Yummy, Yummy Salad

I combined several salads found on Pinterest to make a patriotic (red, white and blue) salad for Memorial Day.    This is day 2 of our 'week of salads' and I wanted something a little special for the holiday.

The Strawberry Spinach Salad was DELICIOUS!  Got a thumbs up from Tom and I could have eaten a second one.   I think I will have another for lunch tomorrow.

Tomorrow night will be Mexican Beef Salad.  I usually make some homemade tortilla strips by cutting up tortillas and broiling them to crispy.   The last time I tried that I had too much oil on the strips and they caught on fire.  What a mess!  So this time I bought some tortilla strips I found with the other salad toppings.

Masculine cards using up some old DSP

I set out this morning to use up some of
my scraps of DSP.  I was planning to make cards like this - just varying the DSP and colors.

But, as so often happens, plans change. I came across these beautiful envelopes that a friend gave me. 

They matched my scraps of a retired DSP called Muirfield.  I had to adjust the card sizes but using a whole sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 card stock and scoring at 3 3/4 and 7 inches made some cute tri-fold cards. I also made some single fold cards using a piece of card stock 8 1/2 x 7 1/2 and scoring midway along the  shorter side. (3 3/4) 

The colors for the DSP are Pacific Point, Baja Breeze (don't have any of that any more), Kiwi Kiss ( never had that) and Very Vanilla.  I pulled out Pacific Point, Soft Sky and Summer Starfruit.  Not exact matches but close. 

This is one of the tri-fold cards. Front. 

Inside fold

And inside. 

The DSP had some really bold designs and some subtle designs. 

Here are cards using the bolder designs. 

And these use the subtler designs.  

I got 10 cards done and still have some of the DSP and a few odd sized envelopes that were with the long green ones.  My goal is to use all the DSP and envelopes today. I'll post more cards when I have finished that goal. 

Vacation - and post vacation menu

Last week we were in Pigeon Forge TN, in a 3 story cabin on the side of a mountain. The trip was my choice for celebrating my 60th birthday (next week).  Beautiful!

This was our view.   It was a little cloudy when I took this - most days it cleared up nicely. There is a higher mountain behind the cloud.  You can see the 'smoke' rising on the mountain hence the name Great Smokey Mountains.   

The one thing I wanted to do was a helicopter ride. Son-in-law, Jake, went up with me - and I loved it.  I would like to go again only a longer ride next time.
This group was all very friendly and I felt totally comfortable with them

One day we went to the Titanic display  It was nice - lots of information about the passengers etc.   We were each given a card with an actual passenger's name and story.  At the end of the exhibit we could check the list and see if we survived.  I had a lady who was travelling first class with her husband and 2 small children.  She, her husband and her daughter (about 2-3 years old) did not survive.  Her son was under a year and did survive but he died at the age of 18 from food poisoning. 

The staircase in the exhibit is an exact replica of the staircase on the Titanic.   We got to walk up it to some of the exhibits and then back down to exit.  

 On Wednesday, we headed to Dollywood.  It was pretty crowded and hot.   Addie tried a few rides.  She liked the flying elephants- riding with her daddy.    She tried the duckies - all by herself.  Did pretty well for a few rounds,,,,

then decided it was not so much fun.  She cried for a couple rounds before the ride ended.    She was such a trooper all week, walking or riding in her stroller.  

Here she is at the aquarium in Gatlinburg.   She stood and watched these fish for about 10 - 15 minutes - just could not get enough of them!   We sure enjoyed the time with her.  

And now we are back home - and need to detox from all the restaurant eating.  At least one night our son-in-law grilled some salmon and we had broccoli, asparagus and brown rice on the side.   And we managed to avoid the fast food for most of the week. 

The family told me they wanted salads all week - so here is my menu of salads.

Sunday - Chef Salad - lettuce, carrots, celery, radishes, cucumbers, peppers, turkey deli meat, provel cheese, hard boiled egg, grape tomatoes and green onions. 

Monday -  Patriotic Spinach Salad - baby spinach, strawberries, blueberries, sliced almonds, goat cheese.

Tuesday - Mexican Beef Salad - romaine, roast beef deli meat, avocado, sliced tomatoes,black beans with a lime dressing

Wednesday - Oriental Chicken Salad - (Applebee's copycat - modified a little)  romaine, red cabbage, grilled chicken tenderloin, mandarin oranges, chow mein noodles, cucumber, red onion.

Thursday - Olive Garden Salad (modified a little ) - Romaine, red onion, roma tomato, black olives, parmesan/romano cheese.  I found an Olive Garden dressing recipe on Pinterest that I am going to try too. 

I also found a recipe for their breadsticks - might try them. 

Friday - Taco Salad -  lettuce, tomato, red kidney beans, taco meat, doritos, mexican cheese blend, green onion.

Saturday - Italian dinner at church - celebrating our pastor's retirement

Sunday - Apple, Cranberry and Pecan Salad - spinach, dried cranberries, Granny Smith apple, pecans, gorgonzola cheese, red onion.

Wonder how long it will take for my family to say they want something else?  

Cards I Made Today

On of the pluses of having my sister visit last week, was she brought me a bunch of embossed card stock.   I picked out embossing folders that she had and I did not and had her emboss 1/4 sheets with the ones I chose. Today I played with some of them to make some birthday cards.

 

The star embossing folder - cute isn't it.  Random stars all over the paper.   These could be used for a birthday card of a graduation card. 

 

I used up soem of my retired DSP on these cards.   I like this embossing folder,  Zig Zag.   I asked her to use the Regal color collection for these and I plan to use them for masculine cards.



Another card using the Zig Zag embossing folder and some of the stars that I cut out on the previous cards.



This is a 50th anniversary card for a friend at church.  The ribbon is not Stampin Up - I had it from some previous project.  The ribbbon is not really woven.  You put the stripes on one diagnoal and the the opposite diagonal.  So the ribbons are just criss-crossed and not woven under and over.


I really like the way it turned out.  50 years is a long time and they deserve a special card. 

Baby Cards

Several months ago I posted some new baby stamps designs I was playing with.

Aren't they cute - wait until you see some of the cards I made.  I really got carried away with this cuties so I am stocked for quite a while.

I think this one is my favorite.  It uses 2 retired colors - Pretty in Pink and Not Quite Navy.  The DSP is Old Olive.  

These are a few other designs using the basket image.  Colors here are Not Quite Navy (I still have an unopened package of that paper - it is one of my favorites), Pool Party and So Saffron.

 And I love the paper doilies on these cards.  Colors are Blushing Bride, Old Olive and Daffodil Delight.

And this one - when I was cutting and punching the baby images these two were just lined up so perfectly I decided to not separate them.   This would be a good card for twins - or grandparents who have 2 grandchildren born within days of each other.   The card is Old Olive and So Saffron.  I like the layered ribbon on this one.

Easter Weekend

Well, it's been a while since I have posted.   Busy just enjoying life :-) 

Still loving the Jamberry wraps.  Here is my Easter jamicure...

 This was a design that was only available in the Stylebox.  It is a matte finish and has a subtle chevron pattern in the background with beautiful flowers.  I thought it looked very 'springy'.

 We celebrated Easter on Saturday evening since my DH and SIL both had to work on Easter morning.  Our granddaughter did much better with the egg hunt this year.  She was cautious at first but by the end she was getting excited with each egg she found.

After a nice supper of pasta with ham and mushrooms, broccoli, cherry salad and bread we enjoyed DQ blizzards in honor of my dad's (Grandpa Pete) birthday.  He passed away 10 years ago on the eve of his 92nd birthday. He loved ice cream and especially DQ trips with friends from church - so every year our family celebrates his life with some ice cream.  His favorite was a vanilla shake.

Since DD #2 and I were by ourselves on Sunday morning, I suggested we go to IHOP after church.  She offered to pay :-)
Then home, and I got busy working on things for someone's Second Birthday this week.  Granddaughter will be 2 on Wednesday but the party is on Saturday.  The theme is Clifford the Big Red Dog.  She loves that show!
Her momma wanted to make a dress like one she saw on Etsy, but is just learning to sew and is not enjoying it much so Grandma took over.

It did turn out cute, but reminded me of all the things about sewing clothes that I dislike - zippers and gathering. Hope no one looks too closely at the stitching :-) 

 And Momma also found a birthday banner she liked on Pinterest that I used as a guide when making this one.  I used primary colors with black and white accents.   The paper is Stampin Up - Pacific Point, Real Red and Daffodil Delight.   I used some of the Brights DSP stack.  It went quickly with the Big Shot circle framelits and Alphabet die.

 I found the ribbon at Michael's and it was perfect.  My daughter had also bought some to tie around dog bowls for serving the snacks.  Now I just have to work on the chalkboard scrapbook page listing likes,dislikes and growth markers like height, weight and number of teeth. Looking forward to trying some of Stampin Up's chalk ink pads.

And here is Shadow. He is growing and getting more and more daring.  He jumps up on my desk when I am working and tries to hide behind my laptop.

I've Been Busy

Wow! Can't believe it has been so long since I have written anything.  I've been busy that's for sure.   
My new 'hobby' is Jamberry nail wraps.   I love them and never have been without them on my nails since last November. 

This is my latest 'jamicure'.  It is actually two wraps - the rose gold solid with the touch of lace layered on top.   My nails never break or chip any more - the wraps are like a protective shield. 

I have some special ones for St Pat's Day - shamrocks :-)  

I've also been spending lots of time with our new family member.  

Shadow likes to join me on the couch or he will sit in the rocking chair across the room.  When I am in the office he often joins me and wants to climb all over my desk.  We have placed his cage in my office so he can sit on the perch in there and watch.  

And this sweetheart comes to visit frequently - 

can't believe she is almost 2!  Here she is wearing her Valentine's gift.  I cross stitched the shirt and made the pants out of coordinating fabric.   What a joy to make something for her. 

I've been busy stitching.

This is a sweatshirt I stitched for a baby shower gift.  The daddy loves to fish.  He will have to start early to develop a love of fishing in his little princess.

And a few charity quilt squares.  This one is for an alphabet quilt.  It is going to be such a cute quilt.

Here is one of the Cherished Teddies I have done recently.  This one is called Spring Bonnet. 

And here is Calico Companion.  I love the detail on the basket and balls of yarn.  

There have been so many baby showers lately - I am running out of cards!  I bought this new stamp set because for many of the showers I will be scrapbooking for our church.  Won't these be cute accent around baby shower pictures.  I made them by stamping the design on 3 colors.  I then cut out portions of the design and layered that on top of the design stamped on another color.  

My next project is a piece for our home.   I made this one 10 years ago -

I have always loved it.  It has a lot of shading done by using 2 colors in the needle at the same time.   I also had picked up this companion pattern by the same artist.

So - I am finally starting it.  I have a third pattern too but it uses different colors for the trees etc - so I probably won't stitch it unless I modify the colors.  At the rate I am going on these, I have 10 years to think about that.   I did buy 3 frames when I framed the first piece :-)