Sidetracked Artist

Here's a fun little printable for making Valentine treat bags. To print, click on the image below, right click and save to your computer. Print on cardstock, and cut into fourths.  Fill in the "To" and "From" section. Fold each card in half over a bag of treats, then punch holes on the dots. Tie your Valentine treat bags with ribbon, and they're ready to go. Cindy Please visit the Gallery of Favorites at Premeditated Leftovers,   and  Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now, and It's a Hodgepodge Friday at It's a Hodgepodge Life for more ideas.

Click on image, then right click and "save image as" to save the calendar page to your computer for printing. Cindy

Front of Printable Notecard These Hearts Note Cards print two to a page.  To download, click on image, then right click to choose save option. Cindy Linked with blog hops at Serenity Now , Premeditated Leftovers , and It's a Hodgepodge Life .

I've added a "Shop" page to my blog with some of the items available in the various online shops I share with Laura and Bryan. Here are a few items from Sidetracked Art at Cafe Press that I think would make nice gifts: Laura and I sell handmade our handmade goods at Artistic Inspiration : For digital image instant downloads for crafts, scrapbooks, clip art, images for fabric transfer, printable art, etc., please visit Sidetracked Artist at Etsy .  Here are just a few of the digital images: Thank you for taking the time to visit these shops. Cindy

  Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. William Arthur Ward Please accept this printable thank you note card with my thanks for reading this blog.   Linked with the Weekend Blogging Reading at Serenity Now  and It's a Hodgepodge Friday 

My digital image shop at Etsy, Sidetracked Artist , has reached 400 sales today! Thank you to everyone who has helped me reach this milestone. Cindy

photo by Laura Tabacchi The start of this new year, for me, is a time of thought.   It’s a time for reflecting on the past and dreaming about the future.   I haven’t made any resolutions.   I’m still considering my goals for this year. It might be simpler if I jumped into 2012 with a list of projects to complete or a new weight loss plan to begin.   I do need to lose weight, and I have a number of projects in mind.   But first, I need to think. Before I jump into a flurry of activity and try to do too much, resulting in exhaustion, I’m considering my priorities. I am evaluating my resources, especially time and energy.   I’m factoring in my need for rest each day. Last year was busy.   Bryan started college and Fred started working on an MBA.   We adopted a rambunctious kitten , who is seen here under the file cabinet keeping the world safe from dust bunnies.   I pushed helped Laura to finish the classes she needed to get her high sc...

When Fred and I were first married, our dining room furniture consisted of a borrowed card table and folding chairs.   We used the money we received as wedding gifts to purchase a china hutch, a table, and six chairs.   After 25 years, the table top wasn’t looking too good. Since new dining room furniture isn’t likely to make an appearance in my life anytime soon, and I couldn’t stand my shabby table any longer, I decided to refinish the top of the table.   Fortunately, furniture refinishing was one of the skills my mom taught me when I was growing up.   She tried to teach me housekeeping too, but that one didn’t take very well. I don’t ordinarily take on projects like this anymore because of my health problems, but this one would be manageable.   I could take as many breaks as I needed and rest for as long as I needed, and no strength was required since I wouldn’t be moving the table. After just three trips to Home Depot I had everything I needed. ...

It’s been a cold, wet Spring here in Northwest Washington state. In Bellingham we’ve only had a handful of days above 60 degrees so far this year. We haven’t seen 70 degrees since sometime last year. At least the temperature has been staying above freezing for the past couple of weeks. I finished planting our vegetable garden over the past week. Now we just need some warmer weather so we can harvest the summer vegies before first frost. Fortunately, we like salads, because the garden has produced lots of lettuce these past few weeks. There really is nothing like fresh, crisp, delicious lettuce. The broccoli heads are forming, and the few sugar snap pea transplants have been blooming. Most of the sugar snap peas I planted from seed didn’t sprout. I think it was just too cold and wet here. There are carrots, both orange and purple, and green onions just coming up. We’re still waiting on the pole beans to sprout. To make use of space as much as possible, I’ve been planting n...

Keeping chips from getting crunched while being stored in your house can be a challenge. It’s especially frustrating to have an opened bag of chips get lost in the back of a cabinet or shelf until it’s too stale to eat. I have throwing away food. I recently came up with a solution that’s working well for us. We have a pantry with some shelf space and also a little unused wall space. This little bit of wall space was just big enough for hanging chip storage. Here’s how to make this chip holder: Using heavy cotton yarn and a suitable size crochet hook (the yarn label should have a recommendation – I used a size I hook with Sugar ‘n Cream® yarn), crochet a chain about the length you want the finished chip holder to be. Turn and single crochet in each chain stitch. Chain one and turn, then single crochet in each single crochet. Repeat until you have the width you want or about a 1 ½ to 2 inch wide piece. Bind off. This is the backing for the chip holder. Fold down the top 3 to 4 i...

We had a few sunny days last week, and it finally started to look like Spring in our garden. Apple Blossoms Tulips and Daffodils Dogwood Love this pink Angelique Tulip! Hope everyone has a lovely week, Cindy

Scan of  Pink and Yellow Tulip  5" x 7" Watercolor on 140 lb. Arches Cold Pressed Paper.

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...

It’s that time again. Another year is gone, and a new year is just beginning. We’re reflecting on the past and making resolutions for the future. Thoughts of losing weight, exercising more, and other forms of self improvement are swirling in our heads. Looking back over this past year, I see areas where I’ve moved forward. I’ve been learning how to use Photoshop and started my Etsy shop, Sidetracked Artist , selling digital graphics. I enjoy being able to work on the computer when I’m unable to be up doing other things. I’ve also been trying and developing new recipes and blogging both here and at my other blog, Wheatless Foodie . While my lupus has been mostly under control this past year, fibromyalgia has been increasingly challenging for me this past year. Fatigue and pain have made it difficult for me to do the things I would like to do a great deal of the time. Fortunately, with the help of a good doctor and physical therapist, I am doing better. I can manage being on my ...

My wonderful husband gave me a Kindle e-reader for my birthday last month. I love to read and am enjoying having an e-reader. I like to carry it in my purse, but wanted it to be protected, so I made a cover for it. Here’s how: 1. Using cotton (Sugar & Cream weight) yarn and a size K crochet hook, chain 26. 2. Beginning with the second chain from hook, single crochet in each chain stitch to end. This should now be a half-inch longer than the height of the Kindle. 3. Chain 1, turn, and single crochet in each single crochet. Repeat this step until the piece is twice the width of the Kindle plus three inches. Bind off. 4. Lay Kindle on piece about three inches from one end.   Fold other end over Kindle. Adjust so that Kindle is completely covered and edge of piece matches side edge of Kindle.                            ...

My family thinks I’m, well, how do I put this, a little nuts, and they might be right. I’ve been chasing chickens. Not literally, of course, but I am sort of obsessed with chickens. In Medford, we had our first flock about eight years ago. My husband built a wonderful hen house and chicken run on the side of our property, and we got eight chicks from the local co-op. We started them in a large Rubbermaid bin in the guest room, but the smell soon got the best of us. Who knew a few baby chicks could be so stinky? After spending time in a large box in the garage, they were moved to the coop. Soon after, there was “the chicken incident”, which involved the need to “put down” one of the chickens and a decision about whether or not to take the said chicken to the vet and pay him to do the deed. Having already spent too much on the coop, let’s just say that “the chicken incident” ended with a large kitchen knife and a deceased chicken. ‘Nuff said. Down to seven chickens. At about four mo...