Your weekend project - a sweet treat box

 

Hello friends! What are your weekend plans? How about decorating a sweet treat box, filling it up and giving it away? 

This year has just been one with lots of ups and downs - there's a little upside with the global vaccine rollouts and then the political turmoil and natural disasters are dampening the positive vibes. 

I think everyone of us deserves a sweet treat box from a well-meaning friend/neighbour/relative. Fill it up with something meaningful to the recipient (art supplies for kids, an at-home spa kit, home-baked goodies). We could all do with a little kindness right now.

I started with this lovely sturdy box from Fresh.

I really wanted to use this vintage postcard patterned paper...

And just built the rest of the elements around the vintage/travel them.

I've kept most of the elements flat for postal-friendly reasons. :)

Happy weekend friends! 

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Another week of mixed media eye drawings for #the100dayproject

 

So I've been really enjoying my watercolours lately...as evidenced by the entire week of eye drawings so far. I love the translucency of the colours as you layer them. Of course, I tend to go overboard with them and then try to "save" the eye drawing with coloured pencils. *LOL*

Meet 62/100.

Not sure about the brows for 63/100.

Okay I'm really into this shade of pink...64/100.

The side eye for 65/100.

Went for the unblended look for 66/100.

So I was really heavy-handed with the layering of the watercolours...and had to venture into the dark side for 67/100.

And today's brooding eye 68/100.

I think I'm getting better at the brow game? What do you think?

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What the Yams ate in March 2021 aka what I made *winks*

 

Wow...has it been another month of stay-at-home cooking? Well, your girl has been trying hard to minimise time spent in kitchen by simplifying processes...like marinating extra protein for different meals, making larger batches of pasta sauce, using the oven and air-fryer so that she doesn't have to clean the stove...*winks*

This one was fusilli pasta with meatballs, zucchini, celery and mushrooms in homemade pasta sauce.

I also made steamed meat buns...Well, most of them turned out ugly because your gal has not quite gotten the hang of the whole pleating the dough and leaving a hole at the top for the steam to escape thing. *LOL* But they were delicious though. I served the buns with a salad. :)

Grilled carrots, onion and zucchini, air-fryer chicken, avocado on steamed rice with shiitake mushrooms and egg tofu in miso soup.

We also had the monthly treat of homemade pizza...

And air-fryer chicken wings (I marinated for 24 hours using whatever herbs and spices I had available...yep, totally random..hehehe) which were pretty yummy!

Cake #1: Vanilla cake with fresh mango and Swiss buttercream.

Cake #2: Chocolate sponge cake with chocolate and blueberry bits in Swiss chocolate buttercream covered with a thin layer of American chocolate buttercream.

Brown and white steamed rice with roasted veggies (pumpkin, red pepper, onions, tomatoes) in tomato sauce, panfried loin pork, bacon and cheese omelette and Japanese cucumber.

Japanese rice with air-fryer batang fish, roasted veggies (zucchini, potato, onions, carrots), tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette ...eh...I may or not have bought a pan especially for this..hehehe), served with gochujang sauce.

Penne pasta with roasted red pepper, eggplant and shiitake mushrooms, air-fryer chicken, salad greens, Japanese cucumber with homemade Japanese deep roasted sesame salad dressing (so yummy...I've made this dressing 3x!).

A batch of muffins: mix of organic flours and oats, chia seeds, dried cranberries and walnuts.

My first go at nasi lemak (rice with coconut milk) with anchovies amble, spiced fried chicken drumstick, hard-boiled egg served with cucumber and tomato. Now,  my sister actually filmed me making this whole meal...and fingers crossed, if it actually gets edited, I might post it on YouTube. *LOL*

And then of course, there was an oversupply of bananas so I had to make banana bread...you know, to save the bananas!

Not a great picture...because the protein was totally covering it! Hahaha! Fried rice with tomatoes, carrots, eggplant, onions and garlic. Served with oven-baked chicken thigh.

Steamed rice with pan-fried fish, stir-fried red and yellow peppers, purple carrot, shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and garlic in tomato sauce, Japanese cucumber topped with cashew nuts.

Fish soup with sweet corn, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, lettuce, egg tofu topped with spring onions, parsley and crispy fried garlic served with steamed rice.

Grass-fed striploin steak, Japanese rice cooked in bone broth, Japanese cucumber, dashi soup with shiitake mushrooms, egg tofu, carrot and cabbage.

Pan-fried fish head, tomato fried rice with shiitake mushrooms, red and yellow peppers and omelette with parmesan, cheddar and mozzarella cheese.

And that was what the Yams ate in March 2021....that I made...which I shared on IG. Sometimes I don't get to photograph the food I make because they got eaten up already. *LOL*

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The one about the 2 birthdays in 1 party

 

So nephew #3 and the niece's birthdays are just 6 days apart so this year I did a 2 birthdays in 1 party. 

And yes, I baked 2 cakes. We also had pizza and chicken wings...you know, food that kids love. *winks*

Check out my new hand signage prop (my sister's hand...*LOL*).

Yep...working on my chipboard stash now. How did I amass so much chipboard? I only designed for 2 companies who made chipboard...and that was years ago! ;)

Having a little play with hearts. :)

Playing along with Stick It Down.

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Make Stuff Monday - the postal-friendly beauty box

 

So the other day, I shared some decorated glassine bags to fit into a decorated file folder which I packed into this postal-friendly box. The elements are flat but the box is sturdy enough for me to put in the  rest of my beauty box contents. 

Since the recipient has already gotten her parcel and used the contents of it (she sent me photos! *LOL*), I can now tell you what I sent her along with her day and night skincare routine - a small eye shadow palette, a set of travel makeup brushes, travel-sized lipsticks and mascara. I wanted to include perfume as well but apparently the alcohol in perfumes make them a prohibited item to ship via air (always check so that your parcel actually reaches your recipient). The idea was to send her a little self-indulgence birthday package to enjoy.

I kept the elements really simple - using mostly fussy-cut elements and stickers.

It was a fun package to put together....especially for a friend who loves makeup like I do. 

What do you think? Do you have someone in your life who would enjoy a beauty box?

Happy week ahead friends! I'm a little behind in returning blog visits but I promise to catch up this week. :)

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This might be a week of tired-looking eyes...*winks*

 

So I have been drawing and painting my mixed media eyes for #the100dayproject at the end of each day, after I've showered...as the LAST thing to do before bed.  No matter how tired I was and how much I wanted to push it to the next day, I persevered. Because I worked so hard to get all caught up and I don't want to fall behind again. *Go me! High fives all around* :)

I present to you...a week of tired-looking eyes...first up 56/100.

And 57/100.

Okay, this one (58/100) I actually got done in daytime (it was a Sunday) so it is less tired-looking. *LOL*

Back to tired-looking...59/100.

Okay 60/100 might actually be scary-looking.

61/100 was actually done in daylight, before dinner. So I got out my pastels for the base sketch, sprayed fixative, then finished with markers, pens and coloured pencils.

And 62/100 was completed just before I wrote this blog post. I took the afternoon off and went for a facial and massage (first in 15 months!) so I was pretty chill :)

Happy Easter weekend friends!

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