Reach for the Stars

Good Morning! I hope everyone here in the US has a great Thanksgiving. We certainly did! In addition to Thanksgiving we also celebrated Kip's birthday. Some of his family from Texas flew in to Nashville in time for his birthday dinner and then stayed for the holiday. I have been off of work since Wednesday and man, was it hard to get up and get going this morning!

My card today is one that I have made for Card Cupids. I am getting a box ready to go out tomorrow and this is one of the "happy mail" cards I will be sending. They are also asking for "Winter Wishes" cards and I am trying to get several of those done as well. HERE is the list of current card requests.

Have a great day!!

Smile

Good Morning! I can't believe the middle of November is here already. This time of year just seems to fly by for me, so many birthdays, the holidays and our anniversary all happen in the later part of the year. The 15th also brings a new Card Cupids Challenge. Our sponsor for this challenge is Just Some Lines. This was a new company to me, and I enjoyed looking around at all of their images. My card uses an image called Birdday. I like that this image is versatile enough to use for lots of card occasions. I colored the image with Copics, used paper from DCWV and some ribbon from my stash.

Have a great day!

Snow Globe

Good Morning! I have a Christmas card to share with you today. This is the first year that I am going to be going into the Christmas card sending season with cards actually done. I am quite proud of the stack of Christmas cards that have been completed. I just love snow globes, the real thing and images of them. This is one of my favorites too. The image is from Deidre Mosher Designs and was colored with Copics, paper is from The Paper Studio, ribbon from my stash and I got the glittery snowflake from Hobby Lobby.

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Thanks for all the comments on my canning picture! I grew up in a family that did some canning and I have done some, mostly jams and jellies on my own, but this year, I decided to try and learn to can a lot of new things. Buying a pressure canner has allowed to to do a lot more variety but I have been looking for things that I know we eat, but typically buy. I have made a couple of different kinds of mustard, chocolate sauce and pie fillings to name a few. We have been trying to eliminate overly processed food and foods with tons of ingredients that I can't pronounce so canning is helping me do that too.

Have a great day!!

Fall Colors Challenge

I have a card to share today that I made for the latest Riley and Company challenge which was to use fall colors. I love the colors of fall, all the reds, yellows and oranges are just gorgeous. I picked this image because this is something that I have been doing a lot of lately! I have a compost bin along our back fence line and a lot of things that grew in pots over the summer. At the end of the season, I mix in al the dirt from the pots into the compost bin. And to help me do this, I actually have a little red wagon that I have been pulling back and forth across my yard. The image is Riley and Company, paper is DCWV, button from my stash.

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I have another project that has kept me busy for the past several days. I have a very small kitchen with almost no storage or counter space. I have been using the closets in the spare bedrooms to store kitchen stuff. I have had a steel storage rack but that wasn't quite enough space either, especially since I have been canning on a regular basis. I decided to buy another shelf last week so that I now have two and they take up the entire back wall.

Here is the new shelf with all my canning stuff. I still have canned goods in my pantry but this allowed me to get them out of the spare bedroom. My canners and stock pots now have a place to live and the baskets on top hold tools (funnels, food mill, tongs, etc), lids and rings, and the last one has pectins, fruit fresh, and clear gel. 

Here is the back wall of my kitchen. The shelf on the left holds my pots and pans, bulk grains and canisters, plastic storage containers and several small appliances. It's still a little messy, so don't look too close at that one!

Setting up the second shelf and getting everything organized on there took a big chunk of my weekend, but I am extremely happy with the end result. 

Have  a great day!

Hippo Hurray Birthday Card

Good Morning! Just a quick post this morning or I will be late for work! We have several birthdays in the months of October and November so I am always in need of birthday cards at this time of year. My Grandmother will be celebrating her 85th birthday on Saturday and this is the card that I will be sending to her. Image is from Pholkart Blessings and was colored with Copics, paper is DCWV.

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I have been posting a lot about my canning projects so I thought I would share what I made last night. I finished my apple butter, made cranberry sauce, and started some sauerkraut. I have never done kraut before so this should be interesting!

Have a great day!

Sweet Pea in Blue

Good Morning! I have been in a blue mood lately--not sad, I just keep finding myself reaching for my blue Copics, blue paints and blue papers! I went to Jo-Ann's a couple of weeks ago and they had paper on sale and after I got home I realized that almost every sheet I bought had a lot of blue in it. My card today uses an image from Sweet Pea Stamps and was colored with Copics. I added some ribbon that is held together with the pearl brad. 

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Today is election day. I am not going to try and convince you to vote one way or the other, I just want to encourage you to vote. Vote for the candidate that most reflects what is important to you. I will be going to vote when I get off this afternoon. I never vote early, I like going out on election day for some reason. Since Kip and I have been married we always go together to vote and I kind of like that. I hope everyone that is able is voting today. I keep reading that "this is the most important election of our generation". I think they are all important and every vote counts and that it is important to vote in every election, not just the big ones. I really don't understand why so many take this for granted, especially my female friends. So many women fought so hard to give us this right that I just can't take it for granted. Do you know what I think is even cooler than Kip and I going together to vote? That we can go to the polls, cast two separate votes and even vote for different candidates (which does happen) and both of our votes are counted.

I have a voice and I will be exercising my right to vote. 

One More Halloween Card

I do have one last Halloween card to share with you. I think this is the last one anyway! This is an image from Deidre Mosher Designs and was colored with Copics and I added some paint along the lines of the steam and on the bubbles in the cauldron. I knew I wanted to use a little mini broom on this card, but I couldn't find them anywhere. I thought about trying to make one with a bamboo skewer, but happened to find these in the dollhouse section at Hobby Lobby. They came three to a pack, so now I have a couple of extras the next time I need a mini broom.

 I hate it when Halloween ends, but I love stocking up on the after halloween sales. I picked up a couple of new wigs and an awesome tiered cupcake holder when I was out the other day. I got most of my stuff put away over the weekend and now it is about time to think about getting the Christmas decorations out.

I had a busy weekend. Samantha expressed an interest in leaning how to make jelly and helping me can and I told her that when I started making apple stuff that she could come over and we could do it together. She was here both Saturday and Sunday so she got to experience water bath and pressure canning. We made a Cranberry Pear jam, apple sauce, apple butter and some candy apple jelly. She pretty much made the candy apple jelly by herself with just supervision so she is going to be giving a few jars of that to a couple of people for Christmas gifts. Then on Sunday she helped me get pumpkin ready to can. I don't usually carve my Halloween pumpkins, I cook them and this year decided to can my pumpkin so that I can use it throughout the year.

Card Cupids November challenge

Good Morning! Can you believe it is November already? I know for us, the time between Halloween and the end of the year is filled with lots of things going on and the rest of the year will just fly by. The beginning of November brings a new Card Cupids challenge. Fresh Brewed Designs is our sponsor for this challenge. My image is colored with Copics and I used two papers that are opposite in colors to complete my card. 

We would love for you to join us!

Card Cupids is an organization that I am very proud to be involved with. In addition to collecting cards to send to children that could use some happy mail, we are also collecting art supplies for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. You can read more about that HERE. I had three of my back surgeries as a child and spent a couple of weeks in the hospital with each one. Those days can get very, very long! I remember a couple of times a week a volunteer (I still remember her name was Jackie) would come by and do craft projects with us. I still have an origami crane that I made all those years ago. I know these art supplies will be greatly appreciated by the children that will get to use them. I am gathering supplies to send in and hope if you are able that you will consider donating too.

Current Card requests are HERE.