Sunday, July 31, 2011

A Day In The Life of Country Living

HenryandtheHens

Sunday is the day our chickens have free range.  While the hen house is getting cleaned out, the chickens get out in the yard to run and scratch around.  They enjoy eating the hay grass that grows on our property.  It’s the good life for Henry and the hens.  During other days, the birds have an enclosed pen and run.  In this way, they are only semi-cooped up.  On clean out day, my daughter plays chicken herder to oversee that our birds stay in our yard.  Our next door neighbor doesn’t take too kindly to our chickens venturing over as uninvited guests. 

ChickenHerdingJade  Jade does an excellent job watching over the  flock.  She is mama hen and they follow her around looking for delectable morsels of fresh bread crumbs and cracked corn.

JadeandHenry3 My daughter Jade, has a special relationship with Henry, our rooster.  He is a country gentlemen:  Henry Proud Country Gentlemen2

My backyard birds inspire creativity from all directions.  Fine art photos are used to design products in my Zazzle store.  

Apron, Eggs in Hands as Nest apron
Apron, Eggs in Hands as Nest by sunfluer
Many more aprons available at zazzle.com
 

The Wyandotte breed lays brown eggs:  WyandotteGirls

I’ve been experimenting with baking recipes using spelt flour.  Spelt is an ancient whole grain flour and can be used in place of whole wheat.  Using my farm fresh eggs and spelt flour, I baked kid and husband approved cranberry/orange scones this morning.  It was the first time I made scones and couldn’t be happier with the finished product.  CranberryOrangeSpeltScones2  Spelt has a nutty flavor making it the perfect compliment to the orange and cranberry.  What I like in particular about spelt is the blood glucose (blood sugar) does not rise as high after eating foods made with it compared to white refined flour.  It’s an especially good grain for people with diabetes.  (Please do not take this as professional advice.)  Although I don’t have diabetes, I have sensitivity in regulating my blood sugar levels meaning I feel the highs and lows.  CranberryOrangeSpeltScones

I haven’t been able to find a recipe book dedicated to baking exclusively with spelt flour.  Spelt is closely related to whole wheat, however.  What I’ve recently learned is many recipes with whole wheat flour can be replaced with spelt.  If you would like to try the recipe, you can find it on the King Arthur Flour website.  The recipe lists allspice as an option but I didn’t have any on hand.  I choose instead to use 1/4 teaspoon of ground clover and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg.  Absolutely agreeable and delicious.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Two Brown Bears on Zazzle


www.OffTheCuffArt.com
www.SunfluersJewelryDesigns.com
www.Zazzle.com/Sunfluer
www.Zazzle.com/Dogs4U
http://SunfluerDesigns.Imagekind.com

Monday, July 18, 2011

 I found this great product created by a talented graphic design artist:

Glowing Burst of Color shirt
Glowing Burst of Color by dianeclancyart
Browse other tees made on zazzle


www.OffTheCuffArt.com
www.SunfluersJewelryDesigns.com
www.Zazzle.com/Sunfluer
www.Zazzle.com/Dogs4U

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Get 25% Off On iPod Touch Hard Cover

iPod Touch Case, Cow Art speckcase
iPod Touch Case, Cow Art by sunfluer
Browse other iphone 4 cases
Use Code: ZAZZLEIPODME 
Zazzle is offering 25% off on iPod Touch hard case covers. I'm in the process of designing the covers from my original artwork.  These are a sample of what's currently in my stores.  Check this out and see more designs in the coming days.  The sale is good till July 31st.  It's a good time to buy the iPod covers and put it aside for your holiday gift giving.  Makes a unique and thoughtful gift for the art lovers on your shopping list.





www.OffTheCuffArt.com
www.SunfluersJewelryDesigns.com
www.Zazzle.com/Sunfluer
www.Zazzle.com/Dogs4U

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Wonderful Zazzlers

I love Zazzle.  It's an online market place for artists to share their wealth of creativity on lots of practical and collectible gift items.  By creating designs on Zazzle products, artists make a commission.  It is a collaborative win-win effort.

I came across this cute greeting card from a fellow Zazzler.  In the spirit of the Zazzle community, I'm referring Zazzle stores in my blog.  Please stop by to see all the great works on Zazzle.

If you're a Zazzle store owner and want your shop featured in my blog, contact me with your store link:  sunfluerdesigns@yahoo.com.  





www.OffTheCuffArt.com
www.SunfluersJewelryDesigns.com
www.Zazzle.com/Sunfluer
www.Zazzle.com/Dogs4U

Friday, July 8, 2011

Pinky

“Elephant is the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind."  ~ Aristotle ~

Recently, I polished off reading the book Water for Elephants.  Although it’s a story of a young veterinarian in a traveling circus in the 1930’s, I was drawn in by a character, named “Rosie”.  I’m especially fond of elephants, fascinated with their intelligence, long memories and attachment to their herd members. Elephants are characteristically known to mourn their deceased companions. Rosie as you’ve guessed, is an elephant and as was often the case during that time period, were mistreated and abused.  It made me especially sympathetic to the character’s plight and the unforgiving manner the handler treated her. 

The pachyderm attraction for me has long been established.  I recall as a child of approximately age 8, my first drawing worthy of some praise was the character “Horton” the elephant from Dr. Seuss’s book.  Over the years, I’ve amassed a  small elephant figurine menagerie.  For good fortune, the collection is positioned trunk up and facing the door.

This newly created piece is “Pinky”.  Reading Water for Elephants helped to drag me out of an artistic slump.  For me, it stands to reason that it would take an animal to help re-ignite the spark.

PinkyReduced

Pinky was created with Primacolor pencils.

Practical Artful Gifts

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Endangered Species Artwork

My Dogs