CAST TEAM Treasury Event #8

The Etsy CAST Team has a weekly Treasure event where two shops are picked to be featured in treasuries. It is a great tool for promotion especially for the chosen two.I have been greatly blessed and honored to be chosen this week along with Karen of Ellie Marie Designs.  I love this team activity because it gives me a little push to create a treasury and look though shops, both fun stuff!  This is the treasury that I created featuring Ellie Marie Designs and the colors Blue and Green.

'Blues and Greens' by ZudaGay

Blues and greens...such a lovely combo!Castteam Treasury Event #8 featuringhttp://www.EllieMarieDesigns.etsy.com

Square Gift Tag Blue and Gre... EllieMarieDesi... $3.50	Fabric Headband Reversible S... sewfaithful $6.99	Paper Dragonflies Hand Punch... krafterskorner $1.25
Knit Washcloth Cotton Knitte... SticksNStonesG... $16.00	Earrings Vintage Lemon Yello... ChromeAndCotto... $21.00	Blue Fields of Love/ Blue, G... kellybermudez $19.00
GIRLS KNIT HAT--Ruffled in B... acraftingheart $25.50	Photo card, Laguna Beach, oc... RoadAheadPhoto... $3.00	Greeting Card Set Four Cards... CardsbyJewelei... $9.00
Tie Dye Sun Shirt Halter Sty... RedeemedByRed $17.00	Coffee Sleeve Blue Green Bir... bamcraftymomma... $8.00	Southwest Flair OOAK Necklac... BlingThingsOri... $50.00
Original Oil Painting, Garde... ShirinMackeson $775.00	Trapeze Aline Ecofriendly Up... BananaOrangeAp... $28.00	Vintage sheet, size to follo... AuntBonniesClo... $15.00
Fabric bowl coiled pale past... LeahsHeart $19.99

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

This treasury by Hannah from BanannaOrangeApple is one of my favorites from this Treasury Event.

'turquoise and red' by bananaorangeapple

The day they invent a turquoise rose, I am buying a dozen to grow with my red ones!A treasury for the CASTTEAM featuring http://www.etsy.com/shop/ZudaGay

Flower Pendant, hand-sculpte... ZudaGay $10.00	red on turquoise round ring ... hottoffee $25.00	Baby Girl Burp Cloths Riley ... bamcraftymomma... $12.00
Tiny turquoise and red mille... SueRunyonDesig... $15.00	Red Howlite Crosses - 2 Coun... vivatreginasup... $3.85	Red and turquoise chunky bea... LeafFeather $30.00
Surf and Shore 8x10 Fine Art... bbrunophotogra... $30.00	Red Rosette Dress, stretch k... VerilyClothing $110.00	Red and Turquoise, wooden be... LeafFeather $39.00
Large Die Cut Flowers Dark T... SuzanneMedrano $5.00	SALE 20% OFF red and turquoi... emsawhatsy $15.00	Turquoise and Red Owl No Sli... thebitsybeau $2.00
Knitted Pom-Pom Slippers in ... TheRobinsonsHo... $12.00	Pretty Ladies Red Skirt Jintas $14.00	Afternoon Stroll - a lovely ... ArtbyChrissyFo... $29.00
Heart garland in red felt, h... thedovestop $19.95

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

And one more that I love by Noelle from regiftstore

'Old Style Refreshed' by regiftstore

A CAST team treasury with feature shops: WormeWoole and sammysgrammy.Enjoy!

CIJ SALE Pocket Hand Warmers... WormeWoole $10.20	Size 2 dress, Red and white ... BananaOrangeAp... $18.00	Fabric Flower hair clip - re... lolliprop $5.00
Union Jack Flag Cross Stitch... WitsEndDesign $30.00	Photo card, red 57 Chevy, cl... RoadAheadPhoto... $3.00	vintage industrial red box wretchedshekel... $20.00
Turquoise Rounds and Vintage... ohmyMarie $15.00	Vintage Burlap Bean Sack Pil... sammysgrammy $32.00	PERE NOEL antiqued santa pri... SIMPLICITY4U $11.00
Vintage Ribbon Spools, Brigh... thisattic $8.00	The Cardinal Two - Dutch Gap... BirdlegsPhotog... $20.00	Vintage Carter's Baby Sh... toastycrowstre... $8.50
Large Tin Serving Tray Vinta... CraftySara $24.00	A Touch of Antique Flower Br... ZudaGay $28.00	CO-429-Royal Carriage In Red... SiriusFun $6.00
Christmas Girl with Holly Di... naturepoet $4.50

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Thank you so much to everyone who featured one of my items in their treasury this week. blessings, Zuda Gay

Tomatoes

I LOVE homegrown tomatoes!!! I always have. I remember going out to my grandparent's garden at a very young age, picking a big tomato and sitting right there on the grass to eat it....getting covered with tomato juice in the process. :) My favorite summer food was when Mama would make her fresh tomato relish...well that is what we called it then, now it is called salsa.  We would just eat it as a side - without tortilla chips - and then fight over who got to drink the juice left in the bowl.

 Somehow we ended up with all cherry tomato plants this year and they are all producing abundantly.  So I have been making all my favorite summer fresh tomato dishes all with cherry tomatoes.
YUMMM Bruschetta!!!  Salsa and chips!  Fresh Summer Tomato Pasta! Caprese Salad!

I like to just throw things together when I cook, although I do like to go through recipes to get some new ideas.  For supper on this very, very hot evening I thew together this salad to eat with tortilla chips.

I can tell you what is in it, but I really have no idea what the measurements are, and I don't really think it makes much difference on a dish like this.  It contains: Chopped cherry tomatoes, about a half the bowlful, I tossed in a part of an onion and three kinds of peppers (one being a jalapeno) chopped and a finely diced large clove of garlic , also chopped and added about a half of a yellow squash and maybe a cup and a half of black beans and the kernels off of two cooked ears of corn, I squeezed in the juice of one lime, drizzled olive oil over the top and seasoned with freshly ground pepper and sea salt then added a generous palmful of cumin.  All seasonings to taste. It is chilling out in the fridge just waiting to have some cold cooked chopped chicken added just before we eat it with tortilla chips.

I found these tomato items on Etsy.

Watercolor Garden Foods Note Cards by Susan Windsor

Needle Felted Heirloom Tomato by Sharon Yoder

Polymer Clay Tomato Ornament by Amy's Clay Critters

Many blessings, Zuda Gay

Making a Simple Heart a Bit Fancy

Hearts have always been one of my favorite things to make...well, hearts and flowers.  I can remember playing in mud when I was a child and making flowers and hearts. I loved playing in mud!  This is a simple little tutorial on how I throw a heart together.

I used Premo! Peacock Pearl right out of the package.  After conditioning the clay, I took about 1/8th?

of the package and chopped it up with my blade.

Pick up all the little pieces and smoosh them together.

This will give your heart a lot of depth and marbling from the mica

that is in the pearl clay.....LOVE IT!

 Roll them into a  smooth ball.

See the blues/turquoise and greens? Yummy!

With the ball of clay between your palms, roll it back and forth putting more pressure

on one side of the ball to make a teardrop shape.

I made this funny little tool to help create the cleft in the heart, I also use

a needle tool on occasion, it just takes a bit more smoothing to get the lobes

just right.

You just press the tool in to the wide part and toggle it back and forth until

you get it opened up to your liking.

 Notice that it isn't perfect, but it is a good start. :)

Smooth out and round the lobes

Until you get them to the shape you are happy with.

Next you need to decide where you want the hole. For this heart, I wanted the hole

straight through the lobes. You could also go straight down through the cleft and out the

point...or any which way you want your heart to hang.  Also,  you can insert a bail for hanging

if you so wish.

To pierce a bead it is best to use a drilling motion starting on one side and piercing part way 

through, turn it over and line up your needle and work the other side in the same way

until it comes out the first hole.  

I enlarged the hole with a bamboo skewer, then left a piece of a skewer in to keep the hole

and to hold as I decorated it.

At this point, smooth your fingertips over the heart like you are gently petting it

to erase the fingerprints.

 Collect some canes and clay to see what you want to use to

decorate your heart.

I chose a pink flower cane and a purple flower cane that were sitting in my

cane box just waiting for their moment in time.

I can't tell you how old these are...probably 5 years old or so.

 I like to do a bit of manipulation to the cane slices.

My "tools" are actually handmade glass ink pens from Italy. :)

Make up some bitsy little leaves from green.

Sweet!

Roll out a thin snake/vine and lay it on the heart then decorate with

cane slices and leaves to your heart's desire. hehe...get it?

Cure it according to the package's direction, put it on a ribbon and wear it proudly.

If you make a heart, I would love to see it!!
Check out my About Page and let me know what you think.

blessings, Zuda Gay

Stuff to Share

Some great stuff I've been reading:

Soo, so touched by this blog post!  I want to be able to do this:  Jesus Had Blue Eyes (or, "Plus One")

I read the Hunger Games Trilogy at the prompting of some of my grandchildren. I really liked them and thought they contained a lot of topics that would be good for conversations with the kids...which we haven't got around to yet. This blog post from Homespun Inspirations spells it out much better than I could: My Thoughts on "The Hunger Games"

Susan Branch and her hubby took the Queen Mary 2 to England and I am virtually traveling along with them. I'm sure they would be happy to have you along as well.  Susan Branch Blog

LOVED this on American Idol last week!!!!! 



The sweetest pottery, ever! Julie Whitmore Pottery

many blessings, Zuda Gay

Doodles, Quotes and Colors

I love quotes. I write them down.....and then I often misplace them.  I love calligraphy...but I am not very good at it. I have tried it off and on for years. Although I can make the letters individually, putting together a lovely whole quote never comes out.  I decided that with my doodling it wouldn't matter so much that my writing isn't perfect or even pretty. So I scrounged around and found a couple of quotes that I had written down and lost then created a couple of doodles to go with them. :) Yay!

This one says "Spread love everywhere you go: First of all in your own house..." which is part of a quote from Mother Teresa.

I love this quote by Madeleine L'Engle: "Inspiration usually comes during work rather than before it."

I've been playing a bit with some of the fun tools in the new Picasa 3 program and changed this one up a bit.

How fun is that?

blessings, Zuda Gay