Category Archives: Personal time

Family pics

Personal time

As we get older, and maybe the effects of a global pandemic are influencing things too, but I think for me it is mostly getting older, I have been finding it interesting to look back at my family.

For birthdays during this year of limited contact, I’ve been perusing old photos of siblings and with the help of my talented husband, creating mini video journeys through time.

And my Aunt- who I am sure that I have met in person way back when I was a child, I have been able to connect with on social media to a degree I never would have otherwise ( waves at J!)

And she kindly has sent me photos of her siblings, including my dad, and her parents, my grandparents . She has also been spreading this journey with my cousin < Waves at another J> who again, without this amazing connector of the internet, I would barely know.

The telephone is not my thing. I have auditory issues that make listening to people irritating ( misophony May be the basis of this, but that’s a self analysis so grain of salt included).That makes email, texting and short bursts of conversation via social media a blessing for me.

But enough about why I don’t want you to call me..,

Cecil and “Eleanor “ / Jami
Jean (Seeley) holding “Eleanor”/Jami and Wilson Vibert with Grace and Bert
Cecil Vibert with Lorraine Vibert 1956…
Cecil with Lorraine

 

Baking experiment time: vegan gingerbread crepes hi

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Who has been rewatching baking shows while sewing up TAVMasks? Yes. Me.

One of the challenges was a Mille crepe cake, so that looked intriguing.

I had made some Bison chili last week and had kept the aqua fava (?) from the can of chick peas, so that needed to be used.

And the apples we have been getting lately are going grainy super quick, so they needed to be used up…

A quick internet search for recipes using chick pea juice yielded a super easy crepe recipe and off I went!

TAValonia’s Gingerbread crepes:

  • The liquid from 1 can of chick peas
  • 1 cup flour (whole wheat, oat, whatever you like)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • 1 teaspoon ginger powder
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup Oat milk -or more- to make the batter thin enough.

Whisk it all together until smooth.

Oil a crepe pan or skillet and cook the crepes using about ¼ cup batter at a time. Made 8 6 inch crepes.

Simple apple filling:

  • 3 to 4 apples
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil or margarine ( butter if not vegan)
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together in the skillet and let cook covered for 10-15 minutes over medium low heat- until the apples are tender.

Assembling:

Layer the crepes and apple filling in individual bowls starting with a crepe on the bottom.

Serve warm or chill to serve later.

Top with whipped topping ( can be made from more aqua fava whipped to soft peaks and flavoured with a bit of sugar) or vegan ice cream ( purée of frozen banana would go well)

Options to try:

-Add a white chocolate genache between the crepes ( heat non dairy milk and pour over chopped while chocolate to melt it)…

-add a whipped cream cheese between the layers

So many potential ideas!!!!

Playing with pics and ProCreate again…

Personal time
First attempt at editing a person.

The original shot was a freebie from the last Ottawa ComicCon I attended- and my make up had faded…

So I have tried to give myself a make-over…

The result: pretty creepy- but somewhat similar to some of the heavier painting I’ve seen the occasional MUA do on insta. More practice needed!

Original

Happy Black Forest inspired

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Happy 48th my love! #GrabberMovie

Every year, for my fabulous Husband of 22 years’ birthday, I create a cake for him.

It is always based on a “fake” Black Forest style, made with a cake mix, cherry pie filling and whipping cream.

And I try to make it interesting every year that I have the time to do so.

This year, we had watch the movie, Grabbers, and I had already been thinking “tentacles” for the 2020 version, so I was inspired!

I knew I needed cake, and last year I had used a great brown sugar cookie recipe for the face hugger from Alien, so I knew that would work for the tentacles… I did some baking and chilled all the bits.

I spent some time on Friday afternoon looking for images of the Maher’s Pub and did a quick acrylic painting of it, while FaceTiming with my niece – who created a lovely piece as well!  I then popped a photo of my painting into Procreate – and added the tentacles for the finished illustration!

The acrylic painting of the Maher’s Pub

Maher’s Pub after the attack.. #Grabbermovie

The following is a photo journey through the process I spent 3 hours completing this morning…

< click on images for captions and to enlarge>

The Pub:

The Grabber…

The Grabber Babies:

 

The displays:

 

 

Another practice day with ProCreate

Personal time, ,

As a child I loved “paint by numbers” projects that have a starting point that I could work.

I am approaching some of my self teaching with ProCreate with the same concept, using the layers as a way to draw and paint over an existing image ( my own photos).

Photo by TAVALONIA
Rose from TAV Creations client in Jan 2020

This rose came to me from a client who is a florist- so lovely!

And today I used it as my starting template for this:

The Rose by TAVALONIA, Feb 2020
The Rose by TAValonia, February 2020

Progress is being made!!