EvE DESIGNS: Edible Advent Calendar 2011

On the 25th Day of December... Christmas Day!

2011-12-25T23:42:00.004+00:00

Well, Christmas Day, the 25th day of December is nearly over, and so too, is this Advent Calendar. I have enjoyed eating and drawing and in fact this last drawing doesn't have any food in it - because we've eaten it all! Hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas day and of course, had enough to eat, too!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, NADOLIG LLAWEN,With love Elissa, Owain, Gary cat and my baby bump - which is definitely bigger today after 2 helpings of Turkey dinner and everything else I have consumed in pretty much a constant fashion.

xxxx

CD marker pen and Berol colour tips on a pearlescent envelope. All shiny for Christmas!

So, until December 2012 ,don't forget to finish your own Advent calendars and keep an eye out for updates on my other blogs and maybe even a website for me (finally)...no promises though. Going to not draw for a few days and maybe not eat, too!

If you need any art - give me a shout elissavevans@hotmail.com, but not til Jan 1st! Oh yes - HAPPY NEW YEAR (a BLWYDDIN NEWYDD DDA), too.

Thanks for looking,

EvE

xxx

On the 24th Day of December (even though posted on the 25th)...

2011-12-25T01:30:00.002+00:00

Well, even though it is actually the early hours of the 25th day of December, here are my drawings for the 24th day of December, which is both our Wedding Anniversary and Christmas Eve.

Tonight we went to O's parent's house for an Xmas Eve Buffet and my dear Mum had made us a huge Chocolate (with 'Rolos' topping) Cake to celebrate our 4th Wedding Anniversary!

Both the buffet and the cake were delicious and we ate so much that we had to sit down and watch a late night movie just to recover, which is why I'm posting these drawings so late. I actually did them in situ at the party - on one of the paper plates. Stylish aren't I?!

I will be back later on today with my final 'edible' doodle for this 2011 Advent Calendar, but right now it is bed time before I see Father Christmas putting our pressies under the tree! I'm sure I just heard him ...(or was it Gary Cat?!)

A felt pen from Jen and Mike's telephone pot and an unused paper party plate.

On the 23rd day of December...

2011-12-23T23:29:00.000+00:00

Well, we are nearly at the end of this advent calendar... on the 23rd day of December Owain mentioned he hadn't yet had a mince pie! So, we opened a box (no home baking here!) and he enjoyed not one, but two - they were only mini ones. I on the other hand ate a massive bowl of popcorn. I should have drawn that, too, but I scoffed it so fast there wasn't time!

Staedtler pigment liner 0.1 black ink pen with Squires Kitchen food colouring used as watercolour paint. All on a paper bag from a past trip to Paris. I recently discovered several postcards I'd bought to send home, all tucked up in this bag, so I stuck the postcards up in our office and thought I'd make use of the bag. Can't beat a bit of French wording as a back ground for an illustration, can you?

On the 22nd day of December ...

2011-12-22T19:05:00.001+00:00

On the 22nd day of December, what else could I draw other than our lovely Christmas cake - which is almost a Christmas Log! A slice of the cake made by Owain's Mam, all iced up and decorated with a Cadbury's Flake log and a little reindeer. I am being very good and not stealing the flake off the top to eat in one go... so far!

Pilot V Ball 07 Black ink pen on the back/inside of the Homebase offers envelope that came in the post today - lovely red stripy pattern - too good not to draw on!

On the 21st day of December...

2011-12-21T11:38:00.000+00:00

On the 21st day of December I give you a cheeky Gingerbread Man, all iced up with festive frosting. I remember being a little girl helping mum to make gingerbread men and women and bunny rabbits - and mainly eating the gingerbread mix from the bowl which I thought was nicer than when it is baked.

Uni-ball Signo 0.7 black ink en and Sainsbury's Mini Supertips Scribbler felt pens on the inside of an envelope that came in the post this morning. The envelope contained a nice cheque too, but that is going in the bank not being drawn upon!

On the 20th day of December...

2011-12-20T23:33:00.002+00:00

On the 20th day of December, here is the bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes (with sliced banana) I ate, at 10:45pm, after we got back from the cinema. Cornflakes at night is simply the best! Can't wait for breakfast now, too.

Pilot V Ball 07 black ink pen and Sainsbury's Mini Supertips Scribble felt pens, on the back of the card cover sheet that my greeting card blanks come in.

On the 18th & 19th day of December...

2011-12-19T23:57:00.001+00:00

So, on the 18th Day of December we had a pre 'Crimbo' buffet* and then I couldn't face drawing food so left it until today, the 19th day, when I had to draw it from memory. It made me feel full all over again, just seeing it.

* Cheese board, Jacob's crackers, home made apple chutney (by my Mummy),butter, Welsh cakes, cheese straws, pasta, cheese and onion pasties, sausage rolls, kebabs, crumbed ham slice, carrot sticks and dips, party sausages, french bread, onion ring crisps, posh salted crisps, lime poppadoms, swiss roll, pretzels, onion bhajis, samosas, goats cheese and asparagus flan/tart, cornish pasties, cumberlands rolls, praline & salted caramel cheescakes, Christmas pudding cheescake, snowballs, cups of tea, pop, fruit juice, lager, pomegranate seeds (lovely with cheese), and I just realised I forgot to draw the dry roasted peanuts!

Did it in B&W first but it didn't really 'look a lot like Christmas' - so added the red table cloth which made it all seasonal...or like a blood bath. Hmmm.

Either way, plenty of food and I rather enjoyed drawing it, as well as eating it all, too! Thanks to all our pals who came round and brought lovely grub to share. Mmmmm...might go sneak a bit of late night cheese and biscuits...

Staedtler Pigment Liner 0.3, TDK CD/DVD Red ink pen on part of a divider from a folder, thrown away from the Architects I used to work for, showing a nice grey pattern of some fascia boards or external cladding, I think.

On the 17th day of December...

2011-12-17T23:35:00.001+00:00

For the 17th day of December, I give you the Ham and Cheese Bagel I scoffed for my lunch - along with slices of Cucumber and Baby Plum Tomatos. Mmmm.

I also give you the remains of the curry I just ate, at Vojon on St Helen's Road.

And very very nice it was, too. A last minute supper for O and I after spending most of the afternoon and evening wrapping presents and writing Christmas cards. Well deserved and very much enjoyed.

Staedtler Lumocolour permanent CD/DVD marker with Stabilo 'Colour hits' mini neon fibre-tipped pens and my BBC Orange highlighter pen on some shiny white card, possibly scraps of glossy photo paper -which is why the colours haven't dried and it gives a washy look.

On the 16th day of December...

2011-12-16T23:13:00.002+00:00

Well, on the 16th day of December Owain and I treated ourselves to a Gower Pasty from our local deli - and what a pasty! Here is my drawing of the delicious Turkey and Cranberry Pasty. Go get them, while you can, at The Gower Pasty Company shop on Bryn-y-mor Road, Swansea. If there are any Porkpie Stars left when you go in - get one of those too, as they are the best we have ever tasted!

Check them out on http://www.gowerpasty.com/aboutus.html

Pentel Ultra Fine S570 black ink pen and Oriel Myrddin 'Drawn' exhibition souvenir pencil on a torn piece of brown envelope, stuck onto white copy paper with good old Pritt stick.

On the 15th day of December...

2011-12-15T23:29:00.001+00:00

On this Thursday, the 15th day of December, I doodled a Pomegranate and an Avocado, whilst waiting for our pal Dean to round to watch the wonderful 'Trading Places' movie. Such a great film - in fact a pretty perfect one. And all Christmassy too.

Then we had a discussion about the bleak economic climate, how none of us know how the stock exchange/markets work, and then we dwelled on our lowly paid past jobs and being made redundant and how we will never be rich. Great evening, all in all.

Bog-standard blue biro on cheap yellow jotter pad sheet, which explains why it's not cut 'square'.

On the 14th day of December...

2011-12-14T23:43:00.004+00:00

On the 14th day of December I have tried a pencil sketch of a nice bunch of Grapes, sat in my old (or should I say, vintage?) glass jelly mould. I think I prefer my felt-tip pen doodles and I definitely need practice and patience to do still life/life drawings - it's been a while and I'd forgotten how difficult it is to actually draw well! It was very difficult not eating the grapes too, as they are fresh today and juicy as 'eck!

3B Pencil (although from a cheap pack and definitely didn't feel like a soft 3B - more a 2H) on some Basildon Bond writing paper.

On the 13th day of December ...

2011-12-13T19:49:00.000+00:00

On the 13th Day of December I give you the delicious Cheese Burger in a Bap that O made for me. Yum yum!

Off to the flicks now, so this is just a short one tonight - see ya tomorrow, viewers!

Bic Crystal Medium Gel black ink pen and Stabilo 'Colour Hits' mini neon fibre-tipped pens on the back of an envelope. Good old envelopes - my doodles would be be lost without them.

On the 11th and 12th day of December...

2011-12-12T17:20:00.004+00:00

Well, it had to happen, sooner or later, and as with all Advent Calendars a day can go by without opening the window... in fact our chocolate one downstairs, is still on the 7th!

Yesterday was such a busy day that I only realised at 11:45pm that I hadn't had a chance to do my doodle and get it uploaded, so, I hope you forgive me, but I went to bed instead!

Therefore, on the 11th day of December I would have drawn some Chocolate Coins. Instead, I did them today on the 12th for you, and also my drawing for the 12th of December: A Tasty Bowl of Noodles, as in a few hours we shall hopefully be dining at The Vietnamese in the Uplands - Me and Owain's Christmas work do. Just because you are self-employed and both work from home doesn't mean we should miss out on the party fun!

Oh yes, and our brand new fantastic mattress arrived today! We can't wait to go to bed tonight and sleep like babies...or preferably like adults who get a good nights sleep!

Staedtler Pigment liner 0.1 black ink pen, Sharpie Permanent markers, Sainsbury's mini supertips scribble pens on a Unicef charity pamphlet and a dud photocopy of some sheet music ('What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life' by Michael Legrand and lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Quite possibly my favourite song).

On the 10th day of December ...

2011-12-10T20:34:00.001+00:00

On the 10th day of December I tried to eat this Chocolate Truffle Pudding but alas it wasn't that nice. Sorry Nina - my dear pal bought 1 each for O and I yesterday. Perhaps I should have eaten it then but after half a Terry's Chocolate Orange, I think I might have been ill if I ate this, too! Anyway, it looked very pretty with an icing holly and berry on the top.

Today, Owain and I went with to visit Great Aunty Eva to wish her a Happy 101st birthday! It was astonishing how young she seemed and it was only when she showed us a photo of her in her younger days (1920's!), that we realised how very long she has lived for! Happy birthday dear Eva!

We also went shopping for our Christmas tree and tomorrow we shall be decorating it , with all that glitters. Perhaps if I'm good I will not eat the chocolate coins we hang on it and draw them for this blog. Perhaps.

Sharpie Fine Point Permanent markers and British Red Cross biro on the Jenkins Bakery bag that the truffle came in. I love a nice crinkly paper bag, don't you?

On the 9th day of December...

2011-12-09T19:50:00.001+00:00

On this the 9th day of December (isn't it going quickly?!) I felt the need to rest most of the afternoon and so whilst lying on the sofa with my feet up, I managed to eat half of a Terry's Chocolate Orange! Over the space of about 3 hours, mind you, but never the less that is fairly piggy. Don't think it counts towards 1 of my 5 a day portions of fruit or veg does it? Oh well.

British Red Cross charity biro and the ever present Stabilo 'Colour Hits' mini neon fibre-tipped felts on a lovely letter from Cats Protection League thanking us for our donations this year. We actually sent some money this morning for their Autumn/ Winter Raffle so you never know we might win a few bob back! Either way we get to help little kitties. We'd give homes to all of them if we could but our Gary cat is enough for now. He certainly gets a whole heap of love from us (and a lot of our £ too)...

On the 8th day of December...

2011-12-08T21:40:00.001+00:00

On the 8th day of December I braved the wind and the rain and trampled through town to collect some card sales money, and then, of course spent it on the way home. A little bit of it went on a comforting Hot Chocolate and a Buttery Toasted Tea Cake in 'Gershwins Coffee House'. I had my first job there, 20 years ago, and they still serve the same great Cadburys hot choc, but I think the tea cakes are a little smaller (isn't everything from your childhood smaller? Or are we just bigger?). They were delicious all the same and just what I needed.

Pilot G-Tech-C4 Black ink pen on the back of the envelope my card sales £ came in.

On the 7th Day of December...

2011-12-07T20:58:00.001+00:00

On this, the 7th day of December, I have drawn a few Star Shaped Pretzels. Mmmm. My attempt at not eating crisps - but really just as salty! However, they went really well with my ham, cheese and pickle bagel and slices of cucumber, I can tell you!

Staedtler 'Tradition' 2H pencil, Oriel Myrddin 'Drawn' exhibition souvenir pencil, Staedtler pigment liner 0.1 black ink and of course, my trusty Stabilo 'Colour Hits' mini neon fibre-tipped felt pens. This time, the doodle is on an old coaster, which is made out of paper mulch and bought in the sale at Paperchase. Not the best coasters seeing as they are made of paper. Great for drawing on though.

On the 6th Day of December...

2011-12-06T18:42:00.001+00:00

On this, the 6th day of December I simply couldn't resist drawing my craving*: A 'Mini Babybel' - or rather what is left after I scoffed it (not doing too well at actually drawing the food part of this calendar, am I ?). I love the red wax casing and crinkled wrapper on my black and white saucer (a plate is just too big) and after spending an afternoon tallying up some stock figures, I thoroughly enjoying drawing all over my workings out.

* Have actually had 2 today, and strangely enough Owain indulged in 1, too...hmmm sympathy cravings?

Crayola washable child friendly red marker, a fine black marker (brand name has rubbed off), Staedtler 'Tradition' 2H pencil, Oriel Myrddin 'Drawn' exhibition souvenir pencil, Unibal Signo Gelstick black ink pen, and yep, you guessed it Stabilo 'Colour Hits' mini neon fibre-tipped felt pens. All on a sheet of 'aat' notepad paper - a freebie from a day of accounts training during my job at an Architect's office.

On the 5th day of December...

2011-12-05T21:18:00.001+00:00

On the 5th day of December I give you a beloved Filo Wrapped King Prawn... which I can't eat as, apparently, prawns are a 'no no' when pregnant. Surely if it is deep fried it is OK to eat? But, I am resisting. When the baby has been born, my darling hubby promises to buy me a prawn cocktail, followed by a whole portion of sweet 'n' sour king prawn balls, and to finish off, some filo and tempura prawns with chili dip. Roll on May!

Oh yes - I have just noticed this drawing looks a little like a body rolled up in a carpet, with it's feet poking out the end. Hmmm...

Staedtler pigment liner 1.0 black ink pen, BBC highlighter orange marker, Stabilo 'Colour Hits' neon mini fibre-tipped pens, on a pick heart shaped post stick note.

On the 4th day of December...

2011-12-04T19:28:00.001+00:00

A 'double doodle for the 4th day of December:

The first is my empty plate (again from Mamgu's collection) on my cushion 'TV dinner' tray (from my Mum). The plate is supposed to have a glazed ring 'Krispy Kreme ' doughnut on it, but I sat down to draw it and without thinking simply scoffed it! Oops.

The second doodle is a quick drawing of the dozen 'Krispy Kremes' my darling cousin Sian and her delightful boyfriend, Matt, brought us as they have been here for the weekend. In fact they brought 2 boxes full - one of a dozen 'Christmassy' designs and the other filled with 12 classic glazed ring doughnuts. My favourite!

Sian and Matt arrive on Friday night and left this evening - there are 4 doughnuts left! That's some good scoffing!

We have also consumed a Chinese takeaway, 3 all butter croissants, 3 choc au pains, 2 bowls of cereal, a couple of Subway baguettes, a KFC family Bucket and boxed meal (although I didn't get any as had my gig and simply ate a ham salad bap, followed by a jam bap, at about 1am!), and then after a breakfast of bagels and orange juice, we had a Sunday roast at The Brunswick Arms! Now if I had the energy I'd have drawn all of the above but instead opted for the festive doughnuts and my licked clean plate. Anyone hungry?

Pentel CD-R/DVD-R black marker, Berol Flipchart Autoseal coloured ink markers, Thick 'n' Thin felt tips on note book graph paper and part of a 'Krispy Kreme' box lid.

On the 3rd day of December...

2011-12-03T16:03:00.001+00:00

On the 3rd day of December we had no power in our kitchen, and discovered that all the sockets are faulty (even though the Landlord had this same problem fixed 3 years ago'). After an hour of an lovely electrician's time (and our dosh!) nothing could be done apart from rewiring plugs onto our freezer and fridge and now we have an extension lead powering them. Not sure how much creative cooking we will be able to do this festive season so this advent calendar may well continue with non-cooked food items... we shall see. My dear hubby and I are not too happy today as we have family staying too, so had to miss out on a day of enjoyment with them and I have a big gig tonight (I am a singer as well as a doodler!) so haven't had the best day of preparation for showing off, that I had hoped for. Never mind. It may very well be the best gig yet as I certainly don't want to be in this faulty house!

Anyway. I give you my rather quick scribble - My silver flower fruit bowl with satsumas and a lime. They are a bit old, but not as old and over ripe as my drawing makes out. Think the ink soaked through the paper and created some premature wrinkles. Nice!

Oriel Myrddin 'Drawn' exhibition souvenir pencil, a BBC orange highlighter marker (from my time as a temp there back in 2001ish), Stablio Boss Original orange highlighter pen, Stablio 'Colour Hits Neon Mini' fibre tipped pens , Staedtler Pigment Liner 0.1 black ink pen all on a scrap of A4 ruled paper, found fallen down beside our desk.

On the 2nd day of December...

2011-12-02T20:58:00.001+00:00

For this, the second day of December, I give you: My Mamgu's (Welsh for Gandma) old nutcracker and some nuts. Nice.

Staedtler Noris 120 HB pencil and Pentel Ultra Fine S570 black ink pen on the cleaning the print heads test print from our Canon printer. All heads are clean, so why are the prints coming out streaky? Printers!

On the 1st day of December...

2011-12-01T23:40:00.000+00:00

How about a nice par-fumed block of Turkish Delight to start December off? You either love it or hate it! Mmmm.

Stabilo Colour Hits Mini Neon fibre-tipped pens, Uniball Signo Gelstick black pen , hand drawn on a piece of inkjet T-Shirt transfer paper backing (the peeled off to discard bit, but of course I couldn't throw away a nice red grid).

Welcome to my EvE Designs Edible Advent Calendar 2011!!

2011-12-01T23:29:00.000+00:00

So, last Christmas (I gave you my heart, etc.) I didn't mean to make a doodle advent calendar but I did and my pals on FB loved it! Thanks, you guys.

I created a blog 'adoodleadayadventcalendar2010' but alas only 2 people followed it - and one of them was me! I did however get to 'guest' on a rather awesome blog 'doodlemum', as an artist friend rather liked my scribbles (not as good as hers I might add) and posted them on her well followed site. Thanks Angie! xx

This year, I thought to myself, "I'm not going to bother"... but then requests from pals began, asking if I was,"doing the drawing advent calendar thingy again?". I hadn't realised how much they had loved watching out for the pictures I put on FB every day leading up to the big (Christmas) day.

So, here I am again, trying to figure out this online blogging thing (and finding it rather frustrating as things I do don't seem to save or the internet goes very slow). Last year I was posting the pictures on my FB profile, my FB artists page, and the blog, but not managing to connect them all. This time, I'm starting with the blog and will just try to share it on my FB page/wall and see if I can get some followers on here. Of course, the only problem then is, I will have to make sure I update this daily and also start updating my other blogs ! That means organising myself and commitment to not throwing our Mac out of the window if it fails to understand what I want it to do. Not my failing obviously...Hmmm!

Right then, here goes. Time to do an edible (well, almost) advent illustration...but what first?