A Few New Things!

Been very busy this past week working on Halloween and other things. Listed this Woodland Pumpkin guy last night in my etsy shop. He's kind of mossy, looks like he was picked from the forest. I know pumpkins don't grow in forests. LOL

Just have to say we are being rewarded with beautiful weather the last couple of days. Less humidty and temps in the upper 70's. Couldn't ask for anything better! Just hope it stays that way all the way through the 4th!

Today I made these little coin purses with scraps from my huge stash of fabric. Thought it would be a fun project to try. Super simple and fast to make. I think they are quite cute! Going to try making more with my vintage tablecloths that I've made some of my birds with. Need to get a few more zippers tomorrow. 

These are now listed in my etsy shop! 

Happy Summer Solstice!

It's finally here, the longest day of the year!! I think about this day when we are in the middle of winter and dream of warm summer nights when its still light out at 8:30! Before you know it, it will be winter solstice. Time just seems to fly anymore. Snapped this awesome shot of this damselfly on Saturday. I got a foot away from him and he just sat there. Thought he was beautiful with the rainbow colors on him. He looked better in person. Click on the picture to see it up close.

So today made my trip to the antique mall and bought a few items. Got this wooden bench for $9.00 that I thought would be perfect for my little TV I have in my sewing room. And got this really old wooden suitcase that has a leather handle for $4.00 which I thought would be great for storing some of my sewing stuff. It has a mirror inside in the top. And then got this little cat rusty bell for $3.00.

Then today I finished up my other new Halloween creation. I think it looks like my ghost is afraid of the little mouse on top of the pumpkin. It was fun to put together. What do you think? Should I make a pattern for it? Will be putting it in my etsy shop

tonight. I have a few more ideas running around in my head for Halloween. Time to get back to work.! Have a great evening on this longest day of the year!

New! Primitive Halloween Pumpkin Cat Doll

I've been working on this doll and pattern for a couple of days along with another Halloween project I hope to have finished tomorrow. I think I'm on a roll! Finally. Love creating for Halloween! This sweet kitty will be listed in my etsy shop tonight along with the pattern too. If you can't wait till tonight, I have it for instant download on Pattern Mart now! Click on the link over on my side bar to the right.

Summer Pasta Salad

I have another recipe to share. I absolutely love this pasta salad! Super easy to make. We had this tonight with salmon and steamed broccoli.

Summer Pasta Salad

8 ounces of medium shell pasta

1/2 lb. crumbled bacon

1 1/2 cups of Ranch-style salad dressing

1 small red onion chopped

2 Roma tomatoes chopped

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool. Meanwhile, cook the bacon and drain on a paper towel. When cool crumble into small pieces. In a large bowl, stir together the Ranch dressing, onion, tomatoes and bacon. Mix in the cooled pasta. The pasta will absorb some of the dressing, so don't worry if it seems like too much. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Had a little fun today with a free photo editing software that I found, called Photo Scape. I took a picture of my granddaughter and tried a few different settings with it. I just love the colored pencil one.

This is the original picture

This is colored pencil setting

Old photo setting

Just having fun!

Click on "Photo Scape" above for a free download. You would not believe all the different things you can do with this program!

If You Love Bell Peppers!

You will love this recipe! We had this tonight for dinner. I found this recipe in our local newspaper back in 1990 and have made it so many times over the years that I just about have it memorized. Super easy and fast to make all in one skillet. My family has always loved this one. Serve it with a fresh salad and you have a perfect meal!

Skillet Macaroni and Beef

1 lb. ground beef

1 1/2 cup of elbow macaroni

1/2 cup minced onion

1/2 cup of green pepper

2 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce

1 cup of water

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 Tb. Worcestershire sauce

Brown beef in large skillet until meat loses its redness. Remove from skillet. Brown uncooked macaroni, onion and green pepper in meat fat left in skillet until macaroni is yellow. Do not burn. Stir and watch while cooking. Return meat to skillet along with tomato sauce, water, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Mix in skillet.

Cover and simmer 25 minutes or until macaroni is cooked to suit your taste. Makes 6 servings.

NOTE: This could also be put in a casserole and baked for 25 minutes at 350º.

I thought I would write about one of my kitties that I don't think I have mentioned about. This is Jupiter. My daughter found him one spring day in the neighbors yard and noticed that he looked hungry. He was really skinny and dirty. If you looked at his paws you could tell he had been traveling for a long time. So you know what happens when you feed a stray, yep...they are yours forever. You could tell he didn't feel good either because he had a crusty runny nose and eyes. I took him to the vet and found out he had a upper repository infection. Got a antibiotic and he got better. I made him a little bed in the garage with a old chenille robe of mine and keep the small door of the garage open for him to come and go as he pleased. He had his own bowl of food and water. So he spent that whole summer outside and we took care of him. Then it got to to be October and I just couldn't see him spending the winter outside. SO I brought him in with my other 2 cats and he has lived with us now, for 10 years. I often wished he could talk and tell me where he came from and what his name was. When he first came around you could tell that his previous owner might have hit him, because he would bow his head down when you would go to pet him like he was afraid. But the funny thing is he loved to sit in your lap and if you tried to put him down he would bite you. I wonder all the time how old he is. The vet couldn't really tell, he said maybe a year or two old then. I love his freckles on his nose. :)

Tuesday's Treasures

Every time I watch the "American Pickers" on the History channel, I get the bug to go junking. These guys, Mike and Frank have the best jobs ever, searching for old junk! They live right in the same area as I do! Last weekend they had a whole weekend dedicated to them in the quaint little town of Le Claire, Iowa. Its a tiny town right on the Mississippi river. They had meet and greet where you could get their autographs. I wanted to go but hubby said it would be crazy with the parking and it was rainy both days anyway.  They are talking about having the event again next year.

 Since it was a rainy day today, I headed to the Goodwill and the Antique Mall. Both places were busy! I picked up these few treasures. I love the old terrarium house. I can't wait to put a little plant in there. Was thinking maybe a little fern would look great.

I have a couple new Americana dress ornies listed in my etsy shop now. It's time to get ready for the 4th of July!!

My Garden Tour

Got out today and took some photos of everything growing and blooming in my yard. I think this is the best our yard has looked this year in a long time. Just the right amount of rain, temps and sun makes for a good growing season. I already have 2 tomatoes that are a little bigger then a golf ball. Everything is growing like weeds along with the weeds and all the baby trees from the maple and oak trees. So here is my garden tour.
Don't forget to click on the pics to see a larger view.

                                                    Stella de Oro Daylily
                              


                                  Begonia Hanging Basket

                                              Side Perennial Garden

Stella de Oro Daylily

Impatiens and Vinca Vine hanging basket

Marigolds and don't remember the name of the purple flowers LOL

My Garden Shed. I have growing in pots, on my concrete bench, cucumbers, green peppers, Cilantro and ornamental kale

Dazzler Pink and Red Impatiens

Purple Wave petunias and collection of succulents

My Miniture Hosta's

They are from the Mouse Ear Collection

You can see the size difference between them and the regular size hosta's they are next to.

I've got 2 new dresses that will be listed in my etsy shop tonight.

Life is Good

Here are 3 more dress ornies I'm listing in my Etsy shop tonight. These are selling great!

Had such a fun day yesterday out on the Mississippi!! Got to walk through the ewwwy goooy as my sister calls it. On the bottom of the Mississippi is this very thick mud. Had to walk through it to get to the sand bar out in the middle of the river. We parked our lawn chairs out there, hung out with friends and just watched the world go by. It was a great 30th anniversary!

Planted my succulents this weekend into the 3 hypertufa pots that I made in April. Still waiting for my other pots to cure.

30th Wedding Anniversary!

Can hardly believe its been 30 years ago today! I can still remember the day we got married. It was a perfect 75º day. Wow...time flys when you are having fun! Can you believe how big my glasses were! Yikes! How styles change huh! And now here we are 30 years later and still putting up with each other. LOL We couldn't be more happier with 2 grown daughters, 1 granddaughter and another one on the way in January. Life is good. We plan on celebrating Memorial Day and our Anniversary today, boating out on the Mississippi river with my sister and hubby. They just got a new, bigger boat. Should be so much fun! Everyone have a happy and safe Memorial Day!!

Sweet Hummingbird!

It was such a nice day today that I sat out on the deck and ate my lunch. And got a little bit of sewing done, on another doll dress ornie that I finished up today. I was enjoying the hummingbirds coming to my feeders out on the deck and thought that I should set up my tripod and try to get some close shots since they weren't to afraid of me. I think these pictures turned out spectacular! I just think these little birds are so amazing! Never get tired of watching them. As you can see in the one picture a little ant is sharing the feeder with him. The ant didn't even bother him. I need to get another one of those ant traps that you hang from the top that have the water in them.

Here is my new dress with the fabric that I bought yesterday. It will be for sale in my etsy shop tonight.

What I'm Working on Wednesday

Made a special trip today to my favorite quilt shop to find some Civil War Reproduction fabric. It had been awhile since I had seen Harlene the shop owner of Quilts by the Oz. You could totally get lost in the rows of fabric in her shop. So I picked up these fabrics to make more doll dress ornies and birds. Couldn't find a red shade that I liked, so will see what I can find online.


Here are a few more doll dress ornies that I finished up today. Will get them listed in My Etsy Shop tonight.

More Succulents!

I've got a huge addiction now to succulents. I bought a bunch more yesterday. I made 3 more hypertufa pots on Thursday. It will be awhile before they will be ready to plant in. They have to cure. Not exactly sure how long they are suppose to cure as I've searched on the Internet extensively about making these pots. It's anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months before you can plant in them. So I'm gonna go with 2 months. I made 4 of them about a month ago. So in about a month I will plant. I wanted to buy the succulents now as I'm sure in another month they will be gone. So here are a few more that I bought. I just think they have the neatest shapes, textures and colors.






I also took a few pics of some of plants growing in my yard.

I absolutely love coleus too! The bright colors are just gorgeous! Here is my favorite one.


Had fun with the Maco setting on my camera today! This is a pansy.


Variegated Lantana

Cranesbill Geranium

Hosta Leaf. I love the ones that have a lot of white in them

Pink Spiderworth

Marigold

Rhododendron

White Goats Beard

And then today I decided to paint my hosta leaf bird bath. All I have to do now is put a sealer on it.

Well that's it for now. I think I will spend the rest of the day inside. It's 88º right now and should hit 90º later on today. Can't believe just the other day it was only in the 60's.