Monday 30 December 2013

A drawing a day 2014 - January

More drawing a days can be found on a new blog - it's getting a bit crowded in here!
Katharine's A Drawing A Day (KatsADAD)

Day 2
Legs and feet / Rewan 
Stick and ink, sketch pad
10 minutes and 5 minutes



Day 1
Knitted Christmas tree
Pen, sketch book
20 minutes


Pre-amble 2: 
31st December 2013
Rain water splash - from a photograph.
Pen in sketch book, 2nd attempt. 20 mins.




Pre-amble
30th December 2013

Pen in small sketch book, 10 minutes

Monday 30 September 2013

A year of being inspired to take a photo a day

Having started on November 1st 2012,
There is a photo for every day,  following the prompts from Fat Mum Slim photo a day.
Some days I used an archive photo but most were taken on the day.
I used my android phone or my canon bridge camera.

Here they are in monthly collages - but first of all this collage, with my highlights. 


The five photos in the middle are pictures selected to feature in the daily 'Fab Four'.



The collages alternate with the monthly prompts. 
Where the collage is in a grid the photos are in chronological order. It may be  a bit more challenging in the other months to link to the photo to the prompts, hey ho!

November 2012



December 2012




January 2013



February 2013



March 2013 



April 2013



May 2013



June 2013


July 2013






August 2013




September 2013



October



Tuesday 3 September 2013

Releasing photos from your PC

Here's an simple project for you:

Get your photos printed onto business cards (I used moo.com)
On one side there is the same image on all of them, the other side has different images on every one.

Punch little holes in the middle of the top and bottom edges

Link them together with paper clips

Hang them on a thin piece of dowling, or a garden cane.

Attach to the ceiling with hooks (I stuck mine with no nails glue - no DIY involoved)

Step back and enjoy.

Saturday 19 January 2013

Monkey Cinnamon Bread


day 19 delicious cinnamon monkey bread.jpgMonkey bread / cinnamon pull-apart bread
This is not a quick-make!!
Make the dough (I use a bread machine):
or you might choose to get Mr Pillsbury to make yours for you
Ingredients:
·        360ml  / 1 ½ cups           warm water
·        2                                     egg yolks
·        2 tbsp                             melted butter
·        2 tbsp                             salt
·        600g / 3 ¾ cups              Strong white flour (bread flour)
·        2 tsp                               easy bake yeast (dried yeast)
1.      Put the ingredients in to your pan in the order your machine manufacturer suggests (mine go in the order listed).
2.      Use the ‘dough’ programme
3.      Knead it for 5 mins ( I used to skip this but it does make the dough lighter in the end)
4.      leave to rise for 30 mins in a bowl covered in cling film
Putting it all together…
These quantities are approximate as I guess a lot of the time:
·        I tbsp                 cinnamon
·        I cup / 200g       soft brown sugar
·        ¾ cup / 175g     melted butter
·        ½ cup / 50g       icing sugar
(for non UK people I think you call it confectioner’s sugar, it’s a very fine powdery sugar)
Method
1.      Mix the melted butter, cinnamon and sugar
2.      Separate it into 16 and then quarter all of those
3.      Coat all the balls in the buttery, sugary, cinnamon loveliness (it’s messy and takes time but it’s worth it, having a glass of wine next to you and your favourite music playing helps too).
4.      Butter your baking tin – I used an 8 inch square silicone pan  
5.      Arrange your dough balls in two layers.
6.      If you have made your own dough, leave to rise for 30mins until they have doubled in size
7.      Pop them in a pre-heated oven for about 25mins (I take them out when they small right and look right)
8.      Let it cool for a few minutes and turn out onto a serving plate
9.      Drizzle water icing over it – mix icing sugar with a small amount of water
1.   You tear it apart to eat it and don’t worry about the calories