Christmas Cards in January?

Why not! A Reuse/Recycle Christmas Card project is what I did today. I am the new moderator/fearless leader of the Reuse/Recycle art group, a subgroup of the Swell Sister Society. I hosted the first meeting at my home today. I got up early & made 2 quiches this morning. I haven't made those in years. Why? They are so good. My boys ate the leftovers for dinner with a little salad. I am going to make them more often. While searching for a recipe (I ended up making up my own) I saw one that used a large tortilla instead of a pie crust. I may try that next time. I'm thinking that would be tasty and a lot less calories. After I got those in the oven my son & I hopped in the car and headed for Heavenly Donuts. It's a little hole in the wall place down the street from my house that is well known for having the best donuts & cinnamon buns. We got 3 dozen glazed donut holes and they were almost gone when the girls left. Donut holes seem less evil than regular donuts. haha I even ate 2 of them and I am one of those odd people that doesn't like donuts. I also had grapes and beautiful strawberries, that came from who knows where this time of year, and they were big sweet and delicious. My hubby finished off the pitcher of cucumber water when he got home. I love cucumber water! If you haven't tried it, and you like cucumber, you must try it. Just plop in a few slices in your ice water next time you're making that salad.

The Christmas cards we made were from Christmas cards that we received. One of the artists, Mikie Spencer, does this every year and has her creations printed to use at Christmas time. She has made some really beautiful cards. I am not so happy with the one that I made & a little red faced to show it, and because of all the shiny gold choices (can't resist shiny) it does not scan well, so it's not a good candidate for printing. I learned in the process though. I still have lots of cards and will be making more. If you save your cards you might like to do this project with us. Hopefully I will end up with one I can use this year...we'll see. I think my cooking was better than my art today!

I am in the process of designing a knitting pattern for a neck warmer with my whimsical flowers on it. I also need to start something for my niece's baby so I went to the little knit shop we have in my little town. Ok that's another story....

Super Stars! A Recycle/Reuse Project

Sparkle, sparkle and so "green"! These were fun to make today & hang over my skating snowmen that are on my table. This Christmas Eve we are having the family dinner with the kids a la A Christmas Story. We are making oriental food. We are always up for an adventure and I love that about my family. I am making my Vegetarian Curry with Cashews & Banh Mi (Vietnamese pork meatball sandwiches), my special Egg Rolls taught to me by my friend Noi, Cucumber Sesame Salad & my own Red Ginger Noodle salad. I've never made Banh Mi before but I made the mayo for it already and it is fantastic. My son couldn't leave it alone & even ate it on toast, it's gone already! So it's fun that everyone is excited. I am grinding the pork for the meatballs so they should be nice & lean. I found the recipe in the new Bon Appetit Magazine . My oldest are bringing their famous crab dip & lemon squares. I don't know what my youngest is making yet. I bought red & white Striped Chinese cartons to serve the salads in & brand new chopsticks. The table will be fun. Both of my boys were eating with chopsticks when they were 2 years old and I plan on using those cute little panda bear chopsticks that I still have to teach my little JJ in the near future. My youngest son was once the center of attention when we popped into a little neighborhood Japanese restaurant in San Francisco, his blond hair almost white shining amid a sea of dark hair, sitting in his high chair, eating something most kids at his age wouldn't touch and with big boy chopsticks, he had the whole restaurant just going gaga over him. He was so cute.

These shiny stars are made of a recycled 2 liter soda bottle, fishing line, glue & glitter. Cut off the top & bottom of bottle. Then cut open the cylinder & cut into strips then squares. I got 12 squares from one bottle. I cut the stars freehand folk arty but you could use a pen & star template if you wanted them all the same. Using a needle make a hole & insert fishing line then tie a knot. Put glue on both sides of the star & cover with glitter. Shake off excess glitter & hang. I put a star on each end of the fishing line. Super easy & something you could do with kids. I think I'll be saving all my soda bottles to make stars for outdoors. I think they'd be great hanging from all my trees no matter what time of year it is!

Walk Softly & Carry A Big Stick...

...a big pretty gypsy walking stick!

The other day as we were walking I came across this big stick. It's almost as tall as I am, the top comes up to my eye brows! (yes I'm pretty short) My hubby is about 6'4 so you can see it's pretty big. It looked interesting to me & not very heavy. I couldn't leave it where it lay, I started to, but turned back & picked it up. A perfect walking stick, I thought, so I convinced my hubby to walk it home for me. He cut off some little branches that were sticking out a little & cleaned it up for me. Yesterday I began painting on it. Ok, I know you're thinking...why? I don't know! My insatiable need to turn trash into treasure with paint? It seemed like a fun thing to do at the time, however, I have only gotten about 1/4 of the way down the stick, now realizing this is not just a quick little project I have gotten myself into. I was hoping to be finished with it today but it may take a little while. So far it has clouds & sky, bumble bees, lizards, little leaves, sky & blackbirds, hearts, cherries, daisies, and fish. Things you might see on a walk...? Once I get all the main sections painted I can then start putting in lots of little details & of course more color! I admit I feel a little guilty working on this stick instead of a long list of other things I could be doing, but I'm having fun with it. It will be a great conversation piece that's for sure, whether on a hike or just to have! Wouldn't you feel grand hiking with this?! hahaha Definitely a unique piece of art! I will post another picture when it's all finished. Can you think of some things that need to be on my gypsy stick? What have you turned from trash into treasure lately?

Sentimental Journey

Just listed in my Etsy Store. I had a lot of fun painting & creating this Angel! She is painted on Side 2 Of a mint condition 12" vinyl LP record. "Sentimental Journey" is the 4th song on Side 2 of "Aurthur Murray's Dance Music. The song on the label was left untouched and shows through her hair and was the inspiration for this piece.

The 2 different expressions on each side of the Angel's face give her unique character & evokes emotion. She is bright & cheerful or somber & reflective. The moon represents a journey through time. The pretty flower in her hair represents the bright side of life & eternal optimism.

Wordless Wednesday??

hum.... has that happened yet? NOT yet!

I'm a member of the Folk Art Society of America and I thought I'd post this awesome recycle/reuse art/folk art that was on the cover of the Folk Art Society's Messenger journal cover. Personally if I came across one of these great old fashioned tubs I'd fix it and put it in the bathroom! I love those. A great childhood memory of mine is swimming in one of those at my Aunt Annette's house, with the bathroom reeking of a wonderful floral scent from an old fashioned soap. I stayed in it until she made me get out. To this day when I see old fashioned soap, the kind that used to be made here but now is made in Mexico, Palmolive & the like, I always pick it up to smell it just to see if it's that smell. I love the smell of the old Palmolive soap. I think Ralph Lauren's Turquoise perfume smells a lot like it. I had to be filthy dirty from playing outside is the only reason I can think of as to why I was even taking a bath there. Kids just don't play outside like they used to do they?

I am getting 5 paintings ready to mail out and then I'm gonna get to work on my gallery piece. I have to find time to pack today too. I'm heading off to San Francisco for a mini break/anniversary trip with hubby for a couple of days! Yippee! I'll take lots of pictures if I can figure out how to set up my camera to take more than 12 pictures before the memory is gone.

Is it Me or...

...is this year already flying by?

I just listed prints of my newest angels in my Etsy shop.

My husband is at practice with the Spotteddogs tonight and I'm home playing with my new camera and listening to music. This is a picture of the top of an antique armoire that we added inside shelves to. It houses all of our stereo equipment. We got it at an auction which was so much fun. It's amazing how much you can fit into one. They are great for storage and not so bad to look at. Recycle/Reuse!

Yippee! New camera! I promise better photos in the future!

Beautiful Recycling

Yesterday afternoon 4 of my Swell Sister's came over and we made beautiful cake/cupcake servers for our gallery opening. That's TJ doing a fine modeling job of all our wares! LOL We will be serving bite size cheesecakes on them. Initially we had planned on mini cupcakes but those are hard to find. Maybe not the "in" thing anymore ? None of us wanted to bake for over 250 + people! We bought plates, candle sticks, glasses, & vases from Thrift Stores and used an assortment of old craft bobbles, beads & stones to embellish. The sky's the limit on embellishment. We used a 2 part epoxy that dries clear to glue the pieces together and nothing is budging. It was so much fun! I wish I had a picture of all the finished pieces. Some servers had ribbon with sequins, pearls, and dripping beads. These could be really fun for tea parties and special Christmas gifts or Christmas servers and for just a few dollars. The Thrift Stores have lots of Christmas plates out now and Christmas doodads to embellish with. It's a fun way to spend the afternoon!
For a little refreshment I served a curry dip that I had never made before. I know that's brave serving something you've never made before but for some reason I do that a lot. I made it the night before just in case it was awful. The recipe said to let it chill for several hours anyway. I ran across the recipe online and it was so odd that I had to try it. I didn't follow it exactly (something else I do a lot) but I used all the ingredients. To my surprise it was super good and everyone liked it. It's a keeper and I will definitely be making it again. Here's the recipe...
2 C sour cream
1/2 C light mayo
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp horseradish
2 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp of Zerguts Red pepper Relish (recipe called for ketchup)