Floral Paintings and Plants around the Studio

Hi Everyone,
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! I certainly did! Had lots of family here and we had your basic "Eat Fest" ! I must now get down to the business of eating healthier and trying to lose a few pounds. Today, I froze the remaining cookies. They will come in handy later for taking to my quilting group!
For some of you, new to this blog, I have another blog, as well. It is http://egrettawells.blogspot.com/ On it you can see lots of my paintings and click on an icon to the right that will take you directly to my gallery on Daily Paintworks.
Here are a few of the floral paintings I have posted.

I love doing florals, and there is a wealth of material around the property here. Right now the hibiscus is blooming profusely, as well as bougainvillea, many annuals, etc.

We have finally had a low of 50 degrees, so it is very pleasant, sunny, but not hot.

A painting of a pink geranium.Notice I posted this painting sideways....see the signature!

This is a lovely poinsetta I bought for Christmas...don't you just love the color? I hope to do a painting from it soon.




Below are various plants from the back porch. Notice the blue watering globes. They work well!

Got to run...I must begin working on my New Year's resolutions. Have a great day!

Merrry Christmas to All!

Hi everyone, Thank you for looking at my blog and for all your nice greetings and comments throughout the year. I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas, filled with good times with family and friends. Happy New Year, too, filled with good health and prosperity.

As we celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, let's remember that there is only one gift that "keeps on giving". And that is the gift of Jesus Christ in our hearts!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

I am sure you are as busy as I am and are enjoying guests, too, just as I am. We jokingly say that we are having an "Eat Fest". Already I am thinking about those resolutions I will have to make come Jan. 1 about losing weight. I don't recall a year in the past that I haven't made that same resolution. I wonder how many of you have made it, too.

Oh, well! For now, lets just enjoy all those special goodies. Tomorrow we can think about dieting.

Merry Christmas!

Baking, Baking and more Baking!

Hi Everyone from Ten Gables,

Well, yesterday after church, I got right into marathon (almost) baking! I also dipped pretzel rods in white chocolate and milk chocolate, decorating them a little bit. My children love these treats.

I made molasses crinkles a recipe that most people seem to have on hand. I also made Magic bars, using condensed milk, graham cracker crumbs, with butterscotch and chocolate chips. I had these in Minnesota and found the recipe on the internet!

I made Crispy Oatmeal Sugar Cookies and then Soda Cracker Cookies. I have given out both these recipes on this blog.




Finally I made Caramel puffed corn and put it up in airtight jars. Below is the recipe for Caramel puffed corn.

Caramel Puffed Corn

Buy two bags of Chester's Puffed Corn in the potato chip section of your grocery. Dump it into 2 baking pans with sides, so you can stir it. Puffed Corn looks like packing peanuts!!! Now melt in saucepan on the stovetop, 2 sticks or 1 cup butter, 2 cups of brown sugar (I used dark brown) and 1/2 cup of either light or dark corn syrup. (I used Light, since I used dark brw. sugar). Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 5 minutes. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of soda, then pour over the puffed corn. Coat all the puffed corn. Now put in an oven preheated to 250 degrees and bake for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes. It will be very crisp. After cooling, put in air tight containers. I had 5 and 1/2 containers! Delicious! Happy Christmas cooking to all and to all a good night!

Look at what's growing in the winter garden...

Now is the time to garden in Florida. Hopefully we won't get a really cold night with a freeze! So far, our average winter temperature has been about 71, I think and it has rained enough to keep the plants fairly happy.

The purple cabbage looks great and I have several regular green ones growing, too.

The broccoli is doing well....no bug damage on anything so far. The argula is growing so big now and is beginning to get a bit bitter, but it is so pretty.

I need to stake this tomato..it has several green tomatoes on it and lots of blooms. I have harvested one red one already and it was so good and juicy.

I probably should have thinned these radish plants a little more, but just couldn't bear to do it. I can see a few almost big enough now to harvest.

Around the house....

Hi everyone, just a few photos of some of my decorations around the house. I have a very old Bible displayed on the buffet beside a small nativity scene. The Bible dates over 200 years ago!

Here are some of the Annalee dolls I collect. Notice the flickering lamp in the background (this photo is so bad!). I have "electrified" it and bought a flicker bulb to put in it and it gives of the nicest, warmest glow.

A simple bowl of antique ornaments makes a nice decoration.

A white poinsetta in front of the stained glass window in the dining room. This poinsetta is so pretty with the little touch of pale pink in it.




Merry Christmas, all!

"Delicious CrockPot Fudge"

Hi everyone, I made some delicious and easy fudge in the crockpot!

All you do is dump 2 jars of dry roasted salted peanuts in the crock pot. Top with one bar of German Chocolate and one package of semi sweet

chocolate chips and one big package of white almond bark.

Put on low and cover pot. Leave for 3 hours.

Here it is after it is all melted and stirred.

While it slowly melts, set out a cookie sheet or two and put out about 70 mini cup cake paper holders.

After 3 hours, stir and mix all with a wooden spoon. Then drop by Tablespoon into each cup cake holder and let it harden an hour or so. Wow! You now have a bunch of candy....enough to give gifts to lots of folks and oh! so GOOD!

Decorating the House!

Hi everyone, I am super busy today decorating the house.

I am a little behind schedule, so am going at it like crazy. So I am not going to comment---look and enjoy!

More Snowy Photos....

Hi everyone,
Here are some more photos from Minnesota and Wisconsin....snowy, snowy photos! The first one is of the former Courthouse in this little town.













The Lutheran Church there.

You can tell that I took this photo from INSIDE the car...do you see the snow drop on the window. It is amazing how I got pretty decent photos through the window glass!

The patio at the hotel..quite a contrast to the patio here in Florida!

Makes me freeze just to look at these! O.K. now back to Christmas decorating. More coming soon.

These are NOT black and white photos. Click to enlarge and see a tiny bit of color. The landscape was just black and white in itself.Very, very different from Florida.

Back from Minnesota

Hi everyone, just got back from Minnesota. We went to a family funeral, so it was a very sad time. It was very bad, cold, snowy weather, too, but I did manage to get some beautiful photos of the snow, so here they are.

Enlarge them and take a look. I love the Victorian house above, and the little old log cabin below!

It does put you in the Christmas mood, although I prefer the warmth and lushness of Florida! Florida is just perfect in winter!

It was so cold in Minnesota...someone said this a.m it was below 0. I know that I had to wear every piece of clothing I had with me and still was shivering.

Tribute to Raggedy Ann and Andy

Hello.
This time of year when all the toys are out, I think of one of my favorites of all time....Raggedy Ann and Andy! American designed and made (well, they USED to be and lots still are), they are cute and timeless! One year I decorated a Christmas tree for our local Hospice to auction off and asked all my friends to help me hunt for R and R dolls. Well, they rallied to the cause and I became the owner of many many more than I needed! The tree was a hit and brought around $250.00! My studio still has many dolls in it and they get into all kinds of mischief! With my help of course!



Nap time!











Wouldn't it be great if we all had a smile all the time for everyone we see!

How winsome are these!

A basket full. Actually I made this pair below for my daughter many years ago! They have been left for the time being in my care!

Did you know that on their chests, it reads "I love you" right where the heart would be!

More than 50 years old, does anyone know the actual date of the first Raggedy Ann and Andy doll?

I have a few on the antique bed in the studio...when my poor brain needs a rest from the day's painting, I often take a little nap here and they keep me company. Who said that grown women have to give up dolls?