New Year, New Art

Resolution time!  Only I’ve always sucked at them, so I’m not even starting.  What I’m doing instead is expanding my journal, and playing with the digital scrapbooking supplies I’ve got stashed away.

To help, I’ve signed up for a couple of weekly art journal prompts, which I’ll probably only do a few of before flitting off to something else.  That’s how I roll, and I’ve given up feeling bad about it.

In the meantime, the first prompt from Journal52 arrived in my inbox this morning: your word for the year.  Generally I draw a complete blank, but I had actually been mulling that over for a few days.  At any rate, this is what I’ve come up with:

Credits:

• The main heading is in Veteran typewriter, designed by Magique Fonts
• The handwritten bits are in Biloxi Script, which is designed by Roland Huse

Embellishments include pieces from various kits:

• Prompt tag is by Tempus Fugit, whose website has been locked down, so unfortunately this is a shout-out rather than a referral
• Brushes include Typographic Grunge Brushes by Scully7491, which might just be my new favourite brush set
• Splatter was created with a brush set designed by C130

I’m determined not to put any pressure on myself to stick with this challenge, so there may only be this one spread put together, but I had fun doing it.

Better Than Potato Salad

I have a feeling this recipe came from rec.food.cooking, but I can’t recall exactly.  The group is still going, having been adopted by google – click here to check it out.  As with any usenet group, beware – there’s a lot of spam around, but I’ve found some real gems there over the years, including a massive FAQ that gives you weights for every measurement of food you can think of.

Anyway, onto the recipe:

The background and string are from freebies from Scrap Girls (I really recommend signing up to their daily newsletter, it’s fantastic even for a non-Photoshop user), and the font used is called Cinnamon Cake, by Brittney Murphy Designs.

The recipe itself is really good for taking to barbecues – it makes a ton of salad, so you’ll need to use the biggest bowl you can find.  It’s also good for taking to work during the week, but if you’re planning on doing that it might be a good idea to add the radishes separately each day, as they tend to discolour and look unappetising.

Pikelets

Pikelets are a kiwi staple, and one of the first things we’re taught to cook as kids.  It’s also about the only reason I have a few Edmonds cookbooks floating about the place – I can never remember the exact measurements, so have to dig a book out each time.  Every time I make them, I end up wishing that I’d doubled the batch size, so today I sat down and did this page for my cookbook, with double amounts of everything:

The beautiful green wallpaper is from a kit by KimB called Freshly Elegant.  Embellishments are by Misstyscrap, and are from a kit called My Little Garden.  The heading font is called Candy Inc, and was designed by Billy Argel, and the body text is a standard linux font called UR Bookman.

Broccoli Soup

Another recipe that I have kept for years, and have no idea where it came from.  Why didn’t I think it was important to note sources?  This one is for Broccoli Soup, and I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds delicious:

This is built from pieces of a free kit by Wilma, who designs for Digiridoo Scraps.  I love the colour combination, and I’m going to re-use this one for more recipes.  For the font, I’ve used one of the linux system default, DejaVu Serif Semi-Condensed.

Vegetable Dip

Since I’ve decided to stop stressing about paints and collage materials, I’m drawn back to the digital scrapbooking supplies I’ve got, and my new cookbook.  I managed, in a moment of being a total moron, lose all of the files I had for scrapbooking and my old recipe cards, so I’m starting from scratch.  So the first recipe to go into the new cookbook is a dip one:

I can’t remember where I found the recipe, but anything with cream cheese in it is guaranteed to be a winner.  I can’t wait to try this, although I’ve found it at the wrong end of summer.  I’ll have to wait until a big sports final or something.

The kit I used for this is called Shhh, and is designed by the amazing Isa, who runs Bellisae Designs.  The two fonts are from MissTiina, which has a big collection of beautiful handwritten styled fonts for scrapbookers.

I’m hoping to get a few more recipes done soon, so I can start using the cookbook, so call back for updates!

Feijoa Crumble

It’s autumn here, and this year’s feijoa crop seems to be a bumper one.  I’ve always loved them, in spite of everyone else pulling faces when I take to one with a teaspoon.  I’ve never managed to make a convincing crumble though, instead dumping a bag of the fruit on Mum’s kitchen bench and asking nicely for one.  Hopefully this recipe will be the start of a new tradition…

What did I use for this?  The font is called Adorable, by Micrologic Software, and the rest of from a kit called Heart of My Heart, by Sharon C.  I love the bright, funky colours!

This is the first recipe card that I’ve created with Photoshop!  I’ve been using GIMP, but since I use PS at work, switching between the two has been a headache.  No matter how much I prefer open source software, there are just too many compromises on features that I depend on for me to be happy with GIMP, so right now I’m saving like mad to be able to afford to buy PS before the free trial runs out.  It’s no small feat to have it running, either.  Since I use linux (Fedora 15 with the new GNOME 3, which I adore), I’ve had to get a bit creative to get everything running nicely together.  I’m still figuring out some of the finer points of running a virtual machine, but so far it’s been brilliant.

Thankful List

Got a bit inspired after an afternoon of looking at everyone’s amazing spreads over at DSP, and decided I wanted to get in on the action.  I have no kids, no photos and no real journalling to speak of, so here’s a photo and a short list of things I’m grateful for today.  With any luck, I’ll have the energy to do more than one of these (and hopefully not all identical)…

And this was thrown together from:

• The background is from one of Sharon C‘s amazing kits, called Heartfelt.
• Fonts are all free, being Fontleroy Brown and Enchanted Praire Dog
• Actual heading is from Tina at DSP and is an alpha called Green Thumbs

Sweet and Sour Beef

Tomorrow night’s dinner, hopefullly:

Recipe is from here.

Cookbook cover

I bought a photo album for my recipe cards, after deciding that regular photos just won’t be stiff enough to cope with being stored in a box.  I got a light brown one – I’m a bit undecided on whether or not I like it – that has a space on the front for a photo.  So here’s the ‘cover’ for my cookbook:

The letters are on an angle because the photo space on the front cover is on an angle – I’m hoping that once it’s added to the album they’ll be more or less level.

And the credits:

• Alpha is Scrap Paper by Nicole Young
• Background and butterfly/flower embellishment is from Pagninny’s Porch by Shabby Scrap Designs
• Gems are from Team Digital

Pikelets

This is out of the Edmonds cookbook, which is an absolute essential in any kiwi kitchen.  I’ve got a bunch of different editions stretching back to the late 50s, and am finally trying to scrap the recipes I want from them so the books can be passed on.

Made in Scribus, with:

• Paper and frame from Ticket to Love, by Nicole Young
• Alpha is called Grungy Pup, also by Nicole Young
• Font is Joyful Julia, by Kimberly Geswein

I think I’ve finally hit on a size that I’ll be happy with, and of course, it’s the size that everyone else has been using for years, while I fluff around with different ideas.  6×4, average photo size, seems to be a winner, not least because I can go and print it at photo booths all over the place, but it also means I can still use the cute little chest that I bought for recipes.  It also means I don’t have to resize the 40-odd recipes I’ve already printed slightly smaller (yay).