Long Lost Recipe

It is weird how recipes are such a key with holiday traditions. I've been bummed because I couldn't find the pumpkin bread recipe my mother used to make. I looked around on the internet and could find nothing similar ... decided to do a little straightening up and Walla! There it was! Just so I can find it again ... I'll post here ...

Apple Butter - Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

⅔ C Shortening
2⅔ C Sugar
4 eggs
16-oz can Pumpkin
⅔ C Water
3 ⅓ C Flour
1 t Baking Soda
1 t Baking Powder
1 t Cinnamon
½ t Cloves
⅔ C Chopped Nuts
½ C Apple Butter

Directions

1. Mix shortening and sugar.
2. Stir in eggs, pumpkin, and water.
3. Blend in flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves.
4. Stir in nuts and apple butter.
5. Pour in 3 greased loaf pans.
6. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Snowbound

Well ... we got hit by one of the biggest blizzards in Denver's history. We'll be looking at these white piles for a long time to come. I got almost 30" at my house. The worst part ... my car was stuck in a snow drift down the street and I was panicking. Luckily, several nice neighbord pitched in with a tow and a snow blower to get me back up to the house ... and then a co-worker's kids showed up and shoveled my driveway, so I could get my car in. I had spent all day shoveling, but pretty much I was shoveling the street to get my car out LOL

Usually, my street is never plowed ... but wooo hooo! The city showed up with a bulldozer around midnight and actually made a pass down my street ... what a relief! I could probably get out now, but I am going to lay low for few days.

What a time for my digital to break ... I'd love to have a photo of the 36" overhang of snow on my roof.

ABC Discovery Journal

I guess I gave this journal the right name ... I made a few errors and discoveries while making it LOL I used PVA to glue the vinyl sewing tape to the sealed covers not realizing PVA works well with absorbent paper only. I did get a pretty decent hold on the front covers. The back wasn't too bad, but I added some buttons for exta hold in case the tape comes loose.

Then I ended up drilling through part of one of the signature covers when I was drilling my button holes.

Confessions of a Lazy Shopper

Blaaaahhhh! I hate shopping this time of year! I will do almost anything to avoid any shopping center during the holiday season. Small town life sounds so attractive about now LOL

I cheated and got what few gifts I really must get online ... but I have a few I must go into a real store and I've been procrastinating. I usually take care of errands during the week to avoid crowds. I don't even like grocery shopping in December. I ran myself out of food and went to the store out of sheer desperation ... or maybe that was starvation LOL

Bingo Holiday Greeting

This weekend I made a holiday greeting of sorts for a favorite co-worker of mine. He has been getting beat up by the public big-time since the opening of our new light rail system and I thought he could use a pick-me-up.

Stressing Over Fabric

Fabric Diamonds
Originally uploaded by transtartwin.

I don't know if I'll ever get the hang of working with fabric or not. Some things turn out better than I expected ... and some make me go ugggghh! I have to torture myself endlessly before I can get myself started ... and then I don't get that satisfaction that I made something cool. I am hoping a fabric painting class with Traci Bautista will help.

There are a ton of fabric techniques I'd like to try ... I just feel too stressed and overworked to give most of them a go right now. For better or worse ... here is my belated fabric postcard for November.

ABC Bingo

I have done hardly any art for over a week ... and it made me cranky ... cranky ... cranky. I've been tossing around an idea for a handmade journal for a one-on-one round robin with a Canadian friend. Since I've been a huge procrastiantor with all these work hours I decided I should get the cover embellishment done to get my hiney kicked into gear LOL

We decided to use alphabet letters and numbers as kind of a journaling prompt for our journals next year. I will call mine: ABC Discovery. Now that I have the main part of the cover done, I can't wait to get the book construction started!

Crazy Week

Uggghhh! I am so tired of these 10 and 11 hour work days! Just when I think perhaps things are starting to slow down a bit ... another snafu. Grrrrr ... I hate deceit and underhandedness!

At least we did a bit of reorganization and my regular workload has subsided. I can finally get caught up with some neglected things at work.

Published at Last!

I've had the best luck here recently. First I signed up for some classes at the Artist's Nook and found out my collage submitted to Somerset was not returned, so there is a possibilty it could get published in a future issue ... won't be holding my breath ... but a girl can dream!

Then I got the best review at work I've ever gotten ... right before Thanksgiving.

And today I got conformation that a purse I submitted to Somerset was selected for a technique-based article. I am beside myself with joy!

That was 3 things ... I hope my luck doesn't run out now. Maybe I need to hit the casino before my hot streak is over LOL

Last Night My Mama Came

Last Night My Mama Came
Originally uploaded by transtartwin.

Well this didn't really happen last night ... but I just finished my journal page LOL

********************

I talked to my Mama almost every single day without fail my whole life … it was only those last days before cancer took her life that she was unable to speak back. Every day I went to the hospital determined to get those last words to her out and every day I could not get a sound to escape my own lips knowing I would not hear her soothing voice.

Not a single day has passed since that I have not longed to hear her voice again and hoped for any sign that she is still with me. My mother had a very quiet strength and spirit … so quiet that I feel I cannot recognize her presence when she is near and I have never stopped searching for those signs.

My dear sweet doggie Bubbles was sick the same time as my mother; I always felt she hung on those last few months so she would be here to help me through those first months of grief after my mother was gone. After Bubbles passed away I asked my mother to give me a sign that they were together.

Several months after my mother’s death, I dreamed she and I were looking out the window of a house over a misty swamp. All these animals danced across the top of the water through the trees and disappeared in the fog ... very ghostlike and eery. My mother never uttered a word and yet I was so glad to see her again; she seemed so real. In my dream I reached out to touch her on the arm and she evaporated into thin air.

Last week I had another nightmare where I was searching for my mother, which prompted the I Dreamt Last Night journal page I posted on November 18th. The night after I posted it to my blog, my mother and Bubbles came to visit me in a dream and I heard my mother’s voice for the first time in six years. She had no great words of wisdom for me, but her voice filled me with such a great sense of peace … the kind of peace that can only come with the visit of a loved spirit.

My family chose the dove as a symbol for my mother; she was always the peacemaker in the family and true to her nature, she swooped into my dream and gave me the peace I so desperately longed for.

I thought it was fitting that I post this today, as this is what I am most thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday.

Old West Fabric

I'm still pretty new with fabric work and not entirely satisfiedwith these, but here are a couple of fabric pages I did in an Old West Fabric Book RR. I don't know what it is, but I am really drawn to these old pictures of saloon girls and girls from houses of ill repute LOL

I Dreamt Last Night ...

Well I didn't really dream last night ... but I did dream it this week and it felt frighteningly real.

This is my entry for the Artwords journal prompt: Story. This is two-fold, as I was frantically searching all the rooms story after story looking for my dearly departed mother and yet my dream also seemed to be telling a story.

Oh yeah ... and my doodling letters leave a lot to be desired ... not sure I'll ever get the hang of uniform letters LOL

Copper Play

Yeah!! I got my first page done for the Calendargirlz 2007 RR! I love this book ... mine is a bit oversized and on the tall side being modeled after an antique ledger book. I wanted to show off one of the cool copper medallions I made last week, so I added some blue patina. I had this real simple look to the page in mind ... I have a tough time knowing then enough is enough LOL

I decided it needed some spackle on the page ... didn't look quite right, so I thought some sewing tissue would help blend and soften, which it did ... but it also made the page too distracting taking away from the medallion LOL So I added some glazes for continuity and I think I can live with the end results, even though the outcome was a little different than I anticipated.

Embossed Copper

What a hectic week! I meant to get on here sooner, but we're right in the thick of things at work with the light rail opening and the whole week has flown by!

Wednesday I came in early ... did my thang at work and then went to my Art Play meeting in Lakewood. We were supposed to be learning how to emboss metal by hand ... but I brought my Wizard, which I love for embossing! And we spent most of the time doing it the cheater way LOL

Rosalba brought some little plastic doilies ... and they make the most rockin' medallions! Here's a little sample of what we did ...

Pure of Heart

I’ve had the seed for this journal page in my mind for a while now, but it only became clear to me why it was important as I was putting it together.

Someone very dear to my heart described me as pure of heart. I took that as the ultimate compliment and my eyes welled up with tears. He was there for me when I was a teenager and made a huge impact on my life. We lost touch and were able to reconnect about 16 years later. My heart rejoiced, as he was the same kind soul and we still had that same wonderful connection.

As time passed, it became clear that while he proclaimed me pure of heart … he was not. He is a wonderful person and I love him as I can only love someone who had a hand in saving my life … but he is not pure of heart. I feel betrayed … but perhaps it is not him who betrayed me, but my heart that has … for I believed I was reconnecting with one intent on spreading divine love and helping others in need, because it was the right thing to do.

One day I will do another page depicting the betrayal I feel and mourning this loss. For today, I will do art for those other divine souls that are of pure heart and helped me save myself.

News from Home

I found out the other day my father is moving back to Kansas. I should be upset that he hasn't called in months and that he didn't tell me himself I suppose ... what does that say about me?

It does get under my skin, but I can think of a lot more things that eat at me worse LOL He tried really hard to be a father after my Mama passed away ... but he doesn't really show any interest anymore. Things don't feel that different to me. We never communicated openly ... it was always secondhand through my mother and there doesn't seem much point with her being gone ... I miss my Mama the peacemaker.

A Closet Trophophobiac

Accccckkkk! When did I become my parents ... or is it my grandparents??

I found this cool site phobia list when I was looking for the phobia of not having a seating chart. Okay ... maybe that phobia doesn't exist, but I found trophophobia ... fear of making changes or moving ... close enough LOL

There is this running joke at our weekly trip planner meeting that there is an assigned seating chart since everyone always sits in the same place. We had an emergency meeting today while project manager Gary was cruising in the Caribbean (no guilt there LOL). George was in Paul's seat ... Paul was in Gary's seat ... Trent was in Jonathan's seat ... Joe was on the wrong side of the table. I'm trying to look cool and calm and wondering if everyone can see how rattled I feel about people being in the wrong seats.

When did I become such a creature of habit? Acccckkkk!!

Gothic

This journal page was actually inspired by the ArtWords journal prompts ... as usual I am a day late and dollar short ... but at least it gave me a good excuse to use my new Michelle Ward rubberstamps!

I had originally intended this to be a year long journal project where I would aim for a journal spread a week ... or maybe every 2 weeks and I would bind them all accordion style when they were completed at the end of the year. I fell off the journaling wagon for a while. This is looking more like a 2 year project ... but I like the pages I have so far.

Finding Beauty

I've been working on this journal page off and on for a few days now. I have art commitments out the wazoo LOL ... but all I really want to do is journal. We're in this mad rush at work opening a new light rail line and things are crazy ... crazy! And when I don't get my art time I am very cranky :)

This is a bit different for me ... maybe not the grunge part ;) ... but combining an Old World art look with more modern grunge is something I haven't done before ... and it reminds me that beauty can be found even among the ordinary ...

Trumpet Carcass

Trumpet Carcass
Originally uploaded by transtartwin.

Oh yeah!! I love this bugle! Actually, it was a brand new shiny kazoo ... until I aged it. Everything looks better with a little rust and patina LOL

This is so me! It takes me back to my days of drum and bugle corps ... but more importantly it is a symbolic piece that represents my voice. I used it in a shrine with fantabulous local artist Claudia Roulier!

1st Blog Post

Welcome to my blog ... now to find out how computer illiterate I really am !!