Tomato Sauce Making

Well I decided that this year, unlike last year, I am actually going to tackle making my own Tomato Sauce! John's dad has a ton of tomato plants in his garden, so many that he doesn't know what to do with half of them other than give them away LOL :) Anyway so I went over there on Monday night with John and picked almost a 5 gallon bucket full of tomatoes, some regular peppers, and a bunch of Jalepeno peppers, Habanero peppers etc. so today was the day to start making sauces!

So here is what I used/did to make it.

5 gallon pail of tomatoes - Wash and blend well, this takes care of the need to peel, and un-seed them

Put into large pan(s)

Bring to a boil then add the following:

2 1/2 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped - that was my final measurement after it was cut
1 TbspBasil
2 Tbsp Oregano
1/2 cup Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Butter - keeps foaming down
1 Habenero Pepper (optional)
2 small Jalepeno Peppers (optional)

Simmer for a few hours stirring occasionally, or you can cook it less depending on how much of a fresh tomato taste you like (a tid bit of info I found somewhere).

Once finished simmering, you can either can the sauce, or cool and put in Quart size freezer bags, then freeze.

Also another tip: if canning use less onions/garlic because you can always add more later when using it. :)

Anyway here are some pictures!

Peppers galore!!

Fresh Parsley out of my vegetable garden.. now I have my work cut out for me and then I need to dry it.. even though I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with that much of it... I'll probably cut it until I get sick of it and then throw the rest out.

The Tomato Paste can's that I emptied for the sauce... looked so cool standing in a row that I just had to take a picture of the! :D

Anyway that is my story for the day.. tomorrow I'm going to see if I can't get the Hot Pepper sauce made!

Recruit Crew - Stampin' Up!

Well I decided that since I'm bored maybe I should make myself participate in a "challenge". Stampin' Up! has a program for demonstrator's called the "Recruit Crew", by signing up for this I will have to complete a series of steps in order to be sucessful.

Now here are my reasons for joining:

1. Push myself out of my comfort zone
2. Prove to myself as well as everyone else that you can do whatever you put your mind to doing.
3. Build my U.S. Stampin' Up! business, having someone to be accountable too, while doing it.
4. I want to be able to pay off extra debt that we currently have if not afford to make enough extra money for a second vehicle.

I'm really excited to be able to participate in this opportunity and hope to keep everyone posted! There are a number of steps that I need to complete that I feel are going to be a really Really REALLY big challenge and stretch for me to get, but I'm determined that I can do it!

Recently even though this was before I got the email for the Recruit Crew, I decided that everywhere I go I'm handing out Mini Catalogues because I need to start somewhere! So far I have handed out 6, and slowly but surely more than that :) Wish me all the best as I set out on this new part of my Stampin' Up! journey!

My Quilted bag - Stampin' Up! Fabric

Well, while I was in Alberta I made something quilted again. It seems to be the place to do those kind of things LOL :) Anyway this time I used Stampin' Up! fabric, and dug through my mom's patterns.. put the two together and tada:

So there you go, the finished project. I didn't get it quite done when I was in Alberta but I decided that it was time to finish it this morning. Anyway the pattern can be bought from Connecting Threads: http://www.connectingthreads.com/patterns/Bow_Tucks_Tote_Pattern__D55420.html 

If you wish to buy some of the fabric let me know and I would be more than happy to order you some! :)

Tanya's Wedding

Well, as my whole purpose for going to Alberta was my sisters wedding I guess I should post some pictures of the day as well! I don't have many but I do have a few since I did drag my camera around most of the day. I'm really bummed because I completely forgot to tell someone to take pictures of just John and me ugh!!!!! So now I have to figure out what I'm going to do for Christmas cards this year... hmmm I might just have to get my hair dresser to do my hair that way next time I get it cut again, and then come home and tell John to put his suit on and head out for a few snapshots... Who knows, time will tell what happens as far as that goes! Anyway now for some pictures of the big day!

Balloons for the back of the "newlyweds" getaway car! Enough to fill their back seat! haha :)

Brittany getting her hair done, Joel decided that it was a nice place to sit for a little while.

The BRIDE, my older sister Tanya.

My littlest sister Lianne getting her hair done.

Dad and John just hanging out :)

I walked into the kitchen and Brit, Evert and Jared were unloading the dishwasher, so time for a picture.. I told one of them putting dishes away, but then onto the floor they went, which made for an even better picture LOL :)

Coralie getting her hair done, she is my second youngest sister.

Willard all proud of his tie, since he tied it himself, but unfortunatly he had to do it again since it was too short, hence the tugging action :)

Nathan (my second youngest brother) getting all dressed and ready to be a spiffy ring bearer!

Once again, Tanya.. getting final touches done to her hair.

Yay, shoe time haha :)

Tiana, Jacob's niece, and their flower girl for the day!

Tanya with her hat on... she wore a hat for the church service and put her veil on later.

Dad, driving us to church (Tanya, Nathan, Tiana, and me as their photographer for the morning)

Putting their Vinyl, "Just Married" sign on the vehicle.

She had flowers on her vehicle instead of pom-poms.

Here I just finished putting her veil on, Jacob had my camera at that moment, so that explains the pictures with me in them.

Some of the most handsome men in my life, LOL :) Namely my hubby and little bro, Joel! :)

Mom and Dad with the couple

My third youngest sister, Brittany, she was being goofy so this is the best I got of her!

The couple with the FG and RB!

Getting ready for more pictures!

Kerkhoff family photo

Tanya with her Brothers and Brother-in-Law: L to R: Jared, Evert, Tanya, Willard, John. Front row: Joel and Nathan

Tanya with her sisters: L to R: Lianne, Brittany, Tanya, Janita, Me, and Coralie

Jacob and his siblings: Joel, Colin, Jacob, and Dedrick

The Cake

A great captured moment.

That is all I'm going to put up for now.. who knows when we get the other pictures. Unfortunately I don't have any full family photo's from my family since obviously I had to be in the picture myself :( So hopefully we get a disc of photo's from the photographer!

Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - 5 Year anniversary!!

Well since I'm posting about Stampin' Up I figured I should also do my little excitement post. I hit my 5 year anniversary mark as a Canadian Demonstrator in July with SU and was really excited about that because I worked hard to get there! Anyway while I was in Alberta my "special" pin from the company came in the mail which made me super duper excited!! I now wear it proudly on my jean jacket, and will probably switch it to my apron soon with all the other pins. As a matter or fact since I'm thinking about it now I'm going to do so and quickly take a picture for my blog. (in the end still on my jacket a day later LOL) 

So there is a picture of it.. then my upline Lisa made me feel extra special and priviledged at her downline meeting, by giving me a fun package of current catalogue items.

So in the package that I go were the above items: Early Expresso 8 1/2 x 11 Cardstock, Taffeta Ribbon, Flower Brads in the Brights colors, For You Flower stamp, Stampin Up Envelopes and cards, and of course the wonderful card that you see in the front which Lisa made for me! I LOVE YOU LISA, and just want to say that you are an amazing upline!!! <3

Millet Meeting - Stampin' UP!

I know I don't post about my Stampin' Up! life very often anymore.. it has kinda taken the back burner for a while, especially since I have gotten married. I kept telling myself that it wouldn't etc. but it has... two Saturdays ago when I was in Alberta I attended an event from the WeCANStamp group in Millet and am now feeling re-energized and totally need to get my act together now! So my game plan is to make sure I get business cards printed off.. and carry Mini Catalogue's around with me everywhere I go, bringing it up in conversations with people I meet/know and hopefully booking my first few workshops here in the U.S. :)

Anyway that is my little blurb on that.. and now for some fun pictures from Millet on some of the things I saw/made there!

My Upline: Lisa Althouse, with a designer paper covered Pop Can :)

Sherri with the ribbon wreath we made on her head! :) Mine is currently hanging on my wall in my living room, not really visible but it is there, for lack of a better place to hang it at the moment!

Below is the make n' takes that we did.. cards :)

and then last but not least the little surprise that Lisa my upline had waiting for us on the table when we got to the meeting, an altered Hilroy Notebook! :)

the last make n' take.. a candy wrapper. The die is from the Big Shot :)

So there are some pictures from that!