lovelies and unlovelies

Cookie baking. My delight and my sorrow. The peanut butter chocolate chip ones yesterday were gorgeous and tasty. I used my pampered chef scoop and made them all the same size; they were perfect-- slightly crispy, but mainly soft and chewy. Yum!!!

Then today. I made anise jam bars, which I have made before, but it has been years and years. I faintly remembered doing something a bit differently, but I couldn't remember what, so I just followed the recipe. They taste lovely and buttery, but they crumbled at the touch of a spatula. So who knows what I did.

I think that I am not exactly the cookie baking grandma, and I shouldn't try to be. And if I do, I should stick to the sturdy cookies, I think that's what the kids like best anyway, they could care less about the dainty buttery things.

I'm not sorry there's not a picture; they were just a sorry lot of cookies, they are mostly a pile of crumbles, with a very few that are presentable enough for the neighbors. Tasty crumbles they are though, I might have to make some pudding and pretend that I crumbled them on purpose for the topping. :)

card of the day

This one is a card that was sent to ME a long time ago by a good friend. She was one of the inspirations for me to even start making cards! She would be surprised to know that I saved the cards that she made because it meant a lot that she did that just for me. She has been a great buddy for a lot of years and hope for years to come. Our kids grew up in the same church, and schools. They are all grown ups now... we're grandmas...time flies by. We don't live as close as we used to, we both moved away and started over again. But we still see each other occasionally and hope we continue to "do lunch" when we can.

This reminds me of when I made my own paper. Ought to do that again, it was fun.

Thanks Lorna for the friendship, the inspiration, and the encouragement you are to me. :)

what a year...

DECEMBER 14, 2010

what a year…

what a year this has been! Most of it shocked me into silence.  There has been good… but so much sadness and grief for me.  Since my uncle’s death, I have also faced the cancer and death of my nephew and  my friend Marilyn, my friend John’s suicide, and the death of my (our, long story!) beloved dog, Chance. During this time, my father has been in the hospital several times, my mother once, my brother had a heart attack and then back surgery, and my mother in law has required much more care.  I did have the opportunity to become reacquainted with my brother; however it was to attend my nephew’s funeral so it wasn’t a happy visit. My daughter did get to come with me so that was a plus. We rode in this tiny plane; I was very nervous when I got on the plane– it was SO LITTLE!! but I hurried to my seat and glued my face to the window, and I did okay.

I have been struggling, off and on, with trying to start my own business. But it is like I have been in a fog! I am still doing several websites, but that is about all. Just can’t seem to get going in any direction much less figure out what direction I want to be going!

Sometimes I just want to write the good stuff.  Life is a mixture of both though. The good stuff is that I have a Savior who loves me despite the fog and the quirks. Amazing.

Card of the day-- Pooh

I did this background a long time ago when experimenting with watercolor washes-- this one was sprinkled with salt. I like how it affects the watercolor. Probably can't see it much but it is great for balloons. And no my printing isn't as perfect as a stamp would be... so what. It looks hand made. Well it is. :)

I've been thinking about that a lot. Although I love Gina K's clean precise look and Tim Holtz' grunge look, I am neither.... I am just me. My style varies from day to day-- I just do what I feel like. And that's all there is to it.

While the kids are away, the egrets will play...

Going down the street past the skate park, no kids but there was a whole flock of egrets!! I rarely see them in town. Kind of fun though.... click on the picture and zoom in and you will see them. :)

Flutterby butterfly

Not a Christmassy post at all. I figure if they aren't done by now, they aren't getting done, LOL... at least for me.

A while ago I sent a card to Angie and she wanted to know how I did it. It dawned on me that I never told her.

I started with a circle, mine is about 3 1/2 inches. I cut it in half off-center (mine I cut at about 2 inches) . I then pleated each half as tiny as I could, fold in half, and put them together, back to back. I sewed through the middle of them with buttonhole thread starting from the top, came back the other way, tied it and then left the threads long for antennae. then I spread them out, and there you are. Fasten down-- I used glue if I remember right!

I like to use what I have-- and someone gave me a bunch of wallpaper samples. I figure cards are not kept forever, so "archival" is not really important. It has been fun to use. Some have larger pictures on them that i have cut out and used for focal images. The tiny prints worked best for me.

Anybody have any favorite recycling or unusual things they use in card making?

Angie, hope you are feeling well enough to do this!!

Card of the Day-- gatefold Christmas tree

My initial thought was to put aside card making for December and focus on other stuff. But first of course I had to finish December's birthday cards, and maybe do a Christmas card or two even though I am not planning on sending them out this year. :( I still wanted to thank those who sent them, and then of course there was a challenge that caught my eye, and before you know it, I am thinking, put aside card making for January... but then there are those January birthdays, and people get sick, and need sympathy.... so then I thought, maybe just make a series of cards quick and easy... and any way you put it, I just can't seem to put it aside. Maybe there is something else I can put aside? How about eating, I need to lose some weight...

Originally I was making this for the Christmas card swap. Then I thought, there was that 12 embellishments challenge over on Gina K designs... and then I could send it for the Christmas swap, and maybe enter it in the gatefold challenge... but then I discovered the gatefold challenge is really a swap.... so I have to decide which swap to send it to and make another either gatefold or Christmas card.

And so life goes. :)