Wind Chime

Today I constructed a wind chime made out materials I picked up on a recent trip to Kauai.  I chose glass beads in colors that remind me of the island. I felt particularly lucky to find a Japanese netsuke in the shape of an octopus to go along with the ocean theme.

I'm tempted to point the fan at the doorway and dream about Hanalei for the rest of the day.

xoxo
Char

Striped SoMo

These parts become...

a Sock Monkey!

Happy Sewing!

xoxo

Char

Pelican

"my goodness my guinness"

happy tea

xoxo

Char

Gangy

This is a little illustration of my grandmother.

She will be 88 next month.

xoxo

Char   

Yunomi

This is another little drawing that I made on a tea bag wrapper, this time with pen and watercolor crayons.  It is my "yunomi" that I use at my grandmother's house.  Yunomi is the word for this Japanese style teacup.  It could be that I've been using this cup for 15-20 years...  It's hard to pinpoint exactly when, because stepping into my grandmother's house is like going into another dimension.  Time, like my grandmother's stories of days past, isn't linear there.

xoxo
Char

Van Gogh Blue and Yellow Mug

This is my favorite everyday tea drinking mug.

 I painted it about 12 years ago when my friend Susan and I went to one of those "paint your own" pottery studios.  My favorite glaze at the time, and still remains to be one of my favorite colors, was a rich navy blue that also had a tendency to look ultramarine or cobalt depending on the evenness (or lack of it) in the application of the glaze.  The glaze was called Van Gogh Blue.  Can't you just see "Starry Night over the Rhone" in that glaze?

My favorite mug sits on top of my felt hedgehog coaster.  In the foreground of the photo is my favorite patchwork coaster that my grandmother made years ago.

Here is my doodle on a teabag:

  

Happy Tea Doodle
xoxo
Char

Teapot

Here is a photo of a little drawing I made of a teapot.  The image was taken and edited with my beloved photo toy that I told you about over breakfast the other day.  I've been doing a tea themed documentation project with the photo application, but for my blog I'll be posting illustrations of those featured tea related items.

xoxo
happy tea doodles
char

 

Alphabetical letters...

I started this project 3 years ago when I went to stay with my grandmother for a couple months...

 This is where I picked up during my last visit just after that nasty typhoon:

I got through H-I before I got too sleepy.  I'll be visiting her again on Monday, so more photos to come later in the week!

xoxo
Char

Breakfast

Some of my friends have been playing with a photo application on their magical phones, and I recently joined in on the fun.

This is a photo I took and edited with the aforementioned application:

This morning for breakfast I was inspired to make homemade hash browns and eggs over easy.  No toast this morning, because potatoes are starchy enough.


Here is what you need for the hash browns:
a potato
oil or butter to coat your skillet
a lid for the skillet
salt and pepper to taste


This is what you do:
Heat your skillet - medium
Grate a potato
Drop your butter in the skillet and roll it around to coat the entire surface.
Once the skillet is hot put all of your potato bits in it.
After about a minute cover it with a lid and keep cooking it for about 3 minutes.  Covering and cooking will ensure that all the potato bits get cooked through.
Remove lid and when the bottom looks golden and crispy, flip it over and cook the other side until the second side is crispy and golden!

Bon appétit.
xoxo
Char

Angry Pony Flies

Angry Ponly flies on a big big air boat.

look how his curly mane flows.

xoxo

Wildlife on Mt St Helens

Summer Shots

sweet one hundred, sun gold, & sun sugar

splash

red plane

Volcano

My 7 year old step-kid is "writing a book" about volcanoes and he asked me to contribute a drawing for his cause. I had a lot of fun making this drawing called "Volcano Erupting at Night" for his project.

xoxo

Char

Daily Doodle 8/22/11 Bittersweet Cobb Burger

top bun with heart shaped sesame seeds...

tomato

avocado

bacon

turkey patty

bleu cheese crumble

lettuce with a vinaigrette dressing

bottom bun

more excellent family time

the last doodle in the little moleskine

xoxo

char

Daily Doodle 8/21/11 Mermaid Beer.

The weekend full of boating on lakes, sunshine, and happy family time ended with a delicious lunch with mermaid beer and fish tacos.

8/20/11 Anchor Love.

For my Darling.

Looo-ving Youuuuuuuuu!

xoxo

Char

Daily Doodle 8/19/11 Septopus

Septopi <3

xoxo

Char

8/18/11 Daily Doodle

Mmman I love this puppy.

Happy Doods

xoxo

Char

Daily Doodle 8/17/11

Happy Birthday to my Mum. She is a smart, strong, kind, firm, smart, funny, wise, smart, beautiful, confident, and sweet woman. Did I mention that she's wicked smart? I adore her. ::imagine concentric cartoon hearts floating out of my eyeballs now::

So many of the things I enjoy are most likely due to her influence. A few of those things that we both love include butter, cheese, dark chocolate, colors, flowers, plants, decorative paper, gardening, problem solving, organizational containers, Audrey Hepburn, stickers, dishes, Marimekko, Anne of Green Gables and red hair, herbs de Provence, ribbon, crafting, mont blanc, stationery, writing utencils, and most profoundly TEA. We've been enjoying tea together for so many years now, I was glad that we got to enjoy some together today.

xoxo

Char

Daily Doodle 8/16/11

Crunch

xoxo

Char

Daily Doodle 8/15/11

Morning bunny in the grass.

xoxo

Char

Daily Doodle 8/14/11

Noods

Happy Doods

xoxo

Char

Daily Doodle 8/13/11

Looking forward to some z's and no alarms in the morning.

xoxo

happy sleeps

char

Daily Doodle 8/12/11 Tomato

Summer.

xoxo

Char

Farm Animals with not so pleasant personality traits.

Sassy and Oppressive Barn Cat is ready to put you in your place with the aide of her claws.

With Passive-Aggressive Donkey you know he'll never look you directly in the eye...
Co-Dependent Chicken and Eggy never leave each other's side.
Overly Dramatic Fainting Pygmy Goat is at it again... no worries he'll snap out of it and be at it in again in a few minutes... stick around for another show.

More to come soon.

Daily Doodle 8/11/11

homemade gyoza. mmmm. dinner.

happiness

xoxo

Char

Angry Pony

Until now, Angry Pony's background had been shrouded in mystery. We've just learned that Angry Pony was raised by wolves. An angry pack of vicious wolves.

Daily Doodle 8/10/11

Drink and doodle of the day.

Crushed ice, water, and a squeeze of lime in a tall skinny glass.

Refreshing. <3

xoxo

Char

Angry Unicorn

I collaborated with my friend Billy to create the above drawing... He gave me the subject, and I made it come to life on a scrap piece of paper.

It is the mystical cousin of Angry Pony, Angry Unicorn.

I would like to mention that my Angry Pony collaborator Nikki had nothing to do with Angry Unicorn. In fact she insists that "there's no such thing as a mean unicorn" which Billy deems as "lies".

What I heard through the grapevine is every time someone litters a cigarette butt an angry unicorn is born! They're just invisible to most people. The truth will be told through science one day.

Angry Pony Delivers Maggots in the Mail

It's been a while since you've last seen him. We've found out why, it's because he's been busy delivering maggots to peoples post boxes! He is an odd pony.

Daily Doodle 8/9/11 Ducky

Ducky on the move.

Happy Doodles!

xoxo

Char

Daily Doodle 8/8/11

Warm and cozy.

Happy Toes

xoxo

Char

Daily Doodle 8/7/11 Seven

Seven is the number of times I was woken up by my niece and nephew as they had a slumber party at their grandma's house last night... which is also my explanation of my delayed Daily Doodle post.

Seven is the number of times I checked my e-mail to see if I had word from my Bunny in Thailand today.

Seven is the number of years my step-kid is, and the highest number of sneezes he had in a row today.

Seven is the number of times I listened to my current favorite song "how dare you" today.

Seven is the number of cookies I wanted to eat today, though I only had 2.

Seven is the number of dragonflies that landed on me as I sunned beside the pond this afternoon.

Happy 7 Kind of Day

xoxo

Char

Daily Doodle 8/6/11 Cookie Love

Check it! Graham cracker bottom with a chocolate chip cookie on top, above that yet another layer of minnie marshmallow and a piece of chocolate bar all baked together. MMMman! My sister in law is onto something.

Yet another happy dessert

xoxo

Char

Daily Doodle 8/5/11

love scissors for fabric... and fabric only.

happy snippers

xoxo

Char

phone doodle

This is what happens while I'm on the phone.

Happy Doodles

xoxo

Char