BEAUTIFUL BUNDLE!

My French Breakfast Radishes are coming in fast and furious.  There are a lot of radish salads in my future, so I've been checking out new recipes. This week it'll be Corn Salad with Radishes and Lime, Crunchy Garden Salsa, and Chicken Salad with Radishes and Apples.  

I've read that radishes are packed with Vitamins E, A, C, B6, and K.  Plus they're high in antioxidants, fiber, zinc, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, copper, calcium, and iron. It's going to be a very healthy week!

Tonight I tossed them with my fresh leaf lettuce.  Soon, I'll have tomatoes, 

(my own) cucumbers, and peppers to add to the mix.  Bon Appétit!  

-Nan

MAKE A KITCHEN ISLAND FOR $30

New house, new kitchen!  

I was looking through Pinterest lately in preparation for my upcoming move and a new kitchen to work in.  Since I'll finally have a nice square kitchen instead of a galley, I knew I could also have an island for extra storage, seating, and work space.  And of course, you could make your own kitchen island rather than paying the hefty prices for even a so-so standard island.  Even the least expensive and flimsy islands start at about $400.  So why not find a great old dresser or buffet with character and go from there?  Then your island will be custom made for YOU!  Some ideas from Pinterest:

Now on to what I found to work with.  This dresser was at Habitat for Humanity's RESTORE for only $15.  This one is already perfect counter height and about 45 inches wide which will work well for 2 stools once the extension is added.  I've already pulled out the drawers in this picture - not sure if I'm going to use them or not.    

Next, I started to take off the veneer.  It took some doing to get down to the bottom of the veneer layer.  

 

I found that going over a wet towel with a hot, steamy iron, loosened up the glue nicely.  Then I could use a scraper to get under the veneer and little by little, pull it up.

The beautiful wood under the veneer is exposed.

The back and the shelves that the drawers rested on were old and musty smelling, so I pried off the old backing and slid the shelves out.

 

  

Now to put on some new backing, shelving, and an extension to the top using wood corbels. 

Then I'll decide if I want to use the original drawers, some wire and wicker baskets, or a combination of both, for storage.

I'll post the updates as I move along on this project.  Thanks for looking!

-Nan

TREE PRACTICE

As part of my preparation for the online class I'll start today (with Liz Steel), I'm getting used to using my fountain pen.  I'm loving the easy flow of ink with a fountain pen - it's totally different than using a PITT or Micron pen.

Here are a few more tree drawing exercises I'm working on.  Just a few more after this to wrap up my little series on . . .

T R E E   P R A C T I C E.

Thanks for looking!

Nan

THE LITTLE BOOK OF TREES

This post may seem like a duplicate from one a few days ago, but read on.  THAT post was actually what spurred on THIS post.  My first, "Little Book of Trees", is a one of a kind, accordion book that will belong to my little grandson when his hands get a little bit bigger!  

The new book will be professionally printed, bound, and for sale in my Etsy shop. 

*********

So, to explain.  After a recent and miserable attempt at putting trees into a landscape watercolor, I decided to work on my drawings of trees.  

One thing led to another.  

As I was practicing my drawings, I found myself thinking about the trees of my childhood and realized the huge part they played in my day to day life as a little girl.  There was the enormous elm in the middle of my mother's flower garden that gave me shade as I looked at a new stack of library books.  And the tree in a friend's yard that I coveted because of the long swing it held. 

All this led to a new little book I'm working on, all about children playing outdoors, and the character trees played in so many of our pastimes.   This was before the era of hand held devices and color television.  A time when we looked at the outdoors in a different way than many children do today.  No one shuffled us off to soccer games and lessons.  We were often on our own to get creative, nurture our friendships ("play date" was not yet in the dictionary), and use our imaginations to explore our neighborhoods.  Most mothers were at home, most families only had one car, and neighborhoods were a safer place for children to be on their own.  The shopping mall was not invented yet, and our feet took us where we wanted to go.

So, here is the beginning of a new little book, for little hands.

 And the story begins . . .

This may seem more like a book for adults to reminisce about the way things used to be, but reading it to a little person will also facilitate conversations about the never changing need for children to play . . . and imagine.

I'm loving the memories that surface as I draw each picture and write each poem.  I hope you'll enjoy remembering too!

Thanks for looking!

-Nan

TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG?

I now have 492 of you who have chosen to follow along on this little journey and I've had a little internal celebration every time another follower joins my blog!  It is exciting to think I've almost hit 500 followers!  I also have over 750 people who have asked to receive blog updates via email!!!

But.

I haven't posted anything for over a week.  I'm kind of rethinking my priorities and spending a lot of time working in the yard.  I'm just not so sure I want to keep up with the circus of documenting everything I do and make anymore.  Taking the photos, editing the photos, writing the posts etc.  It all takes a lot of time!   I've started to think more about the hours that go into it all and I'm wondering if it's the best use of my time.

During that time I could be reading.  

Or sewing.  

Or making stuff.  

I could be reading a LOT more and making a LOT more because I'd gain all those blogging hours.

So.  Those are my thoughts.  

I've had some really sweet emails from a lot of you lately - thanking me for sharing my projects and instructions and that makes me feel that it HAS been a good use of my time.  I like knowing that I've encouraged so many people to be creative.

But, how long do you blog?  When do you stop?  If nothing else, I've left an 18 month journal for my grandchildren, or great-grandchildren etc.  If they should ever want to, they can learn more about their grandma (or great grandma) by reading a year and a half in the life . . .

Maybe I should just take a nice, long blogging break.

Or, maybe I'm done.

We'll see.  

Whatever happens - in the words of Martha, "It's a good thing!"

:)

HEART COVERED WAX PAPER

Right about this time of year, teachers are feeling pretty stressed out.  

It's already February,

but . . . 

Its.  Only.  February!

There's still a lot of work to be done. 

It was at this time of the school year, when I'd start to ask myself, "How am I going to teach them everything I need to before the end of the year?"

How do you get through those "forehead against the blackboard kind of days?"

Well, CHOCOLATE, of course!

So I baked a batch of my very own secret recipe chocolate chip cookies . . .

and followed a packaging idea from Martha Stewart.  I got out my wax paper . . .

  . . . and some Valentine paper cocktail napkins.

Cut out tons of hearts from the hapkins.

Then make a "sandwich" in this order:  paper towels, wax paper, hearts, wax paper, and paper towels.  Then set a dry iron to medium, and iron the "sandwich".   Voila!  The hearts get sealed inside. 

(Just like making stained glass with crayon shavings as a kid in grade school.)

 

Then package up the cookies in neat little stacks.  I put about 5 or 6 cookies in each package.  Enough to put that chocolate craving to rest, but not enough to totally ruin your New Year's Resolution!

 Then I tied them up with some ribbon and homemade tags.  I used the antique "HARE" dictionary page from the Graphics Fairy again.  I sure have gotten a lot of use out of that graphic - love it!  Thank you, Karen!

 Now they're ready to deliver to a couple of good teacher friends as they tackle another Monday morning in February.

February classroom stress relievers - comin' up!

Sharing on:

Craft-O-Maniac

June Roses (and Snapdragons and Fuschia and Salvia . . .)

June is National Rose Month!
After a very long winter, and a cold, wet spring, it's about time we see some flowers in the garden.  But, it's been chilly and wet all the way into the third week of June this year.  While everything else in the garden is struggling to show off, the roses are not about to let the weather stop them!  So, until my garden becomes a little more photo-worthy, these hardy blooms will have to do.

Sweetheart Roses from a Mother's Day plant from my son. 

Snapdragons and Salvia in a little silver creamer that was handed down from my grandmother. 

Last, but not least, some Fuschia and Honeysuckle in a fabulous ice bucket that was a real thrift store find.  It's not silver or even silver-plate, but it's the next best thing and for only $3.99!  It feels like silver, is weight-y like silver, but it's something else.  The information on the bottom calls it "Silver Glamour" and all I know is that it is extremely shiny and mirror-like and it does not tarnish!

Here are some ideas for things to do to Celebrate National Rose Month:

-Host a garden party for your gardening friends.
-Visit a public rose garden near you.
-Send photos of your roses to friends and family (or blog about them)!
-Gather your favorite rose photos and create a coffee table book to 
give as a gift to someone who can't get out and enjoy them.
-Create your own special postage stamp celebrating your own rose garden.  You can create them here. Expensive, but nice for a special occasion!
-Take a shut-in to visit a rose garden near you.
-Give a rose plant to a nearby nursing home.
-Take a bouquet of roses or other flowers from your own garden to special friends - just as a way to show them how much you appreciate them.


Happy Rose Month!