Sidetracked Artist

It's sunny today, but cold.  This is a screenshot of the weather at around noon: I took some cracked corn out to the chickens this morning to help them stay warm. They have heat lamps in the hen house to keep them from freezing.  And to keep their water and eggs from freezing.  Also, we've found that when it's cold enough to keep the heat lamps coming on at night, we get more eggs.  Hens lay according to how much light they're getting, so more light equals more eggs.  The hen house, which is raised off the ground above a part of the chicken run that they get to via a hole in the floor with a ramp to the ground, is just a big (4'x4'x4') wooden box with a door.  It's just big enough for our three hens and holds their water, food, a nest for laying eggs (the black plastic crate), and a perch for them to roost on at night. There's an egg in the nest! We've been putting out seed for the wild birds too. I'm amazed that these croc

What do Kindle Cases and Origami Roses have in common?  Nothing. Except that they've both been selling in our Etsy shop . I've been busy making more Kindle Cases like the one in this tutorial . I've sold several of the red e-reader cases, so I thought it might be fun to raid my stash of yarns and fabrics and see what other combinations I could make.  Also, one of the customers who purchased the red Kindle cover asked if I could add a wrist strap.  I thought this was such a good idea that I add wrist straps to all the new cases I made. This lime green wristlet makes me think of springtime when the light bright green new growth appears on plants and trees : And I especially like this pink and orange case that reminds me of citrus fruits, like oranges, lemons and sweet ruby red grapefruits.  I love the cute owl print inside this blue Kindle cover : Laura's been busy selling her origami creations on Artistic Inspiration .  Her origami roses have been espec

It's cold, gray and rainy here in northwest Washington state.  It's dreary.  I'm ready for spring, dang-it, and I'm ready for it NOW! But since the weather isn't cooperating, I've chosen some lovely things to look at from a variety of sellers on Etsy : Enjoy your day! Cindy

Today is national Wear Red Day, a day to raise awareness about heart disease. While many women fear cancer more than any other disease, heart disease is actually the number one killer of women. Want to lower your risk? If you smoke, STOP! STOP NOW! Eat a healthy, balanced diet. Lose weight if needed (I so need to work on this one!). Maintain a physically active lifestyle. What do you get if you do all of these things? You get an 82% lower chance of having heart disease. That’s huge! And there’s one more thing you can do. Wear red today to help raise heart health awareness. What are you doing to stay healthy? Cindy

When I'm too tired to work in the kitchen on new recipes for my other blog, Wheatless Foodie, I enjoy playing working with digital graphics.  All I need is my laptop (with Photoshop), my recliner, and a little creativity.  Sometimes I create my own images from scratch.  A lot of the time, though, I like to work with Public Domain images, making changes, rearrangeing, combining, recoloring... When I'm satisfied with the finished images, I usually offer them for sale at my Etsy shop.  I don't make a lot of money, but the little bit I do make is nice, and I get such a charge from each sale.  Someone actually likes my work and is willing to pay money for it!  It just makes me feel happy.  And grateful. Besides, gluten-free flours are expensive, and it's nice to have a little extra money to spend on the gluten-free ingredients I use to develop recipes for my family and to post on Wheatless Foodie. I've created the this free printable valentine to share: