Plying my crafts, winter's almost over

Winter is almost out of here with spring's warm sun brightening things up and popping out new growth on the trees and bushes. We had a few days of hard freeze here about a month ago which nipped hard at some of our tropical plantings here in northeast FL. We got some medium-bad browning of branches on our new pygmy date palm, but the heads of each trunk are green and soon we can trim all that brown mess off. Nature, right? Just as the azalea's began their full blooming we get a hard torrent of rain and winds whipping madly - whoops, there go all the pretty blooms. 😒

Anyway, much like the last post, I've been cooking, (pot pies & various pasta dishes) and baking, (chocolate chip & pecan macaroons, plus cowboy cookies). And we've been gorging ourselves on mandarins & fresh strawberries - it's the height of strawberry season.  I don't make jam anymore so I've no need to buy a flat, but those big clamshells full will last us several days. I cut a bag full up for our fruit bowls then put the rest in a glass jar in the fridge. They hold up pretty well that way.

Italian sausage pot pie

Fresh berries!

In addition to all the great food, I've also spent a few hours making new trivets. It's so funny - I was going to make one but it's so addictive that I made 3 instead. I've always said I'm easily amused, haha.

 I'm regularly doing 2 craft shows a month, to good affect, but I added a special one called "Mystic Faire", held in a local hotel, which featured all things mystical such as creepy skull lamps & trinkets, crystals, swords & knives, candles, tarot etc. Very interesting show, my first indoor show so setup was a bit of a challenge. I did well, and had a good time doing it.

I'm scheduled for another month or so for shows, then it will be time to get busy with last minute projects around the house before heading out west for the summer.

I've been making a lot of dazzlers using semi-precious stone chip beads such as striped agate, lapis lazuli, cherry quartz, tiger's eye, amethyst and aventurine. Also, combining the stone with the bark gives a very organic and natural feel to the piece. 

Striped agate, peach aventurine
Tree-of-Life 

A small, simple dazzler,
closeup below.

 The chicken wire/wood pieces are also popular, I finally finished up one I had started last summer featuring a honeycomb with bees.

I wish the light was better in this shot :(

 Also, the fun bracelet bangles have been flying off the rack. I made some with football team color combo's, plus the chakra colors, (basically a rainbow - so pretty).

So that's my story for the last couple of months. I hope this finds you happy and healthy and staying busy doing things you love! 😊🥳

Holidays all wrapped-up and good food flourishes

 December was a busy month as you might expect around the holidays. Putting up decorations and outside lights, baking, shopping and making my bobby-dazzlers for the craft fairs all combined to make the month just fly by. I think I was a little too busy to thoroughly enjoy it, sadly, but still, it was wonderful.

This is the time of the year when cold fronts come in from the northwest and drop that temp on down, usually into the 40's for lows and mid-50's for highs. Here's a shot of a cold front coming in around sunrise.

I thought that looked wild - "doomsday is upon us".

We basically had a nice rerun of turkey day dinner and it was wholly enjoyed by one and all. Buffet style serving.

Here's the Boss in FL togs - yay FL weather!

I might have mentioned that I bought a multi-pack of pie crusts a bit ago and have been making various pot pies and things. I made an Italian Sausage Pot Pie with sun-dried tomato pesto, lots of eggplant, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions etc. and it was delectable! So much so that I added it to the Food & Recipe page so I wouldn't forget how to make it. You can check it out there.

Delving back into the world of quiche after a long absence was fun. I re-learned how to blind-bake the bottom crust (simple) and how to make a decent egg "custard" to cover the fillings with again.  So far we've had 2; ham, broccoli, mushroom and chicken, slivered tomatoes, asparagus and mushroom. Both included cheese, (but of course), and were great with a side salad for a lighter dinner.

On the crafting front, I had 3 shows in December leading up to Christmas and did fairly well. One of the things I like about doing the shows is meeting other craft folks. It's a great little community, very welcoming. I believe I'll carry on with it for a while longer. Here's a shot of me in my booth setup taken with a wide angle for a change. You can get a better overall look at the layout.

I've been so busy with the beadworks that my supply of trivets is dwindling, ruh-roh. I'll have to get busy with that when things slow down.

And I'll leave you with a couple of picks of the latest creations.

I've started making small UV Resin
embellishment's for some of my pieces
for a bit of diversification. It's also fun!

These Tree of Life pieces are very popular.
They are make using 4" hoops as the base.
That ensures they are light enough to hang 
from a suction cup on a window.

Thanks for stopping by and having a gander. Feel free to leave a comment and as always, take care.