Apricots and a Card

Apricots ready for the canner

Oh dear! I have been MIA for a couple of days but have been keeping myself busy! People are forever asking me what I do with my time since I retired. Finding things that need to be done or I want to do has never been a problem.

Last year I was trying to can like I had a family still helping me and by the end of a canning day I would be dead on my feet and in pain for several days. This year I have decided to pace myself a little better.

Bottom two trays of apricots in our new Food PANtrie

Yesterday I canned 14 quarts of apricots from our tree:) A couple of days ago I put 10 trays of apricots in our new food dryers. We have a really nice electric food dryer we bought several years ago but it doesn't work well with our off-grid electrical system. So this year hubby purchased two Food PANtries! When we discussed outdoor food dryers before I always balked at having my food exposed to the flies and bugs but this handy, dandy Food PANtrie takes care of that issue. Plus it has special trays you can use to grow sprouts and wheat grass!

One of the Food PANtries hanging out of the
reach of the animals:)

We are thrilled to be able to dry food again and hubby is especially anxious to try the apricots. I have 14 more quarts of apricots to can again today but then hopefully will be finished with those. 

I really want to make some salsa again this year and we should have enough tomatoes for that. The salsa I made two years ago was sooo yummy! Not quite as good as fresh salsa but in the middle of the winter it was GREAT!!!


Now, for the card I promised! As a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator I try to show you cards made with what's new and currently available. However, for this card I dug out one of my favorite retired stamp sets Strength & Hope. The person I made the card for likes blue so made it with Baja Breeze...just for her.

This triple-fold card design is one I used for Stamping Club in June. I really like this design and will likely be using it a lot in the future. The layout for this card is from a design I saw on Linda Gutierrez's blog, Stamping Year Round.

The Stampin' Up! products I used for this card are:

• Paper: Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango and Whisper White card stock; Floral District Designer Series Paper
• Strength & Hope stamp set (retired)
• Classic Stampin' Pads: Baja Breeze and Rich Razzleberry
• Other: Dimensionals, Basic Pearls, Glue Dots

I have a wish for Stampin' Up! and that is to have a cancer stamp set in the catalog at all times. By changing the color this one could be used for any type of cancer. One of the websites that lists the colors representing various types of cancer is Trinity London. And YES I will let Stampin' Up! know of my wish:)

Have a wonderful day! Remember to hug the ones you love today and pray for those you don't! Kat