Tips for Transforming the Ordinary into an Extraordinary Experience...

Sometimes good ideas are born from "mistakes" and excellence is experienced.


Last week, my husband made apple sauce from the Maine grown apples we harvested, but alas, there was "a little" more sauce than we had jars. (The Mistake: we ran out of jars.)

After dinner, while the left over apple sauce was still warm, we decided to spread it over some Gillford's vanilla ice cream for dessert...Umm, Ummmmm, Good! (The Good Idea: warm apple sauce over ice cream.) It was like eating hot apple pie a la mode, without all the work of making a pie.

I was amazed at how the apple sauce transformed plain old ordinary vanilla ice cream into an extraordinary dessert. So the next time you run out of chocolate syrup, or whatever topping the kids are asking for, open up a jar of apple sauce, add a little cinnamon and other pie spices (optional), heat up a portion (microwave works just fine), and pour enough to blanket a scoop of ice cream.

What's that? "Too out of the ordinary!" you say? You are afraid your kids will balk. Well, forget the kids. Sneak a private taste test. Yes, you deserve something deliciously uplifting. Why not treat yourself to a bowl of this heartwarming combo when no one is looking. Chances are you'll decide to keep this little tip to yourself to ensure that your household's apple sauce and ice cream supplies don't mysteriously disappear from the kitchen while you aren't looking.

However, should you decide to share this dessert idea with your family, and if you succeed at convincing little Mikey and the other naysayers to try it, I bet they'll like it. Be forewarned though; there's a good chance that they might not stop eating long enough to actually say, "Thank you, Mom." But, as you watch them change their tune from "Yu-uck!" to, "Umm, Ummmmm, Good!" you'll know that you're a cool Mom in their eyes, at least for the moment.

Have you used an unusual topping to turn plain ole vanilla ice cream into an extraordinary treat?
Share your tip in the comments below.

And, Enjoy!

Proud to be a Mainer and Even Prouder of My Fellow Etsy Mainers

Click here to read all about it!

Claypatties from Manchester Maine

Potter, Kim Brennan, alias Claypatties on Etsy, is a fellow Maine artist. Her specialty is pottery and her creations are inspired by vintage Weller and McCoy pottery that she and her mother used to find at flea markets. “Those were the good old days,” she grinned. “I work primarily in the drippy greens, blues and earthy browns that are steeped in historical references.”

While reminiscing, she recalled stories of growing up in suburbia, playing hide and seek with the neighborhood kids, and trading prizes they found in Cracker Jack and cereal boxes. Her mother was an avid antique collector, and as a child, Kim, became fascinated with train sets. She says that it was the hours spent creating scenery and staging for the trains that sparked her work with dioramas.

Kim enjoys experimental and non-traditional firings and one of her platters was recently published in the Lark 500 series, “500 Plates and Chargers.”

Some of her favorite things in life include listening to all types of music, Air Stream travel trailers, dogs, New York City, and drinking beer under the stars while firing a kiln.

Living in the northern woods of Maine, I can certainly relate to the star gazing and hope someday to visit her studio in person.

A few of Kim's pieces are pictured in this article but there is also a collection of her pieces spotlighted at the bottom of this page. Clicking on any picture will take you to that item in her shop Claypatties.

Feel free to comment on her work or on this article.

Who is Coco?

I was born and raised in New Orleans where the atmosphere is rich with culture and where imagination is celebrated through its architecture, its music, its food, its Mardi Gras and its other festivals. New Orleans is a large city with a small town flavor and a special love of the arts—visual, performing and culinary.

As a military wife of 30+ years, I've experienced different cultures within the United States and abroad, each exuding their own indigenous artistic flair for transforming the ordinary in life into something extraordinary. Beauty abounds if we just take time to notice.

As the mother of five children, necessity has often been my inspiration and on a fairly regular basis has proven to be the mother of invention. Parenting has been a wild and unpredictable ride, and I'm excited about becoming a grandmother this July (2009).

Among other endeavors, I am a self-taught artisan specializing in stained glass and decorative folk painting (European style stroke work). Over the years, I've also dabbled in carved candles, soap, clay, needlework, fountains, basic carpentry and refinishing, various types of sewing, and jelly making. Often while creating something in my studio, I am tapping into my knowledge of and skill in more than just one artistic medium.

My other passion is for transforming trash into treasure or giving new life to something old. Both the process of creating and the process of transforming objects are spiritual experiences for me--It's when I feel most alive.

I look forward to sharing my infatuation with everything creative. Hope you will visit often (bookmark me now or subscribe to be a follower of this blog). Read about what interests you, and please, Please, PLEASE, leave your comments, make suggestions, and ASK QUESTIONS. Questions can be about art & craft techniques, selling on line, life in general, or even about me personally.

Enjoy!