So I was out for a quick lunch with the family at a nearby mall on my birthday last month.
I am thankful that I got an "off" day from cooking lunch. *winks*
And I got fun photos to scrapbook...
Like my folks posing with their food.
And my sister with her "can I get a toothpaste ad? smile.
I had so much fun mixing patterns on this layout. :)
Playing along with The Studio Challenges.
With less than 3 weeks to go on #the100dayproject, I am finally getting into a comfy drawing routine. And by does it take discipline. I'm not going to lie, the first few weeks were hard and I fell behind by 10 days and did really want to give up. But I failed miserably in 2020 and decided that 2021 was NOT going to be the same. I finally caught up by the halfway mark (I had to draw and paint 2-3 eyes per day in a week). And I have not fallen behind since. *triumphant music plays in the background*
Not every eye is a masterpiece...like 77/100.
Or 78/100.
But every eye is a learning journey and a chance to show my art supplies some love. :)
And an opportunity to try out different angles..79/100.
Within a self-imposed time limit on each piece so that I'm forced to complete it as best as I can within that time frame of 90 minutes max...80/100.
When you fuss around less, you get things done a lot faster...81/100.
One of the greatest gains of this project is that I've fallen back in love with watercolours again. A good thing since I spent a fortune on my "collection" *winks* You can really do drama and transparency with watercolours....82/100. :)
Happy Thursday friends! :)
Hello friends! How has your week been? Are those fresh flowers you spy on my already overloaded desk? Well yes. :) Got this bunch at the supermarket for $10...for maybe 6 days of floral bliss. *winks* But totally worth piling my stuff at the other end of the desk for a couple of days. *LOL*
Okay so the lilies made it to Day 4 and I transferred the remaining blooms into a smaller vase so that I can move it off my main desk area. And of course promptly filled up the desk with my mess again. *hahaha*
What about you? Do you like having fresh floral arrangements at home?
So my mum's cousins came over last month for a quick reunion - a little chit chat and catching up over afternoon tea - since they didn't meet up during CNY 2021 because of all the home visitor restrictions that were in place (still currently enforced - 8 guests per household per day) because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These were the cousins mum grew up with so she was really happy to see them. :)
Needless to say, they had to pose for photos with my handmade signages of course. See photo 1 versus photo 2...can you see the difference? *LOL*
These days I'm trying my darnest to use up whatever packaging I get after watching several documentaries and learning with dismay how much of the stuff we put into the recycle bin actually gets recycled. It's less than 10% in my country. *sad music plays in the background*
So today's Make Stuff Monday is my attempt at making a receipt holder pretty.
Here is how it looked like before the makeover...
Inside is a flap to hold the receipt...which is perfect for a handwritten note for a special someone.
I adhered some paper scraps, then went in with some trim and pearls to pretty her up. That big bold bloom just helped to tie everything together. :)
Yes, that pearl trim finally came back into play again. Since I no longer get a steady supply of it as part of the Maya Road Design Team (I don't think they are in business anymore), I had been hoarding it. But I've decided to use everything up and just move on. I'm sure I will find another pretty trim to replace that. :)
Happy week ahead friends! :)
Another week of playing with mainly watercolours and coloured pencils in my mixed media eye drawings for #the100dayproject.
Here is 69/100.
And 70/100.
I start with a rough pencil sketch, then I roll my kneaded eraser over the pencil markings to remove most of the graphite, leaving just an outline as a guide for me to go in with watercolours.
Meet 71/100.
I build up the layers of watercolour before working on the details with coloured pencils (for more control).
Here is 72/100.
I tend to get heavy-handed when I'm tired and pressed for time. Like in 73/100. It was quite late at night, close to my optimal sleeping time so I added more layers before the previous layers were completely dry in a bid to "speed" up the process. But it didn't work very well for me. *LOL*
And for 74/100 as well. *Winks*
Hello friends! Just got myself a pair of Nike Air Max today. LOVE how bright and loud the colours are! If you must know, I work out at home. So these fancy shoes are for my visual pleasure. *LOL*
Anyway, how are you doing in your neck of the woods?
Dad is fully vaccinated while mum has had her first dose. Mum was due to have her second dose last week but she had a bit of a health scare and was hospitalised for a night with an inflammation in her gut. She's on a strong course of antibiotics and resting at home. I've been cooking with a wide variety of veggies and herbs to rebuild her microbiome and get her gut healthy again.
Meanwhile, I'm still waiting to make an appointment to get vaccinated even though I've already registered my interest. I think we definitely have a supply issue here. You would think that it would be easy to vaccinate a population of 5.5 million quickly but not if global supplies are low.
Tell me what's happening in your life. :)
So the last time I attempted to make steamed baos was last year. And last month I decided to try to make them again, certain that after watching numerous videos on how to create the folds on the bao and steam them to perfection, I could do it. *encouraging music plays in the background*
And I saw you checking out her "ugly" sisters. *winks*Actually they looked pretty okay when I placed them in the steamer but I stretched the dough too thin so you could see the meat filling on the sides once they were out of the steamer.
They were pretty tasty though...and I'm lucky that my family will not complain about ugly food as long as the food is yummy. We had these for dinner with a fresh veggie and fruit salad. :)
I had so much fun using the bits and bobs in my stash. You know that I'm more a maximalist than a minimalist. *hehehe*
Playing along with More Than Words.
Hello friends! Hope you had a great weekend! For today's Make Stuff Monday I am sharing another minimalist-inspired decorated paper bag. *dramatic music plays in the background*
I really wanted to use this bold patterned paper and kept the rest of the elements simple to really showcase it. :)
What do you think?
