Duzafizz

Yesterday I posted a pattern on my Doodle Sketchbook blog called Duzafizz. Duzafizz is now available for purchase in my Zazzle store, Avogana as a cell phone case.

Duzafizz by Avogana
Check out iPhone 5/5C covers online at Zazzle

Striped Tentacles design available on Zazzle

If you've been watching my doodle sketchbook blog then you may have noticed Striped Tentacles. Striped Tentacles is now available on cell phone covers and various other products on my Avogana Zazzle.com store.

Striped Tentacles Galaxy Nexus Case by Avogana
Browse more Stripes Casemate Cases

Noelle's Art Studio

My niece wanted art supplies for Christmas. I purchased about $10 of miscellaneous supplies from a dollar store and a coloring book for $4 from another discount store. My plan was to also get a nice caddy of some sort for her to store and display her new supplies in.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a caddy I liked for under $50,and I wasn't about to spend that much on an art bin for an 8 year old. They were either too small to hold all the supplies, or just plain ugly.

So I decided to make one myself. Using discarded packaging from the items in the photo above, an empty frozen pizza box, and a few other discarded cardboard and tagboard boxes I constructed each container, then wrapped in brown paper grocery bag. I was going to draw designs onto it that she could color but ran out of time. The whole thing was then glued together to achieve this final result. She gets to open it tonight. I can't wait to see her face!

New blog: Doodle Sketchbook

I was originally going to post my Zentangle® inspired doodles here, but decided there are so many they deserve their own space. The new blog is called Doodle Sketchbook. I'm also trying out the dynamic view templates on that blog. Let me know what you think of dynamic view system. One new drawing will be posted there each day until they are all up; continuing as new ones are created.

The easiest way to loose a loose tooth!

All these years, whenever my kids have a loose tooth that's about to fall out it turns into lots of tears, lots of "but it's gonna hurt!". They aren't comfortable because the tooth is so loose. They stop eating because the loose tooth just gets in the way. "What if it comes out and I swallow it?" They are afraid to even wiggle it any more.  "What if it bleeds?" And it's painful for me to watch them go through this as nothing I do or say seems to relieve their fears.

But not this time. My daughter just found the easiest way to loose a loose tooth; no tears, no crying, no fears... she simply sneezed and the tooth flew across the room!

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Recipe

My son cooks for us about once a week. This week he told me he wanted to learn to make chicken. Since he's never made chicken before he asked for my help. I made a few suggestions such as "If you coat the chicken in some sort of breading it doesn't dry out so much.".  He did a little internet research and decided to try adding soy sauce with a few of the possible ingredients I had suggested. It turned out delicious!

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast
• Eggs
• Breadcrumbs (we used garlic flavored breadcrumbs this time)
• Parmesan
• Soy sauce
• Non-stick spray

There are no amounts for these. Just make sure there is enough in the bowls to coat the chicken. If you run out, add a bit more to the bowl to finish coating the chicken.

Tools:

• 2 bowls
• Wire whisk or fork
• Pan you can bake in
• Oven

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375.
2. Mix egg and some soy sauce in one of the bowls. Use the whisk (or fork) to break up the yolk and blend it all together.
3. Mix breadcrumbs and parmesan in the other bowl.
4. Spray the non-stick spray in the pan so your chicken doesn't stick so much when it's done cooking.
5. Rinse off the chicken breast. (No idea why, just always what I was taught to do)
6. Dip a chicken breast into the egg mixture until it's completely covered.
7. Dip a chicken breast into the bread crumb mixture. Make sure it's well covered.
8. Place the chicken in the pan.
9. Repeat from 4 to 7 with the rest of the chicken.
10. Bake for about 30 minutes.
11. Check to make sure it's done before serving (make sure not pink inside).

Notes:

We never measured anything. Used a couple of eggs and shook some soy sauce into the bowl. It didn't really change the flavor of the chicken, but we never had to add any salt. We may try adding more next time just to see how it changes. For the parmesan/breadcrumb mixture we made it about half parmesan, half breadcrumbs.

I didn't think to take any pictures at the time - sorry. Next time we make this I'll try to remember to take some and add them.

Add Sparkle to Your Chrismas Ornaments

New post on Art of Recycling:

Just posted a crafty how-to for updating old Christmas ornaments using items found around the house.
Give your Christmas ornaments a facelift this year