Pizza- corn tortilla, a tofu paste made from whipped tofu, veganaise, lemon juice, garlic, herbs. Then on top a tablespoon marinara, black olives, oyster mushrooms, baby bellas, and button mushrooms. All topped off with fresh mozzarella, oregano, and basil. OMG!!!
Family cooking some yummy stuff tonight. Brussels sprouts with red pepper flakes. Asparagus sauted with garlic and artichoke mushroom crustinis for dinner. Later tonight we are making a mushroom risoto using veggie broth to heat up tomorrow. Also making a tofu cream and exotic mushroom blend to use on tortilla pizzas. I love cooking nights.
Penelope eating her first ice cream Sami. She ate the entire thing.
Love is the the Air Valentines Day Sale
Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, why not get something for everyone in your life that means something special to you. I am having a “Love is in the air” Sale to help make giving something unique and handmade also affordable. If you purchase 2 of my prints right now you will receive a 3rd one of your choice of equal or lesser value for free. Details are in my shop, check it out.
Painting with Tea Bags…
So the show for Fabricate is well under way and I have tried to get creative with what I am offering in the show. I want everyone who wants original art to be able to afford it. I plan to have some one of a kind illustrations, illustrations that have color added, all size paintings, and even some prints. Some of the pieces have different versions available. There is the painting version and then the illustrated version. Once such piece is Jane and her Doe. This is a piece I have kind of fallen in love with. After the painting I decided it needed an illustration as well.
The illustration will have a unique twist to it. I am painting the entire thing with tea bag.
That’s right, I am painting with tea bags. The colors in the painting version are soft and tranquil and I wanted to convey the same feeling in the illustration so I decided to try and achieve an organic feeling sepia.
Of course the show is not done and I won’t be able to post pics until after the show has launched but I though I would give a teaser of some things I am working on for it.
I plan to do some larger paintings for the show as well but the smaller ones are the priority right now and I even hope to get some pillows sewn for it.
In addition to getting ready for this show I have been planning a quite extensive craft fair season so stay tuned as I will be posting shows as they are confirmed. Who knows, I may be coming to a city near you. Do you know of a local indie craft fair that you think I would enjoy? Let me know, post a comment with the link and I will check it out. Thanks everyone for all the recent support.
And the winner is…..
So the contest has come to an end and with the help of my lovely children and our dog Cocoa we have chosen a winner.
The numbers are in the cup and the judges are ready to draw a number
Cocoa is telling Brayden how excited she is to see who the winner is.
Zoe opens the lucky number while Cocoa continues to annoy Brayden.
And the winner is comment #2
“My fondest snow memory is predicting a large snow storm here in Georgia when I was little. If you’ve ever been to Georgia, then you know that we don’t get snow here and generally not much, so I think I had a little slight notion of premonition that year. Thanks so much for the giveaway and happy new year “
Congrats Kylie! I will be contacting you soon to find out where I can ship your free print to. So did everyone enjoy this giveaway? Should we do more of them? I think so, I loved hearing all the memories. Let me know what you think, more freebies?
First Giveaway! Yay!
So as part of my New Years resolution to blog more and be a more active participant in my art business I am going to start weekly giveaways. For now we will start with my art but eventually I hope to have other fun things to give away. It is quite snowy here so I thought how fun to give away a wintery print.
5 inches of snow here.
So what better to honor this winter storm than a giveaway! I am giving away this 8.5 x 11 inch print to one lucky winner. On a cold winter day I love playing outside with my kids and then coming inside to warm PJs just out of the dryer along with a cup of hot cocoa in front of the fire. To win this giveaway just leave a comment describing your fondest snow day memory. Be sure your email address linked to your comment is accurate so if your the winner I can contact you. In 72 hours I will use a random number generator to choose which comment is the winner. I can’t wait to read all the stories!
Making Lemons into Sweet and Tasty Lemonade
We moved into this house 17 months ago and to say I wasn’t happy about it would be putting it lightly. When you get married its nice to buy a home together, not inherit one from your husband’s previous marriage. To make matters worse we both want to live in the city again and really do not like the layout of this house. My husband said there wasn’t much on the market when he was shopping for a home and was just so tired of looking he settled on this home.
Thanks to the current economy even though he has owned this house for 5 years we owe about what its worth. We have toyed with the idea of renting the house out so we can move into the city but the house payments are steep and often leave us hurting each month so to gamble that a renter will pay on time just isn’t a risk we are willing to take. In the meantime we have 3 kids in a 3 bedroom house and my husband and I work at home. What does this mean? Neither of us can get work done.
Since my husband is the primary income earner he needed an office so step one was solving that issue. Step two was finding a place for the kids to play that would not wake the baby, allow me to stop picking up toys 24/7 and provide me with time to work myself. It took quite a long time but I think we have finally turned this lemon into some sweet and tasty lemonade.
Enjoy these before and after pics.
what will be the entry way and the office, previously our formal dining room
where the french doors will go
future home of the new office, so glad to say goodbye to the carpet and hello to dark wood throughout the first floor.
My new workspace in the office
So much storage in the new office it makes my toes curl!
Our beautiful new french doors. The office gave us enough room for a desk for Josh, myself, and the kids as well as massive storage. I will get some zoomed out pictures of the complete renovation soon. We have some finishing touches to get done and after we do I thought I would do an entire blog post about diy when it comes to your home and the money it saves as well as the pride it gives you. BTW, anyone thinking about laminate flooring I highly recommend it. We thought it was time intensive and a little heavy on the back but overall an easy way to make a home look spectacular for very little money.
Now onto the second issue… where do the 2 oldest kids play so that they don’t wake the baby during naps, so their toys aren’t all over the house, and where I can have some quiet time to work? We wanted to finish the basement but even doing it ourselves we would be looking at a $7,000 - $10,000 investment so what options do we have? Get creative! Make those lemons into some lemonade again.
Instead of spending a fortune refinishing a basement of a home we prefer not to stay in we made a temporary playroom for very little money. Re-use and repurpose things you already have. Why spend money or stick things in a landfill when down the road a little paint or some sewing it becomes usable in another way? Above is the before of our basement.
another shot of the before basement
in progress
using IKEA panels to section off a fair sized “room” of the basement
add rugs, floor mat, blanket, pillows, desk and chair, toys, child safe space heaters and what do you have? A play room where the kids can make a huge mess without hearing mom nag them every 5 min to pick their stuff up. A play room where they can squeal, laugh and scream without threat of disturbing their baby sister. A play room where they can feel the freedom to be who they want to be. A mom who can have a moment away to allow her to appreciate the time we are together even more.
As a result of these easy changes Josh and I have been spending the entire day working and actually finding a way to be productive! I am halfway done with a new painting which I will share soon. This evening family popcorn and movie night! Yay!
Goodbye 2009 and Hello… 2010
So here is the obligatory 3 kids in front of the tree photo. The kids were a bit restless so it wasn’t worth getting creative, just happy to grab a shot.
The holidays put me in the mood to finish my seasons paintings which are available in the shop.
Penelope has been growing by leaps and bounds. She seems to eat from the time she wakes to the time she sleeps.
Some backyard football was played at Thanksgiving… well I guess front yard football to be exact.
Lots of cooking happened.
Wonderful family nights were had.
The new year was welcomed in surrounded by the ones I love. I wish everyone love and happiness in 2010. You are responsible for yourself and your own happiness. If you want to be happy then nobody can stop you because you will find it in all the little things around you.
