X, Y, Z And…

I made it through the alphabet for my art journal!  WHOOT!

And I completed 31 days of watercolor in July for World Watercolor Month!!

I thought you might enjoy seeing my finished alphabet pages…

An X-ray Tetra Fish for “X”:

“Y” is for Yellow:

“Z” for Zentangled zoodles… Which are zucchini noodles!

I still want to add paper collage and a few extra details to complete these pages… so stay tuned! 🙂

And I completed 5 additional watercolor pages to finish my 31 days – I will post them later this week…

I am happy to be done so I can focus on some other art projects.  Yet, I had so much fun!

I enjoyed my extra time at the lake last week... I think my highlights were swimming in the lake – three times a day, reading a super good book, painting outside daily, making paper butterflies with a friend, daily naps and cool evenings.

Wishing you a happy day doing what you love!

Cheers! 🙂

Inspiralized!

Last week, I showed you this pasta salad that contained NO pasta – instead it contained zucchini!  I am totally amazed how GOOD this salad tasted!  Here is another photo of it, if you missed my post, here.

I had so much fun spiralizing my zucchini for this salad!  I’m now INSPIRALIZED!

I love this cookbook by Ali Maffucci – she also has a blog, Inspiralized.com

The recipe I adapted from her cookbook:

For the salad – Prepare in a large bowl:

2-3 medium zucchini  Note:  slice the zucchini about 1/2 inch through on opposite sides before spiralizing – I used the largest blade but any size would work – this just gives your “pasta” a half-moon shape.

1 cup artichoke hearts – I used whole ones in a can as I find them to be the most tender and then I cut them up.

One handful of cherry tomatoes, halved – I don’t measure these but use what I like.

1 cup diced sweet peppers – I used mini orange, red and yellow ones that I had in a bag.

1/4 cup of pepperoncini diced – the recipe called for red onion but I didn’t have any.

1/2 cup cubed Monterey Jack cheese – the recipe called for Provolone

3/4 cup diced salami

1/3 cup whole black olives, sliced in half

For the Salad Dressing – Whisk in a separate bowl:

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning or a mixture of dried oregano, basil and parsley

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Combine the dressing with the salad ingredients.  Toss to combine.  Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes – I did 2 hours for the zucchini to soften.

Serve chilled.

Enjoy!  🙂

Whipping Up Art

Several years ago, I found this hand-mixer at a thrift store and decided it would be fun to bead and then one idea led to another…

I thought the handle was a lot like my right brain, filled with ideas that turn into possibilities when I mix them with all the art mediums I enjoy!  I had fun decorating the beaters with Golden’s Glass Bead Gel to give it the look of frosting.  I always enjoyed licking the icing on the beaters when I was a child much like I enjoy sharing the sweet finish of a completed art project with all of you!  🙂

So when Charlie invited me to his Doodlewash Dinner for the month of May, I decided to whip up this dish to bring to the party:

I have never painted a meal before and found it to be kind of fun.  I encourage you to give it a try!

And here is my recipe in case you want to whip up this dinner for yourself:

I had this for dinner last night… and I’m looking forward to leftovers tonight with a glass of red wine!

Cheers!  🙂

Chicken ‘A La King

I was thinking about cooking up a chicken dish for dinner so this prompted me to create these silly chickens:

I hope they are a good recipe to make you smile!  🙂

I started making these silly birds after I took an online class from Carla Sonheim last August.  You glue down a scrap piece of paper and then add a beak to it.  They are kind of addicting to make:

I used a page from an old book on card playing to create Dapper Dan.  The rest are scraps of scrapbook paper that I tore into funky shapes.  They reminded me a bit of a card game I played as a child so I had to give them names of course.

You could make any animal with them I suppose – not just birds.  I hope you give them a try.  I think they would make you laugh!  And a good belly laugh is the best medicine in my book!

Happy Creating!  🙂