Outside my window

A quick snap of one of my roses. This has been the craziest springs we had another frost last night. Getting tired of covering stuff up. Hope you have a great Memorial Day week-end.

Peach Sherbet

I will sure be glad when you go back to your WW cause all the recipes I really like and want to post are carbs....LOL..

And, unfortunately, I do not have a picture of this....yep, you guessed it. I ate the evidence!  I could pull some out of the freezer but I just don't feel like snapping photos right now, the flower beds are calling out to me! The weather is awesome right now and I've spent the last 2  1/2 days outside sprucing up the place to get ready for flower planting time.  I got both the front and back decks power-washed off and the patio furniture drug out of storage.  I can't decide if I'm going to stain or not....they probably need to be stained but they still have some color left and I'm thinking they might last another season.

But, I got hungry this afternoon for something nice and cold and had some frozen peaches just beckoning at me to use them up...

This is what I made and it really hit the spot..in fact, I don't even think I'll tell Bill I made it...save the last 3 servings just for me!  LOL...

Peach Sherbet

2  1/2 cups frozen unsweetened peach slices, slightly thawed. (I used the whole bag, it was a bit over 2  1/2 cups but I couldn't see much sense in putting a half cup back in the freezer. )

2 Tbs. unsweetened orange juice

2/3 cup Carnation Nonfat Dry Milk Powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup Splenda granular (you could use plain sugar here or the Splenda blend, which is half Splenda, half real sugar)

In a blender container, combine peach slices and orange juice. Cover and process on CHOP for 15 to 20 seconds. ( My blender took a lot longer than this...I think I need a new one) Add dry milk powder, vanilla extract and Splenda.  Re-cover and process on BLEND until mixture is smooth and creamy. Serve at once or freeze for future use.

Serves 4 (1/2 cup)

Each serving equals:

96 calories, 0 gm fat, 5 gm Protein, 19 gm carbohydrate, 63 mg Sodium, 156 mg Calcium and 2 gm fiber.

Look at that calcium!  Women need lots and lots of extra calcium and by using the dry milk powder we are getting a boast of it!  Plus, the added benefit of 5 gm of protein!  I think this is a very healthy dish!  

 

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Another Joanna Lund recipe....I really like the pumpkin flavor of these.  Plus, the addition of the nuts and chocolate chips puts them right up on my top 10 most loved snacks....LOL....I did change the recipe up a couple places...I use Splenda instead of Sugar Twin (when she made these recipes, Splenda hadn't been marketed in the US yet) and I also used Fage 0% Greek Yogurt instead of the Yoplait fat free.  The Fage 0% is so much thicker and taste better too.....gives the recipes just the added taste that they need.  Not that they weren't good before, just now they are even better!

I know you don't care for sweets but thought you might like these....nutritional info is below the image.

I snagged the recipe card from Design House Digital.


Each serving equals:
HE: 1 Bread, 1/2 Fat, 1/3 Vegetable, 1/4 Skim Milk, 1/4 Slider, 4 Optional Calories
172 Calories, 4 gm Fat, 6 gm Protein, 28 gm Carbohydrate, 243 mg Sodium, 116 mg Calcium, 2 gm Fiber


Enjoy....that is all for today!

Just another birthday card.

I can't even remember who I made this one for...LOL....my memory is really starting to suck, big time!

But, it was fast and quick and since I made decoration on the front of the envelope, I'm guessing it was made for my mother-in-law, since I could hand deliver it. 

This was basically just cut out using AC cardstock papers...I printed the green stems and leaves on the green cardstock and then the flowers were all done with the print and cut feature of the SSDE.  The birthday sentiment was cut with AC white cardstock but the happy was printed along with the flower stems.  I added holes to the centers of the flowers so I could stitch with embossing thread. I wanted them to look like buttons and had to print each one three times and glue together to give me the depth I was looking for.  The pearls are from Want2Scrap.  A simple but cute greeting card!

Enjoy!

The Easter Cards!

Nothing like being over a month late to post Easter cards....oh, well....

This first one is for Bella....my little Beautiful Bella....

This card was done using lots of shapes from the online store...the flowers, the rabbit and the saying all came from there and were cut out of various colors of AC cardstock except the flowers, they were cut out using print and cut in SSDE.  The grass was made by me and then cut out on the Cameo.  I used bling from Want2Scrap and the bunny tail is covered with white glitter.  I then edged all along the feet and 'butt' with a gray marker to give it a bit of depth and shadow.  I also colored the grass spikes to give it some dimension from the flat ground grass.  (I'm sure that just made a lot of sense...LOL).  Stitching was done by machine and I was trying to give it a bit of a crooked look but I can't do that any better than I can sew straight...LOL...

Next up is for my Amazingly talented Amanda! 

Again, I used the print and cut feature in SSDE...all papers from Daisy & Company by Gina Jane called baby Girl...remember how we used to love getting Hugware by Gina Jane?  The tulip is a shape I got from the online store but that is all I used shape wise this time.  I made my own Washi tape by printing on velum and then using my adhesive Xryon to add clear glue to the back of it.  I actually did this as a print and cut so I could add the pattern and the wording and then set it to cut jagged on the ends. Rounded all my edges and then adhered it in layers and sewed with my machine on the flower stem, leaves and the corners of the label.  The tulip was added in layers with pop dots to add dimension. I really liked how this turned out! 

And last....for Jumping Jack!  Too cute!!!

  

 

This is all mine....well, except for the idea.....I found this coloring book picture of this bunny driving a tractor...did a through search and came up empty on any shape for the bunny or the tractor and still wanted to do it, so.....I set down and preceded to learn the tools in SSDE....and this is the results...opps....forgot, those are not my eggs...I DID get those from the online store. I made the tractor first....its hard to see in the image, but the tire has treads...both shapes cut out and then adhered together after I chalked up the edges. Then I cut the seat, the grill, the headlights, the bucket, etc....the bunny was the hardest for me to do cause I had trouble making the body but I did it and I'm SOOOO proud!  LOL....most of his face is a print and cut...I did not want to glue all those tiny things on but I used pink chalk for his cheeks and then used gray chalk to ink around the edges of his face and body.  The helmet and ears are cut separately. I cut slits in the helmet so the ears would slide down behind it and added detailing on the brim with a black pen. Added some glitter to the eggs and rhinestones to the front of the bucket.  The grass and sky are actually printed onto the front of the card and then I cut out the Beep Beep and added it with popdots.  What do you think?
Think I could have a career in design elements if I weren't so old?  LOL...

Don't forget to scroll down, I posted yesterday too and I'm going to post again today!

Enjoy!

My Aunt's Birthday

I know, I know...I said this would be Easter cards but came across this and remembered that I hadn't posted it yet.  So...here it is...a card I made for my aunt.   She loved it!

The bicycle was a bugger to cut...I need a new blade and a new mat when I cut something this intricut and I had neither....I think I cut it at least 8 times before I came out with 2 good cuts that I could stack and glue together to make it a bit thicker.  It's been so long since I made this that I can't remember where the paper came from...just know that I scanned it in and then imported to my SSDE.  The saying is from Designer Digitals, I think by Katie Pertiet but don't quote me on that either....I really, really need to add notes to my designs!  LOL...I know the pearls are from Want2Scrap and the bicycle rims are from Teresa Collings and the little coral flowers are from my mom's craft stash.  The butterfly was a shape that I cut on the Silhouette and I just used a pen to make the stitching around the scallop shape.

Edited:  Forgot to add...the bicycle was a digital image that I imported and then traced and then I had to re-do the spokes...they looked much neater in the original trace because they were super delicate but that was the trouble I was having getting it to cut correctly...they kept tearing! So, I remove every other spoke and widened the rest out a bit and it cut easier...I know if I'd had a new mat and a new blade, it would have cut the delicate ones just fine but as usual, I was running out of time.  The bike did not have a 'basket' so I had to add that shape to put my flowers in.  

Enjoy!

Axtell-Hess Wedding

 

This is the frame.....I have about $10.00 in the whole thing.  I picked up the frame at our local thrift store coming in at $5.00.  I then went to Lowe's and bought a sample jar of paint in the cream color, sanded down the frame and gave it two coats of base cream color.  Sanded off the edges and spots I wanted the stain to show through on and then topped it all off with glazing that I swirled on and then wiped off.  The roses are made by me from burlap and felt and then I just added a few burlap leaves and some buttons and pearls...just to dress it up a bit. The mat used to be black and white but I didn't like the look so I painted it with three coats of the cream paint and then swirled glazing on the top....the little brown edging was done with my colored markers. I think it made it look a little bit like wood grain and really finished the frame off. I purchased a piece of white poster board and a piece of black. The white you can see and it is for the guest to sign around the picture and the black was used to finish off the back of the frame so it looked nicer since it will be sitting on an easel and the back will show.  I took their pictures and don't like it but its the best of the lot and has to do.  I had to remove her double chin, thin her down a bit (per her request...lol) and then had to swap heads with Jim since he was smirking in the one that she liked of her.  I worked it over a dozen times and still am not happy with it but have ran out of time.  Below is a closeup of the roses.

 

and next is the favors....I made the box to fit my candy bars in Silhouette Studio, cut them out of kraft cardstock from PaperTreyInk and then wrapped the lid with burlap.  The flowers are made with little yellow AC cardstock that I printed some vintage text on before cutting them on the cutter.  I believe the flower is by Lori Whitlock...but don't quote me on that....the leaves were printed on some paper from Recollections Habitat collection.  I needed more than I had, so scanned the paper in and printed on my printer.  I can't ever get it to match completely but it was close enough once it was cut into leaves.  I then scored the leaves to looked like there were veins and curled the flowers.  This took me the longest time as it was very time consuming.  It took most of the day to print and cut them out and then I'd work on them and watch TV.  The candy bars are wrapped in cream paper with the vintage text printed on them and then the top layer has Jim & Iola printed on each candy bar and the bottom layer has thanks for coming.  There are 6 miniature candy bars in each box with gives me the two layers. The label is printed on kraft cardstock and I used the print and cut feature to cut them out and they are tied on with some twine.  I sure hope she likes what I did, as she hasn't seen them yet.

 

That's it...I had plans to make a banner out of burlap and paint Just Married on it but I ran out of time and couldn't get the burlap around here locally and didn't have time to make a trip to the city.  My nephew is getting married in June and I just might get around and make the banner for them!  I am making invitations for that wedding and need to get started on them soon...

We need to get ready to go and the power just went off.....dang it!

May 3rd 2013....this is unbelievable!!!!

Going to have to put snow chains on to go to an outdoor wedding!  UnREAL......and I'm sick of this!!  My tulips had just bloomed out, the crab apples were just getting ready to open their blooms and my Bradfords were in full bloom...now I get to clean up broken limbs!  Yuck, Yuck, Yuck....can you tell I'm in a bad mood over this!