Friday, June 22, 2012

Adventures

Again I've let the blog sit a while.  I've got a bit of stuff to show for it though.  First, remember those culinary adventures I embarked on?  The third was lavender scones.  They were delicious:


I used the formula from this blog post:  http://www.goodlifeeats.com/2011/03/buttermilk-poppy-seed-citrus-scones.html  So easy to follow, and what I added to the basics was some ground dried lavender and some vanilla extract.  I sprinkled some lavender sugar on top before baking, too. 

Well those turned out so well that the next week I made blueberry scones.  Look at these:

I love blueberries.  And they make scones so good.  It's like a blueberry muffin but better :)  Try that formula the next time you want scones, it works out perfectly.

My other adventures have been in color.  I did make tags for Father's day and a belated Mother's day tag.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures.  But they were fun color schemes... one was brown and red, the other was blue and gold.  Not too much of a reach for me, but I'd like to play with them again.  Since then, though, I've gone Summer-crazy:


Mom got us each a set of the new Tim Holtz seasonal ink colors.  So I thought they'd be perfect with my new Michelle Ward stamps and stencils because some of those have a very Moorish or Indian feel which makes me think hot weather which makes me think bright colors and now you know why Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean, and Mowed Lawn seem perfect for OnWard & UpWard.  Welcome to my weird free-associating brain.


This is my favorite background I've done so far.  I added some Ripe Persimmon from the Fall seasonal colors to sort of kick up the heat.   Sort of inspired by The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which you should definitley see if you like British actors in character pieces.  It's fabulous.


I had lots of fun with this ATC background, but I didn't know what to do with it.  I now have a plan for it, but I was getting a little frustrated at creating backgrounds and not having a clue what to do with them.  I like to do a project all at once.  So on this next one, I did that...

This one cools things down a bit.  And I liked the swallow swooping along the streak of blue sky across the tag.  The contrails behind him are painted on with Distress Ink by swiping a wet paintbrush on the blue ink pad, and then I added white Perfect Pearls to make it shimmery and white, like trails of cloud, or jet trails. 

I'm looking forward to making some sprays with the reinkers for these colors.  Hoping to play with them a bit this afternoon.  I'm off today because I had some doctor stuff to take care of (routine, no worries) and I wanted to spend at least one day of Alex's vacation with him.  So once I was done with my doctor stuff, he took me to the movies to see.... BRAVE!

If you've seen the trailers or any of the promo stuff and you know me, you might be able to figure out why I'm so excited about this movie.  I love the Middle Ages, I love Celtic-y stuff (my go-to station on Pandora internet radio is built off of medieval and Celtic music - here), and... well... look at Merida, then look at me:

See the resemblance?

So did it live up to my expectations?  YES.  It's visually beautiful, the characters are great, and the story is classic but compelling.  Fantastic movie about mothers and daughters and how we both need to communicate, understand each other, and meet somewhere in the middle when we clash.  It's also about being, well, brave.  And badass.  And other b-words as well, but that might be spoilers ;)

By the way, that's Mr. Pocket's sword in that picture.  He's been learning 14th Century German longsword fighting.  It's only the coolest thing ever.  See what an adventurous life we're living?

8 comments:

Trillian42 said...

Good Lord, that sword is bigger than you!

I'm SO glad Brave was good - I'm really looking forward to seeing it, too.

I love what you've been doing with the inks and stuff - gorgeous! And I totally got the connections you made between the shapes and the colors and the countries. Sounded perfectly sensible to me. :D

We need to make plans soon! It's been too long since we've hung out. We miss you guys!

Lola said...

Cool! A while ago I read about this video game company that is trying to develop a new game that uses authentic sword fighting with the long sword. Didn't save the bookmark, though.

Maryanne said...

OMG! I love those backgrounds! Fuschia and orange...I'm in heaven! And they look so great with Michelle's stencils and stamps. Fantastic! I love the ATC that you finished. The bird with the contrails beautiful. I like how you did that.
I just got blueberry scones out of the oven for breakfast!

Diana Taylor said...

Goodness, I don't know where to start, but I really enjoyed your blog post! Firstly, I just have to make lavender scones - I have seen cakes decorated with a sprig of the stuff but didn't know you could add proper amounts to food like that - it sounds delicious - thanks for the info! And secondly I love your new stamps - the designs are just gorgeous and I can see you had so much fun playing with them - I love the results. The background behind the bird is fab -it's just the sort of background I imagine doing but never turns out as I envisage it - brilliant work. I'm looking to seeing how you use your backgrounds.
That sword is scary - you must have well hidden muscles to be swinging that about! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the backgrounds!

Diana Taylor said...

Hi again - I just wanted to let you know I nominated you for the Versatile blogger award - I did so because I enjoy visiting your blog - there is always something of interest or something to inspire me, be it art, recipes or martial arts!!!
If you aren't interested please accept my apologies and just ignore this. However, if you are then details of what to do are on my blog

Nathalie Kalbach said...

It was so fun to meet you at CREATE :) Thank you for letting me use your supplies- LOL- those Krauts ;)
Love your blog and your use of colors. You book in the class also looked amazing. Have a gorgeous day! Nat

jeanie g said...

Hi to you at Papercraft I just stopped by to take a peek and my it was worth it. Those scones are scrummy looking and so are the backgrounds. I know what you mean about getting bored doing JUST backgrounds. I have to finish something before I do the next or I feel uncreative? Does that sound weird? Hope the sword wasn't too heavy to wield it looks menacing. Thank you for visiting my blog and for reading my story and I hope you're having a good day. xx

jeanie g said...

Hi to you at Papercraft I just stopped by to take a peek and my it was worth it. Those scones are scrummy looking and so are the backgrounds. I know what you mean about getting bored doing JUST backgrounds. I have to finish something before I do the next or I feel uncreative? Does that sound weird? Hope the sword wasn't too heavy to wield it looks menacing. Thank you for visiting my blog and for reading my story and I hope you're having a good day. xx