Ezra Fun

Yesterday was a treat with Ezra. I picked him up at his daycare and he was very chatty all about a toy, "Wolverine Claws- (they're not sharp)". Every time he said it, he included the "they're not sharp" part. He assured me they are available at EVERY Target store-including mine. We discussed earning and saving money for items like that, which signaled that this was a good time to get out a cool bank his Aunt Amy had sent a while back with three separate compartments for Spending, Saving and Sharing. More on that later.
I had decided that since I was going to be spending more time in my "new" sunny yard that perhaps I should try to encourage in him a love of gardening as well. I bought a fun little greenhouse kit to start us off. Six brightly colored pots with soil pellets, seeds and a plastic container that turns into a mini greenhouse. We placed the pellets in the pots and he poured 2 tsp of water on each. Then, for the five minute wait we made Kraft Mac and Cheese, and returned to find soft soil ready for planting. Our Teddy Bear sunflowers were put into the red and one of the yellow pots and the Lilliput zinnias in the rest. Misted, and placed the lid on. He will be excited to know they have already sprouted and will need tending soon.
He was also intrigued by the pond and fountain and the fact he could climb from the patio to the deck, a good 2 1/2 feet, without using the steps. I showed him how we could adjust the fountain to have different spouts of water, he wanted the tallest one, of course. Throwing rocks into the pond was fun and we looked for more along our way to the frozen yogurt store. When we came back, Jim had lowered the fountain spray because 1/2 of the pond water had bounced out of the pond! So, Ezra, got to refill it with the hose.
So, for his gardening and pond filling chores, he earned money to put in his bank. He asked what each of the words were on the bank and we put money in each talking about why it was important to do all three, even though he said that he didn't know anyone who would need to be the beneficiary of the "Sharing" bank, so he really didn't need to add to that one.
All in all a very fun afternoon, with a little boy-who out of the blue came over and hugged my neck. Does life get any better?

It's all about the "Derby" this time of year

I haven't created a thing since my last post, busy with Mom, work and all things KY Derby. But, for those who are interested in other aspects of my life, here in Louisville, the world takes on fun focus with all sorts of events during the KY Derby Festival,from the greatest fireworks in the world, (I have been on the South Lawn of the White House on the 4th of July- no comparison), mini marathon and marathon, bed races, Run for the Rose (as in wine-where local restaurant wait staff race with full glasses of wine around a course), art fairs, balloon glows, balloon races, balloon glimmers, chow wagons, music,oh, yes, and horse racing. So much fun!
The marathon goes by our house at about mile 16. We sit in green canvas chairs at the top of our driveway and cheer on the runners. It is an opportunity to see neighbors we only see about once a year. Our 4 lane parkway is a busy place and children on the street (and there aren't a lot on this busy thoroughfare) mostly play in backyards during the rest of the year. Our street is closed for about 6 hours and the kids have great fun riding bikes and scooters in the street and chasing each other on foot. All of the houses on the other side have alley access so the normal coming and going is from the alley.
Saturday is always farmer's market day for us so we strolled there, too, on Saturday. The Cherokee Triangle Art Fair is held on the same day. I almost always buy something- this year no art but a new cookie from the Kizito Cookie Lady-gingersnap dipped 1/2 in white chocolate. She is discontinuing is soon because the chocolate melts so easily even in her store where oven are going constantly. She is from Uganda and a real treat. She started selling her homemade cookies out of a basket she wore on her head, she now sells ways to many for her basket to hold. I love to look at Jude's clothes and have a great wrap skirt with a bird pattern that is also reversible that I got last year. She has designed two wall hanging for me, one for me and one for Amy. Also the quilt on our bed was a gift commissioned by my office for our wedding gift that she made. I may get a new linen wrap skirt in yellow and orange with green waistband before the end of the year.
I've also been working in the yard a lot since the weather has been great! We lost a huge tree and I now have a sunny backyard and a new fence!

ATC

I'm continuing to create atcs for the swap this month. Our themes are "women", "blue" and "travel". I dug out some of my paste paper for the background. The stamps are stamped in Archival Ink (my new favorite for its pitch black color. The "moody" woman is colored with water color pencils. I've had the stamps for a long time but I think this is the first time I've used her. Mounted on black cardstock.

CBHC-Spring

I think of birds when I think of spring. I awaken to their songs in the morning and the increase in bird music in the morning is a sure sign of spring to me, a reminder of renewal and rejuvenation of the earth and nature. Even people seem to be in a better mood! Here is my CBHC for this week's theme of Spring.

Tie dyeing Easter Eggs

This is my first attempt at literally dyeing eggs with ties! 100% silk ones that is. My friend, Sue, posted this on her blog and I had to immediately try it as she KNEW I would! Now, I wouldn't say it was a complete success, but hey, I'm still happy. I have to figure out how to get the fabric closer to the egg at the gathered end. I think I'll do flatter, fewer folds rather than many tiny ones. Technique, technique- practice, practice. My husband hates hard boiled eggs so I see myself giving a lot of these away so I can practice!
The fun was going through his old ties! The Where's Waldo one was a birthday gift with a coordinating purple striped shirt in 1992. The red with paisley was the tie he wore to defend his dissertation in 1994. The others were-silk. I have about 4 more to use this weekend. I only had 4 raw eggs today. I hard-boiled the rest thinking Ezra and I would dye eggs. But, cookies were the activity of the day.

CBHC Easter/Eggs

This is my Created Byhand Challenge for this week, though I expect I'll do several more to put on my blog later. I love eggs, but have been having fun with this little chick and a fence border punch, so went with an Easter theme instead. Patterned paper, chick stamp (PSX), branch and flower stamp (Impress), fence border punch (Martha Stewart), inks are Colobox Pink and Archival Ink Sepia. I filled the flower centers with my Glaze pen in yellow.

CBHC-Flowers

Here is my challenge atc for Created Byhand Challenge for this week! The theme is flowers. I used a background done with twinkling H2Os. The stamps are from Stampin'Up done with Distress Ink, Peeled Paint and Fired Brick. The quote was also stamped with Colorbox Black.

and then there are these

Inchies!

What some became

This is what some of the air alcohol atcs became. I thought the blue and green one looked like sunflowers so I used the Van Gogh quote. Quote stamps are from Quietfire Design, Stampin'Up, and PSX and the little birdie from Impress. The shell is unmarked. I stamped the shell with Adirondack Pitch Black so it would be lighter. The quotes, heart and birdie are stamped with Archival Ink- the only one I've found to give it that deep black color. StazOn might do it, too.

More fun with air alcohol ink

Well, clearly I am obsessed with this technique because it is full of the element of surprise. I love the different colors combos and the shapes. Consider yourself warned that this is highly addictive and you will use a lot of canned air!
The color combos are:
Cranberry,Eggplant and Red Pepper
Oregano,Lettuce and Stream
Denim and Eggplant
with a little overlap splash here and there.
I like them just plain. Who know what they will become?

Giveaway winners!

I used the random number picker to choose the winners! The numbers that came up were 1-Yogi, 9-Sue, and 10-Wanda! Wanda, I believe your address is correct in the byhand RAK list, if not, shoot me an email. You'll receive them in order left to right.
I didn't return to work today, I am taking another two weeks off. I won't know how to act when I return after 9 weeks off from dental hygiene. My hand is still somewhat painful and swollen and the office was closed next week for Spring break anyway, so my employer suggested I just return after that and give the hand more rest. So, it is.
ATCs will head out in the mail tomorrow. Thanks for playing and reading my blog!

More air alcohol ink

I made these atcs at the same time as the others but because they had such a different feel, I didn't post at the same time. I thought the green background ones were perfect for my animal stamps.
More for the March swap.
Remember to comment on the previous "giveaway" post to win an atc. I'll give three away on Monday. Your chances are really good to win one so far!

CBHC- doors and windows

Here is my atc for the Created Byhand Challenge for this week. The image is from a color copy swap. I cut the door so it would open and stamped the image (Stampers Anonymous block #25) on white textured card stock that I placed behind the door image.
Photo corners to mount. The word is a self inking stamp that I have.

ATC

This is an atc I did today using the background I made previously. I love this little poem. I used it for the last mingle page I did. Now I need to work on the CBHC for this week, using windows or doors. The color of the butterfly is really green not yellow. I popped up the butterfly so the background is blurry. I'm still figuring out how to adjust things in Picasa.

More wee things

My friend Sue is just the coolest. Every Wednesday she blogs Link Love, which is always an interesting assortment of finds on the internet. This week I was captivated by these.
I'm crazy about the little Easter Eggs.
Don't forget there is a blog giveaway posted last week, if you want to be in the draw for an atc, leave a comment on that post.

CBHC green and blue challenge

This week's challenge is to use blue and green, a favorite of mine! I found all kinds of old stuff I did in blue and green, but instead, whipped out some ink and images and made this atc. It'll work for the swap as well.
I popped the little girl so the stamp of "imagine" isn't sharp.

I love wee things

How cute is this? and this?
I'm ready for spring and some blooming things! I did see the first forsythia blooming today.

Giveaway!

Inspired by the generosity of friends' blogs and in the spirit of Lent, I am giving away these three purple/blue alcohol ink atcs to three visitors to my blog! I have posted 105 times since 2007. Joanne's 100th post had me going back to see.
Just leave a comment on this post to be eligible for the drawing. I'll give it away on March 23rd, my first day back at work!

Free at last!

My splint is off! Small bandage for added support but hey, how sweet! It feels a little vulnerable out there and I still don't think to use it all of the time. I can do just about anything I am able except twist and untwist things. It is still painful, which he expect for another 7 weeks, with a full recover in about 5 months. Sounds good to me. It really looks better than before the surgery because there is no big lump on the back of my hand. It will be nice to be able to drive unencumbered when I head to Georgia tomorrow!
Looking at that picture, I need some Polmolive dishsoap. Remember the commercials with Madge, the manicurist, saying it would give you "younger looking hands, you're soaking in it."?

CBHC and a new technique

Today I was surfing Tim Holtz website and came upon this easy technique for a one-armed artist.
I love alcohol ink and think the result is fresh looking. Just what I needed on the sunny but cold day. There are lots of cool demos on the site.
"Believe" is the challenge this week on the Created Byhand Challenge and
it seemed perfect for one of these atcs.

Photo Meme

My friends Sue and Donna did this photo meme where you go to your 5th photo album and the 5th photo to see what you find. I thought I would check out mine.
It is a photo I took in NYC the day after Thanksgiving 2006, reflecting the skyline in Christmas ornament, in a decorated Macy's window. I loved it then and love it now. It just say NYC decorated for Christmas. It was the first time I had been to NYC that time of year. Jim and I visited his sister and BIL in Allentown, PA for the holiday and took a trip to the city the day after. Thanks for the memory!

Back to some art

I finished up atcs for the byhandartists monthly swap I am hosting. Nothing too elaborate as my hand is still stuck in the blue torture device for another few days.
I posted about most of these previously, but I like how the one with the two gold hearts in the corner came out especially. I used a nice red paper with some metallic sheen to it and stamped a little open-centered heart with embossing ink and used Pirate gold EP for the background. I covered it with this great sheer woven paper (that probably has a name I don't know)stamped with my favorite quote this month from Suzanne and fastened the two brads to hold the two together. I like the way you see the background through the sheer paper. I probably should have scanned it separately for detail.
The other red one with the rose stamp from StampinUp is on patterned paper and uses Elizabeth Craft Designs peel off calligraphy by Yogi.

Pictures and the final meal

I've added pictures to the previous Seattle posts if you want to go back for a look.

I awakened a little after 7 AM and knew I'd better head out for the 6 block walk to Cafe Besalu, for their wonderful pastry offerings. The last time I went, the line was way out the door and the wait 45 minutes or more. It's a tiny little place with maybe 4 tables, another 4 outside in good weather. I got there by around 7:45. A line, but I did get inside the door. Probably 7 people in front of me. I like to ask the patrons in line with me what they like, I'd hate to miss out on something wonderful that I wouldn't think of. The woman behind me added the pain au chocolat to my order. I like to say it is her fault that I have another pastry addiction now.
I love the Gruyere onion tart and got one for each of us. A savory morsel of flaky crust with the above flavors inside and barely peeking out. See it in the middle? Yum. One each of the pain au chocolat, apple tart and orange pastry to add to the bag for a balance of sweet and savory, a small latte and I was headed back to pack and shower before the rest of the household got up. Every bit worth the cold walk early on a Seattle Sunday.
We enjoyed every bite and played one last round of Scrabble. I had to bow to Rachel on this one. Off to the airport for an uneventful flight home filled with great memories to pull out from time to time when I long for a visit with Amy and Rachel or to savor the cuisine of Seattle.

Last day of the gastronomic journey but mostly,

the last day with Amy and Rachel. How sad. I always look forward to going home, especially from a trip without Jim, but I sure have fun with them. I thought I'd write before heading off the the airport, in fact before enjoying today's delightful pasteries from Cafe Besalu, which I discovered on my last visit.
But, not to get ahead of the story, first a recap of dinner at Senor Moose, which was thankfully a good 7 blocks to walk each way.
Amy and Rachel had beer and margarita, respectively while we waited the 45 minutes for a table. It is a small place with 1/2 of it bar and the kitchen, the heat from which warms the whole place. The dining rooms seats, maybe 28 with another 10 at the bar. The tables were covered in salmon-colored, flowered, oilcloth tablecloths. On the wall were paintings by a painter who traveled and painted while on sabbatical.
The menu looked great. We began by asking the waitress which of the appetizers she recommended, but with the first words out of our mouth, Equites,she closed her notebook pad. We said, "But, no we want to ask about these others and see which you recommend", she said no need equites is THE choice. Roasted corn off the cob with espazote and cream. Wedges of lime are squeezed onto the mix, stir it up and dip with the three (wish it were 9) tortilla chips. We ate the rest with a spoon. So tasty! In the picture unfortunately, it looks like popcorn.
I decided the sangria looked so good I wanted a taste so ordered one with Amy promising to drink the rest. It was the best I ever had-can't tell you why, just good.
I had the FILETE ENCHOCOLATADO-Oaxac. Strips of skirt steak sautéed and finished with bitter chocolate, white wine and onion. Served with mashed potatoes and calabacitas guisadas. Delicious! Rachel, again consulted the waitress and the waitress said she knew what to bring her. It was the CAMARONES ENCHIPOTLADOS-Veracruz, Shrimp sautéed, finished with cream and smoky chipotle sauce. Served with black beans and rice. It had at least 8 or 9 shrimp and Rachel oohed over it. I tried the sauce, rich and spicy.
Amy went for the vegetarian offering of ENCHILADAS DE PUYA, Three tortillas rolled around two cheeses, doused with spicy chile de puya salsa and topped with cream. Served with black beans. Everyone was well satisfied and leftovers were taken home in recyclable boxes. Another one of the things I like about Seattle, it is so enviro-friendly. Everyone recycles. Yard waste is mandatory, and most households recycle kitchen scraps for the city compost, in addition to the "usual".
More speed Scrabble, with Rachel winning 2, Amy-1 and me-1.
Okay, Cafe Besalu in the next post, complete with pictures!

Birthday Dinner

Well, you must return to the blog later for the pictures of this fantastic meal! They are on my phone so I'll upload Sunday along with all of my Seattle pictures. But, this meal is not to be missed. Last night, Amy and Rachel prepared Roasted Vegetables en croute with a homemade tomato basil sauce and salad of Arugula, basil, carrots with a balsamic vinaigrette. The main course had oven-roasted eggplant, onion, yellow squash, zucchini squash, and fontina cheese in a Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry crust brushed with egg. It was baked to a golden brown, sliced and served on the tomato basil sauce. Yummy! And it was beautifully plated. The aroma while cooking was delightful.

The afternoon was spent at the Seattle Art Museum. I really liked the Hopper exhibit and particularly, a sculpture of an open Kimono-like huge metal flowing coat bigger than my living room in diameter, made of military dog-tags created by Do-Ho Suh, and titled Some/One. Another photo worthy of a peek. I wish I had someone standing by it for perspective.

A quick walk over to the sound for another look and a soda, hummus and pita at nearby pub. We took the bus to town which was interesting as always.

The wonderful dinner was followed by our games of speed Scrabble, I continue to be the champ!

Today, our first sunny day this week and a nice change from SNOW yesterday, I worked on my website while Amy was at school and work. When she got home, we walked to Miro, again, for an apple basil panini. Such creatures of habit! Today we had a pot of pomegranate white tea.

Tonight- Senor Moose, the gastronomic adventure continues.

An art journal about Lincoln

Enjoy this fun journal posted in NY Times. I am having a hard time getting this to show up. Blogger doesn't like a short post evidently!