renee anne // art. love. food. life

Thought I would share a little recipe with you today! There has been a lot of talk lately about raw food, and while I am not a total raw foodist, I do love and enjoy a lot of raw food recipes. Often they show you ways of making yummy delicious food, that can still be considered "healthy". Take ice cream for example, I love love love it but I can't really tolerate a lot of dairy (and neither can my thighs), however there are loads of raw vegan "ice cream" recipes out there and now I can enjoy my favourite treat, guilt free.

Anyways, I thought I would share with you an easy one today. I am a HUGE snacker and I am always on the look out for healthy, organic snacks that are easy to make. I came across this recipe after a quick google search and decided to give them a try! Turns out they are super easy and extra delicious. I have the recipe for you below, and also in fancy PDF form for download, should you feel obliged.

If you are keen on the raw food thing, check out my super talented friends website Bee Raw. They are super raw foodists and share some easy to follow recipes over on their site.


you will need

> a food processor or blender
> measuring cups
> two bowls
> a tray that will fit in freezer

ingredients

base
> 2/3 C macadamia nuts
> 2/3 C cashews
> 2/3 C shredded coconut

chocolate mix
> 1/8 C raw honey
> 1/8 C cacao powder
> pinch of salt
> splash of water

vanilla mix
> 2 Tbs raw peanut butter* or almond butter
> 1 Tbs vanilla extract
> pinch of salt
> splash of water

method

Put all the base ingredients in a food processor and blend until slightly chunky. Separate evenly into two bowls. Add chocolate mix to one bowl, add the vanilla mix to the other and mix well (use hands). Using hands or spoon, form into little balls and place on tray. Refrigerate or freeze to harden. Serve on pretty plate and enjoy!

Makes 15 balls.

Download a PDF of this recipe here

*my peanut butter is just raw peanuts grounded into butter

Disclaimer :: according to some raw food purists, this may not be considered raw. I am not sure. But it is raw enough for me anyway. hehe.

What do you think of the raw food movement? Do you "eat raw"? Do you have any recipes you would like to share?

did I mention in my previous post that I got a Canon DSLR for Christmas? ha. well I did! excitemento! so many things to make pictures of and not enough time. Since I haven't really left the house since I got it, the only things that I have really taken pictures of are things around my home. and I am dying to show you something, and so I guess it just has to be this!

lets call it a housey tour! but I won't show you too much because I haven't done much housework as I am in "holiday mode". it gets really tiring watching Californication and Scrubs on DVD all day. David Duchovny and Zach Braff are like my heros (crushes) or something.

welcome to 2010 my lovely blog readers! without getting into "resolutions", this year I am hoping to continue my exhibition attending (and curating!) get the new website up and running, develop and grow {twin set} and just keep on making and creating. The growing support means a lot to me, and every comment always makes me smile. keep it real homies!

woah. sometimes I think I spent too much time seeking ways to create things that doesn't involve actually doing the hard work. give me a way to make art that doesn't require me to get all grubby with pencils and spend hours and hours refining tiny details to a point that requires me to get glasses due to eye strain and I tend to get excited.

while I could never draw to this level (*cough, yes those images are drawings by Maria Kontis), Once I could probably do a lot better than what I can do today. because I did it. you know. practice and all that.

now, I can hardly be bothered getting out the pencil case. why bother when I have access to photoshop, and a whole range of artistic options. I don't even have to get my hands dirty.

[little christmas cards I made for special people :: details here]
[presents are all wrapped :: details here]

just wanted to say Merry Christmas to you and all. thank you for stopping by, thank you for coming back. looking forward to lots of posting next year, a new design, new products, new inspirations.

I also think it is funny looking at old posts, check out this christmasy one from 2007. naw.

thanks for a super year kids.

[just a little illo, do you like?]


[my advent illustration contribution to the fabulous forth thread blog.]

I used to make these when I was a little kid. I think they are pretty sweet idea to recycle old mags, that we always seem to hoard and never seem to read. Perfect for christmas, or just for general display! I made one as apart of my christmas decorations and thought it would be nice to share. I hope you enjoy!

You will need ::

- two old magazines with a staple bound spine (not like a Frankie or Vogue with one of those thicker spines… plus, who would do that to a Frankie mag?)

- a stapler

- spray paint (optional)





Directions ::

1. Open the cover and take the top right corner of the first page.

2. Fold corner in a triangle shape, to align with the centre spine of the mag.




3. Take the outer edge of the fold, (where you made the crease) and fold in again like above (probably best to see picture).

4. “Turn the page”. Make sure you do press down and ensure that all folds are nice and sharp.



5. Fold the bottom corner up to align with the bottom of the magazine page (also best to see picture, and this step is optional, I wanted mine to have a flat base)



6. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat steps 2 to 5 for every single page of the mag. Yes. Every page. (A snack may help make this more fun).

7. Make sure you press down every so often to flatten the folds, otherwise it will be too puffy and thick.



8. When you get to the last page, fold the cover in, same technique, just opposite.



9. HALF WAY! Now get your next mag and repeat steps 2 to 8 until you have two identical half trees.



10. Staple the two front covers and the two back covers of the magazines together to create a full tree! (Sorry I don’t have a picture of this step.. sort of forgot. But that makes sense doesn’t it?)

And now you are done! If you like the natural look, you can keep it as is, or choose your favourite colour and give it a bit of a spray paint. Place it somewhere nice and admire your hard work! These are great for Christmas time, but can also look pretty sweet any time of year.

ok, i'll admit it. I am not one to "spend big" and christmas time. while I do notice a dent in my bank account after christmas shopping, I like to be more about the "thought" and "feeling" than the price tag.

this is especially the case when it comes to people like workmates or those people who are hard to buy for. you all know the type I am sure. they probably usually end up with a cheap bottle of wine or a box of Lindt chocolates. don't get be wrong, chocolate and wine is totally fine, but why not make it that little bit more "special", "fair" and little bit more heart felt.


[use me! click image or see below]


this year, I decided to make up some little guilt free treats goodie bags, filled with organic fair-trade chocolate and tea! I was so super pleased with how they turned out, but I am a bit silly and forgot to take a photo! I might make some more because I am sure I have missed someone.

anyway, I thought I would offer a FREE DOWNLOAD (woah!) for you guys to join in on the fair-trade guilt free heart felt chocolatey goodness. just click here to download the free PDF file, print them out, cut them out, wrap up some fair-trade chocolate, stick on the tag, and there you have a sweet lovely heartfelt gift (with an important message!).

Sadly, since I didn't take photos of my own, I will just have to shares some lovely images with you for some inspiration and motivation!



one, two
three, four
five, six



click here to download the free PDF file
and make your own fair-trade chocolate gift packs!

I think Australian's are finally starting to make their mark in the ol' blogging world. Here is a small handful of my favourite Aussie blogs. I think it really helps to keep things local with blog reading sometimes, because that way, if you see something you want to buy, it is not always so far out of reach.

[one :: two]


I am not really ready to
talk about this
yet. I will be.
And once all the
details are good
and ready, you will be
the first to know. Thank you
everyone for your support so far.
It has been amazing.

I must say, I am pretty proud of myself this year. Wayyyyy back in the beginning (of this year) I made a little promise to my self to get out of my comfy little nest and make my way into the BIG SCARY city and attend more art exhibition openings. Not only have a been to a fair few (not as many I would like), heck I even co-held my own! (two!)

[love letter]

[just for a moment]

probably about time I did a little post featuring some of my creations. oh how showy of me! these are the four photograph prints that made up my little display at the finders keepers markets over the weekend. I had a big space of wall to fill, and in the end I had quite a few pieces on show. I would love to show you a picture of the whole thing, but I foolishly forgot to take one! James took one, with my silly face in it, so that might just have to do once I get it from him. Did you take one?

[confetti mess]

[cliche]

If you are interested in one
of my photograph prints, just give me a yell.
Only $10 each.
What a nice little gift one might make!

...I would be Camilla Engman. Okay I am joking. I love who I am and I am happy with my life just how it is. But it would be nice if I could channel a little of Camilla's awesomeness into my life. As usual, the thing that pushes me over the edge when it comes to an artist crush is when their home is just as super amazing as their art. I don't know if it makes me smile or cry with jealously. Either way, it makes me happy and gives me something to strive towards.



So you can imagine how excited I was when I saw the Camilla Engman book for sale. I don't think I have ever clicked "add to cart" quick enough. Fingers crossed it arrives soon.



check out this gorgeous image from the Design*Sponge website. I know they say those vases on the left are from here, but does anyone know if anybody local (Australia) makes them?

p.s. once I get some decent pictures, a post finders keepers market post to come.