River Bend Ranch - Patty Van Dorin

a couple of journals

a little video I made of a couple of my art journals with the help from Ralph the Dog

tiny charms of crackle glass

It was a very nice Christmas with warm weather that allowed for some long walks down along the water. Here in West Texas, we are in a critical drought and while that in itself is not good, it does make for some good fossil hunting along the river banks.
 
Buckets of fossils, arrowheads, and geodes were found
  
this is a favorite fossil from Thursday's river walk
taking a different path back, I found an old, really old burn pit
poking around with the big stick, I found many pieces of burnt glass in the pit
All of it crackly from the heat of the fire and there were many colors from amethyst, jade green, blue and a lot of clear. 
  
using a small piece of the found crackle glass, I made this tiny 2" danglie charm. 
materials used - sterling silver wire, a small pearl, a couple of tiny glass beads, and the piece of found glass

 

while horses watch beans heating on a campfire

A new journal has been started

a dedicated journal for roses
I am completely obsessed and passionate about roses
roses are all I think about

I even dream about roses

At last count I have over 50 different roses. The goal is a page for each variety.

Large pages with enough room to make notes, for photos, leaves and petals.

This journal is an old religious pamphlet type book with tied binding that can be opened for adding more pages. I think it will be perfect for the Rose Journal. The cover will be decorated and a new cord will be searched for.

  

Every year, I keep a simple garden journal in a composition book.

This is a place where I keep notes, ideas, tips and record what worked and what didn’t
every month I place a photo of the front and back of the property. Fun to look back at all the changes.

If you are looking closely at the pages. The Bambi Buffet is part of my on going battle with the deer. It is an experiment in what they won't eat which turns out to be very little where I live.
  
This quilt top was purchased a few weeks ago at a local estate sale.  I had debated on the purchase. The top is well made and it was cheap, the key to this purchase was cheap. To me at first glance it looked like some type of psychotic Holly Hobbie explosion from the 70’s. 
  

Closer inspection revealed interesting stories being told among the fabric pieces.
Bonnets being tossed in the air Julie Andrews style.

  

A white horse with a green mane that is entranced by a can of beans being heated on a campfire. Oops where's the fire, must be a burn ban going on. So it will be cold beans for the gal in the bonnet.  White horse appears many times through out the quilt.

  

I have grown quite fond of this quilt top and a decision needs to be made
1. spend the time and hand quilt
2. machine quilt

3. tie with yarn

 

I probably won’t be back on the blog until after the holidays.

Wishing everyone peace and joy.  


 

Snow Cone Pockets

journal pages from this week
 
vintage paper snow cone cups sewn on page as a pocket to hold stuff
(thanks Brooks Ann for generously sharing the snow cones with me) 
 
image on this page "The Strawberry Beret" from Tuscan Rose
 

2005 Sour Cherry Liqueur

2005 was a good year for Cherry Liqueur.
Actually it was the first year that I was able to resume making my grandmother's Sour Cherry Liqueur recipe.
 
making any of the liqueurs from grandma's notebooks require patient and faith in the future. Most need to silently sit on the shelves only to be shaken every so often for 3 years. 

Sour Cherry is my favorite liqueur. served with a tiny spoon for scooping out the cherry that is left after sipping the drink.  How can you not love a sipping liqueur that is served with a bug eyed parrot sporting a funky mohawk.

 
the 2008 Sour Cherry batch has already commenced
I found some large old jars at an estate sale last weekend and I see many more types of liqueurs being made.
Chambord which is a blackberry and raspberry blend, Cranberry, and then there is the rose with lavender and mint that will also be made this upcoming year. Now that I am in my house, I have plenty of room for making liqueurs. I will be searching through grandma's notes and taking advantage of the fruits and herbs in season.
 Work is continuing on the path through the garden.  I have just finished winding through the fig trees and am making my way up to the rose garden. 

 
At an estate sale last weekend I found some old pails and wash tubs that will be used as planters. I like how the rusty metal contrasts with the honeycomb rock. 
As I work my way up to the rose gardens, I have plans for it easing into a more English cottage garden look with a Texas twist. Something like this
  
ending at the porch off the back of the house which is nearing completion.
Just so you don't think last weekend was all about alcohol and gardening, here are a couple a pages from the altered cookbook journal.
 

it's not only about journals - The Altered Cookbook

 
for years I have searched for the perfect format for a personal cookbook. 
A book to put all those favorite tried and true recipes, ones handed down from family and friends.  A while back I found this vintage shabby cookbook and inspiration finally took hold on how I wanted to make my own cookbook.  I loved how papers and paint had stuck to the cover over time. Years of being pressed against newspaper clippings, peeling of paper as the book was pulled off the shelf. 

I have tried pasting recipes into composition books but it doesn't allow for organization. Mini tag type books only allow for small recipes and then there was the huge hard drive failure in the 90's that quickly ended the recipe storage on the computer.

  
I purchased an old Better Homes and Garden binder ring cookbook at a library book sale. The plan was to use if for a visual journal but I didn't like the thin weight of the pages and it just never inspired me to work with it and it just sat around on the shelf.

and then it seemed so obvious this cookbook would make the perfect foundation for an altered cookbook that I had been needing.

The cover was altered using a mix of vintage vinyl wallpapers which should make it easier to clean.
    
 
  
easy to add recipe pages and now I will be able to sort them sorted into categories


using the original cookbook pages, I layered on ledger papers, text papers and all sorts of scraps. Doing this on both sides made for a much sturdier recipe page and then all that was needed was a quick re-punching of the holes.


a heavy collaged cardboard was put behind the recipe pages as the pages seem to want to fall into the groove under the binder rings. 
By keeping a few of the original pages on my craft table, I can glue up the pages using the scraps that are left over at the end of other projects. Slip them into the binder and I will have pages ready to add recipes to.  It should be fun to have a mix of pages of all different styles, color, and patterns. Some recipes can be hand written, some may be newspaper clippings or computer printouts. 
Wouldn't this make a fun round robin exchange of recipe pages?!
  

mortified by serving a crumbly cake

 
I had no idea that cutting a crumbly cake could be mortifying, will add this to my list of things to worry about
 
more pages from the visual journal
  
and another