I love my food dehydrator! 02/23/2010
How yummy does that look? I was finally trying out my food dehydrator I got for Christmas. On the left is potato chips seasoned with a bit of salt and jerk seasoning. And the right is candied banana slices and sour apple slices. They were just a tryout to see how long they would taste and how much I would have to tweek it. So far I love them. Gonna make a bunch on Thurs/Fri and have a horror movie marathon on the weekend. Just gotta kick up the jerk seasoning a bit. Not spicy enough for me. If you have a dehydrator, try out making your own chips. It will save you a ton of money and its alot better for you. AL Frugal shopping - paintbrushes... 02/16/2010
I don't know if it's just me, but my liner brushes are always the first to go. The majority of the painting stuff I do I outline in black so always need clean crisp tiny brushes. Within months, and sometimes even weeks, I always find myself getting new liner brushes because mine start to get yucky, or the bristles don't co-operate. And with paying $1.80-$6 a brush for each size I want (I usually get 3 different sizes/lengths) it sometimes tends to be pricier than the paint or canvas itself. I was surfing on ebay for a better (or bulk) deal and found the brushes shown above. They are brushes for nail polish but I figure how different could they be if nail polish is as thick and sometimes as strong as paint. And for only $2.60 I thought it was worth a try. So I bought a set.. the same set in the pic. I got them today and they feel FABULOUS! They're as long and sturdy as the acrylic/watercolor brushes I usually buy at the art supply store, but I find this set from ebay has better quality bristles and a better selection. There was 2 fan brushes, a few angled brushes, some liners, and pin stripe brushes, one of which the bristles were about 1.5 inches long. There was even a metal tool included called a doting tool, which will be amazing for freckles, fireworks, sand, and anything else thats supposed to look textured. The pinstriping brushes will be awesome when it comes to painting hair, fireworks, etc. I tested them out when I opened up the package and they feel better than I thought they would when first ordering. Considering I only paid $2.60 on ebay and thats the price of ONE brush I usually get... I think I got a pretty good deal. And since they cater to nail polish, they are strong enough to handle a good cleaning with something as strong as nail polish remover. If you want to try out this set (and there are many other kinds) just type in "nail art brush set" into ebay's search box. A ton of them will pop up. Happy painting! Lord Vader 02/06/2010
![]() It was time for some new artwork in the dining room. After watching Star Wars (yes, Im over 20 years late) I decided on Darth Vader. I found this awesome vector of Vader online that I loved. It was simple but bold. It only took a couple days to finish it but I love it. Its 24x36 inches on gallery wrapped canvas. And the saber was painted with this pearl finish paint to give it a shiny look. I think it turned out awesome! Does anyone else have movie/music themed artwork in their house? I have another Johnny Cash painting, and of course Elvis around my house. And now Lord Vader. Basil, Youre outta control! 02/04/2010
![]() So, it's been a month... give or take a few days, and my areogarden is outta control. The basil and chives are growing like weeds. In just a week or so I will be ready to harvest some and start using it. This is seriously the EASIEST garden Ive ever had! The lights turn off and on by themselves with a built-in timer and all I have to do is put in the nutrient and add a little water to it when the orange light comes on. Which is only about every 2 weeks. This is PERFECT for the lazy gardener who loves fresh herbs and veggies. I would recommend it to anyone. I noticed earlier that one of my records had a huge scratch in it. Luckily, it was one of the records that I don't really care about. Already in a stumper on how to store my belt buckles, I decided to make a record bowl instead of adding it to Toronto's junk pile. It took less than 5 minutes from start to finish and now my belt buckles have a happy home. Sorry about the crappy pics in this post. I was using my cellphone. |







