Summer Creative Retreat: Funky Floral Watercolor

The third project I completed during Summer Creative Retreat was this Funky Floral Watercolor. I had so much fun painting it and I absolutely love how it turned out!

This class was taught by Julie Malizia of Harp + Crow. I loved her teaching style and the pacing of the class. Everything about it was so much fun! Here is the project she made during the class: 

The basic idea was to take the normal shape of a vase of flowers and stretch or compress the components so that they reach the edges of the paper. Where the vase or a flower touches the edge, that should be a flat line. It's a completely unique way of drawing and so much fun! 

I used my favorite watercolors to paint my project. I love the color palette. Those bright flowers would have fit right in at my wedding.

Summer Creative Retreat: Mini Journal From a Single Sheet of Paper

The second project I completed from Summer Creative Retreat was making an 8-page mini booklet from a single sheet of paper. I used to make these little booklets with my students back in the day, but it's been a long time since I've made one. The instructor, Jules of Jules' Art Bender, had some really fun ideas for dressing them up using paint and other art materials. I especially liked her idea of taking apart a napkin and adhering the printed ply to the front and back covers. I tweaked her idea a bit and decorated my mini book with tissue paper and stickers. I picture kids filling these little booklets with wallet-sized photos of their best friends. 

Here is Jules' book that inspired my project, decorated with a napkin: 

To make your own mini book, start with a single sheet of paper. I used Bristol Vellum (affiliate links here and below). There's no need for me to duplicate the thousand tutorials out there; instead, check out Savannah Storm's outstanding illustrated step-by-step guide to making a Zine Booklet. 

Open up the booklet so that the front and back covers are facing up. Working on one section at a time, paint a very thin coat of Mod Podge onto the paper, then add colorful tissue paper confetti. Allow the circles to hang off the edge so that the entire area is covered. 

Carefully paint a thin coat of Mod Podge over the top of the confetti to seal it in place. I used matte, but there are some fun glitter options. 

When the Mod Podge is dry, apply gold letter stickers and a dimensional star sticker to make the title. Then fill it with pictures, autographs, journaling, memories, or anything else!

Summer Creative Retreat: Pebbles and Petals

Back in 2022, I participated in an online art workshop called Sketchbook Party, hosted by The Pigeon Letters. I took 16 classes and had a fantastic time. Most of the classes were WAY outside my comfort zone (that's a good thing!) and I learned so much. 

The Pigeon Letters is currently hosting Summer Creative Retreat, a week packed with 60 live art workshops. I'm far too busy to take 60 classes in one week, or even 16, like I did last time. Instead, I started with just one class that looked fun and was as far outside my comfort zone as possible. This is what I made: 

The class was "Pebbles & Petals" by Esté MacLeod. MacLeod is a textile and surface pattern designer whose paintings appear on wallpaper, fabrics, homeware, puzzles, stationery, and much more. Her class focused on the idea of using pebbles and water soluble pencils to create a colorful flower. 

Here is the project MacLeod created during the session. 

We started by picking out a narrow palette of colors. I chose four of my Stabilo pencils: pink, purple, orange, and yellow. Then we placed a pebble on a piece of watercolor paper and used one of the pencils to push it around. (MacLeod used real rocks; I used glass ones.) By holding the pencil overhand, I was pushing instead of doing controlled drawing. We repeated the process with each of the colors, using a different size and shape pebble for each. 

Then we went in with a paintbrush to activate the colors.

I didn't get photos of my next steps because I ran out of daylight, but it's pretty easy to explain. I used my darkest color to trace large shapes around the pebbles in order to form petals. Then we used black to define the edges and add depth. We added more of the original colors to the petals and then accented them with dots and other interesting marks. 

I don't love my finished project, but I sure had fun making it! I'm calling that a win. 

Texas Eclipse Trip

Our trip to Texas to view the solar eclipse was only last year, but it feels like years ago. So much has happened since then. It's crazy looking at these photos and realizing that I would be diagnosed with cancer only one month later. 

Texas Eclipse (affiliate link)

There are a lot of happy memories on this page. We had such a good time exploring Austin, Fredericksburg, and San Antonio and spending time together as a family. I'm glad to have the page in the album.

Cookbook Review: Empanadas

I love empanadas. Is there anyone who doesn't? They're flaky packages of fried dough with a tasty filling inside. What's not to love?! So when I was asked to review Donna Kelly's new cookbook Empanadas (affiliate link here and below), I was quick to say yes. I'm happy to report that I love the book as much as I thought I would. 

Kelly's book begins with an introduction to empanadas, then offers recipes for different types of empanada dough: fried, baked, masa, and "shortcut" (using prepared tortillas). There are instructions for filling and sealing empanadas. Then, it's on to the fillings. 

The filling options are divided into five categories: Latin Flavors; American Style; Around the World; Celebrations; and Sweet Treats. Each category has a bunch of ideas that sound absolutely delicious. There are also some dipping and drizzling sauces. The photographs throughout the book are gorgeous and made me want to try every single recipe, as soon as possible. 

Obviously, I was not going to be making all 60+ recipes for this review, so I picked one dough (fried) along with one savory filling (Mexican Street Corn, from the Latin Flavors section) and one sweet filling (Cinnamon Apple Pie, from the Sweet Treats section). I made the dough first, since it had to rest in the refrigerator. Then I whipped up my two fillings and let them cool. Both were delicious. (Yes, of course I tasted the fillings before forming the empanadas.) The directions were clear and easy to follow, even for empanada novices. 

  

I rolled and cut the dough, filled it, and then sealed my empanadas. Kelly describes two different techniques for sealing, so I used one for each of the two fillings. That way I could tell at a glance whether each empanada was sweet or savory. 

Then I asked our family frying expert to handle the final step. Steve is far more patient - and skilled - than I am when it comes to frying. 

  

He did a beautiful job. Every empanada came out a gorgeous golden brown. 

Here is a Mexican Street Corn empanada. 

This is a Cinnamon Apple Pie empanada. 

All three deRosiers gave both recipes two thumbs up, for a total of six thumbs. I can't wait to try more recipes from Empanadas!