Inspiration Oats

Okay, okay, so maybe I only put “black friday” in the title of the post to get more google hits…..

http://www.etsy.com/shop/cristantecolour?ref=si_shop

For those of you who have original taste and want to support an actual person instead of a corporation,

I have new framed prints in my ETSY shop just in time for the biggest shopping day of the year.  Art not for you?  

Browse the rest of the shops on the ETSY site for unique and handmade gifts that you certainly won’t find in a department store.   

You won’t have to worry if they “have it already”, and best of all- you can buy it all in your underwear!   Don’t get trampled at the

sales this year.  Just grab a chair and a cup of coffee and stay a while.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/cristantecolour?ref=si_shop

So, long story short- I started eating gluten- free this summer.  I got really, really sick for a long time and am still recovering from some mysterious illness that is somehow related to my digestive system.  Hence, no blog posts for months.  But, I am determinded to gain my health and my life back and that has meant many changes for me.  The biggest change is that I am no longer trying to do more things in a day that in humanly possible.  I may wait a few days to answer calls or write back an email or leave the dishes dirty in the sink.  I try not to get too freaked out by what my toddler just tore apart.   I started reading novels again for the first time since I became a mother (the past three years has been nothing but titles like “what to expect when you are expecting”) And, I’m really trying to slow down and smell the flowers again.  After all, that is what we are here for, right?

So, here it is: my gluten-free pumpkin muffins

1 cup sifted buckwheat flour

3/4 cup sifted sorgum (teff would work as well)

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1.5 tbsp. baking powder

.5 teaspoon soda

1 can organic pumpkin pie mix (if you use just pumpkin, add one 3/4 to 1 cup sugar, cinnamin, and nutmeg)

1/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/4 cup milk

preheat the oven to 350.  mix all the dry ingredients.  in a seperate bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar.  beat in the pumpkin next.  add the dry to the wet, and stir.  bake for 25-35 min. (sorry, but i never time it. i just stick a fork in w should make two dozen small muffins or less for bigger muffins.

Tags: buckwheat, gluten free, healthy baking, pumpkin, sorguhm flour, teff flour, wheat-free baking

You can’t have an American camping trip without smores!  And it’s so better to have them with homemade marshmellows.  I used Alton Brown’s recipe, which can be found here:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-marshmallows-recipe/index.html, along with some store bought organic cinnamon crackers and dark

Tags: camping food, family camping, homemade marshmallows, homemade marshmellows, smores

Just thought I would share some pics from my recent car-camping trip in The Smokey Mountains National park.   Although it rained everyday, it was so beautiful, and worth the mess.

Tags: smokemout campgrounds, smokey mountain national park, smokey mountains

finished this watercolor sketch the other night.  i just love creatures with dots.

get a print of it here:   http://www.etsy.com/listing/75054440/red-spotted-grasshopper-watercolor

Tags: bugs, entomology, grasshopper, rain forest animals, red spotted grasshopper

Most of the time I try not to re-visit a painting once I have called it finished, because a painting never really is finished, and I have to move on with life! But alas, I had an excuse with this one because I had to stop work on it earlier than I would have otherwise on the acount of being nine months pregnant and no longer able to comfortably reach the canvas.  It is still hanging in my son’s room, and I was tired of looking at that black background.  This is how I spent his naptime today.

Here is the zebra painting again, in order of progression.  Thinking now that it needs something else though….

So, I think this one is finished. Sometimes it’s hard to tell.  I still have to wait for the finished concept to settle in my mind before I name her, but I just couldn’t wait to share.  4×2 feet. acrylic on canvas.

And the details:

new painting i’m working on. i believe it’s 4×3 ft.  took me a while to get the measurements right. painted using only acrylic with water as medium, and my built-in book shelf as a model.  now i get to fill the shelves!

 These beautiful ferns were popping up at Mt. Arabia State Park this weekend.  Apparently these kind are edible, although I didn’t want to disturb them.  This picture almost makes up for the tick colony my family and I must have been standing under when my husband took it- almost.

Tags: ferns, fiddleheads, Mount Arabia State Park