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

On cards, Mosqueto's and Cup Cakes!

what a week, I hope that everyone had a happy fourth of July! Mine was pretty good, went and saw Spiderman in theaters. Great Movie! And then we set off our fireworks around 11:30, kinda late but my brother was working and we wanted to wait for him. We had some great fountains this year, and some other fire works that went BOOM! and I think that that is all I'll say on that.

So I've been busy working on card's and a quilt all week! I finally got some simple cards made up to sell at a friends booth in this consignment shop. I'm really hoping that they sell, I spent a lot of time putting them together. One would have only taken 5 min if that but when your making 64, that takes up a bit of time.

I really like these, there simple but still pretty. I stamped them with a Unity stamp and close to my heart sentiment. Then added some color to the petals and wings along with some glitter! Sent a set to my best friend as well, she loves faeries! Though I should mention that I still have not sent off that Birthday card from 2 posts ago. Yikes, I made it early but, life, what can you do?

On to other subjects I am really, Really, REALLY ALLERGIC to mosquito's. I was bit no less then 4 time's last Sunday night and developed the worst rash from them. My wrist was all swollen and I found myself driving with my knees because it hurt so much. I thought that I had a golf ball in my thigh! And still a week latter I find that they haven't gone away completely. Grrs, but at least my wrist isn't swollen up any more!

Now on to CUPCAKES!!!! YEA!!!
so sadly I do not have a recent picture to share with you but I'll post one from when I made them last year.

Yep if you didn't guess I'm sharing a recipe for Root Beer Float cupcake!

I found this recipe in a Better Home's and Gardens Special Edition.

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Prep: 45 minutes  Stand: 30 minutes  Bake: 15 minutes

Cool: 45 minutes  Oven: 350F  Makes: 24

3/4 - Cup Butter (unsalted, room temp)

3 - Eggs (room temp)

2 1/2 - Cups All-purpose flour

2 1/2 - tsp Baking powder

1/2 - tsp Salt

1 1/2 - Cup Sugar

1 - T Root beer extract

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 Cups Root beer (I use A&W)

1 - Recipe Float Frosting (see below)

24 - Root beer candies (optional, I found mine at WinCo)

12 - Colorful straws cut in half (optional, you can see that I didn't use them but you would use the specialty paper straws with the red swirl and stick it in the cupcake at an angle to give the image of a drink, or in this case a root beer float)

1) Beat Butter on high speed for 30 sec. then begin adding sugar 1/4 Cup at a time. Scrape down bowl and beat till fully combined.  Add egg's one at a time scraping bowl after each addition.

2) Beat in Root beer and Vanilla extract, continue to mix until combined.

3) Add Flour Mixture (flour, baking powder, salt) and Root beer alternately until just combined (*note: when adding rootbeer the batter will look broken, DONT panic, just make sure that your last addition is flour and you'll see how it comes back together.)

4) Spoon into lined cupcake pans and bake (together if you like) for 15-17 min. once done then let cool.

Float Frosting:

1/4 - Cup Butter (room temp)

3/4 - Cup Vanilla Ice cream (let stand for 10 min)

1/2 - tsp Vanilla extract

4 - Cups Powdered Sugar

1) Beat butter in large bowl until light and fluffy, then beat in 1/2 Cup of Vanilla Ice Cream and the Vanilla extract. Scrape down the bowl and mix until fully Incorporated.

2) Beat in 4 Cups Powdered Sugar (a little at a time if you don't want to make a mess) scrape down the bowl and add more Vanilla Ice Cream if needed.

IMPORTANT: if you look at the picture above you can see that the icing gets a little melty, And YES you MUST refrigerate these cupcakes because of the Ice Cream in the Frosting until you are ready to serve. ** if you add a little bit of milk or half and half then the icing will hold up better and you wont have to worry about it melting, though you will still need to refrigerate it** Also both times I have done this the Frosting has been just a little short so you might need to adjust the proportions.

These Cupcakes are delicious and taste just like a Root Beer Float, perfect for the summertime or a special occasion!

Well that's all for today, I'll be posting another card tomorrow so look forward to that. I hope that y'all enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

XoX ~Sarah