Golden Globes Gift Lounge

Golden Globes Gift Lounge
Eric Stonestreet at the Golden Globes Gift Lounge

Monday, August 30, 2010

Sunday Supper on Monday

Yes I know I am a day late but I have been having some internet problems lately. This week I made "Chicken Cacciatore". This dish is serious fast food. I mean fast as it only took 15 minutes to prepare and then cooked it slowly on the stove for 45 minutes just checking occasionally. I chose to use a "Free Range' chook, cut into six pieces. It tastes fantastic and the only thing I added was some italian herbs (can't help myself sorry) Me thinks that the one on the recipe card also had a few tablespoons of tomato paste added due to the colour of the photo. I think next time I make this ( I will as we are having left overs tonight, yummy) I will put in a bottle of passata as well and leave it uncovered just to try it out. Husband is a big fan of this dish and wants it added to the regular menu.









Now that I am back at my part time job I am going to get in to the cakes and biscuit sections. The ladies will love it at morning tea time. One of my work mates was kind enough to bring her old, well used, Women's Weekly Cook books from the early 1970's so I will be trying some of those as well. I will have to make some copies from it as I am not game enough to bring it home as it is now out of print. We had a lot of fun looking at the old photos in it at tea time and I think it brought back some happy memories for the older ladies.

Cheers and good eating

Karen

Friday, August 20, 2010

Water Colour Pencils

Lately I have fallen back in love with my water colour pencils. They are so simple to use and with the right paper you can get some great effects. I usually sketch a rough design down first to tweak it, then I put the final version down on some water colour paper. I sit in front of the TV at night and colour in (unless it is a show or movie I have to concentrate on)basically and then grab some water and a paper towel to do the wash.

I usually outline the picture with ink or acrylic paint. I also use acrylics to highlight so my pictures are usually mixed media. The "Albrecht Durer" by "Faber Castell" and the "Derwent" brands produce the best results for me although, I do use the cheaper ones sometimes. It is the old story, You get what you pay for. They are also good for travelling as you can just take a pencil case, brushes and sketchbook away with you. You can just use a cup of water to finish off. Here are some examples of my work, enjoy:



Finny the Fighting Fish stickers sticker
Finny the Fighting Fish stickers by kewzoo
View all other stickers on zazzle.com.au






Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Poster and Print Sale at Zazzle

This week they are having a 40% off poster sale at Zazzle. Just use this code if you would like to buy one at the discounted price BTSRULEPRINT . Just click on any of the links to get to Zazzle. The first 3 are my designs and the next ones are from some of my talented artist friends who also have shops on Zazzle. If none of these take your fancy you can always go to www.zazzle.com



Carbon Space Flower poster print
Carbon Space Flower poster by kewzoo
Shop for artwork available on Zazzle


Owls 22 Print print
Owls 22 Print by kewzoo
Shop for other art on zazzle.com




Sing-a-Song Bird print
Sing-a-Song Bird by candystore
Browse the other prints and posters available on Zazzle



Saturday, August 14, 2010

Sunday Supper

Hello there,

Today I am going to share some retro recipies with you. Pip Lincolne, owner of the magical "Meet me at Mikes" came up with "Project Yellow Box" http://meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com/2010/08/project-yellow-box-by-pip.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MeetMeAtMikes+%28meet+me+at+Mikes%29

She was asking if anyone else had one of these boxes and would like to join her in cooking some of the dishes from "The Australian Women's Weekly Recipe Card Library". It turned out that we have one that someone left behind in an old share house my husband Stephen once lived in, so I decided to come on board and cook a recipe every week.






The only thing I changed was olive oil in place of butter and I added some Greek herbs. Stephen and I loved it and it will become a regular in our house. The taste instantly transported me pack to the Progressive Dinner parties my mother's church put on occasionally in the 70's where everyone brought a plate to share. Here are some photos (some are a little bit blurry as I still have not got the hang of my camera phone) of how mine turned out last night and please forgive my ratty old kitchen.






There is a dish I use quite regularly from my childhood. My cousin Lillian used to make it for me when I came over as it was one of my favourites. My father is the youngest of nine and I did not come along until he was in his thirties. Most of his nieces and nephews felt more like my aunts and uncles than cousins as most of them had children around my age.

Curried Tuna

(You can also use prawns, salmon or chicken as I did for the one in the photo)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of butter or margarine
0.5 - 2 teaspoons of curry powder
3 level tablespoons of plain flour
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese
1 pint (600mils) of milk
1 dessertspoon of wholegrain mustard (or American)
1 teaspoon of lemon juice (or more according to taste)
1 425 gram tin of Tuna

Method

Melt butter or margerine in a saucepan then add the curry powder. Stir in plain flour and cook over low heat for two minutes. Stir in milk gradually, add the cheese, keep stirring till melted, smooth and the sauce starts to thicken. Next add the mustard and lemon juice. The tuna is added last and keep stirring until it is heated through.

I like to serve this with rice and steamed vegetables on the side.



I hope you have fun cooking and eating these meals.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Friends on Friday



Lucia Stewart

Lucia is an international selling artist currently working from Shanghai, China. "Stressie Cat" is a character based on her black cat who goes on a lot of adventures and has some very cute little friends. To pick just a few examples is going to be very hard.





Full House card
Full House by StressieCat
Shop for a card with zazzle.com




Here are the links to some other of Lucia's shops:

Give a dog a bone by Lucia Stewart | ArtWanted.com

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/love-is-lucia-stewart.html




Sunflower 6 card
Sunflower 6 by LivingNature
Shop all other greeting cards at zazzle.com


Christopher Johnson

Now if flowers are more your thing you will love Christoper's work. Currently working from Cuautitlan, Mexico, Christopher Johnson is a Visual Artist, Translator and Graphic Web Designer who loves floral photography, painting, digital portraits and nature.


Bird of Paradise 8 Dreamy shirt
Bird of Paradise 8 Dreamy by LivingNature
Many more t-shirt designs available on zazzle









Here are some links to some more of Christopher's websites

http://visualartgifts.com/

http://www.imagekind.com/MemberProfile.aspx?MID=5c1700b1-cb19-4d84-a6bc-f5b289671774

Things on Thursday

I have put some new work on to Zazzle and Red Bubble this week and I have been busy working away at making some new products. I will put a couple of these items up but first I would like to introduce you to our group " the Indie Exhibit". We are group of Artisans from around the world who exhibit together in the gift lounges at the various Award Shows. Our next projects will be "the Golden Globes" in January 2011 followed by "the Oscars".

We are all very excited to be doing these shows and we will be putting our best foot forward. The lovely Shannon Rene' Justice and Nikki Cutro are pulling out all the stops and working very hard on this project and our web site will be up and running soon. We also have some merchandise.

http://www.theindiexhibit.com/


the indiExhibit Logo petshirt
the indiExhibit Logo by indiExhibit
Create personalized dog clothes at zazzle







As I said before I have some new work up this week. Here are some links to things I have created.







Mushroom Camel Postage stamp
Mushroom Camel Postage by kewzoo
Make personalized stamps on zazzle.com

Monday, August 9, 2010

Zazzle Binder Sale

Zazzle is having a "Back to School" Binder sale through till Sunday 15/08/2010 so I thought I would show you some of the new ones I have made recently and a some others I like as well. Most Binders are fully customizable to suit your needs so you can just add some text to personalize. You just need to use this code to get $8 off your new Binder BTSRULEAVERY.



Autumn Cats 2 binder binder
Autumn Cats 2 binder by kewzoo
Make your own ring binders at zazzle






Now here are some other Favourites of mine from Zazzle