This was a cool idea and I thought I would share. One of the blogs I follow, Not Just a Housewife, apparently has hosted several "linky parties." The idea is that followers of the blog share some of their current artsy projects so that the creativity is spread around a bit. Isn't that a great idea? The current "linky party" can be found here:
http://happyhappyhousewife.blogspot.com/2011/01/show-me-what-ya-got-7.html
I personally love the skirts/sewing ideas. While I have a sewing machine and have been known to use it, my skill level is almost nill. Yet these skirt ideas look simple enough that I may, in fact, attempt them! The only problem? Now I have so many ideas for Artist's Dates that I am running out of actual days on which to do these projects!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Do I see a contender for Artist's Date #4?
It is quite possible that The Artist's Way is a disease. I feel creativity spreading throughout my days and weeks. Today I stopped by the dollar store to get some batteries for Honey's BBQ lamp. While there I saw a hideous frame:
It cried out: "Please, rescue me!" But what could I do with a hideous gold frame? That's when inspiration struck. I have spray paint (always a favorite). I have fun scrapbook paper (on clearance at Michael's!). I have Mod Podge. It was time for a mini project. Not something big enough to be considered an artist's date, but something fun.
I removed the glass and the matte from the frame. I spray painted the frame black to match the paper I chose. I then took the matte and cut strips of paper to Mod Podge along the inside:
Once I let it dry, all I had left to do was reassemble everything and choose a photo! This was my first attempt, so it wasn't as perfect as I would like, but it works and I am excited to try it again. Poor, forlorn frames, fear no longer -- I will rescue you from a life of misery!
Today's artistic endeavor inspired me to look around for other projects. I've been looking for lamps for the family room, wanting something unique, in my price range, and "nowtro" (kind of like the 70s, but updated -- like our house). Tonight I found a tutorial for a wonderful lamp idea and I am so excited to try it! It seems the ideas just keep coming. Yay!
UPDATE (1/28/11):
I realized that I should start offering links on my posts back to different crafty blogs where I've shared my ideas and found great new inspiration. I've posted some "buttons" to various blogs that I love and have linked, but this is probably a better, more deliberate way of keeping track of things. So here it goes....
You can find this project on The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday.
I removed the glass and the matte from the frame. I spray painted the frame black to match the paper I chose. I then took the matte and cut strips of paper to Mod Podge along the inside:
Once I let it dry, all I had left to do was reassemble everything and choose a photo! This was my first attempt, so it wasn't as perfect as I would like, but it works and I am excited to try it again. Poor, forlorn frames, fear no longer -- I will rescue you from a life of misery!
Today's artistic endeavor inspired me to look around for other projects. I've been looking for lamps for the family room, wanting something unique, in my price range, and "nowtro" (kind of like the 70s, but updated -- like our house). Tonight I found a tutorial for a wonderful lamp idea and I am so excited to try it! It seems the ideas just keep coming. Yay!
UPDATE (1/28/11):
I realized that I should start offering links on my posts back to different crafty blogs where I've shared my ideas and found great new inspiration. I've posted some "buttons" to various blogs that I love and have linked, but this is probably a better, more deliberate way of keeping track of things. So here it goes....
You can find this project on The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
A few more blogs that I like
This weekend I added a few more blogs to my list of "places I will check out on a regular basis." Some are family and friend blogs, filled with stories and pictures of people I hold near and dear to my heart. While they make me happy, the blogs may not be those that one shares with strangers. Instead, I finally rediscovered a few of my "crafty" and comedy blogs and thought that I would share.
http://craftily-ever-after.blogspot.com/ -- This adorable young woman always has such cute ideas. She is, in fact, the one that inspired me to try to Mod Podge something last week. Her current post is about an idea for Valentine's Day. I don't believe in Valentine's Day, I don't use red and white color combinations, I try to avoid useless decor and knicknacks, and this project would not match any place in my house but it is so cute that it makes me want to try. Now I'll have to think about what I can do to modify this and make it work for my life.
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ -- I believe that the author of this blog may in fact be a long-lost sibling. Not only does she create drawings and tell stories like my brother Tin Man, her experiences must be similar because all my siblings end up laughing so hard that we forget to breathe. My brothers believe that they invented "Seven Games to Play with a Brick" and that the author was just spying on them during their childhood.
http://alittlelovelyblog.blogspot.com/ -- I'm really into crafting, as you might be able to guess from the blogs that I follow. This does not mean that I am a crafty person by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a few places I turn to for inspiration. This is one of those places.
Another crafty blog can be found here: http://thoughtfuldesigns.blogspot.com/ or here: http://hisugarplum.blogspot.com/ or here: http://happyhappyhousewife.blogspot.com/
One thing that I noticed about most of these blogs: they are written by stay-at-home moms. I am impressed by their craftiness. So if you are bored or if you want to try a craft project or maybe you just want to give your brain a rest and look at pretty pictures online for a few minutes, check them out. I'm sure that you, like me, will find inspiration for a future project among the many ideas from the minds of these clever authors.
http://craftily-ever-after.blogspot.com/ -- This adorable young woman always has such cute ideas. She is, in fact, the one that inspired me to try to Mod Podge something last week. Her current post is about an idea for Valentine's Day. I don't believe in Valentine's Day, I don't use red and white color combinations, I try to avoid useless decor and knicknacks, and this project would not match any place in my house but it is so cute that it makes me want to try. Now I'll have to think about what I can do to modify this and make it work for my life.
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ -- I believe that the author of this blog may in fact be a long-lost sibling. Not only does she create drawings and tell stories like my brother Tin Man, her experiences must be similar because all my siblings end up laughing so hard that we forget to breathe. My brothers believe that they invented "Seven Games to Play with a Brick" and that the author was just spying on them during their childhood.
http://alittlelovelyblog.blogspot.com/ -- I'm really into crafting, as you might be able to guess from the blogs that I follow. This does not mean that I am a crafty person by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a few places I turn to for inspiration. This is one of those places.
Another crafty blog can be found here: http://thoughtfuldesigns.blogspot.com/ or here: http://hisugarplum.blogspot.com/ or here: http://happyhappyhousewife.blogspot.com/
One thing that I noticed about most of these blogs: they are written by stay-at-home moms. I am impressed by their craftiness. So if you are bored or if you want to try a craft project or maybe you just want to give your brain a rest and look at pretty pictures online for a few minutes, check them out. I'm sure that you, like me, will find inspiration for a future project among the many ideas from the minds of these clever authors.
Soup and bread on a rainy day
This morning Honey decided to make yogurt from scratch using a very simple recipe discovered last week. The idea was inspired by a page in The Pleasures of Cooking for One, which spoke to the ease of making yogurt from scratch, an idea we've talked about but always been too scared to try. We found that turning the light on in our oven keeps the milk at the right temperature, around 100 degrees, so the process of turning milk into yogurt is a piece of cake. Honey loves plain, sour yogurt, and it's a great addition to the english muffin recipe we use every week. (Side note: we've used whole milk and skim milk and like the results of each -- it also makes an excellent substitute for sour cream.)
One of the reasons we needed more yogurt is that the english muffin recipe we use calls for yogurt (and we've tried numerous recipes -- this is our favorite). Well, it doesn't exactly call for yogurt. It calls for buttermilk powder and we've modified that to mean "yogurt" since we think it tastes better. Every week or every other week Honey goes through the day-long process to create these muffins because we eat them every morning for breakfast. Yum!
Since one of us was being so productive, the other decided that she, too, better find a way to be productive today. We always make a big pot of food Sunday evening and take the leftovers as lunches throughout the week, but we are going to a friend's for dinner tonight and so we needed to make something earlier in the day. We're also trying to watch what we eat in an effort to adopt better eating habits and maybe slim down a bit in the process, so we decided that this week's big meal would be soup. Lentil and split pea soup, specifically. I looked at numerous recipes and did not see exactly what I wanted, so I decided to make my own.
Rainy Day Lentil Soup
2 small onions, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 carrots, shredded
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 poblano pepper, chopped (opt.)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 c. lentils
1/2 c. yellow split peas
1/2 c. green split peas
1 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
10 c. water
Spices, to taste, so approximately:
1 tbsp. Madras curry powder
1 tbsp. chicken bullion powder
1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp. chile powder
1/2 tsp. each cumin, ginger, paprika
1/4 tsp. each cinnamon, cardamon
Fry the onions and garlic in the oil until they start to caramelize. Add the pepper and fry for 1-2 more minutes, then add the water and bring to a boil.
When the water is boiling, add the lentils, split peas, curry powder, and chicken bullion. Let it cook on a low boil for about 30 minutes until the lentils and peas are almost fully cooked.
Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 10-15 more minutes (until the lentils are cooked and the flavors are well-blended).
Time for lunch. Yum!
One of the reasons we needed more yogurt is that the english muffin recipe we use calls for yogurt (and we've tried numerous recipes -- this is our favorite). Well, it doesn't exactly call for yogurt. It calls for buttermilk powder and we've modified that to mean "yogurt" since we think it tastes better. Every week or every other week Honey goes through the day-long process to create these muffins because we eat them every morning for breakfast. Yum!
Since one of us was being so productive, the other decided that she, too, better find a way to be productive today. We always make a big pot of food Sunday evening and take the leftovers as lunches throughout the week, but we are going to a friend's for dinner tonight and so we needed to make something earlier in the day. We're also trying to watch what we eat in an effort to adopt better eating habits and maybe slim down a bit in the process, so we decided that this week's big meal would be soup. Lentil and split pea soup, specifically. I looked at numerous recipes and did not see exactly what I wanted, so I decided to make my own.
Rainy Day Lentil Soup
2 small onions, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 carrots, shredded
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 poblano pepper, chopped (opt.)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 c. lentils
1/2 c. yellow split peas
1/2 c. green split peas
1 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
10 c. water
Spices, to taste, so approximately:
1 tbsp. Madras curry powder
1 tbsp. chicken bullion powder
1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp. chile powder
1/2 tsp. each cumin, ginger, paprika
1/4 tsp. each cinnamon, cardamon
Fry the onions and garlic in the oil until they start to caramelize. Add the pepper and fry for 1-2 more minutes, then add the water and bring to a boil.
When the water is boiling, add the lentils, split peas, curry powder, and chicken bullion. Let it cook on a low boil for about 30 minutes until the lentils and peas are almost fully cooked.
Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 10-15 more minutes (until the lentils are cooked and the flavors are well-blended).
Time for lunch. Yum!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Artist's Date, Week Two: A Geometric Painting
A picture Matthew took of a piece of art he liked inspired this week's "Artist's Date."
The piece was made out of metal, which is far beyond my skill level or current desire to master, but I liked the concept. I thought about painting a canvas, but the size I wanted was a bit too expensive for my comfort level (at least when something's an experiment), so I bought thick posterboard designed for acrylic paints, purchased the main colors that I wanted (knowing I had a few more colors at home and could probably fill in gaps that way), and started on the project.
Whenever I decide to start on an art project -- and it doesn't matter whether it's quilting, painting, writing, photography, or anything else -- the furry babies decide that they must help. "Oh look," Bunny says to Nora, "Mom has a lot of supplies! I bet she needs our help!" Nora of course responds by saying, "She's such a good mom, we wouldn't want her to do all this work by herself! Let's help!" This is what happens:
After I spend a good 15 minutes moving one cat after another and trying to convince Lotus not to walk underneath me as I am moving cats, I start working on the project. I used painter's tape to create the patterns on the board. The 4' square, although cumbersome, helped me create squares and rectangles that had actual straight sides.
By this time in the process the cats were tired. They had worked hard trying to help Mommy.
I used a metallic bronze for the borders between the shapes, so it took three coats (instead of the two coats of paint for each shape), but it's done.
It's not perfect, but it's a first attempt and so that's okay. I think that in the future I'll try this type of thing on canvas with smaller borders. I also thought of a way that I can do geometric designs on the cheap, but that, I think, will be for next week's Artist's Date.
The piece was made out of metal, which is far beyond my skill level or current desire to master, but I liked the concept. I thought about painting a canvas, but the size I wanted was a bit too expensive for my comfort level (at least when something's an experiment), so I bought thick posterboard designed for acrylic paints, purchased the main colors that I wanted (knowing I had a few more colors at home and could probably fill in gaps that way), and started on the project.
Whenever I decide to start on an art project -- and it doesn't matter whether it's quilting, painting, writing, photography, or anything else -- the furry babies decide that they must help. "Oh look," Bunny says to Nora, "Mom has a lot of supplies! I bet she needs our help!" Nora of course responds by saying, "She's such a good mom, we wouldn't want her to do all this work by herself! Let's help!" This is what happens:
After I spend a good 15 minutes moving one cat after another and trying to convince Lotus not to walk underneath me as I am moving cats, I start working on the project. I used painter's tape to create the patterns on the board. The 4' square, although cumbersome, helped me create squares and rectangles that had actual straight sides.
By this time in the process the cats were tired. They had worked hard trying to help Mommy.
I used a metallic bronze for the borders between the shapes, so it took three coats (instead of the two coats of paint for each shape), but it's done.
It's not perfect, but it's a first attempt and so that's okay. I think that in the future I'll try this type of thing on canvas with smaller borders. I also thought of a way that I can do geometric designs on the cheap, but that, I think, will be for next week's Artist's Date.
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