WOYWW # 178

Busy week last week!  I decided that this week was going to be less busy but if Monday and Tuesday are anything to go by it might just be flying by faster!!!  Arghhhh!  I keep telling it to slow down but I can't get time to listen to me!!!

 This is my desk this week...

Looks just about the same as every week but this week there are some stamps on the left that I found that I forgot I had...do you ever do that?  On the right are some bottles that I found for $.97 at Micheal's that I am going to make Potion bottles out of to use as dust collectors (room decoration) in my craft room and maybe elsewhere in the house.  In the center on the white card are some pencils and pads that I am going to use in my Halloween Trick or Treater's basket tomorrow night.  Want to see them up close?

 I used Stampin Up! card stock and punches to make the tags.  They are glittered but that doesn't show up well here.  I am going to use these for the kids in our neighborhood tomorrow night and friends children that come by.

Something new came in the mail the other day!

Crafter's Companion is having a huge sale on their Spectrum Noir pens...go check it out.  If you already have the markers maybe you need the rack?  It is on sale too.  Alcohol markers for about the 1/4 the price (or less) then Copics and they color just as well as the higher priced ones.  This week they are on sale too!

To find out more about WOYWW check in with Julia at Stamping Ground and she will tell you about the Wednesday WOYWW desk snoop! 

My other desk this week is my kitchen.  I have been working hard trying to find bread products that are fit to eat.  I am feeling much better this week and I think the diet might be working even with all my skepticism.  Check out what I am talking about on my Okienurse's Fibromyalgia Blog if you are interested!

I found a new baking mix that I have been having fun with and I made it myself!!  I found a recipe on GLG, Ginger Lemon Girl, Guilt Free and Gluten Free blog.   Carrie has all sorts of fun recipes on the blog and she has actually published a couple books that I have found really interesting and helpful in my search for gluten free foods.

In the center are eight 3 cup bags of the baking mix.  This mix is like Bisquick and can be used for cookies, cakes, biscuits, pancakes, waffles etc.  It already has milk powder, baking powder, Crisco, salt mixed in with a variety of gluten free flours.  On the left are some chocolate chip doughnut holes I made yesterday (and they are still moist) and on the right I made some Cheddar Bay biscuits (similar to those at Red Lobster) today.  YUMMY!!

I can see I am going to have issues if I keep cooking like this with gaining a ton of weight but I think what I am trying to do is prove to myself I am not giving up treats etc by doing this diet.  Only thing seems to be beer...I like a good beer or shot of bourbon once in a while.  I think I found a tolerable swap for that too...

Now isn't this nice?  OMG!  Yummy! Crisp tart apples with a kick! See the bottom of the label?  Naturally Gluten Free!   I peeled the label off this bottle...and the next cause it was too pretty to go in the trash...got to think of something I can do with it.
One last bit...

I sent off my passport for renewal on 17 Oct to St. Louis, MO.  Well something happened...gods smiled on me cause my cruise if 2 Dec and I was worried it wouldn't be here by then but on Friday I went to the mail box and there it was.  Someone messed up in the State Dept for sure!!  My check hasn't even cleared and it is here in my hot little hands.

Okay that all I have to share this week.  Hope I didn't bend your ear too much.  I just wanted share that life is good this week and all is well in Okienurse's life and I hope it is in yours also.  I am off to post this and find a cup of tea and maybe I will be lucky enough to find a few blogs have also posted early tonight.  Hope so! 

Christmas cards...

Ever wonder what you are going to do with all those card blanks that you bought so cheap last year...or was that the year before?  Any way here is an example of what I did with a craft one and some Christmas papers by...I can't remember!!!

Any whooo...all I did was fold the card differently from what it was packaged and made an easy peasy gate fold card.  Don't fold the card on the crease but fold the card outside edges to the center to make it  have two sides opening or as someone told me a gate fold card looks like a barn gate opening....  I think it turned out okay for a first!

WOYWW #177 and life issues

The calendar tells me it is Wednesday and another week has just flown past.  I had just about decided to not post on WOYWW this week because of life being in a turmoil around here but...I am so addicted I can't not do it!   What is WOYWW?  Check it out here!

I have been really busy all week but I don't have anything but a messy desk to show for it...well not quite true!  I made about 10 cards this week but only have one I can show you.   Well...actually four 3" x 3" gift cards and six- 5 1/4" x 4" cards.  Nothing special but made them up for a card fest on Saturday where people will come to the LSS where I am on the design team and have the opportunity to make the cards for $1.  Here is one card!

Easy peasy simple and quick.  Let the paper do the talking!

Not my desk yet but will be an integral part of the work space when I finally get into the bigger craft space are the two Expedit units from IKEA that have been sitting around waiting to be put together.  Here is a picture of the 2x4 unit and there is another 2x4 that I couldn't take a picture of.

The die cut machine on the top is my Big Shot Pro a new toy I bought off a friend that bought the wrong machine for her needs so she sold me this one for about half what she gave for it and several dies.  Oh my I am so excited to have a 12" x 12" cutting platform to play with!  I had been considering the Pro or the Grand Caliber and this just fell in my lap. 

Okay now that is about it for the WOYWW part (so Julia won't yell at me for it being a long post!) but if you want to continue it is about life issues from here on!

I started a proactive program for getting my health back to optimal for what it can be and went through a rigorous looking over my mental, physical and social wellness and decided to make some changes a couple weeks ago.  Many of you know my husband travels a lot and while he was gone this time I decided to try a different diet regime that consists of no or minimal dairy, no wheat, and very limited sugar and no sweeteners.  I have felt so darn bad the past 6 weeks something has to change and doctors only want to lay it off on the Fibromyalgia and CFS/ME but I feel it is more.  The gastrointerologist was sure I had ceilac disease but nothing showed up with scopes or lab but I thought that I would try to go gluten free for a while anyway just to see.  Well it has been 10 days since I quit eating all the above and I really think I am beginning to see a change.  I went and bought a bunch of gluten free products...some are yummy...some not!

There are a  lot of gluten free products on the market and these are a few I found till I can mail order more.  I thought (knowing me) that I would really start craving things that I couldn't have...bread, cookies, pancakes, and other wheat based items so I brought these in to prevent the cravings. 

 The only mix I have opened and baked off was the cinnamon raisin bread below.  I added nuts and raisins and it was absolutely yummy!  After the second day it became dry and I cut it up and froze it for making french toast out of at a later date. 

YUMMY!

 
The only other baked thing was a pan of cornbread that I made to go with the Lima beans and ham I fixed the other night for my supper!  It was also good the first night but became a little dry the second night!

This week I received my 9 month chit...key chain from GA.  I am a compulsive gambler and decided about 9 months ago to not let it control me any longer and so far so good.  It is a struggle at times but I like being free of the compulsion to go and throw away my money better then tossing it away!  If you have any type of addictive personality disorder be aware that it is really hard to quit any thing alone.  If you think you do have problems find help and get free of it!  I did.

Okay that's well and truly all I am going to talk about today.  I have got to get a glass of iced tea and start my blog hopping.  Hope everyone has a great week and I will see you next Wednesday if not before. 

WOYWW #176

Busy week and not much to show for it except a messy desk and lots of things to clean up!!  Here is a picture of my desk today...

My desk is a mess so I am going to give you the narrow angle rather then the wide angle...oh my my! Lots of fun stuff has been going on here but I haven't been really tidy about cleaning up after myself!  See  my new Tim Holtz wings die that came today!!!  I am excited!

this picture is looking to the left of where I sit.  I can't figure out how to store stencils so I have just been dropping them in a clear plastic bag hanging on a hook with my Cricut mats.  Anyone have any good ideas for storing them?

 This past weekend I attended the second class with Frank Beilec down at Happy Trails in Wayne, Oklahoma.  The class started at 0900 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and we stayed late the first two nights just visiting and hooking.  This time we made a couple items for Christmas using the templates he provided.  The snowman and Santa faces were made by Frank and we punched/hooked the hats and bodies for the figures.  The bodies are stuffed like pillows and sit up or can be hung on the wall.  They are suppose to be primitives and they are really cute but I don't know if I like the stick arms and legs.  Some people painted their sticks but I chose to go natural and now I am thinking the snowman has too many 'branches' and they just don't look right to me.  I am going to knit a little gold and green scarf for the snowman and a white fluffy one for the Santa. 

Frank used to be the anchor on a do it your self show on television called Trading Spaces that ran for about 8 years on TLC here in the states.  Frank holds several degrees but is an artist at heart!  Franks wife Judy also is an artist and felts awesome little animals and figures that she sells on their web site called Mosey and Me.  Frank brought several items for us to see and I ended up doing more then seeing and purchased the little felt pumpkin and the wizard mouse!  Aren't they darling!

The mouse has a really cute and expressive face but...I couldn't capture the picture with my phone! 

Okay I am off to check out the blogs at Ms. Julia's and I suggest you do so also if you like to snoop around the desk all over the world and see what they are doing.  Stamping Ground is the starting point.  Hop on over!

Trick or Treat Tags

I received a couple little goodies in the mail on Wednesday last week...A Tim Holtz strip die, the Halloween Shadows Sizzlits Die, and the Tim Holtz stamp set, Halloween Cutouts!  It was an immediate "oh my what can I do with these" type reaction when I opened the packet.  Well...here is what I did.  

I think it turned out really cute!  I masked and stenciled a big fat harvest moon on the tag in Mustard Seed Distress ink then used the fall inks to create this tag.  I stamped the trick or treaters on the tag in Archival black in then cut out all the I used all the die strip cutouts on this card!  The orange and brown card stock are some from Stampin Up!  Did you know that they now carry kraft core cardstock in 3 colors? 

 Well almost all the die cuts from the strip were used on this card but I had half the tricker treaters portion left so...  I made another tag!

I can see all sorts of possibilities with the tree, owl, and fence for use on ATC after the Halloween season is gone.  Lots of possibilities!

Comfort food recipe cards

A swap I am participating in asked everyone to make a recipe card sharing recipes for comfort food.  Here are a couple I made.

Rice Krispie Treatas with a twist.  The 6x6 recipe card was made using Stampin' Up! cardstock, BoBunny designer paper and Sizzix strip die, Stampin' UP! Oval Punch.   I like the way the 3 oval punches make a pumpkin.  Fun!

Yummy Pumpkin Chicken chowder.  The card stock is Stampin' Up!, Farm House designer papers and stickers.  Flowers, leaves, gems from dollar bins at Michael's.

Another style of same recipe because the paper pad I was using didn't have 6 of the same papers I mixed them up!  The card stock is Stampin' Up!, Farm House designer papers and stickers.  Flowers, leaves, gems from dollar bins at Michael's.

Halloween ATC of the creepy kind!

After the last post with the spider in it I thought I would just keep the theme going and here is a Halloween ATC in black and orange with another 8 legged creeper! 

On this ATC I used the Tim Holtz Halloween Mini Holidays and Halloween Silhouetes for for the spider then embossed the spider with a TH folder to give 3 dimensional affect.  Folder doesn't exactly line up with the stamped image but it was close enough. 

WOYWW #175

I would like to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and good wishes last week.  I am still having the same issues but doing better over all.  This just something I have to learn to live with and put up with flares from time to time but it really gets me down!  Anyway on to the real reason for this post!

Want to see desks in various sorts of disarray?  Click on this link and it will take you to the Land of Awes cause there is all sorts of nifty neat desks to snoop through and drool over.  Ms Julia Dunnit is the magnificent wizard in the wondrous Land of Awes and puts on a hop each Wednesday!  I have been really busy trying to get some of the swaps out that I have been doing for various groups so my desk is suffering to say the least.  I love playing with the inks and stamps but it is a real pain in the patoote to clean it all up again!! 

playing with punches, inks and glues...oh my lots of fun!

I signed up to do several swaps this month cause I wanted to stay busy and thought with a little challenge and prompting I could do anything...right!  I don't know what my problem is but nothing looks right to me and I just want to file 13 everything this week.  I have posted several different ATC on the past posts. 

A little on the spooky cutesy side.  I could not make up my mind what I wanted to do on this tag either.  BUT I persevered and kept on making it...I decided I am not going to let the Mojo go walk about I am just going to keep on playing till it kicks back in! 

Speaking of spooky!  See what I found when I went out to do a little pool work the other day!  See her abdomen is loaded with little bitty baby spiders.  This a common garden variety spider around this part of the states called a Wolf Spider.  Wikipedia  says they can be found just about anywhere in the world in one form or another.

This old girl was floating around in the pool so I rescued her and set her out to dry.  I would guesstimate her to be about 2.5-3 inched long from the tip of her hind leg to the tip of her front leg.  When we lived in Kansas City we had a Wolf Spider that lived in an old wood burner in the woods behind our house that was about the size of a cup saucer.  I exaggerate not, my DH says that I do, but this thing was huge!  It was there for years and years and had loads of babies.  The life span of a Wolf Spider is about 5 years...lots of babies.  Their bite is not particularly poisonous but they do bite and it hurts!!

Okay short and sweet...for me!  I am off to surf the web and visit a few blogs.  Have a great week!

Poison ATC

 Now need an honest response even if it really doesn't matter at this point in time cause I have already mailed the darn things off!  These are some tags I created for a swap on Art 42 called Poison. Got that part covered but...Something just isn't calling out to me but I was on a time restraint and couldn't just throw them back and come back another day!

I used a clear glaze embossing powder over the moon but when I heat set it I came up with these black spots.  (Hope everyone thinks they are bats in the distance!)  The little bottles of stuff are actually glass bottles of nail decorations I found at the dollar tree.  I don't know it might grow on me but I am just not feeling it! 

Halloween ATC's

I was looking through previous posts for a particular ATC I made last year and I ran across this post! I evidently did not hit the post button and it has been sitting in limbo for a whole year.  I loved making these for another swap last year!

Each ATC is a cut out from Tim Holtz Seasonal Stash paper pad that I just embellished however I wanted.  I LOVE Halloween.  So warm and colorful.   

Bat's in your belfry

Bat's are a scary thing all year round and I think that for Halloween they are perfect!  We have bats around here and you can sometimes see them out at night flying around the country side.  They are vampires and they don't suck blood but I think that for a lot of us the fact we don't understand what they are capable of and how they get around AND they only come out at night can be a bit daunting.

I joined in another swap called Bat's in your Belfry at ART 42 and I made up 6 ATC's to swap out.  for this ATC I used Happy Haunting paper from Graphic 45 as the base then cut some bats out of basic black, distressed them with Picket Fence.  

The ATC are pretty much the same with a few differences in the placement of the bats and the decorative keys from Martha Stewart. 

Here is an upclose of one of the ATC.  I used Stickles on the bat's abdomen's and the key to give just a little sparkle.  Don't you love the smiles?  I just grin when I create using this paper!

Steampunk Witch ATC

I got involved with a new art group this past month and joined in on a swap or three that Sandy Alsfassar (sfassar) was hosting on the group.  The group is called Art 42 and doesn't have a specific product or manufacturer that you have to subscribe to so you can use whatever you want in your creations.  

One swap I joined was the Steampunk Witches ATC swap.  Make 3 get 3 back.  Here are the ones I made!  Of course I wanted to make sure I got one of mine so I made 4!!

Don't you love them?  They are actually made with metal adhered to cardstock then embossed.  I used Glue and Seal, matt to adhere the witches to the card and then coated it totally.  The Witches are from Graphic 45  Happy Haunting paper pack.

 Here are pictures upclose of the 4 ATC's I made.  Hope you like them!

Another swap at ART 42 was about bats in your belfry.  Stay tuned.  I will post them soon!

another recipe card

Another recipe card I made for the Split Coast Stampers Fall/Holiday Recipe Swap.  I love making 6" x 6" recipe cards but recently I have noticed that I am starting to accumulate quite a few.  I think that this year I am going to make them into cook books to either 1. keep or 2. give away.  I haven't made up my mind yet.  I probably have close to 120 cards so I could make up several big books.

Here is the second card I made up for this swap.  If you didn't see the first you can see it here...  This swap was to make 5+1 (5 to swap and 1 for the hostess) and get 5 back.  I made up 8 so that I could swap and still have one to keep and one to put in a cook book I am making up as a gift for Christmas.  This recipe is super easy yet super tasty!

Love all the fall colors and the paper leaves and poly flowers.  Speaks of fall and comfort food!

increased the size of this so you could see the recipe if you should chose to want it!

Well it is back to work.  I have a lot more to do before the night is over.  Have a great day!

WOYWW #174

I have had a horrible week this week.  I think I picked up something when I was cropping last Friday night cause I have felt "not so good" ever since then.  I can't pin point what is going on but it is more then my CFS/ME and Fibro that is flaring.  I have kept a headache and I feel hot (no it isn't hormones!) and a multitude of other complaints.  Haven't left the house at all and actually slept in Tuesday until 4pm.  I didn't get to bed till 4:30 am but still that is a lot of sleep for even me.

My desk is crammed packed again cause I have been spending what time my head isn't hurting in there trying to get caught up on swaps that I have signed up for.  I am afraid a lot is going to be a little late and I feel guilty for that but it can't be helped.

my photography set up.  It is just 2 pieces of white foam board but it works pretty well.  I haven't had the inclination to buy a photo cube cause the cost so darn much and this gives me a lot of reflected light and does better then what I used to use.

Thought I would share a set of 6" x 6" recipe cards I made for a swap on Split Coast Stampers.  The swap was for 5+1 and I would be getting back 5 different ones.  I made 8 so I could have one and another for a cookbook I am creating as a Christmas gift. 

the 8 recipe cards together

One alone and a little bigger so you can read the recipe. This a a really good and filling soup.  If you can't read it let me know and I will email the recipe if you want it.

Wondering what WOYWW is all about.  Go check out Julia's blog Stamping Ground and join in with the group touring around the globe one desk at a time.

One last thing I would like to share with you.  My day of baking nut breads.  Yummy!  Think I will make a cup of tea and go blog hopping.  Have a great week!

Another accomplishment this past week.  I made pumpkin cranberry nut bread (3 loaves) and Banana nut bread (2 loaves)  It was really yummy and I probably ate way more then I should have!

October Only! Stampin' Up! Special

Stampin' Up! has an awesome special going on this month.  Like they say it is a Merry Christmas from Stampin' Up! in October.  This is as good, if not a better deal, than the Demo's got when we preordered a couple months ago!

Individual prices on these items are:

Ornament Keepsakes stamps:  Wood:  $34.95 or
                                                  Clear:  $25.95
plus
Framelits                                               $24.95
Candlelight Christmas Paper                $12.95
Paper-Piercing Pack(free in bundles)   $ 7.95
                                    clear set bundle $71.80  or $80.80 for the wood bundle.

It is a really awesome deal!  If you want to order or need a catalog or holiday catalog you can click either link on the upper right and it will take you to my Stampin' Up! site where you can order them direct.

This offer is good only in October.  Don't procrastinate and miss out on the deal!  Order today!