Monday Musings

 Another weekend is behind us and a new week has arrived.  Being retired now, it gets harder and harder to keep track of what day it is!  It is even more challenging during this pandemic, since we are not traveling or attending shows and concerts.

Today I reduced the stamp sets that I put on sale Saturday on my "Menagerie of Crafts" Facebook Group.  At least 60% off retail prices so check them out!   Every couple of days I will reduce prices until they are sold. 

 I also still have two seats available for a few more days for my August and September Virtual classes.  These classes were originally $ 10 each, shipping included, but am trying to fill the class, so I am offering both classes for $15.00.  August class is Saturday August 22nd at 10 AM and Septembers will be scheduled shortly.  If you can't make the virtual classes which are held on ZOOM, you can scheduled a time with me later to go over the cards.  All supplies are included to make three cards.  You need basic tools, adhesive, your own salutation stamp sets and black ink.  Payment will be need to be made via Paypal, since I need to ship the kits by the end of the week.  Here are the cards we will be making.  Please email me at abolse@yahoo.com if interested.

Have a Happy Scrappy Day!

Where Have I Been?

I always have BIG plans to keep up with my blog and I do for awhile, but then life gets in the way.  Poor excuse for a retired lady who LOVES crafts and is trying to stay as positive and upbeat as I can during a pandemic.  WHEW!  That was a LONG sentence!

Just recently I purged over 50+ gently used or new stamp sets from my stash.  A few have been selling now and then on EBAY, but recently I thought I would offer them to people who read my blog or follow my Facebook Group, Menagerie of Crafts.  So that ONE thought led me in to coming up with other ways to show people how much I love my crafts.  Over the last month or so I had my first practice "virtual stamp club" with those people who use to come to my home one Saturday a month to make cards.  We had a BLAST and just had our second one a few weeks ago.  

Details for my upcoming Virtual classes will be posted on my Facebook Group if anyone is interested in joining us, seats are limited but I am creating new ones every day as new interest is generated!  I will be also featuring a FREE series calls "Cards 4 Cents" where I will supply you with a list of "ingredients" you will need to create a simple, yet impressive greeting card for the occasion of YOUR choice for around $1.00.  Sure beats the price of Hallmark cards, are much more personalized and come from YOUR heart!💓  Stay tuned for these details......prizes are even involved!

So in sharing a card with you that I made this week, remember to join my Facebook Group, Menagerie of Crafts as I post sales of stamp sets, virtual card classes as well as the series "Cards 4 Cents".

Happy Day!

Donna

PS:  This card uses mostly scraps, but I had to try out the new Stitched Leaves Dies from the new August-December 2020 Stampin' Up! Mini Catalog!  Brand new to order from this week!  Check it out and please select me as your Demonstrator if you do not already have one!  Thanks!

Staying Busy During the Pandemic

With emotions running high I decided to only post positive things to my blog and Facebook page.  It is nice to see so many people trying to be positive in these times with sharing things to do as well as watch on TV.   It is hard not to make negative comments on some posts I see, but it is also my control to "unfriend" these people or scroll past their posts.  I am looking forward to watching a Grand Old Opry Show tonight as well as Hamilton that I just shared earlier this morning.  I also want to watch the virtual tours of the National Parks to decide which ones I must see when we get to plan and experience our cross country trip.

Today I am sharing a simple, easy recipe I tried last night, and for us it is a WINNER! Besides the chicken, it uses mostly staple items that would be in your pantry.  Hope you enjoy it!  Comment if you make it and let me know your thoughts.

Magic Chicken Pie 6 tablespoons butter, cubed                                        3 cups cooked chicken, shredded 2 cups Bisquick baking mix                                           2 cups frozen mixed vegetables 1-1/2 cups milk                                                               ½ white onion, chopped 1-1/2 cups chicken stock                                               1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in the bottom of a 13” x 9” baking dish.  Place dish in oven until butter is melted, then remove.  Meanwhile, whisk together the milk and baking mix in a large bowl.  Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the chicken stock and soup.  Set aside. Arrange the casserole in the following layers, but do not stir. First, arrange chicken evenly over melted butter.  Arrange vegetables evening over the chicken, followed by the onion.  Sprinkle cheese evenly over the onion, then pour the Bisquick batter evenly over the top.  Pour the soup/stock mixture over the Bisquick. Bake until top is beginning to brown, 45-50 minutes.  Let rest 10 minutes before serving. Yield:  6-8 servings

Thoughts for the Day

I know what you are thinking......ugh, another post about our current situation.  I don't ever comment or share political posts, but I am writing this post to help ME.  Hoping that if I share some of my thoughts and things we are doing, it might help others as well.

This morning I was up at 5:15 AM to take advantage of the Giant Grocery Store being open for us 60+ people from 6-7 am.  As I drive in to the parking lot, it didn't look too bad, but by the time I got to the registers to check out, it was like shopping on a very busy day.  Shelves were empty in places, no toilet paper, but I was able to find everything I needed or made substitutions for everything except a cucumber!  How odd!  Redner's Market was across the street so I made a quick stop there and got my cucumber.

In a grocery store it is hard to stay 6 ft apart with the small aisles and so many shoppers.  When I went in I took my own disinfectant wipes to wipe the cart, but they had them inside as well.  When I got back in the car, I used my hand sanitizer.  Same was true at Redner's.  When I got home I felt "dirty".  I know I didn't shower before I left, but just knowing I went out with other people that I have no idea of their health situation made me feel that way.  Clothes and jacket went in the laundry and a long hot shower made me feel better.

Moral of the story...…...

I plan to use Walmart's pick up service for most of my groceries.  Yea, they pulled a zucchini for me instead of a cucumber the other day(what is my problem with cucumbers?) but I felt safer when picking up my groceries.  As a note, their service is FREE and when I tried to hand the person who loaded my car a tip, she said they were not allowed to accept them.  

So what else are we doing?

Our clubhouse in our 55+ community is closed, so no gym, no library, no puzzles or DVD's.  We try to walk and get some air each day.  We chat from a distance with other neighbors who are doing the same.  We live in a great community that looks out for each other.  We can laugh, smile and trade stories to know we are ALL in the same situation, just 6 feet apart!

Trying to keep to our "schedule" as much as we can.  YES, retired folks have a schedule too!  I feel so sympathetic for those that need to work from home and handle child care as well, in addition to our healthcare workers and grocery store folks.  I try NOT to sit in front of the TV too much, especially with all the updates on the Coronavirus.  We watch one local news half hour and the National News and that is basically it.  Well we TRY to adhere to this, but it is hard!  

Since we want to stay home as much as possible (grocery shopping and a trip to CVS for prescriptions are the only times we are out) we have decided to try and do what we can to help others.  Since I don't feel comfortable taking groceries over to our local pantry, we are making a donation on line to the Boyertown Multi Service Center.  It makes us feel better, knowing that there are others in need as we have a stocked pantry and food in the refrigerator.

Going to try and cheer someone up each day, whether it be a text, email, card or something else I think of.....and this is why...……...

Amazon dropped off a package yesterday.  Andy went to get it as I am saying "I didn't order anything!"  He comes back in, stating that it is ours, and my name is on it. YIKES!  What did I forget that I purchased?   As I opened it I had no idea what it was or who it was from.  In the box was a 2000 piece puzzle!  The note inside read "Thank you for all you do to foster the craftiness in me.  Stay Healthy".  Thanks 100 times over and over again for the person (who know who you are🌝) who did this for me.  It made my day, made me smile and I even shed a few tears at such thoughtfulness!  

If you are still with me after this long post, try to do something for others.  I promise they will feel good as much as you will feel good for doing it.  I see so many positive things happening during this trying time.  Families are in contact checking up with each other more frequently, people for the most part are polite in the grocery stores I have been in, and communities are coming together to help those in need, just to name a few.  

In closing....

Stay safe, stay home and stay happy!

Small But MIghty

Saturday I held my February stamp class and even though it was a "small" group of ladies, they did a "mighty" fine job creating four all occasion cards.  As they created the cards and selected their own salutations to use it was really nice to hear how they changed them up a little to make them work for the people they planned to send them to.  I read several blogs daily and so many people like their cards so much that they rarely send them.  They are concerned that people don't appreciate them!  I know they take time to make, but most cards can be made for under $1.00 so send them to all your friends and family and don't worry about it...…..sure a lot cheaper than cards you buy in the store, and nicer than the ones from the Dollar Tree🌝

For this class, I selected four card sketches I found on Pinterest.  I probably have at least 200 sketches saved now and even making as many cards as I do for personal use and to sell, I will never use them all.  Here are the four cards we made:

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Ninety Cards & Counting

2020 started off well with my card making completing a total of 90 cards!  I probably have at least 35 more that are prepped to be completed at a scrapbook day crop I am going to on February 22nd.
My plastic shoes containers, where I store my completed cards were a little empty.  I am trying to make sure I have a nice assortment of all occasion cards not only to have ready for the store where we consign them, but for my personal use as well.

Here is one that I completed last Friday.  I found some doilies in my stash and it fit perfectly with the sketch I found on Pinterest and was trying to design.  It is amazing as I make these cards how little patterned paper is needed.  Making cards can not only be therapeutic to make, but also cost effective to make with the cost of postage rising.  Most simple and basic cards like this one can be made for as little as $.50!

So start pulling out your cardstock, scraps and embellishments and create a card to someone!  It is guaranteed to put a smile on your face 😄

Happy Crafting!

Peaceful Poppies

Since it didn't take all day yesterday to finish cutting the last of the die cuts my sister is using in her mini album for the Nashville Train Convention Workshop, I had just enough time to create a card for the sketch for the day.  In the end, I decided to use product from the Peaceful Poppies Bundle and coordinating Designer Series Paper so I could have it do double duty......it is now the Make N Take for the March 28, 2020 D & D Papercraft Event.

When a new Stampin' Up! Catalog is released I always looks for stamp sets and bundles that can create cards for more than one purpose.  I was telling my stamp club on Saturday that I read many years ago that when you buy a non-consumable item, like an expensive machine, the Cricut, or framelits.dies, etc that you should make sure you use the product ALOT.  Each time you use the non-consumable item, you figure it will cost you $1.00.  I use this thought process when I purchase stamps as well.  So if I purchase a stamp set for $23.00, like the Painted Poppies set I used for the flower and leaf in this card, I should use it at least 23 times.  That is fairly easy to do when you are using stamp sets that are primarily salutations, but it occasionally gets boring when you are not creating for stamp clubs or workshops.  

Even though I have way too many flower stamp sets, I couldn't resist this one!  The Designer Series Paper is what sold me on the set, as well as the ton on Pinterest ideas I found using the set.  Since I am using the Painted Poppies Stamp Set, along with the salutation set that coordinates with it, Peaceful Moments for both the workshop and make n take for the March D & D Papercraft Event, I easily kept to the idea of using it more than enough times to justify its cost.  

Not sure what kind of crafting trouble I will get myself in to today!

Happy Crafting!

Donna