Color

I have written and deleted, and then repeated the process many times. What is on my mind refuses to come out in a sensible way... so it will remain safely tucked away in my heart.

Words fail, but color slides across paper, leaving whatever message it will. So I fall back on the sloshing of paint on paper, experimenting with everything, using anything that's within reach....

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

Blackberry-Apple Upside-Down Cake

I have this fantasy, that after many hours in the kitchen, I float into the dining room looking like this, my hands filled with fresh-baked goodness.

But, reality being what it is, my apron at the end of a baking session is not all starched and sparkling clean. And I do not float into the dining room, because I'm busy waving a towel under the smoke alarm to stop the incessant beeping! 

Though there will never be a real picture of yours truly baking, I will show proof that a scrumptious Blackberry-Apple Upside-Down Cake came out of my oven last week. Ta-da!!

The recipe is practically foolproof. (I know. I tried several times to ruin it and it was still wonderful!) You must try it.

Blackberry-Apple Upside-Down Cake
3/4 cup butter, softened and divided
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 large Gala apples, peeled and cut into 1/4" slices
1 cup fresh or frozen blackberries (do not thaw if using frozen)
    (or substitute 1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a lightly greased 9" round cake pan (with 2" sides) over low heat. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with brown sugar; drizzle honey over brown sugar. arrange apple slices in concentric circles over brown sugar mixture, overlapping as needed. Sprinkle with berries.

With an electric mixer, beat granulated sugar and remaining 1/2 cup butter at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating till blended after each addition.

In another bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. Beginning and ending with flour mixture, add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with milk. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Spoon batter over blackberries in the pan.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen. Invert the cake onto a serving plate, spooning any topping left in the pan over the cake.

Soooo good!

... he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Proverbs 15:15

Try. Then try again.

The pressure is off this week. It has been fun to experiment and play without a deadline hanging overhead. There has even been some time for scanning the "bits and pieces with promise".

This has been a week of precious moments to go beyond "I wonder if I could...?" to actually trying! There was a lot of chuckling - and chucking... straight into the wastebasket! Then, some things with promise appeared. 

The efforts with transparency transfers were a flop. When this tag happened, it was a surprise. (I think I remember what I did... ?) There were so many duds up to then that I was at the what-do-I-have-to-lose? point. I do like the faded look of it. 




A childhood photo of my dad and his sister plus writing from my great-great-grandmother's sister.

Found this flower pressed in the pages of an old book. Love the color, the veins, everything about it.



Some things age so gracefully.

In another moment of why-not? this face came into being. She needs a solid substrate to rest on. I rifled through my old books and found one that is the perfect size, the perfect color. The surgical removal of cover from spine was successfully completed. Next? The cosmetic part of the process.

Adding a little something to layered papers. 

Time will tell what becomes of all this.

I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Psalm 16:8

Finished!

It's the end of the week and my prayer album is finished. Aaaahhhh.....

As usual I have pages, and parts of pages, that I love.

Ink swirls - love the colors.

 I did some experimenting.

Photo printed on book page.



Old watch face  and molding paste border.

And I'm finally finding ways to use the papers that spent 3 months absorbing sun, rain, and wind.

Aged paper flowers

More aged paper... with rust.

I'm happy that it's finished and on duty as of today.

... men ought always to pray and not to faint. Luke 18:1 

Change. Adjustments. Progress.

Life is changing here. I'm adjusting to a semi-retired husband, who loves my home cooking. I had forgotten how much time it takes to fix a meal from scratch every night. *sigh* But, I'm getting there.

This week, I finally got back to my workroom. (Don't know why I call it a work room. Maybe because "fun room" sounds silly?) It was exhilarating to see my paint-splattered hands. Oh, the delight of paper snips dangling from my glue-sticky fingertips. I know... I need to get out more.

Tonight,there is progress to report! The face picture is mostly finished... I think. I can't decide, so it's resting for a while. I added the verse that seems to fit both the "face" and my life right now.

The orange-y letters are from a vintage set of "Inch High Letter Cards for primary grades". Seems that the "inch" is a bit random, but that adds to the imperfection of the piece. The page is mounted on a 9"x 7" canvas board.

While waiting for the verdict on this, the innards have been ripped from an old suitcase, a new prayer album is in the making, I've rediscovered the thrill of molding paste, and (with clean hands) created some textures from my photo library for some PSE layers. 

Can you tell that my sweetie is travelling this week?

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Psalm 91:2

Cake!

 This is tucked deep in my closet of skeletons. It is not something I talk about.. especially when someone asks me to bake. *sigh*

That image was what immediately popped into my head when a dear friend, burdened with the decorations and the baking for a church valentine's dinner, came and asked if I would help.

"Would you be willing to make a cake for the dinner?" (This is the friend who is the number one volunteer for cooking for the Men's Breakfast every month.)

"Of course!" was my reply. She said she would give me the recipe and the ingredients that evening. Feeling brave (she did say it was a mix) I offered to do two. (She didn't know about this. )

"I have several 9x13 pans... so two won't be a problem for me." I was so happy to find an easy way to help her.

"Oh no," she said. "This is a layer cake."

Well, I was honest. I said that baking was not my forte (understatement, for sure!)... but I didn't back out. After all, she had never seen this.
 
So I practiced. I made the layer cake a week ahead of time.
 

It was wonderful! Worth every calorie and every minute of exercise required to burn off those calories. Although we did give away one very large piece, my dessert-deprived sweetie and I ate our way through the who-o-o-le cake. whew!

And then, not believing that I could ever do it again, I made the two cakes for the dinner.

There they are...six layers of unbelievable goodness.  I should have taken the picture before I wrapped them up, but I was afraid some disaster would ruin all the work... like dropping my camera into the frosting... or dropping the cake... or who knows what?!?!

If you ever need a wonderful cake, this is one good recipe.

Italian Cream Cake
1 pkg. white cake mix
1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding (3 1/2oz.) 
1 1/3 c. water 
4 eggs 
1/2 c. oil
Beat on low speed of electric mixer for 4 minutes.
Add:
1 c. chopped pecans
2 c. coconut  

Pour into 3 greased and floured 8 inch layer pans or a 9 x 13 inch pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes.

Frosting
4 tbsp. butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp. evaporated milk (add a few drops more if it's too thick)
3 1/2 c. confectioners' sugar
2 c. coconut (we replaced this with 1 cup chopped pecans)

This is enough frosting for 3 layers. If you have baked the cake in a 9 x 13inch pan, 3/4 of the frosting  recipe will cover well.

Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Proverbs 17:28

Ink sticks and crazy art

I have been busy with things that are not blog-worthy... you know, the usual bread baking, cake making (story for another day), background painting, and sloshing paint/ink on new materials. None of this is very interesting to anyone but me.

Until last night.

My "new" ink stick sits in my workroom silently taunting me about money foolishly spent... about skills I will never learn... about clutter and waste. To put the silent harping to rest, I found instructions for making ink with an ink stick. (Where would we be without YouTube?)

Improvising, but carefully following the instructions, I ended up with a small amount of black ink. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in the process that I hadn't given any thought to the fact that after the grinding, there should be using! So, I grabbed the closest paper on my table - some small coin envelopes, painted and spritzed. It didn't matter what color they were painted and spritzed, they were there and I used them.

I recently found a tree scene that I liked, so I went to work with fresh ink and brush to duplicate (loosely) that image. The blues that were on the Kraft paper envelopes turned into a suitable background. My first try went pretty well, so I kept going till the ink was gone.

Tree #1

By the third envelope, the fresh ink was just a ring around the grinding dish, so I pulled out my dip pen and bottled ink to fill in and darken some edges.

Tree #3

While I was on a roll, I did an image transfer of the tree scene on an old book page. It wasn't completely successful, which made it a candidate for "Try anything!" I painted the page, with three different colors. Next came the ink dropper dropping drops of blue ink.... then mists of water, tilt, tilt. More ink drops, more water, more tilting. Finally... it was time to dream up a dinner, so I left the piece to dry on the table.

A couple of hours later, I decided to show my faithful (because he speaks truth whether it hurts or not) critic what I had done. He liked the coin envelopes. He looked at the book page... asked about the transfer process and then said, "Of course, all I can see is the face."

What? What face? I grabbed the paper from his hand. Sure enough... there is a face! With the flurry of dropping, and misting, and tilting it is absolutely incredible to see a face appear!

Which goes to show, you just can't take yourself to seriously. I'm keeping this piece. I'll add my verse and show you when it's finished. Crazy, but I'm thinking I love it.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

It's today!

We're having cake here tonight. This has been a day full of remembering and celebrating.

Four years have passed since the momentous moment that I first hit "Publish Post." It was a time in my life when there was so much that I wanted to say, but the keyboard only produced tears. So, determined to conquer, I started this blog. I think that original post was about soup.

Everything ... from bread disasters to coyotes, grandkids and celebrations, arty-crafty experiments and insecurities ... has filled the screen here. It is a record of my life... a diary of the day-to-day stuff of living. And always, God is there.

So, Happy Birthday little blog! What a God-send you are!

Psalm 94:19 - In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.