Rohling Studios

Eat Apples

   The kids were here from Arkansas.  We went to the Apple Farm.  I sat out on the apple picking this year... but...I look forward to walking through the apple orchards next year.  In two weeks I get my new knees!!!  I am looking forward to next year at this time.  Mostly I just want the six weeks after the surgery to pass quickly).  They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away....so....I'm planning to eat a lot of apples during my recovery. 

   The grandkids put up the halloween decorations while they were here.  We hung orange lights in the bathroom and my Little Man said it was like having a festival when you go to the bathroom!  I love it!  I think I should leave out lights in the bathroom year round.  I like the idea of it being a festival in there.      

Creative Souls

Visit Creative Souls

My blog friend Izabella has started a wonderful group called "Creative Souls".  I met Izabella when I began my blog two and a half years ago.  I loved her work immediately and asked her if I could feature it.  Now Izabella has gathered over four-hundred creative souls all in one wonderful site!  It is a diverse gathering of people who love creativity, a place she has made where artists can help promote each other.  She says~All creative people welcome~

After Work!

  Did you like cracker jacks…not so much for the tasty treat but for the surprise inside? Is the best part of your Chinese takeout the fortune cookie? Then these books are for you because each one is like opening a new present! No two are alike!!! I was given a handmade journal by someone very special to me. It meant so much to me that I had to sit down and play with the process of making more of them for myself. This month my sister and I spent some time making these one of a kind altered journals especially for PFATT. Now understand that we believe in coloring outside of the lines and that mistakes are a part of life so please know that each book is made with love and care; however, we accept no responsibility for tiny imperfections and will not admit as to whether they were intentional or not. We hope you enjoy our sense of humor. Journals can be used to jot down your day's highlights, write your music, draw your designs, keep your secret thoughts, or store addresses. You might even use your journal as a place to write down your favorite recipes or simply keep your grocery lists and carry them to the store in style.

Cindy made this journal for the creative soul and fun at heart. It’s vamp dancer on the front cover.  It also has Typewriter Keys below her that spell out “DANCE”. The back cover has a long red envelope to hide your innermost secret of dreams. The book is definitely for the person with an off beat sense of humor. It also contains many surprises inside.

And lastly this little pink journal is for a sweet someone special. With its vintage ephemera and feminine touches it would be perfect for anyone’s inner child. Once again we stress that these journals are all one of a kind .  All of them are available through PFATT this month only along with work from numerous other artisan's and crafters.   To see them click HERE

New At PFATT

It's always exciting when PFATT is posting new items for the month!  It's SPRING!  Check it out by clicking on the banner above.  Next month will be our Halloween in June promotion (with doorprizes!) and in July we plan a Christmas in July promotion.   PFATT a wonderful place full of goodies to get lost in! I am so proud to be a part of these wonderful folks!

Christmas at the Osthoff Resort and "The Golden Bratwurst"

Paul, Laura and I went to the Osthoff in Elkhart Lake for the day.  Look who we met!  Isn't he the greatest St. Nick you have ever seen?!!!  The funny thing is that I still feel giddy when I stand next to Santa, St. Nick or whoever you want to call him!!!  He is such a magical character!   The most fun of all was to stand next to my son with Santa.  In the past I stood behind the camera lense and took pictures of the kids with Santa.  Yesterday Laura took this picture of Paul and I with "the jolly old soul"!  It was worth the trip if only to have the picture....however there was so much more to see!!!

These are the adorable gingerbread houses sold by Coffee Garden from Merton, WI.

Meet Joe Kohlbeck from JK Designs of Sheboygan, WI.  He makes the most beautiful one of a kind reverse painted glass ornaments.  He also wrote the "New Legend of the Golden Bratwurst" and crafts the ornaments of them. Sheboygan is the home of bratwurst.  

He gave me permission to reprint his story...please email him if you wish to reprint it since it is copyrighted. 

                       The New Legend of the Golden Bratwurst

It was Christmas Eve in Sheboygan long ago and Heinze and Marta Gootwurster were puzzling over what to leave for a treat for Santa.  Marta said, "Heinze, the chickens, they ain't laying no eggs, der all on strike like the rest of us.  We don't have no money to buy a ham for Christmas much less sugar for bakin' cookies this year!  All seven of the Gootwurster children at the dinner table hung their heads sadly ad little Joey cried, "But Santa won't bring us presents if we don't leave some cookies for him!"  "Now, now children", said Marta, "Dat's nonsense! Santa don't just bring you presents to get gingerbread cookies.  He brings presents 'cause you  been good children and givin' gifts is part of the celebration of the Christchild's birth!  We tink of somethin' to leave for Santa."

"Hey Marta"said Heinze, "let's leave Santa a double brat from Grandpa Gootwurster's family recipe this year once, instead of all them cookies he'll get all over anyway enso!  "Yah, Yah, Heinze" said Marta, "dat's a good idea!"  So they left a note for Santa where the cookies usually were, instructing him to join Marta and Heinze in the back yard for an outdoor fry and there would be plenty of brats, Sheboygan hard rolls and all the fixings.

Santa filled all the stockings so carefully hung by the chimney and left more presents under the thin, sparsely decorated Christmas tree.  He found the note Heinze and Marta had left for him.  As he whooshed back up the chimney he was speculating over what a "double brat" might be.  He jumped off the roof into a big snow bank that was rapidly shrinking from the heat of the grill.  As he dusted off the snow, Marta was extending a steaming double brat on a Sheboygan hard roll with all the fixings.  Santa quickly muttered a thank you and took his first bite of a double brat.  He rolled his eyes and gobbled the rest of the sandwich down.  "That was f-a-b-u-l-0-u-s,"he said, "you kow, I get pretty "cookied" out this time of year!"

"Santa" said Heinze, "we have plenty more brats, would you like anudder one?"  Santa thought for a moment and replied, "I would indeed...ahh let me look at 'em once!?! "  He picked up a brat with his fingers and held it up in front of him.  With eyes twinkling, he laid his finger along side his nose and turned the golden-brown bratwurst into a golden Christmas ornament.  Santa presented the bratwurst ornament to Marta and Heinze Gootwurster for their wonderful hospitality and it continues to grace their Christmas tree to this day.

Much to their surprise, when they opened the grill, the remaining bratwursts had been turned into golden Christmas ornaments too.  Heinze and Marta hung their sparse tree full of the golden bratwurst ornaments and the Gootwurster children were dazzled by them on Christmas morning.  As friends and relatives visited them over the holidays, Marta and Heinze would give them a golden bratwurst ornament as a symbol of their hospitality and friendship.

Copyright 1997 Joe Kohlbeck

Email Joe at jkdesigns@charter.net  to order your own golden bratwurst.             

      

Let's Make Walnut Ink!!!

We have had a bumper crop of walnuts this year! 

We can't sit under these trees for fear one will fall on our noggin!  When they come down.......they hit hard with a very loud *THONK* kind of sound. The squirrels are having a great time "hiding" them.  How is this for a switch?

They are putting them IN the bird feeder instead of taking the bird food out!! 

I am finding them everywhere.....from on my chairs to

being tucked carefully on the bumper of my boat.  I grilled out the other night and found one in the grill basket. 

They have torn apart my flower pots and left them there...unburied.  I always thought they buried nuts!

I even almost tripped over a stash by the front door.  I admit that I became just a bit irritated after finding  the nibbled up remains of one on the hood of my truck!  There are so many this year they can't even eat them all. They stain your skin if you pick them up.  Do I need to tell you what happens as the hulls are left behind on the patio or where ever the furry little fellas leave them after their feast?...

  There are stains all over the patio this year...and, on the picnic benchs.  Which in turn means on my pants!  The trees are beautiful in the summer and yet, I have been told that the wood is very valuable.  I might consider selling them because the roots are toxic to other plants and not many things grow well around the area.  BUT...You know what they say..."When life gives you lemons, make lemonade".  (I have walnuts....maybe I'll make walnut ink!)  Click HERE, HERE, or HERE if you wish to choose a recipe for walnut ink.

Halloween Is Coming!

Halloween has to be one of my favorite holidays!  I am busy getting ready...drawing, sewing, decorating and loving orange and black!  I can't wait to get pictures of the grandkids in their trick or treat costumes.  I loved how excited my kids would be!  (But that's another whole post!)  I have some images to share.

   

Here is some cool material I found!  I just learned how to make pillow cases...Yeah, I know...you probably already know how to do that!...It is new to me so please humor me!  I loose pillow cases like other people loose socks!  My dryer must eat them!  Because of this phenomonem, I am excited that I will be able to make all kinds of different ones.  My daughter makes them for my grandkids.  I am hoping to have some new ones here the next time they come home!  I just have to share the cute little images on the vintage looking fabric.

 

It is From the collection of Edelen Wille and made for Marcus Brothers Textile, Inc.....I just checked the link and there is lots more coming from her!......Just in case you HAVE to make some cool things yourself!  This was definately my find of the season!  Do you hear my sewing machine yet?.........RAT TAT TAT TATTATATATATATATATATATATAT!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheery Cherry Fall Festival ~ Menomonee Falls, WI

It was a beautiful day to visit an art Fair!  At one time we did fifty-two shows in one year!  Yes....count them.....FIFTY-TWO!  It has been a very long time since I exhibited in one but I like to go to several each year.  The Cheery Cherry Fall Festival in Menomonee Falls, WI was one of the first shows we did.  Today I returned after many years to touch base with the past and the future!  I want you to meet Kathryn Petersen from Rubicon, WI.  She had the most wonderful exhibit!  I love her Raggedy Ann and Andy!  Every handmade version is different and new even if it is made to look old and primitive!   

          

Isn't this a cute doll?

Ya gotta love a woman who sells spider eggs!

I love the cat!

I also ran into Cho Ny of Creative Designs again.  I bought a great appliqued sweatshirt from him in the past and lost his card so I was so happy to find him again.  I hope I will have time to photograph the pretties I got from him.  Hint...one is a rosie pink and another is a pretty green. 

 

As I was leaving I couldn't help but wonder how big this tree was the last time I was here!  I bet it didn't cast a shadow like it does now! 

Stashes O'Stuff

Did you ever notice how some people just don't appreciate your art supplies, (stash of sewing stuff, piles of material, wood, books or metals) in quite the same way you do? 

I get questions like, "Why do you need so much green?".  I'm sure the shock that registers on my face when I am asked a question like that...can not even be read by the person who would even ask it.  I love tubes  and bottles and jars and pens and markers and spools and reams of color!  I even love the dried up palettes after a project is done.  I have to admit that I love a small stack of threads of many colors after snipping the finished edges of something I have sewn.  Yes...I throw it out but I have to tell you that I like it.  I LOVE COLOR!  What do you keep a stash of?  Send your pictures and your url and I will try to post as many as I can...Send me a jpeg of your color collection!  Be sure to tell me a little bit about yourself so I can share you, your work and your stash!

Maybe they are even small stashes....a stash of crayons is always a good thing!

Don't even get me started on material!!!

PFATT~Christmas In JULY

It is PFATT time again!  Lots of new things over at the Marketplace!  Right now there is a bit of Christmas in July!  Be sure to start your Christmas shopping early... CLICK HERE and see what is new!  I am offering the remaining prints of my Original Christmas PEACE SANTA.  It's an Old Fashioned Santa Print on parchement featuring the original poem by Children's Artist, ME!. Santa is reminiscent of the old European Santas. The print will fit an 8”x10” mat and frame. It's great to bring out as a holiday tradition every year. This is the original print made in 1987 and one of the last opportunities to purchase it in this format. It is being reintroduced this Christmas in a revised edition and all remaining original prints in my possession will be destroyed. If you have any questions please feel free to email me!  Prints are $5.00 each and 1-10 will be mailed for the same shipping and handling fee of a $4.oo  Orders outside the US will have to be precalculated for shipping and handling. 

I have had to take some legal steps to stop another company that took my poem without purchasing the rights to it and began publishing it.  That still amazes me how many folks think that is ok to do.  If anyone would like to join me...I will be designing a button that will link to a Copyright Information Site so that we can spread the word to make it known that Copyrighted means it is illegal to Copy and sell information and work that is not yours.  Is there an interest out there?????

I am also offering the WISH I COULD ASK OLD SANTA Print below.  IT is also an original print of my copyrighted work and poem. 

Price for this print is also $5.00 and $4.00 for shipping and handling up to 10 prints within the US.  Payment can be made by Paypal, moneyorder or personal check.  Again, orders outside the US will have to be precalculated for shipping and handling. 

To purchase these prints stop over at PFATT .  We'd all love to hear from you so be sure to email us to add you to our elists!