About Me

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Sublimity, OR, United States
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I am artist of texture and color. I enjoy working with textiles, mixed media and the graphic arts. I am an avid cottage gardener with a love for pass along plants and big fluffy pink peonies and pink roses. Many of my tangible creations reflect my love of the garden and all its wonderful colors. I have been selling my creations online since 2002 beginning as a hobby. After 10 years I quit the day job to pursue my art as a full time passion.

18 December 2011

Cottage colors Party ...red and green!


For this month's party, I thought I would share a favorite holiday recipe of mine, which is served up in beautiful vintage crystal bowl that I hold dear to my heart.

This recipe also was published in the holiday issue of Shabby Lane Shops magazine

Holiday Berry Trifle

A lovely holiday dessert and good for you too!


2 10oz, packages frozen Strawberries, thawed and strained.
(Save the juice)
1 12oz package frozen raspberries thawed and strained.
(Save the juice)
1 12oz package frozen blueberries or blackberries, thawed and drained

1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
¾ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ teaspoon Almond extract (optional)
48 oz non fat or low fat Vanilla Greek yogurt (no substitutions)
(Such as Chobani or Fage)
36-40 ladyfingers

In a saucepan over medium heat, whisk together raspberry and strawberry juice with ¾ cup powdered sugar and cornstarch. Boil until thickened. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate until cool.
In a medium bowl, whip the cream to stiff. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, almond extract, and remaining sugar. Fold I whipped cream.

Place a double layer of ladyfingers at the bottom of a pretty clear glass bowl, next layer 1/3 of the yogurt mixture. Then spoon half of the berries, with a drizzle of the berry sauce.
Layer another 1/3 of the yogurt mixture, followed by a double layer of ladyfingers, remaining yogurt, and the rest of the berries. Drizzle 3-4 tablespoons of the berry sauce to finish.

Refrigerate 2 hrs before serving.
Serves 10

Variations include frozen mixed berries, vanilla instead of almond extract.
Angel food cake slices or Vanilla wafers instead of the ladyfingers.


Join us for the party! More details at the 
Etsy Cottage Style BLOG

16 December 2011

baking with nana with new aprons


I have to admit, even tho I spend most of my time at my sewing machine creating for my business, I had someone custom make aprons for my granddaughters....I was poking around etsy one evening and stumbled on this listing for the cutest old fashioned ruffled aprons I had ever seen. Mind you this is not a seller who specializes exclusively in aprons, she made one and it was so cute thought she would offer them up for sale. So I really felt a lot of person heart went into these. And I was not disappointed! The attention to detail was incredible--as one who sews too, I do notice the little extras.
So we all got our aprons on today and baked cookies. The aprons are a little big this year, but I know they will last a few years and will have lots of good memories for all of us.


I had a hard time getting anyone to pose for pics....Lilian would not put this toothbrush down....


Then I get these silly faces....I think the younger one is in charge today..


Then the nut grinder became more important..go I gave up..

Below is a pic of Lynsie and Lilian with their mommy and daddy
my daughter Alissa and husband John

 at the very bottom of this blog are some updated pics of the girls, I did not realize that I had not updated them for over a year!

11 December 2011

Christmas at ArborOak Cottage

Some may be surprised that even tho I am all about pink and roses, my home decorating as a whole does not reflect that. I made a compromise with my hubby sometime back. He simply cannot live with too many flowers on the walls or windows, let alone pink!! But he does love vintage and retro, so we have our bedroom in French Victorian toile decor and the great room is mission style. My studio and guest room are totally shabby cottage!! Our Christmas decor is decidely very Victorian traditional. Mind you I do have some pink ornies snuck in here and there on the tree.If you remember last years post I had a HUGE tree. This year I was good, I kept it at 8 feet instead of 14 feet....
This year I decided to take my photos with a night time setting just at sunset. I also poked the camera in the tree to share some sparkle. 






I tried a new grouping on my mantel this year by using varied levels


04 December 2011

My first show....

Many of you may know that I have sold online for many years, but may not know that I have never participated in a show. Since I have a day job and use my off time to create, doing weekend shows did not leave me much time to create...
This year I had an opportunity to share a booth at a Craft Bazaar at the local middle school. I have to say I was a bit stressed going into this venture, but also a little relieved that the person I was sharing a booth with (Beki) knew her stuff. It was a long day, and I did sell more than I expected....but I also went in with the thought that I might not sell anything!
What I did learn was what will sell in this small town next year and I took notes while it was fresh in my mind....a big hug and thanks to Beki for giving me this chance!
Here are a few photos of our set up..mind you we were in a school gym, so the backdrops are not real pretty...


my side of booth

Beki's side of the booth

until next year....I think I might be up to one show a year....I like these small town events!

23 November 2011

On this thanksgiving...a prayer

“Come Lord Jesus, Be our guest,
And let Thy gifts to us be blessed,
And may our souls by Thee be fed,
Ever on the Living Bread. Amen.”

This meal prayer is considered the "Lutheran prayer". My grandparents said it at every meal, while my parents had a bit different version. A very old prayer that is was brought from Europe and spoke in German, and all of the Scandinavan languages too.

20 November 2011

Cottage colors Party ~burgandy~

This month's featured color is
Burgandy


For the November party I am sharing one of my most treasured pieces that was passed down to me. This butter dish belonged to my great grandmother who purchased it about 1905 as I am told. It came with a matching sugar and creamer but those went to a cousin. The pic below does not do it justice, it looks red, but is actually a very deep burgandy color


I also thought I would share a mixed media frame that I created a couple years ago, one of my favorites featuring a little girl in a burgandy dress.


05 November 2011

New blog to check out

Here's a new blog not to be missed!


A very talented artist in many mediums,
 I love her re-purposed furniture

 Check out her blog to see the before pic of this chest and other pieces she has recreated for a new life!


01 November 2011

nana's brag book

Opening nana's brag book once agian...my little granddaughters were so cute this year at Halloween. My oldest granddaughter Lynsie also celebrates her birthday on October 31st, so she enjoys double the fun!

The candyland princess and her lady bug friend~



Lilian 18mo

25 October 2011

Cottage colors Party ~AQUA~

this month's color is Aqua~


I thought I would share again the makeover room I did for my granddaughters last year. This is the room they use with they have an overnight stay with nana and papa! I used lots of AQUA as you can see!




many vintage, re-purposed and up-cycled accessories too.



Join us with your Aqua treasures this week too!


17 October 2011

more vintage jello molds re-purposed

I am still working on the box of vintage molds I found at a thrift shop this summer. You may remember from a post a few weeks back how I fashioned some sweet treat pincushions from a few of them.

A few of them were not really suitable for pincushions or candles. I had a about a dozen that were small, I came up with the idea that they would make adorable Christmas tree ornaments when fashioned upside down. Quite easy, I spray painted them ballerina pink, then "sugared" them with glitter. Punched a hole on top and threaded satin ribbons. Viola, shabby vintage cottage ornaments for the tree!


Also,  I had a few Christmas tree shaped molds that I used the same technique, but before I "sugared" I added some waterslide decals.  



And even tho I am a pink roses fan, I think the red roses is my favorite....I just love the rich red, it has such a retro Christmas feel.


I listed most of these for sale on my website, but had to keep a few for myself...stay tuned for a few more re-purposed pretties to come too:)

29 September 2011

Dotty Hop!

I thought it would be fun to this week to participate in my friend Holly's Dotty Hop Day (even tho I am a couple days late) . She is having a Birthday giveaway that you don't want to miss! Part of the fun was to do a post with something that has dots....I dug thru my archives of past creations and found these two lovelies!



The best part of going thru these pics was that I actually got some new inspiration! Just wush I had more of these fabrics!
Thanks Holly, you are a gem!

28 September 2011

Cottage colors Party ~BROWN~

Welcome to my submission for the Cottage Colors Party at 

I am sliding in a couple days late...this is not a color I own much vintage in around the house. I do have lots of brown, just not vintage....so I am turning to my graphics collection. These are some of my faves that I have picked up thru the years by scanning old photos or paper. Some are from surfing the blogs for freebie ephemera. With that being said, you are also free to save these for your own use too:)







Every Saturday

Where we reside

Where we reside

The Oregon Coastline

The Oregon Coastline