Splish Splash it's Summer! We're Roasting!

Here is my daughter's son Rylan, he was at the pool yesterday. Check out that pose! LOL! I love this photo of him.

we are in a heat wave today so far it's 104 but it will probably actually get hotter because it is not even 5 yet, that seems to be the hottest part of the day I think in these parts.

Check out the rest of the week

Sunday 109

Monday 106

Tuesday 111

Wednesday 111

Thursday 109

Friday 104

Then next Saturday back into the 80's, hopefully our Anniversary party which is on July 7th, next Sunday will not be to hot. I am wearing a white dress!

Well have a wonderful weekend and stay safe and cool wherever  you are.

A Box of Cookie Cutters

Cookie Cutters Galore!

Every year I buy several cookie cutters from Ann Clark.

My box arrived yesterday filled with my newest ones. I am ready to bake cookies using my sugar cookie recipe. You can find it here it's a PDF file to print. It's the best. Everyone I bake these for say so! Try them.

for the 4th of July a Flag and Star

For Summer and Birthdays Ice Cream Cone and Cupcake

My favorite Birds to Add to my cookie cutter bird collection and a new Ann Clark Cookie Cutter Chocolate Chip Boy

For Christmas a candy cane

Decorated Cookies from Last Year

Click the link --> cookie cutters I bought last year.

I'm about to go back to her website and buy more of the cookie cutters for little thank you gifts to give throughout the year. The cookie cutters are about $3.99 each and if you buy three you get free shipping.

You can follow my Pinterest if you like at this link.

Have a wonderful Friday!

~Kat

Sizzix Dress and Tuxedo Treat Box

I've been meaning to post my Tuxedo box that I finished, that goes with the wedding dress treat box that I made. These will be put on the tables for our anniversary dinner, I thought they would be cute decorations for the table.

These are big dies and have to be cut with Big Shot Pro. I only have just these two Pro dies. Later I will be getting a few for quilting dies. I want a Dresden die.

Have a great Monday!

~Kat

How to Fix Your Mac Time Capsule after Upgrading to A New Mac 10.8.4

Last month I got a new Mac Computer 10.8.4 and my Apple Time Capsule stopped working/well it would not let me into the Time Capsule. My Internet was still working though.

If you're having the same problem here is how I fixed mine.

Go to Applications/Utilities/Airport Utility, click on it.

Click upgrade firmware

It will say your connection is going to be temporarily unavailable, don't worry that is normal. Click yes and it will update your firmware. 

After it is finished you should be able to now open your Time Capsule again.

once it has updated it will look like the above image

now go to your time capsule by opening finder and then click on the Time Capsule, 

it should open and reveal the contents.

After you open it you should see the data folder, open that folder

There you go you are all finished and now set it up to be backed up using Time Machine if you wish.

Have a great day Mac friends!

~Kat

Super Moon 2013

The moon was behind a lot of clouds this evening, but finally we got a shot of the moon tonight. Last night we were not prepared to photograph it because we could not remember what settings to put the Nikon camera on to take a photo of the moon. So today I read the directions to Steve and he set the camera to those settings and put on the zoom lens and then we waited and waited for the clouds to go away. Last night the moon seemed even bigger to us.

Here is our super moon photos for 2013.

After we got a few good shots the clouds returned. It was a windy cool day. Yesterday was clear and hot.

Have a wonderful Monday!

~Kat

Paper Dress Form, Sewing Room Craft Die

Happy Saturday!

I bought a new die yesterday at Joann's Craft Store for $11.00 and some change out the door, this darling dress form by Sizzix, Tim Holtz...can we say cute! and so fun to play with.....

 My new love Graphic 45 Paper

Memory Box Patterned Paper in Pink Polka Dots, I like the ball trim I used from my box of laces and trims for the shawl. 

I made them both to have Swarovski Crystal necklaces...

Have a wonderful weekend!

~Kat

Susan's Garden Rounded Birdhouse #3 for the month of July

Well I can't stop making these birdhouses. They are just so fun to put together and decorate. 

I made one for July and October. I will post the July one today and the October one later. 

"A life without love is like a year without summer."

-   Swedish Proverb

I took photos of all around the birdhouse. I cut tiny stars using one of my dies to hang from the roof of the birdhouse.

Each side has a cute image from Graphic 45 paper, can I say how much I love this paper! and the 3-D birdhouse. 

Such cute images

 I cut out the images from the paper I wanted to use, I like the California so I cut that to put on the birdhouse. Liberty is good for July, so I cut that out as well.

My other birdhouses can be found here at this link.

Or go directly here to the post.

Happy Summer!

~Kat

My New Apple TV!

I finally got my Apple TV, been wanting this every since it came out. Now I can watch with the family our photos on the TV. I have tried with other devices we have that say it will work and does not work. So since I have a Mac computer I figured it would work and it did.

I had my husband hook it up to the TV, I am dumb when it comes to that part. After he does that I can get the wireless sharing done, he can't do that, so we both have our jobs to do. 

I got that done and started playing around with the Apple TV and I like it very much. Very functional for $99.00.

Now I have a reason to dump all my CD's music onto the computer so I can stream it to the Great Room. I Plan on putting my full collection onto the computer with 70's music and the genre's I like for these times as well, mostly alternative, pop, rock, jazz, oldies, gospel and Inspirational, country. I know with my ipod I could have done this but not my photos. I don't really use my ipod much anymore.

Went shopping with the hubby today for clothes for him and for our anniversary party, yikes Mr. Picky!!! I found a lot of nice shirts but he would not have anything to do with my choices. Finally I got him to choose a nice shirt I liked and he liked as well. I am 90% happy with it. I just wish it had more black in it, it has beige, black and white and I wanted only black and white because that is our theme for our anniversary party. 

I bought a $80.00 white dress for $30.00, and a shrug for $10.00 in black so there is my black and white. My shoes were nearly as much as the dress and shrug. 

Have a happy Wednesday!

Old Kodak Kodachrome Sides

'

Does anyone remember the old Kodachrome? I never knew what it was until I heard the song and got these.

I don't know what processed me to undertake this task today, I guess it was curiousness that got the best of me. Steve had been shopping at the Home Depot for things to do more upgrades to our home and afterwards wanted of all things KFC, boneless chicken for his Fathers day dinner. So he went and got that for dinner. It was pretty good actually. Afterwards he took a nap and that is when I was thinking how I had these old Kodachrome slides that were my dads and that I had never tried to view the slides, they were just sitting in a pretty box and probably forever. For whatever reason I got up and got the step ladder and climbed up to reach in the hall cabinet where I keep things I don't get into and pulled the box down from the very top shelf, we have high ceilings just like in the Victorian homes. Anyway I took the box and it's contents to my craft room and opened it up, peeked inside and found the slides. I turned on a lamp, put my glasses on and viewed each slide. They were amazing quality many of them. I hear the Kodack Kodachrome is amazing and is in great condition for 30 years and good up to 60. This made me want to get them digitized as soon as possible before they were lost forever. I started scanning them, they were turning out awful. So I pulled out my smartphone and started snapping away. They turned out great! Now I have added about 45 old photos to my family album. So fun to look at. 

I am the one of my family for many generations that has more photos, family heirlooms and memorabilia than anyone for all the Carter's and Woolverton's. it's like it was just my job and I am happy to hunt and and gather it all, like a detective that's me. 

Oh the people in the photo are my cousins and my brothers and I. They are all dark headed, their father is Cherokee Indian. My brothers and I are the blonde kids. These are my moms sisters children.  I think the photo was taken in Ohio where my moms family lives and where she was born. 

I was so happy to find this cute photo. 

 This is the what the photo looked like from a scanner. Awful and disappointing.

This photo is in remembrance of my dad who passed away in 2004.

 In this photo my mom, dad, brother Kirk and me. My youngest brother not yet born. It's always strange when I see family photos without him. This photo was not in the forgotten and neglected slides.

Look off to the right side of my blog where you see these images below

Notice if you click on the links and photos it takes you to the sections in my blog where I talk about these topics in my posts. Does anyone know how to do this? if not do you want to learn how? do you have labels that you would like to link to like I did and create images so you can click on them and go strait away for viewing of these particular labels/topics. If so I can create a little tutorial here and show you how to do it. It's really easy and fun to create these for your blog. Makes your blog fun and interesting. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Fathers Day!

~Kat

Susan's Garden Rounded 3-D Birdhouse

Love this birdhouse die from Sizzix - Susan's Garden Birdhouse dies by Susan Tierney-Cockburn, it's going to get a lot of a workout because I am addicted to 3-D paper crafting. 

Do not worry

Mathew 6:25 Therefore I say to you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

I used Graphics 45 Secret Garden Paper, made flowers using dies from Die-Namics, other flowers and leafs I made using my McGill Paper Punches. Ranger Ink color Coffee for distressing. Bird die is from Memory Box and I used thin chipboard under the pretty paper for sturdiness.

This second birdhouse I made the same way using the same paper from Graphic 45 Secret Garden but with tiny quilled roses. I highly distressed the rounded roof. I see I forgot to distress the bird.

~~2 Tweet BirdHouses~~

It's a woman's prerogative to change things, I changed the bird on the roes top birdhouse. Okay I am happy with it now.

I seen a few tutorials online about putting this birdhouse together, the way I did it is totally different. 

I was sick for two days because I was allergic to the honey I bought and ate from Safeway called Organics honey made in Brazil. It burned my throat right away and I got sicker by the minute after eating it. I was weak, could not hold my eyes open, nauseous and had a bad headache with runny nose, and eyes. Never thought I could get sick from honey. My mom says to me today, why are you allergic to everything? I had allergy shots for three years, still allergic to everything........

Hope you're enjoying a wonderful weekend!

Matchbox Die Happy Father's Day Card

I used the matchbook die from Lifestyle Crafts to make this cute father's day card.

ta da! the cute card I made using Lifestyle crafts matchbox die. I also used Memory Box Cars and house dies, they are cute and tiny and tiny little cloud dies as well. So fun to decorate this box. On the inside I cut yellow gingham paper to put in there, and decorated the sides of the box with green washi tape.

I had to cut the top out to make the 3-D look I was going for. 

That was a bit harder than I thought it would be.

I just love 3-D paper art it's my favorite. 

I put it on a card I cut with one of my movers and shapers dies, I like the one above because I don't even have to put a shape inside and I have a perfect card! It's this one 654782, I do not pay the price for the dies on the Sixxz website, only when they have their big sales!

The ink on the inside needs a touch up, but I am so sick today my throat is so scratchy and hurts so bad. I used an old Vintage car stamp by Hero Arts to decorate the inside of the card with an XOXO Stamp.

Check out this wonderful paper tray by Display Dynamics, I got it online with my last order to stack paper, it sure keeps all my paper neat, handy and space saving.

Because I needed a bit more room for other paper and folders, business cards and printing paper I bought those upright box paper holders, all the white ones are 12x12 and the two smaller decorative ones are the regular paper size, I put them into the cabinet. Great idea because before it was laying flat, now it's upright and organized and the best part, it's easy to get to and without digging through it all to find what you're looking for, and one more good thing, paper comes out undamaged!

I just heard some great news Placer County CA ranks 11th on the list for healthiest places of about 1200 counties across the US for kids to live, I wonder if that's for adults as well , that's awesome. I always knew this part of CA was a diamond in the ruff. If  you visited here you would know why, it's just a gorgeous place to live right in gold country with so many places for outdoor sporting.

Yesterday my husband had the day off, split days off this week and we did spring cleaning, it's almost summer, but we got it done finally.He trimmed the bushes that grew like crazy this spring and also a few trees just the branches that shot up. I took all the screens out of the house and cleaned the windows in and out of the house. Steve power washed them. So wonderful to have clean windows!

Have a great day! it's already Thursday crazy! I am cold this morning, I love it! brrrrr!

Teriyaki Peppered Flank Steak and Green Bean Stir-fry

Today I am going to share a recipe with you, it's a stirfry recipe with a twist.

I cooked the peppered flank steak I got at Safeway on the BBQ once that was cooked I put it into the skillet with the veggies for a quick stir fry.

1/4 cup teriyaki marinade (I got the Target Brand) it's good. 

1/4 cup chicken broth or beef broth (I used chicken)

1 tsp. Chili Garlic Sauce ( I used 3) I like it spicy hot

2 cups Fresh Green Beans

1 cup chopped Scallions 

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

1 1/2 lbs peppered flank steak from Safeway Grocery Store. Cook it on the BBQ until done.

Slice the steak 1/4" thick against the grain, very important. 

Lo Mien Noodles or Egg Noodles

1. In bowl, combine teriyaki marinade broth and chili garlic sauce and set aside.

2. In skillet over high heat cook vegetables in oil 3 minutes or until crisp and tender. Add the cooked peppered beef that was cooked on the BBQ.

Add the beef to the skillet with the veggies, add the marinade let simmer 1 to 2 minutes. 

Serve over lo-mein noodles or egg noodles.  I used egg noodles.

Enjoy! let me know if you made this and if you like it or not.

Yum Yum, my husband loved this! 

The weather was 73 degrees yesterday that is Kat's perfect day. Today it is already 73 degrees we are heading to the 80's today. Sunday was 107 degrees yuck!

Have a great day!

~Kat