Rockin JB Custom Work

There is a new artist blowing up the Facebook pages. That'd be my little brother with Rockin JB Custom Work. Below are the Christmas gifts I've received from him the past three years. He made all of these items - the cross and book ends out of metal scraps and the purse out of a pair of old boots. Even the conchos on the purse are reused - they came from a belt he had as a child.

I carry my purse everywhere, and I've had folks just stop me and ask about it. The latest was in the Detroit airport.

Go to his Facebook page and see more of his great work!

iPhone photo of the week

This week's photo comes from my office. Oddly enough, I haven't been spending all of my time sitting there lately. Most of the time has been spent running from one meeting room to another, and I'm about to embark on another meeting day with little chance of getting to enjoy my new art work.

I made this drawing when I spent my weekend in the country. It's based off a picture my friend had in her house, and I used colored pencils to complete the drawing. I especially like the background, which I created using about five different colored pencils - sky blue, periwinkle, purple, royal blue, robin's egg blue.

On the iPhone camera: I could've used more light. I didn't do anything to this picture to edit it, and it could use a little lightening. This could be because I never turn on my overhead lights but my window faces north, so I only get filtered sunlight.

Shrimp for lifeGroup

It was my turn to host lifeGroup today. Each week, a group of us from The Church at Christ Memorial here in WI meet for food, fellowship and time to study God's word. Tonight, our worship included singing "Jesus Loves Me," which reminds me so much of sitting in the church during vacation bible school. But it also reminds me of how, even as a child, this was a stated fact. 

Before the singing began, I treated my friends as guinea pigs with a new dish. Other friends of ours have been kind enough to practice new recipes before getting nine people over for dinner with nothing else except one frozen pizza and the spaghetti noodles at home in case the experiment fails.

Here is the thought process that went in to this dish: "I have spaghetti noodles - a ton, I bought a package at Sam's" and then, "But I don't want spaghetti" followed by, "It's spring - it should be something with veggies" to "Shrimp sound good."

What I came up with was a Shrimp Pasta Primavera. I'm calling it LG Shrimp Pasta, and here is the recipe for my friend who not only asked for the recipe but was willing to take home some leftovers.

My LG Shrimp Pasta recipe

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped (1 cup)

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ teaspoon dried red-pepper flakes

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

4 tablespoons snipped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 (9 oz) bag fresh spinach

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

2 zucchini, diced

¼ cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons butter

cooked pasta

Parmesan cheese

1)   In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion, red pepper flakes and garlic and cook for 2 minutes or until onions are crsip-tender.  Add more oil as necessary during cooking

2)   Add mushrooms

3)   Add zucchini,

4)   Add tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.

5)   Add shrimp to pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until shrimp are cooked through.

6)   Add spinach and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently until spinach is wilted.

7)   Add white wine to pan, stirring to combine

8)   Add butter, stirring to melt

9)   Serve immediately over pasta

I didn't come up with this recipe completely on my own - here are my sources:

http://www.recipe.com/sauteed-spinach-and-shrimp/

http://www.recipe.com/shrimp-with-basil-and-fresh-tomatoes/

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Shrimp-Scampi-Pasta-234258

http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Capellini-Primavera-27521

A couple of additions/caveats:

1) I have no idea what "crisp-tender" means for onions. What I did was cook them in the olive oil until I was done cutting up veggies

2) Measurements are a guess. I filled up my big skillet/wok with veggies and shrimp, and it fed eight adults and one kid with leftovers enough for two meals

3) When your pot is very full, it takes a bit for the spinach to wilt. I put the lid on and then went pack and stirred it in

4) Notice the lack of salt and pepper on the ingredients list. I'm horrible at remembering to season things, which is why I'll never make it on Top Chef. I ended up putting a sprinkle of Kosher salt in and then 3-4 dashes, oh and one for good measure of Special Shit. If you don't know what Special Shit is, go here. This is the secret to my cooking. I bought mine at the county Ace Hardware (not WI, but back down home). You're lucky they have a website, because otherwise you'd be out of luck. I can only get so much back in my suitcase. Speaking of which, BLady, I might need another jar. I think mine will stretch another month or so.

To finish out the meal, we had some fresh fruit, bread, a yummy salad and beverages, including Supper Club from Capitol Brewery (thanks guys for the contribution to dinner). 

I was assured of one success with dinner, even if we were eating peanut butter and jelly - dessert. I made a pan of Lemon Bars (thanks mix from the grocery store) last night that turned out perfectly.

Rainy days and cleaning

Unfortunately, I don't have any new crafty things to add to the blog today. It was gray, cold, rainy and windy - the kind of weekend where you just want to curl up with a stack of DVDs under a blanket on the couch.


That's not what I did this weekend. I spent the cleaning my apartment before my lifegroup from church comes for dinner tomorrow. I also repotted some plants and went grocery shopping.

There was also the chance for creative expression. I made several pillow houses in my living room and drew pictures of a backhoe, an airplane and a helicopter. You may have guessed it; I was babysitting my favorite little guy. It was so much fun to crawl around on the floor and watch a wooden spoon transform from a guitar, to a drum stick, to a sword and then back to a spoon.

So, I don't have any new craft projects to post from this weekend. But don't worry, I've got a few things cooking that I want to tell you about this week. There will be plenty after next weekend, too; BLady, Megs and I are meeting up for a girls' weekend full of shopping and ideas.

Happy Earth Day!

So, I did celebrate Earth Day yesterday with a new DIY necklace. This was made from one of the t-shirts that I dyed a while back - it's the same color material as the puff paint t-shirt . I got the idea from an issue of Body + Soul that I read at my friend's house in the country.



1) Lay a t-shirt out flat and cut strips. The magazine article said to use a rotary cutter, but since I don't own one of those, I tried to cut even strips by hand. It worked out pretty well.

2) Stretch out the loops until they curl.

3) Double the bunch of loops, and tie the back with a scrap of the same t-shirt

Tada!

I think this would be really pretty with charms attached at intervals to the loops.

What else did you do for Earth day? One of my friends at work biked to work. Besides new jewelry out of something that I had at home, all I did was make sure that I turned off the big monitor on my desk when I left (after a reminder from another coworker).

iPhone photo of the week

This weekend, I house sat for some friends who live "out in the country." My time was divided between hiking and walks with their dog Jake, napping and reading magazines and a book. I also had to keep an eye on the chickens. I took this picture while, Jake, the chickens and I enjoyed the sunny hilltop.

Shoe shopping

The warm weather has my feet itching to be in new shoes. This season, I presented myself with a new challenge - find a pair of cute and stylish sandals that I can also walk in all day. For some folks, this may not be as hard as it was for me, but I tend toward sandals that are made with a couple of leather straps stuck into a piece of board with no arch support or cushioning.


Several Endless orders later, I have it narrowed down to three pairs. All are Dansko shoes, and each has a different look.

Left to right: Celina, Mila, and Sigrid

And, the winner is....Sigrid in black!

These shoes will be perfect for all my walking adventures this summer. I'll probably wear them every day