Veggie Across America

Hello, My Dears...

You may have figured, or not, that we ran into some difficulties with the connection to the internet with the laptop. It was a little disappointing, but we took it in stride and had an adventurous time anyhow!

My Dad is vegan, and I'm vegetarian, so we went to restaurants with a veggie flare across the country. I'm going to give a little review of the ones we went to.

In Flagstaff, Arizona we ate at the New Frontiers Natural Market, at the deli. My Dad loved the Cashew-Tomatoe soup. I enjoyed the tofu patty. They had a good variety of prepared salads and eating outside was nice since there were some clouds, and it wasn't too hot.

We ate at an Indian restaurant called Gopuram, in Oklahoma City. Indian food is always so full of exotic flavor, and this restaurant had lots of vegetarian dishes, and the service was excellent. They gave us special treatment, and we had an interesting conversation.

My favorite place that we ate had to be Rosetta's Kitchen in Asheville, North Carolina. We had some awesome vegan nachos, and I had wonderful veggie burger. Not the average frozen patty sort of burger. I loved the atmosphere of this place the best of all the places we ate. It's very old-school hippie. Not your new-age, clean-and-simple-lines, type of place. More artsy, funky, colorful and kick-back style. I really like the colorful murals in the balcony eating area. Asheville is just the best town!!

This is a pix of the ultra cool "balcony" area...



Our stop in Memphis, Tennessess was a little different. It ended up being a bar called RP Tracks that must just try to have a little bit of everything for every type of person. They did have vegan nachos, but it was pretty much just some BBQ-Sauce-Tofu with chips. My veggie burger was run-of-the-mill. The waitress was ultra-sweet and helpful though.

In Fayetteville, Arkansas we ate at the fairly new Greenhouse Grill. This place had terrific service from a friendly guy (maybe the owner/manager?) The Greenhouse Grill was very clean, and the food was excellent, and had a bit of gourmet quality. Wesley said that it was the best food that he had on the trip. Wow, that's saying a lot!!

Another cool experience was in Dallas at the Cosmic Cafe. This place was decorated so great. Lots of influences from India, with colorful murals, and interesting items. Bursting with energy, and color and the waitresses were very nice. My only complaint about this place is I think they need a little bit of kid food. Pretty exotic, and kind of spicy stuff. Although Wesley did love the samosas appetizer that we had.

Even the parking area is groovy...



We didn't eat in Austin this year, but I know I love to eat at Mother's Cafe. I'm sure there are other great places to eat in that town.

Our last restaurant that we ate at was in Tucson called Lovin Spoonfuls. Cute name! This place is all vegan. We ate lunch there, and I'm wondering if they have an entirely different menu for dinner. We had sandwiches, and some kind of yummy fake-chicken nuggets. I loved the carrot salad that was an option for your side order with the sandwich. Another spot with excellent service. And it must be pretty popular in the desert town, it was packed!

Of course while traveling you can usually find a Whole Foods, Wild Oats. or Greenlife in a major city. It's nice to get a break from your usual roadside, Interstate-Gas-Station food and eat some quality food, and truly experience the veggie side of America!!

Check out Happycow.net for some other restaurants that serve vegetarian/vegan food. It can be an adventure.

You can expect to see me updating my blog more regularly, well, at least for a couple of weeks until my next trip!!

Yay! It seems to work! (except I can't seem to get a title on my page...I miss my Mac!!) Day one of our trip with my Dad, we got to Gallup, New Mexico. We stopped to eat at a natural foods store in Flagstaff. I've never stopped in that town, and I'm glad I got to see it this time. It's very nice, and the historical downtown is so awesome!

We went to see a couple of haunted places that Wesley had read about in book about the Haunted places of Route 66. This is the Riordan Mansion. How beautiful, enormous, and rustic. I guess there's ghosts there that like to play pool. We were there after hours, so we couldn't go on the tour. Save that for next time.

Sorry, I'm a little rushed, AGAIN. We've got to get on the road.

2008 DIARY - Goin on a trip!!

This is my entry for Fantazya's 2008 journal. I'm so rushed right now that that's all I can say. I'll update this soon. I'm going on a trip over to North Carolina, and if all works out with my Dad's laptop, I'll be able to update my blog from the road!!

If you don't hear from me soon, then look for me after July 24.

Much love!!

Happy 4th of July! Etsy Bloggers Street Team/Etsy Sellers Pick-O-The-Week - folkit

Happy 4th of July to all you Americans, or any who celebrate this day. We enjoyed the town a little, then had a relaxing day at home, in the seemingly-record-breaking heat. I hope all of you Southern California friends out there are staying cool! When it's 95 degrees at 6200 feet elevation, you know it's a sizzler!!

I'm now part of the Etsy Bloggers Street Team! There are a lot of Etsy sellers who blog, and they are fun to find, and read! The Street Team has it's first theme this week... "Orange for Etsy." To me the color orange is very cheerful and I love it in paintings. I'm combining my Pick-O-The-Week with the theme. So I was searching for something orange on Etsy using the "colors" search method. I never really understand just how this thing works. And I still think it doesn't come up with a lot of items. It did however bring me to my featured artist of the week... folkit. Dan C Pop Outsider Folk Art has a lot of original paintings and I notice quite a bit of orange being used. More importantly, this art is so vibrant, and has such a sense of humor, that I was instantly drawn to it. I love this cat, what you see is actually a crop, the whole piece is 5.5 x 23", and on recycled wood - always desirable to me. I love this Outsider Art!! And he has a blog. Good stuff!!

So again I say - stay cool out there!

In the OC

We went on our first mini-trip of the summer... down to the OC. I got a new camera and I'm so jazzed! I've had my oldie for 7 years, and it's such a dino. It worked good for me when no other would work with my old computer, but I was so ready for this smaller, faster, and higher quality camera. I had a fabulous time trying it out!!!

First we spent the day with my mom, sis and nephews, including the 18 month old twins. Makes for an entertaining, yet extra sandy day. Such cutie-pies!!


After that we went to eat at one of my favorite places to eat, The Gypsy Den. We usually go to the one in Santa Ana, in the Artist Village. A good day to go is on the first Saturday, monthly, for the Santa Ana Art Walk.


Before I left my mom's I had to get some pix of her garden. Here we have The Tiki Room, created by Grandma and boys.


My mom really knows how to create a delightful garden. This is one of her ponds.


She's lucky to have such beautiful water lilies blooming. And I'm lucky to have a new camera to take such lovely shots!!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - soapdeli

I'm always a sucker for soap with the scent of sage. While cruising etsy a couple of weeks ago I found this soap for sale. And yes, for some reason, sage scented soap is one I really like. So on an impulse I bought some soap from soapdeli. I'm happy to say this soap I bought was simply scrumptious! Sage and citrus is a perfect combination, and this soap feels so luxurious! And what topped off this perfect transaction was the incredibly high speed at which it arrived in my post office box! There are a lot of handmade soaps on etsy, but I have to say that the scents over at soapdeli are delightful! I will be back again. She's also got lotions and scrubs in her shop, which my feet are needing terribly at this time. You can also find their website at www.soapdelicatessen.com

As I mentioned, I bought this soap on impulse. I usually do buy on impulse, especially while looking at the lovely things on etsy. I've never hearted an item, then later gone back and bought it. I'm wondering how many people actually do go back to the item that they hearted, or are watching, and actually buy it?

A Decade of Motherhood

I'm amazed that my son turned 10! It's so cliche, but they do grow up so fast! I'm very proud of my friendly, creative, intelligent, sweet boy! If you've got the time, and interest, go to his blog Creep-A-Zoid Art and comment to be entered in his give away in honor of his birthday.



We already had the party for his friends a couple of days ago. So on the actual birthday we like to have a fairly relaxing day together and go out and enjoy nature in some way. We took a little hike. It was a little hot in the sun, but the sky was very blue and there was a nice little breeze. Although you can see the result of our drought. More dead trees.



Just a small amount of smog when you looked out over towards the city.



Even with the drought, you can still enjoy a little green in the creek areas. The smell is as lovely as ever, and there's still a tiny bit of water flowing in this creek.

After our day hiking, we went off the hill for dinner and a movie. An enjoyable day in honor of 10 busy, happy years!

Rosey Rose

Brad brought me home these beauties. I wish I could say they were from my garden, but I lost my best rose bush last year to a mole. I've still got a couple, but none that produce roses like these!



I always see faces in flowers, and this is the one that came to see me after receiving these lovelies.

You can find "Rosey Rose" my shop shop on etsy. It's acrylic on a 4 inch, round wooden, plaque

I'm Perplexed

I finished this little painting today. It's acrylic on a 5x5 inch wooden plaque. I'm perplexed at just what to call her. She looks very perplexed to me. So I guess she's going to be called "Perplexity".

She started out as a sketch from a couple of weeks ago. I often like to sketch and doodle in my journal while watching t.v. I was watching a silent movie and here's a spread that I doodled in my book. I don't really know much about the plot of this movie... You can miss quite a bit of a silent movie if you draw during it, but it sure had some cute girls in it! You can see this Perplexed young lady as she was originally drawn, in the bottom right corner.



Before I painted her I was thinking about the colors of the 20's. We talked about "just what were the colors of the 20's?" Wesley thought they were grey, black and white. Well of course, that's what I think too, just like all old decades, really. Then I tried to imagine more, and I thought of The Great Gatsby, and the colors to me in that story are very pastel. So here you have a little bit of pastel.

She also reminds me of the little gift books published by Hallmark in the late 60s, early 70s. I have one of those little books that I've had since I was 2. Since then I've collected quite a variety of the quaint books. For some reason, the hat, or facial expression reminds me of those books.

I quite enjoy this quirky Perplexity, and I'm sure I'll make prints of her in the future. For now we have the little piece in my shop on etsy.

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - Novembermoon

I'm lovin all the time that summer gives to me! Yeah, sure there's distractions when kids are home from school, but not having to deal with the school schedule is a wonderful thing!

I found this shop Novembermoon today, and what cute and funky things! I like the way she layers many types of materials into her creations. You'll find original paintings, fun and adorable dolls (always a fave of mine!), neat things made with monoprints, and some bags and handknit items.

Novembermoon also has an entertaining blog, one that I will definitely be back to visit often!

Altered Box - Count your life with smiles!

"Count the garden by the flowers, never by the leaves that fall. Count your life with smiles and not the tears that roll."



I altered this box that once held tubes of acrylic paint. I used a little reproduction of a painting that I did earlier this year. That was collaged with tissue paper, and the quote and acrylic paint were added.

Once I collaged and varnished it, the box wasn't fitting together like it originally did. So I glued thin rope around it to act as a stopper, to keep the lid from getting stuck.

It's a little funky, but the textures make it fun to hold. And the size is perfect for holding some special little trinkets, or would make a wonderful gift box. Approx 5 x 3.5 x 1.75 inches.

I've got 4 more of these little boxes, so I look forward to making more.

-SOLD-

100th Post!!

Cheers to my 100th! How fitting that my 100th post was to happen during an outrageously busy week!

Insanely busy schedule with end of the school year activities... field trips, plays, baseball playoffs, award ceremonies, other assorted duties - throw in a wedding reception and birthday parties, friends visiting from out of state, and a family crisis... well this makes for a stressed woman, and a suffering blog! Things are looking better now, and I'm thoroughly enjoying my first day of summer vacation. I'm so ready for my time of the year with no real schedule.

My Pick-O-The-Week will return next Wednesday. I just had to get a posting done before more time passed.

I did this painting a few years ago. It's a favorite of mine and shows up from time to time in prints of different sorts. The original is on a wood panel plaque. I'll be painting some more plaques soon.

HOORAY FOR SUMMER VACATION!!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - MrToastStore

Who DOESN'T like Mr. Toast?

My life's a little crazy now, so I chose to do an old favorite for my Pick-O-The-Week, MrToastStore!

I first came across Mr. Toast on MySpace, and how happy to later see him on Etsy. There's something so fun about Dan Goodsell and all of his little friends, you can't help but smile when you see the creatures! My 9 year old son was instantly hooked on all the characters, and he used his hard earned art money to buy one of Dan's books last year. Of course, the book was an instant success with all of his friends as well. They liked Mr. Toast so much that there were a few days of Mr. Toast and friends games at school. One friend went so far as claiming that HE had invented Mr. Toast a couple of years earlier. We of course knew that was just a tall tale!

Over in the MrToastStore you'll find original paintings, books, buttons, bookmarks, and plushies like this hilarious "Frankentoast" that you see here. I'm sure there's bound to be other stuff there sometime soon.

Find Dan's website at www.mistertoast.com From there you can find his ever-so-entertaining blog, animations and lots of other fun, happy stuff.

Just a little Purple

My garden is becoming so very lovely that I just had to share a little bit of purple!

Every year I get some lobelia and other colorful annuals to plant in my window boxes assorted pots. I was happy to also get some violas again. I just love those little flowers, and they really do self seed themselves and spread slightly around your garden.

But what fabulous shades of purples and blues these posies add to my yard, and my blog!

Buttons are Back

These are little buttons (or pins) that I have sculpted in polymer clay, then painted with acrylic paint. They are then coated with glossy acrylic varnish. On the back is a little safety pin that is sculpted into the clay. The look is more 3D than they appear in my photo. Little pieces of art that you can wear.

In the 90s I made a lot of these buttons, in many designs. Having not made any in nearly 10 years, it was fun to make these again. Back then peace signs didn't have a lot of significance, although I made them anyway. Now I'm enjoying making these buttons with messages even more!

Look for new designs very soon.

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - TheFlyingEwe

What's one of the biggest sellers on Etsy? Well, in my opinion, ONE of the biggies is wool. Wool for spinning and wool for felting. Almost every time I look at the newly sold items in the Time Machine, I see some kind of wool that has recently sold.

So I thought this week I would find a shop that specializes in supplies for the fiber arts. There's a lot of shops that have wool, but I found TheFlyingEwe. I like this shop for the obvious... it has lots of wool roving for your spinning needs...Both in solid colors and these varigated beauties like the picture you see here. But they also have supplies for the fiber artist-gadgets, spindles, felting needles, kits and patterns. Go to their website at www.TheFlyingEwe.com.

When I see these natural fibers it makes me want to give spinning a try. But I know my time won't allow it. So instead I'll have to try out some needle felting.

Yes, I always see wool for sale, that and hand-spun yarn. It's funny how spinning your own yarn is making it's comeback. What use to be an ancient neccessity is now a novelty. Our society is so modern with it's high-tech communications, and gizmos. I'll take the hand-crafted unique item over the mass-produced, Wal Mart junk any day! And I do believe the trend is growing!

Snowplants in the Forest

A snowplant is one of the more unusual things to find in the forest. Many sprouted up down the road from my house. That's what they do, they just suddenly appear. Their color is so unusual for our forest. When you first see them, you're bound to think they are man-made. And I don't know why they're called "snowplants", it hasn't snowed for weeks now. Another short lived beauty, these are so fun to see, and fairly rare. So enjoy them if you're lucky enough to see one!

Art Lesson - Pointillism - Lilacs - 1st Grade

This is an art lesson on pointillism that I did with a class of first graders. The very first art lesson that I did with a class was on pointillism. Back then I let the kids basically do what they wanted, as long as it was "spring-like." This year I gave them more of a focus, and we painted lilacs.

I first gave a little talk about pointillism, keeping it simple and quick because these were first graders. I showed them the famous Georges Seurat painting, as well as some pointillism I'd done before, and other examples that I found in magazines. I also talked about the process a little bit. I gave them small straws with non-drying clay stuck in the end. I showed them how to make the dots with tempra paint. And I explained to not use it like a brush, rather to just "dot" with the straw.

It was lilac season when I did this lesson, so I had a bunch of freshly cut flowers for every table. I tried to help them notice that the flowers had different shades and colors, not just a solid purple. I did a little example with them while lightly drawing a simple shape then filling with the dots. I asked what shape that might be, and it was cute when a little girl called it ginger shaped (CS). I told them to look at the flowers and leaves on their desk and try to duplicate them.

There's always a few kids who want a solid-colored picture with no different shades of purple. And they also want no white showing - like they just could've used a paint brush and painted it much more quickly. But then there was quite a few who actually got it. And I like how they really did do their own version of the flower, as you can see in these examples I have here.

A fabulous quote of the day was "You can mess up in life, but you can't mess up in art" !! by another first grade girl. (AL) The kids are so smart when it comes to art!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - INTERIORGLASSDESIGNS

Well I'm getting my POW posted pretty late in the night. My Wednesday was a busy, hot one at a track meet/field trip with a bunch of 4th and 5th graders. Fun, but hard to find the time to search for my Etsy Pick-O-The-Week.

I was thinking that I wanted to find a talented stained glass artist on Etsy. So I did a little search and the work of Kathryn over at INTERIORGLASSDESIGNS kept jumping out at me. There are some very stunning and unique designs over in that shop. And a good variety of types of items, too... Business card holders, kaleidoscopes, night lights, sculptures, jewelry, suncatchers, and boxes. I thought this carousel nightlight was so cool, and I always love a merry-go-round! I just love these beautifully unusual designs! She also does a wonderful job of soldering her items in a decorative style, adding to their charm.

INTERIORGLASSDESIGNS is a pretty new shop on Etsy. I wish her luck, but I think the outstanding work will take her far!

NibbleFest-The Groovy 60s

It's NibbleFest time. This month's theme was "The Groovy 60's" - always a fun theme!

So I did a groovy little cat. She looks quite peaceful in her sunshine daydream.

I enjoyed using some tissue and colored inks so much, that I had to do another. The tissue gives the piece lots of texture. And the colors are oh-so-60s! Well at least to me.

-SOLD-

Bees and Manzanita Blossoms

A Manzanita becomes a little habitat when it blooms in May. Just walk by one in bloom and you can hear the friendly humming of many a flying creature. Hummingbirds and bees of every variety enjoy it's luscious nectar. They are subtly beautiful, only when you look real close can you truly enjoy the lovliness of the blooms. It's a very short lived joy and is the true beginning of the warm season here.

I've heard a lot lately about how the bees are dying. What a scarey thought. But I'm happy to see we still have lots here on the mountain! I had to get a pix of one of the busy bees. Have you ever tried to photograph one? It's not real easy. I was lucky to get this shot. I've also realized the bees don't mind when I'm going about my own business - gardening, sitting, or even just watching them at work. But when I went to the tops of the bush and tried to get some pictures, well they started to get angry and a couple swarmed me. I had to run to the house for a break! So you can see just how lucky I was to get this photo... and with NO bee stings!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - 1ofmykind

Wow! Is this some gorgeous jewelry, or what?! There's a lot of incredible jewelry on Etsy, and it can be overwhelming to find only one to pick! I was drawn to these beauties made by the very talented and unique Jody at 1ofmykind. These jewels are created with vintage filagree, made into mini masterpieces. They are very old-world, or nouveau and deco all in one. And the stones are just glowing with loveliness. Definitely a treat that I would love to give myself! And yes, she has mastered the fine art of photography, a must for any successful online seller. Find Jody's website here.

I'm also attracted to this jewelry not only because it is so beautiful, but it also reminds me of a special time in my life. I grew up going to the Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival every year since I was a wee kid, back when the Festivial was also new. It was a fun place to go as a kid, and I always enjoyed when my parents bought me something there. Well, more than once I chose some jewelry that was displayed in a cute little gypsy wagon. Wonderful little baubles that I could stare at forever. I'm not sure if that artist is still around, but now you can find some other remarkable beauties here on Etsy!

Illustration Friday - citrus

This week's Illustration Friday theme is "citrus." And here we have a lovely Goddess of the Citrus fruits.

I guess you would call this mixed media. It's a little bit of collage using tissue paper. I also enjoyed using my new Winsor & Newton colored inks, both with brush and a pen. I've wanted a set of these little colored inks for a long time. I finally splurged (using my 40% off coupon) and bought some at Michaels. They have the cutest labels and boxes, and the colors are so vibrant.

This is an ACEO (2.5x3.5), art card, mixed media on 140 lb. watercolor paper.
-SOLD-

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mama Bears out there! I hope your day was lovely!

Art Lesson - Mixed Media, Self Portraits

This is the example that I did for this lesson. I thought it was a very fun project to do.

I did this lesson a couple of weeks ago in my son's 4th grade class. It does take a lot of prep work, but since it was with my son's class I felt I had the extra energy to put into it. First, I had to take pictures of all of the kids. I tried to get real close-up views of them. This also gave the portraits a fish-bowl effect which I thought went with the project well. I thought they should be black and white and I also made them a higher contrast. I used card stock instead of flimsy regular paper. (Thanks to H. for all the help!! :) ) So you can see, for 29 kids, this whole process can take some extra time.

I provided the copies of their faces. Luckily, Michaels had a big sale on scrapbooking supplies, so I was able to have a good supply of neat paper. Plus, I had an old dictionary and some magazine images, and contruction paper for collage. As well as markers. I showed the kids my example. Then explained how I had put different things that I liked onto the design. I also mentioned that I was trying to make it look kind of funky, and abstract, not very realistic. I tried to have them think of the process in 3 steps... 1. First, do the background and try to keep it simple. Like strips of plain construction paper. 2. Add their head and make a body, either draw or use some sort of collage body. They were thrilled when they asked if they could make any kind of body, like an animal, and I said yes. 3. Add different things they like, or represent themselves. They could draw or collage shapes and images.





It's always so interesting and fun to see what the kids come up with!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - MarmeeCraft

Here it is Wednesday again, already... Time for my POW from the many choices of creativity over there on Etsy.

This week my Pick had to be MarmeeCraft. This young lady is a girl after my own heart! I discovered her while looking through the Etsy Forums, looking at all the Etsy blogs out there. At her shop you'll find her oh-so-adorable original paintings, prints of these wonderous originals, needle felted animals, stuffed creatures and dolls, and other little sculpted cuties. She is 100% whimsy, and with a historical costume thrown in. Just the sort of thing that I enjoy the most!! I truly can't choose my favorite. And even better, she has a most enjoyable blog - MarmeeCraft - Cozy Little Whimsy Nook! So go check her out!

I'm amazed at the amount of wonderfully talented people I am constantly finding in blogland. It's a fun place to go!

A Day at the Herb Extravaganza!

This weekend I went down to OC for the "Herb Extravaganza" at the Fullerton Arboretum. The grounds there are so beautiful, lots of blooming flowers and so many rare varieties! I use to go to the Herb Fair or The Green Scene almost every year, but I hadn't made it there in about 5 years. It was free this year, but much smaller than it use to be. Still a lot of different plants for sale, just no other vendors selling plants and arts and crafts. I also missed the Lavender Lemonade which I was so looking forward to.


The pond was as lovely as ever, with lots of turtles basking in the sun.


And the little baby ducks were there too! I just love ducks so much!!


A special moment was seeing this dazzling bird. I kept seeing 2 of these beauties across the pond. I even took some pix of them, but they were far away. So I was giving up and had run out of room on my camera. Then suddenly the pair flew over to me, and landed on the grass 2-3 feet away! They did a little chirp and dance with their feathers fluffed. I quickly made room on my camera, and miraculously got this beautiful shot of the one. I think they are Red Winged Blackbirds. I don't think I've ever seen them before in OC. Only at the beautiful Arboretum with it's natural, gorgeous setting!


I have a weakness. I love to buy plants, especially herbs!

I've Been Tagged!!

Yes, I have been tagged by the lovely Sandra Eileen - Artisan Jewelry. How nice that she thought of me!

I'm to do a little write up about myself. So tough to sit and contemplate yourself!

The Rules:

--List seven random facts/habits about yourself
--Choose another seven bloggers to tag and list their names in your blog
--Leave your seven tagged bloggers comments to notify them of their tagging and to direct them to your blog for tag instructions.



1. My favorite thing to do is go on a road trip and do some art in my Travel Journals. I love getting an ice mocha at an independent coffee house and sitting a bit to doodle. This pix is a journal entry from my last summer's trip.
2. I'm NOT a morning person.
3. I absolutely love swimming. I need more places to be able to do this.
4. Despite it's being overly commercialized, and is brain washing our children - I love Disneyland, and most all things Disney.
5. I'm a big fan of old music. All decades really, but especially 20's and 30's jazz or country.
6. I live in a funky old house but have one of the best yards around.
7. As a kid I usually had different interests than my friends. When my friends loved Leif Garrett, Andy Gibb, and Scott Baio, my hero was Grizzly Adams! This is the trash can I've had since then.



Now I must go and tag 7 more bloggers...

The oh so sweet SamIAm Creations
The ever so witty mrs. kwitty
The most gracious gardenpainterart
The very kooky handbag maker - cArried AwAy
The oh so rare and fun RetroAttic
The most charming fluffyflowers
The ever so talented redheadart

Thank you ladies!

Illustration Friday - Remember

The weekly theme for Illustration Friday is "Remember". It took me a while to think of an idea, and even longer to get the painting done. Life was just too busy this week. Well I'm getting it onto IF with just a few hours to spare.

I was thinking about how young women use to make a special message for their lovers who were going off to war. Then I wanted the overall look to be like the vintage needle packages. I've always liked those packages. I guess because I remember my mom having some in her old sewing machine drawer way back when I was quite young. They probably belonged to her mother before that.

It's an ACEO (2.5x3.5 inches) acrylic. Find it on Etsy.

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - Stoneriverstudios

This week's POW is Stoneriverstudios. There is a lot of variety to be found in this shop. You'll find Limited Edition prints, fiber arts such as hats, scarves and java jackets, and hard and soft sculpture. The things that got me to her shop, and I bought, were the beautiful plant starts! Plants are more of a rare thing to find on Etsy. And I envy the people that are able to do it. That's one of my dreams to make money off of the land, from my own garden. I actually did a little bit of it years ago when I had a shop.

I bought 2 plants starts - Flowering Fringe Cups for a shady spot in my garden, and English Alba Climbing Rose. This rose has a great story...

"These are cuttings taken from my 35' ft tall mother plant! (WOW!) The Mother plant was made its way to our property by the father of the woman we purchased our home from. She was originally from London and moved here in 1973. Her father came to visit soon after, bringing with him 4 varieties of old english roses for the garden to remind her of "home." -Stoneriverstudios.

She goes on to say... "The 35' ft Mother plant outgrew all of its arbors over the years, and was lucky enough to be befriended by an Ash tree, which doesnt mind supporting all its flowering canes. All summer long people stop to take pictures of our "Rose Tree"!"

It must be a beautiful sight to see!

What sold me the most on this seller was her excellent customer service! Only a couple of days after my purchase, I got a note explaining that the package was returned to her damaged. She then sent me a new package that I received in record time. And because I had to "wait" she included an extra plant and some mixed varieties of squash seeds. Very sweet and yet unnecessary because I still got the plants sooner than I've gotten a lot of packgages that I've bought! So check it out and maybe you'll find some little gems for your garden!

Sorry that my Pick-O-The-Week was not on Wednesday as it's suppose to be. Because of testing I couldn't help in the class yesterday. So instead I did some shopping off the hill. Then we had a baseball game that I co-coach. There was little time left for much else. I went to bed and right then realized I had totally skipped over my POW entry! Luckily I already knew who to write about, and instead of a late night Wednesday, you have a some-what early entry for Thursday.

The Tulips are blooming

I drive by these tulips on a daily basis, year after year. It's always such a lovely sight to see. Today we took a walk past them with camera in hand. I brought my camera especially for this shot. A beautiful combo for your spring garden is a patch of these yellow tulips and a neighboring group of muscari (Grape Hyacinth). You could also plant some daffodils with the purple flowers and would look just as nice. Tulips are one of those flowers that don't do that great for me. The main reason being that the moles and gophers love tulips. I literally saw one drop down into the earth like it was a cartoon! But I don't give up on any plant. I'll keep on trying (and sadly killing) a plant until I get it right! So every year I see this pairing of flowers and say to myself, "I must plant a container of these 2 flowers." Well, again another year, and I haven't done it. So I guess until next year I'll just have to enjoy my neighbors beauties while they last.

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - AmeliaMakesArt

This week's Etsy Sellers Pick-O-The-Week is AmeliaMakesArt. This talented girl does a variety of things. This is such a fun shop to visit! She has original paintings (of a very fine quality I must say!) some of which are reversed painted on glass. She's also got prints of her paintings. The prints are also used to make some really nice jewel boxes with the print under glass, and mirrors and buttons. In addition to her imagination coming out on the canvas, Amelia also does some incredible things with felting - soaps, bags and scarves. ...AND the thing that caught my eye to begin with... these so fantabulous needle-felted dogs!! Not only are they the most precious things, but they can be customized and made to look like your own special friend!! How unique! They are made of Merino wool and range in size from 5-8". Amelia writes that she is in love with making these little needle-felted dogs. Well, Amelia, I am in love with the little needle-felted dogs that you make! What wonderful work this girl is producing!! Read her blog at www.ameliamakesart.typepad.com

Happy Earth Day

Finally the Earth is getting some real big-time media coverage. Earth Day's been going on since when? Like 1970 or something like that. It's only taken close to 40 years for more people to actually take it serious. Well I'm glad to hear it.

We live in a society of convenience, and I agree it can be hard to always do the best thing for the environment. We all can't afford a hybrid car, or have solar paneling for our power. Riding a bike to work just isn't possible! Here are 10 simple ways that can help to save the environment.

1. Paper or Plastic?...Neither. Reusable cloth bags are not that hard to use. Especially for just a few items. I can see that it would be harder for your major trips to the grocery store. A Trader Joe's near by had some for only $.99. I'll make sure to get a few next time I'm there. Of course, you can readily find more expensive canvas bags.

2. Buy Organic whenever possible. Not only are the pesticides bad for all species, they also use more energy to produce the final product. Non-organic cotton uses a whole lot of chemicals, so if possible buy an organic cotton t-shirt. A fabulous blog on the subject of organic is Vegetarian Organic Life. Even better than organic is biodynamic farming.

3. Plant a tree. My fave of all! We need more oxygen! Go to americanforests.org for more info. For each $1.00 spent there, 1 tree is planted. Pretty reasonable price, really.

4. Don't let your car idle while waiting to pick someone up. Turn the car off. Walk whenever possible for short trips.

5. Use Energy Star qualified compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL). Replacing 5 regular bulbs with these can save you $60 annually. That's so easy!

6. Instead of bottled water, use a reusable "good" plastic bottle with filtered water. Naglene, and SIGG make some nice reusable bottles. There's also a cool corn resin bottle with built in filter that you can refill up to 90 times and biodegrades in 80 days. It's at New Wave Enviro. I want one of those!

7. Eat less red meat. Even just one less meal a week can help. For every pound of meat it takes 840 gallons of water to produce. This is easy for me since I've been a vegetarian for 20 years. Now a days it's so much easier to go vegetarian with all the mock meat available. Most are very tasty and make a wonderful substitute.

8. RECYCLE. So much more easy to do than it use to be. You can find ways to reduce your junk mail at ftc.gov. Pangea Organics makes skin care products with packaging that uses 100% post consumer paper. On top of that you can simply bury the box and grow a plant. There's seeds in there! Also, you can find a lot of hand made items made with recycled products on Etsy!

9. Get a powerstrip that stops the electric flow to your appliances. This is just a waste of energy. I need one of these, because really now, it is just sometimes impossible to unplug your appliances constantly. One I've learned of is a BITS Ltds Smart Powerstrip.

10. Use more environmentally-friendly cleaning products. You can even use baking soda and lemon juice for a lot of it. Some good products are Method, Mrs. Meyers, and Seventh Generation. I found Method products at the Target nearby. They have some great scents too!

For more information on saving OUR EARTH go to :
www.earth911.org
www.greendimes.org
www.treehugger.com
www.earthday.net
Nature Conservancy

Now as for the little froggie!! While we were driving the lonely Hwy 395 this summer up in Oregon, we luckily found a place to stay the night! It was pretty slim pickins up there for any kind of business. Well, at this Mom-and-Pop RV Park, there were a large group of these little frogs all around the restrooms. Don't you want to do what ever you possibly can to try to save these fragile guys? I know I do.