So you know what's annoying? December comes along, and I'm totally full of the creative juices. I'm making cookies and bread and Christmas presents by the bucketful, and I think, "Wow, this is fun! I'm really creative and inspired! I bet things will only get better from here!" Then January gets here, and it's like someone dumped a big bucket of icy cold reality on me and all I want to do is huddle up on the couch with a book or a video game. I don't even look at my art desk.

Then, ah, the fresh air of spring hits my lungs, and all of a sudden it's creativity city once again. I have all these grand ideas for my blog, the dessert that once was my Etsy shop, my art, my websites... you name it. I even have plans to start an aquarium in my front room, have some fishes to watch and keep me company, and drive my cats crazy.

And it's not that I'm upset that I suddenly have this energy again, it's just frustrating having to live through two or three months of hibernation. I don't understand why I do it, but I do and nothing I do can change that. I think I just have to accept that as a part of who I am and just get over it. Or possibly move tho Florida. I bet learning to live with it is cheaper and easier though.

So I do have some pictures to share. I know it's been a while, but bah, I'm tired of explaining myself. I'm sure you all love me, so I won't even start.

First, some art!



I actually did this piece a few weeks ago, but I rather like it. Well, except for the fact that I can't transfer from pencil to inked lines without messing something up. Unfortunately, that's usually the eyes that I mess up, which totally ruins the whole piece for me since I put most of the emotion in the eyes. Ah well. This is what I get for enjoying small pictures so much, right?

I was working on this piece shortly before (I think) and then some time after taking reiki 1 classes, and it was just such a neat experience that this piece came out because of it.

Ok, next up! I hope this picture makes you drool.



Well, maybe they won't make you drool, exactly, but they make me drool anyway. What these are supposed to be are teeny tiny mint meringue cookies. I accidentally stumbled across the recipe from Joy the Baker, and they just looked so cool that I had to give them a try!

But man, I have to tell you!!! These things were a sticky mess. I ended up with meringue everywhere (which dries hard as a rock) and green tinted finger tips for..... well, they're still green tinted, actually. Mmmm... but they're so good! They're peppermint and they melt in your mouth and they're just so creamy and airy and crunchy and good! Not to mention cute.

I did, however, not read the recipe correctly. Instead of attaching the whisk attachment, I used the normal beater attachments. I was wondering why the heck my meringue wasn't getting very stiff, but figured what I had was just going to have to work. They turned out kind of droopy looking compared to Joy's cuties, but I'm not worried about it. I plan on trying the recipe again, this time with LESS peppermint extract. And maybe even an orange flavored version. Possibly maple? No, that would be just weird. Probably. Maybe it would be good...... or just weird.



Anyway, that's the important artsy stuff going on in my life right now. I know it's probably not really important in the grand scheme of things, but it keeps me busy.