Art in My World

It all started with a great deal on a tea pot. I didn't buy it for me, but thought it might make a good wedding gift for someone. And then I thought, I have some yarn that matches that pot, so knitted up some dishcloths. And then there was that sewing machine that has seen little use this past year so I thought, why not a tea cozy and a cute apron to match? To top it off I found an adorable decorative box to place all the items in. May even throw in some homemade mint tea from the garden. Nice fun project. When I make another tea cozy I will take pictures of the process and write up the directions. In the meantime I will be sewing up a few aprons for me. I'm tired of wearing my cooking on my clothes!  

Luke and Joy King by | Make Your Own Book   A year has almost passed since these two beautiful people have joined together to be man and wife. Joy's sister Kaylynn is a very talented photographer and I wanted to try and put together a small album for them and others. Photo albums have taken on a new twist in the last decade. No more tape, glue and funky stickers. No more hours and hours to create an album for one person to enjoy. Now, we have so many options out there to create a book that many people can enjoy, and one that you can share and print time and time again. So, after many hours still, I put together a simple album using a favorite company of mine: blurb I do like to put together very complicated albums in Photoshop and then upload them to one of several favorite companies, such as Shutterfly. But Blurb allows you to download a simple program to assemble your album in a simple straightforward manner, a

I have spent many hours this week building a stone herbal shelf. Those stones are sure heavy! But the rains have made it difficult to keep at the task long. My herbs are taking over their place and so I thought it would be fun to create some herbal wreaths. They look so pretty when freshly created, but I know as they dry...not so much, but they will smell wonderful still.  For these wreaths I used a green metal frame for the base. I cut lots of herbs, and using floral tape wrapped up bundles that I arranged on the wire frame. Once I liked the look, using 24 gauge floral wire, I wrapped the bundles one at a time working around the wreath starting at about 3:00. Martha Stewart recommended one continuous wire wrap. This eliminated multiple wire cuts and made the process very easy. I'm looking forward to hanging these around the kitchen and maybe even using the herbs in my winter cooking.  

Sometimes I just want a little pampering at the end of the day. My skin feels rough from too much time in the garden and too much sun, and I just want a little whiff of something that smells like the plants I have been working with. In stores these bath bombs usually run around 3-4 dollars a piece, but believe it or not you can make them for around 75 cents a piece; a little less if you use inexpensive essential oils. Lavender, ylang ylang, and orange combination are my favorite. Peppermint can be invigorating and if you have a cold nothing beats eucyliptus! The following recipe will make around 12-16 bath bombs. I put mine in a large glass jar and set it by the tub, ready to throw one in when the mood strikes. 1 3/4 cups baking soda 1 1/4 cup citric acid (this can be ordered at Amazon) 2 cups cornstarch 2 teaspoons essential oil (any combination) 1/2 cup sea salt 2 1/2 tablespoons jojoba oil (any oil will do, but this one is best for dry skin;this can be ordered online or fo

Still painting, but realizing I can't finish one painting a day. A little planning one day, and two days to paint. Leave alone for awhile and then evaluate, and then maybe paint it all again because it just didn't work out. This painting idea was taken from one of my favorite artist who works mainly in pastels. I did this one in acrylics. The one below is an oil painting taken from a photograph during my anniversary trip last year.

Went out into the garden early this morning for inspiration for the painting challenge today. After fertilizing the herbs and noticing they all need watering (will be heading out in a bit to do that) I saw these pail yellow beauties. So they became my subject for a 9x11 oil painting. Still stuck at home without a car, this is helping me to stay focused on the painting.

My first painting in a 30 day challenge to paint 1 hour each day. I hope also to just paint, paint, paint...one small painting a day. This is about getting miles of canvas time and not creating a large masterpiece. I think this will be fun!  My Inspiration  

Tea Time. A relaxing time. A time where, during the day, you can take a breath and regroup. Today,I was forced to stay home because my son James is working on his car and needed to go to work. I spent the morning doing a load of clothes, started a loaf of bread, harvested several bunches of peppermint, and dried lots of sage. For dinner I went out into the garden and picked lots of thyme to make a lemon/thyme roasted chicken with heritage carrots.  And as the chicken was cooking I decided to put together several tea recipes that have muddled around in my brain. For months I have been collecting herbs to make some of these creations. I will look around on the internet for ingredients in the various teas out there, wrote them down and then tried to combine these ingredients in a pleasing way. I wrote out my findings as I was creating, taste the creation, and then make adjustments. The following recipes are what I came up with: Hibiscus Tea A tangy tea with lots of vitamin C 2/3

Spent a little time last week getting my feet wet again with painting. Now that the garden is in and the weather is so very wet right now, I have a reprieve from my watering chores and am trying to get motivated for some new painting projects. Except for a week at the beach in July, my summer will be spent at home. I am currently adding some raised beds to my little garden plot, but again, since it has been raining for the past several days, this is on hold too. After the world-wind of activities last summer I am finding it hard to believe I have time to paint, but paint I hope to do. I am just not sure of the direction right now. Here are two paintings I did for my watercolor course I am taking online.