Photo & Prompt Challenge: Day 3

Your Favorite Show

This was a little bit tough because there are a few shows that I really like for various reasons, but the one show I make sure not to miss is House. I love the humor in it, especially the exchanges between the main character, Dr. House, and his best friend, Wilson. The witty humor, as well as the drama, keeps me coming back for more every week and waiting impatiently in-between seasons.

Painting by Ben Meiri from Ben's Craft. Click the picture to see this painting in Ben's shop on Etsy!

If you would like to participate in the 31 day Photo & Prompt Challenge, go here for the scoop!


 

A Slip of the Tongue

I made a collection on Artfire that I think is a lot of fun, enough so that I would like to share it with my blog friends!

A slip of the ton...

Curated By: HonkusGrogana

ArtFire.com

Indie Design

Aluminum Jewelry

I've discovered a new medium, and I'm in love! Aluminum. It's bright, it's shiny, it's  inexpensive, and best of all, I love the feel of it in my hands. Seriously, I'm one who has quite the thing for touching things, and working with aluminum wire is absolutely blissful.

My first creation in aluminum is a bracelet and ring set. Because I haven't had experience with how aluminum behaves as jewelry, I've been wearing the set-- and getting lots of compliments.
 

The bracelet is wonderful. I made each link individually, with a feminine spiral on each end, linking them together with jump rings. The great thing about this bracelet is that it is almost weightless. It is so light that I forget I'm wearing it. This is ideal for me, as watches and heavier bracelets never fail to have me tugging and adjusting them all day.

The ring, while beautiful, and a perfect compliment to the bracelet, does have a drawback. It is soft. Aluminum is a soft, soft, metal, and it doesn't take much of a snag to bend the ring out of shape. I have been wearing it for 2 days so far, removing it at night, and it still looks great. However, there have been several times already when I've had to gently put it back into shape. One such time was when I was filing paperwork, reaching my hand between tightly shelved manilla file folders. With a different style of ring, a bit more substantial and compact, this would be a non-issue, but this particular one can lose its shape pretty easily. I'm okay with it, but would certainly need to make that drawback very clear when offering this style of ring to anyone else.

Lastly, I made a butterfly pendant from aluminum. Again, this material just feels like butter in my fingers. I adore working with it. I haven't taken the pendant on a test run, but the only drawback I foresee is that it will not stand up to abuse, such as Baby tugging on it, as babies will do if they get the opportunity. The light weight will be a nice perk.

I look forward to working more with aluminum. At the moment, I can't seem to put it down!

Poke Salad, Yummy, Yummy

With springtime, all kinds of plants are coming up! Some that were planted deliberately, and of course, those weeds that spring up all on their own. One of the weeds indigenous to my area is poke salad. (Sometimes known as polk salad or poke salit)

A larger plant. Much smaller ones are used for eating.

I've always heard that it was edible, but dangerous if not cooked correctly. I've also always wanted to try it myself, but been a bit nervous about the whole poison thing. My grandparents thought nothing of it-- and their parents, with 13 kids, very little food, and eating whatever they could grow or kill, were no doubt thrilled to have it!  Today, I researched on the internet, became brave, went out and harvested poke weed, and cooked it up!

After the first boil. I boiled them twice.

Butter, salt, pepper, garlic, onions, jalapeno peppers

Topped with cheese & ready to eat!

It turned out yummy! Tasted very much like asparagus casserole. Even the kids loved it! I bet it would be good with rice in it as well.

If you should choose to try this, research first because doing it wrong can be toxic. You should only use new plants that snap easily when you bend the stem, no red stems or older mature leaves. I only used very young plants.

I'm so glad I finally did this. Not only was it tasty, it felt good to pick something right from the yard and eat it. And it was free!

Photo & Prompt Challenge: Day 2

            The person (or people) that make your world go around

These are the ones that make my world go around. Hubby and the kids. I would go crazy without them, I'm sure of it. 

This picture was taken at the very end of our incredible camping trip to Cumberland Island. It was a magical place to be, and we all enjoyed the time we spent together there talking and laughing and playing together.

31 Day Photo & Prompt Challenge-- Day 1

A photo of yourself with 10 facts

1. I want to spend more time with my children, just playing and having fun.

2. When I am out in public meeting hubby somewhere, and I am there first, I still feel giddy when he walks into the room.

3. I kept my head shaved for a couple of years-- on purpose.

4. I like to touch things. In the store I touch anything that looks soft or like it may have an interesting feel, and I notice that Sid (my daughter) does this as well.

5. When I was a teenager, I had a whole room full of reptiles.. several snakes, lizards, iguanas, and a tarantula.

6. I have a forearm fetish, and coincidentally my man has the most incredible forearms ever.

7. I have never flown in a plane, just haven't had the opportunity.

8. When I hear a newborn baby cry, my breasts hurt and throb.

9. I know all the words to the entire “Sound of Music” soundtrack because my cousins and I used to dance and sing to the 8-track.

10. I love to go camping.



If you would like to participate in the 31 day Photo & Prompt Challenge, go here for the scoop!

Twitter: Are you doing it wrong?

Twitter. We've all heard of it. Many of us have tried it. Many of us are doing it wrong.

Eager to promote my new shop, I set up a Twitter account. I'd read that I should tweet my listings on a regular basis, so I started tweeting like a madman. I looked at forum posts in crafting communities, and happily followed every Twitter account listed. (Oooh, more people to see my listings!) At first, I was excited because I appeared to be getting views. Until I

realized that the 15 views in 10 seconds were indeed bots.

It did not take long before I became very discouraged with Twitter. Everyone I was following was doing the same obnoxious thing that I was doing! It was like deliberately logging on to a spam-a-thon! My news feed filled up rapidly with everybody's new listings, everybody's friends' new listings, website after website trying to sell me things. Like a crowded room with everyone in it shouting "Buy my carp!" This was not a place I wanted to be. In fact, I wanted to
run from it, screaming.

Then, of all things, I read an Etsy newsletter. There was a link to a really wonderful forum post by Chrisof Copper Leaf Studios. I read the post and it was as if I'd seen the light.

She suggested that we use Twitter in a social way, to make friends and have conversations. No spamming. Nobody likes spam. So I re-visited my Twitter account and removed all of the well-meaning but spammy accounts that I was following. Then I set to making my own tweets right. I posted about my cat, I posted interesting articles. I posted funny things. I added people that were not crafters, as well as some crafters who kept link-posting to a minimum and also posted interesting things from their own lives. I added other moms. I replied to posts about cool recipes.. Occasionally I do post about my work, but not repeatedly all day and not in a spammy way. Anybody who gets to know me can easily check out my website, and they probably will, if they think I am interesting. They will want to know "What is HonkusGrogana?" I'm meeting new and interesting people and sometimes, checking out their websites. And best of all, I am enjoying my Twitter account.

Check out Chris' post about Tweeting HERE. You'll be glad that you did. I've just barely touched on what she says, and she says it much better than I. I hope you will be inspired by her post, as I was.

And if you want to give her method a try, I'd sure love to have a new Twitter friend. ME