Karen Tessandore

  • Flying the Coop

    For quite awhile I've wanted to try stamp carving.  My daughter's graduation from high school seemed like the perfect opportunity because we wanted something handmade for her announcements.  I started by designing the basic layout in photoshop… The school mascot is Steller's Jay bird…both the bird, the school and the sea lion in my last

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  • Fish & Wildlife

    Before you start to feel sorry for this eagle because he's in a cage, you should know that he only has one wing!  I don't think he'd still be around if he was left on his own so now he lives at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center about an hour outside of Anchorage.   Last weekend

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  • Homer, Alaska

    This weekend my friend Meg and I hit the road (with her 3 puppy dogs!) to Homer.  That's an awesome little coastal town a couple hundred miles south of Anchorage.  The drive – as you can see from the photo above – is beautiful.  Here's another shot from right out the car window… I just

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  • Wee Blue Bear

    Inspired by a Lisa Congdon's Black Bear painting, I decided to try making a little bear for myself.  This guy is on an 8×10" canvas.  I started by selecting some pages from an old book for the background.  The fish and eagle illustrations seemed to go with the theme. Once the pages were glued down

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  • Thank you for visiting Tessandore Boutique!

    All shipping prices listed are for mailing 1st class within the United States only.  Please contact me here: anaisnin [at] alaska [dot] net for a shipping quote prior to purchase if you’re outside the U.S.  Thank you!  🙂 Because of the difference in computer monitors, colors may look a little different in person than they

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  • Another Experiment

    Painted on a 24×30" canvas…she's the one I mentioned at the end of this post.  I love all the colors and had a lot of fun with the messy background.  🙂 ~ k

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  • Moose & Carrots

    What do you get if you combine this (photo above) with this… And this… Give up? Ta-da!  A 3 layer Carrot Cake!  Which was made possible thanks to my daughter hand-grating 4 cups of carrots.  🙂 Here's the recipe: Carrot Cake Slightly modified from Maida Heatter's Great Book of American Desserts 1 cup raisins1 pound

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  • Pin Cushion

    This is a little pin cushion I made for my friend's birthday.  The sewing machine and I don't usually get along, but I was happy with how the patchwork top turned out… I found the directions at Sew Take A Hike on Etsy.  Her original pattern called for a patchwork hexagon top, but that was

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  • Irish Soda Bread

    In looking up the origins of this bread, I found out this version might also be called "Spotted Dog".  No matter whatcha call it though – tasty! I found the recipe here while browsing through Foodgawker.  There must be about a zillion variations on this recipe, but I can vouch for this one and will

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  • Crochet

    Finally, a reason to buy yarn!  :)  This week I learned to crochet granny squares. I don't really have plan yet for how many to make, but I have three skeins of this nice worsted weight wool.  They were closing out this color so I bought all three that they had remaining. I don't really

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