I know I'm odd but ...

when I bought these slippers last year, I thought they were cute, but not quite right. Some of you know where this is going ...











A little black marker magic and tada! Every family has a black sheep in it.

Goodness.

You know what those days are like. It's cloudy and cold and you need a little pick-me-up.

I decided it was the perfect time to make some cookies.

As I often do, when I need a recipe that doesn't call for gotta-run-to-the-store-to-get-the-ingredients, I reached for the More with Less Cookbook. It's a true gem, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to serve hearty and healthy dishes to their family.

As I often do, I tweaked the recipe to give the cookies a little extra healthy crunch. Here's my recipe for what I renamed ...

Cold Morning Crisps

Combine:
1/2 c. melted butter
1T. corn syrup
2/3 c. sugar
Add:
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda dissolved in
2 T. water
Mix well. Stir in:
2/3 c. coconut
2/3 c. chopped nuts
And I added ~
1/4 c. flax seed
1/2 c. rolled oats
1 tsp. maple flavouring
Form walnut size balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten with fork. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 12 minutes.

Let me know if you try these. They were so yummy, the whole batch disappeared rather quickly.

A Must see ART Show

Mother-of-all-Aprons Swap

Here's some photos of the apron I created for Jennifer Conway for the Canadian Chickies' Mother's Day apron swap.

Actually I was pretty happy with how Jen's caricature turned out. It was helpful she had a couple photos of herself on her blog. It was fun to make baskets out of the apron pockets. I added details to the apron that would be be special to Jen. I was pleased to hear that she received the apron safe and sound and that she was very happy with what I came up with for her.

What a difference a day makes

Remember the photos I showed you a couple days ago of our "lovely" April blizzard? The day after the blizzard, I took these shots ...


















The first two photos were taken from the same spot these photos were!

Fine Art in the Library ~ 6th week

Week 6, the very last session of Fine Art in the Library was very special. We learned about the life of Canadian Maud Lewis (1903-1970), and her colourful folk art.


Throughout her life, in spite of her painful rheumatoid arthritis and poverty, Maud painted vivid works on everything from cardboard to tin to lino with an amazing joy. Almost every surface of her tiny home was covered with her paintings. Her favourite subjects were rural Nova Scotia locations where she lived (both the woods and the ocean), as well as flowers and cats.

The kids produced some amazing paintings on the backs of cereal boxes. We thought that since Maud used any available material to produce her paintings, cereal boxes would be perfect to paint like her.


Everyone used brilliant colours and created masterpieces that would surely thrill Maud.


I posted some Maud Lewis calendars to give the young artists some inspiration to draw from to produce their own works of art.


As you can see the results were great!

It's been a great six weeks with an awesome group of kids.


The Leduc Public Library staff and I have already started discussing the possibility of doing another session of Fine Art in the Library ~ perhaps during the summer ~ stay tuned!

A look at springtime in Alberta

I took these photos a few minutes ago ...

My garden gate


"Garden Path" sign and cherub


The painted chair at our doorstep


... and looking out to the street

We know this April dump of snow will be melted by tomorrow.

ART video

art
by Tanya Davis

i wondered what would be the worth of my words in the world
if i write them and then recite them are they worth being heard
just because i like them does that mean i should mic them
and see what might unfurl

i think of the significance of my opinions here
is it significant to be giving them does anybody care
just because i'm into this does that mean i should live like it
and really do i dare

art, art i want you
art you make it pretty hard not too
and my heart is trying hard here to follow you
but i can't always tell if i ought to

so i pondered the point of my art in this life
if i make it will someone take it and think it's genuine
will they be glad that i did 'cause they got something good out of it
will they leave me and be any more inspired

i question the outcome of the outpouring of myself
if i tell everyone my stories will this keep me healthy and well
will it give me purpose, to this world some sort of service
is it worth it, how can i tell

art, art...

Happy Easter!

It's Easter weekend and suddenly (finally) it feels like spring! I am enjoying some beautiful flowers that I've bought in the last couple weeks, looking to the days ahead when the flowers will start blooming in the garden.
































Last night we had a thunderstorm. Odd. Wasn't it just last week it was trying ever so hard to snow? There's a saying around these parts ...
If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes.


This morning I awoke to a serenade of robins ~ the most heavenly sound in the world.

Fine Art in the Library ~ Class 5

Can you guess who our featured artist was this week?
Yep, it was Andy Warhol.

We started the class by watching an excellent DVD entitled Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Andy Warhol. Then everyone got down to work and produced some pop art of their own!

We had soup cans, Coca-Cola cans, Tim Horton's and Starbucks cups on hand as reference material. We decided that if Andy Warhol was alive today he would probably be painting take out coffee cups!














It's hard to believe that next week is our very last week for Fine Art in the Library. I'll have more photos to show you of the kids work then.

Roses are pink

These are the perfect pink tipped roses my husband gave me for our anniversary ...


and then they blossomed like this


and then they looked like this


and this


and this ... beautiful at every stage. Don't you agree?
(even if my lighting was different from one shot to the next)

A thrifting we will go!

Yesterday on our jaunt to Leduc, Zach and I hit a couple of thrift stores.
Here are a few photos of some of the things that our eyes beheld ...

Aliens-in-a-Jar??!


World's ugliest clock. It appears to be a cross between a horrid leather shield and a 80s designer sculpty clay apparition thingie. Ghastly!

And up-to-date computer software ... Windows 2000!

Zach also discovered a Master Chief Helmet which was an add on to a popular videogame series, Halo.

He wasn't quite sure why, but he felt the need to purchase this baby.

And here are our other purchases at the end of the day ...
A gigantic koala bear, retro suitcase, Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul (a little something for my mother-in-law who loves the series), 3 volumes on the history of the Province of Alberta (late 1800s - 1914). A 25 cent bunch of fakies (flowers), an adorable hand-stitched bunny, and of course, Zach's helmet.

Fine Art in the Library, Class 4

Our numbers were few today as school's are out for Spring Break this week. Nevertheless, a few eager kids came to the class to learn about our artist of the week, Canadian Ted Harrison.

The Leduc Public Library has a Ted Harrison limited edition print (30/150) which the kids were able to view his work up close and personal. The print is entitled Winter Day ~ something we're all very accustomed to around these parts.




We found out that although Harrison's work looks easy to duplicate, that his simple lines are not that easy to reproduce.