we're all mad here!

tattoos and thai beef salad

So, If you follow me anywhere online, you've been seeing this photo of me crop up all over the place. It's from a photoshoot I did over at Vivid Ink for a fabulous new article in the current Cloth Paper Scissors. I have been wanting to write an article about turning your art into tattoos for the longest time, and when I found out they were dedicating an entire issue to wearable art I got really excited! It was such an amazing experience to go through the process of desinging and drawing my own tattoos. It also makes it super easy to show people what I do without having to add a lengthy explanation. All I have to do is roll up my sleeves, and give 'em a good look at my arms!

Since my girl Holly's husband Stu (our incredible tattoo artist) took all the photos, I thought I would share my favorite recipe from Holly with all of you. It is the most wonderful, tangy, crunchy beef salad, and I'm completely addicted to it. It tastes much better when it's had a nice bit of time in your fridge. I generally make this just before lunch if we're having it for dinner. So here's a little something fun to add to your recipe box:

THAI BEEF SALAD

ingredients

•  1+ lb. flank steak
• Montreal seasoning by McCormick
• Lawry's garlic salt
• 2 tbl. sugar
• 5 tbl. H20
• 1 1/2 cups GOOD fish sauce
• 1/2 cup white or cider vinegar
• 2 lemons juiced
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tbl. red pepper flakes
• english cucumber
• yellow onions
• 1 jalapeno seeded & sliced thin
• iceburg lettuce
• tomatoes (I like using small ones)
• cilantro
• 1 lime

1. Start by cutting your onions in half & slicing them up. Put them in a large bowl or baking pan add the following ingredients:

• 2 tbl. sugar
• 5 tbl. H20
• 1 1/2 cups GOOD fish sauce
• 1/2 cup white or cider vinegar
• 2 lemons juiced
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tbl. red pepper flakes

2. Let the onions soak in the marinade & coat both sides of your flank steak with the Montreal seasoning & garlic salt. With your grill pre-heated on high sear both sides of the flank steak until it is medium rare.

3. Slice the flank steak into very thin strips cutting across the grain of the muscles so it's not tough & chewy. Add the sliced steak to the onion marinade.

4. Slice & add the following ingreadients to the steak & onions:

• english cucumber - seeded & sliced
• 1 jalapeno seeded & sliced thin
• iceburg lettuce - julienned
• tomatoes (I like using small ones cut in half)

5. Put the whole thing in the fridge for the day and let the meat soak up all the yummy flavors.

6. Dish up & add a bit of cilantro & a slice of lime to give it a bit more zip. 

7. Fill your belly!

NOW GO MAKE ART!

 

a taste of summer in winter

Happy Valentine's Day!

I finally got to the grocery store! I know this sounds silly to some of you, but I've been sick for over two weeks, and with my car out sick too it's become a challenge to get there at all. One of the reasons I'm so excited is that I've been dying to make some Summer Risotto for Larry, and because I've really been missing my breakfast tomatoes & basil with olive oil. This is a recipe that I adapted from a 2002 issue of Organic Style - Johne Thorne's Italian rice Tossed with Tomatoes and Fresh Mozzarella. I think Summer Risotto is easier to remember, and since I've tweaked it to my own liking, I'm going to be a rebel and give it my own name.

SUMMER RISOTTO - serves 3

• 1 cup risotto rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbl. butter
• 1 tbl. fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tbl. olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves - minced
• 1 small yellow onion - minced
• 7 fresh basil leaves
• 2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp. McCormick Monterry seasoning
• dash Lawry's garlic salt
• 1/2 container Sanitas or grape tomatoes - cut in half
• 3 spoonfuls pearl mozarella

1. Bring your 2 cups of water to a boil.
   +    1 cup risotto rice
   +    1 tbl. butter
2. Cover - reduce to simmer for 16 minutes
3. Add olive oil to a large saute pan & heat over med while you mince the garlic & onions
   +    garlic & onions
4. Saute until translucent & starting to brown 
5. Turn heat in saute pan down to low
   +    tomato halves 
   +    balsamic vinegar
6. At this point your risotto should be cooked - turn it into your saute pan & stir contents
7. Tear up the basil leaves & toss them in the pan
   +    garlic salt
   +    Monterry seasoning
8. Dish up and add a spoonful of the fresh mozarella pearls to each dish
9. Stir & fill yer belly!

 I've been busing sewing this amazing log cabin <3 pillow for CreateMixedMedia: 

I'll post the link and details of this fabu How To and Give Away as soon as I get them! Here's the loot one lucky reader will win:

The biggest, and best news for me is that I finally made a spot in my studio completely dedicated to painting, and creating mixed media. I'm getting ready to take Mindy Lacefield's Paint Your Story class soon, and I wanted to create a space where I could keep my paints out without worrying about them getting on my fabric. I found the cutest little conductor's stand down the street at the Maple Street Market - our towns nifty little antique store. It has a door on the front that opens up to shelves meant to hold sheet music, and it turns out it's exactly the right height to hold all my Liquitex paints. PLUS it's the perfect height so I don't have to hunch over and kill my back! {can you tell I'm excited?} So, for the rest of the week you can find me over by the window in my studio painting, and glueing away. What are you creating this week in your life?

NOW GO MAKE ART!

love train - a GIVE AWAY

I'm having one of those moments ... that feeling you've got something important to do. That KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!ing that makes your heart start to race a little bit. I'm getting one of those "feelings" I'm doing what I'm supposed to be right this very minute. Do you ever have that happen, and not act then wish you had? I don't want this feeling to turn into one of those, so I'm going to "act now while supplies last", and follow my gut.

Today started out pretty good, and has continued to get better and better as time ticks by. There's some mojo stirring itself up over here folks, and I REALLY want to share it and pass it on to YOU.

Yes, YOU!

You sitting right there hoping it's you, but maybe feeling too nervous or anxious or maybe even a little afraid that it is YOU to even try and join in. Are you ready to make a difference in someone else's day? Are you ready to get this love movin' all over the globe? Don't you dare tell me we can't cause I know better!

We're going to get a love train going my peeps, and see how far we can spread the love. Are you up for the adventure? Are you game? Here's all you have to do:

• give something away on your blog or flickr or tumblr or wherever ... whatever you use to share with your peeps

AND

• post a link to it right here on this very blog post
   

That's it :) I don't care what you give away - it can be art ... time ... product ... a service ... something sewn or handmade ... a polka dot elephant wearing tights - the what, my friends, is up to you.  The point is to take a moment to stop the talking, and take a smidgen of your precious time to do the walking. It's time to put all that lip service - all the "I wanna"s & the "I should just", and actually DO. My husband is a HUGE supporter of the "don't tell me - show me" way of living your life. The plain truth is that actions speak a million times louder than words. Always.

So, here's what I'm giving to one of you - my owls & fireflies pillowcase. It's 16 x 16 inches and has an apple green zipper in the bottom so you can take your pillow out and wash the case if it gets dirty. I've been deciding what to do with it for months, and I think this is exactly the right thing! It's quilted on both sides, and comes from a smoke free home :) I'll also throw in some extra goodies tailored just for you. I'm also going to pick one more person in private to pass something else on to that is more personal, because I've got the feeling I need/want/should do that, too because that is how it has been given to me all day.

Here's the fine print:

• I will choose the winner at random by using a number genorator
• You have between now and 3 pm EST on Friday to post the link to your Give Away.
• You do not need to live in the USA to win this Give Away or host your own
• You must send me your address by next Wednesday - 10/5 or I choose a new winner
  {I have a problem mailing things out & don't want to wait or forget.} 

One of the things I stumbled upon today, that I've talked about in the past is Tiny Buddha. Well, here is today's quote:

A hero is a man who does what he can.
+Romain Rolland+

So, let's all do what we can today, and be the hero in someone else's day! As my friend Melody likes to say, "You never know when you might be exactly what someone else needs at exactly the right moment!" and I agree wholeheartedly!

NOW GO PASS ON THE LOVE!

nightmares and wrinkles and fears

OH MY!

So, I'm kinda over the heavy posts this week, and thought it was about time I got back to the lighter side for a bit. This post is kinda jumpy, and I've tried to figure out how to transition better, but this is the way I think, so deal with it :)

A couple posts ago I was talking about reality versus perception, and wanted to touch on it again for just a minute today. On the left you can see a photo I took of my studio yesterday. Ugh! It's transmogrified back from it's pristine photoshoot tidiness to what it generally looks like most of the time. If you picked up my book, and knew knothing real about me you might perceive that my studio was always that perfect picture of tidiness ready for art at a moments notice that the photos portray. The reality is that this is it folks - right now there is a HUGE pile of nerf guns blocking all my fabric, a pile of my current sewing projects on the floor where the kids dumped them when they needed my chair, and barely enough room on my workbench to make a sandwich let alone create something. Just out of frame you would still find my unpacked suitcase from Art Fest {yeah yeah ... I know that was back in April, thank you very much}, boxes of projects from my book, and whatever else the kids threw in there when they were asked to clean up the family room.

Don't I find it embarassing and uncomfortable to admit? Sure, but it's the truth, so I can either change it or accept it, right? I might not accept it 100% of the time, but more often than not, this is what you're going to find in there no matter how hard I try to hide and cover it up from everyone. It's gotten easier to just admit the truth. This does not in the least bit mean I've admitted defeat ... it just means that I'm coming to terms with the fact that my house is never going to look like the ones in Flea Market Style regardless of how hard I wish. I could try harder I suppose, but the truth is that I enjoy things like reading and making things too much to give over all my energy to the endless cleaning that level of perfectness requires!

Another thing I'm learning to come to terms with is turning 40, and the wrinkles that crop up around your eyes and mouth as a result. I was blessed with some pretty magical genes, and think I look pretty good for 40, but I'm not a huge fan of the wrinkles. I've tried creams, and ointment, and salves, and cucumbers, and anything else I can get my hands on, and I'm pretty sure they're staying put. Now, I can either start injecting my face full of all kinds of junk to smooth them out and trick everyone into thinking I'm younger, or I can just sigh and learn to live with them. Does that mean I have to love them? Yeah ... I don't see that ever happening, but I don't find myself wanting to hide in my room and cry over them either. It's just another one of those things that I've decided just is, and that's a great feeling. It feels good to be able to accept things we cannot really change. I am 40 after all, as well as having had two kids and a trashcan full of stress to cope with so far. It's just life :)

Listen folks, there's gonna be some wrinkles and stretch marks after all that growing that took place to get here, right?!

Last, but most certainly not least, is the nightmares. If I could write them all down and get them into the right hands I'm sure I'd be as rich and famous as Stephen King! I have spectacular, end of the world, zombies chasing me, rummaging through desolate buildings for food, running for your life nightmares, and have for as far back as I can remember. I'm pretty sure it's more a product of my fabulous imagination tinted with a touch of my anxiety than that there's something wrong upstairs, but who knows. Right now, I'm working on turning one of them into a short 5 panel drawing in my art journal, and am pretty excited about trying something new. I generally journal a page or two per idea, and spliting it up into smaller pictures is both challeging and exciting. One of the things I didn't really think through about entering the Artisan Search 2012 is that I have to mail my journals off to CPS for a whole year ... A WHOLE YEAR! So, I'm putting the finishing touches on my last few unfinished drawings, and then it will be on to making a new art journal. I'm a little sad that I have to send them off for so long, but really excited to come up with a fun journal making project to share with you here!

One last little thought before I log off to go read through my towering stack of magazines - make time to have lunch or dinner with a friend this week! I got to have lunch with Holly today, and I always feel better after we have one of our heart talks about life and kids. Her littlest is starting his school years just as mine is ending hers, and it's nice to share that experience with someone who is feeling similar about it all! I promise it will put life in perspective, and make your heart feel lighter!

NOW GO MAKE ART!

I choose the glass half-full, thankyoumuch!

There is this wonderful thing happening inside all my art girls ... an awesome and inspiring transformation! Lots of talk about what is REAL versus what is PERCEPTION in our daily lives or about the MYTH that happy people don't have problems (or somehow as if by magic their problems don't trouble them). From photos on facebook of our overflowing laundry piles to gory details about our messy lives on our blogs ... the truth is starting to trickle out drop by precious drop. Here's the secret truth folks:

EVERYONE has problems in their life! 
everyone
period 
exclamation point
the end 

I know when you are in the middle of big problems they are all encompassing, but sometimes lots of tiny bits of daily turmoil can coalesc and become the perfect storm just as easily. Happy people have simply come to terms with the fact that LIFE GOES ON regardless of whether you are ready for it or not. My theory is: you can either sit in the corner and cry or learn to shrug it off and try to find something humorous in your dilema to laugh about. Now, I understand this may sound silly or maybe even unrealistic, but I promise you it's not. Just look back at all the problems you've already faced ... did you rise to the occasion and conquer all of them with grace and splendor?

No?

Me neither, but I'm still here, and they have come and gone ... so the lesson is that life marches on with or without you. Do you want to cry and moan and stomp your feet on the sidewalk as life parades on past you OR do you want to pick up your instrument and join in?

I have zero control over some of my problems ... I can bang my head against the wall trying to change them or learn to look for ways of working through them. Which sometimes can be something as small as hosting game night for your family or friends. Cooking out and laughing at all the b.s. there is to put up with in life. Getting together for coffee talk, and most definitely helping each other get through these real, difficult, messy times on the phone or in person.

I love this Brave Girl's quote by my friend Melody: Motivation is when your dreams put on work cloths.

Take a moment to stop and really soak up this tiny little sentance. Getting through life - just like achieving your dreams - requires you to pull on your big girl panties and get a little dirty. Navigating the murky waters of life is dirty business my friends, but the rewards of living a REAL, messy life are endless! Your relationships with be so much better when you are honest about the problems you are having, and ask for help or guidance, your workdays will be tolerable, you may even decide you CAN suck it up and have lunch with your mother-in-law ... you get my point. 

Jenny Doh just wrote about choosing the burdens we bear in the latest CRESCENDOh newsletter. {You can sign up to receive it in your inbox here: CRESCENDOh .} She posted this quote at the begininning of her letter: "Freedom means choosing your burden." {Hephzibah Menuhin} I love this quote. It reminds me of my choice to ALWAYS put my family first ... something that Jenny and I talk about often. When I started publishing and writing almost 10 years ago {facepalm} I made the CHOICE to never put my art before my family. Am I amazing and awesome at doing this all the time? Nope ... and that's okay. Because I am most of the time so they let me slide when I get a little compulsive about writing, sewing, and making things.

It's so completely amazing to be loved and accepted for who you REALLY are instead of who you want people to think you are. REALITY VS. PERCEPTION I know your reality might be scary, and a burden, or just a downright incredible mess ... but if you quit hiding it away and trying to take care of it all yourself things will get so much better!

So, I've rambled on forever, but in case your eyeballs still have some juice left in them you can read more about REAL life over on some of my art girls blogs:

Melody Ross and her FB detox 

Jeanne Oliver's ART SAVES story

Lara Blair's confession @ being a soccer mom

Kolleen Harrison on her journey into healing thru art

This is only a smidgen of the wisdom out there ... but I wouldn't want your noodle to pop :)

NOW GO MAKE ART!

CHA was amazing!

It's that time again:

Starting today you can hop on over to the Cloth Paper Scissors website and download a free ebook full of handmade book tutorials. I'm so excited to be featured right smack at the top:

Article #1: Creating Mixed Media Books "Creating Treasure Booklets"

click here to open the link in another window: free ebook from Cloth Paper Scissors

7 things I love this week:

• volunteering with Holly - passing out chips & salsa from Houlihan's to all the Lansing Kidney Walk participants
• chobani greek yogurt - pomegranate
• kokka's linen fabric - new bird echino prints
• poach pods - thanks Mom!
• having buckets of patience
• fresh paint - April Mist
• getting together with my longtime art girls

Last week Tracie Lampe invited me to tag along to CHA in Chicaco with her, and we had the most amazing time. It was the first time attending for both of us, and I have to admit we had more fun than should be aloud for grown-ups!

Other than meeting some amazing contacts, and getting talks going about licensing my illustrations for all sorts of goodness, the highlight of my trip was finding Mixed and Stitched on the showfloor which I was totally not expecting.

It was so wondeful to run into Facebook friends like Margo Potter, Sarah Hodsdon, Julianna Hudgins, and Marisa Pawelko and finally get to see them in 3D as Margo likes to call it. Catching up with Jen Cushman, Bernie Berlin, Tracie Lampe, and Barbe St. John led to intense fits fo giggles, and some frank talks about our views on the differences between the Mixed Media and Craft world. Jen summed it up best by calling them fishbowls that sit next to each other on the same shelf, but are sometimes hard to hop between. Overall, I think we really recharged each other's creative tanks, and helped cheer each other on to new and amazing goals!

We all did a group interview with Elena over at Charity Wings, and you can catch our little bit of sillyness over on their site. You can find the link over on my side bar under Brave Girls links.

By the end of Wednesday, we had all gotten a little punchy and started coming up with funny ways to incorporate ourselves into our favorite booths displays. You can find some VERY funny shots on all our facebook pages, and I promise they will deliver intense giggling.

I have lots of amazing opportunities to share with you tomorrow, but today I'm resting on the couch after another round of spinal injections, and should really get back to resting. A HUGE thank you to all my art mentors who gave me the best advice ever on how to achieve my goals. I couldn't have done it without all of you!

So, what are U up to today?
Tell us all about it here or over on your blog :)

NOW GO MAKE ART!

getting away from it all

This past weekend, Larry & I snuck away for a rare weekend alone. I found this fabulous little cottage in the woods online for us, and it was a truly magical place! I got to do lots of sitting by the fire, drawing ... thinking ... journaling ... listening to the magical quiet of Le Pin Cottage. I really needed this time away to re-center myself, and brainstorm how to get back into writing after taking this hiatus.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what I want to get out of my day to day life, and how I want to spend so much more time reconnecting with my art girls. All of this deep thinking started when I hired Laura Bray last year as my art coach to help get me through the process of writing Mixed and Stitched. One of the first things she did was challenge me to really stop and think about how I was utilizing my time, and what my fall back crutches are in times of stress. 

For me, that means procrastination ... avoiding ... getting sucked into the computer ... and isolation from friends. All terrible terrible habits that I'm trying to break out of! I've started writing letters to friends again ... gotten back into some fabulous exchanges on Flickr ... started a journal of goals & dreams {SO important if you want to achieve them!} ... planted an herb garden {you will get a fun little project tutorial about this tomorrow} ... started repainting the rooms in our house. All things that I WANT to spend more time on lately, and put off to write my book.

I'm not the only one who's been thinking deep thoughts about life either:
my beautiful friend Kolleen had the most awesome FB update the other day:

"the grass is greener where you water it"

Really makes you stop, think, and nod in agreement, huh!? Are you watering your own grass or just wishing it was greener? What is keeping you from making your own grass greener? Do you even know? Maybe what you need to do is really stop and think about what it will take to make YOUR grass the greener one!

Another wonderful friend of mine, Melody has decided to take a 90 day break from FB and technology to focus on making art, soul searching, and deep writing. I would love for you to hop over to her blog, and read more about it. I really like that she's brave enough to give this a try! I know that when I spend too much time getting sucked into FB, I don't get the things done that I wanted to for the day. When I feel super stressed out I know it's time to step away from the internet, and focus on the causes of my stress.

What are the monsters that go BUMP! in your head? Melody talks about her worry of being forgotten if she stays away from FB for too long ... I think many of us artists are afraid of being forgotten or passed by if we take time for ourselves to water our gardens so to speak. I know I've worried about it way too much in the past. So much so, that I was accepting every opportunity out there whether or not I could really fit it in to my schedule. That was another one of the things Laura and Melody helped me with ... learning that it's not only okay, but extremely healthy to say no. So, I started only accepting opportunities that fell in with my goals & dreams. Really hard to do because again, as artists we're always worried about being missed or missing out.

What I found when I unplugged and stepped away a little bit is that I need mail art & love to keep going. That I need to tend to my messy nest to feel happy and fulfilled. How sharing my problems with close friends helps me to feel strong enough to conquer them. How important it is to stay connected to my art girls ... because they are the fuel of my artistic fire. Most of all that it's okay to take time away to recharge, refocus, and get back on track.

There's lots of thoughts banging around upstairs, and you'll be reading lots more of them ... cause I like sharing with all of you, and hearing your thoughts on schtuff :) 

NOW GO MAKE ART!