Fish Prints -Trigger Fish

Hey friends. Last week my man came home with a great amount of fish from his offshore fishing trip. It's been a while since I had made fish prints but I was so impressed with the size and features of this Trigger fish that I jumped into "fish print mode". I'm so excited but then I realize I don't have any large format paper and I don't have any inks that are non toxic. Wah. 

What I'm about to tell you is for my  personal use and I specifically do not recommend that you do what I do unless you can verify what I'm about to tell you. Desperate to print this fish I started looking around for something that could make this work. 

What I know about this particular fish is that it's skin is thick like a plate of armour. So much so that there are very special ways to get in and remove the fillets. Knowing this I decided I would paint the fish with chalk paint and print it from there but wait....What can I print it onto?

??????

Just the day before I had purchased a canvas painters tarp. YES! YES! that will work.  Snippety snip. I cut that baby down to use as a canvas.

Isn't this fish cool? I love it's long tail and it's big eye. He looks like a cartoon character to me.

The hardest part of getting the prints is getting the fins and tail raised up and supported from underneath.

You can see that I used folded and crunched up  paper towels to  support the fins and tail.

Even this little guy needs a bit of a lift to make his fin pop better in the print.

The fish needs to be wiped down well with a paper towel. The fish has a protective layer /film over its skin. It's slimy and it has to be removed to paint or ink the fish.

As best I can, I center this giant canvas over this tremendous fish.

He's under there.

Now, I will tell you that I did have the fore thought to iron my canvas backgrounds. However, I only cut 4 canvas', so only 4 canvas' were ironed. As you can see here this print was not ironed in advance. 

You see, I'm working against time here. I start with a very cold fish and I need to keep him cold to reserve his meat for the fillets, so after the first few prints my hubby gets all happy and excited asking me to print more he wants to send one to his buddy in NY. In all my hurrying, I forget to iron the canvas'. Wah. 

My hubby still loves the prints and assures me that they are still very good looking and frame worthy. I did iron the canvas' after the fact but there are lines in there that ruin it for me. I'm working through it . LOL . I used to teach art classes and would see the beauty in the imperfection of my students creations. . I would help them work through focusing on the imperfections. I know how this works. I'm hoping that once I mount and display these I will forget that feeling. 

Thanks for stopping by . 

With love and gratitude,

Michele

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Funtastic Friday #330

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The best on the web for DIY inspiration!

I'm especially looking forward to your Mother's Day and Graduation ideas. ;)

Funtastic Friday #329

 

 

Keto Not Breaded Artichokes #sidedish #appetizers

Do you have clean out the frig days? Every few days I take stock of what is in my refrigerator and what needs to be used up so it doesn't go bad and have to be thrown out. 

I think I bought these at Costco however I found them on Instacart. Here's the link.

I had these jarred artichokes in my refrigerator that I had to do something with. Typically , I'll toss them into a chicken dish, mix them into olives or create an antipasto. My father in law makes a really good breaded artichoke side dish for the holidays. It's fried in oil, yum and covered in bread crumbs. Not a bad thing but definitely a little heavier than I wanted today. Inspired by that, I created a keto version.

Ingredients

Artichokes- jarred (not in oil), canned (not in oil) or frozen and thawed 

1 tbl Olive Oil

2 Eggs

1 cup Almond Flour

2 - 3 Tbl Parmesan Cheese

salt and pepper -pinch of each

1. Preheat oven to 400 °

2. Oil a cookie sheet.

3. Beat eggs in a bowl.

4. In a bowl mix almond flour, salt and pepper and cheese.

5. Artichokes should be rinse and drained well and dried off on paper towel.

6. Dip artichoke in egg then in almond flour , coating thoroughly.

7. Place artichoke on cookie sheet. I made 16 pieces with this mix. You could dbl the mix for more artichokes. 

8. Bake 20 min. 

These came out with a nice crunch and full of flavor. The almond flour is a perfect substitute for bread crumbs and I did not miss the bread crumb in this mix. I would go as far and say I like the almond flour better than the bread crumb! You could flip these during the cooking process to brown on both  sides but I was happy with a little extra color on the bottom.

We served  these as a side to skillet chicken dish but they would make delicious appetizer.

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to leave me a comment below and pin this recipe.

With love and gratitude,

Michele

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Funtastic Friday #328

Welcome to FUNTASTIC FRIDAY LINK PARTY 328!  Glad to have you here.

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Here are the FEATURES from last week's party!

 

MOST VIEWED -- TIE!

 

Coastal Bohemian Bloom

Comfort Spring Station Tips for Printing Graphics at Home

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Mommy Hates Cooking Easy Sonic Slushies

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Confessions of an Overworked Mom Maple Ricotta Flan

 

Michelle's Pick

 

Homemade on a Weeknight French Onion Meatball Sub

 

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Makeable Crafts Faux Brick Wall DIY Project

 

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The Crowned Goat Quick & Easy 5 Minute Topiary

 

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5. Follow the hosts on as many platforms as you can. We are your online friends. Let's interact, comment and enjoy one another while supporting each other.

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!

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With love and gratitude,

Michele

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Garden Pavers/ Stepping Stones/ Door Stop Spring Crafts Challenge #DesignerPavers #floorsanddecor #Custompavers

Every month we have planned for you, an inspirational challenge that brings together several bloggers. With a common theme we create something and join together to share it with you. This month is our Spring Challenge. Joining me this month are....

Across the Blvd

Sew Crafty Crochet

Purple Hues and Me

Stone Cottage Adventures

Coastal Bohemian

Southern Sunflowers

Comfort Spring

Slices of Life

Here's the story behind my creation. Shopping the garden center at Home Depot, I found these garden pavers. 

They had  the tumbled, old world look I love. I bought a few and decided I would find something to do with them. 

And then, I remembered this tile I saw in #FloorsandDecor.

I took photos because I wanted to recreate a similar design on a cement floor.

Here's what I did. First I sprayed the stone with water .

Next I used various pigment ink stamps to get some color onto the stone.

Of course I needed to spray some more water to get the color to swirl around the stone.

I even added a little gold to this one.

I loved making the edges come to life with the color.

Now that I have some color in the background , it's time for some stenciling.

I used a dry brush of white chalk paint for the design.

Looking good.

Now a little dry brush around the edge.

Aren't these looking sweet? I'm so excited. 

I decided to stencil on our name and the year of our marriage. I created my stencil with a Cricut.

I think these  would look funky as stepping stones.

They look good in the grass. Of course I staged these here because I currently live in a condo. If they were set into the grass, I think they would look more naturalized. 

What about a few of these in an apron? 

Or a few of these tucked into your patio or walkway?

You could use it as a door stop too. Either way it's a fun way to bring a little color to your outdoor living. I forgot to mention that these should be sealed using Kamar Vanish by Krylon

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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With love and gratitude,

Michele

Find me partying here all week, at these link parties, with some great bloggers.

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