Scrappy Saturday - Hygge

 

I was in an online crop recently and the challenge was to make a layout without photos.  Here is one about my Hygge loves.

 

I had fun stamping the ++++ and adding all the little icons from an embellishment pack from a Scraproom kit.  So happy how it turned out.

 

Hope you all are having an amazing day!  

Let it Snow - Scrappy Saturday

 

 

I'm so loving this new Echo Park kit club kit it is from Crate Paper called Winter Market.  You will see a number of pages from this kit as I received the one from Echo Park and a bit of it from the Scraproom Kit Club as well.  Which makes it doubly better since I love the colors and patterns so much.

 

So for the first layout using this I chose a snow picture because, you have to, right?  This is our large window on the front of our house with the Christmas Tree and lights.  I love how the snow looks in the dark.  I stamped and embossed some snowflakes(with the Crate Paper stamp set) in white sparkle embossing powder.  Cut a few from dies and the remainder are from the embellishment or chipboard kit from Crate paper.  The frame or photo mat is a die cut as well.

Duck Family - Walks

 

Since 2020 we have been walking a lot.  Trying out various parks, Forrest preserves and paths in our area.  The weather if finally starting to shift and be over 35 degrees so we are back outside.  So excited for this.  Today we were at a preserve near us with an okay path.  Not as exciting as some.  But it's our first day outside in quite a long time.  This little duck family was wary of us but so exciting to see them out and about.

 

 

Animal Crossing Fireworks

Totally obsessed with the Bobbles headbands that Isabelle hands out on Sundays in August during the Fireworks shows.  This game kills me it is so cute and everything is so thought out.

I fear I am totally obsessed and now I have to share here as this is what I do now to take my mind off of things.  I work on my little island,  dress my character Agnes, and try to make besties with the little animal characters on the island by creating and giving them gifts. 

Sorry it's not crafty but thanks for stopping by again.

Strawberry Sauce & German Pancakes

Today we're making homemade German Pancakes and Strawberry Sauce.   The recipe for the sauce will be at the bottom.

My favorite part of the pancake is how puffy it is when it comes out of the oven then it starts to collapse.  So cool! 

We added fresh blueberries, strawberry sauce and powdered sugar Oh man were these yummy.  

 

Here is the recipe for the Strawberry Sauce.  Gotta love it.  Make lots and share.

Animal Crossing and a Nintendo Switch Finally

FINALLY!  I've had the game since it came out in March but have been unable to find a Switch with the shortage.  The girls have been playing and building their islands since the game came out and I've been trying to be patient(not one of my virtues).  But the other day I got a bee in my bonnet to call the Game Stop to see what they had in stock.  Low and behold they had just received a shipment.  They wouldn't hold them or tell me over the phone how many they had but would confirm it was more than 1.  I was in the middle of making dinner so I sent Dave and Abbi on a mission to buy one for me while I finished dinner.  40 min later they returned home with this little baby.  I am so excited I can't tell you.  I loved the 3 previous versions of Animal Crossing and I'm sure this one will be no different.  Can't wait to build my island and invite new characters (excluding Blue Bear of course).  

 

You may not see me for awhile.  Let the addiction begin! 

 

Thanks for stopping by for this little break from gardening and crafting.

Garden Underway

And so it begins another garden season.  These 2 boxes are my herb garden right outside my door.  I love having it so close that I can just run out and snip herbs while I'm cooking. 

My Veggie Garden is back against the back fence the boxes were new last year so they are just staring to weather.  I plan to plant radishes in a couple of days as well as carrots.

 

This is my new gutter garden Dave made for me.  It will have lettuce and leafy greens. and we can move it around to keep them out of direct sunlight most of the time. 

More plants that need to be planted my favorite time of spring when we get to play in the dirt. 

 

Hope everyone is having a great Spring and staying safe.

Crabapple Tree

 

I cannot tell you how much I LOVE this tree in the Spring.  She produces the most amazing blooms and fills to the brim with them.  They only last about a week before a high wind or rain storm comes along and takes them all away.  It's like Mother Nature wants me to stop and pay attention to this tree and remember nothing lasts forever. 

These pictures turned out amazing with the blue sky.   Makes my heart Happy!

Hope you are enjoying the little things this Spring.  Remember nothing lasts forever, good or bad. 

Before the Storm - Spring Showers

My crab apple tree is my favorite flowering tree in our yard.  Every year I try to get pictures of it's beautiful lushness before one of the many rain storms comes along and removes all the petals.

This year I got out between waves of rain and got some pictures of the buds and blooms.  I hope it stays around for a sunny day.

There are tons of buds and they are pretty strong so I'm holding out for a in full bloom photo in the next couple of weeks.  But look at that storm coming our way and we are expecting frost?????  EEEEK

Hope your staying dry this time of year and your Spring showers are mild.  Have a great day!

Imperfect Produce - YUM

This month we are trying something new in our house.  Imperfect Produce.  It will be nice to supplement our menus during the Winter months  before the garden takes hold.  We got our first box today.  Very exciting.  I see a big salad for dinner coming up!

"The Situation" continues so we're finding ways to make it seem like it's Spring.  I appreciate you stopping in today, HUGS!

Seed Starting - Garden

This year we are staring our garden early.  I blame the ridiculous cold and snow here.  Every weekend snow and ice then after driving in it on Monday the rest of the week is bitter cold negative degrees.  UGHH seems to be never ending.  Anyhoo this has motivated me to start planting the garden so we got a bunch of seeds and we're off.

Dave rigged up a grow light over our trays of plants so they get artificial sun throughout the growing process.  I can't wait to see how it turns out.  In the mean time it's nice to have green growing in the house.

We will be tearing out the old garden bed in back and putting in a new one since the wood on the old one is dying.  Can't wait for planting season.

So glad you stopped by today to see what we're up to.  Keep Warm.

Pantone Color of the Year 2019

I'm so excited for the Color of 2019 it's one of my favorites.  Pantone puts out the color for the following year around this time each year.  It is always fun to see their prediction!

It's also the time of year we get to partake in Holiday Concerts.  Well this year with Emily graduated we only have one concert which is down from our annual 5-6 concerts a season.  Abbi moved from orchestra to choir this year so we were presented with some beautiful singing and Mrs. Collins always produces a great show.

I Love all of the Christmas music this time of year.  Have a Wonderful Day!

Returning from a Blog/Creative Hiatus

It’s been awhile since I’ve been on here.  In the last 6 months my life has changed significantly.  I changed from working in a LSS and teaching 5-6 creative classes a month for the last 6 years to working full time at a fast paced growing college.  The change for me and my family has been major to say the least.  I have been creating layouts and such for myself and those around me.  Mostly for pleasure that has been fun.  I have also been working in my ETSY shop a bit utilizing the new listing tools ETSY has put in place(I like them a lot).  But to be honest all of this the creative stuff needed to take a back seat to my Family and regaining some of my energy and enthusiasm for the Crafty World and everything around me again.

I still love my hobby don’t get me wrong I can’t imagine doing anything else but the physical and mental drain of mass creating for no other reason than someone elses gain has taken its toll on my creative mojo.  I’ve read a lot lately of many bloggers discouragement with this industry and how things work and how the general viewing public is unappreciative.  I don’t know about that?  I found those that took my classes very appreciative and many became friends and people I am proud to know.  But they were sitting in an actual classroom learning from me, we exchanged ideas and stories and built up a relationship so the basis is different. I personally was burnt out from time and sheer volume of creating and had to make a choice continue for little or no money doing what I love or take a leap of faith and return to working full time and see what happens.   I am proud of myself that I made all of my own choices and took control of what was really a losing situation, for that I give myself all of the credit.  Big pat on the back or is it a round of applause(my teenagers are rolling their eyes I’m sure).  

So enough of that let’s talk about NOW.  What’s happening!  Well I’ve been out of the 9-5 workforce for about 15 years now and wasn’t sure I could go back?   I mean 15 years of not going to a regular job working at a desk 8 hours a day to suddenly working 9-5 Monday thru Friday was daunting.  I was lucky, I created a resume, applied for a couple of jobs online, went on one interview and that was that.   It’s taken me a few months to figure it out, only partially, and I’m still struggling with kid’s schedules, dinner, household chores, appointments etc.  But it gets better each week and I find I enjoy working everyday outside the home it is very rewarding in so many ways.  Not only did I  start a new job but in an industry I know nothing about.  I went from Stock Market/Investment Data to Education at the College level.  To say that I had no idea what was going on is the understatement of the year.  I sometimes know I must have the Deer in Headlights look to people that are speaking to me at work.  My mind is frantically trying to piece it all together whenever I am asked a question, but I have to say it gets easier as well each week.  And it is totally fun learning something new, since I am naturally curious.  Today for instance a student was sent to me and I got nervous, they are going to ask me something I won’t know (I have a standard line about looking into it and sending them and email…..).  But the student asked their question and I actually knew the answer, with confidence could tell them not to worry, they even walked away happy.  There is some satisfaction in learning a new job and doing it well.  So there is that.  I’ve also been getting back to my scrapping which, I was surprised to learn isn’t really all that stressful (it was for a while) nor demanding (it was for a long time).  I can usually get about 2 layouts a week done which is my new goal.  Sometimes I take pictures of the layouts more often than not they just go into the books.  If it feels stressful or not fun, I won’t attempt it in the creative time I allow myself.  I’ve been cleaning in my craft room again little by little and will hopefully be able to get to a garage sale to unload some things.  I’ve unmounted a ton of stamps (lots of clear boxes I’m afraid to throw out) making more room and a more organized way of finding things.    I’ve also taught myself a bunch of new techniques and explored various tools I have, most notably I created my own stickers and cut them on my Silhouette, my mind is swimming with ideas for this among others.

Outside of creative and work ventures, I’ve also had a lot of fun doing things on the weekend with my family and we’ve taken an actual vacation where we went to the beach and everything.  The puppies are also awesome and this summer I need to get them signed up for obedience training.  Potty training, for the puppy has been a challenge especially with being in the kennel for the first part of my back to work but now it’s summer and someone is usually around so she can hopefully learn what she’s supposed to do.   In the mean time she has given some of her bad habits to the older dog that has to be broken.  Oh well it’s all pretty good until it rains but then they are Doxies, they do not do rain or snow or dew or anything that may touch their little belly’s or feet or ears or back or fur (you get the idea), EWWWWW.  We’ve also spent a bunch of time in the last 3 months with family so that is good as well, and we have plans to do more.  I am even went to have a massage with me, myself and I.  CRAZY right?  Well in my old world it would be.  In my new world everything has changed and that is really what needed to happen.  

I look forward to reinventing my creativity, my blog and my shop to be what I have started to envision in my mind now that it is clear.  To say that I am starting to become re-energized is an understatement.  If you’ve stuck it out to the end of this post thank you so much and I promise to try to stay away from long winded posts in the future.  And I will definitely add pictures in my next posts of creative things!

Homemade Pork Carnitas!

 

OMG these are amazing!   I cooked a Pork But all day in the crock pot then seasoned and crisped up the meat after I shredded it!  AMAZING!  Lime and cilantro make it even better!

Spring is Coming Spring is Coming

 

Just a little proof that it will not be Winter FOREVER as it seems!

Hiking Today

 Wild grapes.

 We went on a hike in the marshes a few miles from our house.  It was a beautiful day.

 Gorgeous butterfly.

 Pretty flowers.

 Cute girls walking.

 Marshes

 Queen Ann's Lace.

 The little dog got tired!  Poor little legs.

 Thistle the bees did not like me getting close to take the pictures.

The end head out the window on the way home.

Garden from Sunday

 Lots of Strawberries coming now.

 Can't wait for the big tomatoes to turn red.

 Purples flowers still going strong.

 These little tomatoes only get golden/orangish we eat them in salads.

 Our first musk melon.  It still has a long way to go.

 Lots of yellow squash.

 Our second eight ball zucchini.

We tied up all the tomatoes they were leaning in their cages on to the peppers.  Poor peppers they are struggling.  Hopefully they will now get some breathing room.