Matroyshka Doll

so over on amusing muses, i'm hosting my very first swap. i really like the swaps with shapes so i've been racking my brain trying to think of one. then i thought of russian nesting dolls, Matroyshka Dolls. so i decided to do a chunky book with this idea. each artist will make five dolls in different sizes. then when i receive them, i'll swap them back out and everyone will receive a different doll for the 5 different sizes. in order to get people that were on the fence to come on over, i made the largest of my 5. she's made with 140lb water color paper, banana tissue paper, text from a floral book, prisma colors, chalk, pastels, ink, and some brass metallic paint. i'm thrilled with how she turned out!

and some other stuff

some random bits for challenges:

a ring leader for the July ATC hand drawn challenge:
prismacolors and sumi ink



a postcard for the Edgar and Nevermore swap:
acrylics, pastels, and a salvaged Poe stamp from this year

1" x 1" pieces

so i've signed on for numerous inchies lately. why? i have no idea. i like making as much detail in as small of a space as a possible (did that sentence make sense?). i'm trying to get a large enough collection together that i can frame them. here's the ones i've been working on:

Day of the Dead:
made from gold paint, ink, and lots of glitter


Monochromatic Reds:
paints, inks, prismacolors, pink staples, and red light gels


Swamp Houses for the House Swap:
acrylics, silver paint, scrap paper


Monochromatic Greens:
vintage european stamps, acrylics, and glitter

July contest

for the amusing muses July contest, i felt like doing a little space-themed doll. the purple bead attached on the bottom represents the planet/not a planet Pluto. :) every month they put out a new challenge (see my cyclops bunny from May). for this challenge we were given a template with the goddess body shape, a pair of wings, and a mermaid tail. we could use any of the shapes however we felt. i cut out the main body and debated what to do. then i thought: blue. so i painted her as the star field and then cut out and painted all the planets. there's a small bit of craft foamy stuff in between the body and the planets, this way they stand out some. i went over everything and painted gold paint along the body and some detail on the planets. i hate that using a higher resolution on the scanner causes my computer to shut down. 300 just doesn't do it any justice. :(

Doll Babies

last night i finally got pictures of my art dolls. they are all crafted from random bits found around my house and work table. here we go:

Pill Baby


Swatch Baby


RAM Dancer


Stillwell Baby


and for good measure, a random Frida postcard i made today using pencil, ink, and crayons.

mmm... beef

last night, nick and i came up with our weekly menu. what we pretty much do is go online and research recipes on food network based on our favorites: ina garten, paula dean, and bobby flay. then we figure out what we have at the house and build a grocery list around what we don't have. pretty simple. it saves us money and we both really enjoy cooking.

lately, i've been making things that haven't been so great. nick's liked them, but not me. so last night i decided i wasn't going to make something crappy and i pulled out paula dean's beef stroganoff recipe. damn. it was really really good.

here it is:


Ingredients

* 1 1/2 pounds cubed round steak, cut into thin strips
* House Seasoning, recipe follows
* All-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 medium onion, sliced
* 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
* 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can beef broth
* 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
* Salt and black pepper
* 1 cup sour cream
* Cooked egg noodles

Directions

Season the steak strips with House Seasoning, then dust with flour. In a large skillet, quickly brown them on both sides in the olive oil and butter. Remove the steak from the pan. Add the onion slices and mushrooms to the pan drippings. Saute for a few minutes, until the onion is tender. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon flour. Put the steak back into the pan with the onion and mushrooms. Add the mushroom soup and beef broth. Cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, covered. Adjust seasoning to taste, adding salt and pepper, as needed. Stir in the sour cream the last few minutes, right before you serve. Serve over cooked noodles.
House Seasoning:

* 1 cup salt
* 1/4 cup black pepper
* 1/4 cup garlic powder

Mix the ingredients together and store in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Yields: 1 1/2 cups

blah monday

i spent my monday at work making this. now my hand hurts.

brain yoga

so today has become the unofficial Doodle Day! in celebration i drew up some Zentangles. now i think it's a bit taboo to refer to them as doodles, but i'm not sure. supposedly they're just supposed to help relax and refocus the brain (aka brain yoga). so here's what i made up today:



i am bit bummed about my scanner. the backgrounds are actually colored in with yellow highlighter - so in real life, these things are super bright and there's a lot of contrast. the bulb card actually looks like some sort of mod fabric. i wish it was because i'd make a skirt out of it.

orange!

today i felt like making 1" x 1" orange flowers. why? who knows these things.