Pie Night!

I am on summer vacation, so I apologize (again) for the lack of posts.  I am visiting my family and someone had a stroke of genius and we had a pie night!  We made three savory pies and four sweet pies.  I finally got the chance to try two pie recipes that I found earlier this summer, but I discovered something sad.  I really don't like fruit pie.  I have never been a big fan of apple pie (I know, it is unpatriotic!) but I eat it sometimes, so I always thought I just needed to be in the right mood.  Well, I made fruit pies, I was in the mood for pies, but I really didn't care for them.  Luckily, everyone else seemed to love them, so if you like fruit pies then these are for you!  

Our Pie Night Pies: 

 

Chicken Pot Pie - made by my Dad and really, really good!

 

Egg Pie (also know as Quiche, but changed for the purposes of Pie Night) - made by my Mom and full of tons of veggies, her homegrown garlic chives and topped with cheese. Yum!

Vegetarian Shepard's Pie - made by my brother who had a recipe that he apparently didn't really follow.  Luckily it turned out amazing!

 

Chocolate Cream Pie - made by my Dad.  Each slice was topped with his homemade whipped cream - really rich, but very, very tasty.

 

Key Lime Pie - also made by my Dad who thought the pie was a pale ugly color, so he added food coloring to brighten it up.  Despite the funky color, it tasted good!

 

Jelly Pie - made by my friend Mary.  It is a pie her grandma used to make and if you like pie crust (like my family does) then this is the pie for you! 

 

Peach Cream Pie - made by me.  This was also topped with my Dad's whipped cream.  It was a big hit!  I got the recipe here: http://www.evilshenanigans.com/2010/08/peach-cream-pie/

 

Blueberries and Cream Pie - made by me.  This was actually made the day after pie night for dinner with our friends, but it was also a big hit (with everyone but me - I really wish I liked fruit pies!).  Here is the recipe: http://gingerbreadbagels.com/2011/06/18/blueberries-and-cream-pie/ It is very easy to make and really great if you like blueberries. 

I should probably confess that none of us made our crusts from scratch.  My dad is a big fan of the Pillsbury crusts that you just unroll and put in the pan.  They are so easy and really tasty, so we all used those... don't judge us too harshly.  You should all have you own Pie Night and if you make way too much (like we did) then you can enjoy leftover pies for the days to come! 

Broaches

I was in the mood to make something today so I made two more tear drop necklaces and then made some crazy looking broaches.  They are colorful and fun and I really like looking at them all together.  As will all the things I make, I hope other people will like them too and even better, be willing to buy them! 

Yay Pinterest!

I have to share something cool I found through Pinterest.  My friend pinned a beautiful leaf drawing from this website: http://www.art-is-fun.com/search-this-site.html.  I loved the picture, so I looked through the website a bit to see what it was all about.  It is a site that gives you drawing and painting lessons.  While browsing through the pages I found some things about Prismacolor colored pencils (which are my favorite drawing materials).  The site recommended that when sharpening Prismacolors you should hold the pencil and turn the sharpener instead of the other way around.  I had never done it that way so I started giving it a try.  It has worked so much better! The lead breaks much less frequently and seems to give a nicer, sharpened tip.  So yay for Pinterest and yay for the Art is Fun website!

Sporadic

Apparently, I am a sporadic blogger.  To anyone who still checks and reads this blog, thank you!  I have intentions of posting more often, but it does not seem to happen yet.  I will continue to try and get better!

I worked on a drawing this weekend and was not pleased with it, until I realized that I wanted a more zoomed in version of it.  So here is how it turned out:

And this is a zoomed in photo which is more like what I had in mind:

I guess I will have to try again and experiment with the background some more.  I also have been meaning to share a photo of the new necklaces I have made.  They are not baked yet, but I really like them and I want to make some more in this style:

I am kind of into paisleys right now.  They seem to be showing up in my drawings so I figured I would see how they looked in necklace form.  I have to say I am pretty pleased with the results!

Easter

I decided that this year I wanted to do something amazing with Easter eggs and try drawing on them with wax like the beautiful Russian and Polish eggs that I keep seeing on the internet (...Pinterest).  So I lit a candle and got some eggs and then discovered that without proper tools, drawing on eggs with wax is really hard!  I ended up using a knife and made some simple designs on three eggs.  They were far less beautiful and amazing than I had pictured, but until I figure out where to get wax egg drawing tools they were the best I could manage! 

Then I dyed them along with all the regular, not wax decorated eggs and here is how they turned out:

I think they are not bad for a first attempt and I definitely learned a thing or two.  Next year I plan to be much better prepared!  Here are the rest of our eggs:

I hope you all had a Happy Easter and enjoyed dying eggs of your own! 

Wales

I just got back from an amazing wedding in Wales.  Not only was the wedding and everyone there beautiful, but Wales itself is lovely and full of sheep!  I will have some new art work to share tomorrow, but for today here is the beautiful beach in Anglesey:

 sandy beach full of weird seaweed stuff and lots of tide pools

sheep!

Busy, busy

February turned out to be quite a busy month!  But I did manage to do a little art along with planning a friend's bachelorette party :)  I also got back on a bit of a Pinterest kick, which led me to a ton of new recipes, which got me on a baking kick.  I have to say, I found some really great recipes (particularly the cinnamon swirl banana bread) but I have satisfied my baking itch for now.  You can see my cooking board on Pinterest if you are interested! 

The idea for this painting has been floating around in my head and I finally put paint to canvas! 

close up of the top

New Necklaces

I have been trying to use some of the drawings I have been working on and put them on a necklace.  It was a bit harder than I thought and I am not entirely sure if I like the result, but they are kind of funky. 

I sat down yesterday to try and make some Valentine's necklaces.  I think they look fun as a group.  We will see if anyone in the land of Etsy likes them! 

I was also in the mood to bake this weekend, so I made a delicious frittata (if I do say so myself!).  And then, wanting something sweet, I made lemon cookies which I decided to decorate:

 I used potatoes, red pepper, red onion, thyme and rosemary

Happy New Year!

Hello again :)  I got lost in the business of Christmas and the wonderful, inspirational, time-wasting, fantastic website known as pinterest.com.  If you have not seen it yet, you should, but be warned: you may end up spending LOTS of time looking at all the amazing things on it.  I have been trying to get away from just looking and pinning things and start actually trying to cook some of the recipes and make some of the crafts.  To that end, I made 35 origami balloons today!  

 

They were easy to make once I stopped creasing all the folds.  I had a few unsuccessful attempts of blowing up my balloons before I figured that out.  Once they were all made, I put them on a string of white Christmas lights and hung them in the kitchen.  I think they look great!  

It adds some nice color to my kitchen.  I have several other things from Pinterest that I am eager to try - I will keep you updated on how they turn out!