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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sweets on a Diet

Well, I didn't get this up right away at Valentine's Day, but I didn't want to ruin the surprise for Mr. Right (not that he reads my blog, but hey, in case he does! lol)  Also, I got so busy trying to get things done.  I was face with the dilemma of what to give to my Sweet on this special day, now that we have made a "new lifestyle change."  (That's code for finding out that you are pre-diabetic and need to go on a diet!) 

Well, I usually make some sweets like truffles or something, but with Mr. Right on a diet, I didn't want to make things hard for him, but I also didn't want to spend a lot of money.  Now, don't get me wrong, Mr. Right and I love sweets, especially chocolate, so I had to come up with something.  So I made him a dozen of chocolate roses on a diet!This recipe was supposed to be on lollipop sticks, but I couldn't find them in my town, so I used skewers instead.  I put a large marshmallow on each stick, then brushed water on the end of another marshmallow and stuck on the skewer on top of the first marshmallow.

What makes this more thrifty for our diet is that instead of dipping the marshmallows in chocolate, I melted a half of a cup of chips with a tiny bit of shortening and brushed it on with a paint brush!  Then, back to the brush with water, I brushed the water on the end of the marshmallows and dipped them in red sugar.

The chocolate was a big mess without the shortening, but these tasted wonderful, and were only 2 points a piece for Weight Watchers!!!  The skewers worked great, because I was able to put them in a vase and put a ribbon around it.  I also gave Mr. Right four coupons for a 30 minute massage from me!  Ladies - 30 minutes is a long time!  Maybe don't qualify it.

Just to let you know, Mr. Right did a great job of being thrifty too!  He and a buddy made a fancy dinner for my friend and I at their house, while my older kids babysat!  Very wonderful meal!  Oh, and, he's lost 17 pounds and I've lost 10 in 6 weeks!!! 

Check out all the blogs I love to link up to over there on the right!
Groupon has another opportunity to get 3 movies for $1!  Go here to sign up for an account and then buy this deal.  It is free to sign up.  I did this last time around and loved getting the movies for only $.33 each!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Thankful & Baby Cards

I was in the mood for putting some cards together the other day, so I made a few.  The first one was sort of a mistake.  I was trying to make it for a 3x5 card, so I put this one at 3 inches, not taking into account that the letters are 3 inches tall, but the word is longer and the circle is even bigger!  I ended up having to put it on a 4x6 card and fortunately it fit just right!  This design is from the Creative Memories Cheerful Cartridge.  (If you are interested, please consider ordering from me!)

The elephants from this one came from the Birthday Cakes Cartridge, intended for the Cricut Cake Machine.  But, did you realize that you can use them on the regular Cricut machine!  I couldn't believe my eyes when I found this one at Michael's on clearance for $5!!!!  I had to have it!  I really like many of the icons on it.  This one, I tied a little white ribbon on the trunks for a little effect.

Oh - I can't wait, Creative Memories is coming out with a new Cartridge called Stork Bites on March 1.  To get a sneak peak, check out My Pink Stamper here, here, and here.  I can't wait and don't forget to pick it up on March 1st on my website here.

Be sure to check out all the places that I love to link up to in the Right bar!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Funky Junk Copy

Copy Me Challenge

 

  I have been following this blog every Friday night like crazy, but just don't feel like I can make my house quite as beautiful or as stunning!  I want to begin this with a warning...I am so sorry about the disturbing children's pictures in this post!  I promise that no children were injured in the making of this post, I just have to protect them from someone that won't leave me alone.

Well, that being said, I'm up for the challenge!  I don't know why, but I love old windows and got this one a few years ago from a church in town.  In fact, I got all of them from the church when they changed the windows.  I've changed the pictures each year and changed the paper behind them, but currently have off white burlap behind them and love it.
 Sorry again for the freaky pics, but hey...  The thing that has bothered me is this that right area.  It's plain and I can't figure out the perfect thing for it.  So, since Christmas, I've done nothing except hang my empty metal basket there that says "Welcome."
Well, I love the crate technique that Funky Junk did on her table and stairs!  I started thinking last night that I might try the same.  Then the bigger decision came...what to put on there.

Here's what I did.  I cut the letters and numbers out on my Cricut with three different fonts.  I used a pencil to trace around them.

Then on to painting, which I thought would take a long time, but in reality, only 30 minutes.  First outline with a smaller brush and then fill in with a bigger one.  The great thing is that it doesn't have to be perfect, because I figured I'd rough up whatever I didn't do perfect.

Ta! Da!  It's done!  And then I took sand paper to it and my 14-year-old said it looked old right away.  Not easy to impress a teenager these days!  Then I hung it up, and stood back.  Then I sanded some more!  I actually think I may end up doing more sanding eventually, but for now, I made my copy of Funky Junk. 

Here it is up with the weird pictures again!  A few close-ups:

Clipper is for our first Airstream that we got.  I didn't want to put the obvious Airstream up there.  We even talked about using "Flying Cloud" as that's what my Grandfather thought it was.

Established in 1995 is the year we got married!  Gotta love Mr. Right!

And "DS" is both of our initials!  Nice to share that in common.  I can always initial things for my hubby!

Please let me know what you think of my copy and don't forget to go look at all the other copycats out there!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

"Lady in Waiting" Book Review

+Lady in Waiting: A Novel"Lady in Waiting" by Susan Meissner was a fantastic, edge-of-your seat, read.  I read the cover when I received this and could barely put it down to get my housework done.  This novel is about two different Janes, one of today, Jane Lindsey that is struggling with her marriage of 22 years and the other of the sixteenth-century, Lady Jane Grey whose story is told by her dressmaker, Lucy Day. 

I found myself torn between both Janes and almost distraught to leave one to read on of the other!  Susan Meissner crafted this book so fabulously that you couldn't wait to come back to each woman's life.  I felt like I was struggling in a long-time marriage of today's Jane Lindsey and finding myself with few choices of the Lady Jane Grey of the past.  Both woman were believable and relateable to anyone. 

When I first began this book, I was disappointed (almost as much as Jane was with her husband) that this Christian book was taking a turn of divorce.  I really wanted to be able to pass this book on to my 12-year-old daughter to read, but felt that divorce was not an appropriate content for her to read about.  I sat on the edge of my seat and almost cried with Jane as her marriage seemed to be falling apart. 

On the other hand, Lady Jane at a young age, found herself as a pawn in her parents and other important figures of the sixteenth-century political and religious battles.  Lady Jane knew that she had no choice in her marriage arrangement, but prayed for a betrothal to the one man she loves.  This man gave her a ring.  This same ring is later purchased at a jumble sale in London by Jane Lindsey's contact for her antique store.  Jane Lindsey pursues the story behind this ring and learns not only of Lady Jane, but of her own life and choices that she has.

 In the end, I found this story to be quite endearing and appropriate for a young girl to read.  It taught about the unseen choices that all women have in their lives, whether today or in the sixteenth-century.  The details in the book are so vivid, that you feel like you are right next to both of the Janes.  Susan Meissner has definitely developed a fan in me and I will definitely seek out her other books.

Thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing company for providing this book free for my review!

You can read the first four chapters of the book here.  I would love it if you would rank my review right here, too!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

75 Cent Valentine's Wreath

Here is a wreath that I found at a Thrift store for only $.75!  I thought with Valentine's Day around the bend, I might be able to figure out something for it.  One might wonder what in the world someone was thinking when they put fall decorations on a heart shaped wreath, but hey, each to his or her own!  

I have loved the idea of using all those plastic bags from Wal-mart that you get for something besides my bathroom trash bags.  I found this tutorial over at Us and Them.  Now, in the tutorial, they used a clothes hanger to make the heart shape.  I think mine must take up more space because of having to go around the wreath form, so I used way more bags than they did.  Also, I found that all the ends of the bags really congregated on one side instead of all the way around.  I think if it went all the way around it would lose the look of a heart. 
It's perfect for the front door here in Wisconsin, because it's so wet and snowy all the time out there.    I couldn't resist adding a few rosettes, either. (and Mr. Right said I couldn't leave it all white because it didn't look right.)

I used some leftover heart material from another project and some green bias tape for the leaves.  I love this so much I've been telling all my friends to just drive by my house to see it!  It only cost me $.75!

Aren't the rosettes cute?
Don't forget to check out all the blogs that I love to link up to on the right hand side of my blog!  There are a ton of great ideas!