Day 211 - flowers in a wagon

I realized today that it has been exactly one month since I've posted anything. Yikes! Life has gotten a bit crazy. I have been doing some creative things, but not as consistently or with as much focus as before. Here is one project that I did a couple of weeks ago. I found this old, rusty wagon at a vintage shop, and decided to plant a bunch of flowers in it. Maybe this is a sign that I need to get "back on the wagon".

before.

after.

Day 210 - rain

'into each life some rain must fall.' - longfellow

Day 209 - compost

Just some little drawings to let my roommates know what is happening in this container in our kitchen:

Day 208 - Volker Neighborhood Garden

I am part of a community garden in my neighborhood. We've got lots of little sprouts coming up already, and I'm excited about the food that will grow there throughout the spring and summer. I was tasked with making the sign to let people know what is going on in our little corner of the neighborhood. Here's what I did:

Day 207 - dandelion

hanging on.

Day 202 - 206

Day 202
I made this delicious dessert - blackberry coconut crumble bars. It was gluten-free and vegan. And it didn't last long. Recipe was from here.

vegan gluten-free blackberry coconut crumble bar.

Day 203
March 24 was the one-year anniversary of owning my house! Perfectly coinciding with the blooming of these lovely tulips that I planted last fall.

front-yard tulips

Day 204
Another needle-felted mushroom, which is a birthday gift for a friend.

mushroom in oregano

Day 205
Flower photography.

tulip pollen.

Day 206
More flower photography.

cherry blossoms.

Day 200 - 201: miniature chair and embroidered leaves

Day 200
Embroidery leaves

Day 201
Tiny chair made from a champagne cage. Saw the idea on Pinterest; here is the link.

Day 196 - 199: four-leaf clover, wire word, hallway decor, DIY hand soap

Day 196:
Four-leaf clover pin made from felt. I snagged the idea from here.

lucky clover.

Day 197:
Word from wire.

hope.

Day 198:
I've been working on this for several months. Trying to determine the configuration, deciding which photos to hang, getting the photos printed, etc. Finally made it happen! I just need to get a mat for the photo that will go in the white frame in the middle.

hallway decor.

Day 199:
Home-made liquid hand soap. Made from a bar of soap, some liquid glycerin, and water. Take that, expensive soap refills! I got the "recipe" from here.

grating the cheese....i mean, soap.

melting the soap with a gallon of water + 2 tbsp of liquid glycerin.

over a gallon of liquid soap!

Day 191 - 195: wires, rock art, and cooking

Day 191
I visited someone in ICU this weekend. It wasn't as bad as I had braced myself for, but still not a comforting experience. So many wires. Life-sustaining wires (TV wires also). Of course I am reminded of the Athlete song, "Wires".

wires.

Day 192
I made a batch of sweet potato and honey rolls. I snagged the recipe from here. Yum! Fluffy, sweet goodness.

sweet potato rolls!

mmmmm.

Day 193
Cauliflower soup, from this recipe. Pretty dang delicious.

cauliflower soup.

 
Day 194
Rock art.

gator.

Day 195
More cooking. Here is a lovely quinoa salad I made, with spinach, cilantro, tomato, avocado, and all things delicious. The recipe is from here.

yummy quinoa salad.

Day 190: needle-felted mushroom

Day 189: St. David's Day

March 1st is Saint David's Day, basically the national holiday of Wales, since Saint David is the patron saint of Wales. I have a small amount of Welsh ancestry; my family name is of Welsh origin. So, I feel a little bit of a connection to Wales. I found it to be a beautiful place when I visited the Pembrokeshire coast a few years ago.

So, here is a little Welsh flag pieced together with scraps of fabric.

cymru am byth.

Day 188: Leap Day!

Leap Day. It only comes once every four years. I really don't know why a bigger deal isn't made of Leap Day. Although, I did thoroughly enjoy 30 Rock's episode last week all about Leap Day celebrations and "Leap Day William". Hilarious.

Anyway, I had hoped to possibly do some photos of people jumping/leaping in the air, inspired by this NPR feature. But, I ended up having a really rough day at work, and just needed to disappear from the world after work, so no photos happened. I just ended up doing a little sketch.

leap!

Day 183 - 187: Letter V - Z

V for vanilla bean.

W for wheat.

X for x-files.

Y for yams.

Z for zipper.

Today I happened to see a link on Pinterest to this amazing set of alphabet illustrations. They are absolutely beautiful! Go look at it!

Day 182 - embroidery thistle

my first embroidery!

thistle.

Day 181 - dust and ash

in honor of ash wednesday...

remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.

Day 172 - 180: Day M-U

Letters M - U

m for magnolia.

n for narcissus.

o for orange.

p for poppy.

Q for queen anne's lace.

R for radish.

s for squash.

T for tree.

T for tomatoes; T for tulip.

u for umbrella.

Day 171 - melted crayons

Here's one from the book. "Work with crayons."

I saw this idea on a link through Pinterest. Stick peeled crayons in a hot glue gun to melt them. So, I got a pack of crayons, an 8"x8" canvas, and a cheap glue gun, knowing it would get wrecked by doing this. I didn't know if it would actually work or not, but it did! There was something extremely satisfying about making such a mess. Unfortunately, the blue/indigo/violet section ended up mostly looking like black in the photo.

More of the lettering series will be coming soon...

Day 166 - 170: Letters I - L, and Abe Lincoln

Day 166, Letter I:

While I was looking up what kind of plants start with the letter "I", I came across this one, ipomoea. It is basically the plant that is better known as morning glory. I know morning glory well. Although, I have to admit that it is pretty, I don't know that I can say I am fond of it. I have done battled with it while gardening. I spent a whole morning last summer un-twining it from a grapevine that was being choked by it. The stuff is relentless. So, here is a Letter I, being overtaken by ipomoea.

I for ipomoea (also known as morning glory)

Day 167, Letter J:

J for Joshua Tree. Hint: the "J" is upside-down.

Day 168, Abraham Lincoln's birthday (Feb. 12):

abe. famous for his hat and beard. and his ideas of equality.

Day 169, Letter K:

K for kale! flat-leaf and curly-leaf.

Day 170, Letter L:

L for lavender.