some green and a little chocolate

when you're eating gluten-free and you find someone like elana over at elana's pantry who is also eating gluten-free, has done lots of experimenting with gluten-free ingredients, and is willing to share them with the world, you're absolutely thrilled over the thought of being able to bake goodies and eat like "real people" again.  however.....when it comes to baked goods, the color green isn't exactly what i want to see in my muffin.  but that's what i love about elana......she's smart.....she adds chocolate chips.  and when it comes to chocolate chips, i'll eat them with cardboard if that's part of the deal.

so i thought i'd give her zucchini chocolate chip muffins a try.......

and they're absolutely delicious!
actually, they're so good,  i figure i could really use the whole green-in-baked-goods-thing to my advantage.......with all that zucchini in there, don't you think i could probably eat the entire batch and get one of my required daily servings of veggies?!  (not to mention my chocolate fix......heehee)


{you can find the recipe for these gluten-free zucchini chocolate chip muffins here! }

inspiration monday

here's a quick and easy way to create a journal page.....using leftovers!

if you've been carving your own stamps, grab some of those little leftover pieces......or you can also use leftover snippets from your last session with fun-foam sheets or chip board, and then mount it to a piece of wood, or acrylic block, or even the lid of your stamp pad.  

(i used these little pieces of speedy-carve that were leftover from my alpha-carving session the other day.)  

now open your journal, grab your stamp pads (i used colorbox chalk inks) and start to stamp.....

and stamp some more......until you've stamped all of your strange shapes onto the paper.

this is where i like to squint my eyes a little and try to see those shapes as the beginning of something else.....like maybe an animal, a pan of brownies, or a group of flowers.  to make your shapes look a little more like actual objects,  add some doodle lines with a micron pen, along with some watercolor here and there to give a little dimension (wait for your stamp ink to dry completely, and then go back with a waterbrush and some watercolor.....this is also how i doodled my letters here).  

now add all of your extra-special doodle touches......
and say hello to a sweet little journal page that started with nothing but leftovers!

{here's what i used to create this journal page:  leftover speedy-carve pieces, colorbox chalk ink, koi watercolor, waterbrush, micron pens, 2B graphite pencil, pan pastel}


*to all of our friends who's lives have been affected by hurricane irene,
you are in our thoughts and prayers.*

jumped (s)

once all my alpha-stamps were carved, i couldn't wait to use them!  so i thought the best way to give each one of them equal time was to stamp out one of those alphabet sentences.  but once i had finished stamping the last word, i noticed that i had a letter "s" leftover.......

......because i had stamped the word wrong!  oops.
oh well, i went back and stamped the "s" on there anyway......
it's not an alpha-sentence unless you have all the alphas!
(besides, sometimes the letter "s" can be a little temperamental if he starts to feel left out.  heehee)


{journal page supplies:  hand-carved alphabet stamps, pigment stamp pad, 
koi watercolor, micron pen, 2B graphite pencil, pan pastel}

alpha-pink

i was rummaging through my little drawer of carved stamps the other day and i realized that i didn't have any alphabet stamps.  how in the world did that happen?!!  so i got out a big piece of speedy-carve, and because i'm such a rule follower, i started with the A.  but once i got to the G i started to lose steam.

part of me wondered how long i could survive using only the first seven letters of the alphabet.....but after trying to find words using only those letters, i decided i don't normally use phrases like "bad-fed-cage-face" in my art journals.  egad!  so i continued carving......

and after a timely choco-break (or two), i had carved all 26 of those sweet little 

alpha-pinkies.....

and this is all that remains!
conclusion:  there's nothing better at the end of an art day than a big pile of pink!


{alpha-stamps carved from speedy-carve using speedball and staedtler carving tools}

inspiration monday

i can't think of anything more inspiring than to have my sweet little niece alyssa sitting by my side up in my studio.   everything looks great to her, and instead of wishing she'd done something differently, she welcomes "happy accidents".  alyssa is a pro with polymer clay, so this time we thought we'd switch it up a bit and open a package of paperclay that i've had in my stash for a while.  you don't need many supplies to have fun with paperclay......the only thing that's really required is water, because the clay dries out fairly quickly (mini mister spray bottles are very helpful!), along with some clay tools, and craft wire (this is optional, we used a little for finishing touches).

the first thing to do is look through your journals for some inspiration......

and then grab a piece of paperclay and start molding it into the shape you want.  it helps to give a little spritz of water now and then to keep your fingers clean, and the clay from drying out too much.  the water also helps smooth out the clay, and serves as "glue" when you add other small pieces like ears, legs, and who knows......maybe a hat!

alyssa made a bunny (with nails for the legs), and a piggie.....

and i made the birdie (wire for legs and tail)

 and the mousie  (nails for legs, and wire for the tail).

then let them dry completely.  drying time depends on the thickness of your piece......we let ours dry for about two days.  then it's time to paint your masterpiece.......

with some acrylic paint or watercolor.

once everything is dry,  introduce all your new paperclay

 cuties to each other during their photo shoot (as you can see, alyssa was quite busy).

and giggle a little over how much fun it is to be inspired by
all of that creative goodness right there inside of your journals!

{supplies:  paperclay, wood clay tools, mini mister bottles, acrylic paint, paint brushes,  20 and 24 gauge craft wire, wire cutters, small nails, scrapbook paper for birdie wings, embroidery floss for mousie hat trim}