T Tuesday: eco dye edition

Last week on T stands for Tuesday I had mentioned that I had attempted some eco dyed papers. Today I thought I’d share my results with you.

Last we left off I had bundled my papers and my cooking pot was way too small….

One trip to Goodwill later, I found the perfect size pot in which to cook my paper bundle. 

The bundle wanted to float since it was pine boards that acted as the presser boards. A couple rocks worked well to hold the bundle down in the vinegar and alum spiked water. I boiled on the side burner of our grill for about and hour. Thank goodness I did this outside because it was not pleasant smelling. Also I learned that the pine boards had a lot of sap left in them…what a mess.

After boiling I drained off the cooking water then added cool water which I salted quite heavily. Once everything was cool enough to handle I started the unbundling process.

Then set the pages to dry on the hot concrete. I was surprised at what did and didn’t leave an impression. The marigolds and lemon grass had the greatest color from the experiment.  But that wasn’t my favorite.

It was these….the baby maple trees I pulled from my lawn were lovely ghosted images.

A few freshly turned leaves from our service berry tree gave a slightly rusty, vein like appearance as it’s only impression. Pretty as well but still not holding my interest like those baby maples.

I think I’ll try this again…but perhaps with other sources for dyes. Purple cabbage and onion skins are the first to jump to my mind. I think perhaps I’d get some nice color out of those.

Speaking of color….

I enjoyed a colorful sort of beer this summer. Grain Belt came out with a limited edition Blueberry infused beer. I had to buy some…its local and we like to support our local business. That’s my excuse and I’m stickin’ to it. It was pretty in color and pretty tasty too. Not that you’d really want to drink more than one…too sweet for that.

Anyway…this Tuesday I will be late in visiting…

Next week I may miss all together unless I prepost. We are taking J to college!! Move in day is the 21st. Crazy!!

T stands for Tuesday

What are you doing today?

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T Tuesday: homework edition

Once again I missed last Tuesday linkup with T stands for Tuesday. Typically I write then post immediately on Monday evening since we have so many folk are at least 6 hrs ahead of me. Last Monday I spent canning and baking since it was slightly cooler in temp.

yummy goodness from the garden and CSA

Check out these super long beans from the CSA

I borrowed the tall jars from my neighbor and gave her one of the finished as payment. These beans will be awesome garnish for Bloody Mary’s.

By the time the evening came about I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated to write. Fast forward to Tuesday morning I realized since Mini-me had to be to work early I could stop by and see my old knitting group. The group is very small now, in fact there were only two gals there that day. It was nice to get caught up on all the news anyway.

When I returned home I tackled a project that has been on the todo list for well over a year. We had a new front door installed by a friend and we told him we’d take care of the painting and trimming of said door. I stained all the wood of the jams of the door and when it was finished it looked really weird without trim covering it.

So I tackled the job that Mr. G had been dreading. I learned a few things from working with my dad as a kid so I was up to the task. While I was still working, I heard a car door slam outside . Mr. G had come home for lunch. I had wanted to surprise him with my handiwork complete. I’m pretty proud of my work. Mr. G was so glad it was done. He joked with me that if he’d know I could do that he’d have encouraged me to do it long ago.

Later that afternoon on the way home from picking up Mini-me we noticed the license plate in front of us. 

It was from Honduras! Over 3100 miles from home. Crazy!!!

I’ve been busy with many other things such as finishing an art journal, collecting and packing stuff for J to take to college in two weeks, eco dye papers and completely smashing my phone. Yep that was an expensive day. Thankfully I’ve got a new one and seem to have everything restored to my liking.

T stands for Tuesday

What are you doing today?

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Inspired to Eco Dye

I’ll admit it…I went down the rabbit hole this morning watching eco dye videos on YouTube. although I got nothing physically accomplished during that time I was definitely inspired to give it a whirl myself.

I picked up a pad of 100lb watercolor paper at a garage sale for 50¢. I figured this was good fodder for my experiment.  I walked around the yard picking various leaves, weeds and flowers to give variety since I really have no idea what will work the best. I also searched through the scrap lumber in the shed for wood to sandwich my pages between. 

my bundle is all ready to go…just one problem…

The cooking pot is too small. I fear we got rid of the large one that was in the shed at some point. A trip to Goodwill is in order before I can actually run my experiment.

While in the yard I discovered that my dream catcher did its job and kept the pesky deer from eating my tiger lily blossoms.

So pretty! Love the bright orange.

 

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T Tuesday: outdoor goodness edition

The summer is flying by. I’m so thankful to be enjoying some of it outdoors. My garden is thriving with the abundant rain, heat and humidity.

This is the first year I’ve had any luck with cucumbers…they are nearly taking over the garden!!  So far I’ve picked only two. I’m hoping there will be many more for all the space the vines are taking up. My green beans are producing like crazy. Unfortunately I bought the wrong seeds. These are the ones with a bit of a texture on the bean..sort of like a peach. Blech….we like to eat our green beans raw from the garden. The texture just doesn’t work for me. I’ll be making these into canned spicy beans.

My yellow pear tomatoes are big but not producing much. Makes me kind of sad. Hopefully they are just a little slow this year.

We have been getting our weekly CSA box in addition to our garden. We are really enjoying this again this year. So many fresh veggies. I’ve even done a bit of juicing. Trying to use the veggies in a different way. 

This was beet, carrot, apple and ginger. It was SO GOOD!!!!!!

And pretty too! Speaking of pretty…did you spy my freshly stained deck rails? They were so bad…basically down to raw wood. It was a couple labor intensive mornings. I’d have to stop each day when the temp climbed over 90°F.

The great outdoors has so much to offer us. I’ve heard it said and couldn’t agree more that Minnesotans are all about spending as much time outside as possible. We endure extremes in temperature and several different kinds of weather in one day isn’t uncommon. 

As you can see by my crazy tan lines…I spend a bit of time walking in my sandals. LOL  Marvin even gets to occasionally visits to the great outdoors under close supervision. And yes, he really is that big…no trick of the lens. FYI—I wear a size US 9 (40 EU).

T stands for Tuesday

Tuesday holds a visit to my friend in her “new” house. I’m super excited to see it and her!!

What are you doing today?

 

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Yes I loved it

Today’s art journal page was all about me wanting to play with some of our new washi tape.

Mini-me and I picked out 12 rolls at Michael’s the other day when we stopped in to pick up some twirly sticks for my planters along the front walk. Yes I know summer is half over but I still wanted them.

Anyway..back to the journal page.  I simply love the look of dress pattern paper over text so I knew I had to leave a good portion of that revealed on my page. I loosely framed the page first with paint then with washi over the top. Some of the wider washi tapes I tend to tear into thinner pieces and apply in a slightly random fashion.

A clothing tag serves as both a backdrop for the first part of my sentence and the date stamp. I think I may need a new Staz-on pad…that stamping didn’t turn out very well.

I used a needle tipped bottle with thinned white paint to create this heart. After it was somewhat dry I laid the washi over the middle. And true as the statement across it…I loved it.

This page put a smile on my face. Yet another reason I keep creating. Just for me, just art for art’s sake.

 

Art Journal Journey

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AJJ: art of arts sake

Taking time to play in my art journals has been a challenge. I’ve been suffering from bouts of extremely busy schedules followed by times of extreme sloth. No, I’m serious. I’m not sure what’s up with that but I find if my schedule or to-do list isn’t packed with stuff, I have a hard time getting motivated. I justify it to myself as “I’ve just been so busy, I’ll just sit down for a bit and __(fill in the blank)__.  These options often include a screen, but of course not a useful screen such as learning something…no, just time wasters.  Netflix, Pinterest, phone apps, iPad games. WHY!!??!!

Ok…now that I got that confession off my chest I’m ready to move on since I actually have broken my slothful ways the past two days. Taking time to create. Let’s hope it continues, shall we!

This page went together as so many of my recent. I begin with what is around me. Gluing pieces down as the mood strikes.

Next comes the color. My fingers are truly my best tool….second best being the baby wipes I use to clean them off.  As I add paint with my fingers I remember the joy this brings me. I recall why I consider art my own private therapy.  I let go. Let it happen naturally.

I honestly cannot walk away from a page with adding words. They don’t have to be mine. They can be a quote, a sticker, handwritten or stamped. You may not even be able to see them. I often will “journal spill or mind dump” on a page. Sometimes its so messy that it’s illegible. Other times I cover it up with paint or papers. Just the act of writing it out helps ground me but really what it says is no ones business but my own.

These words struck me. Not in the way they were likely meant to.  For me it was more about how creating is good for me, for my soul.

And that is a beautiful thing.

Linking up today with Art Journal Journey is Art for Art’s Sake hosted by Chris of Pearshapedcrafting.

Art Journal Journey

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T Tuesday: dream catcher, deer deterrent edition

Its been a busy week with the Independence day holiday smack in the middle. Lots of time off for everyone. A wedding, drivers training, a parade then cookout followed by local fireworks.

First the wedding…it was lovely and sweet. The crazy thing is I used to do before school care for the groom. Yikes…making me feel old. 

We did the traditional parade and cookout with the neighbors. Mini-me brought a friend this time. After we returned home about a dozen of J’s friends came over and braved the heat of the garage to play board games and hang out until fireworks. A large game of Nerf Wars eventually broke out. I’m still finding Nerf darts in the yard.

The next morning I got out of bed and literally hobbled to the bathroom. I couldn’t figure out why my feet hurt so much….

 

Then I saw this. I walked just a little bit on the 4th. Good thing I was wearing my walking sandals.

So I bet you are wondering if I’m ever going to get to the dream catcher, deer deterrent portion of this post.

I made this dream catcher one day basically just as a test. One to see if I could follow directions and two to see if using a non perfect circle would make things weird.  I also wanted to see how to adding beads to the webbing.

My grand experiment taught me several things. I decided I like the asymmetrical  look of the webbing. I also like the organic look of the bent tree branch I used for the frame. I decided to hang it from our service berry tree right over my Tiger Lilies in hopes of scaring the deer away. They have already stolen the tops of two of the stems. The remaining ones are full of buds. Fingers crossed that it works!

I can always dream right?!?

T stands for Tuesday

What are you doing today?

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