Thank you for stopping by! It always makes me smile to see comments, likes and new friends. The best way to see what we've got going on at our kitchen table is to follow us on Facebook! Check out facebook.com/OurKitchenTableCreationsByMW and "like" us. Since I usually do any updating on the go, the Facebook page and Twitter get many more updates than blogspot.
We have a show up at Kelly's Bakery and Cafe that changes often. Holiday and seasonal items are filling the walls this month. As items are purchased and taken to new homes I will add new pieces to the walls. Check back often to see what's new!
Monday, June 18, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Keep Up With Our Kitchen Table Creations!
Thank you for stopping by! It always makes me smile to see comments, likes and new friends. The best way to see what we've got going on at our kitchen table is to follow us on Facebook! Check out facebook.com/OurKitchenTableCreationsByMW and "like" us. Since I usually do any updating on the go, the Facebook page and Twitter get many more updates than blogspot.
This year instead of resolutions, my family, and many of my friends, selected a word that would guide them throughout the year. I played with many words and even thought about stealing a word someone else was using! Some of the guiding words being used by those I love and respect are strength, patience, exercise, opportunity, and balance.
Maybe it would be nice to have some BALANCE in my life. However, that was quickly vetoed as I thought about the ways in which I work best. There is no balance about that...and it works for me. I throw myself all the way into whatever endeavor I have going right then and give it every bit of passion I have. It works. I'll stay at school for an entire weekend, I've been known to sleep in my classroom on the couch when really working on something wonderful, or I'll be locked away in my studio for hours on end until my friends think I've become a hermit. Like I said, it works for me!
Then I thought maybe INTENTION or INTENTIONAL. I was thinking that the things I do should be done on purpose- intentional. When we focus on the food we are eating, we tend to eat things that are better for us. Intentional eating helps me make better food choices. I figured doing everything in my life intentionally would be good as well. However, I started thinking about spring when I'm fulfilling my role as pitching coach. Intentional walks came to mind and that won't work so well as my go-to strategy! Then my mom pointed out that it wasn't really a "nice" word. Say it a few times. Intentional, INTENTIONAL, InTenTionAl. Do you really want to say that word to yourself for an entire year? As usual, I had great intentions with that one but...not so much.
After much thought and discussion with my loved ones, CREATE was set as my word. It is pretty silly that when the word "came to me" it was like this great epiphany! Of course this will be my word for the year! What's even funnier is that a few years ago I bought a necklace that has the word CREATE on it from my good friend who makes hand stamped jewelry- check out her amazing pieces at danidearrings.com! Every aspect of my life calls for me to be creative. As a teacher I have to let my creativity shine through each day as I approach issues with my students and provide interesting curriculum for them. With cooking I love to be creative and that helps me to do my intentional eating (and that's the LAST time I'll use that word in this blog!). Obviously, to keep the walls full at Kelly's this month (even though I've been there for 5 months so far, I'm still taking it month by month...make that day by day, and counting it as a huge blessing all along the way!) it will take some serious creative thinking. Even with my workouts I need to create things I enjoy doing. Some call it aerobics, I call it interpretive dance. Sometimes when I'm "running" I will gallop or skip or shake my booty (on the treadmill of course...can you imagine seeing that on Washington Street?! HA). And because I do like to stay busy, I have to get creative to fit it all in.
Watch for the updates (on facebook at OurKitchenTableCreationsByMW) each day as I work my word during 2012! It's already been an amazing month and I'll be sharing pictures and updates on the creations. Okay...off to create dinner and a few more pieces I've been wanting to do!
This year instead of resolutions, my family, and many of my friends, selected a word that would guide them throughout the year. I played with many words and even thought about stealing a word someone else was using! Some of the guiding words being used by those I love and respect are strength, patience, exercise, opportunity, and balance.
Maybe it would be nice to have some BALANCE in my life. However, that was quickly vetoed as I thought about the ways in which I work best. There is no balance about that...and it works for me. I throw myself all the way into whatever endeavor I have going right then and give it every bit of passion I have. It works. I'll stay at school for an entire weekend, I've been known to sleep in my classroom on the couch when really working on something wonderful, or I'll be locked away in my studio for hours on end until my friends think I've become a hermit. Like I said, it works for me!
Then I thought maybe INTENTION or INTENTIONAL. I was thinking that the things I do should be done on purpose- intentional. When we focus on the food we are eating, we tend to eat things that are better for us. Intentional eating helps me make better food choices. I figured doing everything in my life intentionally would be good as well. However, I started thinking about spring when I'm fulfilling my role as pitching coach. Intentional walks came to mind and that won't work so well as my go-to strategy! Then my mom pointed out that it wasn't really a "nice" word. Say it a few times. Intentional, INTENTIONAL, InTenTionAl. Do you really want to say that word to yourself for an entire year? As usual, I had great intentions with that one but...not so much.
After much thought and discussion with my loved ones, CREATE was set as my word. It is pretty silly that when the word "came to me" it was like this great epiphany! Of course this will be my word for the year! What's even funnier is that a few years ago I bought a necklace that has the word CREATE on it from my good friend who makes hand stamped jewelry- check out her amazing pieces at danidearrings.com! Every aspect of my life calls for me to be creative. As a teacher I have to let my creativity shine through each day as I approach issues with my students and provide interesting curriculum for them. With cooking I love to be creative and that helps me to do my intentional eating (and that's the LAST time I'll use that word in this blog!). Obviously, to keep the walls full at Kelly's this month (even though I've been there for 5 months so far, I'm still taking it month by month...make that day by day, and counting it as a huge blessing all along the way!) it will take some serious creative thinking. Even with my workouts I need to create things I enjoy doing. Some call it aerobics, I call it interpretive dance. Sometimes when I'm "running" I will gallop or skip or shake my booty (on the treadmill of course...can you imagine seeing that on Washington Street?! HA). And because I do like to stay busy, I have to get creative to fit it all in.
Watch for the updates (on facebook at OurKitchenTableCreationsByMW) each day as I work my word during 2012! It's already been an amazing month and I'll be sharing pictures and updates on the creations. Okay...off to create dinner and a few more pieces I've been wanting to do!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
The Show at Kelly's
Friday, July 15, 2011, we had the Opening Ceremony for Our Kitchen Table Creations at Kelly's Bakery & Cafe...
Thanks to my mom and dad who came into town to help me get ready and get through the Opening Ceremony of the art show that is at Kelly's Bakery & Cafe. They also took all the pictures here because I was a little busy with other dealings and totally forgot to chronicle my evening in pictures. Good thing they were here!
This is the outside of the cafe and our new car. Such good parking in downtown is hard to come by! We really lucked out!
Dad and Emily before the guests started arriving. Thank goodness I had great help surrounding me that night! Each art piece I displayed that night had a name and description paper that went with it. Despite having almost all the pieces hung on the Sunday prior to the show, thanks to Emily's hard work that day, we still had a lot of work to do the night of the show. Each description had to get onto the wall and we needed to arrange the tables and chairs so people could easily flow through the space.
Perpetual calendar in a picture frame titled "delicate hardwood." Addition month names are on the back so you can change it easily.
pink lace calendar
off white delight calendar
green grass calendar
Family pictures and family name framed artwork
More family pictures and names
PiNK display wall
Thanks to my mom and dad who came into town to help me get ready and get through the Opening Ceremony of the art show that is at Kelly's Bakery & Cafe. They also took all the pictures here because I was a little busy with other dealings and totally forgot to chronicle my evening in pictures. Good thing they were here!
This is the outside of the cafe and our new car. Such good parking in downtown is hard to come by! We really lucked out!
Dad and Emily before the guests started arriving. Thank goodness I had great help surrounding me that night! Each art piece I displayed that night had a name and description paper that went with it. Despite having almost all the pieces hung on the Sunday prior to the show, thanks to Emily's hard work that day, we still had a lot of work to do the night of the show. Each description had to get onto the wall and we needed to arrange the tables and chairs so people could easily flow through the space. 
Perpetual calendar in a picture frame titled "delicate hardwood." Addition month names are on the back so you can change it easily.
pink lace calendar
off white delight calendar
green grass calendar
Family pictures and family name framed artwork
More family pictures and names
PiNK display wallEach grouping of pieces had a simple title. There was Travel, Eat, PiNK, Botanicals, and Family.
Red Rosy Wreath
Red Rosy Wreath Kelly bought this botanical wreath for the cafe. I love how it looks on this blue wall!
indulge wreath
Mom and I organizing the sold cards. Who knew we'd need so many of them that night? What a wonderful surprise that was! We sold 9 pieces the evening of the Opening and a few more have sold this week. I've also taken several orders and am having a ball putting those together!
Travel
indulge wreath
Mom and I organizing the sold cards. Who knew we'd need so many of them that night? What a wonderful surprise that was! We sold 9 pieces the evening of the Opening and a few more have sold this week. I've also taken several orders and am having a ball putting those together!
TravelThe bikes in the frames with maps behind them were very popular. This was what I gave a sneak peek of before the show in the last blog!
Beautiful layout and delicious foods catered by Kelly. The cucumber salad finger sandwiches, brownies, lemon squares, potato wedge wonderfulness, chicken skewers, cheese, crackers, fruit and homemade pickles were exquisite! It was so perfect...it was just the beginning of a perfect weekend! Now as I write this blog, I'm snacking on leftover cheeses and fruits from the night! The gift that just kept giving. I don't know that I'll ever be able to thank Kelly and Jamie for their kindness and generosity. What wonderful friends they are!
Emily opening the wine and getting the beverages ready for the evening.
What was I doing at this time? Talking with the artist- who is an amazing 'real' artist and he had the show before me so I had huge shoes to fill- trying not to be intimidated but sweating profusely while discussing my "art." I still giggle at being called an artist or having my crafty creations referred to as pieces of art! Literally laugh out loud!
EAT
My friend, Monica and her girls, looking at the Travel pieces. So glad to have so many creative friends surround me and support me. She is a very talented artist with beautiful paintings and sculptures she has created along her artistic journey.
A bit blurry but a great shot of the cafe and my biggest supports smack-dab in the middle! Thanks Kelly and Em! Notice the tablescapes are a collection of all the mason jars, small jars and other vases I could find and stick daisies and whisps of my bridal veil greenery into. They are in the center of each table, on the chair rail shelf and throughout the food table. Daisies everywhere!
Mom gave me my great-grandmother's pearls and my grandma's pinkie ring to wear for this evening. I'm sure they brought me tons of luck as the night was a huge success!
Beautiful layout and delicious foods catered by Kelly. The cucumber salad finger sandwiches, brownies, lemon squares, potato wedge wonderfulness, chicken skewers, cheese, crackers, fruit and homemade pickles were exquisite! It was so perfect...it was just the beginning of a perfect weekend! Now as I write this blog, I'm snacking on leftover cheeses and fruits from the night! The gift that just kept giving. I don't know that I'll ever be able to thank Kelly and Jamie for their kindness and generosity. What wonderful friends they are!
Emily opening the wine and getting the beverages ready for the evening.What was I doing at this time? Talking with the artist- who is an amazing 'real' artist and he had the show before me so I had huge shoes to fill- trying not to be intimidated but sweating profusely while discussing my "art." I still giggle at being called an artist or having my crafty creations referred to as pieces of art! Literally laugh out loud!
EAT
My friend, Monica and her girls, looking at the Travel pieces. So glad to have so many creative friends surround me and support me. She is a very talented artist with beautiful paintings and sculptures she has created along her artistic journey.
A bit blurry but a great shot of the cafe and my biggest supports smack-dab in the middle! Thanks Kelly and Em! Notice the tablescapes are a collection of all the mason jars, small jars and other vases I could find and stick daisies and whisps of my bridal veil greenery into. They are in the center of each table, on the chair rail shelf and throughout the food table. Daisies everywhere!
Mom gave me my great-grandmother's pearls and my grandma's pinkie ring to wear for this evening. I'm sure they brought me tons of luck as the night was a huge success!I really couldn't have done all this without Emily's support and love! She paints frames, gives constructive feedback, bounces ideas, shops for deals, finds the most amazing frames, cuts, colors, inks, pastes, rearranges words and images, all while keeping me sane.
She's the reason I can fly and soar!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Preview...
My great friend, Kelly, owner of Kelly's Cafe and Bakery has invited me to feature my work in her cafe. I love every sandwich...and of course all the sweet goodies...she makes and eat there regularly. Now my works will take center stage starting July 1o! Next Sunday Emily and I will hang our "show" and then on Friday we get to have an Open Ceremony. I am overwhelmed in my friend's support and with this opportunity I have been given.
Here is the sample I put on FaceBook. My friend Brenda has already requested this piece so I'm working on Missouri and Illinois as the backgrounds. This one has Chicago and the eastern border of IL and most of IN.
This is similar to a map wreath I have for display at Kelly's. I created this one a few weeks ago for a client who had specific modes of travel she wanted featured. LoVe how it came out!
Just a small preview! Come on Friday, July 15, between 7pm and 9pm to check out the new pieces!
Here is the sample I put on FaceBook. My friend Brenda has already requested this piece so I'm working on Missouri and Illinois as the backgrounds. This one has Chicago and the eastern border of IL and most of IN. 
This is similar to a map wreath I have for display at Kelly's. I created this one a few weeks ago for a client who had specific modes of travel she wanted featured. LoVe how it came out!
Just a small preview! Come on Friday, July 15, between 7pm and 9pm to check out the new pieces!Sunday, June 5, 2011
What Happened To MAY?
Um. Well. I really have no idea what happened to May. What I do know is that June has been wonderful! Life is slowing down. Coaching high school softball has ended, school is out so the classroom is packed away and grades are finalized, our niece has gone back to live with her mom, and the days are filled with friends, home cooking, crafting, tablescaping, renovations, pool time, backyard-sitting and porch swinging. 
The garden is planted and we are eating salads from our yard everyday. There are variety of of greens planted and I'm excited to make some lettuce wraps this week with some of the leaves. We have also been enjoying fresh squeezed lemonade and tons of strawberries...not from our yard but signs of summer all the same.
Metamorphosis Monday: Our daisies are sprouting up like weeds in the path of the garden. For years I have tried to be a successful gardener so there is no way that I will pull them as I do the Creeping Charlie! I just love this wire cloche I got at Nell Hill's when I was in Kansas City in May. The daisies from our garden tend to wilt quickly in the heat of the day because I'm not a fan of air conditioning until absolutely necessary. This is the perfect disguise...plus I am playing with some flower preservation solutions that have helped as well. The colored mason jars have been my favorite estate sale, garage sale and auction find of the spring. A birdhouse, leftover lemons, world map and IMAGINE rock round out the perfect inspirational table decor for summer dreaming!
Check out the other fun creations at Between Naps on the Porch!
The garden is planted and we are eating salads from our yard everyday. There are variety of of greens planted and I'm excited to make some lettuce wraps this week with some of the leaves. We have also been enjoying fresh squeezed lemonade and tons of strawberries...not from our yard but signs of summer all the same.
Metamorphosis Monday: Our daisies are sprouting up like weeds in the path of the garden. For years I have tried to be a successful gardener so there is no way that I will pull them as I do the Creeping Charlie! I just love this wire cloche I got at Nell Hill's when I was in Kansas City in May. The daisies from our garden tend to wilt quickly in the heat of the day because I'm not a fan of air conditioning until absolutely necessary. This is the perfect disguise...plus I am playing with some flower preservation solutions that have helped as well. The colored mason jars have been my favorite estate sale, garage sale and auction find of the spring. A birdhouse, leftover lemons, world map and IMAGINE rock round out the perfect inspirational table decor for summer dreaming!Check out the other fun creations at Between Naps on the Porch!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Fun Day of Shopping...and a new thing!
What a fun weekend we had shopping at estate sales, some garage sales, at the thrift stores and at the architectual salvage! I can also add an item to the 35 New Thing Challenge- I went to an estate from a company I had never heard of before and it was incredible!!! Great prices! The day off from coaching softball because of the rain was well spent...literally, I was spent at the end of the day and all my money was spent!
It has been a couple of weeks now and I've been enjoying usnig the buttons and mason jars already. The house has been painted a yellow color, similar to the Big Bird Bed and Breakfast (the name we have given to our home!) and I can't wait to add miniatures and other littles to it. Notice the adorable bunny salt and pepper shakers? They are exactly like the ones my grandmother had. I love their precious little faces!!!
Awesome score on the buttons also! Love the little jars they came in and how they were already separated into colors. It was half price time at the estate sale so the price could not be beat. They were one or two dollars a piece. I don't want to use any of them because they look so cute in these jars. The shelf they are sitting in was bought from the former money manager from District 87. I'm sure his garage sale money is funding his fishing trips with my former principal.
The shelves I bought will be perfect for craft shows in the summer and fall...now I better get to work on transforming some of these goodies!!!
It has been a couple of weeks now and I've been enjoying usnig the buttons and mason jars already. The house has been painted a yellow color, similar to the Big Bird Bed and Breakfast (the name we have given to our home!) and I can't wait to add miniatures and other littles to it. Notice the adorable bunny salt and pepper shakers? They are exactly like the ones my grandmother had. I love their precious little faces!!!
Awesome score on the buttons also! Love the little jars they came in and how they were already separated into colors. It was half price time at the estate sale so the price could not be beat. They were one or two dollars a piece. I don't want to use any of them because they look so cute in these jars. The shelf they are sitting in was bought from the former money manager from District 87. I'm sure his garage sale money is funding his fishing trips with my former principal.
The shelves I bought will be perfect for craft shows in the summer and fall...now I better get to work on transforming some of these goodies!!!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
First Flower of Spring
I love the old bottles that we have gathered from so many different places over the years. This single stem fits so perfectly in the middle bottle of this set. This is a small window that looks out onto our garden. The chives from year are coming back and so is the oregano. I can't wait until the squares are filled with produce for us to feast on.
I know that it is Tablescape Thursday but you are getting a Windowscape as the day winds down. Tonight as my love came through the door, this was my gift! After a long day of running kids all around and chasing around my third graders and then running kids around this evening and throwing together some dinner, it was a beautiful present!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)