Wisconsin Lemon Tree

For 23 years in a row, I've lugged this lemon tree inside for the winter. (I cringe at how old that makes me sound). Many times the tree has been with out a lemon, but this year we've been blessed with a whopping 19 lemons!

So, sometime in dreary February, when the lemons will finally be ripe, we will be enjoying authentic Wisconsin lemon bars ... with real Wisconsin butter of course. Definitely something to look forward to!

You frame it Friday

Do these flowers look familiar? If you are a regular reader, they should. These are osteospermum, a type of African Daisy. I like them so much, I designed my logos after them.

They are a bit temperamental to press, but to me they are the perfect flower - with their perfectly shaped long slender petals, perfectly round center, and understated foliage. I think God made a masterpiece when He designed these.

The handmade paper in this particular unframed pressed piece is a 6 x 6" square, which lends itself to a more contemporary picture. The flowers have been sealed with 2 different UV resistant and moisture proof polymers, so the picture is all ready for you to pop into your favorite square frame.

new life for rejects...

Sunday was interesting. At our church potluck I sat near a visiting missionary. She is stationed in Lebanon and works with Palestinians in refugee camps (I won't use her name for safety's sake.) It was amazing to hear her story, and her love for the people she works with was very evident.

She likes to do crafts when working with the Lebanese women, because it's something they never had the luxury of spending time and money on. While she was explaining how hard it is for her to obtain certain craft materials there, it occurred to me that I might have something she could use. When I was first putting my Going Green paper making kits together, it took my craftsmen and I awhile to get our acts together, so I ended up with a number of "reject" mold and deckles that are perfectly usable, but not quite nice enough to sell.

While the potluck was winding down, I zipped home to get my box of "rejects," along with one of my instruction booklets an assortment of paper making inclusions. She was thrilled. Recycling scrap paper to make new creations would be a perfect fit.

I don't know how many times I was tempted to toss the box away, just to get it out of the way. But now it's amazing to me that parts of my paper making kits are going all the way to Lebanon.

It's neat to see how God works.

You frame it Friday

Queen Anne's lace. What more can one say - it's so pretty. I'm thankful God made a flower like this - actually it's scores of tiny flowers making up each big flower.

This Queen Anne's Lace Trio pressed flower picture is sealed with 2 different UV resistant and moisture proof polymers, so it's all ready for you to pop into a standard 8 x 10" frame, or even an 11 x 14" frame, with standard matting. If I were framing this, I would go with an 8 x 10" frame with a plain white mat.

doing art

As I mentioned last time, I've made Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays serious art days. I've only taken a few minutes to dabble on the computer today, while I was waiting for the UV resistant sealer on these pressed flower pictures to dry.

Now, back to work!

you have to mean not to

One of the hardest things for me is juggling my time, wisely. I have my priorities - God, family, art, my business/websites. The first two priorities are set in stone as first and second, the last two seem to get juggled around.

Ideally I would like "art" to remain my third priority, but when the house is a mess, the kids need something, I'm blessed with lots of orders, or am working on a marketing project or gearing up for some kind of sale, my art priority gets pushed out of the way, sometimes for a week at a time.

That's bad! Especially if I'm going to call myself an artist.

I think I may have found a solution. When I was gliding around the internet during half time yesterday (go Packers!), I happened upon a blog article written by another busy "mom" artist who found that dedicating Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to her art was the solution that finally worked for her. Weekends were devoted to family, church, etc. and Monday and Fridays were devoted to cleaning the house, laundry, errands, making appointments, and so on.

I think this will work for me. Today I'm busy cleaning up all traces of our active weekend, making phone calls, answering emails, tackling ALL of the laundry, and doing some tedious book work I've neglected. I'm also going to try to reschedule a Wed. meeting to Friday, and hopefully I'll also squeeze in some quick paper making, so I have a few more large sheets of handmade paper ready to use. Then, if all goes according to plan, I will have three glorious uninterrupted days (8:00-3:30 when the kids are in school) of art making.

I don't really mean to have neglected my art, but as a friend of mine says, I have to mean not to.

You frame it Friday: Orange Cosmos Flowers

Orange Cosmos are among the cheeriest flowers I know. The brilliance of their color never fades, and I love how the flowers tend to dance and bob above their sharp, finely cut foliage.

However, I don't always like pressing orange cosmos. Sometimes for no reason (that I can tell) cosmos flowers turn dark when I press them in the Microfleur. The very next time they all turn out perfect - no rhyme or reason. Their leaves always press perfectly, but are very brittle when dried. I skip my morning diet mountain dew when working with those very delicate leaves.

However tedious they can be, they are definitely worth the effort. I make a lot pressed flower pictures for myself with sayings or verses I want to remember, and I've noticed that I tend to choose cosmos.
This "Orange Cosmos" flower art picture is sealed with 2 different UV resistant and moisture proof polymers, so it's all ready for you to pop into a standard 8 x 10" frame, or even an 11 x 14" frame, with standard matting. If I were framing this, I would go with an 8 x 10" frame with a plain white mat.

Getting connected

Last Thursday I was having a "low energy day" and couldn't seem to make myself do any of the things on my "next action" list.

I determined that it would be a good day to become more socially connected. I had been meaning to do it anyway, and I could do it sitting down.

First of all, I joined Linked In. I'm off to a modest start - only 2 connections, but we'll see what happens.

Then I clicked over to Facebook. Actually I joined back in February, but never did much with it, so I spiffed up my profile a tiny bit. Once again, only 2 friends, and one of them is my mother in law (bless her).

Finally, I joined Twitter - an interesting phenomenon consisting of "micro" blogging. Really micro - one has only 140 characters to tell the world what you happen to be doing or thinking at the moment. Its very interesting, and I can see how addicting it could be.

I'm not sure about the intrinsic value of Twitter, or any of these "tools" of becoming more socially connected. I use the internet to promote my art and the products I sell, so that I can hopefully make a profit and continue to do what I love. However, I also struggle with spending too much time on the internet. It is one of my weaknesses, and it is so easy to get sidetracked, slip off onto a tangent, and before I know it an hour has slipped by, often wasted.

God, family, art, marketing my art on the internet. I need to work hard at keeping these priorities in their proper order.

Look up - You frame it Friday

Looking up at the skies, we can get a hint of the quantity of God's regard for us. It's really a lot! Psalm 36:5 says, "...your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies..."

This unframed pressed flower picture has a brilliant blue (like the sky!) pressed cornflower, with a tiny bud with its graceful but slightly unruly leaves I love.

For indefinite durability, this pressed flower picture is sealed with 2 different UV resistant and moisture proof polymers, so it's all ready for you to pop into a standard 8 x 10" frame, or even an 11 x 14" frame, with standard matting. If I were framing this, I would go with an 8 x 10" frame with a plain white mat.