Food as Art

You may have figured out that I am not at home. I am visiting family on my way to Ocean City, Maryland, to teach at a decorative painting retreat. My poor husband and my dog have been left at home to fend for themselves while I am off having a good time.

Today I went to lunch with a friend at the Tea By Two tea room in Bel Air, Maryland. It is a charming tea room with fabulous food. One of their specialties is what they call their Celebration Dessert. It is an absolutely decadent, but beautiful dessert that consists of a puddle of frosting in the bottom of a teacup to hold a small cupcake in place. On top of the cupcake is a fantastic frosting rose. When you have finished eating your dessert, they wash and pack the teacup for you and you get to take it home. We were celebrating my friend's birthday--a little late, but this is when I am here--so we each had a celebration dessert. Hers had a candle.

The reason I have shared so much information about this dessert is that you never know where you might find art. I have to say, this is not only decadent, but it is a beautiful work of art as well

The Gurls

There is a party happening in my living room! Four full-sized, life-sized Red Hat Gurls are sitting in my living room having a chat.
One of the Red Hat groups I belong to is decorating a car for a PT Cruiser convention at the end of the month. They asked me to design them. I found some Styrofoam wig forms to use for the heads and painted them up. Members provided wigs, hats, clothing, and accessories. This morning 5 of us got together to assemble the gurls. We stuffed thermal underwear and pantyhose to make their bodies--including bras to make sure they were curvaceous. Then we dressed them up. Three of them will sit in the car and one will be hanging on to the roof.


They will sit in my living room for the next three weeks. Their next adventure is a ride to the convention. I can't wait to be driving down the road with these three lovelies riding along--properly seatbelted, of course.

The Tote Bag Contest

The Buckeye Retreat held a tote bag painting contest at the Saturday night celebration. Everyone was handed a small canvas tote bag when they arrived. There were bottles of paint and bowls of "jewels" set out for us to use in decorating our totes. There were a lot of nice designs. Some people only glued on jewels. Others just painted a design and still others used both paint and jewels. Some people just took their totes home unpainted.

I chose to decorate my tote by painting a bouquet of roses, daisies and berries tied with a ribbon. The choice of colors was somewhat limited, but I think my design turned out pretty well. Mine did not win a prize. The winners were a painted beach scene, a musical score done with jewels and paint, and a design done completely in jewels.

Having a Crafty Day

I would not classify most of what I do as crafting. But, sometimes, a craft-type project comes along and must be tackled. I am going to a belated Valentine party on Wednesday night. My Red Hat group is having their monthly get together and since it is February, we are going to exchange Valentines. Part of the rules were that we have to decorate a shoe box like we did when we were children--the concept, not the exact style. At the end of the evening, we are going to vote for the best decorated box.

I couldn't find a shoe box, but I found a folding box at Michael's for $0.79. It is a little smaller than a shoe box, but it is the right size and shape. Here is my completed Valentine mailbox.

So how did I do this? First, here is the supply list: cardboard box, red tissue paper torn into smallish pieces, Mod Podge, Glitter Mod Podge, paper doilies--heart-shaped and round, 1 sheet of purple scrapbooking paper, 1 package of small gift cards with purple flowers, a plastic "crystal" heart bracelet. All of the supplies were either already in my closet or were purchased at Michael's. I only spent around $3.50 for the things I needed to buy.

Now for the directions:

1. Use Mod Podge to decoupage torn red tissue paper on the top and sides of the box. For a top coat, I used Glitter Mod Podge--something I found in my closet that I had never used. If you look closely, you may be able to see that the red surface sparkles a little.

2. When it is dry, carefully cut a mail slot in the back of the box with an exacto knife.

3. Glue on heart-shaped paper doilies.

4. Cut the front off the gift cards and cut squares from the purple scrapbook paper about the same size as the gift card covers and one larger square.

5. Glue the gift card cover to the purple square and glue the whole assembly to the top of the box.

6. Make two more gift card-purple square assemblies and glue each one to the center of a round doily. Glue one of these to each end of the box.

7. Glue the larger purple square to the front of the box. It will serve as a background to make the "crystal" heart stand out.

8. Use a paper punch to punch a hole in the front of the box and in the lid. I was able to hide the hole in the lid under the edge of the doily. Make sure your holes are large enough for the chain on the bracelet to fit through. This was very difficult and I had to have my husband do the actual punching--his hands are stronger. The Mod Podge makes the paper and the cardboard very stiff.

9. Thread the chain of the bracelet through the front of the box with the "crystal" on the outside. Then thread it up through the lid of the box. Close the lid and loop the chain down behind the "crystal" and fasten it on the front close to the hole in the lid. This way, you don't have to shorten the chain and you don't have to remove the whole bracelet when you want to open the box. Just unfasten it and lift the lid enough to get the cards out.

10. Finally, use a gold marker to write your name on the box so people know that this is your address.

I think my box turned out pretty well and I even kept the red and purple theme. It will be fun to see what everyone else does.

Creativity takes many forms

Living creative life means doing more than just practicing your art (music, painting, drawing, dance). Living a creative life involves using creative thought processes in almost everything you do. Sometimes that will give you inspiration for your next project, sometimes it is just good mental exercise. Creative living keeps us young, keeps our minds alert and active, and contributes to good health. Today I had a tea party and my guest (yes, there was only one) was one of my Red Hat sisters. Our chapter has a traveling teapot. One member invites another member to tea and then passes on the teapot so her guest can host a tea party for another member and so forth until everyone has been a guest and a hostess. I started the chain.

So, you say, where's the creativity in that? Tea parties often have themes. I chose not to use the traveling teapot for my party because I have a lovely red tea/luncheon service that I preferred to use instead. The theme--everything red and purple. First I needed a menu. A proper tea has three courses: bread, savory, sweet. My bread: Cherry scones. My savory: Chicken salad with cranberries in filo shells. My sweet: Cherry Shortbread, Almond Cake decorated with red roses and a purple band, and Madeleines. The tea: Eastern Shore Tea Company Cherry Moon (cherry scented green tea). Next there was the table setting. I chose to use a white table cloth because it is formal and because I don't own a red or purple one. Besides, you can have too much of a good thing. My centerpiece was red roses in a tall rose bowl with purple ribbons tied around the neck. I tied purple ribbons onto some red wooden napkin rings. Top it all off with fine silver and an antique cake stand, and the table was complete. Do you see how everything tied back to the theme of red and purple both literally and figuratively? This is creative thinking in everyday life.

I am looking forward to getting back to my paint brushes, but I try to practice creative living every day whether I have an opportunity to paint or not. Maybe it is time to paint some hats--red and other colors, too. Or maybe I'll build a still life with teapots or tea cups.