AMANDA'S BASKETS: A COUPLE NEW CREATIONS...

Monday, May 11, 2020

A COUPLE NEW CREATIONS...

I hope all mothers had a great Mother's Day Celebration. I enjoyed a fish fry dinner (at home) after which I watched the last two Star Wars Movies. It was a nice day.

Oh, we did get the forecasted snow three times from Friday through the weekend...and extremely freezing temperatures...in May!!!

I did make a new fabric basket this weekend. It's for my mini-newsletter (I always add a how-to section with instructions and pictures.) I really like this fabric basket.

It is very sturdy and the mini pockets on the outside are unique. By the way, this is a really easy basket to make.

Today, while I was attending a ZOOM meeting with a craft group, I pulled out my yarn and crocheted a flower. Not sure why, but it was fun...

I think I may create a small bouquet of yarn flowers. I made a lot of yarn flowers several years ago when the children were young and at home. I even had a flower loom (which if I look hard enough I may still have). This one I simply created without instructions.

The house looks like it is really lived in...read that messy and in need of some sprucing up. But I think I will wait a day or two. I was hoping to get the patio furniture set up today but it rained several times...once again I had to put it off. Next day that looks good is Wednesday. Hopefully then.

That's all for tonight...
It was a really late night last night so I want to get to bed a bit earlier...
Talk with you tomorrow...
Keep safe and stay well...

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?