Friday, November 27, 2009

NEAT Winter Wonderland Show and Sale



Well today was the first day of the sale!
Amazing people my Niagara Etsy Artisans Team.
What a wonderful group of people not to mention amazing artists and crafters.
We still have one day left to go and would love to have you join us.
Come see the faces behind your favorite Niagara region Etsy Shops.
Tomorrow is the last day, Saturday Novemeber 28th.
Check out the above link for directions and details.

***UPDATE****
The show is now over, but it went amazing.
If your ever going to do a show I hope that you get a room full of great people like we had.
I had such a fun time.  Seriously, if every sale is that fun I want to do one every week.
OH! But there is more. A new sale to tell you about!!!
Details to follow very soon I promise!!!


Tuesday, November 17, 2009

NEW PAINTING!--PINK MOOSE









This diminutive pink moose is by no means short  on character.
After all, it takes a big man to wear, or in this case "be", pink!
It is a 6x6 acrylic mixed media on a gallery stretched canvas.
He was my original vision for a moose painting.  But I sucomed to what a real moose should look like and created Oh Moosey! But a dream of a pink moose continued to plague my creative mind. So Pink Moose was born!
He really is the moose of my dreams.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Melissa McClelland

1 super quick thing tonight as I buzz around in a haze of caffeine.


 I had the chance to go see Melissa McClelland this evening.  AMAZING! I would dare to say she has perfect pitch.  I have seen many people live but non compared to her vocally.  Her voice was clear and hypnotic. The venue was an intimate cafe and at times you wouldn't have known 70 other people were in the room you would have thought it was just Melissa and her guitar.  Her performance was mesmerizing.  Yay! for amazing Canadian talent!!!
If you can get your hands on it I would strongly suggested you add her new album Victoria day to your collection!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

James North Art Crawl/ River Arts Festival



I live my life day to day, not always by choice but that is how things are. Plans change, ideas change, generally, things just happen.  So, than it comes as no shock when I say that I was unable to attend the James North Art Crawl. I opted however to attend, with hubby and boy in tow, a performance at Flyers Cafe in Dunnvill, ON as part of The River Arts Festival.  I figured instead of spending the money to drive 45 minutes to Hamilton that we would go to town instead and see what our local arts festival had to offer.   The festival has been going on since Novemeber 7th and this is the first time I have checked any part of it out.

Friday, had to talented musicians, unfortunately, I was only able to stay for the first one.  Yes, refer back to hubby and boy in tow.  Boy was being boy and hubby was going to have a coronary.  What I did happen to have a chance to see was very inspiring.  The entire store front of Flyers was filled with works by visual artists.  At the back of the Cafe, the actual cafe, is where we had the joy of watching a young talent singer/songwriter/musician Nate Waldes.  If his performance Friday night is any indication of his future in music, I should expect great things! At 17 he sang with confidence. Singing both original songs and covers of some of his favorites. His between song ramble was humorous.  I would venture a guess that he will be doing this for many years to come with success.

I'm hoping that today, if I can sneak away for a little while, that I can attend the "Career in the Arts Seminar taking place at Flyers.  I would love to hear what has to be said.  I'm just starting out trying to make art my career and I would love to learn how to have it bare fruit. I will be sure to let you know how that goes.

Tomorrow night, Monday November 16th, I am also hoping to sneak into town to watch a performance by Melissa McClelland!  What a joy her voice is.  Click on her name for a direct link to her site that plays songs form her newest album Victoria Day.

There has been and there is still lots more to happen at the River Arts Festival. The Festival Closes Saturday November 21st ,after a 2 week engagement, with a award ceremony, music and wrap party.  If you can please try and venture to our neck of the woods and check out the festivities.  A schedule of events can be found on the website.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

***I'm Having a CONTEST****

It is true I'm finally having a contest!


I need a new blog back ground. 
I need a background that goes with my style as an artist and that I won't want to change in a week. I need some brand continuity as they say. 


That is where you come in. I need help finding this background. 


Whoever picks the best background that I end up using will get an 8x10 photograph of their choice. Easy Peasy. 


Pick the background you think best represents Car Farm Creations, if I like it and use it you get a Car Farm Photograph of your choice!! WIN WIN!! You can create this background yourself or it can come from a FREE site, it can even be one I have used before and you thought I should have kept. Than you can post your pick here or on my Facebook Fan Page. Please make sure to also add how I can get in touch with you if you win i.e. email, blog, Facebook twitter or smoke signal.


Deadline for submission is December 1.  Enter as often as you like as long as it fits with the above mentioned rules. Have fun be creative! 




Thursday, November 5, 2009

Good people in our community.

I went to Hamilton the other day, with my ever increasingly wild child and his need to be oh so destructive, to visit art shops to figure out what I had in my neighbourhood.  My time was limited and my aim unsure but I was still on a mission.

I wandered into Mixed Media a small independent art shop, working out of a heritage building on James St.N in downtown Hamilton. I had driven by it once a few months ago, when I got lost returning from a street devoted entirely to textiles(that's another story), the name had caught my attention and I wanted to check it out. So, rambunctious  boy in tow, I ventured to Hamilton from my sleepy Car Farm to check it out.  Mixed Media  was a little art oasis.  They had an eclectic mix of supplies and product that included local art from a rotating gallery of artists.  Dave, the proprietor was an incredibly friendly and informative guy. He was even kind to my son who was systematically destroying to entire store.  Dave deserves great things to happen at his wonderful shop.  It is artists and lovers of the arts like Dave that make the art experience so much better for the rest of us.  It is a kindness that makes me want to go back to his store.

Now, Dave told me a few not so secret secrets that day.  One, James St. N art community hosts a monthly art crawl on the second Friday of every month. All the art shops galleries and stores that participate in the event keep their doors open late so that you can tour about. It starts around 7pm and is entirely self directed. So, you can go to as many or as little of the shops as possible.  They also have a Facebook page with lots of great info as well.
Second, he told me about his neighbouring shop and fellow etsians White Elephant Vintage.  They have this great little shop with a mix of vintage items and handmade items from other local artisans, many of which can be found on Etsy.  I really wish I could have spent more time in here and got to take a better look but yet again the boy monster made it difficult to even talk to the girl, who I later found out from the website is co owner, about her great shop.

Now, I went on a monday morning and most of the shops that participate in the art crawl were closed. Which means that some of the other wonderful places Dave told me about I wasn't able to check out yet.  All the more of an excuse for me to go back on the 2nd Friday of this month and participate in the crawl.

I'm planning on attending the next crawl I hope to see you there!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Change of Pace--Pumpkin Muffins

I thought I would do something a little bit different today and share a wonderful Pumpkin muffin recipe with you.
Now, I suffer from allergies and an eosinophilic disorder which cause to many problems to describe. What I can eat is limited and the list is always getting smaller.
These muffins contain no milk, no egg, no soy, no nuts and no oil!

I used fresh pumpkin from our garden but you can just as easily use pumpkin puree from a can. Just make sure it has no spices added.

What you need.

2 cups pureed sugar pumpkin or canned

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour, you can substitute 2 cups whole wheat if you like

1/12 cups brown sugar, firmly packed

2 teaspoons backing soda

1/2 teaspoon backing powder

2 teaspoons ground cloves                        

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon                        

2teaspoons ground nutmeg                          

1 teaspoon allspice                                      
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Spices can be substituted with 2 tablespoons pumpkin spice
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2/3 cup applesauce (this is used in the place of oil)

3 tablespoons shelled flax meal mixed with 135ml of water. **This is 3 tablespoons water to every       tablespoon flax. Mix together and let stand.***note if you can eat egg, you can replace flax mix with three eggs, since the flax is a substitute for egg!


To make pumpkin puree, cut small sugar pumpkin in half scoop out seeds and strings. *seeds can be saved and roasted for a yummy snack.  Place cut side down on a baking sheet lined with tin foil or parchment paper.   I find if you don't do this the natural sugars in the pumpkin make for some very hard scrubbing.
Then cover with tinfoil and place in the oven at 350  degrees F(175C) until fork tender. About 90 minutes.
Remove skin and you can either puree with a fork or in a blender/food processor.

1.  Preheat over to 350 F.  Paper line muffin tin.  Trust me line with paper or you will be cleaning your tins for a week.

2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking soda and powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
    In a medium bowl, mix/beat together, pumpkin, flax mix, and applesauce.

3. Combine pumpkin mix with dry ingredients. This is a thick batter.  Just keep mixing. These are beautifully moist dense muffins. But mixing by hand you'll wonder if there is enough moisture. Keep mixing until batter is smooth and blended.

4. Scoop batter into prepared muffin tin. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Until tooth pick comes out pretty clean.

Last but not least, enjoy!
I made these last night, the recipe made about 18 regular muffins.  I had 2 when they were done. Soooo yummy! I had 2 for breakfast, my son had one.   That means my hubby had 7 this morning. I hope some made it in his lunch bag. Because we only have six left.
That's how good this recipe turned out.

It was actually surprising for me that they were so good.  I have always had allergies but I could have  egg, milk and soy. But I recently found out that these new allergies in conjuncture with my eosinophilc disorder were making me really sick.  So they had to go.  I'm learning how and what to eat with allergies and this disorder all over again.

Well friends, I hope you enjoy the recipe like we did here on The Car Farm!




 Sorry webcam image!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Gadzooks! Another Giveaway!!

Our dear friend over at Sassmowth Designs is having another giveaway. This girl loves making you happy!  So, help her make you happy by visiting her blog and  find out how you can win a ten pack of Christmas cards. These cards are an unconventional hoot!