For my not so little girl....

This year we chose to send our daughter off to stay with her Aunt and Uncle during the week to attend another school, she comes home for the weekends. It was a difficult decision for us and now a month in, I think for all of us, loneliness has set in. The kid who couldn't wait to go and have fun is starting to miss the comfort of being home. We miss her too. I decided to make her a little painting to take with her so she can hopefully feel encouraged to push through when she feels down. I wanted her to know that she is special, especially to us. Here is the canvas I made her.

I am still in my weird place of overwhelmed indecision, which is a bit frustrating. I am also just getting over being sick with NO creative time whatsoever. Dealing with the goings on of the kids, family, community etc. It's funny how you wake up one day and your life suddenly became complicated. Deep breath, push forward, thank God everyday for every moment and every blessing. It could ALWAYS be worse, and if you are that one who is the absolute worst case, my heart goes out to you and I send you hope, peace, and love.

XO

the fairy.

Where in the world is.....

Roberta! I was SHOCKED when I pulled up a post on my blog and saw my last post date. I knew it had been a while but wow. This is just one of those times, you know the ones you have in your life where you just kind of get lost. Sometimes you just need time to find yourself. I am not saying I am found.... ha ha, just poking my head out of the bush. I am posting a little snippet of what I am currently working on. I hope to post a video of it along with the finished product. Still have half a dozen unfinished pieces hanging around waiting to be loved, but right now, sadly, they are not my friends and I just can't show them the love....... I am kind of at a point where I just really need to sit down and figure out where the best places are to focus my time and energy, at least what I have left after the regular ole' everyday stuff gets done. I sure wish we didn't need any sleep. More to come soon I hope.

Stay tuned...... xo!

Well, I cut it up.

Whew! What a busy time of year. I have to say I am glad the kiddos are back to school for the routine. As much as I am ready to ditch it in the spring, I welcome it back in the fall. I finally got a chance to actually paint something yesterday, the collage that I was supposed to do with two other paintings I did for an assignment.

The birds are actually berries in the old painting. Her dress was the tree. I had fun doing this, really enjoyed it despite the fact that I don't normally do well without a plan, detailed plan. I am working on it.

xo

Before I cut it up.....

Yes, you read right, cut it up. I have to do an exercise for an art class I am taking where I have to cut up some paintings to collage them onto another painting I previously made. REWIND... that sounded confusing didn't it. HA!

This really was just a spontaneous, unplanned painting, more of a journal page really which ended up with me, as a bird, in a tree. Singing in my mind "I'm like a bird, I wanna fly away..." (don't ask me from what...)

Bye Bye birdie! Now to cut or to tear... sniff sniff. Oh get over it, you'll be fine... she says to herself. Funny thing is I didn't really think I liked it all that much when I did it. P.S. I video taped the whole session, video may be posted...

Have a wonderful labor day weekend everyone. 

xo

the fairy

Make your own blinkie!!!!!

I am posting this tutorial here for those of you who would like to make your own blinkie with a copyable text box for your blog. The direct links to all the Pimp your Blog posts will be in that section so the tutorials are easy to find. Hope you like!

Yeah! Here is my first one!

How to make your own blinkie for your blog.

Here is my full size blinkie. I create it rather large because it is easy to edit. 300dpi for nice quality and about 1000 pixels wide. You need to change it after you are done so it will fit in sidebars. 175-200 pixels wide is what I usually do.

You need to go into the window panel and select animate to make it have actions.

click on the image above to open it full size so you can read my directions on the picture!

Once it is finished and you are ready to save it you HAVE to save it in the web and devices section to make it a gif.

Again click on image to read my instructions, he he!

Now go to your photobucket account and make an album for your blog so you can add goodies there and stay organized. Once you have uploaded and saved it, hover your mouse over it to see this:

 Now that pink part I circled is what you are going to add into your code. I have posted mine below for the blinkie I just created but you are going to have to change the code to your own. I should have color coded it sorry but the code you are going to slip yours into is in yellow below. Be careful, change only the code between the comas starting at http and ending after your code gif. If you miss one comma it won't work.

The pink part in this picture is your blog url. You need to change that as well. Just change the url, no comas etc.

I am pasting my full blinkie code here but in this text box, the full code you see above will be in it. SO all you have to do is COPY THE CODE IN THIS TEXT BOX, go into your dashboard and click on add a gadget add html code and copy this code into it. THEN YOU HAVE TO EDIT IT. Just change the url to your own in BOTH SPOTS, then go to your photobucket page and copy YOUR DIRECT CODE YOU YOUR BLINKIE and paste it into the yellow sections, making sure to remove mine first. Click save and you have your own copyable blinkie! Congrats!


Grab the Code!

<a href="http://www.robertalaliberte.blogspot.com?xyz=16"><img src="http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad355/RobertaLaliberte/possibilities%20blog/LaliberteBlinkiefw.gif" /></a><br /> <p>Grab the Code!<br /> <p><textarea rows=3 cols=13 readonly name="Blinkie Code"><a href="http://www.robertalaliberte.blogspot.com?xyz=16"><img src="http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad355/RobertaLaliberte/possibilities%20blog/LaliberteBlinkiefw.gif" /></a><br />

IF YOU LIKED THIS TUTORIAL PLEASE PASTE MY BLINKIE INTO YOUR SIDEBAR AND PLEASE RESPECT MY COPYRIGHT AND EITHER POINT OTHERS IN MY DIRECTION TO LEARN THIS OR TAKE PHOTOS AND MAKE YOUR OWN TUTORIAL. MINE TOOK ME 2 HOURS TO CREATE. THANK YOU BUNCHES!!!!!XOXOXOX

Almost forgot! A GREAT BIG THANK YOU  goes out to my new blog buddy Cat for cluing me in on how I could get a screen capture on my mac while the menu bars were open in photoshop!!!! You are the best Catherine!!!!!!!!

Painting fabric/product highlight....

The first product I want to highlight are my brand spankin new Derwent Inktense sticks.

What is great about these you ask? Well as the name suggests, they are made of ink, not the same as watercolor. While they are water soluble, once they have been wet and then dry, they become permanent! How awesome is that. I have used them on canvases and true to their word once I wet it, it became stable and permanent. I even blended them with gesso for some lovely intense colors. You can also use them on fabric, normally silk, and they are also permanent once they have been wet, with a brush and "painted" over. I am guessing that if you just dunked it then the ink would run out before it had a chance for it to set into the fabric. That is how I made the gingham fabric for my beet jar!

First I ran the block across the fabric. I then took a wet brush and stroked it over the strips to wet it and soak it into the fabric. I then dried it.

 

I then used a permanent marker to run rough little lines through the large watery looking ones for a bit of detailing. And that is it. Pretty low key. 

You can buy the pencils at your local art supply store in singles if you want to try a couple out before investing and they come in pencil and block form. Very cool.

xo

the fairy!

Plum Pickled out!

Actually, I am not. I still have carrots to go, mmmmm... maybe some more beets too if my lovely mom in law can spare some more, pleaaaassssseeee. he he. Fall is coming on us fast, and fall brings canning. Nothing like homemade preserves and my two favorites, pickled beets and carrots.

 

I packaged them up nice and pretty just for you, to see in the photo I mean silly. I actually made that little scrap of gingham on the top of the sealer and I am going to show you how shortly when I do my Fabulously Fun Stuff to play with post. I am going to do occasional product highlights  to show you some of the products I use and why I love em! Always nice to find new artsy things to play with.

For now though, thought I would share my mom's pickled beets recipe with you since they are my fave and may one day be yours too and believe me, I have tried lots of pickled beets!

Bubba Helen's Pickled Beets

Start with fresh beets WITH THE STEMS ON! Cut off the stems making sure to leave a 2 inch tail! Ever had pink pickled beets? That is because the tail wasn't left on and when you boil them for about 45 mins to get the skins off and cook the beets they bleed out.

Sterilize your jars (boil them or I use the dishwasher and the sanitize setting) and place them on a clean towel with boiling water in them (I do this to keep them hot, hot beets in a cold jar is not great).

Take the cooked beets to the sink,and pour out the hot water and run cold over them to shock the skins off. You then go in with your hands and rub the skins off, they peel so easy. They will still be hot inside the beets so be careful, and put them in a bowl. 

Meanwhile make your brine:

this recipe makes 3 quarts, just double, triple for more.

2 c vinegar

2 c sugar

1 tbs pickling or course salt

1 tsp ground allspice

1 tbs WHOLE cloves wrapped in cheesecloth and elastic.

Boil for 5 mins, discard cloves, turn on low to keep warm.

Put your lids in a pot to boil for 5 mins then just keep them warm.

Empty one jar at a time, cut the beets to bite size pieces and fill the jars to 1/2" from the top. Add the brine to 1/4 " from the top, make sure the top of the jar is clean for a good seal. Put a lid on, then the screw top and wipe and set aside for the lid to POP! If it doesn't pop or cave in then you will have to boil it for 5 or 10 mins to seal it or it will spoil.

Stay tuned for the fabric demo!!

xo

the fairy