Posted in Art Class, Holidays, Workshop/Retreat, tagged Art Class, Christmas gift making on November 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday at The Studio we had our “Gift Making Workshop for Kids”. And make gifts they did! Lots of them. They made a set of snowman candle holders, a broach with little gift packages, 2 gift bags, and a miniature canvas painting of a snowman family.
They all look GREAT! There are going to be some really lucky people this Christmas who receive these gifts. Well done!
Posted in Embroidery, tagged embroidery, pig on November 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Pig Embroidered on Apron
Here is the next apron in the series. This one has a cute little pig on it!
For anyone downtown in Front Royal today we have two really great events going on at The Studio. First, a gift making workshop for kids at 10 am. More info here.
And then at 2 pm a fun seminar for adults with 17 DIY Easy Gift Ideas. Check out more here.
Please come join us.
Posted in Recipes, Serendipity, tagged Carrot Cake, Carrot Cake Recipe on November 28, 2014| 1 Comment »
Ingredients for Carrot Cake
Batter should look like this
Big Mama’s Carrot Cake
Yesterday I made Big Mama’s Carrot Cake to take to Thanksgiving Dinner. It was a hit! It always is.
Big Mama made the best cakes and the recipes I have of hers have always been favorites. Several people asked for the recipe so here it is. When I make one to take to a gathering with lots of people I always make 1 1/2 times the recipe in order to have a large cake. Enjoy.
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups cooking oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups finely grated carrots
Combine oil, sugar and eggs. Beat well. Add dry ingredients to this mixture. Mix well and then add carrots. Mix them in and then pour into 3 layer pans which have been greased and floured. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. (Be sure to watch them toward the end of the time as each oven bakes differently.) Cool.
Carrot Cake Nut Frosting
½ cup butter
1 8 oz. cream cheese
1 lb. powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cup chopped pecans
Beat butter and cheese until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla. Frost cake. Sprinkle a few pecans on each layer with the majority on the top.
Posted in Dogs, Serendipity, tagged Dogs, Mamie on November 27, 2014| 6 Comments »
Mamie’s Tutu
Mamie with Snow Dog
Her first day with us. Just like she had always been here.
Mamie Eisenhower Walker
Kissing Lincoln
Throw my toy please!
Sleeping with Pig
Mamie sleeping on MY pillow-her favorite nap spot
Today we celebrate Thanksgiving – the most honest of all holidays. We give thanks for the family and friends in our lives and for the bounty we enjoy. Today I am giving a special prayer of thanks for our wonderful Mamie. We lost her yesterday to liver failure.
We only had the pleasure of Mamie, a feisty little Cairn terrier, for a little more than 2 years. She came to us from previous homes who could not keep her. What a loss for them because she was an amazing little dog.
She loved pigs. We are not sure how she could tell the difference but she knew her pigs…..and she had many! And she loved to play fetch more than anything. We would throw her pig, a ball, a stuff toy, and most recently her squeaky airplanes (a gift from neighbors when she first got sick in July) down the hallway in the house for her to chase. And chase she would hundreds of times if you would throw it that many. She LOVED it!
And she loved playing with her brothers Jed and Lincoln….especially Lincoln who was patient when we first got Mamie to help her overcome her toy aggression. It took several months but she finally understood that he just wanted to play. (You can see more about Mamie in this anniversary post.)
Mamie was our sweet little girl. She was devilish and clever. She was adorable and manipulating. She knew how to work the room. And many of our Facebook friends loved Mamie as well. We post photos on Facebook almost each day of our visits to the dog park and many people got to know her that way.
So today we send up a prayer of Thanksgiving for the time we had with our little girl, Mamie. We loved her so much and are so happy that she is feeling no more pain. We will miss her forever.
Posted in daily painter, Dogs, Embroidery, tagged Dogs, embroidery, hand embroidery on November 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »
On my quest to embroidery everything I see (LOL) I found these cute aprons recently at Target and of course, I thought the apron bib was the perfect place for a little embellishment.
Here is one with a Mamie look-a-like.
Posted in Paint Parties, tagged acrylic, Birthday Paint Party, castle, impressionism, Landscape, Paint Party on November 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Birthday Girl Rhea with her painting. Great job!
Helping the painters stay on track.
The Party Girls
Mom with the Birthday Girl
We had the most fun Birthday Paint Party yesterday afternoon at The Studio. Rhea had many of her friends come to paint to celebrate her 7th birthday…and boy did we have fun. She requested to paint a “castle with purple flowers and a tree”! So we did.
Do you have a young painter who would like to have a Paint Party? Contact kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com . We will be glad to help.
Posted in Holidays, Workshop/Retreat, tagged gourd painting, snowman on November 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Step 1- Pick a great gourd!
Step 2-Paint it white
Step 3- Paint a cute face
Step 4- Give him some buttons
Step 5- Add a scarf, ear muffs and arms
Step 6- Add a hat
A Snowman Lineup!
What a terrific time we had yesterday at The Studio-A Place for Learning. Janice and Ruth taught a super fun class on making snowmen from gourds.
And everyone made the cutest little snowmen and snow-women. The laughter was contagious and fun was had by all.
Thanks everyone for making this workshop a success!
Posted in Holidays, Paint Parties, tagged acrylic, snowman, snowmen on November 22, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Snowman Family on canvas
Snowman candle holder
Here are a couple of the Snowman projects I have been working on for the upcoming Kid’s Gift making class. We have so many fun things planned for this session. You can learn more about it here.
This fun event will be Saturday, November 29th from 10-11:30 for kids ages 5-13. Register by contacting kwalker@doubledogdesigns.com .
Posted in Dogs, Embroidery, tagged Dogs, embroidery, Shenandoah Vallery Artist, Virginia Artist on November 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »
I love Facebook because I am always seeing cute sayings that people post. I saw this one a few weeks ago and thought it would make a cute embroidery pattern if I added a little dog to it. So here it is on a pillow.
I love this one!
Posted in Art Class, tagged Art Class on November 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »
The kids painted these wonderful Thanksgiving paintings of a colorful turkey yesterday in class.
And Pat completed the beautiful scene she has been working on in this tray.
Great job everyone!
The Studio 