New prints

A lemon and sugar crepe recipe for all those who like a bit of french cooking. And also, a roast apricot, cinnamon and almond chicken roast recipe for those with a bit of a more adventurous palette! They are both printed with archival inks onto A4 sized, 220gsm fine-tooth, cream coloured paper. Comes with an approximate 1/2 cm border all around so it's just nice for hanging with or without frames.

Now available here!

Spotting Circles

Out of all the possible shapes in this world, I really do love circles. And needless to say, I absolutely am in love with polka dots because it's like so many circles coming together to form such a cute dotty pattern! Anyway, it was nice to be able to spot some circular things on my desk on Sunday. And yes, in case you are wondering about that lovely grey yarn, I got it from Woolbaa at Albert Park and it's currently being knitted into a scarf. I'm making two of it. One for my sister, one for Darren. Darren says it's like the colour of an owl, so he calls it owl grey. I on the other hand, am far less creative.

I simply call it the pretty grey.

Some Things

Lunch the other day was Udon noodle soup with lots of spring onions, and some lightly battered fish. So yummy and quick to make! 

Packed away everything leaving only my knitting stuff and bare essentials on my desk. A good way to start working into the new year.

New top from Gorman. It was heavily discounted. If not I wouldn't have even thought of buying it! I'm going to wear it to work today.

Best present from a good friend from school. He gave me this after he saw how depressed I got after my family left. This phrase was made specially to remind me it will all be worth it at the end of the day. He makes art out of found materials, fabrics. He does lots of text pieces. This was made out of real money. Okay actually not. But he did do another piece with real money before and I really liked it. This piece is now hanging on my wall and I get to see it everyday. Thank you Greg!

Illustrations

These non-dairy milk products were drawn for a super magazine. The issue's not out yet so I can't show you the full series. These are just 4 out of 6 that I did. It's going to be for a full spread. How exciting! I will show you the other two when the issue comes out.

Weekend

I knitted, brought Darren to the yarn shop, went to the library, ate fish and chips, made a peppermint chocolate cake, scallop and century egg congee ( I love century egg! ), received a cute plaid brooch from a cute couple who reads my blog, went to the beach and swam in the ocean, picked seashells for my coming kids art classes, cleaned the house, went to church, popped into Ikea, ate $1 hot dogs and watched more korean dramas. I really do love the weekends. I can fit so much fun things into a day.

Happy Australia Day everyone! Since tomorrow's a holiday, it's like Friday again today!  Ooh yeah!

Albert Park

Seriously, there's so much to love about that place. I know it's an 'expensive area' and some have said it's a really 'snobby' suburb. But so far, I haven't had any unfriendly/snobby experiences there. And I've been frequenting the place for a while now since it's close to home. To begin with, it's such a leafy little suburb with beautiful victorian houses. There's a nice yarn shop, a library with friendly staff, a bookshop that has such a great collection of art and design books. There's also my favourite fish and chips, ice cream and burger shop. ( Note, three different food shops, but all in one similar place! ) Lots of dogs and their owners, kids on tiny bicycles. It's also close to the beach. Now, I think I sound like some property agent or something. But well, how can you not love such a place!

Off I go to Albert Park to pick up some reserved library books and to the yarn shop to seek some knitting help! I finished knitting my first circular scarf but it refuses to uncurl itself! You know like how some new scarves curl up? Yes, it's doing that too me. I also realized I knitted it a bit too small for looping around the neck twice! But it's still wearable. I'm working on a second scarf now. I learnt how to knit stripes, so it's going to be mainly navy with a block of red on one end and oatmeal on the other. Kind of like a sailor scarf I think. 

Have a super weekend everyone! 

Knitting Bug

Seems like I've caught on the knitting bug. Okay, actually I've been feeling very uninspired of late and am in no mood for art making at all. So I've been knitting instead. Oops! Since my last post, I've been to Woolbaa since it's near home and bought the cutest speckled tweed yarn. 2 balls of it in fact. One in a navy black and the other in a cobalt blue. I spent the whole of last night experimenting and trying to understand how to knit a loop scarf using circular needles. I got confused and mistook a loop scarf for a mobius scarf. No wonder I ended up totally lost while watching all the youtube how-to videos. My needles and stitches certainly didn't look anything like those shown. While googling further, I somehow ended up with this page here and problems solved! I'm almost done with my loop scarf. Just a few more rounds, then cast off and viola, my first scarf!

I screwed up the oatmeal one I was doing and had to start all over. I put that aside because my red yarn was calling out to me so I started working with some size 4 needles to make a normal scarf. I'm rather slow when it comes to making a straight scarf. Maybe because it's a bit tiny and I feel like it takes forever. But yes I will persevere! Thank you for all the tips, I am such a noob when it comes to this whole knitting thing. I'm learning as I go. So those tips were all really useful! I looked into those Japanese Noro yarns. So beautiful but very expensive. Maybe I'll get them when I'm better at this.

Sorry to all you non-knitters. Hope I don't bore you with this whole knitting talk!

Back in the habit

I know it's summer over here in Australia, but yes, I'm picking up knitting again! I have decided one of my resolutions for this year is to learn how to knit again. I actually learnt knitting from this lady in China 5 years ago. Back then, I was spending a month in a small village for an exchange study trip. The village was kind of not hip at all. My friends and I just ate roadside snacks all day long and camped out in our hostel watching dvds. Yes, it was that boring. I remember stumbling upon Macdonalds and that was like the hippest place in the entire city. No, I'm serious! Haha. Anyway, to kill our boredom, the girls in our group ended up picking knitting ( everyone knits there ) from an internet cafe shop lady. She taught us for free and we became friends. I knitted my first scarf and it was horribly tiny.

Fast forward 5 years on, I've knitted possibly just three times. But every time I either lose my patience, or I drop a stitch and give up. Well, I decided this time round to give it another go and get back to knitting. I had some needles and a ball of oatmeal coloured yarn lying around at home so I started knitting again yesterday. So far so good. I dropped a stitch last night and decided to wing it and just continue. But this morning to my horror, the area I dropped a stitch at became obvious. And my tension was so uneven as well. So I started all over again. Well, they say practice makes perfect right?

I'm still quite excited about knitting ( for once ) and I popped by Morris and sons today. It was my first time there and it's pretty much like yarn heaven I tell you. The shop ladies were really friendly and gave me lots of advice too. I left with 2 bundles of beautiful deep red merino yarn and a size 4 needle.

I aim to finish knitting 2 scarves by winter this year. 

Let's see if I can do it. Any knitters out there with tips to share?

Lemon and Sugar Crepes

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp caster sugar

240 ml milk

2 eggs

1/2 a lemon

(Makes about 12 crepes)

• Whisk all ingredients in a mixing bowl till smooth. 
• Strain, cover and set aside for 30 minutes at room temperature
• Dip paper towel in melted butter. Grease base of non-stick pan.
• Over small to medium heat, using a small ladle, ladle about 3 tbs worth of batter onto pan. 
• Using base of ladle, spread batter out in a circular motion
• Cook for about a minute, or until base of crepe turns golden brown
• Remove crepe from pan, squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle sugar

Viola!

*****

note: Crepes are meant to be thin, so make sure you don't scoop too much batter onto the pan. 

Also, you need to be quick when it comes to spreading the batter out in circular motions. 

Oh and I sometimes don't bother setting aside my batter for 30 minutes. It still works fine.

So, I've been cooking and testing bits of recipes here and there, for a food publication I'm making.  I've gathered 16 talented creative types and together, we're making a yummy cookbook, filled with homemade recipes and my food illustrations. I'll show you more as I go along! 

Thai Dinner at Sweet Lemon

Darren and I had Thai dinner last night at a cosy cafe near our home. We came across it two days ago while attempting a jog to the supermarket. Let's just say, I hate jogging, so the jog ended up becoming a brisk walk session. Anyway, the food was not bad at all. I quite fancied the cute plate I ate from. And oh that coconut ice cream that we shared after our meal! So yummy! We'll be going back again soon.

It was nice to be able to put on pretty shoes and head out for dinner, followed by a walk at the beach nearby. Actually to be honest, the beach walk was just a short 10 minutes thing.

We kind of spent most of our time laughing over silly jokes in the car park instead.

Question: Why did the tomato blush?

Answer: Because it saw the salad dressing!

Yes. We are that silly.

Kids Art Classes!

In case you have kids ages 4 to 7, I'm doing a series of kids art classes at  Harvest Workroom, East Brunswick! Yes I know, it's pretty exciting and I cannot wait to get back into teaching! It has been oh so long! ( I used to teach little kids art for about say 4 years prior to living in Melbourne )

Anyway, the classes will be fun I assure you. I've already been busy picking out all the materials, and sourcing for fun books for each class. I believe in having a storytelling session that's related to the day's project, at the start of each class. Makes it more enjoyable I think!

Well, for starters, we'll be making a veggie patch/garden box with our own paper flowers and vegetables! Followed by a second class where we'll be building super sandcastles out of recycled materials. The third class will be filled with lots of sequins, felt, stuffing and crazy sparkly bits, as we create our very own giant ice cream. And of course, the fourth class will be a still-life drawing class, but with a twist! PS: I hate still -life drawing when I was a kid so I think making it fun and different will be a good idea.

I start classes in February, every Wednesday afternoon. 2.30 to 4.10pm for the little kiddies ( Ages 4 to 5 ) and 4.30 to 6.10pm for the bigger kiddies ( Ages 6 to 7 ). Information and sign up here!

Thank You!

I rounded off yesterday's sales from my shop and donated a total of $121 to the Premier's Relief Fund. 100%, not a cent less! It's not a lot of money but I'm sure it'll definitely help out some who are in need. I think a little bit does go a long way. So thank you everyone of you who bought prints, told others about it, etc. I'm sure those Queenslanders will appreciate it. They definitely need some encouragement!

Let's all Help

Pictures from The Age

For those of you who don't know, Queensland has been hit by some serious flooding. I've been following the news really closely and my heart goes out to all the families who are affected. I have a few friends living in Queensland and they are going all out to make sure they stay dry. Others are not that lucky. I decided this morning that I shouldn't sit back and not do anything. So I'm helping in the way I best know how to, selling my art and donating 100% of today's proceeds to the Flood appeal. Yup, 100% of all print sales from my etsy shop today ( 12th January) will go direct to the Premier's Flood Appeal. I will be absorbing shipping costs too, in case you're wondering.

Some ways how you can help out!

Good things come to those who wait

Finally, after almost a year of contemplating, I finally caved in today and bought myself a pair of Marais chelsea ankle boot. I have been dreaming of a pair since I first saw it on Jenny's flickr and later on, on Stephanie's blog. I know I know. It's Summer right now. Why on earth do I need boots like these? But you see, I'm already secretly preparing for Autumn and Winter. I absolutely hate the heat and these days with Melbourne being so hot and humid, I can't wait for Winter to arrive. To be honest, all I need now is a thicker coat and possibly one more pair of jeans (since I only have one pair and one thin jacket that's wearing out), and I'm all set for Winter.

My parents have been bugging me to go shop for clothes after they've seen how sad my wardrobe is. But you see, I am rather bad when it comes to shopping for clothes. I always end up going into the same usual stores and everyone's in there. I hate the idea of buying clothing that's mass produced. Everyone wears it and it's not original at all. I kind of like things from Gorman, Obus and those designer shops, where stuff is made in editions, but that means they're expensive. So I end up just window shopping. I do most of my shopping online these days. Do you happen to know of any nice affordable online shops that I might like? I'm into clean geometric designs, lines and plaids. And almost every other day, I imagine myself all decked out in A.P.C and Steven Alan. Hmm. I know. I have such expensive tastes.

PS: I now offer custom recipe drawings!

Ice Cream Brooches

Hello! I did a tiny shop update this afternoon. My ice cream mountain brooches are finally available for purchase here. So do check it out. I only have 10 small ones and 11 big ones. The rest have all sold at previous craft markets. They're fun and cute to wear on your favourite shirt. A friend told me her girlfriend bought it off me at one of my craft markets. And she has been wearing it everywhere she goes. I think that's kind of cute! I'm so glad she likes it so much. The thought of a cute lady wearing my brooch on her pretty dress, makes me all warm and fuzzy inside!

Working

Well, I must admit, I did rearrange the objects to make it a better photo. We do that sometimes right? Haha. I'm working on some milk illustrations. It's been fun but seeing as to how much details there is to draw, it kind of tests my patience a bit. But still fun anyway! Hope your day's going nicely.

PS: I absolutely hate milk. And I don't drink it on it's own. I only have it with my cereal and that's it. Milk tastes funny! To me at least! Any other milk-haters out there?
x

Feeling crafty

I know I'm a wee bit slow, but hey! Look at what I got for Christmas! Darren came home one day after work, hiding it behind his back, he walked up to me and said 'Merry Christmas!'. I think it was still way before Christmas then. But still!

Oh Pip, you are so clever. I've been pouring through this book and reading every bit in it. So much to read and learn and make! I know I'm going to start the year off by making the picnic rug and fairy bread pram blanket. Of course I haven't got a cute baby and a pram. So I'm going to make it XL sized for my own bed. Perfect for summer I think! Thank you Darren! You are super-dooper-trooper awesome!

PS: I hope everyone likes the new blog 'look'! I added several new nice blogs to my reading list too. And I also created a facebook page for my art. Still tweaking it here and there. And figuring out how to add a mailing list!

Back to work

Well, not really, but you get the idea. I've been busy clearing out both my inbox and the fridge, making scones and a boysenberry vanilla cake. Darren's home to make sure I'm alright. He goes back to work tomorrow. I'm still a little out of sorts. Takes time I think.

Anyway, apart from cake baking, fridge and inbox clearing, I also started working on some milk drawings for a magazine too. I love drawing products/packaged foods! It kind of trains my mind to notice details I think. Oh and I've also started a January sale in my etsy shop. $2 off all recipe drawings. They were $20 previously, now $18! And, remember these mountain brooches? I will be putting a small amount up in my shop early next week. I'll keep you posted!

So my family went home today. I miss them already. They're crazy and noisy as hell. But that's what makes them fun. My room is now so quiet. And so awkwardly clean. During the past few weeks, we've all been sleeping together in my room. I fall asleep every night hearing everyone's different snores. Tonight, I go to bed without any snoring to listen to. My house feels ten times bigger and emptier and I feel like I can't be alone at home. Now that I'm no longer a student, it means I'll be working. And as a working adult, I cannot afford to go back to Singapore every winter/summer holiday. I wish my dreams, ambitions, career path and family could all live in harmony together in the same country. But unfortunately, it just isn't possible. Just thinking about it makes me sad. So I don't want to talk about it.

For now, I think I need some time to slowly adjust to life again without my dad, mum and sister around. I need to stay positive.
Stay safe, and I'll be back soon.

x