Billie C.
http://thelifeofbilliec.blogspot.com/
I know I got a lot of exercise the last few years,......
just getting over the hill.
I love my life. I keep busy with taking care of my Hubby and our pets. I am sure that Life is more than a clean kitchen and empty sink. If you were to visit me, you may find some craft or another 1/2 done on the table. We no longer travel since Hubby has retired, but we still enjoy seeing new places and faces.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
adding some color to my t-shirts
Thursday, March 29, 2012
first 5 Recipes in my email
One 1 pound bag baby carrots
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
Place all the ingredients in a medium, heavy saucepan.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are tender and the sauce becomes a shiny glaze, about 15 minutes.
Using an oven mitt or pot holder, remove from the heat and serve.
First, I do make thing ahead all of the time. I make them and then place them into a crock pot. I do these a lot of times with the holidays especially. I make potatoes the day before, and then heat them back up in the micro and place in a warm crock pot. I have about a dozen crock pots in all sizes just for this little trick.
Hugz, Debbie Hoggan
2 portabella mushrooms, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
cooked angel hair pasta (enough for two)
vegan soy parmesan cheese
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
garlic powder
onion powder
dried basil
Directions:
Saute mushrooms in olive oil on medium heat until soft. Add tomatoes, garlic & onion powders, dried basil and splash of balsamic vinegar. Saute for another 5 minutes, then add tomatoes. Saute for another 10 minutes or until flavors mingle. Serve on angel hair pasta and sprinkle with soy parm.
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
1 c. Bisquick
1 can refried beans
1/4 c. water
1 lb. ground beef
1 med. onion
1 jar thick taco sauce
2 c. grated Cheddar
Lettuce, shredded
Tomatoes, diced
Sour cream
Mix Bisquick, refried beans and water. Pat into bottom of large baking dish. Brown ground beef and add chopped onion. Drain. Spread on top of crust tin baking dish. Then layer taco sauce and 1 cup cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until done (when you can lift the side up and it doesn't not stick or fall apart.) Let cool a little and then top with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, grated cheese and sour cream.
Billie C.
http://thelifeofbilliec.blogspot.com/
I know I got a lot of exercise the last few years,......
just getting over the hill.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
March 27
When we go out anywhere, the kennels are full
At least they all get along together well. Sometimes the larger dog is with the black dog and the yellow dog is in with the cats to change things up a bit.
*******************
I made Corbin a Birthday Card
Jerry is wearing one of his new T-shirts. I would never have matched it with the green, but it looks great on him, don't you think?
I made a mess....
and turned it into this....
I find plain white boring.. So, so boring.. so I got some color on my clothes
Yep, even some under-wears .. hard to find undie that I like, that are comfortable, and have some color to it. I made a matching set !!
So, now I'm cleaning the camper in spurts and bursts of energy. I just fnished the bathroom, next is the closet area and then the beds.
Tomorrow will be laundry.
Billie C.
http://thelifeofbilliec.blogspot.com/
I know I got a lot of exercise the last few years,......
just getting over the hill.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
links in my craft letter for today
http://www.craftideas.info/html/felt_easter_bunny_b.html
http://crafts.kaboose.com/jeweled-easter-eggs.html
http://makeitfuncrafts.com/projects/spring/easter/easter-egg-surprise/
http://familycrafts.about.com/od/easterbunnies/a/Clay_Pot_Bunny_Craft.htm
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/nature/terra-cotta/clay-pot-bunny.shtml
http://www.tallmouse.com/projects/spring/lgbunny/index.htm
http://www.renuzit.com/crafts/lambkin/
http://www.crafts-for-all-seasons.com/lamb-craft.html
http://factorydirectcraft.com/factorydirectcraft_blog/juggling-loopy-chenille-easter-bunny/
http://www.marthastewart.com/270982/jeweled-eggs
http://www.craftideas.info/html/wood_bunny_b.html
Good Morning !!
What a wonderful day to wake up to. Every day is a wonderful day to wake up, don't you think?
Anyway. I got Jerry set off to work with a good breakfast and took the dogs out. Read a few emails but got sleep quickly so went back to bed. I asked Jerry to set the alarm to go off at 7:30 and he did. so I was up by the time it went off. Got my breakfast of oatmeal with dried fruit in me, took my meds, took the dogs out, then weed eated around the camper.
Momma D mowed yesterday, and I asked her to leave around my camper cause I can do it with the weed eater. It took more than I expected but I got it done by 8:45. I've gotten my shower and folded up one tub of clothes with two more still to go. I got done just in time since it's trying to rain now. I love the smell of fresh mowed grass. I had to wipe all the grass crud off the weedeater before I could put it inside. When Jerry gets home, I can put it in the van until I need it again. My clothes I had on now need washed, they are covered in "green". I'm surprised the cats are not back there, stripping all the grass clippings out of them.
Mike was taken to the hospital in an ambluance yesterday. I didn't see it, but Laruen told me about it. She was surprised I didn't see the ambluance. I think I was napping at the time. I really don't look out and see what all is going on outside. Too many years living in a "city" I guess. Jerry said he saw him when he came home so he didn't stay over. Jerry said he was walking very slow. Mike has a limp to begin with, Falling out the door a couple of weeks ago I'm sure didn't help. Someone tossed a hide a bed out that he and Robert had to pick up and put in the back of his truck, the un-load it at the trash station. I'm sure all of that plus what ever it was he went to pick up didn't do his back any good at all. I did offer to help Momma D with the trash, when she was picking it up yesterday, She said she didn't need any help with it.
Outside my door ... As I said, it looks like rain. We need the rain. Did I mention that I put out some flowers? I have them in cut off kitty litter jugs and they need some water. I would much rather nature provide that. Momma D liked how I have them outside the front of the camper (it gets the sun all day long) And wanted to know what the containers were. I told her, I Think Mike may have picked a few of them up from where they blew out from under the camper cause I can't find them now. That's ok cause I buy at least one a week. Reminds me. I bought some flower seeds and need to sprinkle a few seeds in the jugs, as well. I know I'm going to look for some moss rose while we are out this next weekend. I love the stuff
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
quick update
I spent a little time with my Cricut this afternoon. I didn't save anything because I was checking out how to do a few things.
Links to the crafts posted in Teri's Crafts newsletter
http://beyondtheyum.wordpress.com/2011/04/19/decorating-easter-eggs-metallic-eggs/
http://www.marthastewart.com/270969/metallic-polka-dotted-eggs
http://www.hgtv.com/entertaining/easter-baskets-go-metallic/index.html
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/how-to-make-blown-egg-ornaments/
http://www.bhg.com/christmas/ornaments/marbleized-christmas-ornaments/
http://www.celebratingeaster.com/crafts/egg-decorating/marbleizing.aspx
http://www.ehow.com/how_2163882_make-marbleized-easter-eggs.html
http://www.hgtv.com/entertaining/easter-baskets-go-metallic/index.html
http://www.marthastewart.com/270073/confetti-eggs
Monday, March 19, 2012
Teri's Crafts Newsletter for March 19, 2012
Give a used glass bottle a second life as a pretty Easter vase. Cover the bottle with thick strips of colored tape (available at crafts
Button, button, who's got the button? Your little girl will be a style star this Easter when you make these hairclips with pretty buttons. Open the clips before attaching fabric or stacked buttons with hot glue; allow to dry overnight.
Transform a metal container into an Easter basket or a spot to store your Easter candies. Look for brightly colored metal tins and add magnets (you also can create your own magnets by attaching magnetic strips to printed letters or designs). Top with pretty paper flowers and file-drawer labels.
Rascally Rabbit Gift Box
delight your child and
help spread Easter cheer.
- Oval box with lid (7-1/2 x 10 x 5 inches)
- 12 x 18-inch sheet of pink stiff felt
- Stapler
- Crafts glue
- Double-sided tape (optional)
- 5 sheets of blue paper
- White, black, purple, and yellow paper scraps
- Thin white wire
- 1-1/2-inch pink pom-pom
- 2-1/2-inch white pom-pom
- White crafts fur scraps
- Hole punch
- Orange curly ribbon
1. Cut two 4 x 18-inch ears from felt. Staple ears inside the box along top edge.
2. Cover box and lid with blue paper.
3. Have an adult cut a 1/8 x 4-1/2-inch slit on each side of the lid and slip over ears.
4. Cut out face pieces and glue to front of box. Add wire whiskers, a pink pom-pom nose, and white pom-pom tail. Glue a small piece of fur to top of lid.
5. Punch two holes at the top of each ear. Thread one curly ribbon through each ear. Knot ends together to create a handle.
Charming Chicks Sock Puppets
1. Cut the cuffs off the socks, cut wings from the cuffs, and sew two wings onto the sides of each puppet. The birds have black-bead eyes, orange felt beaks, and feather-boa tufts of hair.
2. For legs, poke orange pipe cleaners through the socks and bend to hold in place.
Spring Floral Wall Bucket
Approximate Time: about 1.5 hours
Supplies:
- metal wall bucket
- latex primer
- foam brush or paint brush
- acrylic or spray paint
- wire cutters
- assorted silk flower bunches
- floral Styrofoam
- sandpaper
- paper towel
Instructions:
- Remove handle from wall bucket and use sandpaper to lightly sand the entire piece.
- After sanding, wipe it down with a paper towel to remove any dust.
Paint entire piece and handle with latex primer and allow to dry. - When dry, paint with acrylic paint or spray paint and set aside to dry. (I used a hair dryer to speed up the drying time for the primer and the paint.)
- Put handle back on bucket and insert a piece of floral foam inside the bucket, trimming it to fit. The bucket I purchased already had some foam inside that was still in good usable shape, so I didn't have to add foam.
- The three large flowers I used had extremely long stems, so I used wire cutters to cut the stems off to a manageable length.
- Insert the largest flowers into the foam, as shown.
- Next, insert the middle sized flowers to fill in around the large flowers.
- Then, add the smaller flowers to fill in the bare spots. Lastly, add small flowers and pieces of ivy. Now, your wall bucket is ready to hang.
By Rachel's Mom from Wilkesboro, NC
Welcome Easter with pretty pails dressed up to fit spring plants or to serve as your Easter baskets. To determine how much fabric you'll need, wrap fabric around the container, allowing extra fabric on all edges; trim. Also cut openings for the handle. Fold under all edges to get a smooth look. Spread decoupage medium across the pail, place trimmed fabric atop the decoupage medium, and smooth. Apply a second coat of decoupage medium atop the fabric while working your way around the container.
After the egg dipping and dying, the kids can go crazy with stickers. Small round colored stickers (available at office supply stores) make easy and mess-free embellishments. Display the finished Easter eggs in a basket for Easter decor.
This cute door hanger is a fun Easter craft kids can make with a little supervision. Paint a paper-mache letter (available at crafts stores) using acrylic paint. Match the paint to the color of the jelly beans. Let the paint dry. Hot-glue the jelly beans to the front of the letter. Let dry. Hot-glue a ribbon to the back for a hanging loop.
A tumble of pastel eggs is an Easter craft for kids that makes a cheery welcome at the front door. Wrap plastic foam egg shapes (available at crafts supply stores) with strips of crepe paper, attaching ends with glue or a small straight pin. Embellish with ribbon secured using small straight pins, leaving a long end for tying. Gather eggs at varying heights and tie ribbons together. Hang from a removable adhesive hook or wreath hanger, and add a ribbon bow to complete the Easter decoration.
Remember those shoebox dioramas you made in grade school? We've given them a crafty Easter twist with purchased white shadow boxes decorated for spring. Cover the inside backs of the boxes with bright paper, then tuck in mementos from Easters past. Or, choose a less temporary springtime theme using an artificial bird's nests, eggs, and feathers.
Personalize and decorate plastic Easter eggs to use as quick and cute placeholders for your special guests.
Inspired by delicate sugar eggs that house intricate candy scenes, these boxed Easter displays are easy to make with materials from crafts stores. Cover the insides of small cardboard boxes with colored paper. Line the bottoms of the boxes with moss. Create miniature scenes with tiny baskets and toy chicks or with springtime images cut from vintage-look Easter postcards.
Give your display a three-dimensional effect by attaching cutout images to a small branch (center) or by scattering additional elements, such as a broken egg and individual paper blossoms, around the image (bottom).
Hello ... Whew, what a weekend
Whew, what a weekend. I am not Mrs Plumber. A one way air valve broke, some time ago. Jerry picked a replacement up over the weekend. We had to go to Clarksville when we had planned on going to Erin and enjoying their Festival. Well, after driving Clarksville, Jerry thought we should put the van in and get the oil changed, a tire looked and the chassie lubed. So we parked the van at Flintstone, He goes in, sets it up, comes out and tells me it's going to take at least 45 minutes before they can take it in, and should only take 30 minutes. Ok... Next door is Golden Corral. (one of our favorite places to eat) So we walk over, eat a nice breakfast and walk back. The van hasn't been moved... We were gone almost an hour.. I had Jerry grab the Phase 10 cards out of the van and I go inside. He stays outside long enough to smoke one o his cigars. about 1 1/2 hours after he was told it would be 45 minutes, the van is in the bay, and up in the air. Oil done, all lubed up and tire fixed (we had a nail in it) Jerry was very frustrated that it took twice as long as he was first told. But all that work was needed and he didn't have to do it. We then headed to an R.V sales and parts place we knew of, looking for a part for the plumbing. They don't have it and "Good Luck" finding it.* note here... most plumbing in campers are not the same size as what is in a house, except Air Streams. I suggested that we go to Home Depot, With a stop by Walmart first, cause I had a list of things I have thought about picking up for over a week. (need to make a fresh list now) Found almost 1/2 of what was on my list.
Then, Jerry dropped me off at Hobby Lobby while he goes to Home Depot. I bought some papers, inks, a new stamp and two wooded boxes. I could have shopped more but didn't want to spend all day long there. Funny.... I got out of the van but forgot my wallet.. I had to run from one door to the other and call Jerry, He had my wallet ready when I got to the window. I havn't run in years.
He found a replacement part at Home Depot. But he forgot that I was also looking for plants. I didn't like any of the ones I saw at Wal-mart. By then it was just after Noon. We headed back to the camper. Walked the dogs, put the part on (It works) and we didn't even take anything out of the van. We headed to Erin. We got there after the parade (Yeah!!) A lot of people but not as much noise. Lots of bikers walking around. Saw a couple of nice bikes. Heard some local Music while we were walking around. I found a tent with T-shirts and went looking though our size. I can't tell you how hard it can be to find 2x and 3x printed shirts we like. I found 4 and the man said $80.. they are $20 each.. Okay... Hey Jerry did you see this one? It's the Grim Reeper pipping a tune on a bone. He liked it so that made 5 shirts, Jerry paid for them and I think we totally surprised the man by not putting back any of the ones I had picked out. I had picked out two for me that have horses on them. We need some t-shirts we can wear when we are out. At another booth, I found some wooden plates we can use and I found good silver plated drinking mug that Jerry can use next time we go to a CoHT meeting at a third booth.. I don't think we are going to make it this year. After that I was fairly wore out so we made it back to the van and we left. Back to the camper. Walk the dogs again. I take my Insluin and we decided we are eating out again. I did suggest we go to Dickson since it's the same amount of time to drive there as it takes to go to Clarksville. We ended up back in Clarksville and after driving around a while, ended up at Steak N Shake, and after eating, Jerry took me to Lowe's where I picked up some flowers to put in my planters this morning (got to hurry and finish this so I can go do that ) Sunday, We were at the Walmart in Waverly. Mostly to try to find a couple of fans for here in the camper, and to finish up my list, All done, back to the camper. Jerry put up a shelf I had suggested, is thinking of a shelf over his bed and a tv for over his bed.. but man oh man is my home a wreck. I spent two hours this morning just cleaning up the bathroom. The cats found a roll of paper towels and shredded it, I am cleaning up from the water over-flow and have to bleach out a few things. I did head back to bed for 3 hours and am now ready to get up and get more done. I'll be back in a bit to write more, I'm sure.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
I have my cord back
I have finally gotten the cord back for my new Cricut cutter. I had only made a few cuts with it, trying it out befor I made the mistake of taking the cord with me to my caughters' home when I meant to take a power cord for a printer I gave her. She has finally gotten my cord back to me. But my camper (home) is such a mess that I need to cleam up long before I can play with it. My first project is going to be a birthday card for my Grand son. I found some great papers at Hobby Lobby over the weekend that I want to make his card with and will be working on that tomorrow
Notice the button up top? it for a free give a way for a cart for the Cricut. I'm also putting a link to her blog in my list of blogs to check out.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Teri's Crafts Newsletter for March 15, 2012
Circular Knitting Needle Labels - DIY
First I had to figure out what size the needles were. I did it by comparing them with my marked straight needles, although they do make a needle gauge for this. Then I wanted to mark them so I would easily know what size each needle was. Here's what I came up with:
Number beads, attached to a safety pin, then clipped to the circular part of the needle.
To Make:
Place the appropriate numbered bead onto the head pin, clip to size, loop, and attach to the circular opening at the bottom of the safety pin.
Here's a good picture tutorial on how to use a head pin.
That's really all there is to it. And now my needles are nice and labeled
Spring Wreath Round-up
And here are a few beautiful spring wreaths that I've seen, mostly via pinterest:
cute and simple, via
Spring Grass Wreath, tutorial
a non-wreath wreath, via
via
coffee filter wreath, tutorial
Nailpolish Jewelry Make-Over
. . . back for 30 Days for 30 Dollars, tutorial here.
Yesterday, I found this little necklace at the thrift store for $1 -
Cute image, but I thought it would be better with a little color. Nail polish to the rescue!
My new and improved necklace -
I just painted it with nail polish. Then dabbed on some antiquing glaze - the same stuff I used for this project - to take some of the shine off.
Here's a hint - nail art polish works well for very small bits of color because it comes with these very thin brushes (sorry, not the best photo). I got mine at the dollar store.
Here's another necklace that I made a long time ago, back before I started this blog:
gold brooches, painted with nail polish, then attached together with jump rings
Quick Quiet Flip Books
St. Patrick's Day Pins
Bead Board St. Patricks Day Decor
For the shamrock I used my silhouette. I just searched the online store and found a set of 3 shamrocks I liked. I cut it out on paper and then traced it to the bead board. Then I used a jig saw to cut them out. For the letters I used the font Elephants in Cherry Trees. I don't really recommend cutting such small letters with bead board.