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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Unknown Artists

If you have ever visited our home, one of the first things you will have noticed is that i don't have the typical "sofa-size painting" as the focal point in our living room. Instead, I have chosen an eclectic collection of original art to adorn every available space. Most of the art is the work of family and friends who enjoy painting.However, some of the paintings, like the ones I'm showing you here, are done by unknown (to me) artists. They come from different sources including garage sales and the ReUse Centre.
These works of art are a mystery to me. Who is the artist? When did they create the painting? If it's a portrait, who is the person in the painting? Almost for sure, I'll never know the answers to my questions, but in the meantime, these paintings have been given a second look, and a new home after they were discarded by someone who didn't see their value.
NOTE: Please excuse any formatting irregularities, such as bold print and underline text.
Blogger is being glitchy ~ sorry.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Banana Strawberry Cake






Tea Time 
Banana Strawberry Cake
1/2 cup shortening






1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1  tsp. vanilla
1 - 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup fresh strawberries, sliced
1 ripe banana, mashed
sprinkling of sliced nuts (your choice ~ I used hazelnuts)
Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs ~ beat until fluffy. Add vanilla. Slowly add flour and baking powder to creamed mixture. Fold in mashed bananas and sliced strawberries into batter. Pour into 9 inch round pan that has been greased and floured.  Sprinkle top of cake with nuts of your choice. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour ~ should be nicely browned. Use toothpick test to make sure cake is cooked through.  Enjoy with your favourite cup of tea!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

What makes you happy?



It's usually the little things, isn't it?

Afternoon tea served in a china cup and saucer ...

Vincent ...

Making art with a friend ...

Fresh flowers ...

Gnomes ...

Twinkle lights ...

The Alberta wild rose ...

Delicious food ...

Lava lamps ...

Playing in the leaves ...

Watching an old movie ...

Spending the day with your someone I love ...
So what makes you happy?
Please leave me comment, and/or go to your blog  with a link back here and 
tell everyone what makes you happy!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

And the winner is ...


There were a whopping 4 people who entered my 5th Blogoversary draw: Kim,  Dale Anne, Dorothy and Maija
And ta-da, Dorothy's name came out of the old draw hat. Congratulations Dorothy! I'm very happy that you entered this 4~in~1~chance drawing. *smiles*    Also it's ever so handy that you happen to live close by so you won't have to wait too long to claim your prize!
So what does Dorothy win? She is the recipient of a girly-girl Shelf Sitter that I created with a wonderful Ralph Waldo Emerson quote on it. I hope she has a nice shelf to put her pretty hand-painted Shelf Sitter on.

I do appreciate everyone who stops by my blog, whether they leave comments or not. Here's to another great year of blogging at Art of Humungous Proportions: Where ART 

and LIFE meet.

Monday, March 15, 2010

It's a Blogoversary giveaway!

It's been five years since I took my first step into Blogland; what an adventure this has been! I don't blog every single day like some, I don't have the perfect looking blog. But I do appreciate all you who venture over to ART of Humungous Proportions (where Art and Life meet) to see what creative madness I am up to at any given moment.

When I was trying to choose a graphic to use for this special post, I thought "Birthday Cakes" and then I thought of Lace Cakes! You will notice the beautiful Lace Cake pictured here. It is the gorgeous invention of my sweet friend, Laura of the ever-beautiful All about Pretty blog. This particular Lace Cake is available in her Etsy shop here.

I will be holding a giveaway in celebration of my 5th year of blogging. Just leave a comment below ~ tell me something you have enjoyed on this blog along the way, or what you would like to see in the future, and I'll put your name into a draw for a handmade creation by moi. If you mention the giveaway on your blog with a link back here, I'll put your name into the draw two times ~ yay!

The draw date will be Saturday, March 20th.
Spread the word, share the fun!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Sunshine Award

The lovely,  the talented, artist extraordinare, 
Maria Pace-Wynters has nominated me for a Sunshine Award. Now, I choose 12 bloggers who bring sunshine into my life. 
Only 12? There are so many, but since I must only choose a mere 12, I will try to introduce you to some of my faves.







The rules for accepting the Sunshine award: Put the logo on your blog or within your post; then pass the award onto 12 other bloggers;  finally, link the nominees within your post.

Here are my Sunshine Award nominations:


Thanks Maria for the nod ~ you truly brightened my day.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

She loved ...

It has been a tough week for our family. My mom passed away on March 2nd. The following was something I wrote about her which was read by my brother at her funeral.


She Loved …

She loved … Holding babies and, after the birth of each grandchild she would offer to go help out the new parents adjust to life with their new babies, often getting up in the night to be there if her assistance was needed.

She loved … Children, and would always have some mints in her pockets in time for church services to keep the little ones happy during service.

She loved … to make everyone's birthday special. She would make a cake for everyone of her children and serve it off of her silver cake plate.

She loved … to spend hours on the telephone talking (but mostly listening) to her friend Edna on the telephone even though the two lived just a few houses away from each other.

She loved … loved taking home movies and would play, on request a B&W Popeye cartoon backwards, much to the delight of her small children.

She loved … to go shopping. But she would never go out wearing one of her house dresses. Going to town was an occasion to dress up.

She loved … photo albums, and would be more than happy to share her family photos with anyone who happened to stop by for tea.

She loved … to watch Figure Skating on TV, and also the 6 o'clock news, which she would invariably fall asleep watching. When someone would say: Mom you're sleeping; she would say: No I was just resting my eyes ~ even though snoring was sometimes involved.

She loved … purchasing small Christmas gifts for her husband, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Not one person was ever left out.

She loved … making quilts for her children, grandchildren, her sisters and friends.

She loved … loved her pearls. (you may notice some of the ladies here wearing a strand in her honour)

She loved … Jigsaw Puzzles, Crosswords, Crocheting and Knitting.

She loved … phoning and writing letters, sending out birthday, anniversary and Christmas cards and she would always want to know if you had “heard from any of the family lately”.

She loved … when people remarked that she looked like Queen Elizabeth II, although she would blush a little, she seemed equally pleased. When one of her grandkids first noticed the Queen on the back of a loonie, he said ~ That looks JUST LIKE Grandma!

She loved … pink and learned to love purple in later years and appreciated receiving every kind of flower from dandelions to roses.

She loved … to sing, both songs from the old days, and the hymns of faith. She knew hundreds of song lyrics by heart.

She loved … to encourage her her family in music and art, proudly listening to every bad note made by a new pianist to display every drawing given to her by a child.

She loved … her family, and people of all backgrounds. But most of all she loved God and tried all her life to love others as she was loved by Him. She was loved and so she loved.