Football Time Again

Yes it is that time again. To me football means cooler nights, the leaves begin to change, shorter days, warmer clothes, the air feels different. So in honor of football I am going to give you a couple of recipes that you can use for game days. These can be used when you want some free time to actually watch the game and/or you have friends over to watch the game.


Nuts and Bolts- snack mix to leave out for all to munch on.
2 cups Chex cereal - you can use corn,wheat, rice or combo of several
2 cups cheerios
2 cups peanuts - again you can use several varieties
2 cups Kix
2 cups pretzels
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. onion salt
1/4 pound margarine or butter - if you use butter eat it all up,
butter does not keep well sitting out
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Melt the butter or margarine, add seasonings. Mix the cereals with the peanuts and pretzels. Coat the cereal mix with the butter. Spread on cookie trays and heat 45 minutes in a 250 degree oven. Stir occasionally. Allow to cool. Serve in bowls. Serves 8 to 12.


Little Porkies

Meat Balls
1 lb. ground ham
1 lb. ground pork
2 cups cracker crumbs
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup lemon juice

sauce for meat balls
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
1 tsp. dry mustard

Combine all ingredients for meatballs. Roll mixture into bite size balls and place in a 9" by 13 " pan. In a saucepan, combine sauce ingredients and heat till sugar and mustard are dissolved. Pour over meatballs. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Turn and bast meatballs at least once during cooking time.

I have cooked this in my crock pot but you must cook on high, stir meatballs and it takes several hours for them to cook. This is a good recipe to make in the morning, turn crock pot down to low at lunch and serve in the mid afternoon.



Horseradish Sauce - serve with meatballs
1 cup sour cream
3 to 4 tablespoons horseradish
2 tablespoon mayonnaise
minced parsley
Combine and keep chilled till ready to use. Makes one cup.


Hot Mustard Sauce - serve with meatballs
1/2 cup dry mustard
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup cider vinegar
Combine mustard and sugar in top of double boiler. Add vinegar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Cook until thick. Remove from heat and beat in butter with a wire whisk. Serve chilled. Makes 1 1/2 cup.

Check back later in the week for two more recipes that make this quite a buffet.

Card Fronts

Last night I was so tired I could not sleep. Have you ever been like that? Not really functioning very well, yet so tired you can't sleep. Sort of bouncing from one thing to the next. Sorting and cleaning is always a good thing to do in these situations. In the midst of sorting I realized I had a ton of scrap card stock and some old photo paper. I had been putting away stamps and ran across my hero Arts Shadow stamps. I pulled out some multi color ink pads and went to work.

First, I inked the shadow stamps with the multi colored ink pads. Then, I stamped the photo paper. I did a whole bunch just very randomly and let them dry. After they were dry I pulled out some stamps. I started with the trees thinking about fall and went to work stamping. When I got tired of trees I just used some random stamps that fit the size of the shadow stamps.

After all the ink was dry I cut the photo paper I had stamped down into tight small pictures. I took my gold leafing pen and went around all the edges and let dry. While the leafing was drying I cut card stock to match the pictures. Once the pictures were dry I mounted them with Scotch double sided tape to the card stock. Some, I did two layers of card stock. Some not. Some, I gold leafed the card stock too. Some not. Now, I have a bunch of card fronts for when I need a quick card. The other great thing is that I have used up and recycled the old photo paper and card stock scraps.

Garage Sale Saturday's

Friday night I went up to Raleigh to see a friend who was having a yard sale with her Mom and Dad. It is one of those annual things. When I got there everything was already laid out and priced. A beautiful job. All that was left to do was shop. So I shopped. Around 11:30 p.m. we called it a night.

Up early for all those early bird shoppers. Two adjoining neighborhoods were joining in the fun. After realizing everyone had everything under control around 9:30 I headed out to check up on all the sales. Treasures to be found. Here are a few of the things I found.


Two wonderful beaded rings I will use as crowns for various heads I have. This crown is on my three and a half foot Mexican statue of Saint Gabriel. Below are two lovely dresser jars and a pottery girl in dire need of some jewelry.

These are some beautiful pink gloves and a gold compact style mirror. In the same place I also found the silver and cream colored tinselly glitter stuff, some board books, lace, a yellow cafeteria style food tray and some lacy napkins. Here it was fill a bag for a $1.00.


Last, but definitely not least, I stopped at a thrift store on the way home and found this beautiful urn shaped container. I love the transfered flowers on it. It is huge. I have no idea what it was used for. Well, maybe a small idea, but I am going to use it on my table for awhile.

The picture of all the turquoise glass and birds at the top of this post are from one of my best buddies and favorite antique and garage sale friend's garage and flea market finds that she displays over a window in her house. The sun and sky do wonderful things to them. This is one of my favorite things in her house. I thought you might want some extra eye candy.

Beginning of a Beaded Pendant Necklace

The beginning of a beaded pendant necklace. The finished piece will be posted soon.

A Trip to the Bead Store

Quite the welcome to a very cool bead store in Raleigh North Carolina - Ornamentea. It speaks of all the delights inside. I am not a big beader, but I am drawn to the texture and colors of beads. Like any woman, I enjoy wearing them and using them in my art work is such a plus.
Long ago I made jewelry, necklaces and earrings. Then, I put my materials aside and started doing other things. Now, anything goes and I am being drawn back to jewelry making. I have several artist friends who make wonderful jewelry. They make earrings, necklaces, soldered pieces. Frankly, it is amazing and inspiring.

Monday a group of such talented artist met for art and friendship at this bead store. The store was inspiring and the friendships even more. We talked about community. One of the girls read an excerpt from Kelly Rae's new book, "Taking Flight". It was about surrounding yourself with a community of people who encourage, validate you and your art. Where there is no competition or jealousy. I have been lucky enough to find this with that group and another local altered art group. On the way home I realized that the online art groups I am in and the people I have met here on my blog are also part of that community. I realized how truly blessed I am.

So find yourself an art community that will challenge you, encourage you, and support your art. Meanwhile here are some inspiring photos for you. I know you will want to pull out your beads and do something with them.

Gold Card Award

Who doesn't like getting award? It just sort of makes your whole day, sometimes your whole week. It adds a little spring to your step and makes you want to get all gluey and covered with paint. Who doesn't want a gold card? So thanks Peggy for this wonderful award. I have really enjoyed your blog and feel very honored.

Now it is up to me to pick five blogs. It is hard to pick five blogs. I have picked these five or so because they are all different yet each woman is very talented. All of these blogger's represent what I think most of us want - to take care of and love our family, have time and a place to create, have our creations affirmed by others, and have our voices heard.

So here are my blog picks.
1. Madness and Mess - Carole brings the New Zealand point of view. She is a very multi talented artist and I love her sense of color and ability to try anything.
2. Under the Red Roof - Donna is fresh and fun and brings a young families' life in rural America to life. She is a great shopper and designer. Lots of ideas here.
3. Robin's Nest - Robin does beautiful work. I love her palette in every thing she does. Her color sense is great and some of the beading...
4. Recycled Rita - Vintage - flea market finds, nice to see someone appreciate all that old stuff!
5. Kindred Spiritz Arts - Maura is from California. She definitely gives you the West coast life and her jewelry and art is great.
6. I know I said 5 blogs but this is a really special blog that I just love her photos and the style so I am going outside the box and going for 6. The Little Pink Studio. I hope you enjoy all of these blogs.

Large Formica Tag

Here is a very quick project for you. Take a large formica tag from one of the big chain hardware stores. Gesso the whole tag then paint with blue acrylic paint. Slapped on some text and stamped with a crackle stamp or other texture type stamp. Add the little girl image and witch hat. Highlight her dress with a white pen. Add some fibers to the tag. Ta da a quick little Halloween tag to wrap around some candy.

Oil Pastels

I am frustrated. I bought a product thinking I was doing something good for the environment, helping to save the planet in little ways, baby steps so to speak. I bought some oil pastels from a local craft store, one of the biggies, made by Loew Cornell. They say the labels and packaging is recycled. Okay that is good. The the actual pastels are non toxic an organic. They then go on to talk about there blending capabilities. I am sold. They are the same price as the other cheapy oil pastels I love. Even though there are only 20 and the ones I usually use come in a package of 24, these are small and the others are big and fat, I am doing right for the environment. Right.

I tried them last night and they are DRY. Did I say DRY. So dry they actually ripped the paper I was working on. Unbelievable. Blendable - no way. They were horrible. I have had better luck with crayons. I know the oil in them is what makes oil pastels work so well and also so environmentally unfriendly. But...for goodness sake they need to work.

I have decided to treat this as a butter versus margarine issue. The Loew Cornell oil pastels are like margarine and my favorite cheap ones, Portfolio's are the butter. So, I am off to spread some butter on a new project.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Happy Birthday Daddy! What a wonderful day. I wish I was there to spend it with you, but my heart is there. I know Chip, Anne and the boys and Mom are doing you right.
I want to thank you for being the best Dad any daughter could possibly ask for. Thanks for being such a great role model for me and my sons. Thanks for teaching me with such kindness all the things a girl needs to know about life, and most of all helping to pick me up when I fall and giving me the courage to get back "on the horse" and ride.
I love you.

6" by 8" Canvas Panels

At the start of the summer I gave my self a challenge. I would paint or collage one of these canvas panels every week. By the time next summer rolled around I would have at least 52 of them. I told myself that they could be experiments, or ways to use up scrap paint and paper, anything just make art on them. Now I have quite a few of them under my belt. I thought I would share a few with you. The one that says"flutter" I did last night during the storm. I found it so interesting that the only sign of life yesterday were the butterflies.

On all three of these I used acrylic paints and inks, scrap papers, actual transparencies or transfered the image from a transparency with gel medium. The gel make the actual transparency crackle. Which can be interesting in itself. The image I used on the "memories" one is in one of the group of freebies in the archive section of my blog.

I have found these to be fun, quick and hard not to do the same thing over and over on. I think that is the biggest challenge. I have started doing a color theme with some of the panels. Also using some other materials on them has been effective. The one thing I have learned is I have a definite comfort zone.

Patty's Strawberry Pie

My best bud from high school, bless her heart, is from Michigan. We are always comparing recipes and trying to get each other to eat healthier and fresher food. She is much better at it than me, but don't tell her that. She was getting ready to make strawberry pie and I asked her which one and she rattled off the recipe and the benefits. I asked her to send it to me as I just happened to have strawberries in the refrigerator. I made it last night and had it for breakfast this morning. It is easy and it is GOOD. Nice cup of tea with it and it is perfect. Oh yes, she says it is a healthy pie. She says that "southerner's" use too much fat - cream cheese in my recipe, and that everyone can eat this pie. So I am sharing another pie recipe with you. You be the judge.

1 3oz. package of strawberry jello
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 pre-baked pie shell
1 quart berries - usually use more for big pie.

Combine all but berries and boil only 5 seconds.
Remove from heat and cool 20 to 30 minutes.
Add 1 quart berries washed and cleaned to pie shell.
Pour cooled ingredients into pie shell with berries.
Refrigerate until pie has set up.

You can use raspberries with raspberry jello also.

Dodged a Bullet

The Gods smiled on us here in Coastal North Carolina. The rain started about one o'clock yesterday afternoon. We had the bands of rain thing going on. This is where it pours for twenty or thirty minutes in sheets of rain and then stops for awhile then starts up again.

Around 8 p.m. the wind picked up and the rain started continuously. It was sort of like a song building and building. I actually went to bed during the storm - and slept. A first for me. About 4 a.m. I woke up to things moving around outside on the porch and in the backyard. I secured everything. Did a yard check through the window and went back to bed. About 6 a.m. the quiet woke me up. The storm had passed.

I decided to get up and go to the beach and check things out first. I live less than a mile from the beach. The first thing I noticed when I went outside was the smell. Pine with almost a smoky after smell to it. The coast has lots of pine trees. That is why we are called the Tar Heel State. All the tar and pitch for boats came from here. We also have lots of lumber, pulp and paper plants. Think Weyerhauser.

My neighborhood had lots of debris, mostly small limbs and leaves. The closer to the beach I got the cleaner the roads and yards were. The beach looked great, some erosion, a lot of blowing, pinpricking sand, and some very tired sea gulls. You could walk right up to them and they would just sit in small groups. Sometimes after these storms the sand will be littered with shells. Today everything was swept clean. The next few days will be the time to go shelling.

So things are back to normal. The yard is raked, the debris is waiting for the garbage men, and the pool is clean. I left the outdoor furniture put up, thought we should play the wait and see with Ike. I want to thank all of you who sent me such positive thoughts and prayers. Obviously they worked and most of all they kept my spirit up. Thank You..............

Waiting for the Storm

This has been a total weather related week. First watching Hurricane Gustav pour over the gulf coast and into surrounding states. Knowing what all that rain and wind can do. It is very scary. I have learned one thing about mother nature and that is - water is a very powerful source of energy. Combined with wind, look out. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief that poor New Orleans with its rich history was not devastated again. All the while saying small prayers that everyone else in Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi would be alright.

Then, the first of the week wondering what Hurricane - oops now Tropical storm Hanna would do. By Tuesday it was fairly obvious it was heading this way. Definitely on Wednesday, when the weather channel showed up. It is always a bad sign when those guys show up. That's when you start worrying.

Living in coastal North Carolina you just know that sooner or later you will be hit by some storms. You just hope it won't be "a big one." Living on the coast isn't the only place they hit either. These storms can be very wide and strong.

My first adult experience was Hugo in 1989 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Talk about unprepared. We watched it hit Charleston, South Carolina and realized it was not stopping. Charlotte is 200 miles inland and we got knocked on our butts. They took weeks to get power restored and school was out for over six weeks or more. It was total devastation.

My second big experience came in September 1996 with Fran in Raleigh North Carolina. I knew what to expect and to be prepared. Everyone thought I was crazy when I suggested they might want to stock up on batteries, ice and food you can prepare on a grill, plus cash is always nice since they can't run your ATM card without power. It was as bad if not worse than Hugo. For us property wise it was worse. Hugo was just debris pick up. Fran was major tree damage. Again, no power for weeks, no school, and a lot of helping your neighbors.

These storms are scary. Even the small ones can cause immense flooding and tornadoes. Till you have experienced a few, and by now I have more tropical storms and hurricanes under my belt than most people should, it is hard to understand their power. Some of the small storms because they move so slowly cause massive erosion to our coast lines. Low lying areas are flooded and become breeding grounds for all sorts of yucky stuff. Floyd was one such Hurricane. It flooded a whole town here in North Carolina - Princeville. Water damaged is horrible. Think wet, muddy, and MOLD.

So tonight I check my favorite weather predictor - myfoxhurricane.com- and try to figure out the spaghetti map. How soon to get up to finish the last minute preparations? Has the storm intensified? Have I thought of everything? So pray for us here along the coast and inland in North Carolina. It is a wide storm - 600 miles - slow right now...........

Quote

"The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you will discover will be wonderful. What you will discover is yourself."
Alan Alda

Steampunk ATC's

These are my Steampunk ATC's for a swap on one of the Yahoo groups. It is a make nine get eight back. I made ten so I would have nine in the end, also. These were probably the hardest ATC's I have ever made. I really hit a wall with this swap. Although, I had seen Steampunk, I really did not know the name or understand the concept.

Steampunk is Victorian meets Modern. Lots of wheels, gears an axles, moving parts with an antique feel, yet not. It has lots of metal, yet fluid lines similar to art nouveau. You can find it in assessories for the home, jewelry, and even fashion. I am very attracted to the jewelry, and some of the clocks made in this style. I did several days of research before I started. I am still not sure if I got it right for the swap.

This style is still on the fringe. I believe combined with the green movement in the next few years we will be seeing a lot more of this. It has the potential for alot of growth an appeal to a lot of different types of people. Something new to follow......

Yard Sale Saturday

It has been several weeks since I have had the luxury to go yard saling. My days have been filled with family and friends. The end of summer activities. Saturday, I had to drag myself out of bed. I knew I would regret it it if I didn't get up. All week I had been mulling around if I would drive to Virginia to the 25 mile long yard sale to meet a friend. By Thursday night I had decided to stay home and not waste the time and gas, but to go yard saling here. I figured in the ride to Virginia and back I would spend enough in gas to pay for a month of yard saling here.

So off to the sales. The first two were rather disappointing. I did meet a sweet young girl selling her books. Her mother had bought her all the best. She had obviously outgrown them, but was having a hard time parting with them. How cool is that? I bought a couple bucks worth of board books. I found the only gilted board book I have ever seen.

Just a round the corner some fellows selling off a women's stuff. I found three old glass bottle stoppers-they must be for all those bottles I bought a few weeks ago-and a darling bird toothpick holder. I also found two pieces of white pottery that weren't white when I bought them. I spent quarters here.

Next a young couple that were bursting with pride over their son. Too cute. I bought the sea glass and two turquoise glass Polish vases from them. A dollar a piece. Yeah, my two collections are covered in less than a mile. Time for breakfast.

The next two stops were a guy moving back to the beach and an estate. He had scary masks and the owls. I have a friend who collects owls and I love the little wooden box. Sold. The estate was hard. I always feel like an interloper. I bought the two pyrex bowls in my favorite colors, two needle kits, the ruler, the beaded purse, the marbles, some bingo pieces, tape measure, a bag of buttons, playing cards and a table cloth. Time to take my finds home. Today I spent $10.75. Not too shabby.

Guess who turns Four today?

I can't believe our sweet boy is four. In keeping with the pirate theme birthday we took the young one to the aquarium in Myrtle Beach last weekend. What an amazing place. Luckily for us it was the Sunday before "big" school started so it was practically deserted. We were able to linger and enjoy all the exhibits to our hearts content. Afterward a short walk across the canal to the boardwalk for games and rides. I think we could have spent days instead of hours there. They have some very rare sea horses that looked like they had leaves attached to them. The sting ray and shark exhibit was the most relaxing of all the exhibits. Definitely had "Wow" power. As promised I am including a picture of one of the sharks. Blow out all your candles and make a big wish sweetie. I am wishing for wonderful things for you.

Little Quilted and Beaded Purses

Several summers ago I took classes at Chautauqua Institute in New York. You could weave, quilt, bead, calligraphy, photography, etc. Most of the arts, or take political or money investing classes. Something for everyone. One of the classes I took was making a quilted and beaded purse from a woman named Marilyn Mendelson. The woman had patience.

So to make a long story short, I found my purse over the weekend and another kit I had bought and decided to work on that. My goal before summer is over is to finish any projects that I have not completed. I am sick and tired of the extra bags of half finished things sitting in my studio. I know I started them because I really was inspired by something. I ended up making several purses and enlarged the initial idea and made a purse I can walk with.


The purse to walk with was rather fun. I can put my ID in it, my automatic car opener thingy, and even my cell phone and have my hands free. I don't have pockets in my pants. Who wears a jacket in the summer? So where do you put everything? I was putting everything in my camera case but that meant I had to carry my camera even if I wasn't shooting. Now I am hands free.


The smaller quilted purses are perfect when you just need your ID and a credit card and maybe a bit of cash. I get really tired of lugging a purse around to the flea market or art fairs. This is the answer for sure. I have four more under construction and am thinking of giving these as Christmas gifts to some art friends and to my Daughter in Laws with gift cards in them. I am determined to do more handmade things this year.

Freebies #10 from Texas

Watching all the hurricane and tropical storm warnings on the television made me think of Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. So this week I pulled out a bunch of photos from Texas. The first four are the Willson kids - also spelled Wilson - from Taylor Texas. The baby is Katherine and the other two are Lizzie and Lena. The last photo is from Houston an I wondered about the cabinet card photo of the little girl sitting on the chair with the young child. I hope you can use some of these.

Dr Pepper Marinade

I love recipes that include a soft drink. Don't ask me why but I do . Maybe it is the child in me. This was in the local newspaper and I just had to try it. It is great.

Combine this with chicken or beef - I used chicken. Put everything in a large zip loc bag and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

1 12 ounce can of Dr Pepper
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lime or lemon juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, minced
1 teaspoon hot sauce - Tabasco - or cracked peppercorns

Whisk ingredients together. This should be enough for 2 pounds of meat or chicken.
Your meat or chicken can be grilled or baked. I usually grill.

Thank You !

Just a small thank you to all the wonderful people I have met through my groups and my blog. What a wonderful art community there is out there. You have enriched my life. Thank You!