“naked”

these little babies will become the “links” for a long link necklace made of limpet shells and other misc. white shells for a customer in miami. i wanted to photgraph them before i put the necklace together so i can reference the images for further experimentation. somewhere in the middle of making this piece i realized that i was really excited to see the stones “naked”. they have all the fun little soldered swirls, bubbles, dots, and spots that is continuous in my work but without a visible functional detail…….none of the fussy stuff, like bails, links, or earwires that my pendants earrings and bracelets require. i was thinking it might be fun to make some pieces like this that have a pin on the back so they can function as a brooch. these little brooches can be individual or be collaged into a family. to be continued…..

oh, also, my green smoothie this morning (day 12) was really good and i omitted all other fruit except the pineapple….i am learning that the banana is a thickener, stevia plus works just as good as agave nectar, and my body is waking up in the morning looking forward to my new green breakfast smoothie. that in itself is yummy.

Posted in good for the tum, inspired by, new work |

green smoothie

green smoothie….sound crazy, it’s actually really good. try this recipe and see what ya think :O) this is adapted from a smoothie recipe from my friend cherie. i just made this recipe for the first time this morning…..yummie!! i started making green smoothies last summer after i read the book “green for life” by victoria boutenko about putting more greens in your daily diet. i flunked out quickly when my ancient blender produced a very chunky version of what you see in the picture. yikes is right….that lasted 3 days. the right blender will make this smoothie a delight to have. read on….

ingredients:

3 - 4 cups of fresh spinach…somewhat compact in the cup

1 frozen banana or a ripe one will do….if ripe, use 4 ice cubes also

1/2 cup of fresh pineapple

2 T of honey or agave nectar…..agave nectar is sweet like honey but it doesn’t have an aftertaste, just straight up sweetness

15 raw almonds….small handful-the amount that can easily fit in the palm of your hand

1 slice from a piece of fresh ginger, 1/8″ thick….it’s good without it, i didn’t have any today so i skipped it

2 T ground flax seed

1/16 tsp. of cayenne pepper

1 cup of water

in a high power blender….i use a vitamix vitaprep 3 and have found the best results with that blender, it’s an investment….but i use mine typically twice a day. it does way more that just function as a blender. with the high power of this blender i can make almond butter, chickpea flour & flax seed meal all out of the raw ingredients, you know the ingredients are much cheaper at the store then the premade product…………..okay, enough with the vitamix infomercial……..blend all of the ingredients until everything is completely pulverized. this smoothie is so refreshing, slightly sweet and with a bit of zing from the cayenne.

i am doing the 30 day green smoothie challenge. i vow to have a green smoothie of some sort for the next 30 days and see if i have any positive changes. today is day 6….i’ll keep ya posted. go green!!

Posted in good for the tum |

perma.smile

i have been fascinated with polymer clay since i was a youngin. i would take my craft bag everywhere i went…either it was filled with cross stitch materials or polymer clay creations and the materials to make things. on occasion, i selectively use polymer clay in my jewelry for “stones” when i can’t find just the right color or texture. recently, i found a site called www.corporatepig.com about an artist, meredith dittmar who creates amazing things out of polymer clay. this site is super fun.

need to find your perma.smile…………………watch these shorts.
http://www.fashionbuddha.com/Reel/umpqua_frolic.html

http://www.fashionbuddha.com/Reel/gadfly_preview.html

trish, jade & margaret these made me think of you. :O)

Posted in just for fun |

it’s that time of year gopher plant

drum roll please………………………………………..the gopher plant.

this is one of my favorite plants we have in our garden.  i am a bit of a nerd and so love this time of year.  i am bubbling over with excitement about planting time.  we just put in a bunch of veggies yesterday.

some faves….of course the tomatoes, which every year i always buy more tomato plants than we actually can fit in our garden.  one day maybe i will have an edible estate for a yard.  oh, and then,  cucumber, jalapeno, red bell pepper, sorrel, nasturtium, basil and thyme; the sorrel and the nasturtium are new finds for me.  they are both really great in salads.  we call the nasturtium pepper circles for there lovely round shape and peppery bite.  i’m still waiting on the purslane which is also an edible green.  i put them in my salad and green smoothies sometimes……it looks really beautiful in a salad with their multi colored blooms and succulent lobie leaves.

i can’t wait to dive into the landscape design for the backyard…..we worked on the front yard last spring and it has exploded with babies.  so, we will be able to use a bunch of starts from the front yard in the back.  superdoo!!!

we just painted the back of our fence slate gray.  it will be a beautiful backdrop for some grasses and agave.

Posted in misc |

spring.fruit salad.gopher plant

this was a special order piece for a woman in coconut grove as well. i just finished up the beadwork on the clasp. i really love the green with the orange in this piece…two of my favorite colors. it reminds me of spring, fruit salad (yummy) and our gopher plant. thanks linda :O)

we have a gopher plant that bloomed in our front yard for the first time last weekend. it reminds me of the green and orange in this necklace…..those two colors happily dancing next to each other.

this piece is made with rubber grapes, vintage glass and chrysocolla with the oxidized sterling silver.

Posted in new work |

shiny pale pale blue

new color of float earrings made from the shiny pale pale blue blow up floatee that i bought at “this and that” in coconut grove.  my friend and instructor rebecca at the yoga studio bought these little babies.  she loved that i called them shiny pale pale blue.  she said that it reminded her of teaching yoga in singapore.  they don’t have superlatives in their language so if you wanted to say that something had “more” or “to a greater degree” then you would say it twice.  i thought this was really funny since chris always teases me for saying the phrase “pale pale” when talking about a color….but in my mind one pale is not enough to describe a really soft color…hence, shiny pale pale blue.

Posted in inspired by, new work |

“no felt” earrings

special order”no felt’ earrings that i made for a couple gal pals that always come and see me at the coconut grove show. thanks alisa and judy!! :O)

Posted in new work |

opal ring

okay, enough bananas…..here is a ring i made with an opal my aunt gave me to make into something for her. i have a few other special orders i will be making for several customers in coconut grove. i’ll post ‘em as they are finished :O)

Posted in new work |

to many bananas in the freezer nut bread

ingredients:

2 cups wheat flour or semolina flour…or combination of the two

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/3 cup of apple sauce

1/2 cup of honey

4 T ground flax seed

2 cups of overripe bananas

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cup of carob chips

1 cup of raisins…if ya like em

1 1/2 cup of pecans

1 T cinnamin

1/2 tsp. stevia plus

………………………………

preheat oven to 350 degrees.

mix wet ingredients together. mix dry ingredients together and combine the two, mix thoroughly. spray loaf pan and fill with batter. bake for one hour & 10 minutes. check after an hour to see if the inside is done. if not, bake another 15 minutes or so. the top will get really brown. actually the loaf in the picture looks done on the outside and the sides but when i sliced a few pieces the inside was still a little doughy…..so i will be cooking this a bit longer.

-the tray is one of chris’ pieces and the cup is one of our friends’ pots….rick dunn. he will be participating in the art of the pot tour this year in austin. i am so excited to see a bunch of his work. yippy!!

Posted in good for the tum |

edamame mash

ingredients:

1 bag of shelled edamame

3-4 T fresh lemon juice

2 T olive oil

1/2 t. salt

1 t. pepper

1/8 tsp. of cayenne pepper

your favorite sliced bread

vegannaise—optional

………………………………………..

cook edamame according to directions on the bag…drain water off.

once cooked and cool enough to handle take 3/4 of the cooked edamame (putting the other 1/4 aside), and lemon juice and put into blender. blend until fairly smooth…..if you have lumps don’t worry this will just enhance the texture. remove mixture from blender and put into a large bowl.

chop remaining 1/4 of cooked edamame into small pieces (this will create some texture in the recipe…so chop to your liking, the larger the pieces the more texture and vice versa).

add chopped edamame, olive oil, salt and pepper to blended edamame and stir til incorporated.

use your favorite sliced or homemade bread……i really like it on a seedy/grainy bread with vegannaise and sprinkle of salt on it. i also make the sandwich with about 3/4″ of the mash piled on my bread. yummer!!! i think that is on the menu for the weekend.

enjoy!!!

FYI: the proportions of the condiments in this recipe can be adjusted to your liking…….amounts listed are just a guess-stimate. if the flavor is to subtle add a little more lemon juice and salt, and maybe a splash more olive oil. i just created this recipe after i had it at a restaurant here in austin. it’s super easy to make and very delish.

the bowl is by our great friend charity davis-woodard. www.lanesendstudios.com

Posted in good for the tum |