join the sisterhood

check out all the info on our website
You do not want to miss out on the fun
You deserve a creative get-away!
Register Soon - Spaces Limited
we hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!

let's shop!

We have wonderful NEW items and plenty of great gifts in our ONLINE SHOPPE

Treat someone you love with the gift of creativity (or treat yourself!)

NEW STUFF

Gorgeous Small Rusty & Crusty Trays

Tiny Metal Castors

Old Metal Slide Mounts - back in stock!

Vintage Can Openers

Adorable Retro Figurines

Unique & One of a Kind - get it while it lasts!

Holidays - all sorts of vintage holiday items

Old Stained Glass Pieces - variety of styles, great for a suncatcher, jewelry or mosaic projects

Watchfaces, Brass Stencils, Old Metal Bits, Tins, Vintage Books & Pamphlets

Too Much to list - check out our JUNK SHOPPE

GIFT IDEAS

Jumbo Loop or Mini Loop Garland Kits - easy, vintage style in minutes

Mini Forest Kits - create these adorable trees then add a bit of faux snow for a fabulous winter scene

Eiffel Tower Kit - add a Parisian touch to your holidays - oooh la la!

Sewn Bowl Kits - fill with some vintage glass ornaments and presto - easy, beautiful gift

Jewelry Kits - everything you need to make vintage style jewelry gifts, 4 styles to choose from

check out all of our ARTSY KITS and PAPER.LINGS KITS  - these make great gifts for the creative folks in your life!

***NEWS & EVENTS***

ART in the ROUGH - Join the Sisterhood

JULY 29 - AUG 1, 2011

Lesley Venable Architectural Assemblage Angels

Wonderful Workshops by Fabulous Artists

Kecia Deveney

Robin Betterley

Lesley Venable

Pamela Huntington

Kecia Deveney - Recording Our Thoughts

Join Us & See What Folks are Raving About 
You do not want to miss out!

REGISTRATION IS OPEN - SPACES LIMITED

ART IS YOU 2011

October 6-11, 2011 - Danbury, CT

Save the DATE!

get inspired

felt like sharing one of my favorite blogs today...
head over to maya*made

she is uber-talented and very prolific
I really enjoy her blog because we seem like kindred spirits in the sense of creating beauty out of simple, often forgotten, everyday materials...many of which would end up in a landfill.

she is very generous and creates all sorts of fun tutorials
check out her MAKE button

Maya's SIMPLE GIFTS are perfect for quick handmade whip-ups for special folks in your life - last year I created some altered mixed media jewelry for my mom, sis and niece...I tweaked her upcycled toilet paper roll idea to create little altered/stitched gift boxes.  I enjoyed working with them so much that I will probably explore more toilet paper/paper towel roll projects this year as well

ooooh - also check out her mom's barn pictures - great eye candy
HAVE FUN!

from our farm to yours

baby sitting

this little baby girl is Daytona

...or Tony or Tona

...or Tony-Macaroni

...or Stick o' Butter

she has many, many nicknames

she is a miniature daschund puppy - very tiny

we had the pleasure of baby sitting her

while my parents were away for a week

she was a joy to have in our home - sooo adorable & sweet

I miss this little face

stumbled upon

I love it when you stumble upon an artist's work and it takes your breath away...

today I stumbled upon Swan Bones Theater

I am in love with these paintings and illustrations

http://www.etsy.com/shop/swanbones

check it out if you have a chance

We are pleased to announce...

ART in the ROUGH 2011

Registration is NOW OPEN

photo courtesy Kecia Deveney

OUR INSTRUCTOR LINE-UP IS FABULOUS

& THE WORKSHOPS ARE JUST WONDERFUL!

KECIA DEVENEY

PAMELA HUNTINGTON

ROBIN BETTERLEY

 LESLEY VENABLE

JULY 29 - AUG 1, 2011

All the details, workshop info and registration

can be found on our website - CLICK HERE

photo courtesy Kecia Deveney

SPACE IS LIMITED - REGISTER SOON

We hope to see you at the festivities!

carrots!

In late Winter, when cabin-fever has reached its peak, I pour over seed catalogs, gardening magazines and I make seed tape.  Seed tape is ultra-easy and really great for your teeny-tiny seeds - such as carrots.

EASY SEED TAPE:
You will need a roll of toilet paper, flour, water, a popsicle stick or small brush, wax paper, a Sharpie & small ruler, tweezers and your seeds.  Spread wax paper on a large flat surface.  Roll out toilet paper into strips (later you can tear/cut your strips to shorter lengths if preferred).  Read your seed packet to see what your seed spacing when planted should be...measure & mark with dots on your toilet paper.  Mix flour and water in a small bowl to a medium-thick oatmeal consistency.  This is your "glue".  Dab or brush a tiny amount onto your dot-marks.  With your fingers or tweezers, carefully place your seeds on your glue dots.  I usually put a few seeds on each as I want to ensure germination and I can always thin later in the garden once they have sprouted.  Let dry thoroughly and store in a dry, dark place (I usually place in a shoebox in a closet).

So back to carrots - this year I planted hundreds because we love them fresh, frozen, in soups & stews and they are ultra-easy to grow.

I chose to split my harvest into two rounds a few weeks apart and two days ago (just in the nick of time before the snowfall), I pulled the last of my carrots.  Harvesting root vegetables is very satisfying for me - something about carefully loosening the soil and pulling treasures from the earth is a simple delight.  There are always little surprises as well - some carrots hit a rock while growing and adapt by growing around the object into funny odd shapes.  They certainly are not the perfect gems you see at market but are still edible and make me smile.

As I mentioned, we use carrots in all sorts of ways - some are washed, cut, peeled and eaten fresh as a snack or in salads.  Carrots like all root vegetables store well but I find its super easy and fast to prep & freeze them for later use.

FREEZING CARROTS

Brush the majority of soil from your carrots and then wash really well

Chop your carrots - chop the greens end off and make sure

to throw out any "bad looking areas"

my pup LOVES carrots

she gets very excited when the chopping begins

Blanch your carrots

This is a very important step when freezing vegetables

Take a large pot, bring water to boiling,

dump in carrots and blanch for 2 minutes

Note:  Blanching time varies by vegetable and their chopped size

Remove your carrots from the boiling water immediately
and place in icewater bath
this cools them down quickly so that they do not continue to cook
let the carrots cool down completely

place cool carrots into a freezer bag or container
make sure to remove all excess air before sealing
place in your freezer & enjoy

the weather outside is frightful

I had intended on simply posting a nice Happy Halloween message with my friend Jack

however...

we awoke this Halloween to a beautiful, yet frightful sight

our first snowfall

despite the white flurries - it does have an eery kind of look outside in keeping with Halloween

the gloomy grey-blue sky reminds me of the

Christopher Lee Dracula movies

FROM OUR NECK O' WOODS TO YOURS

WE WISH YOU A HAPPY HALLOWEEN

finally

after a big delay due to being sick, I am happy to share some fun pics from ART IS YOU Art Retreat

First and Foremost - thank you to Sal & Ellen for putting on another fabulous event
Thank you to my students for some amazing classes
Thank you to our friends new and old that make this such a special time for us

silly

my friends Dorothy and Glinda

(better known as JANE and KECIA)

 I taught a mini-workshop called Cubic Collage

We all had fun playing with paper

absolute sweetheart Lesley Venable

Flatwoods Folk Art

one student's collage cubes

there were many fun mini-workshops to choose from

folks walked from table to table

my friend Di taught an adorable flower workshop

my hubby even sat down & made one for me :)

 don't you just love playing dress-up?

the fabulous BZ

LOVE this girl!  had such a great time with my friend Di

She was a huge help when I was setting up our displays

Mr Lesley hard at work :)

One of the workshops I taught was called "Almost Home"

I was so tickled to team-teach it with my mom and sister

It was wonderful to share this experience with them

students work in progress

we had a blast and the artwork created was really superb

last but not least

we must acknowledge the now INFAMOUS and BELOVED FLAMINGOS

we were lucky to be given one as we were getting ready to head home

preparing for a long drive

pit-stop for lunch

hubby had to stretch his legs w/ a quick race

getting closer

almost there

welcome home