Portrait Photography

I had my first portrait shoot since college, today with a dear friend.  It was so fun to experiment with natural and artificial light, plus my subject is extremely photogenic, which doesn't hurt.  Our kids played, while we played.  They were very interested in what we were working on, and they kept telling Heather how beautiful she looked.  No doubt!

My Suburban Garden

The suburbs are a state of mind.  One day, I will have more land to grow on, but for now I am enjoying honing my gardening skills on a small scale.  This is my third year growing using Square Foot Gardening by Mel Barthomew.  The cool thing was this year, I got to use my own compost instead of buying it.

As you can see my greens up front are picked (chard and some bibb lettuce and my spinach has bolted).  My tomatoes are ripening, but I've had a visit from this annoying pest.  The tomato hornworm.  I may not have even noticed him right away, had it not been for a half-eaten green, cherry tomato that had me come in for closer inspection.  Interesting looking fellow, but he and a friend massacred this plant down to only the stalk by the time I came back from Floydfest.  This was a plant in a pot, feet away from my my garden plot, but it has found it's way to the others, and I'm having a heck of a time finding it since it blends in so well. I will try to find the bastards tomorrow.

 I still have plenty of cucumbers, though, which have been fun to pick.  My first cantaloupe is growing, which is exciting, especially since I lost two watermelons to blossom rot.  Apparently, that is caused by a calcium deficiency, so a friend suggested I crush up some Tums and add it to the water.  That's what I did tonight after harvesting most of my basil for the pesto.  My garden is still organic even with a little crushed antacid, right?  Maybe not, but it's fun to learn about growing my own food.

Dinner from the Garden

Watch out Mekong, I think I have finally managed to make tofu as crispy and delicious as yours.  It took some drying (used clean dish towels since I don't buy paper towels), and then I sliced the block of tofu into four lengthwise sections.  Cut each section into four triangles and tossed in a pan with olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper.

I made fresh basil pesto using this recipe and put it on the tofu.  I diced up a cucumber and tomato from the garden and poured a homemade balsamic vinaigrette with fresh parsley over it.  Growing your own food and eating it is fun!

With the leftover pesto, you can freeze it, and use it over Trader Joe's Gnocchi, which we had for dinner later this week.  Or you can make pesto quesadillas, using tortillas, tomatoes, spinach, cheese and pesto.  They rule and are plain, simple and thrifty, my friends.

Recycled Paper Mache Birds

With age, I've grown to appreciate bird watching.  I find these creatures interesting and joyful.  This guy was made by balling up and reshaping a paper grocery bag, then securing it with duct tape.  The paste was made from cornstarch, sugar, boiling water, and several drops of preservative oil.  I used eucalyptus oil, but tea tree oil would work, too. I coated old magazine pages in the paste, and let it dry for a few days.  Then a white paint base coat was added.  Then decorating it with my favorite color was fun!  I then used an old coat hanger and pliers to shape the feet, that were then inserted into the body.

This baby bird was made by using a cardboard armature, and then coating magazine pages in the paste and procedures listed above.  I plan on drilling a hole through it and hang it with a beaded string.  My kids love these birds and enjoyed playing with them even before they were painted.  My son told me he *really* liked it which is all that really matters.  This and the next craft come from a cool book called Green Guide for Artists.

Fused Plastic Bag Notebook/To Do List

This notebook cover was made by fusing 8 layers of plastic shopping bags under wax paper with an iron.  The pages are made from assorted junk mail, then sewn together and hand embellished with some sewing stitches.  For the next notebook, I plan to get a sewing machine and make the front look more tidy.  It still turned out pretty well, and I think an obsessive list maker may enjoy it as a gift.

Recycled Milk/OJ Carton Coin Purse

I love crafts involving recycled materials.  I stumbled across a cool blog called Connect the Dots , in search of  eco-friendly crafts and found their tutorial on how to make recycled milk/oj/soy carton coin purses. My son is always looking for something to carry his "monies" in, so I thought this would be a nice starter wallet.

It's pretty easy to make, though the first few steps had me challenged spatially, it was good for my brain.  I was going to really have to dig to find my exacto knife, so I just used scissors.  Some of the edges are more jagged than I'd like, but it's still cool.  Since making the first change purse, I've started using an exacto knife, and what a difference it makes!

I used a Trader Joe's OJ container and I really like the way the back of the coin purse looks.  Part of the fun is exploring various carton options, but make sure it has a cap.  I was pretty excited to use my 365 Milk Cartons with the cool cow image, but alas, no cap.  Bummer.  I made one for a friend, and she enjoys the attention her coin holder gets.  Pretty sweet!  Just make sure you wash and dry your carton well.

Recycled Robot!

My son was attending a Rocket/Robot party and the handmade party invitations were inspirational enough to get us started.  I knew I wanted to recycle the invitation somehow on the robot (it was just too awesome to throw away) and that the empty Trader Joe's coffee cans I've been collecting under the sink could finally be put to good use.

I got some wire and some contents from the junk drawer (correction: the junk that had overflowed out of the junk drawer and now had it's own plastic container) and went to work.  My son loved getting out all of the hardware, nuts, bolts and random AV pieces my husband had been collecting over the years.  While he was working on his "work, complete with screwdrivers,  I threaded the arms and legs.  I poked a hole in the top of the can and brought the arms and legs together and twisted the connecting wires so they were secure.

I got a tuna can from the recycling bin and washed it (this was pretty hardcore to remove the smell.  so, I soaked it overnight and cleansed it with copious amounts of soap and vinegar),  nailed a hole in the top to thread the appendage wires and added some eyes, ears, nose, mouth, antenna, glued and modge podged the party invitation on the coffee can body and voila!  Recycled Robot!  Problem:  My kid didn't want to give it to his friend when we were done.  I went recycle bin diving once more and made him one, too.

This project may have been more fun for me.  The cool thing is that we'd always wanted to make a robot but just never got around to it.  This party, the love of rockets and robots, and an awesome handmade invitation was the impetus!  I want to make more, they make cool kid's room decor.