River Weed
Tumbleweed Texstyles are the T-shirt designs of artist Jeb Matulich, also known as Junky Trinkets, brimming with Texas pride. Jeb has been very supportive of our artwork over the years and wrote about us in 2010. He was kind enough to gift us a shirt in Fort Worth last week, which we love and had to share here on the blog.
I've Been Everywhere
Origami Texas
Visit the Tumbleweed Texstyles Etsy shop and Jeb’s other shops: Junky Trinkets and Texowa Designs.
Drink Texas Beer
It was such a pleasure to get to know Brad & Sundie Ruppert of Vintage Sculpture better in Tent G at Marburger Farm. We remember seeing their work for the first time at our retailer Seagrass in Winnetka, IL years and years ago. Their wholesale-retail model was a huge inspiration for us as we grew our business and diversified.
Vintage Sculpture creates wall art and sculpture from cast-off and vintage materials. On the wholesale side, you can find their work via their showroom in the Denver Merchandise Mart. Follow them on Facebook for great photos from their travels across the US doing shows in their 1966 Vintage Airstream trailer.
Brad and Sundie also know how to let loose and have a great time! Check out their outfits at the infamous Junk Gypsy Prom at Marburger. (That’s Ali Marie Geiman at back left.)
Looking forward to seeing Vintage Sculpture again on the road!
Gardening in an urban environment can be a challenge, but a fun and rewarding one nonetheless. Whether you are looking to add some color and life to your indoor/outdoor spaces or grow your own vegetables at home, urban gardening can easily become your favorite pursuit. Personally, we have a few raised vegetable beds at our studio and flower-filled planters on our condo balconies at home, but are always looking for new ideas. Here are some great urban gardening ideas to get you started.
To save space, use vertical arrangements for your urban gardening project, like with this DIY hanging gutter garden from aHa! Home & Garden. This project would work well on a balcony or small patio.
Succulents (or even air plants) work well in sunny urban gardens and as alternative wall art since they have lighter water needs. Sunset walks you through the step-by-step of how to create living succulent art.
Use raised containers for urban gardening on a concrete surface, such as a roof, courtyard, balcony or patio. LLH Designs used wine boxes for their first urban vegetable garden. As their update illustrates, make sure to weatherproof wood boxes.
Don’t forget the compost! Urban composters from NatureMill allow you to compost your food scraps (even meat, fish and dairy) in your own kitchen with a hot composting process. The units contain odors, fit in those standard under-cabinet bin spaces and yield around 2 gallons of compost every 2 weeks (depending on use). Compost can be added to garden beds when planting, applied like mulch around plants or trees or used to create potting soil. You can share extra compost with other urban gardeners on Freecycle or Craigslist.
Happy urban gardening!
Industrial Metal Napkin Holders from Paula Art
Leather Bike Lock Holster from Walnut Studiolo
Vintage Birdhouse from Inspired Salvage
Fox Key Holder from Red Tile Studio
You can see all of our Etsy favorites here.
15 picks from artists exhibiting at Main Street Arts Fest this weekend. I promise we’ll stop talking about Main Street now.
Ceramic Paint Can Sculpture by Schwegmann Studios (booth 810)
Don’t Mess with Texas by David Bjurstrom (booth 711)
The Pequod by Stephen Dickerson (booth 402)
Portofino Sun by Meredith Kuntzch (booth 726)
Man | 26 by Nah Vuu (booth 305)
River Stone Rings by Rebecca Bashara (booth 704)
Square Coral Ring by Janine DeCresenzo (booth 314)
Half Open Square Silver Earrings by Theresa Carson (booth 469)
Small Constellation Pendant by Lisa Crowder (booth 623)
Della Orange Cuff Bracelet by Pyper Hugos (Booth 507)
Okano Cuff by Christy Klug (booth 616)
She was always prepared… by Lisa Telling Kattenbraker (booth 414)
Square Motif Wall Sculpture by Rick Martin (booth 617)
Guest Book Free Standing Glass Sculpture by Marcia Newren (booth 463)
Kinetic Sculpture #621 by Jeffrey Zachmann (booth 607)
Our latest large-scale original, Red Fox, will be our featured artwork this weekend at MAIN ST Fort Worth Arts Festival. Here are five other artworks not to miss seeing in person this weekend. If you live in the Fort Worth area, come visit us in Booth 824.
The original My Texas Map, used as the poster for Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park 2011 and recently selected as Best Overall Poster in the annual Sunshine Artist contest. Paper print and BOX PRINT reproductions on wood are also available.
Rooster Collection Rescued Wood Construction. Works in the Lovebird, Trophy Deer and Baltimore Crab collections will also be available.
The latest Wooden Sketchbooks: mixed media paintings & screen prints on upcycled shipping crate lids, spontaneous and free form like pages from Dolan’s sketchbook.
Willow Garden paper print
Dog Walk (Mini) Collection: Greyhound. See our selection of lil’ doggies or custom order a silhouette of your best friend.
With my husband Grant down in Austin playing at SXSW a few weeks ago and Dolan & Ali Marie down in Texas for some art shows, my mind has been in Texas, yet my body never left Tennessee. I can’t stop thinking about all those tacos and grilled meats! And to top it off, Grant and I went to see Texas band Asleep at The Wheel at the Franklin Theater last weekend. They have been around for 42 years and have nine Grammy wins. They very well may be the current kings (& queen) of Western Swing. What a show!
Spring is here in Nashville. Last week, however, it seemed like we were going to skip spring all together and move right into summer. It was quite warm. So we cleaned up the back yard, brought out the ping-pong paddles, and started to grill. With Texas on our minds, we were inspired to cook up some ribs. Grant is the master griller at our house. He only makes ribs once or twice a year but they seem to get a little more perfect each time. Oh, he’s good! Our favorite way he prepares them has a slight Hawaiian influence to them. Hmm… Texas goes to Hawaii? I am imagining some crazy new music genre here. Anyway, here’s how he does it…
Big Smokey’s Pork Ribs
Marinade:
Sauce:
Remove membrane from rack of ribs. Combine the ingredients for the marinade. Soak ribs in marinade overnight. Preheat oven to 300. Place ribs in a roasting pan and in oven. Pour in enough marinade to cover the bottom of the pan. Cover dish tightly with foil or a top. Roast ribs for 1 ½ hours. While the ribs are roasting, thoroughly combine the ingredients for the sauce and heat on stove top. Prepare grill. Remove ribs from the oven and place on the grill. Basting with the sauce, turn occasionally and cook until desired doneness. Remove ribs from grill and let rest 5-10 minutes before serving.
Big Smokey’s Ribs served with Slaw and Sesame Noodles
We also had a mixed grill the other day with onions, peppers, Springer Mountain chicken thighs from Georgia, and Painted Hills flank steak. I made some homemade corn tortillas with Bob’s Red Mill Corn Masa. I made a mix of chopped kale, cilantro, and romaine lettuce tossed with a little olive oil, 1-2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, and salt and pepper. We combined it all to create a delicious taco feast with a dollop of creme fraiche or Greek yogurt on top. Leftovers were eaten the rest of the week in the form of salads with crumble Mexican cheese on top!
Mixed Grill Tacos
Marinade:
Soak meat in marinade for 3-8 hours. Do not over soak or the marinade over powers. Soak veggies in marinade for 1 hour. Grill to doneness over a mesquite charcoal grill. Remove meat and veggies from grill and chop. Make tacos!
And, since T is also for Tennessee, I decided to close this post with my new and improved Biscuit recipe. Our friend Kristin called me up one day a few months ago and said, “You have to teach me how to make biscuits.” A friend of ours has a cafe and they decided sort of last minute to serve breakfast the next weekend and Kristin was in charge of biscuits. Kristin is a great cook but she doesn’t do much baking. So, she came over and we spent all night making several batches and combined 3 of my favorite recipes- one from Edna Lewis, one from Louis Osteen, and the one on the White Lily flour bag- and came up with our version, below. I’ve been making them this way ever since and have had great results.
KRISTIN’S GRAND SLAM BISCUITS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Mix the salt and baking powder with the flour and then add the chilled butter in a medium mixing bowl. Work the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the butter pieces are pea size. Work quickly so that the heat of your hands won’t melt the butter. Pour in all of the buttermilk and, using light pressure, fold the mixture a few times until it holds together. Do not overmix. In order to make light, fluffy biscuits, it is important to work the dough as little as possible. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and fold it quickly and gently 5 or 6 times until it begins to be almost all mixed. Sprinkle a little flour under the dough so that it won’t stick to the board and lightly dust the top of the dough so that it won’t stick to the rolling pin. Roll the dough out to about 1/2-inch thickness. Cut the dough into 2-inch rounds, place on an ungreased baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for about 14-15 minutes.
Until next time, happy eating! Go listen to some Western Swing!
