Teacher - Illustration Friday

Here is this weeks submission for Illustration Friday. The topic this week is 'Teacher' so I thought I would show a mother bear trying to teach baby bear to fish... baby bear needs a little more practice. 

Dancing, Stripes & Teepees

Day 222 of the Doodle Olympics - I was struggling with what to doodle but the circus suddenly popped into my head. I wonder if I'd recently seen a meerkat advert?

Day 223 of the Doodle Olympics - I wanted to try and draw some people dancing but wasn't sure how. I tried to simplify their bodies.

Day 224 of the Doodle Olympics - Another dancing doodle. 

Day 225 of the Doodle Olympics - I'm not sure where this came from... I was watching Point Break at the time.

Day 226 of the Doodle Olympics - The stripes in the tree on the previous doodle got me thinking about Dr Seuss, so here is my own strange cat.

Day 227 of the Doodle Olympics - Carrying on with the Dr Seuss theme, here is a Dr Seuss inspired character.

Day 228 of the Doodle Olympics - If struggling with what to doodle, you can always rely on woodland animals.
 

Day 229 of the Doodle Olympics - You can also rely on penguins. Here is a sad little penguin.

Day 230 of the Doodle Olympics - I had Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the brain so attempted to draw my own Veruca Salt.

Day 231 of the Doodle Olympics - Following on from Veruca, I attempted Augustus Gloop.

Day 232 of the Doodle Olympics - After creating an illustration for 'Bounce' for Illustration Friday, I keep having other space hopper related pictures pop into my head.

Day 233 of the Doodle Olympics - After what has been a fairly odd summer, I've been thinking about what we expect our typical seasons to look like. This little chap is enjoying a hot sunny day on the beach in Summer - whatever that is! :)

Day 234 of the Doodle Olympics - Winter :)

Day 235 of the Doodle Olympics - A little teepee town, for no other reason than I wanted to decorate some teepees :) 

Freezing Free Post!!

I missed the deadline for Illustration Friday last Friday as I've been distracted by all things family, wedding and baking over the last week, but I had started so I thought I would finish it and post it here instead. The illustration topic was 'Freeze'.

I thought I'd also let you know that Society6 have free worldwide shipping until Sunday, on the off chance you fancy a print or an iphone case or skin, or some greetings cards. 

Book Review: Sweet Bitesize Bakes

As I desperately try to start preparing myself for a year long healthy eating (ish) stint on the run up to my wedding, it felt a bit like a test of willpower when this cute little book landed in my lap. I should probably pop it into a drawer and not allow myself to look at it until I'm allowed to bake again, but it is all too tempting for my eyeballs and I'm already 'window eating' and drooling (just a little bit). 

There is no denying that this title is aimed at us lady bakers, featuring lots of pretty pastel shades and girly decorative trims. It's quite small, a 17.5 cm square, but the compact nature is useful if, like me, kitchen work top space is a challenge. 

Don't let the cute design mislead you into thinking that the content is fluffy and basic, it covers a wide range of recipes and techniques. Following an initial introduction and a list of baking and decorating equipment that you might need, the book is divided into four main sections, 'Recipes', 'Fillings and Toppings', 'Techniques' and 'Projects'. 

A selection of recipes are provided that can be used for a variety of projects including a basic vanilla sponge, red velvet cake and cookies, as well as slightly more adventurous recipes like banana whoopi pies, french macarons and choux pastry. 

The following section 'Fillings and Toppings' offers another wide selection of choices, starting with vanilla buttercream and ending with marshmallow fluff, creme pattisiere and lemon curd.

All of the instructions are written clearly in short, numbered paragraphs and the 'Techniques' chapter also makes use of supporting demonstrative photographs. They direct you with tasks such as piping, flooding cookies with royal icing, covering cakes and making fondant flowers. 

The final chapter 'Projects' is where all the previous instructions pull together, you are shown full page colour photographs for each dinky finished treat, alongside the final instructions for construction. It is worth pointing out that this really isn't just a recipe book as decoration features just as highly. Edible delights to feast your eyes upon include fondant fancies, cupcakes, cookies, filled french macarons, green tea madeleines and mini eclairs. 

The structure of the book can seem a little frustrating if you simply want to read through a recipe in its entirety, as you jump to different sections for different stages of the bake. This however is also quite efficient, as none of the instructions are unnecessarily repeated for every single project. In fact each project, as a result, is broken down into manageable, less intimidating parts, just as baking is broken down into parts, after all you don't bake and decorate all at the same time. 

After some page flicking and 'window eating' I'd love to make some Sweet Bitesize Bakes, the only question is when will I allow myself to to whip out the apron and the wooden spoon? 

If you are interested in 'Sweet Bitesize Bakes', it is written by Sarah Trivuncic and is part of the "Bake Me I'm Yours...' series published by F&W Media, available from www.rucraft.co.uk/bitesizebakes as well as most other book retailers.

RRP £9.99

Please note that I wasn't paid to write this review but I was given a copy of the book. 

Illustration Friday - Bounce

This is the first time I've taken part in Illustration Friday after first stumbling across the site about two years ago - oopsy! As you can see I need a bit more practice, but hopefully if I try and get involved more often, it will turn into a handy exercise and I'll improve. 

A Monster, A Waffle House & Precarious Teacups

Day 215 of the Doodle Olympics - A little hairy jealousy monster. I wasn't feeling jealous myself, I just heard the word on a podcast. Phew! Feeling jealous is the worst!

Day 216 of the Doodle Olympics - The same podcast also mentioned a waffle house... tada!!!

Day 217 of the Doodle Olympics - I quite like those walls you see with collections of frames on them. I want one but so far I have some images but not the frames!

Day 218 of the Doodle Olympics - I was watching the finals of the gymnastics, so I've no idea why I decided to draw a spaceship, maybe it was to do with their shiny leotards!

Day 219 of the Doodle Olympics - A circle, bubble tree...

Day 220 of the Doodle Olympics - This is a bit big for a fairy house, so I decided it should be a 5* fairy hotel!

Day 221 of the Doodle Olympics - I was looking back over some showjumping footage as I doodled this, so I can only assume I was a little inspired by poles falling off and things being a little precarious.

Found - Little Nore

Well that isn't entirely true, I haven't just 'found' Little Nore, I've been singing Heidi M's praises for a little while, but I wanted to tell you that her Etsy Shop has now officially opened. Please go and take a little look at her wonderful Cute and Creepy Mixed Media Art.