Creative Pursuits

Creative juices have been flowing lately, bearing fruit in a variety of ways.

Preparing tasty, healthful gluten free meals and snacks poses an enjoyable creative challenge, whether I adapt beloved old recipes or discover new ones.  Blending smoothies with our Magic Bullet has become a favorite quick and easy snack, dessert and even breakfast option.  Bananas, both frozen and fresh, are the basis the majority of my smoothies.  Did you know that when you blend a frozen banana with just a little bit of almond or coconut milk that it takes on a texture somewhere between ice cream and sorbet?  Mix in a little chocolate, perhaps some coconut and you have an amazing dairy free, gluten free dessert.  Or mix in strawberries, applesauce, cranberry juice, cucumber and a leaf of spinach and you have a healthful accompaniment to breakfast. 

This month we've enjoyed "spirit weeks" at Charlotte's dance studio.  There was crazy hat week, crazy clothes week, favorite costume week and studio colors week.  Favorite costume week had me stumped for a while.  Her dress up clothes were all too long and cumbersome for dancing in.  Then inspiration struck and I remembered I still had the little dirndl costume my mom bought a few years ago.  Would it fit?  Yes, albeit as a sort of flowy top rather than a dress.  Still very cute, see for yourself:


I've been sketching and drawing again too.  Here are the most recent works in progress:

Want to add some color to this doodle


Pansies from a picture in a magazine.  Want to draw additional flowers, leaves and the yellow pot they are in.


Sketch of a magazine layout I liked (cursive text is my addition)


Closeup study of same subject in Sharpie




A few months ago I found a cute blog where a mom makes pictures out of food for her childrens' lunches.  Fun, but seemed like an overwhelming amount of work at the time to my gluten-fogged self.  Now that I'm gluten free, the fog has lifted, and today I remembered it just in time to prepare Charlotte's lunch.  I didn't have any ideas for a cute picture, so I went with a more abstract medallion design. Still fun, and she ate a fair amount of it.


Before


During


After



And last but not least, my first big crochet project is coming along nicely.  I think I'm still on track to finish this afghan by May 1st and donate it to Project Linus in honor of the anniversary of Charlotte's accident.

Long shot for colors/size


Closeup of pattern