DIY Envelopes

Hello everyone! I am taking a few precious moments off from getting my planning and decorating done for my daughter's upcoming wedding. It is hectic and tiring but as you know, it is a big moment. I have hardly have time to be on Pinterest except only to get ideas for the wedding. Yesterday I came across an easy way to re-use paper and make envelopes. I thought it was kind of neat that the person(I cannot for the life of me think of what website I went to) had wallpaper samples. I did too!!! So, I thought, why not? I finally got going to make out the envelope.

The instructions are simple:

*Get an envelope and open it out to form a template
*Trace it around and cut.
*Crease the edges like it is on the original envelope
*Fold and glue on the areas like the original.

I used a pinking shears to give the zigzag look on the flap. Pretty easy!!!

DIY candy jar

Well folks, I know that I have not been posting but things are very hectic for me and it is difficult to do all what I would like get done. My eldest daughter is getting married next month and her bridal shower is in 15 days!!! I feel like a headless chicken running around trying to do a thousand and one things but I just wanted to stop by and let you all know that I am still alive...haha! Anyway, here is one project that I have been doing for her bridal shower. I made a couple of candy jars from jars, vases and ribbon. I am thinking of using them for the wedding reception too.

I used a couple jars that I had gotten at a yard sale for $0.25 cents each! I also got those milk vases at the flea market for $1.00 each. The glue I used is the Loctite brand. You can use other adhesives that can hold the material of what you are using. The decorative ribbon, believe or not, I got a big roll of it for $0.99 cents at a closeout store. The end result is a pair of beautiful candy jars (or you can put whatever you want in them) for less than $4. You can get also these stuff (or something similar) at thrift stores or at the dollar store.

A must read!

So if you are a book lover, then I believe that this book is a must. My husband and daughter both loved hearing it. It is basically about a nine year old girl whose father left them and they had to struggle to survive. She never liked her mother being sad and always prayed that the sadness would go away.
This is Book 1 of a Trilogy and on sale at Amazon.

Here is the link to Amazon:

Teachers gifts

Wow, time sure has flown! Tomorrow is the last day of school and my daughter had a blast. Her homeroom teacher was very nice to her and so was her music teacher. She likes all her teachers but you know that there are some whose love just flows out to their students.
I wanted to make unusual tokens of appreciation and so for the homeroom teacher, I created a Teacher Trophy made with Styrofoam apples and a candle holder. I added a felt stitched ribbon and an apple embellishment. For the music teacher, who is a spider freak, I crocheted a spider and web using glitter white yarn for the web and dark brown yarn with cute pink googly eyes that have eyelashes on them.

The patterns for the spider and the web can be found here: crochet spiderweb, crochet spider

What a busy time!

Well, it has been a while since I have blogged but I promise that I have been extremely busy. Last week, my eldest son and daughter both graduated with their Bachelor's degrees! I am so proud of them!
I have been juicing but got so fed up with mainly veggies that for the entire week and this weekend, I was doing mainly fruit juicing rather than mainly veggie juicing. Needless to say, I did not lose weight. The fruit juices were great! I used strawberries, pineapples, mangoes, apples, kiwis, oranges, grapefruits. The only veggie that I used the most of was carrots! Speaking of which, I must let you know that the Hispanic grocery that I found the cheap fruits and veggies had huge carrots for $0.10 a piece!! I am not kidding. I said ten cents!!! So, I bought me a $1.00s worth...haha!
What made my shopping trip even more fun yesterday was that after buying ten huge carrots, I went to Ingles and got this 20 pound bag on sale for $4.99!!! Now, that means more juicing and sharing the carrots with family and friends! A win-win situation!

My ten cents a piece jumbo carrots

$4.99 for this bag. The original price for it was $24.99!!!

The Garden of the Heart now on Kindle- a great read

This book is an inspirational book about an abused housewife turned Christian author. She shares how God has dealt with her and tips of having a heart like Christ. Why not enjoy the read? It is on sale at Amazon for only $0.99 cents!!!

Day 7- Trying to drink this new mix--ugh!

It is day 7 for me and here I am with a new concoction of kale, spinach,1/2  bell pepper, 2 small celery sticks,1 long cucumber 2 carrots, small piece of lemon, 2 apples. I am really having a hard time drinking this down. Yesterday's concoction was not really 80% veggies so I tried to make up for it today. I have drank an 8 oz glass so far. I still have about 20 oz to go. Why does it always have to be a lot the day I do not like it!....I am going to keep holding on and drink it. My body really needs the detoxing, especially since I do not eat too much veggies like kale and spinach.

My carrot surprise drink!!

After that disaster of yesterday's mix Click here to see the post, I went on a different angle today. I used 4 carrots, 1 pear (D'Anjou), 1 orange, 1 apple (Golden Delicious). It came out perfect for me!!! I tried to use just the carrot juice alone but I could not handle drinking it alone, so that is how I ended up trying out the pear,apple and orange.

By the way, that awful ginger strong tasting juice I made yesterday was still in the fridge. I had drank about 20 oz of it and had a jar left over.I could not bring myself to throw it away, especially knowing how much food costs! So, a little while ago, I added a whole tray of the strawberries, an orange and a pear to the mix.Now it is drinkable!!!

I am learning all these through trial and error to create a recipe that I want to stick with.

Day 5 of juicing and lost 1.5 pounds!

It is day 5 of my juicing. Every day, I subsituted one meal and drank a mixture of veggie and fruit juice. I usually do it at lunch because I love my breakfast!!! There is no set ingredients that I have used except that I use what I have available. I have used baby kale, celery, broccoli, assorted apples, mangoes, carrots, oranges.
This morning, I went healthy food shopping. First I went to Kroger because they had their curly kales at $1.49 each. I bought me 2 bundles. After checking out, I thought my bill was pretty high (over $84). As I was leaving the store, I checked my receipt and lo and behold, the cashier had entered 23 bundles of kale and it cost me over $34 before tax just for the kale alone instead of $2.98!!! I had to go to customer service where they refunded me.
I went to Aldi's and a Hispanic grocery where I got veggies and fruits at super prices.I got a one pound bag of carrots for $0.50 a bag, avocadoes for $0.39 each, cucumbers for $0.49 each and kiwis for $0.20 each!!! I also bought more assorted apples, papaya, ginger root, spinach, radishes,celery, parsley, grapefruit,strawberries, mangoes, limes, pears and tomatoes! I tell you that I bought home a load of veggies that I have to squeeze them in my refrigerator. The fruits could stay out.
I just made me some juice with apples, carrots, kale, spinach, ginger, strawberries, cucumber, a lemon wedge, an orange and a kiwi. I am forcing to drink it because the ginger is so overpowering!!!!! I only used a small piece about the size of 2 Coca Cola plastic lids. Note to self, just use about a quarter of that amount!!! It is so making it hard for me finish this drink!

Would you believe I paid $1.99 a bag for these fruits!!!!

I got these pineapples for $0.99 cents each!!!

My veggie draw crammed

Trying to squeeze the tomatoes, celery and onions on a shelf

Cucmbers galore taking up another crisper

My drink I made today with the ginger---ugh! The red color is from the carrots and strawberries

This last pic is of my 2nd day juicing. I used mangoes, kale, carrots, apples, celery, broccoli. This one tasted better than the others.

Juicing to lose weight

Yesterday was my birthday and I decided that I was going to get me a juicer so I told hubby not to buy me any gifts.I would get the juicer as a gift. I went to Wally World and got one. I was so anxious to try it out.I went to 3 different supermarkets to get fruits and vegetables on sale. When I got home, I washed the parts out in warm water. Then, I washed the veggies and fruits, read the instructions and assembly and juiced!!! I was kind of worried but it came out pretty fine except that I think I should have used a half of a lemon instead.It was a bit on the sour side.

Here is what I used:

• 3 small apples (I cored them)
• baby kale leaves
• 4 celery sticks
• 1 lemon (whole)
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/4 head of broccoli

I had been watching "Fat,Sick and Nearly Dead" on Netflix and thought that maybe I should try this juicing for rebooting my system.I am so tired of my weight gains. I had been doing a mile on my treadmill, a little cardio salsa and a few crunches but it seems as if nothing is really working. According to Joe Cross (the guy who started it all), juicing can help detox your body. It is recommended using 80% veggies and 20% fruit.

This juicer is really powerful and who'd believe that you can get a whole lot of vegetables in a glass!!! It is like drinking V8 without having to worry about the processing.You get the natural vitamins and minerals!!!

                                               This is so embarrassing but I weigh 157.8 lbs!! Somehow the decimal did not show up when I took the pictures.

Roasted potatoes with buffalo chicken casserole

I was wanting a nice recipe to make a chicken casserole and the first place I thought of was on Pinterest.Who does not like Pinterest? Anyway,I saw this recipe and wanted to try it out and believe or not, everyone loved it!!!
Here is the original recipe page that I adapted mine from: Loaded potato and buffalo chicken casserole .The only thing that I did not do was add bacon (which I did not have in stock) and green onions. I did add some minced onions with the chicken.

Loaded potatoes with buffalo chicken casserole, cheesy broccoli and Hawaiian roll

2 lbs cubed chicken washed and seasoned with salt,black pepper,garlic and parsley

6-8 potatoes-peeled and cubed

Olive oil,salt,black pepper,buffalo wing sauce,paprika,garlic powder

(If you're wondering about that yellow thing in the pot-that was a piece of potato I threw in to tell me if it was hot enough to put the rest in :)

I sauteed my potatoes a few minutes and then removed them and put them in a greased baking dish

Meanwhile,I grated some cheese

I put the potatoes in the oven at 500 degrees(preheated)

I cooked the chicken in the remaining sauce and left to marinate

Every 15 minutes, I stir the potatoes in the oven

After about 35-40 minutes my potatoes were done cooking so I added the chicken and cheese in

My Easter hat

Well, I haven't blogged her for such a long time.I have been so busy being a taxi to kids, running errands, doing chores and you know how it is.Tomorrow is Easter and the ladies are all going to be wearing hats as we started this tradition a few years ago.I have used this hat for three years in a row but everytime,I just changed the ribbons and flowers.This year, I took my Sizzix and made a few flowers and leaves from felt and added some green grosgrain ribbons and tada- another new look!

Coupon Rehab book -now FREE on Amazon

This promotion is only for two days so you better hurry and get it downloaded.A book about a witty housewife who got sent to Coupon Rehab. My  husband got tons of laughs from this book.It is only 57 pages long but a great read.

Copycat Olive Garden Recipe-Chicken and Gnocchi soup

Every time I go to Olive Garden and I have to get a soup, I always get the Chicken and Gnocchi. Yummy!!!!! I found this recipe here and just had to try it. When I was looking at it, I can tell you that I was very sceptical about how it would turn out but I have finished making it this evening and everyone ate every single drop from their bowls!!! Now this is a  keeper :)
The only thing that I did not do was use spinach since we do not have much spinach lovers here. I also sauted my chicken which was cubed up and seasoned prior to putting it in the soup.

Granny Square bedspread-work in progress

So it is day 2 and I am so grateful that I was able to work late into the night and a few hours this morning.My back, neck and shoulders hurt but I am trudging along nicely. The square is about 28 inches now.Yay! The problem that I am going to face is that I may not have a lot of thread to finish each round in the assortment of colors that I have.I'd hate to have to put this project down.I mainly got the thread over the years at thrift stores and clearance.We'll see how it goes.

The never ending crochet granny square bedspread

It has been 10 years since I last crocheted a bedspread. How sorry is that! I finally got fed up looking at all the yarn that I have collecting dust and taking up too much precious space in my tiny office.

I decided to make a bedspread and the easiest one for me to do without counting too much is the wonderful granny square! Who does not like granny right? I started with my white center and then continued with some variegated. Well, of all things, the thread had to be tangled just when I was on a roll...ugh!

 

After getting hubby to grudgingly help the tangled mess, I finally got down two rows before I was able to start on my next color. This is a work in progress,so keep tuned for how it is turning out.

 

 

 

If you want to try this pattern, you can go here for inspiration: Giant granny square blanket