the Coca-Cola 600, thousands and thousands folks come in for the full 10 days of NASCAR fun. Don't get me wrong we love NASCAR as a sport and the local drivers are wonderful folks the vast majority are just that regular folks who do so much for the community but the traffic is a nightmare, note to self next week get errands done on Wednesday no matter how bad the garden looks. I then need to get busy on a couple of covered dishes to take to the tailgating party at the race tomorrow, pack all the race necessities, load up tables, chairs, tent, cooler, football, wuffleball and on and on the list goes. This will be the first year I won't be attending the race, just going to the tailgate party then back home, over the past year and a half I have really watched my lifestyle and food intake, I have finally gotten my medication down to half of what it use to be YA ME!! The noise at the track is always a problem for me it takes days to get my head cleared up and just doesn't seem worth the possible side effects. Kelli is far to prego to be fighting the crowds, Heather is also prego as well as Tyler is to young to go to the races yet. We might just stop off at Babies R Us for a little Mommy and me time I know that will cost me a pretty penny but new babies are worth it!! Have a great weekend and check back on Monday to see a super cute project you will love and would be a great gift giving idea I am thinking Birthdays, Wedding showers, Christmas gifts, it is never to early to get started!!

New Album Finally started

It felt good to get back in my room for a few hours yesterday. I finally got started on Kelli's pregnancy album. I am keeping it very simple by sticking with one paper line, "Top Stitched" and repeating the design for each page. I may change the paper when I get around to her baby shower but for now I am going with this. Sometimes it is OK to not recreate the wheel!! May not get a thing done today, Tyler will be with me and the garden needs to be weeded again, UHG!!

Finally some card time

Finally!!!! I was able to get back into the scraproom after so many days away. All I have had time for lately has been to run in and stack more stuff that will need to go in scrapbooks at some point, wow that pile has really grown. Tyler was cooperative yesterday and took a nice 3 hour nap so that I had time to take a shower and work on some cards, LOVE that little guy asleep or awake!!

I used the "Card Chatter Thanks" stamp set along with leftovers from the Caboodle WOTG and a bit of scrap cardstock, so 2 cards done for .00 $$ spent and I didn't have waste gas running to the store. For the next 2 weeks traffic in our area is unreal, we have the All-Star race coming up Saturday and the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend being able to stay home and out of the gridlock is a wonderful thing!!

Pull out some of your own scraps and see what you can come up with today, as soon as I get the weeding done in the garden my plan is to spend the rest of the day working on Kelli's pregnancy album, fingers are crossed that I can do both.

Creating In Green

Square Foot garden
Finally eating salads from our garden, broccoli will be ready to harvest over the weekend! YAAA

Still haven't had time to get back in the scraproom, the garden is sucking the time out of every day. We installed 2 new Square Foot beds over the weekend, doesn't look like much but let me tell you it took all day Saturday. We worked from 7:00 AM until 6:00 PM to pull it off, building the boxes, collecting the different soils needed, finding heirloom seeds that I wanted, then finally the fun part PLANTING!! If all goes well we will have sweet potatoes, onions, bush beans, pole beans, radishes, and corn in just 2 of these little babies, hope it works!!

We are also working on a Raspberry bed or whatever you call it, still need to figure out what I want to use to support the bushes, it needs to be functional but also cute, since I spend so much of my time in the garden right now cute is important. We have had 3 inches of rain in the last 24 hours so the garden is out for today so maybe with a little luck and a long nap on Tyler's part I can put together a card or two today, I need to get a few thank you notes in the mail this week

A Little Blog Housekeeping

Enjoy smelling the Roses or my Peony in this case!!
Sooo, I have been doing a little blog housekeeping this morning and office work, YUK!! I have been putting off so much lately with all the yard, garden and food preserving work that has been going on but today I have got to get it all together.

Here is the scoop on the blog, I have cancelled my website so you will no longer be able to order directly On-Line, however you can contact me anytime to order over the phone or by e-mail. You can still view the catalog from the CTMH home page along with episodes of Art and Soul and I will continue to mail out catalogs to all my out of town ladies. If you need a catalog send me an e-mail with your address or just leave a message on the phone if I am not in. It might seem crazy to many of you that in this day and time I decided to give up the whole on-line store deal, here is the reasoning behind it; The web site is pretty costly, add to that the yearly fee for a pro pay account and the additional fees associated with each transaction the dollars begin to add up, and keeping up 2 different e-mail accounts is cumbersome to say the least. The vast majority of my customers pay in cash or check so the added expense just doesn't make sense. Ya'll know I am a firm believer in cash only, "leave the plastic alone or at least at home" so for me this is in keeping with my "keep it simple stupid" approach to about everyday dealings in life. I know some consultants have begun adding the cost of the fees back to customers but I don't want to go that route, with shipping, handling and tax charges enough is enough!!

I will continue to post Scrapbooking/Card Making creations on this blog along with everyday stuff. During the summer there will be more stuff than scrapbooking. Summers are my busiest time of the year, the garden, canning, freezing, yard work along with vacations, boating, Harley rides and scrapbooking workshops have me going a mile a minute so I can't hit my studio as often as other times of the year but I promise to get a little something done ASAP, I would go crazy if I didn't carve out some time to play.
My creative spirit today will have to be satisfied with the cuttings of some Peony blooms from the yard and placing them around the house so I can enjoy them when I am stuck inside, don't just take time this year to smell the roses, bring some in your own home, put a single boom in each room you use the most often, it is guaranteed to make you smile all day!!!

Bringing In The Bounty

RADISH RELISH
We had a full weekend of gardening, family and canning!! The garden looks great this year , so far we have had a few onions, not many, I didn't get them thinned enough so had to do away with them, but we have more radishes that we can give away and eat. I searched my canning and preserving books and couldn't come up with anything, however after a quick search on the PC I found a really cool recipe for Radish spread/relish. We tasted a bit yesterday before I went to all the trouble of canning them and it is really good, you would use it in place of a horseradish spread on different beefs and such, yummy.

I will finally get into the scraproom today, hope to get started on Kelli's pregnancy album, baby girl Hines will be here soon so I need to get this album finished so I can start hers. We have 2 more friends babies that will be arriving this week so that cleaned out a few more scrapbooks and cards that were waiting in the wings, LOVE that the books were already ready to go, just throw them in a gift bag along with the matching cards and I was ready to roll. I will be back tomorrow with a little something scrapbook related so stay tuned.

Baby Girl Hines

Kelli is well on her way to being a new Mom, July 1st will be here before you know it!! Can't wait to meet our new Grand baby girl, the kids have come up with a name but I am not crazy about it and there is always the possibility that once they meet her they will decide on something else so for now I am keeping the name to myself!! Ha, no matter what they name her I am sure we will end up with plenty of nick names, some of which will stick.

Tyler had a sleep over last night, he has a massive infection in his face from the stitches so the Dr wanted him watched every 2 hours last night, since his Mommy is also pregnant and Mom and Dad both have to work today Nanny had the pleasure of night duty. He will go back to the Dr. today, if the infection has not improved he will have to go to the hospital for a few days to clear it up. It looks to me that he is much better this morning, the swelling and redness have improved so maybe the new Meds are working!! YAAAAA

I will get back to some scrapbooking by Monday for sure but for now there is just too much going on with the entire family to break away to my scrap room. I wish all of you a wonderful Mothers Day!!!

My Poor Little Tyler

I have Tyler today so I won't be getting much if anything scrapbook related done. Tuesday was such a traumatic day for all of us, I know little boys are prone to bumps, bruises and stitches but it is so hard for we Nanny's to see the little guys hurt. Tyler kept Heather and I both calm while waiting FOREVER in the ER, after the initial crying when he fell he never cried again, even when they gave him shots and closed up the cut, he left the ER smiling, while Heather and I struggled to put one foot in front of the other!!
I have never taken a day for granted since God blessed us with our beautiful girls, Son-In-Laws and now Grand babies. Even on hard days like Tuesday he gave us the gift of our little guy taking his licks and still smiling, we can learn a lot if we really pay attention to the details!!

Days like Tuesday are why scrapbooking means so much to me, recording the everyday in our life and the lessons we learn to be shared with our family and the generations to come. Don't get me wrong I am all about the cute stuff on the market and I get a big time buzz when I get my hands on some new product but really and truly it is the everyday things I scrapbook about no matter what paper and embellishments I have on hand that keeps my motor running.

Card Stash Pile is Growing

After a winter of over 500 layouts, Christmas gifts, and workshop samples my card stash was getting pretty low. It has been nice to get back to a little card making with all of the garden work, preserving, jelly making, baby showers and such I love that I can get in my room and still create but with not such a time investment that I just don't have right now.

Yesterday was my normal day to have Tyler but our schools were closed for voting so Heather and I decided to take Tyler to the strawberry farm. Heather had never been so Tyler was excited to show Heather ropes, he has been for all 3 years. We meet for breakfast then were headed out to the fields and I would be home the rest of the day finishing up freezing the berries. Plans didn't work out so well, Tyler fell in the bathroom and hit the rim of the toilet, 3 teeth went through his cheek, we spent the next 7 hours in ER waiting for stitches. :(. He was so brave that he helped Heather and I stay calm, but we were all very frustrated by the long wait, how in the heck can the ER be packed at 8:00 AM on a Tuesday? I can't begin to imagine what a mess our health care system will be once the new Obama care goes into effect.

Awhile ago I post a few cards using this technique, it is super fast and easy, you can check out a sample in the new Summer catalog. So here we go
Step 1.) Punch 9 circles 1 1/4 inches, you could do any size but start with this to determine what size you would want to use later on your own project, I used my Cricut to cut the circles.

Step 2.) Fold 8 of the circles in 1/2, they will need to overlap. Set 1 circle aside, this will be your base.

Step 3.) Each should look like this when they are done

Step 4.) Now find the center point of the base circle, I fold mine in 1/2 then 1/2 again, that will give you a good guide, you should be able to fit 2 of the blooms in each of the quarters. Just glue them down as you go.

Dig around in your stash and see what odds and ends you can come up with for the center, brads, buttons, beads, the sky is the limit. Take 10 minutes out of your day today and give this a try!! Now I am off to the Strawberry patch to pick a few more gallons of berries, we have plenty of jelly (30 jars!) but I need lots more in the freezer for winter. If you didn't get a chance to see the U Tube video from yesterday make sure and watch it, sooo funny

This is a MUST see Wrinkled Ladies

Flower Tutorial

Here is a card I made for our Daughter Kelli's baby shower yesterday using all leftovers, not to bad looking for leftovers don't you think? This is so easy to do, now you can have flowers to match whatever project you are working on!!
1.) Use Martha Stewart's grass punch, punch the full length of 12 inch paper, then cut to the size you want, I think mine is 3/4 inches wide.

2.) Now run the strip through a crimper 2 times, this will help loosen up the paper fibers

3.) cut a 2 inch circle and cover in double sided adhesive, I used red line tape on mine, it needs to be heavy duty tape!

4.)Now starting on the outside of the circle begin adhering the strip down gathering as you go and moving to the inside of the circle to finish.

your flower should look like this when you are done.

I then added a large brad to the center of my flowers but a button would be super cute or whatever you have in your stash that needs to be moved out. You could use any border punch that you have on hand to make your flower, can't wait to try out a few more flowers using the way to many punches I have in my arsenal of tools. Give this a try today, it is super fast and easy!!

Can You Can? Yes I can

Have you ever given canning a try? I started canning a few years back, each year I try to add a new fruit or vegetable to my canning skills, this year it was strawberries. We had home made freshly canned strawberry jam for breakfast this morning and it was a hit!! My hubby is a Welch's Grape Jelly man all the way so I was really surprised when he said "Wow this is great, hope you made plenty" WooHoo!! Funny he didn't notice the 30 jars setting on the counter waiting to find a home in the pantry!

Needless to say I will be doing a layout on my 14 hour day with strawberries to put in my own scrapbook, all about me/what I love/what I do.

A friend and I took off early Saturday morning and hit our local pick your own farm, we do have our own strawberries but with the birds and squirrels we only end up with a handful of berries each year. Here is a tip on strawberry pickin, don't eat a huge breakfast with a big old slab of country ham before you go to the berry patch, it makes bending over or squatting much more difficult.

Have all your equipment ready to go when you return home, I was all set, jars and lids washed, utensils all lined up and canner in place just waiting for the bounty. I was rocking along cleaning berries, cutting, smashing, and mixing. Of course I was covered in red splashes of berries when I realized I was 5 cups short of sugar, no problem I will just run to the grocery store right around the corner. It was a really hot day here yesterday over 80 and I am to cheap to turn on the air conditioner yet so along with my berry stained shirt I had slipped on an old ratty pair of shorts, and was wearing my garden shoes (pink crocks, ugly as all get out) I should never have gone to the mail box in my get up let lone go to the store but it was just to hot to change clothes. I thought I was gonna make it unnoticed until as I was leaving the store the manager ask me if I was butchering my own cows these days? Did you know berry juice looks just like blood splashed all over you clothes?

Needless to say it was a very long hot day but we now have 30 jars of strawberry jam in the pantry along with 14 quarts of berries in the freezer for next winters strawberry bread. I still need to put up another 20 or 30 quarts of strawberries in the freezer for smoothies and other baking this winter but the hard part is done!! Now on to asparagus