Illustration Friday "Swarm"

Okay, so it isn't a swarm illustration, per se, but a bee having thought the girl's dress a field of flowers...oops and this is what I think of when I hear the word swarm. Keeping bees I've seen swarms. They're actually very facinating and when all together like that, bees are an engine. Last May I had a fellow beekeeper come and collect a swarm from the neighbor's yard. It was at least 18" long and a foot wide. The beekeeper said it was one of the largest swarms he'd ever seen. Since we didn't have the equipment, he collected it, and passed it on to another fellow beekeeping hobbyist. I love bees and for the most part can stand quite close with no harm. Last summer I was in their direct path and got stung near the bridge of my nose. Needless to say, I didn't react well to the sting and didn't see very well from that part of my face! But bees are absolutely magical! And swarms too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I really enjoyed giving the valentine spirit this year. I remember fondly (sarcasm) a few Valentine's Days which ended up being the whole week before working as a florist. 18 hour days on my feet and sitting once to go to the bathroom. I exaggerate not! The further I've gotten from those valentine days I've returned to the spirit. I made cupcakes and decorated them, practicing my roses over and over again. I sent hand-written cards with long diatribes in them. Something we don't do often enough-writing letters. I made sweet bags for my co-workers and gave my kids valentine chocolates. We as a family did the fondue thing and watched a favorite family program with pizza tonight. All in all a good weekend. Seems like tomorrow will be anti climatic. 

This is a picture of a card I've designed for my husband. I design these characters and just beginning to get them into cards and creating silly buttons and sculpting them in 3D doll form. I call them my chicklits. Happy Valentine's Day!

Park Hill Home Tour Poster

I volunteered to design the posters and brochure for my neighborhood's Home Tour which takes place today. Wanting to create that old home feel and classiness I played with a couple fonts together. Donating my time for this has its rewards in that I get to know more people in the neighborhood and I build experience and a porfolio for my design work. I am happily employed for a magazine publishing company and layout 3 different magazines each month: South Aurora, Castle Rock and Search Parker. I love magazines and love working in this area.

Illustration Friday "Trail"

I illustrated a garden path as a sort of trail to a secret garden. I am currently our neighborhood's chairperson coordinating our annual garden walk. We have 12 beautiful gardens on the tour for people to see and become inspired.

Panorama Sugar Eggs

(Park Hill) Ah, The magic of eggs. As we all know, one can bake, scramble, boil, blend, whip, and much more with the ubiquitous egg. But, take just the egg white alone, mix with sugar, and mold it and you have recreated a long-time tradition of the season; the panorama sugar egg.



The hollow sugar egg, a vestige of Victorian Easter traditions, had a peephole at one end and decorated with springtime frosting flowers. Inside was a miniature, idyllic and elaborate scene of frolicking rabbits, mini colored eggs, ducks and maybe a tiny lamb. These eggs were once quite common in the aisles dime stores and drug stores. The details of the diminutive scenes made one want to climb right inside and become a part of this cute sugary world.

Sugar eggs today aren’t quite what they use to be. The ones sold through bakeries and online require that they have all edible parts, which includes what is inside and that isn’t very impressive either. Not that one would eat them anyway. These panorama eggs can last decades if stored properly and be taken out and cherished each season.

My mother made sugar eggs. She would clip tiny figures from old greeting cards, find miniature animals sold in a cake store and collect anything that might make a great spring time scene inside. I continue the tradition of the sugar eggs, using my mother’s 40-year-old molds. My search for tiny figures for my eggs seems to get harder and harder each year as everything gets bigger and bigger in our world.

The mixture of sugar and egg white creates a concoction almost like sand at the beach only white. Once pushed into two halves of the mold, the peephole is sliced and the sugar is scooped out of the middle. Royal icing, also using egg whites, is the glue that holds all the pieces together. (edible but not very tasty). The best sugar eggs take perspective into consideration by creating layers of items and details giving the impression for the viewer of a panoramic snapshot in time. The top shell gets attached to the bottom scene shell using more royal icing. The whole egg is then decorated using springtime colors, royal icing and cake decorating skills. The light penetrates the sugar egg and illuminates the figures inside. Scooping out the egg is a delicate balance: You want them diaphanous but hardy at the same time.

As panorama egg making season arrives, so does a thin layer of fine sugar on my kitchen floor. The search for greeting cards to use for the egg’s inner stage begins and a 25-pound bag of sugar is gone instantly. The magic of the egg is just the beginning, it not only helps to create a special tradition, but a tiny world that we all remember wanting to be within.

Illustration Friday "DIP"

I can laugh at myself. This one makes me giggle. My husband and I had been taking a stroll through Glenwood Springs one weekend and unbeknownst to me, snapped this picture of me ahead of the dip sign. Who exactly is the dip? This is a wonderful example of communication with few words. Not true-I will deny everything, but fun just the same!

Grand Finale Decorated Cake

My birthday is tomorrow-oh dear-and killing two birds with one stone I'm going to have my cake decorating cake assignment used for my birthday cake! Cake class number 2 had us learn all the flowers and basket weave. Now I'm on to class number 3 where we'll tackle to two tiered cake! This cake is so Spring-time like and perfect for the dull cold days of February.

Happy Mardi Gras

Fat Tuesday and what better way to celebrate then with a luscious piece of cake with double thick frosting made of Crisco and sugar??? Continuing to practice my cake decorating skills and conquer the 'rose' I decorated this one to celebrate the holiday. There is a little plastic baby inside for the lucky one to find it!

Cake Decorating

I've been taking cake decorating lessons this last month and a half. Our instructor is phenomenal! She's 86 and you would have no idea that she is. Helen is a buffet of knowledge and competence and anything she says you just follow since no one could ever top her expertise. I'm planning to follow the courses through as long as Helen keeps teaching. She talks about retiring from it but I said "please not until I'm through!" We've been practicing roses which are the quintessential decoration for any special event cake.

I use to decorate cakes when I was in college. Enjoying any special occassion since I knew I could decorate a personalized cake. I went as far as a two tiered anniversary cake. Time, children and other activities led me astray. This weekend I spent time decorating cupcakes. This was mainly to be able to decorate with clowns and practice my roses. I have to be ready for Helen's next class!

I'm on to puppets!

I have loved puppets since I was in second grade and our community library had a summer reading program that had activities. They brought in a visiting puppeteer. From that day on I saw myself becoming a puppeteer. Well, that didn't happen but I am still in love with all things puppet. I have a collection of marrionettes-the Pellum Puppet company kind. And who doesn't love the muppets! This is a photo of my version of my two just finished puppets made from fleece and pingpong balls.