A page from the recipe planner: muffins

I love making muffins. They are quick and easy and you can vary the ingredients to make it more healthy (chia seeds/flax seeds/nuts) or sinful (chocolate chip, peanut butter, salted caramel). :)

For this recipe page, I cut a sheet of watercolour paper to size and used it to soak up the remnant mists left on my plastic sheet when I did my Mixed Media Monday: Love sign (quick tutorial) project. 

Then I went in with paper scraps, diecuts and stickers. As always, no rocket science involved...just using stuff up! *winks*

I did try to keep everything relatively flattish so no buttons or bling. 

For my muffins, I like to mix my organic flours to maximize texture, flavour and goodness. 

I usually add some protein flour like quinoa or buckwheat to make it more substantial. Otherwise, the muffins get depleted very quickly in my household. 

What about you? Do you like muffins?

Another week, another quick Christmas card

Hello friends! As you know, I am making this year's Christmas cards out of stash from a Christmas pocket letter I got from my pal Lizzy Hill. (Check out the first card).

The pocket card had the tree and the pressies along with the "Hello Christmas" sentiment.

I went in with my corner rounder, added a foiled patterned paper mat and a ribbon tab. I also adorned 2 of the pressies with bling and a twine bow.

I finished with a glitter snowflake, bling and a sticker sentiment. :)

Another CNY layout :)

So I found some more CNY photos in my stash. The photos aren't the greatest but I did a little creative cropping and I think they turned out decent (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!*winks*)

But clearly I was most excited to include the smiling pig on my layout. :)

Lots of small little bits of layering, including the packaging from the T2 tea box.

Quick wefies with nephew #1 at my grandma's. He's reaching the age when he groans when I suggest taking photos so I'll take what I can get. *LOL*

Playing along with Let's Get Sketchy.

Mixed Media Monday: Love sign (quick tutorial)

So I had this gap on my gallery wall that was driving me nuts. It was big enough for you to notice the blank space but not really big enough for me to fit another canvas painting there unless I had one that was specifically long and narrow.

Last week, I spotted this Kaisercraft MDF LOVE sign at a craft supply store and thought that it just might be the right size. Yep, my superpower is eyeballing spatial proportions. *winks*

I covered the LOVE sign with remnant lace fabric.

Next I went in with a coat of clear gesso. Once that dried, I went in with some spray mists.

Then I went in with my hot glue gun and pearl trim.

I had grandeur plans of adding bling and blooms and all sorts of pretty things but decided to leave it as it was because this already took several hours!

I really love how it turned out actually. :) What do you think?

Another self-portrait from the sketchbook

Apparently this is the year of self-love or narcissism judging by the number of self-portraits I've been sharing. *winks*

I started with a single coloured pencil sketch with my non-dominant hand...

Then I went in with the colours...

A little more progress...

Fine-tuning the details...with minor adjustments made to the lips, eyes and cheekbones.

This week's quick Christmas card

Hello friends! This week's quick project is a Christmas card made with a pocket letter insert!

The card base is this freebie from Kikki K. It's blue with gold foil.

My friend Lizzy sent me a Christmas pocket letter last year and this was one of the inserts she made.  I added a scallop frame diecut and worked with the gold mat on the card base to create more depth and interest.

I finished with a bracket and sentiment diecut.

I have more Christmas inserts to work through...but I guess this would the colour scheme for this year's Christmas cards. :)

From the recipe planner: Banana bread

Personally, I LOVE the smell of banana bread baking in the oven. It makes me happy. :)

Such a simple thing to bake and everyone at home loves it so I usually bake two tin loaves at a time.

Lots of people use leftover overripe bananas for their banana bread but not me. I actually have to specially go out to buy bananas for my banana bread because we have banana robbers at home. The only time you can find unstolen bananas at home is when they are unripe. Which means like half a day or so (Singapore is hot and humid.) *LOL*

My recipe is adapted from an Anna Olson recipe which uses melted butter. I use a lot less sugar and add in walnuts and chia seeds. Which is what I tend to do in most recipes...use less sugar and throw in some healthy stuff...you know, less sinful. *that's my story and I'm sticking to it!*

What about you? Do you enjoy banana bread?

Make Stuff Monday: repurposing some old projects

Well friends, sometimes I repurpose stuff thinking that I would use them once they are made "pretty". But I don't. Usually because of some design flaws that I discover only after the makeover.

The decorated biscuit tin

Like this decorated biscuit tin. Because I spray-painted the tin and added the washi tape to the lid of the box, it made it really difficult to open and close the box. I had to be really careful to not tear the washi tape or scrap off the gold paint. Which meant this box never got used as a storage box....you know, too much effort...I still stacked stuff on it though...*LOL*

Mixed media tag for LESSology

Also, I made a LOT of mixed media tags over the years that were just sitting in a box, waiting for someone to use them. Like this pretty little thing.

So I adhered some pearl trim along the edges of the lid and added this gorgeous vintage embellishment to the top and bottom (thanks Mitra!)

Then I glued on the tag. I did add 2 gold sequins to "update" the tag.

Here's how she looks from the side....

And how she looks on my gallery wall....perfect for that narrow unadorned nook. *winks*

As for the main box, it is now a planter box for my plants.

Yep, still using plastic packaging planters. :)