I had to buy Isa & Hope’s now Vegan Pie in the Sky book.  It’s beautiful and totally yummy.  Not for those allergic to nuts, though.  Nuts are used a lot for the creamier pies.  They all look delicious. First on the list is pumpkin, of course.

Then there is Nava Atlas’ Vegan Holiday Cooking.  Beautiful recipes divided into sections by holiday.  It’s really fabulous, the photos are delicious and recipes look really good.  I have picked a couple for tomorrow from it as well.

At the library I found, Clean Start  by Terry Walter, after reading about it here.   Another beautifully laid out book, divided into sections by season.  I am looking forward to diving into some of the recipes in here.

Uncertainty:Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance, by Jonathon Fields is about taking that huge leap of faith to follow your dreams.  I haven’t read much yet, but it certainly is inspiring. If I could just tack on another 2 hours to my day, to just read, that would be really helpful!  There is a huge waiting list for this book at the library, so I have to read it before it is due, because I won’t be able to renew!

I have really been into whole, vegetarian foods lately, but occasionally I like to indulge in something like coffee with a good creamer.  Now, I have had only 4 or 5 cups of coffee in the last six weeks (which is really good for me), so when I have a cup, I like it to be creamy, sweet and delicious. Lucky for me, I received some Good Karma Creamers in the mail to sample.  Their website states the benefits to be: Organic, Lactose Free, Gluten Free, Non Dairy, Trans Fat Free, Vegan, Supports Green Farming. I am here to report that they deliver in creaminess, taste and I love that they support sustainable agriculture.   They probably don’t taste too much different than Silk brand, but they come in a larger size, and will be perfect for our non-vegan friends and family that are coming to visit for the holidays.  The hubby and I gave these a big thumbs up!

Lastly, I just had to share my beautiful bowl of pomegranate seeds and some of my new favorite food blogs. They are all so beautifully done. I love reading them and getting inspired to make delicious food. mmmmm……

Have cake, will travel
Green Kitchen Stories
My New roots
Beauty that moves

Enjoy!!

I made a new art journal to paint portraits and use some of my new stamps in. It’s made from red rosin paper which I’ve used before here, here & here.  It comes from the hardware store in a humongous 500ft roll for around $12.  Mostly I use it to protect my table and floor when I’m being messy, but it’s even more fun to paint on and use it as canvas.

I cut eight big sheets of it, 18×10 inches, and folded them in half to make a booklet of 32 front and back pages.   Each sheet was painted with a thin layer of gesso, with more colorful layers of acrylic paint added on top, for strength and durability.  Then I used the Coptic stitch to bind all the pages together.

Now, I have loads of pages ready to go when I want to practice painting more faces and people.  It’s much less pressure to practice in a journal, than on a fresh canvas or wood panel.

Books & Journals :: ECO Books :: re-bound

I also picked up some books at the library for more journal making inspiration.  Fun, fun!

I was surprised today when I got the new issue of Green Craft magazine in my mail box. I have a project in it called, Keeping Notes.

It’s a legal pad holder made with cardboard, paper bag, cereal box and other scraps of fabric, ribbon and decorative papers. The cover has some machine stitching, glued images and a bit of paint. I really loved the process of this project.

I hope you will check out this lovely magazine, if you haven’t already. This issue is packed with loads of beautiful eco-friendly goodness.

I received this book in the mail last week and have been enjoying reading through it. It’s called, How to Build a Fire: and other handy things your grandfather knew, by Erin Bried. Erin also wrote How to sew a button, which I gave away last year. It’s a really great book too. Loads of very useful information in both! Check out this super cute video about the book.

This book covers so many great topics like how to fix things, save money, look good, be loving and so much more. She also did a few really cute videos on making ice cream, building a fire, and how to tie a necktie. It’s easy reading and would make a great conversation starter.

You can see all the grand dads that were featured by clicking HERE, which makes me think of my own grandpa and what a hard worker he was. I get my artistic genes from that man. Isn’t he cute!! He is now 88!!

Leave a comment and maybe share something about your grandpop(or just say hi), and I’ll pick a winner on Monday morning. Good Luck!!

***Update 12/13***
Thank you so much for all the lovely comments. I really enjoyed reading about your wonderful and sweet memories. This winner of this giveaway is Carrie S. of Out & About.

I was sent this great Homemade Halloween book from Fox Chapel Publishing for review. It’s got some really great projects for Halloween costumes, some cute face painting how-to,  games and tricks, food recipes and home/party decor. All perfect for having and planning a Halloween party.  The  projects are easy, no sewing involved. Hot glue gun is a must! Who doesn’t love a little hot glue gun action, right? Many of the projects are great for getting the kids involved too, which is what I love the most.

My little guys and I have looked through it  many, many times. Each time, they find something new that they like. Their favorites are the fun recipes, of course, but they also really like the games, tricks, the front door & window decoration ideas, the head stone project and Frankenstein’s Monster porch sitter.  You can see more of the book at this link if you click on ‘google preview’ on the book’s front cover.

I’d love to give this book to one lucky reader.  Just leave a comment below and I’ll pick a winner on Wednesday, so I can get it into the mail asap. I think it would be a great source of inspiration for Halloween.

I finally got my hands on this Somerset Home Magazine- I know it’s been a while since it came out, but my first copy must have gotten lost in the mail.

It makes me so happy to have it in my hands and see it in person.  It really is such a beautiful magazine. All the Somerset magazines are. I’m on page 10-11.

Here is the original before it was sent off for the magazine. The entire project was made from recycled materials: cardboard, cereal boxes, scrap paper, fabric and other bits.

Here is a sneak peek of something I just finished working on over the weekend. It was sent off early this am, hopefully for publication in another Somerset magazine.

I wanted to share a project I made for GreenCraft Magazine. It’s a cardboard portfolio for pretty papers, important papers, artwork, or whatever you like.  Above is my portfolio before I sent it off almost a year ago. I had almost forgotten what it looked liked.

It is completely made of cardboard, cereal box board, maps and old papers and scraps of ribbon, fabric, fringe and buttons. Oh, and a bit of paint and glue.

I really love this magazine. Beautiful photographs, and so many wonderful ideas and contributors.

I am also in the new issue of Somerset Home, but I haven’t seen it yet!!  I’m hoping to get my copy in the mail soon or I may just have to go out and get it myself. I’ll wait a couple more days…

Check out the books I scored at the library–not that I have anytime to actually read books. I just get all excited when I can find some craft books I haven’t already checked out.

Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin ~ I’m deep into my Flying Lessons right now, which has been incredibly inspiring and informative on the creative business front, so this book is just more fuel for the creative fire. I’ve just flipped though and it looks promising.

Twyla Tharp’s The creative Habit: Learn it and use it for life~ Another creative/inspiration type book.  Since I’ll be flying to Oregon soon, these first two books might be good plane-reading material.

Kyuuto! Japenese Crafts: Lacy Crochet ~I’ve been wanting to flip through this for a while. It has some really cute crochet designs.

The Artistic Mother: A practical Guide for Fitting Creativity into Your Life by Shona Cole~ Love this one! Great tips on time management, motivation, photography tips and artsy projects. Beautifully done!

Thriftychic: interior style on a shoestring~ Lovely ideas for decorating. Fun to look through.

This fellow came to visit our back yard a few weeks back scaring away all the little critters. I think it’s a Cooper’s Hawk and it looks like he’s been tagged. So beautiful and strong.

And this cute little dude fell from it’s nest during a wind storm.  Mama was close by when I took this photo, warning me to stay away. I did, using my zoom for this picture. He’s become strong enough to leave with mama. This is the second little bird to fall from a nest in our yard and it has been so nice to watch the mama birds work fiercely to protect their babes.

I made some little knitted flowers from a book I got at the library.  It was fun making something small and quick.

I was able to practice decreasing. I now know what k2tog means–so exciting!

I used some yarn scraps that I had and turned the little flowers into brooches. Now I need to make a pretty little fabric basket to house my newly growing brooch collection.

Here are some other books I borrowed from the library: 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet, Fabric Jewelry & Wrap Style. They are all really great.

Wrap Style has some beautiful wraps that I would LOVE to make. My favorites are in the above pic.  Unfortunately, the patterns look like gibberish to me–makes no sense whats-so-ever. I really need to learn how to decode all those letters & numbers! I will though! It’s a big goal of mine to knit something other than hats & scarves before the years is done.

We went to the library today in search of some really good holiday, before bedtime reading.  Get you in the spirit stuff.  We were lucky.  I usually can’t find any good holiday books this time of the year.

Here is what we found for the kids:
Aunty Clause, Home for the Holidays by Elise Primavera
The Christmas Rose by Sepp Bauer
The Best Christmas Hunt Ever by John Speirs
Who Would Like A Christmas Tree by Ellen Bryan Obed
Who’s That Knocking on Christmas Eve? by Jan Brett
The Finest Christmas Tree by John and Ann Hassett
Christmas City by Michael Garland
Nutcracker by E.T.A Hoffman (pictures by Maurice Sendak)
Zelda & Ivy: One Christmas by Laura McGee Kvasnosky
When Santa Fell to Earth by Cornelia Funke
Christmas Bears by Chris Conover

And for me:
I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas by Anna Getty
Christmastime Treats by Sara Perry
Cute Stuff by Aranzi Aronzo

Others we had to get:
Thelonius Monster’s Ski-High Fly Pie: A revolting rhyme by Judy Sierra with delicious drawings by Edward Koren (perfectly gross and delightfully fun for two little guys – 4 stars)
Mind Boggling Teasers, Tricks, Puzzles & Games by Charles Barry Townsend
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (40th Anniversary Edition) We just had to get even though we own the small version already. Did you know Eric Carle is almost 80!!

I’ll be coming back to this post to rate these books as we read them.  It will help me to remember them for next year.  If you have any favorites, I’d love to know what they are.