July 10

not getting much knitting done, but the art journal is going strong.

Wish I had another copy of this image.

Viki

Prompt a day

I am totally enjoying the prompt a day online class with Kelly Kilmer.

This is my page for today.

Sometimes there is just too much noise.  

Music, computer sounds, TV it all makes me long for quiet.

So 

sometimes I go outside to read in the heat.

It is quiet for the most part.

Okay, the dog barks sometimes.

It was so cool last night at the Park watching Romeo and Juliet with the night sounds.

We heard an owl and lots of night insects.

Viki

Book making spree

In the last 24 hours I've made 6 little books.

Once I start I have trouble stopping.  I even have another one in the works.

The cover of the yellow one (6 x 9 inches) is actually a very old Manila envelope.  I bought a whole stack at an estate sale last Winter.  I like incorporating envelopes in books because you can store things in the envelope.

  The blue and white one is 6 inches x 9 inches and mostly watercolor paper inside.

  The 2 green and white flower books are 6 x 6 inches and are filled with a combination of reclaimed papers from old books and security envelopes.  You can see part of a security envelope on the one standing open.

  The 2 smaller white ones are approximately 4.5  x 6.5 inches give or take a few cm.  Hopefully one of them will become quite colorful very soon.  I'm taking an online class with Kelly Kilmer during July.  Which was the impetus for the book making spree. 

 Three of the books are simple single signatures and 3 are stab bound.

On another note, Mariah and I went to World Market today to pick up a few bottles of  Italian syrup for mixing Italian soda's.  I have figured out that making our own costs about $1. compared to the coffee shop version at almost $4.

Viki

Art Deck card 2

The prompt I posted for this week was Balance.

My card as you can see has a stack of balanced rocks, an out of focus clock face and a hand placing the last stone.

If you have every seen a rock stack, they are incredible works of art and balance.

They seem to defy gravity.

Some see it as a sacred form of art.

While I see how this art form could be meditative, I like the hands on art, the way they look, the history behind rock stacking is interesting too.  This article talks about how rock stacks are also called inuksuk and they are a tool used by nomadic people to help others find their way. "There aren't many natural landmarks on the tundra, but apparently there are lots of rocks."

I think I learned a lot this week.

Viki

Claudia's MS Ride

In case you haven't heard Claudia rides a Tandom bike in the MS Ride every year.
Last year she had the coveted Number 1 because of all the money that was donated.

She rides this weekend and she hasn't met her goal yet.
As incentive to donate at least $10. Lots of people have donated to her prizes.

Yes, if you donate $10 or more you are signed up for the prize drawing.

If you are interested check out Claudia's blog at http://www.claudiasblog.net/

Then click on MSRide and you can give as much money as you want.
Go on you know you want to.

Viki

Art Deck card 1

card 1
Originally uploaded by cobweb1st

One of the groups I belong to has been extremely slow. Real life sometimes gets in the way of creating. So some of us are trying to make 1 card a week for a personal art deck. Meaning we are keeping the cards we make instead of swapping. The cards I'm making are 4" x 6". Hopefully this will get some of us over the dry period and back into mixed media.

Viki

The BIG Day!

We had a big day here yesterday!

Sweet!

Simple!

Quick!

We wish Jordan and Christopher a beautiful life together!

Viki

p.s. Mariah took most of the pictures.

black bean and sweet potato quesedillas

We don't eat a lot of meat anymore. We do eat some, but not often, Maybe once or twice a month we will eat some beef. Chicken about once a week and Fish once a week. The rest of the time we eat a vegetable based diet. That is pretty good, but we are trying to eat even less chicken and beef. (Mariah hasn't eaten beef in over 2 years)

I have bookmarked a blog that I visit fairly regularly called Vegan Dad. He has a cookbook coming out. (As a side note, I find it amazing that so many people who blog have ended up with book deals of one sort or another.)

Back to Vegan Dad. He had a recipe on his blog that sounded so good and I had All the ingredients just sitting here so I made Black Bean and Sweet Potato Quesedillas for dinner the other night. I didn't follow his recipe exactly, of course, but used what I had and what we like and they were outstanding!

I used 2 smallish sweet potatoes chopped and cooked in water, then drained and mashed.
1 can black beans drained
1/2 a large onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup of leftover corn
1/2 a jar of Frog Ranch salsa
cumin
a few handfuls of spinach leaves cut up or torn up.
chili powder
hot pepper slices

cooked the onions til clear and browning, added the corn and garlic then the beans and mashed potato and salsa and spices and spinach. I spread a few tablespoons of the mixture on whole wheat tortillas and browned them in the iron skillet.
They taste great with guac and sour cream too.

Anyone else have a great meatless meal recipe?

Viki