kandeland

March Lessons...

If you haven't noticed, I've got this thing about reflecting on each month when it's ending. What did the month remind me, teach me, throw up in my face? So here we are again at the end of another month. March. The month I never could love. I never had a good March. This one was testing me as well, but I have to say, it did have it's good points. Without mustering up too much drama, these are some of my March lesson and reminders....

* The future is never predictable.

* Simple things really are the best things.

* Variety really is the spice of life.

* Michael Jackson music really lives on, in some of the most obscure places.

* I just learned for the first time what a real "gentleman" is. It only took 35 years to experience it.

* My mom is now actually not the only person in the family who has swallowed one of their own teeth.

* Having a sense of humor is a saving grace.

* Just because you did some gardening doesn't mean it won't snow again.

* There is somehow always laundry to wash.

* It is possible to take a shower without a Lindt truffle.

* Drake's rap in "Moment 4 Life" will never get old.

* If I had to pick a "last meal", like on my deathbed, somehow Lay's chips and Bison chip dip would have to fit in there somewhere.

* I'm always going to be a nail-biter.

* I don't need so much stuff.

* Clearly this is not what I expected.

What lessons did you get out of March?.....

A wee bit of me!

 

{one} if you won a trip to Disneyland/world, who would you take with you? my daughter and my parents and my brother

{two} when was the last time you listened to a CD?   yesterday...Balkan Beat Box

{three} what spice/seasoning is your favorite?  don't have one favorite but I love basil, cumin, curry, cilantro and any kind of pepper

{four} if you were in a band, what kind of music would you play?  funky upbeat jazz

{five} if you could have personally witnessed one historical event, which one would it be? a live Nat King Cole performance (ok, so that's maybe not a historial event, but still!)

{six} if you could go back to school, what would you study? more art

{seven} if you could go to one sporting event, all expenses paid, which one would you see? I wouldn't see any...I could care less about sports. It would feel like torture to sit through it.

{eight} do you drive an automatic or a manual? automatic....are there still manual out there?

{nine} are you comfortable speaking in front of people? yes, definitely. I'm an adult ed teacher so I do it every day.

{ten} have you ever experienced an earthquake? no, thank goodness!

(go here  to link up!)

I missed my 600th post.....

So why not have a little GIVEAWAY?! If you would like this little decorated Easter egg (which I will fill with goodies of course!) then leave a comment on this post. I will draw a name at random on Friday...Good luck!

what we did

Today the Easter tote came out. Easter is not really my decorating-holiday, but I have one tote-full of stuff, so we pulled it out and set stuff up in the kitchen...the only white room in the house that works with Easter colors!

 

 

 

 

 

The one good thing about not getting too into a particular holiday when it comes to decorating is that it only takes 10 minutes to set everything up!

weekend sunshine

happy Saturday! could it be? a few straight sunny days? a few days ago I woke up to this view out my kitchen window:

Which actually looked really pretty, but considering the date it was a bit hard to swallow. But  now the sun is out and the snow is sloooowwly melting. I have been trying to get Scarlet to get dressed and ready for the past 3 hours so we can at least get outside in the sun for a bit. I keep seeing all these pretty spring-like photos on everyone's blog. Flowers coming up....ahhhh. Not so much here yet, but for now I'll take the sun....

Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

today

today i sent my lovely swap players their postcards....

and today he loved his gift....

such a good day.

For the love of paper and glue

I've been on a paper and glue rampage lately. There's nothing that eases the tension of the day better than wine paper, canvas and gel medium.

Tearing, positioning, gluing down...so calming and meditative.

I made a bunch of backgrounds this past weekend, and also made one piece for someone very dear to me...

"Love and Peace" in Arabic.

Hope you are enjoying what soothes you.

Weekend Recap, ATCs, and Bird Art

Happy Sunday friends! It's a sunny day out there, the birds are singing, and I just got done eating my lunch that I showed you on my last post. My friend came over with her son and we enjoyed 2 of these after our lunch....

(see my previous post for the recipe!)

My friend brought me some of my favorite things...

Now I'm ready for a nap! But anyway...had to share a few things first!

First of all Scarlet lost her other loose tooth on St.Patrick's Day, which was the exact day five years ago to the day that her tooth first came in! She was with grammie, eating a cookie and swallowed the tooth! And the funny thing is, we were harassing my mom a week earlier for telling Scarlet that she had swallowed a tooth when she was little! We're like "Who does that mom?!" and sure enough, Scarlet ended up swallowing one too! Ha!

So this weekend was nice. I even managed to create some art! My friend Kimberly does a Tuesday Trading day in which you can swap atcs with her. I joined in the last two weeks. First was "Lady in Green". Kimberly made this beautiful card:

and I made this one:

Then she had the "Queen Bee" theme and made this beauty:

And I made my interpretation with a beeswax skirt:

Then it was on to some bird-themed creating. I made these oversized picks with birds and glass glitter....

I just cut the shape out of heavy tag board and adhered the images and coated the rest in gold glass glitter. I put these in my African violet pot for now.

At the end of July I have a special weekend plan up my sleeve that I can use these for....(hint: garden. art. party.)

This weekend I also finished an orignal canvas piece.

If you would like it for yourself it can be found for sale here .

It might make a bird-lover in your life happy!

I also listed a piece that I made previously but wanted to keep....

But since desperate times call for desperate measures, you can also find it here

So now I'm heading to the sink full of dishes and then to the couch to do some art book browsing and tea drinking.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

One of my favorite things to do besides drink wine and sleep.....

What could that be you might ask?....

Cook!! (well, I can only get so personal on this blog! you never know who's reading this!)

Anyway! yes. I love cooking. I always wanted to be a chef when I was a child. I find it as soothing to the soul as creating art. And it tastes better! I don't like boring cooking though. It must be artful! So I thought I'd share one of my favorite cookbooks with you, and some of my favorite recipes from it.

This wonderful cookbook is full of superb recipes from South America. And they are basically quite simple. My dear friend Ellie is coming for lunch on Sunday and this will be our lunch:

Jicama, Bleu Cheese, and Passionfruit Salad

Empanadas de Chorizo y Queso de Cabra

Cola de Mono

First: the salad!

My quick way to explain it:

-arrange a bed of baby spinach

-top with julienned jicama (my fav! a mix between a juicy apple and radish)

- top with crumbled bleu cheese and salt and pepper

Make this homemade dressing:

-Whisk together: 1/4 cup passionfruit juice, 2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar, 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice, 1 Tbsp. honey, 1/8 tsp. ground cumin, 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

So yummy!!

Main Course:

Sausage and Goat Cheese stuffed pastry

- in a small bowl mash up 4 oz. goat cheese (my weakness!), 1 cup finely diced chorizo (I use chorizo-style chicken sausage), a small bunch of chives, and salt and pepper

-Working with one defrosted phyllo sheet at a time, place 1 heaping Tbsp of the mixture on the end of the sheet and roll into an empanada, turning sides in. Brush tops with olive oil.

Bake on a cookie sheet (covered in wax paper) on 400 degrees for about 8 minutes.

Easy!!

And for dessert...this special drink...."Monkey's Tail"....

Start by bringing the following ingredients to a boil in a saucepan on medium heat:

6 cups whole milk, 2 Tbsp instant espresso or coffee, 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg, and  a Tbsp. of sugar ( I use raw sugar)...

Next, remove from heat, stir in 6 oz. white chocolate (chips are fine), 1/4 cup Cointreau, and a couple Thai chilis....

Pour into mugs and top with whipped cream and cinnamon!

Simple, yet artful, and of course super yummy!

If you have a particular cookbook you love to use, I'd love to hear from you! Happy Cooking!

Hippity Hop over to etsy!!

OK! Here it is! My mom's debut!

She has been working away at some projects and decided to test the etsy waters at my shop with two ultra-sweet needle-felted bunny pieces!

First, let me say that the photos I took do not really do these two cute pieces justice. But take it from me, they are wonderful!

This little bunny box is the perfect gift box and decoration for Easter. Look at how meticulously she finished off the inside:

I just love this little box!!

The other piece is also just fabulous! This little needle-felted bunny in jump stance!

Just look at her from the back! Cuteness!

Such a cute idea. And her work is always impeccable. AND of course you can be sure that you are buying from one of the nicest, most generous people on the planet! I am so happy that she is getting in the craft mode and putting herself out there!

As soon as we have some time together I will be helping her set up her very own blog and etsy shop, but for the time being, I didn't want you to miss out on these pieces, so please visit here where I am happy to have her as a guest in my shop!

Happy end of the week to you! (OH! and St. Patrick's Day! Almost forgot!)