Open Gate - Weblog of Lisa Cook

Summer Dinner

Greek Lemon Chicken

Greek Lemon Chicken

From: Tast of Home
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Greek-Lemon-Chicken

Zucchini Fritters with Feta and Dill

Zucchini Fritters with Feta and Dill

http://www.onceuponachef.com/2012/07/zucchini-fritters-with-feta-and-dill.html

French Potato Salad

French Potato Salad

http://shesinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/03/french-potato-salad.html

and Creme Brulee for dessert!

My friend made the creme brulee, so I don't have her recipe but here is one that sounds similar. Be careful of open flames after a few bottle of wine!

Creme Brulee

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/07/creme-brulee/

 

 

Glorious Garden Once Again

The garden might look the same to you, but I made lots of changes. I was ruthless with removing phlox last fall to help open up the garden along with more paths. I mulched all the beds as opposed to bare soil. See the bark mulch pile up in the right back area? It has been a good thing this year with our lack of rain.

Here is an example of new paths. I love the little thyme bordered corner and sundial. Each section has two favorite daylilies and a scattering of Hirta, heuchera, lady's mantle, platycodyn, and veronica. Love the ease of taking care of it and it is right outside my southern picture window.

Oh yes...why I love daylilies...my newest addition last August: "Snowflake Empress." I love the little bug on the bottom petal!

I hope your gardens are as lovely despite the heat!

Winter Hibernation is OVER

I apologize. Winter always makes me huddle up to the fires and hibernate.

But Spring is here and it is time for a little Etsy Shop Sale

All of my Easter/Spring die cuts are 20% off. Come see these cuties!

I have some new things in the shop - millinery leaves in blue and gold 

Some adorable vintage shelf papers

And here is a peek at some packs I have been at work on that I will plan to post on Sunday:

A Vintage Halloween Mini-Banner Tutorial!

 
I want to share with you a fun little Halloween project. I love mini banners and they are so easy to make. Use your own images, OR print a free sheet of my images with my pdf file download located below the directions. Have a SPOOKtacular holiday!

Mini Halloween Banner Directions

Materials: Halloween images; cardstock; 36” black string/cording with a little tape wound around each end so you can use it like a shoelace; glue stick (I love Uhu brand); scissors; 1/16th” hole punch

Directions:
1. Cut the images into two long strips.
2. Spread glue all over the images except for about ¼ inch at the top of each picture. If you are punching holes to thread the string then glue image completely. Attach images to the cardstock WRONG sides together. 
3. Cut out each image.
4. Lay out the pieces on a table keeping the desired distance between each image.
5. Lay a piece of string or cording in between the tops. Glue the images at the tops and catch the string in the sandwich. I started with the pumpkin fellow in the middle and worked towards each end. Punch 2 holes in the tops of the pictures you want to string. Lace the string through the holes and tack the string on the backs with a little more glue.
6. Add a little fluff of crepe paper on the ends if desired.
7. Tack up your mini banner to a wall or shelf using hatpins through the cording.

Experiment with your own images; add little embellishments like buttons etc.

Download Halloween_minibanner2011

Dyeing for Blue

If you have not figured it out already, my favorite color combination is blue and red - every shade, tint and hue. I drool over pictures on the internet of woad dyeing wishing I could try it. Well, someday.

Meanwhile I have been dyeing laces and trims for my collage packs and got some appealing shades with good old Rit dye. I love to spend a sunny summer day dyeing bits and bobs of lace and hanging them to dry on the deck cable.

Notice how blue and red are also reflected in these treasures I recently found at an antique show in Minnesota. I got each from a different vendor but wow- burgundy velvet purse, teal felt hat with burgundy flowers and a ledger book - they are perfect together!

My Etsy Shop will be teeming with Halloween and fall packs next week so stop in sometime! I am sending out my fall newsletter complete with directions for a mini Halloween banner and a favorite fall recipe, so sign up right here on my blog on the right hand side.

 

Hidden Garden

Jeanne Oliver has an interesting post today musing about creating a hidden garden inside an old burned out brick house. (go read it!)

Dennis and I did just that on a smaller scale when we created a garden inside an old foundation on our farmstead. I always wonder what the building held so many years ago. Perhaps it was a little milk house or a home for chickens or pigs! Here is the garden in late May full of hostas, bleeding heart, tulips and ferns:

Now that it is August, the foundation is almost hidden by the flora and fauna. The sweet gargoyle sits watch. We bought that as a an anniversary gift to ourselves many years ago. My dearest designed and built the deck with the wire cables so we could always see the garden.

And since this is about the garden here is another view I took this overcast and dank morning. (Yes, these are taken from the roof) The daylilies are past their peak but still strong while the phlox and hirta rudebekia are taking center stage.

And this is why I LOVE DAYLILIES!! There were over 20 blooms on this plant when I snapped the photo of "Ruby Spider."

Summer Guests and Summer Food

What wonderful friends! Dennis and I enjoyed a visit from Linda and Wally Warlyn. We visited them last summer so it was their turn to come up north and visit "Camp Cook."

Good summer food - love this menu: Grilled chicken(marinated in Italian dressing first); grilled sweet potatoes (thank you Bobby Flay); celery apple fennel slaw ( thank you Bon Appetit); white wine; and to top it off....chocolate bourbon pecan pie! (toast the pecans first - a must) with a little whipped cream, of course. Wally discovered why Dennis likes Grappa and he and Dennis looked at model trains while Linda and I shopped!

Linda and I enjoyed a lovely lunch out at a tiny local restaurant called the Freckled Frog. The food is so beautiful that one hates to eat it. I bet there were at least 20 different ingredients in this salad!

Mmmmmmm.

I went blueberry picking today and made a pie and jam.

more mmmmmm.

Hope you are having a delicious summer as well!

 

Getting Ready for Summer and the 4th of July!

 

Patriotic Fun!

The Etsy Shop is filled with some wonderful collage packs perfect for all your Red White and Blue creating.

Each order will receive a free hand made mini pennant!

April in Paris

 
The Vintage French Fashion Collage Packs are ready!

Please visit

My Etsy Shop

Hop on Over to the Etsy Shop!

bunnies and wallpaper and shelf paper and ledger papers

OH MY!

lisacook etsy shop

Need a Little Spring Color?

We were spared the midwest blizzard up here in central Wisconsin, but I still could use a little bright note on a cold and snow covered day. So I went over to Etsy to see what the artists are up to. I found this wonderful painter. I LoVe the colors she uses- they make me feel like a little spring!

Check her out: Janet Hill

BLUE bLuE blue

If you look on the right column you will see that I am a member of Etsy Cottage Style. This month we are looking at the color BLUE, my very favorite, so click the link and you will get to the blog where you can find member photos featuring blue vintage or blue artwork etc.

Here are my bLuE photos:

 

Time for Valentines

The Etsy shop has packs flying out of there.

Stop in and see for what you might want for your Valentine creations.

I also started a newsletter that I will send out about 5 times a year.

Sign up on the righthand sidebar!

My Valentine Etsy Shop

 

HaPpY NeW YeAr!

Merry Christmas Vintage Style

A Time for Thanks

Thanksgiving indeed. I think my dad would have loved this magazine cover...the young soldier returns home to the farm after the war is over. He pauses to give thanks and his dog, who recognizes him in a heartbeat, runs to greet him.

May we all feel so welcome and loved this Thanksgiving Day.

ChRiStMaS Time at Etsy

I have my Etsy store loaded with vintage paper packs especially for Christmas.

www.lisacook.etsy.com

For some reason the links are not working, so copy and paste the above or just look at the left side bar and click on "lisacook"

Wallpapers

Dennison pack

Interesting color combos like red and gray

And adorable ANGELS.

Come Visit and start creating for Christmas!

Oh How I Tried

I really did. I wanted to show you some Halloween packs before they got sold on Etsy, but I could not keep ahead of the game. Here is a sample of what you missed. So sorry. Hope you got one if you wanted one!

BUT! Hold on!

If you like Vintage Christmas...I am starting my packs early this year and have a few in MY ETSY SHOP so get them while you can.

Traditional Colors:

Even Red White and Blue inspired by a flag carrying angel:

Come See!

 

KC Willis

It is always fun to get something for free, so hop on over to KC Willis blog to get a chance to win a box of great stuff from the artist herself.  She also has them for sale for a great price if you can't stand the wait. Visit the KC Willis blog for details. Act quickly~ They will no longer be available after August 25th.

If you like the idea of a live workshop with KC, then check out this link.

And online workshops are here.

Always fun to see what other artists are doing!

Why I Garden

This is what greets me in the spring as I look out my window:

This is what I see in July....although the monsoons of the midwest have made it a much soggier place lately and the mosquitoes are threatening me every time I try to take a stroll, let alone pull some weeds.

This is why I garden and why I probably don't post much in the summer. But I am also busy creating and I have some wonderful new vintage French Collage Haute Couture packs in my Etsy shop! They are filled with yummy old wallpapers, French ephemera, vintage trims, labels and fabrics. All kinds of unique goodies. Come visit!