Tuesday, March 23, 2010

ArtFest





In a few hours Amy will be here and we'll take the orange VW to Port Townsend for Artfest, yay!!!! I'll see you next week everyone! I'm off to the art store to get last minute supplies.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Winner Announced

And the winner of the vendor apron is...

Jane Jeffress Thomas

Congratulations Jane. Please e-mail me your address to bek02@yahoo.com

Thank you everyone for entering. It's so much fun to meet new people. I look forward to meeting some of you in person. I hope you have a great weekend. I'm going to be doing a little sewing and going to a great antique store that's having a sale.

A Little Spray Paint Action

Here are just a few of the things that got a bright new life. This is a little place to stash mail and hang keys, I hated it in gold, but loved the little shape of the house and tree.

The before picture is terrible. This was just a plain jane gray paper holder. I am in love with this color- Blue Lagoon American Accents. I bought 5 cans, I'll be sad when they're empty.

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Thursday, March 18, 2010

An Evening Hike



I love finding unexpected things

an abandoned well
The path was under the branches

I love it that it's light later and we can go exploring in the evening. This was a little hike that wasn't too far from our house. There really wasn't much of a path. The climb up was a muddy one, and we spotted many bright patches of green, sure signs of spring! What are you doing with your extra hours of daylight?
Don't forget to enter the giveaway. Tomorrow I'll pick a winner.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Meet the Artists

Here are all the pictures I took last night of all the great artists who display their work with me on Tuesdays. We have the best time chatting, laughing, and exchanging ideas.Elizabeth makes these fabulous art dolls. Each one has so much character and life. I absolutely love them. She also makes fantastic jewelry.



Joyce makes gorgeous scarves that are so soft to the touch. Joyce does it all. She raises the sheep and does the whole process of cleaning, dying, and spinning the wool.
Faith makes the best smelling handmade olive oil soap.
Jane and Tracey make the greatest things out of reclaimed materials. They make great bags, and the cutest little creatures from recycled sweaters.

Michele is the one who brought all of us together. She is a fabulous artist. She makes stunning necklaces and great mixed media art.

Carol makes nature sculptures out of wood and stone. Each piece is a stunning piece of art. This picture really doesn't do them justice. The finish on them really brings out the beauty of the wood.
Lisa makes candles with the sweetest aromas. They come packaged in glass canning jars.
Come visit us on Tuesdays from 2-7 at 1625 North Monroe Street. Look for the bright signs out front.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Moving Sale and Giveaway


****Winner Announced. Congratulations Jane!*****

Hello and welcome Farm Chicks readers. You came at the right time. I'm having a giveaway and a moving sale. Right now if you visit AllThingsArtsy you will receive 30% off your order. I am opening a brand new shop called WanderLux. I am going to be adding new items all week and doing a special grand opening so check back later this week.

To celebrate I'm doing a giveaway. I'm giving away this cute vendor apron. Please just leave a comment and I'll enter you in the drawing. I will pick a winner on Friday.

If you would like to see me and find more of my goods visit me today at Tinkertown Tuesday. Check out this site to see all the other artists. It's me and 8 other artists selling our goods every Tuesday. The other artists are selling soap, candles, chocolate, fiber arts, wool, vintage goods, and some great artwork. I'll be back with pictures tomorrow. I would love it if you came by and said hello. It is from 2-7 pm in the lower level of Lillian Conn Antiques- 1625 North Monroe Street.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Fruit Tart


I'm going to share a few tips and tricks for the tastiest fruit tart. It used to be my job to crank out 40 to 50 of these every morning. You can start with a recipe for a basic tart dough. Make sure you take the time to let it chill for an hour. You can make it ahead of time and freeze it. Next I make the yummy cream cheese filling. I put cream cheese in my kitchen aid mixer, throw in some powdered sugar until it tastes sweet to your liking. Then throw in 1-2 tsp. of Penzey's Baking Spice (or just use cinnamon)

Roll out your dough to about 1/8" thick:
Form the tarts. Next line the tart shells with aluminum foil and place dry beans inside. Keep these liners in for the first 9 minutes of baking to prevent the dough from bubbling up. Remove the liners halfway through baking and continue to bake until golden brown.
As soon as they come out of the oven sprinkle white chocolate chips on them. The chocolate will add great flavor and prevent the crust from becoming soggy. After a minute of two the chocolate will melt and you can easily spread it evenly.
Then let them cool. You can pop them in the fridge to speed up the process. Then add the sweetened cream cheese mixture. Make sure to spread it on nice and thick!
And then the fun part comes in. You can play with any fruit and decorate them. I used strawberries, blueberries, and kiwis to top mine. Raspberries, blackberries, and peaches are also great choices. You could also have the tart shells all ready to go, and place fruit in bowls and have your guests create their own dessert. Enjoy!


Thursday, March 11, 2010

A Few L's

I saw these L's at an antique shop and had to have them.


Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A Sale

I absolutely love Emily's great paintings. She's having a great print sale at The Black Apple right now, buy one get one free. I had the hardest time deciding, but here are the two I settled on:
And here are my other favorites:

It's a beautifully sunny day today. If it's warm enough I'm going to get my spray paint action on. Sam's grandma is coming for dinner and we're having salmon, yum. Have a happy Wednesday

Thursday, March 4, 2010

My Cruiser Bike




Last Saturday Sam and I spent the whole day at Pedals2People. If you're in Spokane and in need of bike this is the place to go. You can build a bike from scratch, buy a bike, or fix one that you own. John and Ryan were there, and they are the nicest, most patient guys. I walked in with this bike, not really planning on doing anything with it. When we cleaned out the church in the fall we rescued it. Sam has a hard time getting rid of any type of bike. I was maybe going to donate this bike. I wish I had a before picture because this bike was brown when we brought it in. It's nothing too special. It's a kick back brake, I haven't used one of those since I was ten. Pedals2people is awesome though. They didn't make me feel stupid, or insecure even though I knew nothing. And they weren't snobby or pretentious. They just helped us clean it up and get it ready to ride. We added the white fenders. We did all this for $20, not bad. Now all I need is a basket, and some flowers in it maybe.

The Bad and the Good


It's been one of those weeks:

*I locked my keys in my car, along with all the food that needed to be cooked for a large group of people. These things always happen when I'm in a hurry of course. AAA is amazing, I highly recommend it. They came (in less than 20 minutes) and I saw just how easy it is to break into my car. AAA has saved us many a time, cold weather jump starts, filling our gas tank in the middle of nowhere, towing a car to the shop, yeah they're pretty good!

*I smashed the back corner bumper of my car. I looked both ways in a little parking lot and backed right into a pole I didn't notice.

*I'm still freaking about a business name. I thought it should be like naming a baby, I would find the perfect name and be all excited about it. That doesn't seem to be happening, so I may just settle on All Things Artsy until I'm ready and find one that truly feels like a perfect fit. Or All Things Artsy will take off and be so successful that no one really cares what it's called (ha ha)

*A lot of questions are going through my head about some theology stuff. I'm somewhat at peace, but somewhat torn on what is what. Oh that's fun stuff. Yes in my faith life I often feel like a pubescent teenager and that is never fun my friends!

*I have some schedule conflicts and I'm not quite sure how it's going to work out.

But the good news:

*March is going to be awesome. It is already filled with new possibilities and opportunities. I've met some amazing people from the online world in real life.

*Ames will be here and we'll be heading to artfest.

*Taxes were a breeze and brought good news. This is the first time ever we've only had to file in one state. And bonus-Washington doesn't even have state tax. I don't want to try to explain the headaches involved in obtaining W-2's after moving several times and trying to figure out business taxes.

*I'm starting a new little venture here in town. Details soon!

*I'm planning for the Farm Chicks show. Yay!

*I have a new blue cruiser bike complete with white fenders. I just need a basket.

*I have little pink flowers and pastel m&ms

*The earth smells of spring.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

I'm a Lux Girl

Last night I was doing a little Lux search. I came across some great images. I'm definitely thinking I need to do a lux laundry room or bathroom. (My last name is Lux, in case you didn't know that) I love the ads so much it could be a cool cluster of frames in a living room. If you do a flickr search for Lux Soap you will see so many great ads.