Duluth Rose Garden

This past weekend my husband and I took a day trip to Duluth. I had never been there before, but my husband was sure I would love it. I did a little research and learned that they had a rose garden, so I definitely wanted to check that out. It was gorgeous! Because of my love of flowers, it felt like heaven on earth... I could have stayed there forever. These are a few photos I took:

 

I could easily have spent hours there taking pictures. I think I'm absolutely going to make a trip there every summer to take pictures. You can never have too many! I'm feeling very inspired to paint after visiting such a beautiful place, so hopefully I can do that pretty soon.

 

I hope you're having a great week! God bless!



New Toy

I was so excited to receive this Artograph LED 300 Digital Projector today! It's a very belated graduation present from my husband. I never thought I would be interested in a projector, but this one is great! Because it's digital, it can be hooked up to the computer, ipad, smartphones and flashdrives. I've been wanting to start painting larger, and I think this will really help. I can use my smaller drawings to create larger pieces. Of course I can also project my photographs. What I really love about this projector, aside from the fact that it's digital, is that it can be used in daylight. Many projectors only work in complete darkness. This projector will also project movies and play music. I have yet to actually play around with it, but I'm excited to see what it can really do, and how it will aid me in my work. :)

 

I hope you're having a great day!

Sale Item of the Week

Hi all! I have a new sale-item-of-the-week on Etsy and it's this totally cute Prayer Flag table runner. I don't know what it is about these fabrics, but I just love them. I've made a large luncheon cloth for my grandmother with it, and I've even made a table runner for myself using the fabrics. They're colorful and fun for spring or summer, without being too bright.

 

This runner is on sale this week for $25 with free shipping.

 

Have a great week!

Cheesecake Anyone?

"Drizzle" 5 by 7, Original Pastel Painting

 

 

This week's sale item on Etsy is this original pastel painting, Drizzle. It's $10 off with free shipping.

 

It feels like ages since I last blogged... School has been keeping me incredibly busy, plus my brother and sister were visiting this past week. Time to get back in the swing of things.

 

Have a great week!

Bentley's Birthday!

My little sweetheart turns 6 today! I'm a mommy in denial. I just can't believe it. We got Bentley just months after moving to Wisconsin. I was spending a lot of time alone and thought it would be a good time to get a dog. He's been just the perfect little companion.

 

Well, no special treats for Bentley on this birthday, just a few new toys. He tossed them around for a few seconds and that was it. :)

 

Have a great day!

Bleeding Hearts

"My Bleeding Heart" is my sale item of the week on Etsy. It's $15 off and shipping is free! (For the U.S. only please).

 

I hope you all have a lovely week!

Available Kitties

I'm not quite sure how it happened, especially with all my kitty collectors out there, but I still have 5 original kitties left.

 

"A Visitor"

"Bird Watching"

"Can You See Me?"

"Hiding Spot"

"In the Garden"

 

Each of these paintings are size 5 by 7 and are done in pastel, which means they will last a very long time (longer than an oil or watercolor). I hope someone can give these kitties a home! :)

 

Have a lovely weekend! God Bless!

More Photo Quilts

Just before school began again a customer placed an order for 2 photo quilts. I remember thinking, "Eek! How am I going to do these.." Well, that was 4 weeks ago and I actually managed to get them done on time.

 

 This one is made with the Indian Summer line.

This quilt is made using the Back Country fabrics.

 

I'm very pleased with the way these turned out and I hope the customer is too!

 

Also, for anyone who might also print photos on fabric, I've found that using the EQ Printables fabric is far easier than using the Bubble Jet Set. Definitely give it a try if you're looking for an easier way to print on fabric.

 

Have a great day! God Bless!



Blueberry Smoothie Recipe

Not long ago I posted a recipe for a Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie, and I recently tried it with blueberries... Yum! You would think because of the color that the blueberry taste would be overwhelming, but it's really not. It's quite subtle and it tastes very similar to the strawberry smoothie (because all the ingredients are the same except for the fruit). Here is the recipe:

 

2 cups of organic frozen blueberries (you can use fresh but then you need to include some ice cubes)

1 cup organic raw cashews

1/4 cup organic gluten free oats

2 cups of almond milk

1/4 teaspoon organic cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon organic vanilla extract

2 tablespoons organic maple syrup

You can tweak these amounts to suit your taste. Put all these ingredients in a blender (I use and recommend a Vitamix) and blend away!

Keep in mind that this smoothie, although healthy, contains just over 1000 calories, so you might want to split it with someone.

 

Oh, and make sure to brush your teeth after this one! :)

Fabric For Sale

In an effort to downsize my home business I've listed some fabric for sale. I have over 100 bolts in my sewing room and that's just too many for my part time business. This fabric is also available in my Etsy shop, but perhaps some of you do not have Etsy. These are the fabric lines:

 

 Sew Cherry by Riley Blake

 Decadence by Riley Blake

 Fly a Kite by Riley Blake

 Farm Fresh by Riley Blake

 Promenade by Riley Blake

 Indian Summer by Riley Blake

 Back Country by Riley Blake

Fox Trails by Riley Blake

 

The price for half yard bundles is $36 plus shipping (except for Fox Trails which is $45).

The price for full yard bundles is $72 plus shipping (except for Fox Trails which is $90).

 

I price my fabric at $9 a yard and retail is $10+. I would be willing to discount even further if someone where to purchase a substantial amount.

 

Let me know if you're interested and please spread the word! Email me at - angela292@hotmail.com

 

Have a great day and God bless!



Donations to Charity

 

As some of you may know I was offering a new "Charitable Item" every month in my Etsy shop. The proceeds from that sale would be donated to a specific charity. Well, unfortunately only one "charitable item" sold in about a 6 month period of time. So I decided to just begin donating a set amount of money to charity every month. This means that approximately 5% of every Etsy sale will be donated. These are the charities/causes that I will be donating to (I will rotate every month) -

 

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

American Red Cross

Wounded Warrior Project

Feeding America

ASPCA - The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

United States Fund for UNICEF

American Cancer Society

The Miracle Foundation

Susan G. Komen

Joel Osteen Ministries

Joyce Meyer Ministries

Praise FM Radio

K-Love Radio

Life Today

 

These are some of the charities and causes that I am passionate about. I will likely be adding to this list.

 

I already made a donation this month to Life Today and their Mission Feeding cause. Our $50 donation will feed 5 children in Africa for 3 months!

 

I believe our lives are about serving others who are less fortunate. Thank you for your support!

 

God bless!



Custom Wedding Quilt & Update

I've been working on this custom quilt for the past couple days. My customer had the guests at her wedding write messages to her on fabric squares to later have made into a quilt. Isn't that a cool idea? There were a total of 143 five inch squares and it made a lap size quilt. What a treasured item this will be.

 

With the customers permission I may turn this into a custom item in my Etsy shop.

 

Now for an update... I know it's been a while since I've posted and it has been much longer since I've posted a painting. I planned on having some time to paint before starting on my master's, but it hasn't happened. I start graduate school on Monday and the only thing I've painted the past couple months were some abstract watercolor cards. I truly miss painting, but the line up of custom quilt orders has been almost never ending. Once I complete this custom quilt I will be caught up.

 

I can only imagine that I will be ridiculously busy with school once it starts again, and I have no idea how much time I'll have for either painting or quilting. I do intend to at least set aside as hour or two a day for painting/quilting but school has to be my priority. I'm not sure how frequently I will be blogging, but I hope you'll all stick around! I've appreciated all your support and kind comments over the past couple years. :)

 

God bless.

One Fund Boston

By now I'm sure just about everyone has heard about the bombings at the Boston marathon last week. I don't know about all of you but I have felt helpless and have wished that there was something I could do to help. I heard about the One Fund Boston charity that has been set up for the victims and it hit me - donate. Therefore, I am offering to donate 100% of all painting print sales from my Etsy shop for the next few weeks to One Fund Boston. Mother's Day is coming up so you can purchase a gift and know that the money is going to a great cause.

 

Please spread the word! :)

Sale Item of the Week

"Beautifully Imperfect" is an original watercolor, size 8 by 10. It was my sale item of the week last week on Etsy and I've extended it for another week. The sale price is $80 (reduced from $95) and free shipping (for the U.S. only).

 

I love this piece and hopefully one of my watercolor collectors or a new one will claim this painting. :)

Pastels for Sale



I've decided to sell half of my full set of Mount Vision pastels. When I purchased these pastels I broke the sticks in half and left one half in the original boxes and put the other half in my Dakota box. I very rarely use these pastel sticks, as I prefer pastel pencils so I think it's about time someone else got some use out of these.

 

I paid about $600 for the full set so I would like to get $225 for this set. This would include shipping (within the US).

"New" Original Paintings For Sale

"Sunset Beach" 11 by 14 Original Pastel

 

"Sunset Pier" 11 by 14 Original Pastel

 

I made the decision to put these two original pastel paintings up for sale. I painted them for myself a couple years ago and have had them in my private collection. I hope that someone will fall in love with them and hopefully purchase them as a set. They go quite nicely together.

 

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Price Changes

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I've made some price changes to a few items in my shop. Rice bags were $8.00 and are now $6.00, 5 by 7 painting prints were $15.00 and now they're $8.00, 8 by 10 painting prints were $20.00 and now they're $12.00. These prices are not sale prices and will stand until I feel a need to raise them again. I thought I would lower the cost of these items a bit simply to make them more affordable.

Art on Main Event

This weekend is the Art on Main event in downtown Stillwater Minnesota. All the galleries on Main Street will be participating. It's kicking off this evening with the Meet the Artist Reception at 5 (and goes until 9). Come on out for some wine, food and art talk! I'll be at the Art Guild Gallery so please come on out. :)

Photo Baby Quilt

 I've been working on this photo baby quilt for the past week. It's a gift for a young boy who recently lost his mother. The quilt has also been made with her clothing. I hope this is something that this boy will treasure for a very long time.

 

No matter how many of these photo quilts I do, I still think they're wonderful and unique. 

My Favorite Vegetable Soup

I have been making this soup more often since I decided to transition to vegan. I was searching for vegetable soup recipes and couldn't find one that I thought I would like, so I just took some ingredients that I knew I liked and created my own. It's gluten free, vegan and so good for you! These are the ingredients:

 

4 medium organic celery sticks, chopped

1/2 medium head of organic cabbage, chopped

15-20 medium organic carrots, peeled and chopped

2  medium organic garlic cloves, minced

2 cans of organic cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

4 cups organic low sodium vegetable broth

4 cups filtered water (more or less depending on how much you need)

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Simply put all these ingredients into a pot (or slow cooker) over medium heat until it boils and then turn it down to low for a couple hours.

 

Of course you don't have to use organic ingredients but I prefer to whenever possible.

 

Just a little tip - I don't care for celery raw, so I'll purchase a package and instead of throwing out what I don't use, I'll chop up the remaining stalks and freeze them for the next time I make soup. :)

 

Definitely give this soup a try!