Just Playing Around

I was outside hanging my laundry to dry and realized what a beautiful day it is. I took my camera out, hoping to get a picture of the birds on the feeders. I must have scared them all off, but I did get a picture of this little guy on the gutter. We see these little lizards all the time. I have a funny story about lizards. When Sammy was about a year old, Sam caught one to show him. Well, the lizard had his mouth wide open, and Sam stuck the lizard right on Sammy's ear. The thing latched on, and was hanging off his ear and wouldn't let go!! When we got him off, there were little specks on blood where the teeth had sunk right in. It was the funniest thing!

Last year, when this wheel barrrel gave up the ghost, I turned it into a planter. These flowers were actually planted in Nov. last year, and are now blooming like crazy!! I love it! I've never really been much of gardener or bird watcher, but lately I've realized how nice it is to go out and see the birds eating the seeds you put out for them, and admire the flowers you planted yourself.

This is my front porch. Sam built this planter for me, and I love how the flowers are so cheery and inviting. On the porch I have a little "garden" in some flower pots, because the soil here doesn't do well at all for a real garden. I have a couple crookneck squash plants, a red bell pepper and a yellow bell pepper plant, and a couple cayenne pepper plants. I can't wait till we get some vegetables from them.

Every year we have hummingbirds come visit us. Our house is about 10 feet above the ground, so I think we see alot more birds, because we're on their level. We have counted as many as 10 hummingbirds at once, zooming around our porch like little kamakaze pilots!! They fly so close to our heads I think we might be in danger of having our eyes poked out!! I just hung out our feeder yesterday, so we haven't seen any yet, but I'll make sure to post pictures when they get here!

While I was out there the boys were in the yard having some type of war game with hula-hoops and sticks. It's so nice to walk outside and see them out having fun rather than glued to the TV or computer. So, now I must get off the computer so I can get dinner going, then go play outside with them for a while.
Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Ladies Luncheon

I still haven't stamped anything new, but I do have something to share. On April 11 we had our annual ladies' luncheon at church. Every year has a specific theme, and this year was "Happy Homemaker." One of the ladies, Hope, is a friend of mine. She always does a beautiful job planning and decorating for the entire thing. Since I forgot to take my camera with me, you'll have to read all about it and view the picutures over here on this post. For the past couple of years, I have helped with some of the paper projects. I'm sure you'll recognize some of my work if you go visit her.

Flying Squirrels

Good morning, everyone! Today's post is not stamping related, but I thought I'd share some pictures with you. Most nights if you walk out our back door, this little critter and his friend will be there to greet you. He's sitting on top of trim around our sliding glass door and he's eating dog food. We first realized we had a flying squirrel 2 years ago, when we caught him eating all the bird seed out of the feeders. So we put up a squirrel feeder. He has come back for 2 years in a row, but he's gotten braver. Now he gets dog food from the dish on the porch and takes it up above the door. He even leaves some there for when he comes back later!!

Here's a shot of his friend he brings with him. He usually sits right there on the wall with dog food in his hands, just munching away! It really is the cutest thing. It's amazing how close they let us get to take pictures. It's like they're not even scared of us. Sam says it's because when we turn on the lights they can't see. Anyway, as you can see, they're at the top of the wall near the ceiling. And you see all those yucky drips on the trim and wall? That's the proof they leave that they've been there!!

This is such a cute picture. He looks like you could just scoop' em up and cuddle him like a stuffed animal!

I guess they got tired of posing for the camera and decided to go home. We haven't figured out where their nest is yet, but I think it's a whole family of flying squirrels. We've had three at a time eating our dog food. I hope they always come around, because they're just so cute to watch!

That's all for today, folks. I hope to get a little stampin' time in after we finish school work for the day. Catch you later!

Western Wedding

My mom asked me to make a western card for her Line Dancing Instructor who's getting married in a couple weeks. I knew I wanted to make a Joy Fold card, but wasn't sure what my focal point should be. So I was browsing Split Coast Stampers and happened upon this card. This is what I came up with.

This is what it looks like opened. I printed the sentiment (which was provided by Calgramma on SplitCoast Stampers) on Very Vanilla Cardstock, then distressed and sponged the edges and stamped the stars.

The flap tucks behind the scallop circle to keep the card closed.

What would I do without all those talented stamper's out there who give me so many ideas?

I used Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel and Outlaw Designer Series Paper. Ink is Chocolate Chip. Once again, I turned to the Wanted stamp set. The lassoes (is that spelled right?) are made with packaging twine and attached with Crystal Effects. I think it is just adorable.

Then we needed to make the gift. I had a plain picture frame that I needed to use up, so we went with that.

I used a retired Simply Scrappin' Kit, and again put the entwined lassoes on it. We attached more packaging twind around the outside edge because it seemed like the logical thing to do.

After we had it just right, we used Chocolate Chip ink on a sponge to "dirty it up" a little bit. It looked too new to be a Western frame.

My mom was thrilled with how they turned out. I hope her instructor likes them.

I came acoss Michelle's Blog, she has a card a thon going on and some great card candy as well. You should go check it out!! Thanks for checking in with me today!!

Voila!

Today we have a cute little coaster I made with the stamp set Voila! I think this little man is so cute. Actually this is my mom's set, but because she's not a stamper, she lets me hold on to it for her. She's decorating her kitchen with this little guy, and I'm going to be stamping some tiles for a backsplash for her. I think I'll just put different stuff on the tray each time, so it's kind of a random pattern.

I made a set of 4 coasters and bundled them together with twine and a gift tag, but didn't think to take a picture of the finished package. Oh well, maybe I can add that in here later. Do you guys have any suggestions about stamping on tile for a backsplash in a kitchen? I plan to seal the tiles with a clear spray sealer. Do you think I should bake them first to set the ink better? I'd hate to get them up there and then when she cleans the ink rub off or smudge, kwim? Guess that's all for now. Have a great day!

Another One Sheet Wonder

Hello everyone!! For today's project I have another One Sheet Wonder. These sets were so easy and fun to do, I think I'm going to have to download some more templates for these. They make a great gift, and you can decorate the gift bag to coordinate with the card set. I used some retired Cutie Pie Designer Series Paper, along with lots of So Saffron Ribbon, brads, buttons and misc. stamp sets.

There's not a whole lot to tell you about these, they are pretty straight forward.

The Five Petal Flower Punch really came in handy since it coordinated so well with my paper. I also used up some of my Button Bouquet.

I don't think I could do anything without using my Scallop Circle Punch. I use it on everything!

Here's the group shot since I didn't post individual pix of every card. Hope you can see them all.

Hopefully I can get in some stamping time this week. I haven't had time to create anything new for the past 2 weeks. I'm running out of stuff to show you!! Anyway, thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

One Sheet Wonder

Hello!! It's been a long time, hasn't it? I've thought about you guys, but I just haven't had the time to post this week. There's been a lot going on. After we got back from camping on Friday night, there was the Lady's Luncheon at church on Saturday, and then Sunday started a week of revival at church. That means being ready and out the door by 5:30 every night. Plus the boys had their testing for school this week also. I finally got my suitcase unpacked yesterday!! There just aren't enough hours in a day. Anyway, on to the project. This is a set of cards I made using a One Sheet Wonder I found on Split Coast Stampers. I didn't post individual pictures of all of them, so there's a group shot at the bottom.

I love the way this whole set turned out, but these are my favorites. I pretty much used up my entire stash of Old Olive brads. I couldn't resist. They were the perfect touch.

Isn't that cherry paper so cheerful? These are all very "Happy" cards. They are all blank inside, because I wanted them to be used for any occasion. Well, except for the Happy Birthday card. That one has to be used for a birthday.

I'm trying to decide if I want to sell this set on Etsy or give it away as a gift. I think I'm leaning towards gift, but I don't know if I could bear to part with it!

I have another set of cards with the same One Sheet Wonder. I'll try to post those tomorrow. I can't wait for tomorrow to come!! It's my first day in 2 weeks that doesn't have any plans!! I can do whatever happens and not be rushed out the door. That will be nice. I think I'll just stay home and do absolutely nothing. Doesn't that sound good? Better yet, I can stay home and do absolutely nothing but stamp!! Yeah, right. But it was a nice thought.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at these cards as much as I enjoyed making them. Until next time, happy stamping!

More Masculine Cards

Here are the rest of the Masculine cards I made last week. Again, they are with Outlaw DSP and Wanted stamp set. I checked my sketches I used when I went back in my stamp room, and they are all previous sketch challenges from Taylored Expressions.

They are all pretty straight forward cards, nothing too complicated.

I really like this one. It could be for anyone, for any occasion. I think it's cute!

I won't be posting for the rest of the week. My DH and I are taking the teenagers from our church on a 3 day camping trip up to Table Rock, SC. We'll be hiking and fishing and doing whatever it is teenagers do! Wish me luck!

Oh, and I can't forget this!! I started an Etsy store!! You can see it here. I'll be adding more stuff as I get time. Let me know what you think!! Thanks for stopping by!

Masculine Birthday Cards

I don't know about you guys, but I have a harder time with cards for boys/men tha anything else. It's probably because I tend to buy the "Pretty or Cute" paper and stamps, along with the ribbon and frills. I had some Outlaw Designer Series Paper out the other day, and I had borrowed the Wanted stamp set from a friend to make Haleigh's notebook seen at the bottom of this post. So I just pulled out some card sketches I had laying around and got to work. Cardstock is Very Vanilla, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip and Creamy Caramel. Ink is Chocolate Chip.


These cards went pretty fast once I had all my paper and ink out, I just went to town, because I didn't have to look for anything except the brads.

I like how they all turned out, and I have 3 more to show you next time.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I probably won't post again until Monday, our weekend is pretty full. So I'll see you next time.

P.S. If you read my post about "soap" you might want to check it out again. I've edited some of my stuff.

Soap

Lately I've been making my own soap. Laundry detergent, fabric softener, dishwashing gel, dishwasher detergent, and body wash. It all started when a friend of mine told me about a recipe for laundry detergent online and I decided to try it out since all that stuff is getting so expensive. I did a google search for homemade laundry soap and found a great wesite called tipnut and she has 10 recipes for laundry soap. The first one I tried was recipe #4. I found Fels Naptha Soap and Borax at my local grocery store in the laundry aisle, but had to get Washing Soda at Kroger. It worked really well and was very easy. I grated the bar of soap in my coffee grinder since I don't have a food processor. I figured up the price per load of laundry was about 10 cents. Compared to what I was paying for soap, that wasn't saving me any money. So, when that was gone, I tried recipe #1 using 2 bars of Ivory Soap. You can get the big pack at Wal Mart for a little over $4, and it works out to about 40 cents a bar. It made 3 gallons, and I figured the cost to be less than 2 cents a load. Quite a substantial savings. I was pretty easy to make, too. I mixed it up in a 5 gallon bucket, and then put it in some empty detergent bottles I had saved for my husband. He likes them when he changes the oil in the cars.

So, that led to me thinking "What else can I make?" Dishwasher Detergent!! I already have all the ingredients anyway! Here's the recipe I like best for the dishwasher: 1 cup Borax, 1 cup Baking Soda or Washing Soda, 1/4 cup salt, and 1/4 cup Lemi-Shine (you can find at Wal Mart with the dish soap). Use 1 tablespoon per load. It fizzes when it gets wet, because of the citric acid in the Lemi-Shine.

Well, today I ran out of body wash, and I had bought the 10 pack of Ivory for my laundry soap, so I grated up the Ivory and melted it in a pot of boiling water. I found a recipe that said to combine the melted Ivory with 1/2 gallon of water. It is really runny at first, but as it cools, it thickens up just like real body wash. So, for about 40 cents for the bar of Ivory Soap, I have 1/2 gallon of Body Wash! I just refilled all the empty or 1/2 empty bottles in the showers.
Edit: The body wash didn't turn out so well. It thickened up too much so it wouldn't squeeze out of the bottle, so I reheated it and added more water, but it still got too thick. I'm going to do some more research and see what went wrong and get back to you. Everything else had turned out wonderfully, though!

Yesterday I had to go to the grocery store, and I saw Colgate All-Purpose Soap. It was by the dish soap. On the back of the wrapper it says, "For removing hard to get out spots from the family wash, and makes dishwashing quick and easy... because it dissolves grease fast. You'll like it, also, to help you keep your stove, cabinets and woodwork sparkling clean." I thought that sounded interesting, so I got the bar for about 60 cents. I did a search for liquid dish soap and this is the one I came up with. I halved the recipe since I only had one bar. In place of the lemon juice, I used the Lemi-Shine from the dishwasher version. It was neat, because the citric acid in the Lemi-Shine causes the mix to foam and expand when it gets wet. The kids thought that part was pretty neat. I washed a load of dishes by hand just to test it out, and they were clean, no greasy feeling, and it made alot of soap! The only thing is that it doesn't make suds, but then again, neither does the laundry soap. That was the hardest part to get past. But I wiped the countertops and cleaned the kitchen like normal with it, and everything was spic n span. So much cheaper than even the cheap dish soap.

So here you have my novel on making soap. I think it's fun to do, and I'm saving money in the process. Let me know if you try any of this stuff out, and what you think about it!