Growing up and out

Ha Ha! I knew I’d eventually do that! I just posted a blog post to the wrong blog. I guess that’s what happens when I regularly write in three or more blogs. I think I’ve got everything in the right place now.

First and foremost an announcement: My husband and I are “paper pregnant.” That means that our Dossier has been mailed to Colombia and we are in the process of adopting three children between the ages of zero and six from Colombia. Yay! We’ve been in this process for some time and if you want a sneak peak into the process check out our adoption blog.

Secondly, I’ve completely dumped my old website and have started designing the new one. This one is perhaps the biggest change in appearance I've ever made. And it reflects the changes in my life that will dawn with parenthood. Instead of being a retail site, at this time it will be more of a portfolio of some of the art media I’ve worked in, showcasing some of my skills. I may offer some products over time but nothing immediately. I continue to live the life of a free-lance artist and will consider commissions in a variety of media. As you might imagine, the costs of adopting three children plus getting the house ready plus dealing with some medical issues are considerable. So I’m pretty flexible and interested in using my skills to help support these endeavors. Contact me if have a project you'd like some help with. The new website is rather empty but a few sections have content. Check out some photos in the Cake Design section as well as the Hand Painted Art Glass section. More content coming.

Blessings to all! I think I ate enough home made icecream for three plus me tonight! We doubled the recipe and I used Madagascar bourbon vanilla bean paste in place of the vanilla. Yummm... Now that is how ice cream should be!

Soap Truffles (and living in the details)

I’ve just finished photographing these little soap truffles and I am so pleased with them! They are all natural soap with all natural herbs. No colorants, just pure natural soap. Now that’s just as good as it gets, that’s why I decided to call them soap truffles.

Top left is vanilla, and not just any vanilla either. Vanilla fragrance oils tend to have an overly sweet quality and sometimes they are downright horrible. However, real vanilla is an amazing and rich fragrance that is lovely and so I put in natural Madagascar bourbon vanilla bean paste. Yeah, the kind you’d put in some rich decadent desert recipe and it is yummy! It’s a very mild fragrance but it is so lush and exotic that the first inhale will have you! The longer this bar sets, the darker brown it will become.

Top right is peppermint rose, real honest to goodness essential oil of rose, peppermint and a bit of spearmint as well. And those little dried pink rosebuds are just perfect on there. Those little rosebuds will eventually start to discolor the soap to a dark brown or black so this is a bar to USE.

Bottom left is lavender! It’s a full tilt lavender addict bar with lots of rich fragrance and lavender blossoms in the top. Your skin will love the healing properties of lavender essential oil, the scent is wonderful and you can even use the side of the bar with the blossoms to exfoliate your skin. This is another bar to USE as the lavender blossoms will discolor the soap to brown.

The last bar is Lemongrass Sage and it’s a wonderful herby combination of Lemongrass, Sage and citrus with just a touch of patchouli. It’s topped off with calendula petals that will gradually color the soap a wonderful rich gold. Use the petal side for gentle exfoliation.

I intend for all the soap I make to be used rather than set out only for pretty. Using a lovely bar of artisan soap is an inexpensive way to pamper your skin and your senses each time you bathe or wash your hands. I like these little reminders to take good care of myself, to feed the spirit. This soap is all natural and free of SLS and SLES (additives that tweak lather and hardness which are irritants to some folk’s skin.) Each one is a fat two ounces. I sell these locally at the farmer’s market but if someone wants to place an order for a quantity of them (minimum order required) then contact me. I think they may go fast.

All soap that I make right now is considered “limited edition” which just means that I’m doin what I love by designing a new bar every time I enter my soap studio. And to me that’s what keeps it interesting. I saw an old friend a while back. He told me that if someone asks you what you do for a living you should be able to answer “exactly what I want” and if not, then you’re missing something. I loved that, there is certainly something about doing what you love that is food for the soul. I think he put his finger on one of the best kept secrets to happiness. Too many people out there working jobs they hate for the health insurance. Gah! Worse yet, too many people are working really hard to support a lifestyle and goals that come from obligations, “should's” and the expectations of others. Their days determined by external forces rather than purposeful (Purpose-Full) choices made. That breaks my heart every time I see it. (the ol heart breaks often.) Come on, this life is short! You are not guaranteed tomorrow, is this what you want to do if you knew this was your last week here? Oh wait, am I up on my soap box again?! O! Sorry. =)

I saw a video a while back that facinated me. The speaker was possibly one of the most hyperactive ADD adults I’ve ever seen and everything about him was distracting. But he made the most interesting point. The first time you do something, you’re an artist. The second time you are an engineer. And the third and fourth time you are a technician. If you know me, you’ll know I am no technician. I'm barely an engineer, I am fully and completely an artist. And it is for that reason that every bar of soap I make right now is a new experience, a fresh new discovery/creation. Everything is “limited edition” until further notice. It's what works for me.

Lovely fragrances to you all! And next time you are at your local farmer's market, buy a beautiful bar of artisan soap and USE it every chance you get! If you have special skin concerns talk with the person who made the soap, if they can't answer your questions then keep moving. Throw away every bottle of anti-bacterial soap you own and get back to the real thing. Life can be brutal. Use it to remember to be kind to yourself. It's the small things. Living is in the details.

Embracing Solitude

I woke up this morning to an awful chirping beside my head that repeated it’s squalling every nine minutes until I whacked it to silence and crawled out of bed just to spite the darn thing. I remember thinking how good it felt to lay there and how I didn’t want to get up. That’s unusual. After a while I began to realize that something was a little “off,” this didn’t feel like a normal morning. Lately I’ve been waking up feeling like I’ve been run over by a cement truck in the night but this morning I stopped for a moment only to realize that for a moment there, nothing hurt. And for a moment longer… still… nothing hurt. I’ve grown accustomed to the habits of my body and notice the exceptions rather than the rule most of the time. And believe me, I’m grateful for this exception! Especially after the last few days.

So on the way home from work I was thinking how nice it would be to spend another morning walking in the woods looking at orchids (the putty root orchids should be out in force this week sometime and I would wear the right shoes to visit them without being eaten by copperheads this time!) Deadlines in the studio kept me from that idea but I decided on the spur of the moment to drop by the park. I rewarded my body with a leisurely walk around the pond at the park. It wasn’t an exercise walk, more of a “mosey.” I fed the fish and considered friends who have come and gone through my life. A sparrow caught my attention, he seemed to be hoping for a morsel. He was a rather bold little fella. “Pardon me Ma’am, could you spare a crumb?” Oh yes I could, so I fed him till he flew away. The ducks ignored me once they realized I had nothing for them so I made a mental note to bring something for the ducks next time. I passed a raven on the lamp post above the garbage cans. He did not fly away though I was very close so I stopped and spoke to him a while. He was unfazed and eyed me quite cooly.

Back in my kitchen I started a bag of scraps for the ducks. Right now it has the last cheesy biscuit and the heel from a loaf of cranberry orange bread I picked up on impulse at the farmer’s market. Lucky ducks. They are NOT getting the last cinnamon roll, that sucker has my name on it unless hubby gets there first.

We had guests over last evening so the house looks the best it has for a while. Hubby and I hung some artwork and mirrors over the weekend, and moved some furniture. It is nice to see progress in the house, there is so much renovation work that I'd like to do. The dog hair has been momentarily banished (until Hope or Misde shake or scratch again) and everything in the kitchen is in its “away place.” I should spend the week making soap or working at art glass but both of those studios are in my kitchen and I am not ready to part with the pristine neatness quite yet. So maybe I’ll spend some quality time with a series of quilts I’m working on. My quilt studio is in the basement I don’t ever really bother with trying to achieve neatness there, organization yes, neatness no. Or maybe I’ll spend a little time at the piano or settle in with the laptop and write a story. I've been thinking of a self portrait drawing, maybe I should give that some consideration. I also have a series of paintings in mind for the children's rooms. Or maybe I’ll stay right here and ease myself even deeper into the quietness. Sometimes I wrestle with the loneliness in the quiet of my life. Today I see the solitude and the silence as something to savor. This is a good day and I am grateful.

A Walk in the Woods

It was a beautiful morning for a walk in the woods.
There are some yellow lady slippers in this shot, not easy to see unless you have someone beside you pointing them out. There are about six orchids in this shot that I can pick out.
This is another wild orchid, I should look these up the book so I can give you the names because I don't remember them.
Beautiful orchid country, don't know what that haze was about but I don't mind it so much.
The Orchid Man, an excellent tour guide and friend. See his website here.

Oh yes, it's really THAT beautiful!
A little lavender wildflower, but mostly the foilage is what I find striking about this one.
We came up on a HUGE display of these, even made the orchid man say "WOW!"
Again with the haze, what's up with that?! There are three pink lady slipper orchids in this photograph, see if you can find all of them.
Another lady slipper, we even saw a white one which is rare.
The graceful ones, love how this turned out. Most of the photos I took turned out horribly. But it was a lovely walk, a welcome change of pace.
We stood near an underground spring and in the stillness the sound of running water could be heard. I had to stand and listen to that mysterious sound in the stillness for a while, it was a beautiful moment. I’m well aware that I don’t do this often enough, that is, take the time away to charge my batteries with something completely unrelated to the life I lead. It was good.

Flickr Photos

I’m working on revamping my website and in the process I’ve created some flicker slideshows that show some of my photos of media I work in. Here are some photographs of the hand painted art glass that I do. I hope to have the site ready to launch before long, we’ll see how it goes.


Art Glass

More Art Glass

Seems like there should be a way to embed those slideshows in the body of this post but I haven't figured that out yet. (Thanks to Melody Johnson who showed that it could be done! So I came back and edited this - thanks Melody!!)

Check out some of my other flickr photos if you'd like here. At this point there are photo sets of cakes, decorated sugar cookies, art glass and wedding cakes that I've done.

Eye Candy

A friend of mine cuts hair and I visited her about two weeks ago for a cut. She didn’t want my money, she wanted me to make something for a baby shower shindig she’s throwing. She was going to give each guest a sippy cup with a coin and a treat inside. The guest gets the treat and can then fill the sippy cup with their spare change until it’s full and then return it to the new momma. Cute idea, right? So I made the treats to go inside the sippy cups. (I threw a party a while back with loads of chocolate, she attended, she approved! LOL!) As an added bonus the baby has made an early appearance and is currently weighing in at about four pounds but is doing great. He’s such a handsome lil tiny thing, welcome to our big world little one!
These are Oreo cookies dipped in dark chocolate. They aren't overly sweet and the cookie retains a bit of crunch. They are the simplest thing to make but they're really wonderful.

These are turtles made with milk chocolate, dulce de leche (which is a South American soft milk caramel) and toasted pecans. Each one has a pecan inside and a pecan on top for garnish. They're kind of big but they fit the sippy cup perfectly. And they're kind of wonderful. I delivered them this afternoon and she LOVED them. And now I have leftovers at my house. I think I did pretty well on that trade!

Tooo Cute!

With a nod to the lovely Ms Melody, here is a photo of my wee garden. It features an old Lithuanian candle house that I bought ages ago and some lil bitty plants that I just bought the other day. I hope it lives (the plants) cause I think it's cute and I'm highly tempted to make all manor of things to go in it.

Here's some good inspiration if you're considering one of your own:

Here's one Melody saw at the store: http://fibermania.blogspot.com/2009/04/pink-sky-at-morning.html And Melody has a cute one with a lil bitty garden gnome in it - how perfect is that?!

Here's one by the amazing Starla King: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=65153&id=56235438623&l=d4c8034f6c

Oh, and check this out, these are incredible: http://fibermania.blogspot.com/2009/04/more-birdbath-gardens.html

And somewhere I saw a link to Plow and Hearth where they've got some cool planter style thingis all ready for your plants: http://www.plowhearth.com/product.asp?pcode=10981&crs=6572&ref=product

Thank you Melody! This was fun to make and a fun diversion.