stuff about artstuff.

Double Carroty Goodness.

The other day I saw this beautiful juice on Pinterest and it reminded me once again how, pretty much every week or so, I talk about digging out the old juicer from it's dusty grave in the back corner of the bottom kitchen cupboard, and trying to think a little bit healthier.  I vowed that this time, I would actually do it.

Then instead we at mac and cheese for dinner two nights in a row (true story).

But I had bought myself a ton of organic carrots and the most gorgeous giant knob of ginger (love this time of year, the ginger is so fat and pretty) and was not going to let this stuff go to waste.  I didn't follow her recipe as much as I was inspired by her ingredients (I'm sort of that way in the kitchen, careless and haphazard with no rules).

This is so refreshing and invigorating I can't stand it.  A real burst of sunshine on a cold, grey winter day.  After making it for myself a couple times, I adjusted amounts of each item and came up with my perfect combination:

This is about a pound of carrots, one sweet meyer lemon (peeled), one small orange (peeled), and 2-3 fat 1" knobs of fresh ginger.  I really love ginger - but when I gave Husband Guy a sip he sort of made shot-of-whiskey face so if you decide to try this, you might want less ginger in yours.

When I told Husband Guy I was going to make this juice, he said, "and you can make muffins with the pulp."  Oh yeah, I used to do that.  Back when I used to make juice.  Back when I used to bake.  And make stuff.  Wow, I used to be practical.  And nice.  Hmmm.  What happened to her?

The thing I've always loved about baking muffins is that unlike other baked goods, it's not an exact science.  Again with the careless, haphazard kitchen style.  Crumbs at the bottom of cereal boxes, random fruit, jam, sauces, seemingly unsalvagable items from the pantry and refrigerator can make the yummiest muffins - as long as I include those few key ingredients (I suppose this is where a real baker would remind me that proves there is actually science to muffins) and as long as it's a "muffin-batter-like" consistency and I don't overbake them, they are almost never icky.

I don't know about you, but I'd say "almost never icky" are pretty good odds.

And these turned out way better than icky.

They are gingery and sweet and moist.

And like most things, even better with a dab of melting butter.

They taste like a ginger snap and have crunchy edges and soft insides, with fresh tart little bursts of blueberries all throughout.  My mouth is very happy right now.

If you care, this is what I did, sort of:

Carrot, Ginger, Citrus, and Blueberry Muffin un-recipe:

Aside from the dry ingredients, these measurements are guesstimates, and I cannot be held responsible if your muffins are weird.  Just being honest.

In one bowl, I mixed up most of the fluorescent orange pulp from the juicer (looked like a little over a cup) picking out large or hard chunks of peel and citrus seeds with 2 small beaten eggs, about 1/2 to 3/4-c honey, and about 1/2-c fat free plain yogurt.

In another, I sifted together 1 cup unbleached white flour, 1-t baking powder, 1-t baking soda, and 1/2-t salt.

I mixed the wet and dry ingredients together with a spoon.  Using juicer-pulp makes a stiffer-than-most muffin batter, but the pulp releases the rest of its moisture while baking so it all seems to work out. 

Then I added about 3/4-c frozen blueberries (left from the 6# I picked one warm afternoon last August, yum!) and filled 12 muffin cups.  Squirted a drizzle of honey on the top of each before baking.  Baked them at 375 until the house smelled like muffins and they had a nice crust on top.  I have no idea how long that was, I was playing around on Pinterest again while they were baking.

I know, I could never be a food blogger.  I'm even worse at saving and sharing recipes than I am at following them.  But that's ok with me, I am going to go devour another of those muffins right now.

And I'll be making more of that yummy juice tomorrow.

Sparkles.

Sparkles sparkles sparkles sparkles sparkles.

Just in case I wasn't clear the first time.  I said sparkles.  Sometimes I wonder if my licensing partners put sparkles on every single thing they produced with my art, if my head would simply explode from sheer joy.  I do love me some sparkles.  Someday when I'm queen I may just have to demand that.  A royal proclamation.  Sparkles on everything.

Anyway, followers of my Facebook page may remember I shared the link to this card by Leanin Tree last month.  But today I received the actual samples on my doorstep, and I swooned.

Because of the sparkles.

And the other details that make this an awfully nice Easter card.

You can buy it here.  Did I mention it had sparkles?

So Lucky.

Sometimes the extra bonus goodness I get to experience from this crazy job I have is just too much, I really am constantly blessed in spite of myself! 

Art Licensing can create a very distant and removed lifestyle for artists.  Most of us who do this work alone in our studios, often quite isolated from the real world.  On one hand, that's something I enjoy about it - I tend to be happy with what may seem to most folks like an unnatural volume of peace, quiet, and privacy.  On the other hand, we are so far removed from the end consumer that it's difficult sometimes to grasp the big picture - departments and focus groups and agencies and committees, manufacturers and distributors and sales reps and retailers; the list of entities separating a licensing artist from the person who buys and lives with our products is pretty vast.  But that's just how the machine works; I could never make and sell my stuff like they do.

You don't go into this field expecting to make friends or share warm fuzzy moments.  But it happens.  The mentors, muses, and dear friends I've been blessed with make my life full and happy. 

One such unexpected friendship began a couple months ago.  A nice woman in Kentucky wanted to make a rag-quilt for a Christmas present for her grandson who loves camping.  She was searching the web for flannel with squirrels on it (!) and stumbled on my Etsy shop where I still had yardage from my At The Lake collection.  Who knew I was about to make a friend?   

We chatted online, one thing led to another, and when she had finished that one, made 2 others with more of my flannel - then offered to make me one for me.  I almost tear up just telling you about this (talk amongst yourselves) how sweet and generous is that?!

It arrived when I was in Atlanta attending AmericasMart last month.  I could hardly wait to open the package, but I didn't share it with you right away because as you can see, the blanket and I had some very important work to catch up with that first day home.

If you don't believe that this holds a prominent and beloved place in our household, take a closer look at all the pet hairs that have embedded, literally woven themselves into the fabric.  Curling up on the couch on chilly winter evenings here means there is at least one furry family member on top of you, usually two.

But in spite of the hairs, isn't that cool?  I love it, and it fits perfectly into our decor and lifestyle!

And finally, this amazing gift:

The happy recipient of the original quilt drew me a picture (look at that awesome tent and camp fire -  I love this!).

And like a true Southern Gentleman, charmed me to death with sweet compliments.

New friends, and physical, tangible reminders right here to treasure; I have so much to be thankful for, to fill my heart and make me smile - next time you catch me being a grouch or curmudgeon, you have my permission to just slap me.  I mean it.

Aaaaahhhh.

Smell that.

On a cold, damp February day here in the Pacific Northwest, that sweet, heady scent could pretty much only mean one thing. The Northwest Flower and Garden Show.  I hopped a bus downtown on Saturday and met my sister (who had hopped a ferry) for an absolutely perfect day of smelling, staring, soaking in, sharing, and all-in-all being inspired and rejuvenated.

As usual I came away with so many more ideas than I will realistically be able to incorporate into my own yard, but as usual I will try.

Each year it seems the display gardens feature more and more funky, repurposed, and recycled items - my own Granddad's quirky style has become mainstream - I often wonder what he would think of that.  He'd probably just shake his head and chuckle with that light, airy little contagious giggle he had - just imagining it makes me smile.

My very favorite thing I saw this year were these amazing fountains crafted of musical instruments and random objects.

They appeared in a booth in the marketplace and featured in display gardens.

It seems this guy shares a common artistic vision with my Granddad, shown here with his own amazing "Commotion Machine" back in the 1970s.

Another favorite funky feature I saw in multiple locations throughout the show were these little friends of mine.

I visit them (or rather, their friends and cousins?) on regular strolls through my favorite store in Seattle

and have vowed to bring home a carload of them someday to join the many other goodies that have followed me home from that place.

Found-objects-turned-art popped up over and over again, inspiring my hoarding side a little too easily.

I'm not sure if this entire "beneficial insect hotel" by Innovative Landscape Technologieswill someday appear as a stand-alone sculpture in my backyard but some of these cute little niches tucked away into fenceposts and corners do seem like a neat idea.

Other cool ideas from their garden included this neato musical deck and old picture frames used to highlight a specimen or provide support for plants.  Oh boy do I have a lot of raggedy old picture frames I could do this with...
Their garden also included a practical "rain garden" surrounding a ground drain that would sure be nicer than the old hose that currently drains my rainbarrel runoff down to the gravel alley.

I'm not sure if it this moves by wind or some kind of motor, but this "kinetic sculpture" in the WALP garden was particularly mesmerising and I have the sudden and unrealistic urge to try and build one myself

(she's right, you know - he would have).

Also in their garden: this fabulous giant rusty guitar and some nice stonework.

Cool, industrial metal parts decorated all corners, nooks and crannies

including this beautiful shape which I am guessing had been a scrap; just what was left between some real parts of some sort.

I end up with pieces of paper and cardboard all the time that suddenly become more interesting to me than the piece I had meant to cut out, and it makes me happy that someone else shares a similar appreciation for their own scraps.

Old wooden pallets have been having a great year.  They have been popping up on Pinterest as anything from clever wine storage and flat-files to narrow tiered planters (a variation of which I plan on constructing in my own yard this spring).  I even saw one in the marketplace built to the same specs as the one I saw in Apartment Therapy.  But this one, by Artistic Garden Concepts, is my new favorite use for a pallet:

Isn't this table fabulous?  The legs make it, but the pallet is cool!

Their romantic moonlit garden sat nestled under a twinkling, star-like canopy of vines and mini-lights twining through a pergola - this idea I love, too.

It set a perfect tone for the vignettes below.

 I am a real sucker for blue glass,

and they had me at "bottle tree"

but looking beyond the blue into Susan Browne Landscape Design's garden, I heard angels singing in the form of

a shed.

A magnificent little garden shed.

Just look inside.

No, really look in there.
And if that wasn't enough, later a bluegrass band played gently along right in front of it.  Awesome.

More of these fabulous little structures by Bob Bowling Rustics appeared around the show, be-still my junk-loving heart.

I could just live inside one.

I also like to think I could live inside this giant root...

...I believe Elandan Gardens may have used this amazing specimen in previous show displays, because I feel like I have photographed it before.

I'm always drawn to this kind of stuff; I can't get enough when it comes to twisty

curly

tangly

textury stuff like this.

Oh, hellow.

Fancy Plants Gardens created a magical moving "stream" with dry ice which I could have stared at all day.

All show gardens label their plants with the latin names but this was my favorite, also in their display, cute!

I'm going to have to copy this cute idea for marking plants.  I've tried it before with a sharpie but eventually the rock gets too dirty and wet to read and I lose it completely.  It appears they used a waterproof sealer on theirs.

Guess what?

Chicken butt.

Sorry.

I suppose natural forest-scapes are probably something you don't find so much in the other garden shows, but here in the woodsy Pacific Northwest we go nuts for this stuff.

I love this.

But that's not to say that we aren't all about our colorful, cultivated, magnificent and splendiferous florabundance that makes a garden show what it is.

What a great day I had.  I can't wait until spring.