Sunday Seven

This week has been one of the most eventful roller coaster rides I've ever been on! I'll have a post up in the next couple days with more details, but for now, here are a few things I'm grateful for this week:

Sunday: submitting an application for a new apartment!

Monday: Pat taking the time while at work to calm me down over the phone  

Tuesday: early and unexpected approval! 

Wednesday: the Grand & Toy in the mall that's only a 7 minute walk away

Thursday: nice long chat with a friend - and being asked to be her bridesmaid!

Friday: our first housewarming gift from my sweet neighbor

Saturday: large plastic bins and a vacuum on sale at Canadian Tire

What are you thankful for this week? 

My Creative Space

Things have been crazy around here! More on that later once things are official, but for now it means I haven't been spending much time in my creative space - except to try to use up some supplies and finish some works in progress. Like these mini notebooks:

Besides that, I've been cleaning and organizing and running around - and trying to enjoy my last 2 weeks off before I start working!

You can find more creative spaces here.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!

As a female scientist, I feel very (very) strongly about the representation of woman, particularly in the fields of mathematics, science and technology. Historically, and unfortunately still all too common today, women are not getting the credit they are due for their work (or get equivalent pay, though this isn't restricted to any field). And so, Ada Lovelace Day was created to raise awareness for the under-appreciated 50% - we're contributing too!

Click here for one of my previous posts on Ada Lovelace Day for more details.

And look! A few weeks ago, I received an email from the University of California in Berkeley - they were putting together an article that would be distributed to middle school students (free of charge) by NASA. And they wanted to include a "head-shot" of my ACEO collage of Henrietta Swan Leavitt (largely unrecognized for her important work)! What an honour! It turned out so good:

Today, to celebrate Ada Lovelace Day, thank a woman for her contribution in her field (be it science or something else) - and then head on over here to read (and write) about women in the sciences, mathematics, technology or engineering.

Sketchbook Pages: Fertile Grounds

I started this altered book page Friday. It still isn't finished though since we had a busy weekend apartment hunting (we signed an application for a place - fingers crossed we get it!). I'll get to completing the page today, but here are my initial steps anyway:

I started with a page that already had paint on it. This is how I use up leftover paint when I'm working on a piece - just smash it into a sketchbook and use it for inspiration later. Friday, I was feeling these pretty blues and greens.

Since we'll be moving in a month or so, I'm trying to use up some of my supplies - especially my huge stash of paper scraps. So I figured random stripes of blue paper would be a good start for this page.

Next I used a sponge and titanium white paint to stencil some random alphabet sections. I also started my next step - collage - before taking the photos above (and started the step after that - masking tape - before taking the photos below... it's so hard to stop and take pictures when you're on a creative roll!).

As I said, collage was my next step, again, trying to use up some hoarded supplies. I knew I wanted to include a short phrase on the page and that it was going to start on the collaged circle above. While sorting through my things, I found some metal letters and randomly chose an F.

F? What starts with F? Hmmmm... I immediately thought of "faith" but paged through an old dictionary anyway. "Fertile" jumped out at me so I cut out its definition and added it to the page:

I added masking tape for the phrase I'll write - it will continue onto that flap that I'll attach with eyelets.

Since taking these photos, I've added some layers of paint and am ready to add a bit more collage to finish it up. Of course, I'll post photos once I do!

Use up some hoarded supplies today!

Sunday Seven

Here are a few things I'm grateful for this week:

Sunday: my new phone!

Monday: setting new holiday traditions 

Tuesday: a large Tim Horton's French vanilla cappuccino in the morning

Wednesday: the express bus to Toronto (to what will soon be my new place of employment)

Thursday: skating (first time this season!)

Friday: fabulous fall chill in the air

Saturday: apartment hunting!

What are you thankful for this week? 

Sketchbook Pages: Word Grid

Thursday, I showed you a page I started before going skating for the first time this year (so much fun!). Here's how I finished the page (you can see the start here if you need a refresher).

This is basically where I left you - I only added a quick white wash (with watered down titanium white paint) to tone down the collage and molding paste polkadots. I added paint next. I started with purple on the left (mixed quinacridone magenta, smalt hue and athraquinone blue), then went with a orangey-red on the right (red oxide and quinacridone magenta), blending it over the purple. I really like the effect this gave:

Now I knew I wanted to add some words or a phrase, but wasn't sure where to go. So I picked up a magazine, flipped through it and started cutting out words that resonated with me. Soon, I had one for each "space" in the grid and really liked how that looked. Here it is before another quick white wash to tone down the collaged words:

I was pretty happy with that, but I wanted to play up the pattern aspect that was going on, so I chose to add black India ink circles around the words using a toilet paper tube. Somewhat serendipitously, the tube formed a bubble within it for a single circle and before I noticed I had stamped a huge black circle onto my page. I wiped it away quickly, but just a bit... I just wanted to word to be revealed: flexible. Indeed. What a great reminder to always remain flexible in our art - mistakes often become the best part!

Last, to finish my pattern, I added white circles around the molding paste polkadots, blotting here and there to soften it up:

I added a "words" tab so that I can easily find this page when I'm looking for an inspiring word to add to another page. It's like my own mini word bank!

The repeated pattern on this page makes me really happy. Go make a pattern in your sketchbook today!

OK - I have another sketchbook page to show you, but that will have to wait! Off we go to look at some apartments!

My Vintage: Recipe Books

This small collection of antique and vintage recipe books is the last souvenir my mom picked up for me when the family was clearing out my grandparents home (which, excitingly, my brother's family will be moving into shortly). As such a huge book lover, this is one of my most treasured mementos.

To make it easier, I've numbered the books one through four and will talk about each individually as well as some of their common features that I love.

#1: Let's Cook it Right!, Publication 514, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (no date)
#2: Treasured Recipes, compiled by Chisholm Women's Institute, Powassan, Ontario, 1972
#3: The Modern Family Cook Book by Meta Given - published by J.G. Ferguson Publishing Company, Chicago, 1961
#4: The American Woman's Cook Book, National Binding, edited by Ruth Berolzheimer - published by Culinary Arts Institute, Chicago, 1953

First off, I was delighted to find out how old these larger two are!

They are full of awesome housekeeping and menu-making advice, a wide range of recipes and wonderful photographs and illustrations. Just take a look at that unhappy pot (and that orange one is simply darling!):

One thing that seems to be common in vintage recipe books (but not so much in modern ones) are these cute sayings:

They make me think of a sign my grandma might have hung in the kitchen at the cottage.

I also found that these vintage cook books dedicated sections to meal planning and balancing a healthy diet... something that should probably be more of a focus in modern cookbooks! That being said, the suggested menus seem to be a bit large, until you remember that our portion sizes have grown significantly since these books were published. They aren't all that appetizing either... 

OK, let's take a look at each of the books individually. First, Let's Cook It Right!

This one is small, but packed with great information on cooking times and food preparation. The illustrations and cover are pretty sweet too.

Here are some Treasured Recipes - first though, we need a close-up of that cover:

How awesome is that? This book was released for the 60th anniversary of the Chisholm Women's Institute - I'm pretty sure this is a cake and costumed participant at the celebration event.

I love this book because it was produced locally - all the recipes are signed by the women who submitted them. The ads and extra recipes written by my grandma are the best part.

The Modern Family Cook Book boasted about its new colour photos - and you can see why:

The dated recipes and homemaking advice make me laugh (the first recipe I flipped to included MSG!) - but that fish diagram and the mod cover art are so good!

Lastly, The American Woman's Cook Book:

This one is probably my favourite. It's chock full of awesome advice, divided somewhat randomly with those lovely indents and also has some hilariously dated material. It's a hefty one too - heavier than the other three combined!

I think the very best part about these books isn't what's printed in them though - it's all the little extra bits and pieces that my grandma left behind:

I'm really looking forward to trying some of her recipes and digging more deeply into these.

Do you have any vintage cookbooks? Do you use them for cooking or crafting purposes? (I'm really tempted to use some of these lovely pages in my journaling... except I can't bear to tear them up.)