That's what it feels like lately. Lots going on here. We are moving to Round Rock, Texas. That's right next to Austin in case you don't know. Did I tell you that? It's not because we have had it with Minnesota winters. Although, after this last one, that would be a viable reason. It's because my husband lost his job last June and landed a job with Dell computers. He started at the end of September and has been living there while I am living here in Minnesota with my 2 teenage boys. My daughter is away at college and comes home about every other weekend.
It's been a tough year. Living apart and raising two teenage boys on my own has been difficult. My husband tries to get home every other weekend. We are trying to get our house ready for sale. I'm overwhelmed with what needs to be done to make our house ready.
Every one has gone through ups and downs with how they feel about this move. My husband is the one who wants to move the least. Minnesota is where all our family and friends are. I am staying open to the change and try to look at it as an adventure. I have heard great things about the Austin area!
Doug took me on a cruise for my birthday in February. It was fabulous to take a break from all of this stress and from the frozen Minnesota tundra! Less than a week later I was back on a plane flying to Austin to look at some possible houses that popped up on the radar. Our list of what we want in a house is long. There has to be a craft room for me and a workshop for Doug. The boys have their own ideas about what are must haves. A pool would be nice. A big kitchen, open floor plan, guest room, workout area, etc. You get the idea. It can be tough to find all that in the price range and area we want. We found two good viable options for houses. We put an offer on one of the houses. It's a short sale so it could take awhile to hear back.
In the meantime, I'm still working at my full-time job during the day, playing taxi driver at night, trying to keep up everything and keep stamping in my life. Thus the going around in circles!
I must really have had circles on my brain because the Recipe cards I came up with for this month's recipe club all had to do with circles!
Here is the first card.
It's a Caesar Salad recipe. Lots of circles going on here. the circles are stamped and punched out with the 1 3/4" circle punch and lined up along the recipe card. I trimmed off the edges to give it the look of continual pattern.
The fringe is made with the fringe scissors. This scissors has been so popular that Stampin' Up! is sold out and working with our vendor to get more! The chevron ribbon is layered with the Pistachio Pudding ruffled ribbon and placed on top of the fringe. The flowers are stamped in versamark and punched out with the flower shop punch and coordinating stamp set.
The circle the flowers sit on is the 2 1/2" circle. The starburst framelit set is the shape behind it.
The second recipe card is a bit more involved. It is for Pineapple carrot cake.
The designer paper used on this card is called Retro Fresh Designer Paper. The pineapple is made with the Oval framelits. I ran it through the bigshot with the honeycomb embossing folder and then inked it with Early Espresso ink. The leaves are made with the oval punch.
The third recipe card is for Baked Sandwiches. These are so delicious!
Do you notice the circles? I punched out 1 inch circles out of patterned paper, tacked them down with adhesive and then sewed them to the page with a zigzag stich on my sewing machine. The corrugated piece is from a piece of cardboard from a Stampin' Up! box. I pulled apart the top layer and sewed it to the page. I stapled the orange ribbon on each side of the page.
That was a long post! That's what happens when I don't post for a month! I hope to blog a little bit more often. Even during our crazy move process.
Do you have any tips about moving a long way from home? Do you know the Austin area? I would love to know more about it.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Kathleen
