Archive for October, 2008
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
rubber grapes, glass beads & filament, glass….see this piece in progress
vintage glass, plastic from a cabbage patch kid shoe
polymer clay, vintage button, found garnet…my starbucks partner-in-crime (also my neighbor) kati surprised me one day with a little bag filled with beautiful raw garnets. i love them…the geometric edges and intense reddish black color. what a treat!! some are loose and some are still comfortably positioned on there matrix stone. there was talk of her folks finding them in either colorado or nevada. well, i did some research on “found garnets” in nevada and i learned of garnet hill
sounds like a place to put on the list :O)
polymer clay, vintage glass
….these should be posted in the shop in the next day or so…..
Posted in new work |
Saturday, October 11th, 2008
i’m intrigued and must find time to make this curious little cake…..a chocolate cake made with pop rocks. say what???
i found this recipe via cup of jo
click on chubbyhubby for the recipe
Posted in good for the tum, i like you may like too, just for fun |
Saturday, October 11th, 2008
i saw one of these brussels griffon pups at an airport about a month or two ago. he was being taxied around in a wheelie duffle bag and lovin’ every minute of it. the fuzzie bud was standing on his back legs with his head out the zipper and his ears and tongue flapping in the wind. it totally made my day….so did this little guy. yeah, scrunchie face.
picture from cuteoverload
Posted in fuzzie wuzzies, just for fun |
Saturday, October 11th, 2008
a couple practice wee little rings i made this past week. the faceted stones are a black diamond and a white diamond…….or a sapphire. the clear stone i’m unsure of because it was amongst a hodge podge of stuff i had from years back when i was setting faceted stones amongst slices of sanded wood or rusty metal. this was a little refresher course test & experiment to brush up on my faceted stone setting skills. i am making a special gift for someone i love that will require using a small-ish faceted stone. i figured i would start small…i mean, really really small. these stones are 1.5 and 2 mm or 2/32 of an inch & 3/32 of an inch…approximately. if i can set these little ones then the slightly bigger one i will be using for the “gift” piece will come a bit easier.
Posted in just for fun, new work |
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
sweet potato & tofu curry
**this recipe makes a lot of curry sauce so you can cut it in half if your not interested in freezing some. i like making the full recipe since it takes a bit of time it’s nice to have some leftover in the freezer for a last minute meal.
ingredients:
2 strips cinnamon bark
1 tsp cloves
6 cardamom pods
6 black peppercorns
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 bay leaves
4 large onions–red preferably
10 medium tomatoes or 2-16 oz cans of chopped tomatoes
1 bunch of cilantro…sometimes i use basil
10 cloves of garlic
2 jalapeno peppers
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp corriander
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp turmeric
2 cans of coconut milk
salt to taste
4 sweet potatoes
1 package of extra firm or firm tofu
dry roast first 6 ingredients in a large pot sprayed with cooking spray. roast until the spices become aromatic….3 - 5 minutes.
blend the next five ingredients (all the vegetables) in a blender til almost smooth. add to the pot and simmer over med-high heat. cover with lid to keep mixture from splattering everywhere.
let this cook for about an hour or so to let the flavors meld and some of the liquid to boil off.
while the curry is cooking, remove skin from sweet potatoes & cook in the microwave(or boil if you prefer) once cooked and slightly cool cut into cubes. then remove excess water from tofu and cut into cubes.
next, add the last 6 spices and coconut milk and cook for another 10 or so minutes.
to serve: add a handful of tofu and sweet potato cubes in each bowl and pour desired amount of curry on top and stir a bit……eat up. i love this yummy curry. this is for sure a favorit of ours. it makes such a good comfort food dish.
combine remaining sweet potato and tofu with desired curry and put in fridge for leftovers. if there is any curry left put in freezer for another day.
*also try with regular potatoes.
**to change it up a bit try with wilted spinach and chick peas instead of the sweet potato and tofu.
Posted in good for the tum |
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
for more pink goodness and inspiration, check out this entry from my friend margaret’s blog……love the pink crocheted bunny. p.s. wish her a happy “pink” birthday….it’s her birthday on monday 
Posted in i like you may like too |
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
one of my favorite events of the fall is round top antique and flea market halfway between austin and houston. my folks typically come to town to visit and we all head to the best flea market around. it’s everything from grandma’s attic goods and not-so-goods to high end antiques…there is pretty much something for everyone. i love that my mom and dad come for this fun filled adventure. my mom will look for vintage toys, quilts, or new additions to her flamingo collection. chris will be on the prowl for pink rose of sharon depression glass for his mom and fine pottery pieces for himself plus whatever the rest of us are looking for. my dad is interested in anything cowboy, leather or western related including books….when he finds his way into a book collection it’s pretty tough to get him out. my dad, is a looker….that’s where i get my “i want to look, touch and read everything that comes in my view” approach. as for my interests, well, they cover a fairly broad spectrum and include things like vintage linens and glassware, to vintage beads, glass & sequins, to vintage furniture, most old things that are pink, things with good texture, old dollhouse goods, and so much more. since chris and i have pretty much filled our house up with vintage or seconds furniture that pretty much leaves room for adventure to be all about items i can use in my work, the “vintage beads, glass & sequins, random plastic toys that can be cut and shaped. i can pretty much go to just one little white house and spend all day there just digging and searching for the right textured and solid colored glass and plastic specimens for my work. but, this time i decided to go there last just so i could enjoy the rest of the show as well. did i mention my mom and dad are here with me too, yeah!!! :O)
here’s a few highlights from our all day extravaganza at roundtop….
the nicest fella from colorado runs this “coffee bug” and he serves up a fine glass of iced tea….so we can keep up maximum shopping stamina :O)
christmas, NO, vintage christmas, HELL YES!!! this was the first booth i walked into as opposed to just glancing while walking past. she had such a delightful assortment of vintage christmas goodies. the collection was sweet and soothing and not strictly red and green which i loved :O)
i couldn’t resist these sweet little baby shoes.
some of my treaures: some red bakelite buttons, a creme textured button, some gray/black found pebbles, an old peachy velvet powder puff, vintage photo that came with the old jewelry box, and an old velvet ring box…..i wish i had a whole collection of little vintage/antique ring boxes. i have always liked small spaces & boxes, i use some of these shapes as well as shapes from vintage salt and pepper shakers as inspiration for my beaded boxes.
these were a steal…. i love vintage salt and pepper shakers, they are grouped amongst my affection for small containers that come open :O)
another vintage pink jewelry box with really awesome flip out sides to hold rings….the box was a sure pleaser!!! also a few old plastic curlers for a possible bracelet idea, some random shells, a found balloon, (did i mention i have a thing for found balloons), some single clip earrings with great plastic cabs. & a few empty matchbooks.
a new discovery in the little white house, vintage sequins from france…….can’t wait to come up with some designs for this lil’ babies
a real highlight was hanging out with these cute great dane puppies….if they didn’t get 200 lb + i think we would have been bringing home a new baby. the one on the left with the pink and blue eye was pretty fond of chris and i. he was pretty irresistible!!! but would have destroyed our home…it’s small and filled with a lot of breakable things. i think brinkley would have loved him, though. at just 7 weeks old they were already about 40 lbs. twice the size of brinkley.
more pics. to come…..
Posted in i like you may like too, inspired by, just for fun |
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
yeah!!!! i was finally able to get on etsy and catch a spot in the treasury list for etsy. here’s a grouping of a few of my favorites….
Posted in etsy, inspired by |
