Gresham's Art Walk and Farmers Market

Wow... well so I finally got all of my computer technology and internet stuff to finally work at the same time. So no cards in this post just sharing a little bit about what I found at the art walk here in Gresham. Also have a cookie recipe at the end of this post!

Anyone ever been to an art walk? Well for those of you who haven't basically it's what it sounds like. A bunch of artist (Traditional and Non) come together to show and sell what they make. You can find anything from Watercolor paintings, and hand made traditional jewelry to jewelry made from bits of old silverware and wacky metal animal lawn ornaments. Everything is so diverse it would be impossible to list it all.  

This first picture is a little hard to make out, but its a hand blown wine glass with a cool sand blasted moon and sun design. The woman who made these had a ton of different designs including light houses and mermaids. The glasses too came in all different types including color tinted shot glasses.

This second picture shows an awesome picture frame that I bought for my mother. This was my second favorite booth to go to at the art walk. The booth was run by two sisters one who lives here in Oregon and another who lives in Hawaii. They only had a few picture frames (one of those you can see that I bought) but they had a lot of jewelry most of it sea inspired. My favorite item in the booth (that sadly I didn't get) was a pair of hair combs that had small shells attached to them. The web page isn't the best but you can see some of there stuff HERE.

These cuties can be found at the farmers market but I bought them during the art walk. I just couldn't resist them. The guy who made these also makes other glass products... bowl's, glasses, plates, and other things. But these cute kitties I decided had to come home to be a gift for my mother... poor woman, I keep getting her all of these small nick-knack's, but as much as she likes them she has no place to put them.

So re-occurring theme... This hat I bought for my Friend. She loves the color purple and hats (I did end up buying myself a green one as well). I remember inviting her to youth camp when we were kids and she showed up with 2 suit cases. One suite case was for her clothes and the other (that was just as big as the first) was full of hats! To me this was normal, just knowing her and her love of hats, but all of the other girls in our cabin were in complete shock, I still get those 'Oh yeah, and you remember that time...' type comments from some of those girls. The hat is made from a Acrylic blend so it's soft and not scratchy like it would be with wool. You can find her and her other designs HERE.

Last Photos. Isn't it beautiful! This is a acrylic painting titled 'Redeeming Wave' by artist Magda Moor. I fell in love with this painting almost the moment I saw it, and ended up going back to the booth to buy it after deciding that 'Yes' it was worth it and I liked it enough. Magda does a lot of Sea inspired paintings, each different and unique. One of the things that I love most about her paintings is all the texture that she adds in, you can almost see the wave jumping off of the canvas. You find her on Etsy, her website, or find and like her on facebook. Really check out her art its just beautiful what she does!

One last thing to share with you, a chocolate-peanut butter-oatmeal-chocolat chip-cookie... or a cowgirl cookie recipe if you will. There is a booth that sells cookies like these at our farmers market and I love the flavor! But the texture that they have going is... well bread-y (is that a word) it almost takes away from the wonderful flavors. So here is my improved recipe for these cookies!

Cowgirl Cookie

Oven: 350  Bake: 9-11min  Makes: 4-5 dozen

1 1/2 - Cup Unsalted Butter

1  - Cup Sugar

1  - Cup Brown Sugar

2  - Eggs

1/2 - Cup Peanut Butter

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

2  - Cups Flour

1/3 - Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Cream of Tartar

2  - Cups Rolled Oats

2  - Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1) Cream Butter and Sugars until smooth. Scrape bowl then add eggs one at a time. Mix until incorporated again then add in Peanut Butter and Vanilla and mix until smooth again.

2) Stir together dry ingredients then add slowly to butter mixture scrapping the bowl as needed. Add in oats then chocolate chips mix until incorporated again.

3) Spoon onto cookie sheet and flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass. Bake at 350, for 9-11 minutes. and let cool for at least 10 min before eating.

*note* if you want a stronger peanut butter taste then you can substitute a 1/2 cup of Butter for the Peanut Butter. This would change your amounts to 1 Cup Butter and 1 Cup Peanut Butter.

DONE! finally. I hope that everyone found something that sparked there intrest in this post and that you try out this recipe if you get a chance. It's very good!

XoX ~Sarah