Art journal again.

Another face, a male.......I am not good at males but I liked this one. Its better in the book because I enlarge them to put on here.

This next one I copied from a Christmas card, at least the idea was from the card. The quote is "Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself"


The two bunnies I thought were cute. I did like this one......

A Chickadee.........not bad but not my best. Sort of blurry haha.

Another face and this one I liked her expression. I think I can do something with this style.

A fairy maybe.........

.....and a fairy sleeping.

Now I need to find an alternative to the black ink......the pencil leaves smudges. I may find a different type of pencil that does not smudge.

I am sharing with Cottage Style party

In the kitchen.............

Well, I have to get into the kitchen more often. I enjoy it but not often haha. No really I do like to cook. I guess its just that coming up with a meal every night, you know how that goes. Do you sometimes wish that someone else would say "hey, why don't we have so and so tonight?" ..........would be nice not to have to think about it. After all, if you actually get out there and bake you dust off the flour and wipe the brow you go sit down and the hubby pipes up "what's for supper" ........don't ya just want to scream "GO FIX SOMETHING"
Maybe its just me. Anyway today I made some breakfast bars for Tristen, and some chocolate crispie treats for Gerry. He likes his sweets. I want to get around to making bread and pie crusts. Right now I am working on depleting the supplies in the baking cupboards. So that was my projects today.
First off I made another batch of Salsa. OMG I read about using canned tomatoes instead of fresh and I wanted to know if it would be any good. So that was first. The recipe said leave the seeds in the jalapeno peppers. I did..........whoooooaaa !!!!! talk about hot. My lips felt they were blistered.
I added another can of tomatoes.

After that came the breakfast bars.
These are so easy.........4 cups of instant oatmeal, 2 cups of rice crispies. 1 stick of butter, 1/2 cup of honey, 2/3 cup of brown sugar.1/3 cup of choc chips.
To this I add nuts and fruit but that is not in the recipe. All you do is put the dry goods into a big mixing bowl. In a saucepan you melt together the butter and honey and sugar. Bring it to a bubble boil and simmer 2 mins............pour this over the dry stuff and mix. Turn out onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, grease it with butter it makes it easier to turn out after.
So now you have it on the cookie sheet flatten it and score it into bars and put it in the fridge to set up.

The rice crispy treats are even easier.
3 cups of chocolate chips. 6 or 7 cups of rice crispies. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave (be sure to stir every couple of minutes) mix together in a large bowl and put onto waxed paper to set.

These naturally are favourites of Tristen and Gerry and Dan says he loves them too. Give me the salsa and chips, I prefer savory to sweet. That salsa is dang hot though.
One of Tristen favourite meals is tacos in wraps. I have to make his special. I put the meat in a wrap with a lot of cheese and leave out the salad stuff and sauces and I give him sour cream to dip.

Do you think he enjoys them?
If you want any details on any details on any of these things either contact via email or leave a note on here. I will be glad to give you the original recipe.
I am linking with I should be mopping the floor

Another journal.........

My art journals are for my own personal use. I may copy pictures from books, or blogs or anything that catches my eye. They are not for any other reason than for me to practice and learn to create. Its a way of getting ideas. I like some, and not others but either way its fun to do. I think I am on my 6th journal. I do a lot of fairies. I also only do a rough sketch and paint it, I don't do a real painting with background etc. That is for later.

I like to do wildlife too


I also like to do cartoonish faces..........not supposed to be lifelike.......I prefer that, but that is not the idea just yet.

I like to look for phrases to go with the picture. Maybe later this year I will begin a new book and actually do some proper work with a poem or something to illustrate it.

Simple, trying to get some motion in the picture

Trust me they look better in the journal because they are not enlarged.

The colour never shows right in a photo........



I think some I could make a picture from, but most are a no go

Ah well..they look better in the book. I think this will be my last journal post. I had better do something real. Something better or everyone will think this is what I do. LOL.

Pina Colada Cup Cakes...........

This Christmas I tried some new recipes. I always make things to give away. Well I can't eat it all. This year I didn't make fudge as my friend Edna usually does. I did make her Oyster crackers after I ate hers, yum. They were so popular I had to make two more batches. Well anyway, among other things I tried these Pina Colada Cup cakes.

I already had the little baking cups and I really liked them. I should have got more festive ones but I was trying to use up baking supplies. I must remember to be sure to wipe them better next time. I also don't really care for taking the cake out of them after, not an easy task.

The recipe was easy so I figured what the hay.........It called for a box of yellow cake mix. That I did not have but did have a french vanilla cake mix. I would use that again rather than the yellow because it was awesome.

The recipe is as follows.....Please read right through because I did it differently. This is the original version.
1 yellow cake mix
1 large can of crushed pineapple drained.
2 - 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk
8 oz whipped topping
2/3 cup of coconut.
Directions.
Prepare cake mix as directed on package
mix 1/2 the drained pineapple into the batter.
Bake according to package directions.
With a fork , poke holes in warm cake at 1 inch intervals.
Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the cake evenly
Cool and top with coconut.


This is my version...............

1 box French Vanilla cake mix
1 lg can of crushed pineapple.
Mix according to box instructions and add 1/2 can of DRAINED crushed pineapple.
Divide mix between cupcake pans or as I did into little cup cake holders.

Cook according to directions on the box.
For the frosting I made my own version with 1 8oz cream cheese and 1 stick of butter and powdered sugar until it gets to the correct stiff consistency. It is sooooo yummy. Then when the cakes are cool frost and sprinkle with coconut. Viola!!!
This cake is so moist and tasty its really good.