bent boot
Years ago I read a book called Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?: An Imponderables Book (Imponderables Books)
I’ve seen this practice many times and have read three general reasons. The first makes the most sense. If someone was lost, the boots would show that someone lived nearby. The lost person could follow the boots to a dwelling. Some cover fence posts with boots to protect posts from weather. Some say it’s just tradition.
I like tradition. Long may it live!
GHTime Code(s): nc ncJul 3
Hubby and me in front of my photographs at Artist's Reception
Since my Artist’s Reception was Independence Day Weekend, I wanted a star-spangled look. I already had the jacket, a gift from Wendy, and I had a serviceable blouse. But that blouse didn’t thrill my soul. When I went to thrift store to buy frames, I found the lovely blouse in the picture for $2. What a deal!
All I had to do was buy navy capris and design a domino necklace and frou-frou flip flops. Simple. Or so I thought.
star-spangled frou-frou flip-flops and domino necklace
The only red flip flops I could find had plastic straps. I attached the embroidered stars and star buttons with fabric glue. The appliques and buttons adhered to each other very well, but the appliques didn’t stick very well to the plastic straps. I probably should have tried super gluing them, but I sewed them on. What a process! Those flip flops had open season on my needles, even though I tried pre-punching holes with a carpet tack. And the metallic gold thread was downright wimpy. It disintegrated repeatedly. The project dragged on for much longer than I’d anticipated it would, but finally I had my star-spangled flip flops.
When I finished the flip flops, I started the domino necklace. When I screwed in the eye bolt, domino cracked. I flipped domino and started over. I used leftovers from the shoes for the domino.
The star-spangled design went together easily, much to my relief, but the sapphire rhinestones on the flip side had their own ideas. They wanted to stick to my fingers more than they wanted to stick to domino. E-6000 tamed the rhinestones, but I was grateful I hadn’t had time for a manicure. Glue was all over my fingers and I had to remove it with acetone, the active ingredient in fingernail polish remover.
Once the embellishments were glued on, I put wood glue into the crack and clamped necklace overnight. Voila! Custom-made accessories!
In spite of the frustrations, I love being an artist!
You may buy pictures from the photo album links at top left of this page. To subscribe to this blog, go here or click on the orange and white RSS logo on this page. To follow me from Facebook, click on “Follow This Blog” in the Networked Blogs box, also on this page. Or like my Facebook page. Or you can follow me on Twitter.
GHTime Code(s): nc nc
sunshine on the gate
Sometime ago, I found this antique harrow wheel (or at least that’s what I think it is). I knew I wanted it for yard art, but didn’t know quite how to use it. I thought of making a sunflower out of it.
Welded sunflower
I’d seen several before, but I don’t know how to weld. Paying someone else to make something for me didn’t seem fun at all.
Metal sun on a fence
Finally, I envisioned what it should be — a Sun. We had a gate in the garden that had come from the farmstead where Hubby grew up. It was supposed to provide a place for vining plants to climb, although that didn’t work so well last year.
metal sun wired to gate
I brought bright yellow spray paint for metal and painted it shortly before we put it away for winter. When we got it out of storage this spring, I wired it to the gate, using 100-lb. picture hanging wire. The winds around here require as much strength as I can get.
Today’s weather is overcast with occasional light rain or drizzle. When I came home from work, I saw that bright Sun in our yard. I enjoy a bit of sunshine on a cloudy day!
To subscribe, go here or click on the orange and white RSS logo on this page. To follow me from Facebook, click on “Follow This Blog” in the Networked Blogs box, also on this page. Or like my Facebook page. Or you can follow me on Twitter.
GHTime Code(s): nc nc nc ncMar 26
backs of three necklaces
fronts of three necklaces
art deco necklace back
art deco necklace front
I bought a set of vintage dominoes for 50 cents at a garage sale, thinking that I might create something with them. They looked like jewelry, but I didn’t know how to transform them from game pieces. Inspiration didn’t dawn until November. One day I saw the basic design in my mind.
I couldn’t find a wide enough bail, but had the eye bolts from framing. I pounded a brad in center of domino side to make starter hole, then screwed in eye bolt. I put rhinestones in the number dimples and embellished the other side. Every one I’ve made so far differs on the flip side, depending on the tastes of the recipient.
I made the one with small round and square rhinestones for my middle niece who likes silver. I intended an art deco feel. My mother-in-law’s favorite color is red and the stars were left over from my in-laws’ 40th anniversary party. Hubby’s aunt has beautiful auburn hair and I felt the leaves would accentuate that. It’s fun to figure out the personal touch.
I’m hoping to eventually sell these at craft fairs, once I figure out how not to make a mess with excessive glue. Cleaning up glue is no fun whatsoever!
GHTime Code(s): ncJan 8
Chef Hubby spreads pesto on pizza crust
My husband makes absolutely wonderful pizza. It’s often called the best a person has ever eaten.
The best pizza starts with a good crust. We found a great recipe in a cookbook Stef gave us: Best Bread Machine Recipes: For 1 1/2- and 2-pound loaves (Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen)
Cornmeal-Parmesan Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
1 1/3 C. water
3 T. olive oil
3 1/3 C. bread flour (we use 2 C. all-purpose flour and 1 1/3 C. high-gluten flour)
2/3 C. cornmeal
2/3 C. grated Parmesan cheese
1 t. salt
1 1/4 t. active dry or bread machine yeast
1 t. basil
1 t. oregano
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
Method:
Add all ingredients except cornmeal to machine according to manufacturer’s directions. Select the “dough” cycle. When the cycle is complete, remove the dough from the machine. Punch down. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Roll dough to 1/8″ thick. With spoon, spread olive oil over the top of crust, giving it a heavy coat. Then spread freshly-minced garlic and pesto over oil. Top with desired pizza toppings. Bake at 475 degrees for 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. Makes approximately 3 crusts.
We buy our high-gluten flour from our friends at Heartland Mill. Search for “strong bread flour”.
We like to use lots of vegetables on our pizzas. In the summer, we add our fresh herbs, like basil and Italian parsley.
Friend Kevin can hardly wait to eat this pizza.
Since we’re into decoration big time, we have to have some appropriate decoration for our dinner. I had literally fished some atlases out of the trash. I framed and am now matting maps of the country whose cuisine we are eating that night.
map of Italy
I matted Italy in green in honor of the Italian flag’s colors of green, white and red. This map definitely predates the 1990s. Look at the land across the Adriatic Sea. Yugoslavia was still a country when this map was published, instead of the hodgepodge of countries that divide the Balkan Peninsula now. Too bad such terrible loss of life accompanies redrawing of lines.
GHTime Code(s): 5fe81
Jan 7
Since we change decorations nearly monthly, we have a lot of boxes filled with decorations. I was arranging some for better fit when the shelf holding our 
We had this sled and plastic tub, both of which were gifts from our friend Patty. I’d never quite known what to do with the tub. It’s a bit shallow for flower arranging. I’d tried to stand the sled on an easel, but that didn’t work well. Necessity is the mother of invention, and in this case, the proverb proved to be correct. I took a round piece of floral foam and cut it to size. I pushed the bottom of the sled blades into that foam, then covered it with cotton balls. Voila! a nearly instant decoration.
This arrangement took a bit longer. When I checked Walmart’s Christmas aisles after the holiday, I found these painted pine cones and the white and gold poinsettias, all deeply discounted. I got a long rectangle of floral foam and a tall cylindrical blue glass vase. (At $3, it’s definitely a vase, not a “vahz”.) I already had the ivy and the blue candle ring at the bottom. After about 15 minutes’ work, I had a new arrangement.
framed snowman card
I wanted something else to hang on the wall. (Yes, we change what hangs on the wall, too.) I had saved a snowman Christmas card from last year. I recycled a frame I’d bought in a thrift store and used a piece of scrap mat for a very inexpensive decoration.
Happy New Year card
Last year, I found a “Happy New Year” postcard Hubby had received from an aunt when he was little. I didn’t have a mat cutter then, so I simply taped it onto a piece of red paper cut to size. Now I own a mat cutter, so I cut a double mat for it, using that piece of red paper for the inner mat. Our house was built in 1929, so this 1928 calendar is pretty close to one the original owners here would have displayed in that first year.
Coca-Cola: COLD Refreshment
Hubby asked what to hang on the wall above the antique secretary in our entry way. I had received this little Coke puzzle for Christmas 1985 and had glued it together then. Placing it on an easel didn’t work well. This year, I cut a mat for it and framed it. This frame is in its third usage.
Recycling and repurposing are great fun!
GHTime Code(s): 37fa8Dec 23
Christmas tree on our porch
We usually do more lights than this, but this year we went with the stripped-down version. Our outdoor power outlet is not working and the electricians we called were too busy to fix it. I figured we’d plug our little “Joy” candlestick decoration into the entryway outlet and call it good. (That decoration is at the top of the steps in above picture.)
Hubby had other ideas.
We had replaced our Christmas tree with one we bought on Black Friday. Old tree was looking rather bare. We’d had it about 13 years, so it had had a long lifespan. I intended to throw it out.
Hubby wanted to recycle the tree. He said we should stand it on the porch and light it. I was very dubious about this. How would this look? How would we keep the tree from falling down? I didn’t want our house to have the tree from Charlie Brown’s Christmas! But I went along with him despite my misgivings.
He brought up the heavy granite picnic umbrella stand from the patio and we stuck the tree trunk pole in that. At least the tree wouldn’t topple over because of a wimpy base. Once the tree was erected, I looped two pairs of ties around the trunk. We attached bungee cords to the ties, then to the porch railing.
We took the net lights that we would normally tie to the railing and attached them to the tree. Instead of twist ties, we used the branches themselves. That was our quickest outdoor lighting job ever.
Celebrating Jesus tree
In the past, this tree has had lights on it. They died last year and we didn’t replace them this year. Why bother? We couldn’t plug them in, anyway! The house looks a bit plain without its usual runway and porch rail lights, but I like the tree. If it survives this year in good shape, we might put it up again next year.
And, yes, Virginia, we’re going to have a white Christmas. The boards supporting the tree are 1x4s, so that shows you how much snow we’ve received so far in this storm. As you can see, it’s still falling, with more in the forecast.
Merry Christmas, everyone. Remember the Reason for the Season, Jesus Christ who came to save us all, if we would only accept His gift of salvation.
GHTime Code(s): 2b10a 0cc15
