Saturday, March 19, 2011

March Lions, salad recipes, more quotes and rubber stamping tips

good morning!
"If we had no winter; the spring would not be so pleasant;
If we did not sometimes taste of adversity,
Prosperity would not be so welcome."
- Anne Bradstreet

We had the nicest dinner last night. I went to the grocery store (a rare occurrence, as my husband has done most of the grocery shopping for around 2 years). I purchased a fresh round loaf of focaccia bread, sliced havarti cheese and a salad from the deli. Very simple, but very satisfying.
While I don't have the recipe for the salad, here is what it consisted of:
  * fresh asparagus tips, cut about 1" - 1 1/2"
  * mandarin orange slices
  * pistachio nuts
  * green onions (mostly the green part, not the white bulb part)
  * a mild vinaigrette
It was just very tasty. I know the ingredients sound a little hmmmm, but I would recommend that you play around and try this one out!

A little more lion - March comes in like a lion, and out like a lamb

"It's spring fever.
That is what the name of it is.
And when you've got it, you want
- oh,you don't know what it is you do want,
but it just fairly makes your heart ache,
you want it so!"
- Mark Twain

While this big kitty is not an african lion, he is a mountain lion.
This is one of the hundreds of recycled bottlecap magnets that I have made.
Check out my etsy store, where I have many listed:

You can see even more at my website:

Now, I must apologize about my website. A mix of my not being able to sit at the computer for months, new computer program that was not compatible with my website tools, waiting for a new computer, getting a new computer (wha-hoo!) but not having the right software or drivers or some such thing....
So it has been too long since I have been able to update it.
However....the pictures are still great!

This is a picture that I took of one of the lions at the Denver Zoo.
I think perhaps our March Lion is mellowing now, and looking more like this one!
Oh goodie, we can start with the March lambs now!
  
Spring can never come too early for me.
One year, when I was teaching, we had a snow day in May.
I had to shovel snow to get my car out!

"Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!"
- Thomas Blackburn, An Easter Hymn

Today I'm not going to do much in the way of projects or anything. I would like to pass along some rubberstamping tips that I have gathered through the years.

Budget Rubberstamping tip:
When I started stamping I had no idea what a heat gun was, but there were 'budget' ways of heating up embossing powders, so this is what I did:

Turn on your electric stove top, one burner.

Stamp image with pigment inks, sprinkle on embossing powder, tap excess off.

Hold image embossing powder side up over hot burner, and rotate and move around. You will see the embossing powder actually melt before your eyes!

You can use a clothespin or another clip of choice to hold the paper so your fingers don't get too hot. Just be sure the clip is not leaving marks on your cardstock.

The key to this is to keep that cardstock moving, so it doesn't get scorched!
stamp and sample card from Peddler's Pack. See site on side bar.

Crafting tip:
Glitter. We all love it. It loves us...on our shoes, on our face, in our hair!
* Remember that a little goes a long way*
But then, a little glitter on the dog is festive, right?

Our dear Carl, gone over the rainbow bridge, and happily herding bunnies.

Rubberstamping tip:
A simple way to make a simple card that really pops!

Stamp an image on a scrap of cardstock. Color as desired. Cut out.

Use a small piece of double stick framing or foam back tape. You can now find these easily anywhere stamps are sold. They can also be found sometimes in the framing section of a store. The tape comes in rolls, or individual squares or dots.
Wonderful stuff!

Set up your card as desired - cardstock, quote or saying, layered colors.

Peel off the backing of the tape, so one side is stuck to the cut out image, and now you will stick the other side to your card. Be sure it's where you want it, as the tape does not come off easily.

extra tip - do it in this order! It can be a little difficult to stamp a greeting next to a raised image, so stamp the greeting first!

This is the logo for St. Boniface Center.
Makes a great coloring sheet however.

Well, that's it for today. I'm feeding the kitties next door, so I'm sure they are wanting their breakfast.

" Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world."
- Virgil A. Kraft

vintage song sheet graphics, see side bar for website

inkspired

The lambs are coming!

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