Strive for something new

I am always looking to try something new.

It keeps life interesting.

(one of my gypsy art dolls)

Myself and a friend (Karen), are planning a dinner

for our husbands and ourselves,

using 'new to us' recipes.

We are so lucky to have husbands who will be willing

to try anything with us.

We have both had food from the Middle East

but are looking

for a new recipe,

especially after shopping at the

Middle Eastern market the other day.

(the OM symbol)

My question to all of you is....

Do you have a favorite recipe from India or the Middle East?

If so, would you share the recipe,

or offer a link to find good recipes from India?

(Ganesh)

Thank you in advance,

and I will let you know how the meal turns out.

One more way to...

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

Chepi the fairy art doll

Meet Chepi...

FOR MIDA...

 Mida gave me some pieces of furniture recently,

and in return she ask me to make her a 'fairy art doll'.

This may not be your typical fairy doll,

but here she is none the less.

Chepi means fairy in the Algonquin language.

Chepi's body is made from my hand dyed cotton fabric.

She measures in at 8 1/2 inches tall.

I created her face and wings from polymer clay.

Then I painted them to give them an aged look.

She also has a poly clay leaf on her forehead.

There are leaves and flowers stamped into the wings.

Vintage jewelry was used for other embellishments.

Her hair is blue, fuzzy yarn,

cut in different lengths and some bits are braided.

giving her that 'wild and free' appearance.

Dried white sage is imbedded in her stuffing.

The white sage was given to me by a Lakota holy man

and is for positive energy.

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

Five Spice Chai

I heard about this Middle Eastern market in the city,

and when I visited it the other day

I found the black and green cardamom pods

along with other ingredients

 I needed to make this

five spice chai.

Visit My Creative Flavors for the recipe,

along with many other recipes from India.

http://www.mycreativeflavors.com/search/label/Drinks

Pictured are just a few of the ingredients you use

for this chai recipe.

There is also a chai latte recipe

that I just have to try.

The Brooke Bond Red Label orange Pekoe tea is perfect for chai,

I've learned.

So, get yourself some spices,

grind them up, add your tea leaves

and enjoy!

Next week I will tell you about the

gunpowder tea I bought at the market.

Visit Kimmie and all the other Tea Tuesday bloggers at

http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/

Happy tea day everyone,

and hope you try something new to you.

It will help you to....

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

Harmony Inchie

Harmony...

This word brings to mind many different things and

when I looked it up

 there was some interesting information.

When we are in harmony we are in agreement.

Things in an orderly pleasing arrangement are in harmony.

There is a town in Pennsylvania named Harmony.

Harmony can be a girl's name.

But, when I saw this week's prompt word

harmony,

I thought of music.

According to the Webster's Dictionary...

When there is a simultaneous combination of tones

and they are blended into chords that are pleasing to the ear,

that is harmony.

You can have 3 part harmony, 4 part harmony etc.

There is even harmony of the spheres...

which is a theory of Pythagoras stating that

the spheres in which heavenly bodies move

emit musical sounds

depending upon their radii

and upon the speed of the bodies.

I found that very interesting.

 So, in keeping with my simple theme

here is my harmony inchie.

For more inchie art visit

Kris at http://everyinchiemonday.blogspot.com/

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

Paint Party Friday at last

I have missed PPF for awhile

because of life events mostly.

But also I have not been able to

upload my photos at times,

or even comment on some of your posts.

So, I just layed back for awhile,

didn't post anything much,

and decided not to get stressed out

over this.

Here is my PPF painting for this week.

This painting is actually half of the original size.

I had flowers at the bottom of the whole sheet

and they came out terrible.

I attempted to fix them, but they still looked awful,

 so off they came.

I liked my trees, so they stayed.

Sometimes if it can't be fixed,

then just cut off or crop out the bad.

Hope you all have a happy PPF.

I will be visiting you, but if you don't see a comment,

it is because blogger won't let me again.

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

Sights, sounds and tastes of Summer

It's Tea Tuesday

and I have missed many blogging tea posts lately,

but that doesn't mean I've missed my tea.

Cook's Country on PBS recently voted Tazo black tea

as the favorite in their taste test for iced tea.

I will have to agree.

I also love Tazo teas for hot tea in the mornings.

Today is the longest day of the year,

and to celebrate

why not try this recipe of mine ...

iced or hot!

Summer Solstice sun tea.

1oz. Red Raspberry leaf

2oz. Rosehips

2oz. Hibiscus

2oz. Orange Peel

2oz. Lemongrass

3oz. Peppermint

Visit Kimmie for some more tea posts today.

http://artinredwagons.blogspot.com/

***

Turtles Hatching...

Yesterday, I was watering my flower bed,

early in the morning,

and to my surprise

out comes some baby turtles.

I counted seven,

but there may have been more,

as some were already quite a distance away

from the nesting hole they made

to make their exit.

They were not much bigger than a quarter.



I left them alone

 and each one went out in a different direction,

to points unknown.

Good luck little guys!

I hear the summer cicadas already,

so enjoy the tastes, sounds and sights of summer.

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

Inchies 5

Every Inchie Monday

 has come and gone several times for me.

Life has been busy but

I love this little project

 so here I am catching up with 5 inchies.

This makes 25 inchies so far,

in this year long project,

all in a similar style.

They are kept simple

(with 'solitude' being the most simple one yet),

 and the word prompt

is cut from an old dictionary.

Each one is created on used watercolor paper.

(I love to recycle, even in small ways)

Inchie art can be very simple, like mine,

 or very fancy.

I am always blown away at some of the artists work

on such a tiny canvas.

Go see them all at

Every Inchie Monday

and tell Kris and all the other artists hello,

or better yet, why don't you join us for some fun.

There is inchie art of all kinds.

Here are some great books.

Inchies: Create Miniature Works of Art Using Textiles and Mixed Media Techniques

Inchie Quilts

Inchie Ruler Tape: Easy Accurate Guide for Quilting, Crafting, Painting & More

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

Kairos Gallery show and Padre Turtles

Kairos Gallery Show

 Watercolor students of Dolores Price

had their annual show and sale

at Kairos Gallery this last Friday,

so I got to be involved this year.

We had about 150 or more people for the reception,

and more over the weekend.

There was lots of great food, wine and punch for everyone.

Dolores, shown here, is such a wonderful instructor

and artist.  It is great for her to put on this show

for us every year.

Thanks Dolores!

 ***

Padre Turtles

 Last week I went with my friend Karen to see a

Ridley Turtle release.

It was the greatest thing.

Just made me smile all over!

Thanks Karen.

The Kemp's Ridley sea turtles are making a comeback,

thanks to many people who have found and protected nests.

This day over 80 baby turtles were released.

The eggs are taken to a special place to hatch,

and when they are ready, they are released on the beach,

so they get an imprint to return to the same place.

The closer they got to the water,

the faster they wanted to go. :)

Nets etc. are used to protect the babys from gulls.

Crowds gather at many of the releases,

excited to see the baby turtles head for the water.

Here in this photo, the waves are catching the first little turtles

and taking them out to the Gulf of Mexico.

Everyone clapped and were smiling the whole time.  :)

Padre Island National Seashore

 protects the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world.

There is always something spectacular to see here.

Take some time to observe your surroundings,

wherever you may go.

I wish you PEACE....

Savor the Day!

Yvonne

Raisa is home

The Art Doll Coolaberration 2010 Project

is coming to an end.

I received my finished doll after she traveled

throughout the U.S. and Canada for the last 8 months or so.

To see how Raisa began, click

http://inkspillersattic.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-art-doll-round-robin-project.html

And this is Raisa now!

Raisa transformed into a flapper from the 1920's.

She has so many interesting features now,

from interchangeable legs, metal arms and hands,

to a mini scrapbook and letters from Johnny,

to two different collars, a flapper necklace,

bead work, a great pretty face,

and much more.

Her petit point box body opens to reveal even more

She even has a heart!

Here is all her goodies that she arrived home with.

Even the envelop for her interchangeable legs is really cool.

The mini quilt below was a nice addition,

especially since I am so into quilts.

There is a story behind the quilt,

and it connects Raisa to her past.

Her journal tells her story and is full from cover to cover.

It tells

of meeting and falling in love with Johnny,

and then of her heartbreak.

In the journal is flapper history, and much more.

 To read and see more details of Raisa's travels

as each artist worked on her,

visit

http://2010coolab.blogspot.com/

You can also see all the other dolls in the project,

and see how they evolved from artist to artist.

This was one cool project,

thanks to Gail who ran the whole thing.

Hope you visit each of the artists blogs/websites.

You will find a link to each of them on the coolab site.

Thanks goes out to all of them for the hard work

they did on Raisa.

Thanks Gail, Mary Anne, Arlee, Robyn, Talitha and Amy.

I just love her!

Savor the Day!

Yvonne