Jack & The Beanstalk

I love fairytales and I draw a lot of princesses and woodsy scenes, usually featuring girls or young ladies.
I do illustrate a series of Amish humor stories that have a lot of boys in them, but my personal style is pretty feminine.

I don't have a problem with mostly drawing and designing girly things. That's just my style. But recently a pregnant friend mentioned she'd love to decorate her nursery with my drawings, but with only a 50% of a girl she was hoping I might illustrate some stories with boys in them.  So here's Jack and The Beanstalk for my first ever boy-centric illustration.

Be Mine

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays. I'm aware of all the arguments against it. They neither urge nor compel me.

I love the colors. I love the hearts. I love the myriad desserts that are valentine themed.

Embrace it.

I'll Give You My Heart

Mint Green - Trendy

You may have noticed the mint green trend that's going on. I know I have an it's definitely influenced my artwork as of late.

Sitting Pretty

Sitting Pretty 8x10 Print

I want to write something delightful and inspiring to go with  this drawing, but I'm watching the presidential debate, so I'm not feeling delightful or inspired.

I don't want to get into which candidate I like best, so let me just harp on the fact that when I was watching NCIS: LA before the debates I saw at least 4 political commercials in a row. Two of them for the same local candidate.

Also, it was really fun to hear both men trying to pronounce that lady's name. I know I should feel sympathy for them because I have a Hispanic friend who insists that no white American is capable of pronouncing her name. But it was funny.

A Sign I Love You

I have a deaf relative, so I've grown up knowing a smattering of signs. She lives far away though, so I never got really good at it. When I was little it was basically finger spelling or "I Love You" .

Art & Baking

Chocolate Chip Delight - Blank Note Card

I have been cooking and baking a bunch lately. I don't usually enjoy cooking, but I know it's a lot easier to eat healthy when I'm making my own food. Pinterest has been really helpful for that. I love the crispy pizza from rabbitfoodformybunnyteeth.com. And this week, I tried both the Skinny Banana Oatmeal Cookies and Skinny Pepperoni Roll-ups from Mama Laughlin.

But then I went and prrrrobaby messed up the healthtasticness of my week by using my leftover bananas to make Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.I got the recipe here, but I'm re-typing it on my blog, so I can pin the sad photo I took of my muffins. I know it's not much too look at, but they're really tasty!

Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups with foil muffin liners. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter and milk in medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake muffins until tops are pale golden and tester inserted into center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 15 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

Ingredient Notes:
1. I didn't have enough butter when I made these, so I chanced it with half and it worked out just fine.
2. I used Whole Wheat Flour and sometimes that can give a slightly unpleasant taste or texture to baked goods, but I didn't notice any at all. I think it's because of the bananas. 

Cooking Time Note: The original recipe said 32 minutes, but one commenter had noted that was way too long. I put them in for 15 and that was smack on the dot, but my oven tends to bake extra quickly, so it may be more like 17-20 minutes.

My other big thing this week was getting art ready for the Art in the Barn show. It was just a little local show, but it was fun and having it a barn was a different experience. They also had performance art going on throughout the night

Top Row: "God is Bigger", "Firefly Explorer", "Fairytale Princess";  Middle Row: "Out on a Limb",
"Night Light", "Starlit Nights"; Bottom Row: "Midwest Daydreams", "Summer Beauty"