The Final Tally

My goal for this year was to can 100 pints of salsa.  Yep, just 100 pints.  :)  I final count for 2012 was 108 pints.  I don't think I have ever made that much in one year, but I am sure glad to have it done.  I love being able to make cute gifts for clubs and workshops. 

 

For this workshop, I gave my hostess a jar.

 

 

 

Then I decided that it would be a good door prize too. 

 

The jars were made by cutting a piece of Stampin Up! designer fabric w/ the scallop circle die and screwing the canning ring down to hold it in place.  Then I stamped and cut out a little mason jar using the Perfectly Perserved stamp set and Cannery framelits from the Holiday Mini Catalog (page 29).  I attached the jar w/ baker's twine and looped it through my bow to secure it to the jar.

 

 

 

Evan has decided he LOVES showers although removing his clothes seems to be optional sometimes.  I spent a lot of time fetching him out of the shower while trying to can salsa.  It is really hard to be upset with him.  He is so sweet---and really really clean!  :)

Truffle Box

My mother-in-law recently hosted a workshop in her home.   I know she LOVES truffles and I knew that I wanted to give her a little something for allowing me to come in and stamp w/ her and her friends. 

I made a little box to house her truffles...  (I will work on writing up a little tutorial and posting it for you on how to make the box). 

I used the Leaves #2 die to cut out some leaves and then picked my woodgrain and argyle embossing folders to emboss the individual leaves.  I loved the texture on them.   

I never would have thought of more mustard, midnight muse, very vanilla, and early espresso, but I really do like the end result.

I used the sentiment from Apothecary Art stamp set in the Idea Book and Catalog.  This is one of my faves!  :)

It's Been Awhile...

I know it's been a long while.  The good news is that after several attempt to access my blog, I finally was able to get back on.  I don't know what the problem was, but it made my stomach knot.  I have missed stamping and blogging.

My focus has been on my 4 year old son, Evan.  He is autistic. He has started intensive ABA therapy in our home--which means that 5-6 days a week we have a handful of therapists in and out of our home. It is a strange feeling, but I am so happy that Evan can receive this therapy.  Between his therapy, social skills class, school, my daughters, husband and house--things seem a little overwhelming some days.  I am grateful for all that I have, but somedays it is a little chaotic. 

I did do a lot of canning this fall.  My sister has 2 beautiful pear trees that despite the drought were loaded w/ some of the biggest pears I had ever seen.  I brought home buckets of pears and canned just over 50 quarts.  Every couple of days, I would have enough pears ripe to can about 13-15 quarts plus  have a few to eat. 

 

I also tried out  new recipe after my sister gave me a bucket of jalapeno and green/red sweet peppers.  I made jalapeno jelly. I had never heard of it until I asked my Facebook friends what to do w/ all these peppers. My uncle suggested jalapeno jelly.  After my first bite, I knew I was hooked.  It is really good on Club crackers spread w/ cream cheese.  Yummm! 

 

 

 

I did a workshop and I thought I would dress up one of the little jelly jars and give it as a door prize.  The lady who won had never had jalapeno jelly either and was a little nervous about trying it. I was so happy when I met up with her again and she wanted to buy a jar from me.  :)  That must mean it is good!  LOL

 

 

I use the Friendship Preserves stamp set from the holiday mini catalog (pg. 30) along w/ the Window Frames Collection framelits on the same page to create the tag. 

Here's a better picture of the jalapeno jelly.  I think it's pretty especially for the holidays.

Matt & Erin's Wedding Thank Yous

I have been working on making Matt & Erin's (my brother in law & future sister in law)  wedding thank you cards for a gift for their wedding coming up on Saturday.  I have made 60 invites so far and contemplating making a few more for them.

Their wedding colors are pink and brown so I used chocolate chip and melon mambo on a vanilla base.  ♥ I would like to send out a special thank you to Diane Scuito for the 5/8" chocolate chip ribbon she gifted me for wedding projects. ♥ 

My favorite part was deciding where and how many butterflies to put on each one.  I love this embosslit.  :)

Other than stamping, kids, sports, therapy, scheduling.....well you get the idea.  LOL  I have 72 pints of salsa canned.  I'm hoping to get at least 100 pints done this year so I'm getting there. 

A couple of you asked for my salsa recipe so I thought I would share it here:

9 cups chopped tomatoes

3 cups chopped onions

2 cups green peppers

8 small jalapeno peppers (med. salsa) 

1/4 cup canning salt

1 cup celery

1 cup vinegar

12 oz can tomato paste

1 HEAPING TBSP minced garlic

2 TBSP cilantro

Optional: 2 cups whole kernel corn

Yield: 10-12 pints

Here's a picture of my little guy, Evan .  I often push him in the stroller when I go walking.  Evidently mom isn't very entertaining.  :) 

 BUT Mom is down -89# from the first of January and is enjoying chasing a VERY active 3 year old a lot more now.  Weight loss has slowed down--I have been spending more time canning and less time walking.  I need to get Evan in that stroller and go..... 

Sweet & Spicy

I found this cute little candy bar wrapper idea on the Seeing Ink Spots blog.  I have had a lot of ladies ask me what they can do w/ the larger framelits in the Labels Collection set.  Well here it is!  This is a great option for those of you who do not scrapbook, but would like an alternative option for using the framelits.  It's cute isn't it?! 

I used the Easy Events stamp set and the aqua painter plus a little baker twine and taffeta ribbon. They go together in a flash. 

Sweet!

Yesterday, I made my first batch of salsa in 2012.  It was much needed, we were completely out and panic had set in. I love cheese and salsa on my eggs in the morning for breakfast.  I eat it A LOT!  We have plenty of fresh eggs thanks to my daughter's chickens--they have been laying like crazy lately.  Plus I like lots of protein in the morning and to be able to tell everyone that I'm so healthy I eat veggies for breakfast! LOL  This batch was a little 'warm'--in fact, it was hot. I got a little carried away w/ the peppers!

Spicy!

For those of you that are wondering about my weight loss, I am down -86.4# since January 1, 2012.  I'm getting closer to that 112# goal for the year.  :)  I'm feeling good!

So Many Stamps....So Little Room!

My Shelves are FULL!!

Retired Stamp Sets For Sale

Please email me if interested: stampiepoo@gmail.com

**pictures available on request (please be patient)

shipping not included in prices and available to those in the U.S. only

Funky Four (trimmed one stamp) clear $4.00

Sweet Scoops (trimmed stamps) clear $5.00

Ornate Blossom New wood $3.00

So Many Thanks (a la carte) New wood $2.00

Happy Grad (a la carte) New wood $2.00

Love Bandit (trimmed one stamp) clear $5.00

Friends Never Fade clear $7.00 SOLD

Fresh Vintage (sale a bration) clear $7.00

Flower Fancy NEW wood $18.00

Butterfly Prints NEW clear $6.00  SOLD

Fifth Avenue Floral (partially mounted) wood $14.00 SOLD

Holy Triptych (mounted) wood $12.00

Silhouette Sentiments--hostess set clear new $8.00

Tagtastic--hostess set clear new $8.00 SOLD

It's the Thought--hostess clear new $7.00

So Happy for You--sale-a-bration clear new $7.00

Sweet Summer--sale-a-bration clear new $7.00

Turtle & Co. clear $7.00

Flight of the Butterfly wood mounted $14.00 SOLD

Sprinkled Expressions wood new $10.00

Pocket Silhouettes wood new $12.00 SOLD

Every Moment clear $8.00 SOLD

Loads of Love wood $12.00 SOLD

Loads of Fun wood $12.00 SOLD

Party Hearty wood $13.00

Bear Hugs (build a bear) wood $5.00

Baroque Motifs wood $14.00 SOLD

Twitterpated Trifold Card

Here's a little card that I made for Hostess Club.  I hope the ladies liked it.  I wanted to use some of my new products. I love the Adorning Accents Edgelits and the coordinating embossing folders.  The have been sitting down in my room unused long enough.  Don't you hate it when life gets in the way of stamping?

I like the baja breeze and riding hood red together.  What a great color combination!  It really catches the eye... 

Here's the flap... a piece of the pretty floral paper from the Twitterpated dsp.

And the inside of the card...  the sentiment is from the Bring on the Cake set and stamped in Riding Hood Red.

Daffodil Bargello

So I have become a little obsessed w/ the bargello technique.  It is so easy and it's fun to experiment with different widths and patterns of dsp. I cut the pieces for this card 3/4" wide and then I did varying widths when I cut them apart. 

Then I decided this card needed a bright daffodil delight bow. Making the bow, in my opinion, was the hardest thing about this card. LOL I am more of a knot girl. :)

And if you have a little extra piece leftover, why not decorate the inside of your card w/ it? 

Comfort Cafe Hostess Gift

A couple weeks ago, I had a workshop for one of my customers.  I wanted to give her a little something for having me do her party.

I made her a little stationary set with one of SU!'s empty stamp cases. I used the Comfort Cafe dsp and I couldn't help myself--I had to use the beautiful Blooming w/ Kindness set.   Then I added a sentiment from Pursuit of Happiness set.  Inside is a notepad and an envelope made using the scallop envelope die (sorry I forgot to take a picture).

Celebrate Today

This morning I had a chance to stamp.  I was so happy to head downstairs and take a few minutes to stamp. 

I have been a Technique Junkie for years. I absolutely love the techniques, but I rarely take the time to try them. Well today, I tried the bargello technique.  It's so easy especially with all the beautiful dsp from Stampin' Up!.

I chose the Summer Smooches dsp for this card.  Omgosh it's bright!  I like it--it's a happy card. It looked like a celebration card to me so I added the Celebrate Today from the Perfectly Penned stamp set.

Blooming with Kindness

Here's a simple card I made for a recent workout using some brand new products from Stampin Up! 

First of all, check out this amazing flower and sentiment from the Blooming With Kindness set.  This was the very first set that I ordered from the new catalog.  The flower is perfect and I {heart} the sentiments.

Second, check out the new in-colors I used!  The blue is called Midnight Muse and the yellow is called Summer Starfruit.

Last, I used some new wild dsp.  You would never believe what pack of paper includes this paper.   It is Comfort Cafe!  I didn't notice it when I ordered the pack--all I was looking at was the beautiful floral printed paper. I think it's kinda neat.  How about you?

Wisconsin is so dry!  I was excited to see clouds in the sky.  Unfortunately this clouds didn't produce any rain for us.  If you have some rain and could spare some, please send it to me!

Do You Want a Reason to Smile?

Stampin Up! has a great promotion during the month of July.

 It is a Reason to Smile!

You can get this sweet stamp set called "A Reason to Smile"  for just $5.00 if you place an order for $50 (before shipping and tax).

You can place your order w/ me right now using my online store, yes this very minute--another reason to smile!  :)

Don't forget to add your $5.00 set for orders over $50.00!
131274 (wood)
131275 (clear)