Healthy Apple Banana Muffins

I just tried this recipe that I found on Jennifer Meyering's blog. It was quick and easy to make, and the muffins were delicious!! The only thing I changed was I used the small muffin tins (without papers) and made mini muffins.

Ingredients: Banana, apple, egg, almond flour, baking soda, salt, butter.

Cooking time: 10-15 minutes.

Photo credit: Jennifer Meyering

Well Color Me Happy!

With my time off over the holidays, I had planned to go through more boxes from our move and paint my kitchen cabinets. But with our heater not working, I ended up bundling up by the fire and drawing. And now I can't stop!

After a couple of people telling me they'd like to color in my drawings, I thought about creating a coloring book, which is all the rage these days. After thumbing through a few coloring books I'd seen while Christmas shopping, I changed my plan a bit. I thought it might be more fun for people to be able to pick and choose which pages they wanted to color, instead of buying an entire book. I also knew that since my designs are somewhat intricate, that it would be easier to color a single page, than one that was in a book (unless the book was spiral bound).

So, I started scanning my drawings and putting them in our Etsy shop. Etsy has a (new to me) feature where customers can purchase a page (file) and instantly download and print it. What's nice for the customer is they can print it as many times as they like, and on whatever weight paper they choose. The reason I love this feature is that I really enjoy creating, but never cared for the printing and mailing of items once they were sold. Boring! As with most artists I know, it's all about creating... the selling is just a way to justify spending so much time (and money) doing what we love.

Well I've rambled on long enough.  I hope you enjoy the video of Nicole coloring one of my drawings. She's quick isn't she? ;)

Rain Gutter Downspout Ideas

I woke up to the sound of rain pouring out of our gutters. California needs the rain, so I'm not complaining. But always trying to 'pretty things up' I started looking around for rain gutter downspout ideas.

I found a site with some amazing downspouts at the Art of Rain, but they are a wee bit (ok WAY) out of my price range.

 

http://www.artofrain.com/downspouts.html

So I asked K if he would make me something more like this. I'll let you know if he does.

FREE '2016' Coloring Book Page

Here's a page I created earlier today. I plan to color mine tonight while sitting by the fire and watching movies.

Now if I can only figure out how to create a link so that you can download a (free) copy. Try clicking here  to download your own copy. If you have trouble downloading a copy, email us and we'll try to help.

Visit our Etsy shop for more downloadable coloring book pages. And whatever you do to to celebrate the arrival of 2016, be safe, and have fun!

I did a little more drawing today...

The hardest part of creating these drawings is not coloring them in until AFTER I've made a black and white copy to use in my coloring books!

I did some coloring today. SO relaxing!

More (uncolored) pages are available for instant download in our Etsy shop.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/UpcycleThis

Coloring Pages are available for instant download!

I enjoy drawing, painting, and coloring WAY more than I enjoy taking and uploading pictures of my creations to cyberspace. But I finally put my big girl pants on and listed almost 40 of my coloring book pages on Etsy.

These pages are available for instant download, and can be printed as often as you like! Here is one that I started coloring myself, using my favorite... Koi Coloring Brush Pens! Seriously, these pens are the best! They go on smooth, like buttah.

And if you're behind on your gift shopping, try printing a few different coloring pages on thick paper, toss in a set of colored pencils, or a set of markers and you've got yourself a nice little gift.

Click here to see more... https://www.etsy.com/shop/UpcycleThis