AMANDA'S BASKETS: Guess What I Found?

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Guess What I Found?

Today was another great day. Still needed a light jacket but it was so nice that I took out the table and chairs for the deck...

I also thought the indoor plants could use a little sunlight...

And while I was at it, I hung my two windchimes...

And yes, this big one with the great sound clears the top of the rail by about half an inch. I love to listen to them.

So, this time when I walked around the yard, I found several more dandelions...

Yes, I do know that they are weeds, but they are so pretty...

But, then I found some real flowers...

Finally, my flowers are beginning to bloom. And there are lots more coming...Lily of the Valley, for one.

The rest of the day I worked on swaps. The first one is a fabric scrap swap. Isn't that a great idea? I decided to send the scraps in a box rather than an envelope. Here's a picture of about half the scraps that I have for this swap...

That's about two inches deep in this shot.

And finally, the last mail art postcard. (I didn't have time to try the picture again today but I will try it tomorrow. After looking through my scraps, I found lots more fabrics to try.) This is what I came up with...

It's a little different than my normal doodles. The little poem at the bottom left corner reads: "Dream your dreams! Live your life! And watch your hope! Rise to the light!". So what I tried to do was create the illusion that the letters were raised. It has a nice shiny finish...several coats. I took this after applying the last coat which is why the poem is a bit hazy.

Well, tomorrow I will post some journal pages and share some of my thoughts about my plans/goals for this year. Hope you're checking yours over to make any adjustments you might want to try.

Thanks for spending some time here...
See you tomorrow...

Enjoy yourself...

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?