Getting Started

Greetings, stranger!

I have never been good at keeping anything like a journal, so I'm hoping that if this blog has a purpose, which it does, I will be able to keep at it. This isn't a place for me to whine about what happened at work, or who cut me off when driving, this is solely a place for me to organize and record what I have made lately in the realms of cookery and craft-er-y.

As a quick introduction, I have been crafting and cooking for as long as I remember. Mom was always willing to let me help her mix up whatever treat we were going to be having, and my Aunt Maggie was instrumental in starting me out in the crafting world. Over the years I've learned about a number of techniques and materials to work my little crafty hands in, and I haven't stopped yet.

Cooking is something that didn't really get big for me until I was out on my own at 20. I knew I couldn't live off of fast food every night, it was time to learn how to create meals for myself. I still feel like when I'm cooking 'freestyle' (without a recipe or menu guide), I tend to cook the same things, but that's because I really like those meals, and so do the people that eat them, haha. That aside give me a recipe and I will give you a meal. Or a dessert, but only if you're good.


Now for the goods! For Easter Dinner, I wanted to create something I hadn't tried before. I was the main chef this go around, and it was a bit nerve-wracking to cook a turkey and fixins for my boyfriend's family. I made the dessert the night before, and I picked Red Velvet Cake. My mom got me a Sweet Treats calendar for Christmas, and I thought that this cake was just lovely. It turned out great, the only thing I changed was I used cream cheese frosting instead of plain vanilla. Also, can you see how red it is in this picture? It wanted me to use 6 TB of red food coloring, but the bottle only held about 3.5. I wonder how much more red it would have been. I need to do more research on this cake to see if the color has always come from red food coloring, or from something else. Will post results if I find anything interesting :).



Now, this! I was feeling bored, and finally decided I should work on my watercolor skills. I don't think these fishes are anything really spectacular, but they did turn out rather well. The background looks a lot better in person, you can see the spots where I sprinkled salt on the wet paint to make it speckle. I posted the finished work on my facebook, and one of my friends liked it and requested something similar for her little girl, Bella.



Before I thought it wasn't going to let me post another picture, but as it turns out I'm stupid, and the thing to upload pictures came up as a different page under this one, instead of on top. So here is Bella's Elephant and Friend painting, for your viewing pleasure, haha. Here is my deviantart account, as a bonus.

It was nice to meet you,
Janiece

P/S I have lately been inspired by the work of Sonya Melescu, please check out her blog as well.