more poppies

 i liked my poppies from my piece yesterday, and decided to do another one, minus the girl.  i have a few weddings to go to this summer and thought they would make nice cards to have printed up for them.  now i just have to figure out the gifts!  i love to make hand made gifts, but i'm having a hard time thinking of a wedding gift. 

reccuring themes

this week at Mixed Media Monday, the theme is  to do a piece with a image, color or theme which seems to recur in our work.  lately many of my pieces have a little girl in them.   Fischer asked the other day, "how come you only draw girls?"  i'm not sure why, but this is what i've been drawn to lately.  girls are easier to draw than boys and a lot more fun.  this collage was inspired by my daughter Amelia, who can finally wear pigtails after the haircut that her brother gave to her back in January!

can't wait!

i'm so excited, kelly rae robert's e-course  starts tomorrow!  i signed up for this class as soon as i heard about it.  the timing of it is perfect.  i've been trying to figure where to go and what to do with my art, and along came this e-course.   i quit my nursing job back at the end of october to stay home with the kids and grow and store a lot of our own food.  i really disliked my job and felt my heart being pulled back toward my ultimate passion, which is to create.  i originally went to art school, this lasted a year and a half, but then changed to nursing.  i was young and impressionable and listened to what others thought i should do instead of doing what i wanted.  i do enjoy being a nurse, it has been a wonderful career choice as far as stability and money, but it's not what i love.   i'm hoping to  make a little bit of money from my art, but i just don't know how to start..  i'm  looking forward to all the tips and inspiration that i know kelly rae will have to offer and to see where my creative journey will take me!

poppies

here's some eye popping color that burst open today in my garden.  the deep velvety red, the crinkly petals from just opening, the amazing center which looks like some sea creature, i just love them.  the  poppy is so inspiring, i remember last spring sitting out in the lawn with my paint brush in hand and trying to capture just a bit of their beauty, i may have to try this again.

recipe cards

the theme this week at the three muses is "cards."   at the last minute this afternoon, with no inspiration what so ever with playing cards, i thought of  "recipe cards" (most of my ideas it seems come at the last minute).  many of my mom's and grandma's recipes are written on little recipe cards which are either kept in a little box or tucked randomly in cook books, which is exactly where i found the cards to use for this collage, from a cook book i bought at a garage sale, so i used these old recipe cards as the background for this piece.  i felt a little sad about using these old recipe cards, what if they were some old family favorite?    i know a lot of my grandma's recipes were lost, either thrown away or never written down because she had them memorized.  at family gatherings i've heard many times "remember when grandma used to make........", or "i wish i knew how she made....."

relationships

here is my late entry for the three muses this week,  the theme is "relationships."  i couldn't help but think of the relationship between bees and plants, and how they help each other out. (and how we get the yummy benefits of this relationship!)  my garden, my family and my tummy are so thankful for these little guys.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual started by Amanda Blake Soule, of Soule Mama

"A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week

A simple, special, extraordinary moment"

under the weather

just peeking in, we've all been sick around here this past week.  fischer and  i had a little  stomach bug and then we all got walloped with a head cold.  today i'm finally starting to feel a bit better and might even find the energy to draw a little today, otherwise my brain has felt like mush and simple chores have felt like gigantic challenges.   we've spent a lot of time outdoors just enjoying the warm sunshine and soaking up some of that good ol' vitamin D.

a birthday bag

fischer has another birthday party to go to today, his friend Wilma.   this time i had to make a gift for a girl.  i had thought about an apron or a skirt, but decided to make a little bag for her.  my kids love any kind of bag to put their stuff in.  both of the fabrics are from thrift stores.  i really like how they look  together and might make a little sundress for amelia out of it.  i taught myself how to crochet a couple of nights ago and made a little flower that i sewed onto the front,  i thought it  added a nice little touch.  it's a birthday party where the whole family is invited, lots of food, fun and a chance to get to know our neighbors.  the kids are anxiously waiting to go as i type this,  so off we go!

her web

the theme this week at The Three Muses is legs.  i had a really hard time coming up with anything for this one.  so many creatures have legs so i'm not sure why this was so tough, maybe too many options?  my mind kept going to the insect world, ladybugs, butterflies, dragonflies, moths, beetles and even the centipede who has so, so many legs and was just a little too creepy crawly for me.    in the end, the spider won out, 8 beautiful legs in all.   inside her web it says "create," which spider webs are truly an amazing creation.

make a wish!

the yards and fields are filled with wishes waiting to come true!  close your eyes, make a wish, and blow.

a mother's day moment

fischer lost his first tooth today! and on mother's day!  boy, did his eyes ever light up when it came out.  it didn't take him long to get it under his pillow for the tooth fairy to come tonight.  i'm not even sure what the going rate is these days for the tooth fairy?  a dollar?  it feels like such a milestone for my little boy, and a wonderful  mother's day moment for me. 

more dandelions

the theme this week for me seems to be dandelions!  i love watching the little blackbirds wander around in the dandelions, this is where the idea for this  little collage came from that i did yesterday.  i felt  i  just needed to do something quick and easy.   i feel like i'm having a little bit of brain block.  you know where you have the ideas, but are having a hard time doing anything with them, or even finding the energy to want to try?    that's how i'm feeling and sometimes by just doing, the rest of the ideas just start flowing.

{this moment}

A Friday ritual started by Amanda Blake Soule, of Soule Mama

"A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week

A simple, special, extraordinary moment"

dandelions

dandelions, i love how you  are so bright and cheery and even enjoyable to eat, but why do you have to spread everywhere so effortlessly in so little time?

reaching for the stars

the theme this week at The Three Muses is "stars."  lately my ideas have been coming to me when i go running, just like this one did.  i knew i wanted the girl to have a star in her fingers, but i didn't know how to do the rest of the stars.  i was getting pretty frustrated this morning as i kept trying different things and nothing was looking right or working how i wanted it to.  i was thinking and trying so hard my head was starting to hurt! i decided what i needed to do was to step away and go for a run.  wow, did that ever help, my head felt so clear afterward!  i came inside and just started cutting and this is what i came up with for the stars/sky.  i'm actually very happy with how it turned out.  so anyways, here's my entry!

mother's day gifts

the theme this week at Mixed Media Monday is Mothers.  i decided to use this as a chance to work on my mother's day gifts that i have to give!  i usually make some part of the gift, but wasn't sure what i was going to do until i found this local honey from Sweet Prairie Farm.  i bought some regular honey and some honey creme, one with pecans, one with blueberries and the third with apple cinnamon,  you can put this on crackers, bread, in your tea, etc..  i then remembered i had some flour sack towels which i had picked up years ago at a thrift store just waiting for something to be embroidered on them, so i drew up a little bee and some honeycomb to sew on them.  since i had to sew 3 of them, (my husbands dad remarried) i needed to keep the design simple. i then used the inside of a cereal box as the container and cut out a few felt flowers to add a nice touch to it.  i think it all came together pretty well.

rhubarb time!

the rhubarb is ready!  a little early like everything else around here, but so delicious.  first on the list was a strawberry-rhubarb pie, i still have a few bags of frozen strawberries from our garden from last season that need to be eaten up before the new crop rolls around.  next on the list are rhubarb muffins. rhubarb muffins used to be my saturday treat at the madison farmers market when we lived there, so i need to find a yummy recipe yet.  
Garrison Keillor from A Prairie Home Companion" was even singing about rhubarb tonight on his show " (i always look forward to hearing his show on the weekend!)


"Mama's little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb,
Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie.
Mama's little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb,
Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie."

and Fischer and Amelia ate theirs right up!