Camera Found!

I lost my little camera for a couple of days and I couldn't download the pictures from our Easter trip. I found the camera in my craft room (imagine that!). Here's the rest of the photos!



Noah loved the fact that we got ballons at church!

We had a fun party at Old Country Buffet for Grandpa's 80th birthday. We had our own separate room and could celebrate in style! The cake was really good too - carrot cake! Yum!

We went to Manitou Springs and went in some of the little shops around town. Noah and Ashton were buddies around town.

The first night we got to Grandma and Grandpa's we told them that we wanted to go to Giuseppes to eat. It is the old train depot in Colorado Springs that has been turned into a restaurant. Noah loved watching the trains go by.

I have a couple more photos of our stop in Omaha. I'll post those soon. I'm going to try hard to get back into the blogging thing and be more faithful in posting.

Home Again

We got home last night from our quick trip to CO. It was great to visit my grandma and grandpa and aunt, uncle and cousins. It had been a couple of years since we saw my cousins. The drive seemed really long this time. I think it was about 15 hours each way. I brought two cameras along and I've only downloaded the pictures from the Rebel. Here are some of the best ones:

For some reason my pictures seem really pixely. Instead of downloading them from my computer I took them from flikr. There is limited photo space on blogger, so I'm trying to save my space. Maybe I need to upload them on flikr at a larger size??? I don't want them really large because I don't want people to be able to print them off. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

I will download the rest of my photos soon. I have some great pictures of Noah and my cousin's son Ashton. They are very cute!

Thanks for reading my blog! Hope you all have a great evening/day whenever you are reading this!

Leaving Town

We are taking off for Colorado tonight to spend the weekend at my Grandparent's house in Colorado Springs It is also Grandpa's 80th birthday! We will be leaving around 3:00 after Jeremy gets home from work and driving to Omaha and staying over night. There is a really cool shopping area in Omaha that I saw featured in Country Home Magazine. Hopefully we will be able to check it out tomorrow morning. You can see it here. I will post about it when I get back.

This will be the first time that we have seen my aunt and uncle and cousins in years. It will be so much fun to see them!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Whew! Finally Done!

I have been slowly putting almost all of the photos from our trip last fall on flikr. I finally finished tonight! I have been working on editing the Barcelona pictures the last couple of days. It has been fun to go through them and remember all of the sights. In Barcelona there were so many beautiful wooden doors with ornate knockers, handles and knobs. I took as many pictures as I could, but I still wish I could have gotten more. At the time felt bad always stopping to take pictures of them when we were walking places. Everyone would have to stop and wait for me. Now I'm so glad that I got the pictures.

If you want to see more pictures from our trip, just click the flikr icon on the side of the page. Have a great weekend!!

Long Week

Jeremy was gone this week. He left with his dad on Tuesday to move his sister Katie home from CA. They got to Grandma's house where Katie is going to be living on Friday night. It is good to have him home!

It was a pretty uneventful week. Pretty boring. The only major thing that I did was on Wednesday when my mom, Esther and Noah came over and we reorganized my kitchen. I got rid of a lot of things and put them in the pile for the garage sale. It feels good to actually be able to find the things that I need quickly! This is the only picture I took of my cupboards. It is of my Fiesta plates which we actually didn't even organize because I wanted to keep them all. I just love all of the colors.

I snapped this picture of Noah as he walked in the door when he still had his cute hat on.


On Thursday night I baked some banana muffins from some bananas that were almost too brown to use. The turned out to be really good! Here is the recipe I used:



Banana Muffins


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
Combine bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Scoop into muffin pans.
Bake in preheated oven. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped.


I also added 1 tsp of vanilla, 1 tsp of cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg.



I also got this fun picture of Noah and my mom. We were talking about taking pictures and Noah grabbed my camera and said (or "indicated") that he wanted to have his picture taken with grandma. He has lots of words, but sometimes you have to really know what he is talking about to get the whole picture. This was the best picture out of the batch. He moves so fast that most of the pictures that I took were blurry.

That's about all I have for now. We had a good weekend. I'm fighting a cold. Back to work tomorrow. I never know how to sign off on my blog posts, so I'll just say goodnight.

Another Day Off

Today I had another day off. I really didn't get much accomplished. I feel really crummy when I don't get things done on my day off. I know that it is completely my fault for just sitting around all day and not getting anything done. I think I need to set some goals for myself so that I'm able to get organized and get to work.

I was also really inspired today by Rebecca Sower's last couple of posts on her blog. She is so full of good things. She is a real woman of God and her posts and everything that she does reflect that. I think that I really need to unplug for a couple of days. The tv, internet and everything "plugged in" seems to suck people away from things that are important; projects, chores, people. I think a couple of days without at least tv and internet would do me a lot of good. Maybe next week ...

The one thing that I did get done was to go through all of my old magazines. I pulled out all of the inspiration/ideas/patterns/decor/recipes that I thought I might want in the future. I put them into a notebook that I got at Target. It was actually kind of satisfying being able to see all of that inspiration in one small notebook. I will keep adding to it in the future. It was kind of fun because even though I didn't use any scrapping supplies, it really does kind of look like a scrapbook.

Lately I have been in the mood to make real food. Last Saturday I made some cream of broccoli soup. From this recipe on Allrecipes.com. I didn't have celery, so I didn't use it. It turned out pretty good. I got broccoli at Target for .50 and I had to use it up!

Last night I also had some rotisserie chicken that needed to be used up. There wasn't enough for both of us, so I pulled out this recipe all from Allrecipes. I added mushrooms and onions and used 1% milk instead of whole cream. I LOVED this recipe. We are fighting over who gets to take it to work tomorrow!

That's all I have for tonight. I hope everyone has a great evening!

Busy Week

It has been over a week since I've posted! Wow, time goes by fast.

On Saturday I had friends over and we ate and crafted. I think more talking and eating went on than actual crafting, but that's what normally happens at these events. It was fun to hang out with friends.

I had Monday off for President's Day and I ended up finally meeting with my friend Lisa! She was so generous to offer to show me the ropes of selling some of my creations. She even brought me some awesome gifts! A headband (almost like this one...go buy one from her!!) and some super cute magnets that she made and also this book. I've read a lot of it already. It has lots of good advice. The thing that freaks me out the most is the tax stuff. I need to just sit down and do it and remember to keep all of my receipts and I'll be fine. The main obstacle now is coming up with a name. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! Here are some specifications I have: (I know, I'm really picky!)

• I would kind of like it to be old or vintage sounding because a lot of the things I make tend to look that way.


• It would be nice if it somehow had meaning. I was going to name it "Harriet and Lucy" because those are the two great grandmas that I remember, but those names might be in the mix for any future children we may have and I don't want my store to have my kid's names.


• I don't want it to encompass any certain craft or material. For example nothing like "Becca's cards" or "Paper Palace." If I ever decide to branch out to another medium I want to be prepared. Not that I'm ever going to make it big-time, I just want to be prepared! If I name it "Matt's Metalworks" I don't think I would be able to market my new line of patchwork pillows very well.

I've been thinking of a lot of names and I think after this weekend I will have it all nailed down...unless someone comes up with a better, more unique one!

The other day I borrowed my mom's bread machine and baked some bread. I had the bread machine do all of the work and then I put it into the oven. While it was cooking it smelled soooooo good. It was awesome when we ate it right out of the oven, but after it got cold the texture wasn't very good. I don't think it raised (rose??) enough in the bread machine. I think I'm going to try it again sometime and use some of the allrecipe tips on not using the machine at all.

Here is the original recipe I used:

Jo's Rosemary Bread

INGREDIENTS
1 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS
Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select white bread cycle; press Start.

That's all I have for tonight. If I don't post before the weekend, I hope everyone has a great one!

Wednesday Day Off

I had the day off today and I got a lot of projects done. Here are some of the things that I've been working on today and this week. It felt good to be creative!

Tag: Avery, Patterned Paper: K & Company, Chipboard: Making Memories, Stamp: Hampton Arts, Ink: Delta, Paint: Plaid, Ribbon: Michaels

Cardstock: Neenah Paper, Die Cuts With a View, Stamp: Inqueboutique, Brads: Joann's Scrap Essentials, Labeler: Rotex Futura, Ink: Hampton Art, Pen: Sakura

Cardstock: Neenah Paper, Patterned Paper: K & Co, Chipboard: Making Memories, Buttons: The Paper Studio, Stickers: American Crafts, Brads: Joann's Scrap Essentials, Paint: Plaid, Ink: Delta,

Cardstock: Neenah Paper, Patterned Paper: K & Company, Merriam Webster Dictionary, Vintage Velvet, Chipboard: The Paper Studio, Stamps: Autumn Leaves, Hampton Arts, Brad: CK, Ink: Stazon, Delta, Paint: Plaid

Cardstock: Neenah Paper, Patterned Paper: K & Company, Chipboard: Making Memories, Stamp: Hampton Arts

Cardstock: Neenah Paper, Die Cuts with a View, Patterned Paper: K & Company, Merriam Webster Dictionary, Punches: Marvy Uchida, EK Success, Brad: K & Company, Ink: Delta, Stazon, Stamp: Delta

I don't have much to say today. Not much is going on here. It is snowing tonight and it is supposed to add up over night. The drive into work tomorrow will be fun! We get to pick up our car tomorrow! It will be nice to have two cars again.

I hope everyone has a nice evening!

Flikr Favorites

1. palma tote, 2. inspiration mobile, 3. Soap, 4. n.49 (água e sal), 5. My Bella Crocheted Baby Dress, 6. Banksy, 7. houses of Bryggen, 8. for my sister, 9. Water Canvas, 10. Untitled, 11. Tiny Mittens, 12. Scrap mittens, 13. Recylced Sweater Stockings, 14. Button, button, who's got the button?, 15. Untitled, 16. :::::, 17. technicolor garden, 18. Saartje's Bootees, 19. Cherry Blossoms ..., 20. 'I love you more...' felt art close up, 21. Corazón al cuadrado / Hearts x2, 22. Purse in Guacamole Green, 23. craft show mini totes, 24. pink patchwork tote, 25. fruit fly !, 26. embroidery art pieces, 27. Tela, 28. San Stefano, 29. *garden*, 30. drops of purple petals, 31. button wreath, 32. Uniform shoes, 33. Little spool and fabric tree, 34. Boat, 35. camilla, crazy dot, 36. emmeline apron reverse side with tie in back

These are just some quick favorites from flikr. Does anyone know why those two white boxes are there? Those images show up in my favorites when I'm on the site...hmmmm......

Crunch and Munch

Tuesday night Jeremy and Nathan decided to go to the Republican Caucus for the first time. (I was babysitting Noah for the evening) I think they were both excited about finding out what it was all about. This is Nathan's first Presidential Election and he had gone to the Ron Paul Rally at the U of M on Monday night. He had a huge Ron Paul lawn sign that he put in the windshield of our car right before they went in. This is what they found when they came back to the car:

I don't know if someone purposely did this because they didn't like Nathan's sign or what. To me it looks like whoever did it knew that they did it (how could you not know that you hit a car this hard?) and they chose not to leave a note. Jeremy took it in to get an estimate today and the insurance company is supposed to contact us by tomorrow. I also called the high school today to see if they have cameras in the parking lot. The officer ended up talking to Jeremy again and he said he would look at their tapes to see if anything was there. Hopefully he will find something! If not, I guess we are out our $500 deductible.

On to lighter things - we went to Cub Foods last night and I had my whole shopping trip planned out. I think I had a coupon for every item I bought! I am so dumb that I took a picture of all of the food I got.

Here is a list of it all:

3-Boxes of cereal, 2 - Cake mixes, 3-Frosting tubs, 3-Pizza crusts, 2-Gordita kits, 2-Packages of deli meat, 2-Packages of fresh chicken breasts, 1-Bag of chips, 1-Loaf of bread, 1-Can of olives, 1-Can of mushrooms, 1-Bunch of bananas, 20-String Cheese (from Target)

My grand total was $15.32! I think that's pretty good considering the chicken itself was over $13 if I would have paid full price. When we were checking out the teenage cashier looked at Jeremy and said, "Man, it's like you're trying to game the system." and "Is this necessary?" Jeremy just looked at him and said, "Yep." It really helps that Cub lets you use their coupons and also manufacturer coupons. Plus they had a deal if you buy 10 selected items you get $10 off your meat purchase. Nice.

Ok, that's enough rambling on about my shopping! The last news of the day is that today we had a meeting at work and every one's hours were cut to 30 hrs per week. I guess I wasn't surprised at all. I'd heard rumors about it. I think I will be taking one day off per week and starting the day at 8:30. That day off might give me some time to do more home cooking and some crafting. I'm thinking about opening at Etsy store and I think this will give me time to do that.

On that note I will end. I have laundry and other things calling my name. Tomorrow is Friday!!

Weekend Activities

This last weekend was a busy one!

I guess Friday night was low-key. We went to work out and then came home and watched tv until bedtime. It was a nice night.

Saturday we went to Jeremy's grandma's house in Cannon Falls to help clean out one of her bedrooms. Jeremy's sister Katie is going to be coming home from California to live with her. It was fun to hang out with his family. His mom, aunt and grandma and I had fun going through vintage clothes and fabric.

Here are some of the things that I got to take home. I can't wait to start creating some great stuff with all of this stuff! Above is a stack of the fabric and aprons that I got.

This is a small piece of a quilt that had long ago been ripped apart for another project. This piece is about a foot long. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I thought it was so beautiful that I couldn't pass it up! It lookes like the whole thing was done by hand. I can't imagine how many hours it took to make a large quilt like this. I made a quilt when I was in 7th or 8th grade and it seemed to take forever! I did hand quilt it, but I just did a very simple block that wasn't very elaborate. I would love to know if this fabric was taken from old garments or flour sacks.

This is just a glimpse of a small apron that I got. It is really wrinkled and it needs to be washed. There are a couple of small rips, but I still think it is so sweet. I think I might hang it up somewhere in my kitchen.

I also got some fun old books; a Christmas book with songs and poems, "Self Instructor to Elocution" and "The Popular Ettequite Book." They will look great on the bookshelves in the living room.

We had an yummy meal of chili and homemade bread after we were done working. Carol and John got a bread machine for Christmas and they made an awesome, HUGE loaf of wheat bread. They had the machine do all of the mixing and rising and then they baked it in the oven. They said that their secret ingredient is oatmeal. I guess it makes it really moist??? It has really gotten me in the mood to make some homemade bread! I think I might ask my mom if I can borrow her bread machine to experiment. If anyone knows of any terrific recipes, please let me know!

Yesterday we went to church and after that Esther came over for lunch. Jeremy made us pancakes and bacon! Later we went to Sara and Eric's house for the SuperBowl. I brought homemade salsa and guacamole with chips and Sara had made tons of chicken wings with all different flavors of sauce. None of us were too into the game, but it gave us a good excuse to hang out.

As I read over this post it looks like all we did this weekend! I guess it was a good weekend. :)

I hope everyone has a good Monday!

CPS #49

Here is my first attempt at a Card Positioning Systems sketch (#49). I have browsed the site before and finally decided to jump in and give it a try! All of the paper and products used were really old - I hope I remember everything! Can you believe it...I used VELLUM!

Cardstock: Neenah Paper, Die Cuts With a View Patterned Paper: Sandylion? Vellum: ?? Punch: Marvy Uchida Chipboard Heart: Heidi Swapp Stick Pin: Heidi Grace

BRRRR! (Again)

It is cold again. This morning on the way into work it was about -12. Brrr! I don't mind it, it just gets so dry and everything is full of static!

This afternoon I had a dentist appointment and I came home earlier than normal. I had time to fix a real supper and I even had time to do this on the chalkboard in the kitchen!

He, he, he. The chalkboard has had a to-do list for the last 9 months and I figured it was time for a change. Something bright and cheery...and cheezy. It put me in a good mood.

Last night we picked up my dad from the airport. He had been on trip to Africa and Uganda visiting the missionaries who are there. It was good to see him again. We didn't get home until after 9:00 and by the time we got home it was already super cold. We decided to go to bed right away. We fell asleep right away and I slept in a little bit. It felt good to be able to get tons of sleep all cozy in bed!

I haven't really been able to do much crafting this week. Here is one card that I did on Monday.

Cardstock: Misc. from my stash

PP: My Mind's Eye

Foam flowers: Target Dollar Spot

Floss: DMC

Chipboard flower: Making Memories

Circle Punch: Marvy Uchida

Brad: Joann Scrap Essentials

Twill Tape: Micheal's

Stamp: Studio G

Rubons: Marcella by K

Thanks for taking a look into my world!

Good Deals!

Jeremy and I went grocery shopping today and we got some really good deals. We spent about $70 and the whole back of our CRV was full! We went to both Rainbow and Cub Foods and I think our kitchen is now full. This may not be a big deal for most people, but we are not known for making a lot of our meals at home. We go out to eat ALOT! Going out to eat gets to be expensive and it isn't very healthy. Hopefully we will be able to make some good, healthy meals with all of the food that we bought...or at least healthier than fast food!

Tonight we cooked up all of the hamburger that we bought and we are going to be putting it into the freezer so that we can just pull it out at use it for meals when we get home from work. We also made tacos and spanish rice.

We don't really have much else going on here this weekend. Mom and Dad are still out of town, so we will probably just be eating with Esther, Jason and Nathan after church and then doing our own thing after that. I would like to craft or do something like that sometime tomorrow. No other plans!

Have a good weekend!

Average Days

These last couple of days have been pretty average. Work, working out, surfing the internet, etc.
Tonight Jeremy went to the Wolves game for their "Hungry Like a Wolf" promotion. The boys got all-you-can eat hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and soda. Yuck! I got a text from Jeremy around 8:00 pm saying he had already had 4 hot dogs! I don't think I could have handled it! I hope they have a good time. : )

Esther, Noah and I went to Baker's Square to get some free pie and then we went to the mall to shop for some good deals. Esther found some t-shirts at Old Navy and Noah got a baby cow at Target for .48 cents! I didn't find anything at all. I have been to Target 3 times in the last day and I've found a lot of good deals, so I'm satisfied.

It is still cold here. Right now (10:00 pm) it is -7 degrees. (that's right, negative 7!) I think it is supposed to get warmer this weekend!

Here are some of the projects I completed on Monday when I was home from work:

Canvas: Joann's Dollar Spot

Patterned Paper: Amy Butler, K&Co

Punches: Marvy Uchida

Patterned Paper: Amy Butler
Cardstock: Die Cuts with a View
Felt: Joann's Dollar Spot
Buttons: The Paper Studio
Stamp: Studio G

No Work Today!

I have the day off because of MLK Day. I had grand plans of getting up early, going to work out, doing some housework, grocery shopping, etc., but I have pretty much been lazy the whole morning and now it is afternoon and I feel like I have been surfing the Internet all morning!

Yesterday we spent the whole day at my sister's house. I helped her set up her new blog Creative Coupons. This woman is amazing! She can pay basically nothing for all of her food and household items. Some of the time she walks out of the store with them owing her money! She is starting a blog with tips and hints to help all of us save money too. Most of the deals that she finds are for stores in our areas, but if you are not from our area you can still get some ideas on how she does it and apply those tips to stores in your area. I'm going to be adding her link to my sidebar for others to access.

Here are a couple of projects that I did a couple of months back. I'm just getting around to posting them now.

I actually submitted this "Friends" card and I left the "n" out of it, so it said "Frieds." Hmmm, I wonder why it wasn't picked up??! I couldn't believe I did that. Oh well. Fixed now. I have to admit that it actually looked better without the "n." It wasn't so squished!


Paper: My Mind's Eye
Chipboard Flower: Deluxe Designs
Chipboard Letters: Target Dollar Spot
Stickers: Basic Grey
Rhinestone Brad: Creating Keepsakes
Flower Punch: EK Success

I don't think I saved this photo at high enough resolution, but you get the idea! I love this shadow box and it never sold at our boutique. I guess I get to keep it!

Shadow Box: Hallmark (made for graduation tassles!)
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye,
Cardstock: Die Cuts With a View
Chipboard Flower: Joann's Scrap Essentials
Paint: Joann's
Rhinestone Brad: Creating Keepsakes
Embroidery Floss: DMC
Brad: Joann's Scrap Essentials
Metal Tag: Making Memories
Buttons: Misc. from my stash

I hope everyone has a good Monday!

Weekend Update

Last night Jeremy and I went to Cannon Falls to see his grandma. We took her out to eat at McArthur's which is the restaurant at Gopher Hills Golf Course. His Grandma and Grandpa used to own the farm land where the golf course now sits. It is very beautiful! All three of us ordered the all-you-can eat Friday night fish fry! Yum! After our meal we went back to her house and compared photos from the cruises we had been on recently. Grandma had some great photos! I can't decide which was my favorite...the one where she is on top of a mounted saddle pretending that she is riding a bull, or the one where she is snoozing on the balcony after eating breakfast brought to her by room service. It looked like she had a good time.

This morning Jeremy and I met his brother and sister-in-law for brunch at Denny's I have not been to Denny's in years and I don't think I have any desire to go back again for years. That's all I'll say about that. From the big meal last night and brunch this morning, I don't think I will be wanting anything more to eat for awhile!

Tomorrow I'm sure we will be watching the football playoffs with much anticipation. Being from Wisconsin, Jeremy is a huge Packers fan. I think I might be slowly moving to the dark side. After all, they are WAY better than the Vikings.

I'm posting two of the cards I made this last week. I also have some more projects that I have been working on that are not quite completed. I hope to be posting those soon.

This card was made for the Scrapbook Trends call for wedding cards. It was just a quick one I threw together with some scraps. They didn't seem to want it, so I will now be able to use it for myself! I'm never able to keep cards on hand for occasions when I really need them. I probably make more cards than anyone I know, but I never have the ones that I really need on hand! This one might go in my "keeper" drawer.


Materials Used:
Cardstock: Neenah Paper
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye
Tag:Avery
Ink: Rubber Stampede
Punch: EK Success
Sticker: Making Memories

This card turned out to be a little more formal and not as much fun as I wanted it to be. You can barely see the rhinestones on the embossed stamp. I really wanted to break out the adhesive mirrors that I got about a year ago and I couldn't think of anything else to do with them at the time. I only used one and I still have two whole packs left. I'm going to see if I can come up with another idea because this cards is just not very fun.

Materials used:

Cardstock: Neenah Paper

Patterned Paper: SEI, Paper Pizzaz, Me & My Big Ideas, Die Cuts With a View

Stamp: Heidi Grace

Pigment Ink Pad: Creative Beginnings

Embossing Power: Stampendous!

Heat Gun: Darice

Sequins: Joann's

Mirror: Creating Keepsakes

Rubon: Making Memories

I hope everyone stays warm (the high here today isn't supposed to get above 0 degrees!) and has a great weekend!

Posting Again!

After a LONG absence from blogging I think it is time to start again. I have decided that this will be a good place to keep all of my thoughts, ideas and projects together. I don't know if anyone will be reading what I write each day; I am mainly going to be doing this for me, so it doesn't matter.

I have been concentrating on creating something each day whether it be working on editing my photos, making cards, knitting, etc. I feel more creative when I am continually being creative.

Here are some gift tags that I made last night:

(ETA - Yipee! My tags are going to be published!)