Photo Booth Props/Masks

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Jenny

The other day I noticed a post on this blog about DIY Photobooth Props while I was perusing the internet.  Because my husband Gavin is very into the whole photobooth idea and loves taking pictures of people with props, I sent him the link.  He, of course, was enthused and thought it’d be a great idea to make the props for the family reunion we’re going to on his side of the family, 4th of July weekend, up in Chester, CA.

When it got down to the time to start making the masks, he wanted me to help him make some, but didn’t want to use the downloadable PDF that the blog offered for the masks that they used.  I was initially a little anxious about this and asked him to find me samples of things he wanted to be made into masks.  Gavin took this to heart and sent me ideas galore: mustaches,  top hat, party hat, groucho glasses, t-rex claws and fangs, bling necklace, bow-tie, monocle, neck ruffle and so forth.

So, I grabbed some 8.5×11″ cardstock and began drawing.  I didn’t measure out anything, so it is a little remarkable that I got the sizing for the hats and the glasses and stuff fairly dead-on.  Some of the stuff isn’t exactly right, but I suppose it’s close enough.  After I drew the basic shape, I outlined in thick, black marker, both for definition and also for a little bit of grace when cutting out.  I then colored in the drawing with crayons, my first time using crayons in a number of years.  It was surprisingly fun to break out a box of new crayons and go to town — it reminded me of the absolute pleasure of doing that when I was a kid.  And, as my friend Jenn points out, the crayons as medium reinforces the whimsy of the whole project.  After coloring, I spray-glued the drawings onto foam core board and cut them out.  Gavin then took them and attached the sticks to them.

I’m really very pleased with how they came out — the coloring looks great and they are pretty fun to play with.  Some of my favorites are below…you can see more pictures if you go here or here.

Posted in apple, art, colorful, craft, crayons, masks, photobooth, props, reunion | Leave a comment

Basil Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Jenny

Awhile ago, I ran across a basil vinaigrette salad dressing recipe on the Graff family website.  I made it, loved it, and bookmarked it!  So how sad was I when I had a glut of basil the other day and went to the link I bookmarked, only to discover that the site is not up any longer???  I tried my best to find an alternative recipe (from Food & Wine magazine, even!), only to find that the recipe was a poor version of what I remembered.  So, I put on my detective hat and tracked down the owner of the website via Who Is and emailed the contact name they had for the website, crossing my fingers that the email address was still valid!

So how excited was I when it was not only valid, but got a response from Victoria Gray with the salad dressing, which she writes comes from the Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook.  The dressing is delicious (assuming you like basil), although slightly concerning in its bright green, gloopy appearance.  Give it a try!

Basil Vinaigrette

Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Makes: 1/2 jar

Ingredients
2 cloves garlic minced
1-1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1-1/2 ounces fresh basil leaves (one large bunch plus more)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
1 cup olive oil

Preparation

1. Combine all of the ingredients, except oil, in a food processor and blend. Slowly add olive oil in a slow, thin stream until thick and creamy.

2. Season to taste and serve or refrigerate up to a week.

Posted in basil, dijon mustard, dressing, garlic, honey, olive oil, recipe, salad, salt, vinaigrette, vinegar | 1 Comment

Hydrangea Flower Watercolor Painting

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Jenny

I have been commissioned by Glenmary again this year to paint another Christmas scene for their annual appeal.  Very exciting!  However as you may have seen from the lack of blog posts, I have not painted much this year due to being so busy with other projects.  So, before I began working on the first draft of the paintings I sent to Glenmary, I decided to pick some hydrangeas from in front of my apartment building and do a quick painting to help loosen me up.

Hydrangeas are a little difficult because of the mass of blooms, so I decided to try to simplify by laying down color variations of the flowers and then doing some negative space painting to indicate some individual blooms.  I was going to paint the leaves a flat green, but they turned out not too successful, so I decided to try the same sort of negative painting with them.  All in all, I think fairly successful!

Posted in arrangement, art, blossom, floral, flowers, glenmary, hydrangea, painting, still life, watercolor | 1 Comment

Sauteed Tomato Sauce

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Jenny

One of my favorite places to get recipes is the Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper.  I have her book, How To Eat Supper (which is fantastic), and listen to her weekly radio show (via podcast).  I also have subscribed to her weekly email newsletter, which sends weekly recipes.  This recipe is from her newsletter on September 2, 2009 — a long time ago, so the actual recipe is no longer posted on the site.

I’ve made this recipe several times and love it every time.  I also think it is possibly the prettiest tomato sauce you could hope for.  It is not necessarily a thick sauce — no tomato paste used — but it really shows off the tomatoes!

Pasta with a Last Hurrah Tomato Sauté

Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Total: 40-ish minutes
Serves: 3-4 as a main dish

Ingredients
Olive oil (enough to film the bottom of the pan)
1/2 medium onion, diced
3-inch branch of fresh rosemary (also works to substitute a few branches of fresh thyme)
6 large fresh basil leaves, torn
Salt & fresh ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (sometimes I leave this out when I want a sweeter sauce)
3 large cloves of garlic, thin sliced (I used minced)
1-1/2 lbs. rich-flavored tomatoes, chopped (I use a variety of heirlooms in different colors)
1-1/2 lbs. or 2 pint baskets good tasting cherry tomatoes, halved (I love those black/purple cherry tomatoes)
1/4 teaspoon sugar (when I want a sweeter sauce, I put in up to 1 teaspoon)
1 lb. linguine or spaghetti

Preparation

1. Generously film the bottom of a 12-inch straight-sided sauté pan with olive oil and heat it over medium-high.  Add onions, rosemary, basil, a light sprinkling of salt, several grounds of black pepper, and the hot pepper.  Sauté onions until they soften.

2. Turn the heat to high.  Stir in garlic, tomatoes and sugar.  Sauté, stirring often and squashing down the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spatula until they are almost browning.  When thick, taste for seasoning and remove from heat, cover, and let stand 15 minutes for the flavors to mingle.

3. Cook the pasta in heavily salted, fiercely boiling water, stirring often, until tender yet firm to the bite.  (Lynne recommends at this point for you to take the sauce and run it through a food mill, but I have never done that.  I just eat it chunky.) Drain the pasta.  Toss with the sauce and serve immediately.

Posted in basil, dinner, garlic, olive oil, onion, pasta, recipe, red pepper flakes, rosemary, salt, splendid table, sugar, tomatoes, vegetarian | Leave a comment

Chicken, Cashew & Red Pepper Stir-fry

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Jenny

I have made this Cooking Light recipe many times — always with great results.  It is a tasty, dependable stir-fry and quick to put together.  As always, when putting together a stir-fry, be sure to do all of the prep work first!  I usually serve this with brown rice and some fruit.

Chicken, Cashew & Red Pepper Stir-fry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Total: 25-30 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients
3-3/4 teaspoons cornstarch, divided
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, divided
2 teaspoons dry sherry
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar (I use seasoned rice vinegar)
3/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (I use Tabasco)
1 lb. boneless chicken breast, cut into smaller strips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped cashews
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups julienne-cut red bell pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
3 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions

Preparation

1. Combine 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, sherry, rice vinegar, sugar and hot sauce in a small bowl; stir with a whisk.

2. Combine remaining 2-3/4 teaspoons cornstarch, remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce and chicken in a medium bowl; toss well to coat.

3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add cashews to pan; cook 3 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring frequently.  Remove from pan.

4. Add oil to pan, swirling to coat.  Add chicken mixture to pan; saute 2 minutes or until lightly browned (I find 3 minutes usually works better for me).  Remove chicken from pan; place in bowl.

5. Add bell pepper to pan; saute 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add garlic and ginger; cook 30 seconds.  Return chicken and cornstarch mixture (from step #1) to pan; cook 1 minute or until sauce is slightly thick.  Sprinkle with cashews and green onions.

Posted in cashew, chicken, cooking light, dinner, garlic, ginger, green onions, recipe, red bell pepper, soy sauce, stir fry, sugar, vinegar | 5 Comments

Fused Glass Workshop

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Jenny

So due to being crazy busy, I hadn’t had the time to go play with glass since February.  Every Thursday since then I’ve had plans that haven’t allowed me to go to the glass workshop.  However, a couple weeks ago I had a free Thursday afternoon, so I headed over to Eagle Rock to do some new creations:

I mostly did some more window vases.  I had given some away and so my front window was looking a (little) bit bare.  Here are the five window vases I created:

This one was my favorite.  Definitely a lot of work — lots of cleaning and positioning, but I just think it’s so neat looking — the textures and the colors.

This one is pretty simple — just green and purple pieces arranged diagonally.

I also learned how to use the glass cutting saw at this workshop…pretty easy to use, although I definitely need more practice in order to get shapes just how I want them to be.

For this one, I thought it would be fun to explore using a glass other than clear.  I also put in some of the tiles that I made last time.

For this one, I used the iridescent stringer glass and then placed various shards of glass to go along with the pattern of the stringers.  Funny thing — so yellow and orange glass, before fused, look exactly the same.  Those orange pieces I thought were going to be yellow…so it was a surprise when I saw this finished piece!  I think it still looks good.

Then I got thinking…what else can I make besides window vases?  And then I thought perhaps I could try to make some pendants.  So, I tried a couple pieces:

The first, I tried to make right with these pieces I created earlier, only to be supremely disappointed with this:

I suppose I could make it into a magnet.  Or, the beauty of glass is that I can just try to keep melting it and see what I eventually get.

The second pendant I tried making to match these potential earrings that I made:

The result (piece in foreground)?  Not great, but not bad.  Definitely could practice more with pendants and earrings…something to explore on future Thursdays I have free!

Posted in art, colorful, glass, iridescent glass, pendant, vase, window vase, Workshop | 2 Comments

Individual Session with Stan Fellows

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Jenny

I wanted to finish Greene Ink Press in late April because Gavin and I had plans the first week of May to go out to Iowa to see Kendra “graduate” from her program.  In reality, it wasn’t a graduation (just a series of readings read by her classmates) and Kendra will continue for one more year doing special projects.  Whatever the case, we were going out to celebrate the conclusion of her program and three years of hard work!

A couple of years ago I saw a watercolor painting in Martha Stewart Living that I was so impressed by, that I found out who painted it and have been following him since.  His name is Stan Fellows, and he happens to live in Iowa City — the very place Gavin and I were visiting!  I wrote a few months ago about contacting him for a workshop and, since he had no workshops scheduled for the time I was visiting, we decided to do an individual session.

And I am here to say that it was one of the highlights of my trip to Iowa City!  Stan picked me up from my bed & breakfast the morning after I had arrived and took me back to his home, where we talked about painting and then he demonstrated a painting for me.  It was great to connect with him and to hear his thoughts about painting, and really very helpful to see him paint and to be able to ask questions about his method.  The painting to the right is the painting he did and — to my surprise and delight — he gave me the painting at the end of the session.  Very cool!

So not only did I make it home (my B&B hosts were a little anxious that I was meeting up with a stranger from the internet), but I made it home with two paintings — one from the demo and one that I was taken by that he had hanging from a recent sale at his place.  I better get going to the framer to get those pieces framed!

Posted in art, Artist to watch, blossom, blue, bouquet, colorful, flowers, glass, Iowa City, martha stewart, painting, Stan Fellows, still life, studio, watercolor | 2 Comments

Greene Ink Press Website

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Jenny

One of the things I did in late April was expand my sister-in-law Kendra’s website, Greene Ink Press.  Last year Kendra asked for a website for her birthday, to show some of the work she had been doing as a result of her schooling at the University of Iowa’s Center For the Book.  Kendra is in their nonfiction writing graduate program, but was also taking all sorts of really neat classes in book binding, letterpress, etc.  So, last year due to time constraints and wanting to think through her website a bit, we put up a placeholder website displaying some of her work and promising more to come.

After some time, Kendra was able to think through the content she wanted on her website and how she wanted it displayed, so I was set to work again, pulling it all together to put on display how truly talented she really is.  Her new website has beautiful pictures of her artist’s books (books that she has bound that convey a story or concept she’s written), essays she’s written that have been published, posters she’s designed and printed via letterpress, broadsides (a type of poster) she’s done via letterpress, and blank books that she has artistically bound.

One of the things that was a bit of a challenge/learning experience for me with Kendra’s website is that she wanted her website users to be able to click through and read her artist’s books in particular.  I researched a bit about how to do this well, and found a wonderful extension that adds a programming bit to the page that allows for users to click on a photo and then it enlarges it and allows the user to scroll through all of the photos on that page.  It was a bit stressful for me until I found that solution but, now that it’s done, I think it looks great.

Check it all out for yourself: http://www.greeneinkpress.com.  Kendra was really excited about the website, bubbling over on how great it looks (which I agree — I do think it is a handsome website), but I contend that it’s so good looking because it displays her beautiful work, big and centered.  Do yourself a favor and look through her work!

Posted in Artist to watch, beautiful, center for the book, design, Iowa City, website | 2 Comments

Staining Ice Chests

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Jenny

All right, time to dust off this blog.  It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, not because I haven’t been doing anything creative, but because I’ve been doing lots of creative-type things.  So, my intention is to begin posting regularly-ish again (my hope is for every Tuesday and Thursday) — stay tuned!

First, I want to show you what I was up to on warm, non-rainy weekends for most of the spring (oddly enough, LA was fairly cold & rainy this spring, so it took awhile to get these finished!).  My cousin Dave moved to New Zealand just after Christmas last year and had to get rid of a lot of his things.  He had some old-fashioned ice chests, two that he wanted to keep, two that he wanted to give away to Gavin and I.  I was really excited to hear that he wanted to give us these — I was hoping to get two night stands for our bedroom, and these ice chests work perfectly!

The chests were a medium-colored wood, and Gavin and I like dark-colored wood better.  So, I thought that perhaps it’d be fun to make this a project and totally re-stain them.  Unfortunately, I did not take before shots.  However, the process was to use a stripper to remove the old sealant, then to sand off some of the old stain, then put the new stain on, then to reseal.  Then, since I couldn’t find new hardware, I cleaned up the original brass hardware before putting it back on.

The process was not difficult, but it was a lot of hard work, which was nice to do outside on those beautiful spring days.  It was very rewarding to see these coming together, and SUPER fun to use the Brasso to clean up the hardware to make it look brand new!  This has already got me thinking about a couple of other pieces of furniture that we have that I can do this to in the future!

Posted in brass, furniture, hardware, ice chests, night stands, staining | 4 Comments