Card swap, month 3

Katie was this month's hostess and she sent out a lovely selection of papers and card bases as usual. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the kit before I dug into it. Hopefully, someone else did and I can steal their photo. I made three cards, as usual. I had hopes for more, but I got too busy (my usual excuse).

I loved the foiled butterfly paper in this first card. I had only this small piece so I left it as is (I debated fussy cutting the largest butterfly). I also wanted to keep the card simple to highlight the paper. Everything except the butterfly paper came from my stash.


Katie always sends us neat card bases and this base had the label cut out. I cut the base down a little so I could run it through my Cuttlebug to emboss it. I had to run it through twice and unfortunately, I couldn't get the top part to emboss as deeply. Ah well, maybe Mom won't notice. The patterned paper and butterfly sticker are from the kit. The pink ribbon at the bottom, flower, and button are from Susan's kit from last month, and the Happy Mother's Day ribbon I printed with a printer I borrowed from work.


I also loved this scalloped card base and I hope I did it justice. Katie also sent us some die cut butterflies. I used one as is and punched the smaller two out of another one. The large butterfly is attached with an "action wobble," which a plastic spring with adhesive, so it "flutters." The patterned paper is from the kit and the metal tag is an old Making Memories tag.


I am sooo enjoying having a selection of cards on hand. If you're interested in joining us in the future, let me know.

Here are the rest of the cardmakers. Visit them and leave them some comment love.

Susan:
http://simplysusansscrap.blogspot.com

Katie:
http://www.2craftykaties.blogspot.com/

Peggy:
http://myviewfromthebleachers.blogspot.com/

Wendy:
http://shesgonecrafty.blogspot.com/

Laurie:
http://www.scrapsfromthebeach.com/

Bacon makes everything better

I had some leftover bacon in the fridge with no plans for it so I was going to freeze it for later. I usually freeze bacon in two strip batches, which is just enough to fry up for a bit of flavor and fat for a wok full of greens (currently Swiss Chard from the garden). Then I remembered the bacon wrapped tofu mentioned on somewhere on the web.

It made a yummy snack. See Just Hungry for cooking instructions, though if you can fry bacon, you can make this. I didn't make bite-pieces, though that probably would have worked better. I just cut the tofu brick into five pieces because that's how many pieces I had. The larger pieces were a little difficult to turn. You can see the piece in front that broke. Be sure to overlap the edges. I think that helps keep the tofu together.

$3.71

It has been over a year for that low of a price for gas.

Oil pulling, days 3 to 10

Back in February, I started oil pulling, just as an experiment. I did it ten times in a two week period. It was too difficult to do every day, especially days when I left for work early, but I tried to do it for the full 20 minutes when I did do it.

A few thoughts. I thought my teeth and mouth were cleaner, but how could they not be with an extra long teeth brushing session every morning? Better than that, I thought my plaque build up after eating was decreased. I did not notice any health improvements, but I assume I didn't do it long enough.

I found it was easier to just sit and do nothing while swishing the oil around. It was kind of meditative. Sitting in front of the computer was okay, but there was the day I had to sneeze and didn't make it to the bathroom sink in time. That was a mess.

It is a Swiss invasion

Swiss chard, that is. Here is an example of "it pays to be lazy." Last fall, I was too lazy to pull out all the Swiss chard after it bolted so all the seeds fell into the bed. This is what has come up in just one corner of the bed. I've harvested several batches already and have two containers washed and ready for later in the week.

Call me crazy, but I just ordered some yellow Swiss chard seeds (just adding more color to our dinner plate) so I know what we'll be eating all spring and summer. Share your favorite recipes please!