Works of Whimsy

Gold Guns Girls [Official Music Video] - METRIC

2012-01-24T12:16:00.002-05:00

As a teenager of the 80s, I LOVE this song. Reminds me a little of Berlin/Missing Persons, but Emily Haines...you rock.

New Needles & Notions

2012-01-21T10:47:00.004-05:00

I am a pretty paper and fabric junkie. I can't resist. I've been wanting to put my collection of fabrics to use and I'm happy with the results. These ornaments combine all of the things I love...cool fabric, wood cutouts, pretty buttons, silk ribbon, colorful threads, Bali silver beads and clay. I wish I had sewing skills like some of my favorite folk artists because I would love to sew skirts. My mom is a great seamstress, but thought since I was a lefty that I would have a hard time learning. These ornaments let me give my poor sewing machine some well-deserved attention :)

Caroline's Creations

2012-01-18T12:53:00.003-05:00

I had surprise awaiting me in the mail. One of my sweet customers sent this box of goodies that she had created. The vampire opens to a nice handwritten note and she made that Frankenstein ornament. It is attached to a mini Halloween checklist clipboard. I'm happy that she's been inspired to create her own art and have fun in the process Caroline. Thank you very much for the thoughtful surprise!

Making Miso

2012-01-15T20:00:00.004-05:00

With so many people sick this time of the year, if you've never tried miso soup, give it a slurp. It's delicious and nutritious. Our family loves this Japanese soup. It's very easy to prepare or you can always buy the prepackaged dry soup mix. The bowl of food above is not miso, but soba noodles that I made with the extra dashi stock. Soba noodles are very healthy and a great alternative to traditional noodles. They are made from buckwheat. I added bamboo shoots packed in sesame oil and stir fried some Chinese broccoli. I recommend using a microplane when grating fresh ginger. Chris and I had this for lunch and it was good or as they say in Hawaii, "Ono!"

To make miso soup, you need the following ingredients:

1. Dried kombu (dried seaweed and I would try to find it at an Asian market where the price will be a fraction of what it will be at Whole Foods) Pictured in the center of the above photo.

2. Dried bonito flakes (also much cheaper at an Asian market) Also pictured above.

3. Miso paste

4. Green onions

5. Firm tofu

Optional: Shitake mushrooms and/or sliced water chestnuts

To make homemade miso soup, you will need to make dashi, which is basically a fish stock.

Dashi Ingredients

1 piece kombu (approximately 5 by 6 inches)
1 cup bonito flakes
5 cups cold water

Directions

Wipe konbu with a damp cloth to clean.

In a stock pot, place konbu and cold water over medium heat. Just before the water begins to boil (DO NOT BOIL!) pull off heatand let stand 5 minutes.

Remove konbu, and bring back to heat. Again, right before stock begins to boil, remove from heat and add the bonito flakes. When flakes sink to the bottom, strain through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer. Dashi can hold in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.

Making Miso Soup

Wrap the block of tofu in 2 layers of paper towels and lay on a plate. Invert a second plate on top of the tofu and weigh down with a 28-ounce can. Leave for 20 minutes then cut the tofu into 1/4 to 1/2-inch cubes.

Heat the dashi in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. When the dashi reaches 100 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, ladle 1 cup into a small bowl. Add the miso, and whisk until smooth.

Bring the remaining dashi to a bare simmer, approximately 10 minutes. Add the miso mixture and whisk to combine. Return to a slight simmer, being careful not to boil the mixture. Add the tofu and scallions and cook for another minute or until heated through. Remove from the heat, ladle into soup bowls and serve immediately.

Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown

Tag! You're It!

2011-12-28T15:36:00.002-05:00

Meet the 2012 Hana flower ornament. She's the new face of my 2012 art tags.

Grouplove

2011-12-26T19:54:00.001-05:00

Tongue Tied by Grouplove

Christmas Morning

2011-12-25T10:10:00.005-05:00

I took this picture because the morning sunlight made the tree extra sparkly and pretty. Still hoping for a snow flurry or two later this afternoon. Always nice to have a white Christmas.

Hope Santa brought you everything on your wish list!

2011-12-25T10:10:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T21:33:00.003-05:00

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love and Peace,

Chris, Kristen, Shayne, Cameron & Cole

Christmas Mantel

2011-12-17T16:09:00.003-05:00

Finally, I got the flameless tea lights to place in the mercury glass votives. Found a beautiful evergreen swag with thick crystal "snow" at my favorite nursery. Miniature cedar in a birch planter with mini red lights (lights are doing double duty as they were on my Halloween swag on the dining room chandelier this year). Pinecones are from the Lake Tahoe area. One of them was resting near my Grandma Chloetilde's grave, so I had to bring that one home.

House feels festive this year :)

Woodland Christmas

2011-12-14T11:22:00.002-05:00

Our woodland-themed Christmas tree

Christmas Ornaments

2011-12-09T17:17:00.003-05:00

Second group of Christmas ornaments will be available for sale tonight at 7PM EST.

Merry Christmas!

COOKIES!

2011-12-08T10:22:00.003-05:00

DING DONG. The mail carrier has left a box of pure sweetness at our door. The annual Walker Christmas cookies have arrived! But wait...

Ever so slowly, I uncover each festive layer...

Oh,the anticipation...

SCORE! Look at how cute those Christmas and some not-so-Christmasy cookies are just waiting to be gobbled up by one lone cookie lover. Bummer for the boys who are at work and school. Oh well, more for me :) They really are too cute to eat, but I better make sure they taste good. Nom, nom, nom...delicious!

Thank you Wendy so much for always including our family in your yearly cookie tradition. We love to see all of the characters your family & friends create.

XOXO from the Beason bunch

Here's one last photo of the additional treats that awaited. Cole is going to love that pirate book and the illustration is incredible. I always get unique Nightmare Before Christmas gifts from Wendy, who is lucky to be able to visit Disneyland throughout the year. Can't beat the original D-land and this Southern California native will never think otherwise!

Making Snow Angels

2011-11-30T11:13:00.003-05:00

Seems only fitting to be making snow angels on this wintery day.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T01:09:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Lulu of My Pink Turtle for the use of the pink turkey picture. I'd never eat turkey again if they were this pretty.

How Sweet It Is

2011-11-18T08:07:00.002-05:00

The first 3D framed Christmas piece of the season. Available tomorrow at 10 AM EST.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2011-11-16T10:06:00.003-05:00

Along for the Ride

7" x 4"

One of several Christmas pieces that will be available on Saturday morning.

Metric

2011-11-09T08:57:00.000-05:00

Whether or not you're a Twilight fan, this is a great tune.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T09:34:00.004-04:00

The rain stopped just before trick-or-treating. Even though it was chilly, the kids seemed to have fun. Cole promptly dumped and sorted all his candy and was pleasantly surprised to discover he now has a large shoe box stash of candy. Better hide those Twix bars Cole!

Clockwise: Little Witch (Bella), Red Riding Hood (Kaelie), Werewolf (Cole), Pirate (Adriana), and Big Witch (Angela)

All Things Halloween

2011-10-31T16:02:00.003-04:00

It's been a busy weekend! Friday was Cole's classroom harvest party. Crepe paper pumpkins were filled with string cheese and grapes. Prize bags went to the winners of the dress the scarecrow relay race. The boys did a taiko performance at Case Western University Friday night, but I forgot to take photos :(

My only Halloween house decoration was the dining room chandelier. Picked up a neat decaying leaf swag, miniature red battery operated lights, and two cute flies at Suncrest Gardens. Chris carved the Dracula pumpkin for the centerpiece at last night's feast. The gift of HalloVine was a nice addition to the meal.

Upper left is the Steak on a Stake, followed by tomato-basil bisque and roasted garlic potatoes, crusty bread crucifixes, and topped off with Fluffy the Vampire Slayer mousse. I wished I had purchased the round mirrors to use as placemats. Ran out of time, but if we do a vampire dinner again, I will definitely use that idea.

I'm looking forward to being a bum tomorrow. Saturday found us attending two outdoor events. The first one was a naturalist-led hike at an area trail and the second was the coyote presentation. Very cool and the coyotes responded to the machine generated calls at two of the three outdoor locations. I sneaked a smooch with Mr. Scarecrow...shhh don't tell Chris.

Happy Halloween friends! I'm off to get Cole ready for trick-or-treating. Have a fun and safe evening.

Something to Sink Your Fangs Into

2011-10-30T16:31:00.003-04:00

Last of the 2011 Halloween dinners. We're doing a vampire theme. Tonight's menu includes:

Steak on a Stake

Tomato-Basil Bisque

Roasted Garlic Potatoes

Crusty Crucifixes

Dessert

Fluffy the Vampire Slayer

A chocolate mousse concoction

Can you guess who is who??? I'll give you a hint. Chris is NOT Mina. Time to get going with the cooking and I'll post more pics tomorrow. Until then, bone appetit!

Niceville or Knoxville?

2011-10-28T07:10:00.004-04:00

A box of Halloween goodies arrived last week from sweet Anne. The first box contained a bottle of HalloVine, which we will be enjoying this Sunday at the last of our themed dinners. The crystal skull bottle topper is a perfect spooky touch! We all enjoyed the Tennessee Walking Sticks, coffee, and cocoa. Love that Halloween wrapping paper!

I didn't realize you could personalize stamps at Zazzle. That Halloween stamp is a festive way to send a Halloween greeting. Thank you so much Anne for the thoughtful, generous gifts.

Last weekend's Halloween dinner was a mix of spare parts. Roast beef and cheddar sandwiches became fleshy monster heads. Fingerling potatoes were roasted and deep-fried nuts and bolts were petite mushrooms with zucchini. Apples were the monster mouths. JoAnns carries the candy eyeballs, so when I saw them I thought they would be cute in a fluff of whipped creme.

The big Halloween dinner will be on Sunday and it's something to sink our fangs into ;)

No Reservations Required

2011-10-18T18:35:00.005-04:00

At the Afterlife Diner, spirits flow and the chef's special is whatever he digs up that day. OK, I'm a dork! I had a wild hair to make a surprise spooky dinner for the boys tonight. Still planning the menu for the big Halloween dinner...

MENU

Earthworms in a spicy dirt and maggot medley served over graveyard greens

Grilled sharp cheese on owls and ghosts

There's a Head in Me Cider!

Dessert

Must Have Brains cupcakes

Light-Up Lantern Festival

2011-10-08T22:07:00.002-04:00

This has to be THE best street festival we have ever attended! The lanterns, costumes, displays, and performers were unbelievable. Chris and I were saying how much we are looking forward to next year's event.

Weekend Warriors

2011-10-02T22:07:00.002-04:00

Chris snapped this group photo before the show on Friday night. Of course, my melon is hiding behind Vergie and I'm on the step in front of Pam. Nice going Ansel.

OK, the Friday night table~ I'm smiling because the show is about begin and it's nice to have everything come together after months of creating.

Baby boy with our adorable neighbors, Angela and Adriana. They drove 3 hours to attend the show and finally see all of the Halloween goodness. Adriana is a Halloween girl and a budding artist. They thought the show was VERY cool. They have very good taste!

The show was incredible and it was so nice to see my sweet customers. Some of them traveled for hours, even days, to attend the show. That's folk art love right there! I wish I could have spent more time chatting with them, but I do appreciate their effort in making it to the show and seeing how Mill Race Village is transformed for two magical days. I hope they went home with many great pieces of art and wonderful memories.

Ghoultide Rocks, Literally!

2011-09-23T12:50:00.001-04:00

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://theappleseedcollective.bandcamp.com/track/evil-one-2"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Evil One by The Appleseed Collective&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Friday night attendees of Ghoultide Gathering will be entertained with The Appleseed Collective. One week to go!!!!

Happy Birthday Roald Dahl

2011-09-13T08:43:00.002-04:00

Roald Dahl would have been 95 years old today. In the U.K., Africa, and Latin America, it is Roald Dahl Day to commemorate one of the greatest authors of children's literature. We will be honoring his birthday with a movie night. Cole and I watched The Witches last night and we may have to purchase Matilda to add to our Dahl movie library.

Sun-Shiny Day

2011-08-29T16:39:00.004-04:00

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,

I can see all obstacles in my way

Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind

It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)

Sun-Shiny day

That Johnny Nash song is an instant mood elevator for me!

I had to cut the remaining sunflowers, since most of them were damaged by the strong rainstorm we had several weeks ago. Now, we can enjoy them for the rest of the week. It's easy to see why they are popular subjects for artists. Vincent took their beauty to another level.

*Cute cat in the background is sweet prince Roux

Busy Bees

2011-08-28T10:42:00.004-04:00

We had a very busy day yesterday. Chris and I headed to the annual Art on the Green in Hudson in the morning. What a bust! I was so hoping to find some cool garden art, but there was absolutely nothing that blew my skirt up. Not a total loss, we ended up buying Cameron some loaded potato perogies at the farmer's market across the square. They were delicious and you could smell the aroma of fried onions cooking from a distance. Yummy :)

Since there was zero art to be had, we decided to drive down to the Don Drumm gallery in Akron. You really need a few hours to absorb all of the artwork in there, but since we only had an hour, we managed to find this Halloween night light.

Since I'm old, we took an afternoon siesta before heading out to the Medina International Folk Festival. I was pleasantly surprised at the size and area of the show. It's located in a quaint historic downtown. The boys now have three performances under their happi coat belts!

My Kind of "Wrapper"

2011-08-26T12:54:00.005-04:00

OK, my mind is mush right now because I'm so incredibly happy that I actually have tears of joy! My sweet friend Wendy just sent me this incredibly thoughtful, generous birthday gift. Look at that beautiful wrapping! Wendy's gifts always arrive so pretty that you almost hate to open them. Once I had surgically removed the card, ribbons, and paintbrushes, look what awaited...

Freakin' out is putting it mildly. I can't believe that I am the happy owner of this book. What's even cooler is the fact that I saw quite a few of these illustrations and drawings in person at the Tim Burton NY exhibit last year. 430 pages of bliss and I'm going to get comfy and go read now.

Thank you so very, very much Wendy for one of the best birthday gifts EVER!

Velvet Pumpkins

2011-08-23T15:59:00.006-04:00

These beautiful velvet pumpkins are by Plush Pumpkins by Monya. So many color choices and they do make for a stunning table setting. These pumpkins were featured in this year's Better Homes & Gardens Halloween Tricks and Treats. Visit the website to see all of the available colors and store locations.

plushpumpkin.com

Squeals

2011-08-20T14:52:00.005-04:00

The Better Homes & Gardens issue of Halloween Tricks & Treats is available! What a happy surprise ;)

School Daze

2011-08-17T08:54:00.003-04:00

I don't know who was in the bigger daze...me or the boys! It's hard getting back to an early rise schedule. Thank God for coffee. This year, Cameron begins his junior year and is armed with a driver's license. YIKES! Can't wait for the Friday night football games and we'll be enjoying the Twinsburg drumline. Cameron will be the section leader this year!

Cole starts fifth grade with one of the finest teachers in our district. Cameron also had Mrs. Spring as his 5th-6th grade looping teacher. Mrs. Spring is awesome and does incredible science projects with her students. Cole is very excited about school this year.

Coney Island

2011-08-16T14:59:00.003-04:00

Anne was sweet enough to share a photo of her collection of my Halloween cones. What a festive display! Thanks for sharing :)

Hold On, Hold On

2011-08-05T13:31:00.001-04:00

Great tune by Neko Case

Cherries- Meet the Pit Boss!

2011-07-16T11:40:00.004-04:00

P.T. Barnum called it...I'm a SUCKER for cute kitchen gadgets. Not only is it cute, but it works really well. Talisman Designs has a line of unique serving utensils and there's even a butter boy corn gadget.

www.talismandesigns.com

Happy 94th Birthday Grandma ♥

2011-07-05T12:28:00.004-04:00

Today marks the 94th birthday to one of the most beautiful, sweetest grandmas~ my Grandma Esther! Wishing her a wonderful day. We hope you had a fun party surrounded by all of those who love & respect you.

Super BIG hugs and kisses XOXO

Chris, Kristen, Shayne, Cameron, & Cole

Happy Birthday America!

2011-07-04T23:27:00.001-04:00

My Garden Babies

2011-06-20T13:23:00.006-04:00

On Friday, I received this wonderful surprise in the mail from Anne Stevenson, one of the sweetest customers/friends out there! It's a small wire garden trellis with a spider for my Halloween garden. Very cool trellis was made by Dan Towell of Twisted Art. Dan can be found on Facebook at The Dusty Raven Gallery.

Spider trellis needed a vine and I found the perfect one. It's a candy corn vine! The small flowers look just like candy corn.

Deck pots this year. Still looking for the perfect purple pot to complete the trio.

Close-up of flower pot plantings. Look at that beautiful dark petunia and the creme/burgundy coreopsis. I also love the hot pink and chartreuse petunias.

Scored the wee purple and creme polka dot pot at Michaels today. It now contains a pretty ornamental oregano that is starting to bloom with lilac flowers.

The side garden that Mom designed last year. Vegetable section in foreground with the beginnings of my sugar snap peas! Making good use of the fire pit this year and I'm done bragging up my garden babies :) Thanks for visiting!

Art Alert

2011-05-23T14:26:00.004-04:00

It came to my attention today that one of my pieces was part of an auction that I did not endorse. In fact, it was a piece that should have been returned to me months ago. You can't control shameless people, but I can control what I endorse on my blog and website. I don't take part in any online auctions unless I promote it on my blog or website. Karma :)

Benefit for Japan

2011-03-23T07:27:00.004-04:00

If you live in the Cleveland area, please try to attend the benefit. The kids have worked hard on organizing this event and there are excellent performances scheduled.

Interview with Walt

2011-02-28T12:36:00.002-05:00

Three minutes of riveting journalism. Good job little man Beason...I mean Disney.

In Memoriam

2011-01-25T12:03:00.003-05:00

Samuel Irvin (Si) Beason

May 19, 1921- January 24, 2011

Yesterday, my husband lost his Poppa Si. Although I did not know him well, I do know he was a kind, generous, loving man. Chris can be very proud to say that he was his "Poppa Si."

Our thoughts and love go out to Chris' family in New Mexico and we're glad that Chris can be with you to remember the life of this remarkable man.

I'm a Cover Girl!!!

2009-06-11T10:08:00.003-04:00

I'm about to burst! What a thrill and an honor to have your artwork on a nationally recognized magazine! Thanks so much to all of the nice people at Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine. Barbara Delaney & Cate Coulacos Prato- YOU ROCK! Of course, I have a huge hug and high five for the lovely and talented Cheryl Prater of Praterposte.