Hi, I'm Torrey. Welcome to Left Field, where creativity runs amok and imagination is ALWAYS more important than knowledge. Shoes are not allowed but ties are optional. This is a repository of snippets from my life out here in Left Field. One never knows what shiny bits of creativity will be found here... cards, scrapbook layouts, photography, poetry, recipes, ponderings, rantings and musings. It could be anything! Life in Left Field is always changing, always real, always ...interesting.

July 31, 2010

Playing with my Copics

What is a Copic, you might ask? Well, simply put, it's THE premier, top-of-the-line alcohol ink artist marker available (check out the link to their site on the left side of this blog). I was fortunate enough to be gifted a set by the generous folks at Copic --for my current secret project-- (Thank you Copic!!!)

I've been a little intimidated to use them...so I used them for the first time last night on this birthday card for a friend (Happy Birthday, Misty). These are not your "ordinary" markers. You use these like paint and paintbrushes. I laid out a palette of color swatches with my darkest markers on an acrylic block, then I picked up the color with the tips of my lightest markers and applied them to the paper. This way, I can achieve just about any shade I want and get a blended effect that mimics air brushing. So, this is my first try with the Copics. I know I need a LOT of practice, but hey, that's the fun of it.


To make this card: 
  • Stamp an image onto white cardstock (use Memento ink--it doesn't run with Copics
  • Color it in with Copics
  • Run it through a Wizard using an embossing folder (I used the DEboss side)
  • Stipple-brush brown ink over the top to "age" it
  • Stipple-brush brown ink on coordinating paper and paper-piece background
  • Embellish with ribbon and charm

Supplies:
Copic Markers
Memento Dye Ink (Tsukineko)
Distress Ink (Ranger)
Geisha Stamp (After Midnight Art Stamps) 
Cuttlebug embossing folder (Provo Craft)
Patterned Paper (Scenic Route, BasicGrey)
Cardstock
Foam spacers
Ribbon
Charm





July 29, 2010

Tonight's Special at Cafe Torrey

THERE'S FUNGUS AMONG US!!!!!

Tonight I prepared another of my favorite "comfort food" dishes. This is MY version of the classic Russian dish--Beef Stroganoff. I use hamburger instead of sliced beef. I just like it better that way. Sorry, Jodi, this is NOT a dish for you. I don't think leaving the mushrooms out would work.

Torrey's Beef Stroganovski
(Feeds 4-6)

1 pound hamburger
2 1/2 pounds fresh mushrooms, sliced thick (I like lots o' shrooms)
1/2 - 1 stick butter (can never have too much butter)
2 TBS EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup 
1/2 cup sour cream
1 small onion, diced
2 TBS chopped garlic (about 3 cloves...maybe 4)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 TBS Oyster sauce
1 tsp Pick-A-Peppa sauce (may use A-1 sauce)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)

1 16 oz. package pasta of your choice (I like fusili)

Brown and drain hamburger and set aside. In large frying pan, melt butter and saute onions and mushrooms (you can use ANY type of mushrooms--white button, cremini, portobello, shiitake, oyster, chantarelle...or a combo). When they have rendered their juice...pour it off and save it for the sauce. Then, add the EVOO to the pan and continue to cook the heck out of the onions/shrooms until they are CARMELIZED. This takes awhile. I'm talking the onions and shrooms need to be cooked all the way down and BROWNED. REALLY brown. Trust me.

In a saucepan, combine reserved juice from onions/shrooms with condensed soup. Add Worcestershire sauce, Oyster sauce, Pick-A-Peppa sauce, sour cream and salt and pepper. Stir well. Heat until warm, and make sure you stir it well while heating it. Add hamburger and cooked onions/mushrooms and stir gently until everything is coated.

Serve over cooked pasta. Goes great with hot sourdough bread on the side--slathered in butter, of course! Come on...life is TOO short to eat alfalfa sprouts and tofu.



REMEMBER...JUST SAY 'NO' TO HAMBURGER HELPER!!!!

CHOW DOWN, peepskis!


July 28, 2010

It's a twister Auntie Em

Ok, so I am FINALLY unpacking my art studio (how long have I been in Texas?). Up until now, it's all been packed away in boxes. Problem is, I am now unloading boxes and piling stuff in the middle of the room, while trying to figure out how to organize it all. Do you think I could get F.E.M.A. to come in and help? I mean...it certainly LOOKS like it got hit by a tornado. At least Cosmo is LOVING it--it's a virtual Disneyland for cats right now. Just look at the cheesy grin on his little cat face.
 
Oh...and I will post "after" pictures when I'm all finished.



July 27, 2010

What's for dinner??

Well, tonight was a "comfort food" kind of night. I'm nursing a summer cold and just generally feel yucky; so I made one of my FAVORITE feel-good casseroles. I got the recipe from my bestee, Jodi. This dish always makes me feel all cozy inside. It's fast and easy...and most of all YUMMO.

Jodi's Chicken Divan
(serves 5-7)
 (um, it was so good I ate it all before I got a photo)

**all measurements are guesstimations, deal with it**
2-3 chicken breast halves (boiled and cut in 1-inch cubes)
2 broccoli crowns with stems (crowns broken up into florets, stems sliced about 1/4 inch thick)
1 can cream of "anything" soup (chicken, mushroom, celery...whatever you have on hand)
1/2 cup mayonnaise (don't use Miracle Whip...that just tastes yucky in this)
1/4 cup milk (enough to give sauce consistency of thick salad dressing)
2 cups grated cheese (I use "yellow" cheese like Colby or mild cheddar)
1-2 cups bread crumbs (I like lots of bread crumbs)
1/2 stick melted butter
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder (give or take)
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)

Cook broccoli in pan (with about 2 inches water in bottom) until almost done...but not-quite tender (don't want it mushy). Drain. Spray 11x7 baking pan with cooking spray (can use 9x13--but may take more "stuff" to fill pan). Spread cooked chicken pieces, evenly, over bottom of pan. Spread steamed broccoli over chicken layer. In bowl, mix canned soup, mayonnaise, milk, 1/2 tsp garlic powder until well blended. Spoon/pour evenly over broccoli. Spread on layer of grated cheese (I like LOTS). Mix bread crumbs, melted butter, remaining garlic powder, salt and pepper (oh, sometimes I add grated Parmesan cheese to the bread crumbs...sometimes I don't). Finally, spread buttered bread crumbs over whole thing. Pop it in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until bread crumbs are browned, cheese is melty, and it's hot all the way through. 
Voila...it's like a warm blanket on a fork. Eat up ya'all!




July 25, 2010

My little animations

Yes, I do more than make cards and scrapbook layouts when it comes to art...a LOT more. One of the things I do is create animated .gif files. As a matter of fact...most of the blinkies/banners and my signatures on this blog are my own creation. But my animation isn't limited to mere blinkies...not by any means.

Ok, so you may or may not know that I am a "Gamer Chick". I discovered MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) a few years ago. I started off in a game called Maplestory. Shortly thereafter, I started playing around in Photoshop, and I taught myself how to make animated "signatures" for online forums. I actually had a "business" making these little cinematic signatures for people to use. I'd create a signature for them in exchange for in-game currency. It wasn't before too long that I had more than I could handle...so I partnered up with a very talented animation artist named Trixie. She and I ran a "Siggy Shoppe" for a few years on a couple of forums. We were ALWAYS up to our eyeballs with requests. Here are a couple I made that are my favs: (btw, my in-game character is the cute li'l redhead, Rhyannyn).


I have since forsaken Maple Story for WoW (World of Warcraft). I still like to do animations of my WoW character...but it's MUCH more challenging since WoW is 3-D and Maple Story is only 2-D. Here is my first attempt at an animation with my character on Wow. Even though it doesn't look like much (5 seconds worth) but believe me, it took a LONG time to do this...TOO long.

If you would like to see more of my animations, click this link:  


July 18, 2010

It's AFRICA hot

"Hi, I'm Torrey and I'm an air-conditioning addict" (the group replies "Hi Torrey!" in unison as they all sit huddled under the air-conditioning vent). 

I admit it...when it comes to air conditioning...I am TOTALLY hedonistic. MY GOODNESS it was hot today. Damn, you'd think this was Texas in July or something. I mean, it's the kind of day where the asphalt melts on the street and makes little tarry lava bubbles at the edge where it meets up with the concrete gutter. Growing up, my sister and I used to play this sadomasochistic little game where we'd douse our bare feet with cold water from the garden hose then run out to the middle of the street as fast as we could and see who could stand on the hot pavement the longest. The loser was the first one who ran back to the cool, grassy haven of the wet lawn, screaming "OUCH OUCH OUCH". Can't remember who won. Didn't matter--because, we'd do it again and again until our poor little soles were covered in hot tar and starting to blister. The kicker is that our mom actually let us do this. Maybe she thought we were just out there watering the yard. If she only knew. Yep, we obviously came from the shallow end of our gene pool--Torrey and Heidi Gump, that's us.

Anyway, today was the type of day where you open the door to the outside and are immediately assaulted by a slap-in-the-face of hot, humid air--the kind that makes your breath catch in your chest; sorta like breathing through a hot, wet sock. Then, I started to sweat. In the 20 seconds or so it took me to reach the car, the back of my neck was sopping and my eyes were stinging from sweat dripping down my face as my glasses started to slide off my nose. Whoever said that "women DON'T sweat; they glow" --was either a) retarded; b) had never been around a woman; or 3) lived in northern Alaska and never traveled further south than 69.4 degrees north latitude. Like Eugene Morris Jerome in "Biloxi Blues" said when he got off the bus in Mississippi, "...it's like Africa HOT. Tarzan couldn't take this kinda hot."

Ice cream...THAT is what I needed on a day like today. And in the distance, I heard it--that unmistakable "tinkle ting ting" of an ice cream truck nearby. So, I followed the jingly tune; my mouth started to water at the thought of creamy, cold, ice-creamy deliciousness. Then, the ice cream truck's tune kind of went all wobbly...like an old LP record that had been left on a sunny windowsill for a couple of days. And, the melody wound down in a sort of deathly dirge until it sputtered and stopped altogether. As I turned the corner, I found out why---

It's hot. It's AFRICA hot.


July 15, 2010

Currying favor...

Today the thermometer topped 100 degrees. Well I was NOT about to cook a heavy, hot meal. Ugh. So I made my "famous" chicken salad. It's PERFECT for a light summertime meal or "ladies" luncheon/tea.

Torrey's Curried Chick 'n' Salad
   (serves 5-7)

3 chicken breast halves (boneless/skinless)
4 stalks celery (sliced thinish)
1 1/2 cups red seedless grapes (I leave mine whole)
1 cup pecan pieces (fairly big)
1 cup sour cream (can use "lite", but why?)
1+ Tbs curry powder (may adjust up or down to taste)
1/4 tsp salt (or more to taste)
Freshly ground pepper (to taste)
*************************
Mixed field greens
Croissants


Boil chicken until done. Cut in cubes (about an inch). Chill. In large bowl, mix chicken, celery, pecans, grapes, sour cream and seasonings. GENTLY stir it all together until everything is well-coated (I actually use my hand, ew...I know but it prevents the grapes from getting smushed). Chill for at least an hour--it's actually better if chilled overnight and served the next day, but you can make it up and serve it immediately if need be.

Arrange field greens on plate. Spoon chicken salad onto bed of greens. Serve with croissants or nice hearty bread. Goes GREAT with lemonade to drink!

BON APPETIT YA'ALL!




Photo op of the day

 















Ok, so our little (or in this case not-so-much as her body was about 2 inches long) arachnid friends usually don't do a whole lot for me. In fact, I really don't like spiders at ALL. But, this was a particularly spectacular specimen (say that 3 times fast). This particular spider is called Argiope aurantia (aka the Black and Yellow Garden Spider). This is the female. The male is much smaller (about 1/3 the size) and boring brown. The females spin marvelous webs--the males, not so much. Theirs tends to be, well...messy. She's also called the Writing Spider. She is called this because of the distinctive zig-zag scribble that resembles writing found in the middle of her web. Each morning these spiders devour and rebuild the inside circle of their web. This spider's web was incredible--about 18 inches in diameter. Remarkable architects, those spiders are. I wonder how long it took her to weave this splendiferous silvery lattice. 

P.S. these are very NON-aggressive spiders and they are NOT poisonous to humans. 



July 11, 2010

Color Throwdown 100

Well, I did it! I came out of lurk mode long enough to do an online challenge!! I chose the Color Throwdown site to get my feet wet. YAY me! Congrats, ladies, on a FaBuLoUs site. 

I like the way this card turned out, but BOY HOWDY was it labor-intensive. the whole thing is layered and very 3-D cuz I used so many dang pop dots! The right edge of the floral paper is hand-cut and matted 3 times. Insane. I actually pulled out some REALLY old supplies (decorative scissors, stencils and my Magic Matter) to create this. Can you tell I was cleaning my studio and found stuff still packed in a box?  hahahaha. The sentiment block and patterned paper are hand-pierced and then stippled with ink. This patterned paper was PERFECT for the challenge. It's a combo of paper from Paper Studio and SEI. This sure was FUN!!! Thanks ladies!





Supplies:
Patterned paper (SEI, Paper Studio)
Ribbon (Creative Impressions)
Buttons
Ink (Colorbox)
Edge template (C-Thru Templates)
Cardstock
Foam Spacers 









July 9, 2010

I am Robot























I was recently perusing Ebay........ (a very dangerous passtime) when I ran across this acrylic stamp set from Stampendous. I fell in love with these funky little guys. So, of course, they came home to live in my studio.




 














Here is a card (and coordinating envelope) I whipped up using them. This stamp set would be great for kids' cards, party invitations or just fun general cards that are sure to put a smile on any recipient's face regardless of their age.



Supplies:
Stamps:  
--Misunderstood (Making Memories) 
--Define Your Life (Stampin Up!)
--Spot's Botz (Stampendous)
Versamark Ink
Detail Black embossing powder 
Star brads
Patterned paper (Chatterbox)
stamping ink (Colorbox)
Clear lacquer  





 

General ramblings about this blog

Hmmmm, where to start...

The birth of Left Field Studio...One day (a few years back) I was showing the folks at Memory Makers Magazine (may it rest in peace) a layout I had just created. One by one I pulled them into the bathroom, shut the door and turned off the lights. Ok, I know this just sounds bad...but that is the BEST way to view this particular layout--in total darkness. See, just about everything on this layout glows in the dark; the title, the journaling, the stitching (yes, they make glow-in-the-dark thread)--even the little fireflies (which are made from LED lights) blink on and off. It is quite an experience to see it in action. Here is that fateful layout.

That's when Nick shook his head and declared "Torrey, I'm gonna call you 'left field' from now on because that's where you are--out in left field." I must admit that made me giggle (and very proud). Thanks Nick.

So I aspire to live up to my uniquely quirky moniker in my creating. I'm not afraid to try anything. I love 'sperimenting. So this blog will be the repository for MY art--the fruits of my muses so to speak. Cards, layouts, poems, photographs...even recipes might find their way here, because one never knows what treasures will be found out here in left field.