Happy Wednesday friends! Today's share is an upcycled envelope with birdies...:)
Just one of those Kiehl's product sample envelopes that came with an online order. The branding's quite big but we'll just cover it up with pretty patterned paper, doily, stickers and washi tape. Plus birdies!
Hope your week's going well. Looking forward to a new month and new goals! )
Unless it's your first visit here, you would know that when this gal gets obsessed with something, her blog pals are bound to find out. *LOL*
Currently, this gal is a tad obsessed with making galettes. Last week, she made a savoury one - tomato and also a sweet one - apple. :)
Playing along with Stick It Down.
I usually start with a quick sketch with my non-dominant hand (left). It keeps the drawing loose and is part of my ambidextrous goal for 2022..*winks*
Then I go in with another colour....clearly still with my non-dominant hand...it looks messy at this point but the goal is to put some broad strokes and colour down very lightly.
Then I add in the iris of the eye. The key is to go in with light strokes and to layer the colours without blending. This gives you the flexibility to "correct" if you don't like the strokes/colours/shapes.
Once I'm happy with the overall shape of the eye, I like to go in with the darks to create some depth (and drama). Still keeping the marks really light and loose.
Next I go in with warm colours to "brighten" it up - orange, yellow and red...and start blending the colours together.
Next step is to go in with the pupil and darken certain areas to create depth to the eye.
The final step is to draw the eyelashes and add in the white highlights.
Now, if you like the really smooth look, you can burnish in the colours. The unblended look is more my style...*LOL*
And there you have it, how I draw a mixed media eye in my sketchbook. :)
P/s: I used Faber Castell Polychromos and a white Posca paint marker for highlights.
Are you having a fabulous Friday my friends? Here's me sending a little love your way with this week's decorated Kraft bag. :)
Really wanted to play with pinks and reds.:)
Torn paper scraps for texture, stickers and washi tape.
Happy Thursday friends Let's get back to a quick decorated paper bag project. :)
Had fun with this one with a little diagonal design element... and all the cute birdies.:)
On today's Workspace Wednesday, I'm sharing snippets of my day in pics. :)
First up: my tomtato galette fresh out of the oven at 8am. Which meant I started prep work on it before the sun was out. Nephew #1 had a chemistry exam today so I made this for him to bring in his lunchbox.
As always, you know how I like to "challenge" myself and so this is the FIRST time I tried making a tomato galette....loosely based on the recipe from Bon Appetit.
It was very yummy.
So for Tuesday's Kitchen someone finally made brookies - a sweet treat consisting of a fudgy brownie bottom and a cookie top. Baked all at one go in a tray!
The recipe is loosely adapted from #preppykitchen with the sugar amounts reduced by a fair bit. :)
Ingredients for the brownie batter
113g unsalted melted butter
120g chopped 70% chocolate bar (or whatever kind of chocolate chips you have)
35g Dutch-processed cocoa powder
50g brown sugar
50g raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
65g AP flour
Chopped walnuts (or any nut of your choice)
Ingredients for the cookie dough
113g unsalted butter (room temperature)
50g brown sugar
50g raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
160g AP flour
150g mix of butterscotch and peanut butter chips (original recipe uses choc chips)
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Line a baking dish with parchment.
For the brownie
3. Melt the butter then stir in the cocoa powder. Whisk in the sugars and salt. Then add the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour and mix until almost combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Add walnuts. Pour batter in baking dish so it forms a thin layer.
For the cookie dough
4. Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until almost combined, then add in your chip mix. Add the cookie dough mixture to the top of the brown batter.
5. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes, then bake another 20 minutes uncovered. Sprinkle some sea salt once you take it out of the oven. Allow it to cool to room temperature before removing from pan and cutting.
It smelled and looked super yummy out of the oven. Did I mention that my sister asked TWICE if I was going to cut it up and serve it while it was cooling on the table? And that my mum and nephew #1 watched me cut it up so they could get first dibs? *LOL*
Have you made brookies?
Has it been a week? Oops...I may be a little behind in the eye drawings. *sheepish grin*
But I did try to increase the complexity of the mixed media eye drawings...
And maybe the lashes...
But I had fun along the way. :)
Happy week ahead friends!
Woohoo! Someone got a new toy! *happy dance*
Meet my latest kitchen acquisition friends! A Panasonic rice cooker.:)
You would think that an Asian family in an Asian country would already have ONE of these right? Nope. For the last 2.5 years, I've been cooking rice either in a steamer or in a saucepan. Which is NOT difficult but a tad irritating because I only have a two-burner stove so I have to plan the order of things to cook on the burners or utilize the ovens and the airfryer. Else cooking meals could take hours. *LOL*
I thought about it for a while before taking the plunge because I am not about the "acquiring more equipment" life. I could just buy a basic rice cooker with a single function or spend 5x the amount and hopefully get more use out of the appliance. While making my cooking life a tad easier.
So here we are. With a multi-use rice cooker that cost $xxx. And the first dish was savoury claypot rice - chicken drumbeats, pork belly, yam, carrots, mushrooms and long beans...yep a one-pot meal!
Of course, you know I had to be extra and added a fried egg to really "complete" the meal when serving up. Nobody complained about the meal...cleaned out plates all around. *let's take a bow* :)
Looking forward to trying more recipes with my new toy!:)
P/s: Do you have a rice cooker?
Happy Wednesday friends! Today I managed to get a morning watercolour floral practice session done! *high fives all around*
Also managed to score a slice of the blondies I made on Sunday...can't believe my luck since my sister and nephew #1 have been popping them like candy. *LOL*
Here is Tuesday's quick decorated Kraft bag. :) Slowly trying to use up my stash of Kraft/glassine bags I got from my SRM Stickers Design Team days...plus redesigning the ones I get from happy mail.
These are great for putting stationery bits like stickers and notecards and for a self-care package - skincare samples.:)
Hope you are having a great week so far!
So I decided to challenge myself to see how different my eye drawings can be when I limit my colour palette....*winks* I used Primacolor Premier Colored Pencils and for highlights - a Posca white acrylic paint marker and a Signo Uniball pen.
I did wish I picked a dark brown in my lineup to help with the darks because the black can be a bit severe if heavy-handed. But the dark purple did help and I just had to be light-handed when using the black.
Overall, I think I did a decent job with the limited colour palette...*high fives all around* I think it's a great way to practise drawing without decision paralysis on colour choices. That said, I'm happy to move on to a new self-imposed challenge. :)
How did I fare on the 1 colour palette 5 eye drawings challenge?
