Start with a can of Artichoke Heart, I used the small size, and a can of diced tomatoes any type but one with a ‘flavor’ is best I used roasted garlic.

I cut off the stems and discarded them then chopped up the hearts to bite sized pieces. Next I mixed in the full can of tomatoes juice and all.

Next I mixed in 1/8th cut white vinegar, some italian seasoning, and some salt and pepper to taste.

Thats it you have a simple low calorie salad!

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Food, Health and Beauty

Welcome to the Husband Challenge Linky Party!

How do I join?

Just write a post on your blog about what you appreciate about your husband/fiance/heck even boy-friend. Then come back here and copy and paste the link into the form below (very bottom of the post.) If you don’t have a blog that’s cool, leave a comment and let me know the same thing! Oh and here is the button to add to your posts.

What I love about Mac this month is his ability to have fun.

Something I personally struggle with is the need to do, fix, and clean everything right now. If there is anything left undone I have a hard time relaxing or doing anything for fun on my own. If I have something planned with another person then its a commitment and that is different for some reason…Anyway Mac understands the need for rest, fun and taking breaks. Its something I’ve struggled with honestly. In the past I’ve looked at it as being lazy at times. But now I realize that:

1. He helps out around the house plenty easily doing his ‘fair share” I even talked about that in my last husband challenge.
2. I don’t take breaks, I get down on myself if I do…

So after 2 years of  us going back and forth on this it finally hit me, the problem isn’t him taking breaks its that I don’t! I don’t relax hardly ever, even when we are watching TV I’m on my laptop doing something that ‘must be done right now’ at least in my mind.

Mac’s constant example and insistence that breaks are helpful and good for you finally got through to me. This weekend I worked on a curtain project for my father in law that has been put off for far too long. I finished the first of two curtains and then ran out of matching thread. Instead of going and buying more right away I decided to make that cute blanket for Cooper that I showed you on Monday.  It was quick so I could get back to the ‘real work’ but it was fun and every time I see it around the house it makes me smile.

I might have to try this fun thing more often

Your Turn!

Please tell your friends about this event, I would honestly like to start a ‘blog movment’ of looking for the good in those we love and appreciating them openly.

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Husband Challenge, Thoughts on Thursday

Have you “liked” my Facebook page? You should! I post up green crafts, Ideas, and such almost daily.  Click on that fun green button above and check out my page and then like it so I know you care

But for those of you who aren’t on facebook or if you aren’t on often here are my green craft favorites from the last month of facebook posts.

Scrappy Pin Cushion

Use up your fabric scraps and make something reuseable (double green!) with this great Scrappy Pin Cushion from Vixen Made.

Shimmering Candle Holders

I would bet that everyone has at lease one of these boring candle holders or maybe a extra vase or two that could use some umph. Here is a great idea of how to do that from Burton Avenue.

Hanger Bag Clips

Not sure if its a craft but its a project for sure a simple one at that. Make bag clips from old plastic pants hangers! Thanks Crafting in the Rain!

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Crafts, Green, Green Craft Round-up

This weekend I decided to take an hour out of my day and do something ‘fun’ I’ve realized lately that I don’t do that enough. In fact Sunday I took the whole darn day and did nothing. I had a mild panic attack when I saw the dishes before bed, but hey they can get done tomorrow right? No one is going to die.

Anyway back to my fun project, I bought some cute minky material a while back to make a blanket for Cooper, nothing fancy just sew up the edges and call it done. But I decided it would be fun to personalize it with some iron-on vinyl too.

• First of all I didn’t know how the iron-on vinyl would work with minky fabric so I looked through my stash to find a cotton based fabric to use as my surface for the iron on.
• Secondly place your vinyl on the cutting mat shiny side down.  This is very important, if you do it the wrong way your letters are going to end up backwards and hard to work with.

(left is shiny side right is matt)

• Then use your vinyl cutting machine to cut out whatever name, word or design you would like, then reverse it before cutting it out. (refer to your manual for how to on your machine) If you happen to use a gypsy like me here are the two things you need to know for reversing the text click the advanced tab > the reverse button, see the orange circles.

• Go ahead and cut out your vinyl. I’m not going to suggest a pressure or depth setting because its different for every machine, you may want to play with some scraps first. But I will say this, it depends on the newness of your blade. You want to keep a light hand enough to cut through the vinyl and not through the plastic.
• Next cut off any extra vinyl to use later and then start removing the extra vinyl from around the word.  Peel it off your cutting mat (should still be on the plastic) and place it on your fabric ready to iron.
• Make sure your iron is on a non-steam heat around 305 degrees (basically the correct heat setting for your type of fabric) and start to iron. It only takes 10-15 seconds to bond, give it a few more seconds just to be sure and then peel off the plastic protector sheet. If anything sticks just lay it back down and iron again.
• Next I simply used my cutting mat to square it up and cut out a perfect rectangle.  I lined up one of the black lines with the bottom of the letters and then cut the bottom and the right then reversed the process for the top and left.
• Then I pinned back the edges attached it to on side of my blanket and sewed it on. I’ll be honest here jersey is a very floppy fabric and this isn’t perfect but hey its for my dog. For a cleaner look I would suggest a sturdier quilting fabric for this part.
• That’s it. I lined up the minky right sides together, sewed all around leaving about 2 inches open on one side. Flipped it right side out and hand stitched the hole closed. With minky you don’t even need any batting but if you wanted to you could add a layer and do a quick quilt job. I just used two 1.5 yard pieces and it was the perfect size for the puppy or a child.

One to get some iron on vinyl?

Check out my Expressions Vinyl button on the side bar for a link and a coupon code till the end of the week!

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Cooper, Crafts, Sewing, Vinyl