Enjoying Winter

I had to share this photo. Love my huge puppy. What a goof!

It has been a wonderful winter and I have been spoiled with plenty of snow. I'm not gonna even complain about it. I LOVE THE SNOW! I've been looking toward a winter like this for years. Bring on the slippers, extra sweaters, candles, cuddles and even an unplowed driveway (We are lucky to live in staff housing and don't have to drive to work ;). I look forward to days where we just stop and "survive" together. Lets take a chill and enjoy each others company, and just stop going and doing things. Spring will be here before we know it, so for now, I'll enjoy these moments.

I just love these old duple characters. 

 While being snowed in we played with LOTS of legos. The kids even learned to collaborate and build things together which was a huge bonus. Since rearranging their room and giving them adequate storage for their belongings I've found they focus more on the toys/ activities they have out and really enjoy them for longer periods of time. I think they have even discovered toys they didn't know they had. By rearranging things it had given us a chance to figure out what would be good to donate, save, or throw away (if broken). It's almost sad how they don't play with the little baby toys now. hmmm to save or not to save ;)

I've been embroidering more. Small things, but still time consuming. I usually favor projects I can complete in a day or two, but lately I've been thinking "bigger" or more complicated.  I've shared two embroideries that were fairly simple but there is more to them. The peace sign was made with a gazillion french and colonial knots. A sort of therapeutic piece I worked on while catching up on some of my favorite shows on hulu. I'm hoping to turn it into a patch. It was stitched onto a fabric recycled from a bank bag. It's super thick and just lovely to touch.

This super small embroidery of a beet is going to be part of a veggie series I'm working on. I have a carrot to add, but it's not photographed yet.
I'm thinking of a nicer framed project, cut out the mini embroideries in rectangles and mount them on a coordinating fabric or paper and frame in a shallow shadow box. Those are my thoughts now, but we will see if they change as I get further into the project.

As I was inspired by all these veggies in my art I came to realize my body was really craving more too. Do you ever get that? For instance my body was aching for raw carrots. My fix was carrot juice with a few minimal add ins. My go to recipe is always dark leafy greens and a few other randoms. The current favorite go to (and what's photographed above) is a remix of my classic green drink.

inch of ginger

half a lemon

3 yellow beets (greens included)

half bunch of kale

 half bunch parsley 

one or two apples

one mega carrot (or about five normal sized ones)

quarter bunch mint <- my secret weapon

1/4 teaspoon spirulina 

I basically tweak my green recipe to accommodate whats in my fridge and amounts I'd like to save for future juicing. I don't like to make large batches because to me fresh is best. After drinking this I tend to feel better physically, mentally, and spiritually. Something about taking in all kinda of veggies and fruit really grounds me and helps start my day. Some days I can just stare at the beautiful colored foam (although somedays it isn't very pretty if you add the rainbow of veggies).

Overall I've fallen in love with my juicer, but I think it is time to move on. This was a good starter machine, but I've grown and I would like to get a masticating juicer next. :) Yey tax refund! 

And I just couldn't resist sharing a photo of my stuck up kitty. She's grown beautifully and is a sweetheart... when she wants to be. 

Winter has been good to me this season. For many reasons I couldn't hardly explain. Like others crave sunshine, I crave frost. I'm soaking it in and letting every part of my being enjoy.  

Colorful Practice

I've been on a creative high these past few weeks. Partially due to my health getting back on track, but also because I've gotten ahold of some awesome supplies to work with. I've kind of forgotten what it was like to create with quality products. 


I thought I would share some of my newest projects some are favorites and some are experimental, some I consider disasters, but I use them to grow and get better so who cares right? I've been mainly working on embroidery and since getting my new watercolor set I've gotten back into drawing and painting too. 

A little study I did on an old watercolor set I have.
These don't do it justice, but it was fun learning and practicing some different looks.

I'm loving this new watercolor set.  In fact I loved it so much I had to get one for Rachel too!
We've been on fire with new illustrations and ideas ever since. It's a wonderful set that is so easy to pick up and get painting where ever you are. I'm not even a watercolor kind of gal and with my kids constantly running up to me and needing my attention it is hard to sometimes sit down and paint. With this set I'm able to pull it out and put it away quickly as I need it.

I've been drawn to designs that can easily adopt any color. You can go so many directions by just changing up the color pallet and I like that. It is a phase I'm in I guess, but it's a bright colorful phase and I'll bit hitting it full force while I'm enjoying it! 

Getting into the warm weather spirit by painting all kind of colorful popsicles.  

Bubbles!! I'm in love with this simplistic piece, I'll definitely be doing more in all kinds of colors. So fun!

Who doesn't love bacon?! Since I've been transitioning to a healthier diet I've come to know bacon on another level.  It's like the candy of meats! 

One of my more intricate pieces I've done lately. This salmon color is one of my favorites lately. Gotta love the hints of bright pink too. I painted this hoop to match to give it that extra pop of color. It's available in our Etsy shop so check it out!

It's morel hunting season again! We've only found a couple so far this year (actually only my husband has). Even though we haven't found many it's still fun to go hunting for them all over the camp ground. I've been addicted to the shapes and colors of these mushrooms both for embroidery inspiration and watercolor drawings.

And finally I'd like to introduce our newest little one, Token. We originally were going to name her Monopoly, but then we migrated to Monopoly Token and went from there. She is a complete sweet heart and only 5 weeks old! 

Rachel and I are preparing to do some shows in the summer. We have some local shows in Syracuse Indiana, and North Webster. Also, we are hoping to do one in Lansing too. We are looking to revamp the look of our booth and focus more on certain items just for shows and have other items exclusively in our Etsy shop. It's exciting to try new things!