Blue Moon Fairies

Many moons ago (but only two of them blue), I tried my hand at making art dolls. Some friends of mine decided to do an exchange, and I wanted to make fairies! I took my initial inspiration from the web comic, Pibgorn, which is one of my favorites!

I started out with a 14" bendi doll which I dyed a soft pink. Then I painted each of them with Lumiere paints in Halo Pink Gold, Halo Violet Gold, Metallic Olive Green and Metallic Bronze and I gave each of them a stylish little "skirt" of beaded ribbon which was just attached with fabric glue.

Then came the fun! Raiding my stash of fibers, I used an assortment of complimentary colors and types of yarn and hand sewed each one to the doll's heads.

Now everybody knows that a fairy can't fly without some wings. My first impulse was to try to fashion lovely long gossamer wings. (By the way... did I mention I don't sew???) [grin] Abandoning that, I utilized some filmy fabric petals off of flowers that I liberated from the trash at work a few months earlier. All I needed to do was cut a couple of very small slits in the back, stick a dab of glue in the slit, poke the wings in there and secure them with a few small stitches.

I finally finished the four little friends at about midnight on the night of the blue moon. I fashioned a little necklace out of little metal leaf beads (by Blue Moon Beads, no less!) for each doll, and as I fastened it around each neck I "breathed life into her" and christened her with a name.

Thus, the Blue Moon Fairies were born... Flora, Fawna, Terra and Pib.

Each has flown away to a new home, but someday I will make them a sister who will live with me. I just have to wait for the next blue moon!!!

Sweet Summer Smoothie

Sweet Summer Smoothie
4 bananas
2 cups frozen strawberries
1 cup white seedless grapes
1/2 cup raw apple juice

Blend it all up and enjoy while sitting in the sun!

UPDATE: New comments have been disabled for this post on this blog. To leave a new comment click here to go to my Raw Diva Keely blog!

What Flower Are You?

I am an Echinacea What Flower Are You?

"You are a health conscious person, both your health and the health of others. You know all about the health benefits and dangers of the world around you."

WOOLY-WOOLY, wooly-wooly...

Jeanne, you should be singing now!!! [grin]

For those of you who live vicariously through other people's
blogs... and in this case, mine... we took a walk in the woods today! (This will have to hold you over, because I will not be posting for a few days.)

The leaves are not changing yet, but the goldenrod is in full bloom! We had quite a bit of rain the last few days, and there were several downed trees. One of the trees that was down and already cut up and dragged off of the path was one that I walked under a week ago. I remember at the time looking up at it and thinking, "Now there is an accident waiting to happen". Evidently there were no actual witches harmed when it fell, as I saw no shriveling feet nor ruby slippers left behind!!! [grin]
I always like to take my camera when I walk, because you never know who you might meet. Last week, I had a pleasant conversation with Mr. Groundhog. Well, I talked, and he ate his dinner while nodding at some of my finer points. Then I moved on to have a chat with Ms. Squirrel, she too, was more interested in a particularly large nut than in me. (No. Bob was not with me. I walk too slow for him, so he takes a longer path. I am referring to a black walnut!) However, I forgot my camera that week.

This week, any encounters with friendly critters was thwarted by, what I believe to be high school boys training for cross country track. In my younger days, I would have blushed and pretended I was not looking at them as they bounced along with a pair of sneakers, some shorts and very little else. Alas... my thought at seeing them bounding through the woods was... "Well, there goes any chance of seeing animals this week!!!" [sigh]

I did, however, spy the local weather forecaster as he was out for a stroll and snapped a picture. I believe, judging from his coat, that the winter will be mild, overall. [grin]

Raw Corn & Tomato Jamboree

Lately, every time I went past a display of corn on the cob in the market, I wanted to dive right in and make a meal of it right there! However, self composure and Bob restrained me from making a spectacle of myself. The urge persisted. Yesterday I ran across a recipe which I decided to RAWvolutionize. I decided to cut the recipe in half, which was good, because there were only four ears of corn left in the store! We made it last night, and it is a definite keeper! Bob and I each tasted it last night, but saved it for our lunch today. I personally think that it has better flavor right after you make it. The tomatoes tend to lose their juice which waters down the sauce, if made the day ahead. So if you want a refreshing late summer salad, give this a try!

Raw Corn & Tomato Jamboree
serves 4 as featured salad

8 ears of corn, husked and cut from cob
8 plum tomatoes, diced into 1/4" cubes
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced white and tender green parts
1/4 cup packed chopped fresh herbs. I used basil, tarragon, and cilantro.
herb sprig (I used dill) for garnish
arugula

Mustard Vinaigrette:
3 tablespoons cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
freshly ground pepper, to taste

Make the mustard vinaigrette: In a jar, combine the oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. Cover and shake to blend well; set aside. (Or stick it all in a Magic Bullet and blend!)

In a large bowl, add the corn, tomatoes, scallions, and chopped herbs and toss to mix well. Add the dressing and toss again. Spoon mixture over a bed of arugula on individual plates and garnish with herb sprigs. Serve at room temperature.

UPDATE: New comments have been disabled for this post on this blog. To leave a new comment click here to go to my Raw Diva Keely blog!

I learned today...

School seems to start earlier and let out later every year. I may be wrong because I have no children to truly judge this by, but when I was a "youngun" we did not start school until after Labor Day. Most of the schools around this area went back a week or two before the holiday weekend this year. Anyhow, in celebration of all of the hard working teachers out there... I present this card.

On white cardstock, I stamped the House Mouse design, HMPR1023 ABCD EEEEK FG, in black pigment ink and embossed with Black Detail embossing powder. I sponged black dye ink where the chalkboard should be after first masking the image and taping off a border. I cut the panel to size, leaving the white "photograph" border around the edges. Then I colored in the image using Le Plume markers. I stamped the House Mouse phrase, "I learned today...", in white pigment ink and embossed it in white on the chalkboard. The panel was then mounted on a piece of grey "stone" cardstock, which in turn was attached to a card made from white cardstock. You could write anything inside the card, but I wrote "... to buy more rubber stamps!" I made this card to be used as a display at Art on the Block.

I'm a Raw Diva!!!

Oh dear gods... what is she up to NOW?!?!?

Well, my dears, for the last several weeks Bob and I have been eating nothing but fresh raw foods. First there was The 7 Day Diva Detox. I felt really good about the program, and I loved the lovely Divas, Tera and Amy, who put it all together. Bob and I were having fun (he was the only male diva... so yeah, he was lovin' it), so we decided to continue on with The Body Enlightenment System (BES) . The BES is a 30 day program meant to free you of cravings and break bad food habits. It works! I prefer fresh fruits and veggies to any processed foods, now!

Last night we graduated from BES. Turned our tassels and threw our mortarboards in the air!

So what did I have today, now that I don't have a menu guiding me? Pizza? Pasta? Chocolate? (Well, maybe if there had been some chocolate in the house, but no.) I had a green smoothie!!! And before I had hung up from my graduation call last night, I had signed up for The Sisterhood Gold program. I'll be getting monthly menus from The Raw Divas. Now we may not follow every menu to the letter. There will be days when we go out with friends and choose to eat cooked foods, but for the most part... we are now RAW!!! Okay, I still want chocolate once in a while, and I will eat chocolate once in a while. But... it is going to be good chocolate and not some dime store bar that has been on the shelf for six months. [grin]

Don't worry about me jumping up on a soapbox and sprouting (just a little raw humor there) off at the mouth that you need to eat raw if you want to have better health. I'll leave that all up to Bob on his blog!!! [grin] However, I may post a picture of something that I made, or a recipe I think you would enjoy once in a while on this blog. I will even post some old favorite cooked recipes that I feel are worth sharing from time to time. I just wanted to let you know where I am at. I still consider myself a strict vegetarian, but I will probably be about 80 to 90% raw. Bob will be closer to 100% and he will be strictly vegan, I believe. This is new to me, but not to him. I do feel better, and best of all... a fellow Tai Chi student said to one of the other students in class that Bob and my skin just glowed!!! I liked that!!!

Manana Smoothie
2 ripe mangoes
2 bananas
several handfuls of spinach (or you may prefer another salad green)

Mix these all up in the blender until dreamy creamy! If you prefer a thinner smoothie, just add some water to the desired thickness. You can chill this or drink it right down. I know some of you are thinking, "YUK! She put spinach in a perfectly good fruit smoothie". Trust me when I tell you... you will not taste the spinach!!! Now some of the other greens have very distinctive tastes, so go with what you like. I personally hate Kale and can not tolerate it in my smoothies, but there are those who will put the whole bunch in there. You can also just add a handful of greens, and gradually increase the amount you add. This is a great energy boosting smoothie for the first thing in the morning... or any time! Yeah, Baby!!!

UPDATE: I originally posted this recipe here with the name Manango. However, I posted it elsewhere as Manana. So as not to cause confusion (because I'm confused enough for all of us), I have corrected the name above. New comments have been disabled on this blog. To leave a comment click here to go to my Raw Diva Keely blog!

Goat Boy

I found this photo mounted in my Grandma McBride's photo album, so we presume it was a relative. Whether it was from Grandma's or Grandpa's side, though, we do not know. My mother has no clue, and did not even know the photo existed until I found it while looking through Grandma's old albums which were on my mother's coffee table. The photo was made into a postcard, but it had never been used as such, so there are no markings, names or stamps to hint at the origins of the picture. All I know is that the picture was taken in 1925. Which means the child was probably born in 1923 or 1924. It is popular belief that the photographer was based in Alliance, which was a town near where I grew up in Damascus, OH. And although I named the photo "Goat Boy", I'm not even 100% positive that it is a boy!!! I know, I'm a lotta help! Anyhow, if anyone out there in blogland thinks this might be your long lost relative, let me know. If any of my artist friends would like to use the image in their artwork, please ask first. I'm sure I'll give you permission, I just want to know who uses it, and I'd like to see a scan or photo of your final creation!!! [grin]