The Empress of Useless Feelings

While playing a Big Fish game "Puppet Show: Lost Town" I came across this box man and grabbed my camera. Thank goodness I had the presence of mind to do it at that point because once you found his head and put it on, you couldn't get a close up.

I knew I had to make a box person for a good friend for Christmas. Mine turned out to be a box Empress and I made it a receptacle for some dark things I'd been thinking about.

I bought a wooden box to use but after I'd made the head, it was much too small for the original box and I found this paper mache one in a drawer of alterable containers. You know - Altoid tins in two sizes, candy boxes, interesting cardboard boxes someone will wonder why I saved! I've never used so much glue on a single project in my life.

In a nod of the hat to Big Fish Games, I photographed her on a couch and in my animal chair where she becomes a "Hidden Object".

Spinach Asiago Pizza

One day last week we were going to get a hard frost. There's not much left in the garden that would bother - kale is okay with it - but there were several spinach plants left so I decided to make spinach pizza - one of our favorites. I picked and cleaned the spinach and we only had 16 ounces but it just seemed more weighty than the grocery store stuff we ususally use so decided to go with less. If you don't like spinach, I'm sure this won't convince you but spinach fresh from the garden is like asparagus fresh fom the garden - unbelievable!! It has a hint of apple flavor and it it sweet! In our three years of gardening with this huge garden, this is the first time I've managed to get spinach planted.
Anyway, back to the pizza. I had checked and we had the asiago and some mozzarella to substitute for the monterey jack. At the last minute, we couldn't find any rosemary so had to go out to the garden with a flashlight and pick some. I made the crust from scratch with a recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. We don't eat vegetarian all the time but this cookbook is loaded with so many yummy recipes.
The pizza stone is almost brand new - Todd got it for us when he was home early in October, but you can see it's already well loved (and used).
The pizza was wonderful!! And we got an extra crust for the freezer!!

A Little Steamy

This is another one of my BJD, Sophia. She is 43 cm and made by Customhouse, a Korean company. I spent last December making Steampunk outfits for this size doll, some as Christmas presents. So she has been all dressed up with nowhere to go until this hop.

Stamps are the steamy train by Lost Coast, lace by Our Daily Bread, gears by Artfull Illusions and also from one of those clear sets that never put their names on anything you might conceiveably keep unless you're a masochist. The gears and lace were beveled and embossed which doesn't involve powder when you do it digitally. The subway pix are from the internet. The black and white one actually gave me the idea for this layout. Digital brushes are Spiky_Swirls_by_ Melemel. I adore Steampunk stuff and am looking forward to seeing what everyone has done. If you landed here from somewhere other than the hop, check out the blog list for Smeared and Smudged's November Bloghop.

Studio

This is the studio about two thirds of the way through October. I still had not quite worked myself into a 6" x 6" working space on the table.

The studio is in the attached garage and is the best working space I've ever had because it holds everything but the computer. The light isn't wonderful but we use daylight flourescents in the big fixtures hanging over the tables so it suffices. The only area that's really dark is in the bookcase corner and when I get a fixture over there, it will be fine. The old fashioned stove is getting replaced by a newer woodburner this winter that hopefully will be cleaner and more efficient but I really love this one. Actually, I'm crazy about every nook and cranny of this place - love going out with my doggies and creating!

As far as shots of after the cleanup, they don't really exist. It only gets to that state by special request. I'm not a neatnik and put one major mess away only so I have room to pull out the next!