Our Vintage Photo Shoot, US 12 HWy Yard Sale Finds, and Salsa

Hello there!  I have a variety of things to talk about today.  Kind of an odd combo, but that is OK.  First, I made some totally delich salsa last week, using tomatoes and pepers from our garden.  I promised to hsare the recipe, and have some pics too.  Next, my hubs and I spent a little time this weekend to go to some yard sales along US HWY 12, something held every August.  I scored some great vintagey goodness, among other things.  Photos to follow.  Most importantly though, we had our family photo shoot on Saturday, one I have looked forward to for sooooo long.  We did a vintage hollywood glam theme, and thankfully my family was pretty darn cooperative, even if it wasn't their favorite way to spend a Saturday.  I have some pics to share.  I would like to say thank you to Lindsey Marie Photography, she did a MARVELOUS job of being patient with our requests.  Thank you Lindsey!!!  I have a few pics to share, and can't wait to share more as they become available. This is gonna be a FUN album when I get a chance to scrap these pics!  Without further ado, here are a few pics from our photo shoot ~ 

On our boat, love love love these peeps.  xxoxox 

The girls and I on the boat.  Aren't they darling?  Love them all to pieces.

My beautiful family, I am so blessed.  The guys were cooperative, even though the shirts weren't their favs!  Thanks guys! 

Being silly

This little girl is a total fish.  She loves the water, and jumps in every chance she gets!

My handsome hubs and I outside the pool house.  

Walking down to our boat dock.  It is pretty quiet where we live, so we took the opportunity to hog the whole road.  heh heh heh

Next are a few pictures of my US 12 HWY yard sale treasures, these will be upcycled into fun snowman accessories, and on my fabric flowers, and the antique glass will be used to store some beads and things like that.  I picked up lots more glass, but that isn't as exciting as this stuff :) ~

close up shot of some of the fun vintagey earrings that I will cut up and use on other projects, plus some old silver that I will turn into pendants

These patterns are from the 50's, aren't they funny?  I will use the pics and the tissue for altered art projects.

love love love my new skinny Fiskars mat!  It was only $2.00 and is a size I don't already have.  I LOVE Fiskars self healing mats.  Of course I couldn't pass this deal up.  :)

OK, now to the salsa recipe I promised.  Here it is, feel free to modify it to your liking ~

14 cups peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes 1 cups seeded, chopped green, red, or orange peppers
3 cups chopped onion 1 cup  1/2seeded, finely chopped jalapeño peppers
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped, 6 - 8 cloves roasted garlic, smashed, 1/4 cup bottled lemon or lime juice
1 tablespoons salt 1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoon kosher salt  ground cumin to taste (optional, I used 1/2 teaspoon)
3 tablespoons oregano leaves 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
Combine all ingredients except cumin, oregano and
cilantro in a large pot and bring to a boil, stirring
frequently, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add
spices and simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring
occasionally.
This recipe works best with paste tomatoes. Slicing
tomatoes require a much longer cooking time to achieve a
desirable consistency.

Want to know the most important ingredient besides tomatoes and peppers?  Roasted garlic!  It sounds like a lot, but it is delich, and so mild.  I also ground about half of my jalapenos in a mini food processor before adding them to the salsa.  You can leave as many or few of the seeds as you want.  The more seeds you leave in the processing, the hotter your salsa.  This stuff was delich, hope you enjoy.  Feel free to make a smaller batch.  :)  Here is  a photo of some cutie grandkids enjoying some salsa and other dips ~ 

Coop loved the salsa!  Isn't his hair cute?  This was after working up an appetite during the photo shoot. 

Here is a pic of the salsa simmering away on the stove.

Here is one last photo.  This is of my son's crazy hair, thank goodness it didn't look like this during the photo shoot!  He is growing it out for Halloween, my word he is a goof! 

Thanks for reading my long post today!  I will be doing a wee fabric flower giveaway next week, be sure to stop back and say hello. I wish you all a joyful and creative week ~ Pam

Quick Cards, 5 Minutes or So Is All It Takes!

Hello everybody! Hope you are enjoying a fabulous week.  I am cramming boatloads in each day, too much on my to do list.  Between gardening, work, special projects at work during my off time, working on my classes, canning pickles and making salsa, and painting our fence, whew, I have little time or energy left to have some crafty play time. I still yearn for crafty time though, so I have been trying to sneak it in when ever I can, even if it is only for 15 - 30 minutes, usually when I should be doing laundry, dishes, or something equally not so fun. Doncha just love it when you can quickly whip something together though? I know I sure do!  I have been trying to make multiples of cards lately and I challenge myself to make several while I am at it.  It saves me time in the long run, I have similar supplies out, my mojo is flowing, I am in my crafty space, so I might as well make several of what ever I am making.   It seems like I ALWAYS need some thank you, birthday, get well, or thinking of you cards when I have little to no time, so this is the perfect solution.  I am also trying to use up some of the favorite items, dimensional letters, or onesie twosie stuff I have been hoarding.  It is ridiculous to have things in baskets instead of on projects.  Here are a few cards I put together this weekend, probably spending about 5 minutes on each card (when I really should have been sleeping).  :)  I was in a blue mood, can you tell?  In a happy blue mood of course!  The top and bottom cards have some of my beloved bali or batik fabrics.  Love love love those fabrics!   

I am still tinkering away at my fabric album class too, I have had BOATLOADS of fun making these little minis out of fabric.  I have lots of samples too, here is one wee sneak peek.  I am debating about keeping some for myself, it seems like I always give them away.  I might have to hoard a couple though!  Sooooo pretty irl.  I showed some to a few friends, and I almost didn't get them back.  Definitely an indication that I need to keep one or two!  :)

Well, I am supposed to be writing a how to document, so I guess I better get my rear in gear and get started.   I need to hit the hay some time before midnight, as 5 am comes super early in the morning, oh my!  

I hope you enjoy a joyful and creative week ~ Pam