Lil'Dreys Art&Craft

Back to school 2, Dazzling up Pencils...

2014-09-05T14:48:00.001+02:00

Hi guys!

A little easy diy, we are going to spice up some pencils, again I like to buy quality pencils for the kids but they are rarely fun to look at, and after customizing her pens, Matilda asked me : '' What about my pencils?!'' So I came up with this...

You will need:
White glue
Glitters
Water
Paper
Pencils
Paintbrush for glue

Take your piece of paper, fold it in 2.
Unfold it, and put it flat on your working space.
Pour your chosen colour of glitters on the paper.
Take your pencil, and with the glue paint the area you want to cover with the glitters.
Dip the glued part of your pencil in the glitters, let it dry for a little bit.
If you want to cover your pencils with differents colors then use an other piece of paper and do the same.
Then you can refold your paper and pour back the excess of glitters back in their packaging.

Once your pencil is covered and dry, mix the glue with a little bit of water to make the glue more runny then apply carefully all over your pencil, it will avoid you to get glitters all over, let it dry, apply a second layer, let it dry, apply a third layer, let it dry.

Et voilà!
See you soon!

Miss Drey

Super Delicious vanilla/lime Yogurt cake with an electric Lime icing decorated with raspberries and Smarties.

2014-09-04T05:11:00.001+02:00

Hi guys!

My kids made this amazing cake for us last night, it was soooo yummy!

Here's the recipe...

You will need 150 g of butter, a vanilla yogurt (when using the yogurt, keep the pot, we will need it to measure the rest of the ingredients), 3 pots of flour, 2 pots of brown sugar, 1 vanilla pod, 3 eggs, 4 teaspoons of baking powder, 4 limes, 2 pots of icing sugar, some raspberries and smarties to decorate.

Preheat the oven at 180°C.
In the big bowl of the mixer, put the butter, the vanilla yogurt, the flour, the brown sugar, the inside of the vanilla pod, the eggs, the baking powder, the juice of 3 limes and mix all for a good 4 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a buttered and floured dish and put it in the hot oven, let it bake for 45 minutes. Once cooked take it off the oven tray and let it cool down.
Mix the icing sugar with the lime juice, one teaspoon at the time and mix well, we need the icing to be nice and creamy, not too liquid, not too hard.
Cover the top of the cake with the icing and let it drip on its own on the sides.
Decorate the cake with the raspberries and the smarties.
And voilà!! Super easy, super tasty!!!

We serve it with greek yogurt and I can tell you it is insanely good!!

See you soon!!!
Miss Drey

Back to school

2014-08-25T17:31:00.001+02:00

Hi guys!

Been missing a few months, haven't I!! Yes sorry! We move to a new country, actually an island, Martinique, during the school year with our new addition to the family, Baby Stella, so kind of a full plate but it should get better from now on!!

So the holidays are almost over, it is hard to tell when you live here but yeah, school starts next week, oh my god!

Reading the list of school supplies to Matilda, she noticed sadly that she can't use her favorite friction erasable pens, only good quality rollball pen in black, red, green and blue (again Matilda face, not so happy, she likes her turquoise!!) I had to think of something to make those pens more appealing to her!!

I found some pretty tapes in a box, I got them in Barcelona for very cheap and I finally found a use for them...

Quick, easy, cheap and very effective, we like it!!...

Matilda is in love with her new pens, mission accomplie!!

Bye guys, see you soon!
Miss Drey.

La ''Galette des Rois'', the king's cake: the delicious recipe and workshops you can do around with the kids...

2014-01-21T23:57:00.005+01:00

Hi guys!

For this months of January, "the king's cake" will be my subject. In France, the tradition of serving this frangipane-filled tart can be traced back to the 14th century. A small bean, coin or porcelain fève is baked inside the cake, and whoever receives the little favor is then crowned king or queen of the day, to ensure no cheating, the youngest goes under the table and select to who goes each piece of the cake. Then the crowned king pick his queen or the crowned queen her king.

Last year was my first time baking this King's cake and I realized how easy it was I could not believe it! A lot of recipes are available on the net but usually they are on the heavy side using only an almond cream filling, the secret is to mixed the almond cream with some pastry cream, believe me, much lighter, less sweet and delicious!

So this year I made our King's cake, the crowns and the fève with the kids, we had a really good time!!!

The making of the "fève":
For that we used the modeling clay FIMO, you can of course make any shape you want, it just needs to be not bigger that 2x2 cm, when you finished with you shapes, bake them at 110º for maximum 30 minutes and then they become hard like plastic.

The modeling clay, FIMO

Matilda and Manu in the making...

And Jack...

Jack's snake...

And I made tiny little pastries...

The making of the crowns:
Easy peasy, let them draw the shape of crown and decorate them with stickers, sequins, anything you have in hands...

The making of the King's cake:

The King's Cake:

You will need :

- a pastry cream

- an almond cream
- 2 tablespoons of Disaronno (italian liquor) or rum

- 2 already made puff pastries

- an egg
-1 fève

for the pastry cream, you will need:

- 3 egg yolks

- 80 g sugar

- 2 tablespoons flour

- 400 ml milk

In a bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar and the flour.
Add the hot milk into the bowl, mix well
Put this mixture in a saucepan, let it cook at low/medium heat, stirring at all time until it thickens.
Let it cool down, then put it aside in the fridge covered.
Your pastry cream is done!

for the almond cream, you will need:

- 3 egg yolks

- 125g finely grated almond

- 100g sugar

- 125g room temperature butter

Mix the soft butter with the sugar until smooth and pale.
Mix in the yolks and the grated almond.

Your almond cream is done!

Preheat your oven at 180º C.

To make the "frangipane", the filling of the King's cake, mix the pastry cream with the almond cream.
Add the liquor, mix very well.
Paint the edge of the first puff pastry with the egg yolk (2 cm).

Spread the frangipane in the center.
Add the fève. If using the one you made in Fimo clay, wrap it first in foil.
I made this one in porcelain so no need to wrap it.

Put delicately the second puff pastry on top, try to not leave any air inside and press the edge.

Paint allover the tart with the egg yolk (add a drop of water if you want to make the yolk more liquid).

Decorate with a small knife, be careful not to pierce the puff pastry.

Make 2 or 3 incisions for the air to escape during the baking.
Bake for 25/30 minutes or until nice and gold.

And ta daaa!!!!
A beautiful galette des rois!

And there you have it! Wonderful time with the kids in the making with a delicious cake to enjoy all together at the end!!! Mmmmmh, bon appétit!!

Miss Drey

The Wicked Treasure Chest Birthday Cake...

2014-01-08T21:01:00.000+01:00

Hi guys,

One of my proudest cake creation, a treasure chest for a Pirate party, a birthday present for the 8th birthday of Kalyssa, a dear friend of my son Jack. Everything is eatable, I had a lot of fun making that one!!!
I am getting good at this!!!

Miss Drey

DJ cake for the 50th birthday of my dad...

2014-01-01T20:42:00.002+01:00

Hi guys!

I actually normally only do shape cake for my kids but for my dad 50th birthday I made an exception, he asked me so I could not refuse!!! My dad used to DJ in his young years so it is where I got the idea... the cake looked really good but it was my first time making a sugar person and it looks ok but it very far from what i wanted!!! Anyway...

Miss Drey

Birthday lil'activity: Contest of the best decorated cupcake <3

2013-02-02T17:32:00.001+01:00

Hi lil'Guys!

Anaïs, a friend of my kids, turned 9 last week and for her party she decided not to have a fancy cake so I told her we could do a contest of cupcake decoration, and she loved the idea... She had an art party, with decopatching, painting, iron shape beading etc... She is very sparkling and full of ideas kind of girl, so i had to spice up my idea of how to make my little cake special... And then I came up with rainbow cupcakes...

Here is the recipe I used to make the dough:

Vanilla Yogurt Cake Recipe

1 plain greek yogurt ( keep the pot as it will be our measuring tool)
3 pot of flour
2 pot of sugar
125g of soft butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
2 teaspoon of baking powder
3 eggs
Food coloring, any color that you fancy

Put all the ingredients in a mixer bowl and mix well for 5 (whole!!) minutes.
Then, split the dough into as much color you want iside your cupcakes.

Then, put a little food coloring in each bowl until the color is at your liking.

Arrange the papercases in the oven cupcake tray, then start to pour the first color dough in.

Then continue, adding the colored mixtures on top of each other...

Bake them in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes, ...et voilà!!

For the frosting, you will need:

3 cups of icing sugar
1cup of soft butter
4 to 6 tablespoons of milk
Food colorings

And of course different kind of cake decorations.

Cream the butter and the sugar together, it takes a whole 5 minutes to mix, then add the milk and continue the mixing, the frosting is getting more fluffy and creamy, then separate it into 3 bowls, add the food coloring that you want in each of them and mix one more time.
Fill your piping bags and it is redy for the kids to start to play around with them!!

Lets the kids practice with the piping thing first, then let them express themself with the cake decorations... Have fun!!

See you soon!!
Miss Drey <3

Happy Birthday to my Baby...

2012-08-16T23:00:00.000+02:00

Hi Lil'guys,

It was Matilda's Birthday this week, and she loves fashion, so I decided to announce it to the world using a cool app on the i pad, it is called Fakers gold, it is super easy to use and you have amazing results!!!

See you soon,
Miss Drey.

A pretty fairy tea party...

2012-08-15T10:40:00.001+02:00

Hi lil'guys!

Matilda has been asking me for a tea party for a few weeks now, just with her closest friends... And because it was just for a play date, I decided to go for the lowest budget that I could go for, so here it is what I came up with...

Any party, small or big needs a pretty invitation,
Matilda drew sweet fairy version of her guest friends and herself, I wrote their name on top of each silhouette, then I photocopied them 6 times (5 guests + 1 for Matilda for keepsake), cut each little fairies in a petal shape; I had some pretty paper in my "art" cupboard, I glued my 6 petals into a flower on it, then cut the edges following the petals, I finished by cutting two circles and glued them in the center as heart of the flower...
Of course at the back, I wrote the the details of the party, the date and the time, the address and a little map if necessary, a phone number/email address with a date to RSVP. I do write usually the programme of the party but it is not a must. Here are them!!!....They are so cute!!!...

For the Fairy Tea Party table,

We will need obviously tea cups and saucers, pretty plates for the "finger food" and a cupcake stand (they are so elegant on a party table...) So i got some paper cups, dessert plates and normal paper plates, all in white...

First, I took a small paper plate and cut the edge like this...

Then I took a bigger one and cut the edge as well like that...

I took a cup that I glued upside down in the middle of the big plate (with white glue),

And the small plate on top, like this...

To make it a little bit more fancy i added a cup on top, that I cut in half first, and finished off with the same pattern of the plate... Then glued little half plastic marbles to my stand a little shiny... There you have it, a beautiful fairy cupcake stand...

Ok, now the tea cups, we will need paper cups and the dessert size paper plates.

Cut the paper cup as shown above...
You will end up with this.

Then secure the long bit under the cup, it should hold by itself but if you are not too sure you can glue it with white glue.

And I finished the tea cup by glueing a little plastic marble at the top of the handle.

For the saucer, a paper dessert plate that I cut all around the borders like flower petals.
Here is the result... Beautiful fairy tea cups and saucers..

For the food, I made some fairy wand biscuits for each of the guest.

Recipe of the biscuit:

50g soft butter
75g sugar
1 egg yolk
1teaspoon clear honey
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 teaspoon milk
125g flour

Baking tray
Baking paper
Star cutter
Skewers

Fondant, different colors
Icing pens

Preheat your oven at 180°C

1- Beat the butter and the sugar until white and fluffy, then mix in the egg yolk.
2- Stir in the honey, vanilla essence and milk. Add the flour into the bowl, then mix with a spoon.
3- Use your hands to squeeze the mixture until you make a ball of dough, if too dry add a drop of milk, if too sticky add a spoon of flour.
4- Sprinkle a work surface with flour, then roll out the dought until it is about 5 mm thick. Use the cutter to cut out the stars.
5- Cover the baking tray with the baking paper, then put the stars onto it, and finish by inserting a skewer in each of them. Squeeze the scraps into a ball, roll them out again and cut out more shapes.
6- Bake them for 6 to 8 minutes, then carefully take them out of the oven. Leave them to cool on the baking tray.
7- Sprinkle a work surface with icing sugar, then roll out the fondant until is about 2-3 mm thick. Use the same cutter to cut out the stars.
8- Wet with a little water a star biscuit, then top it up with a star fondant, press lightly over to stick them together. Write the name of the guest with the icing pen.

I obviously made some cupcakes...

You will find the recipe in a previous post dated of April 23th, 2012.

I just found those Lavender Petal Baking cups, they are from the brand Wilton ( check out their website, they have amazing stuff! ) I thought there were beautiful and perfect for my fairy theme, but seeing the result!!... I was blown away!! They are just exquisite!...

As it was not for a party, I didn't make too much food, I served my homemade lemonade and I bought some sweets.

Now, everything is in the set up of the table, I picked all the little fairy toys that Matilda had, I spread a white table clothe, arrange the tea cups and saucers, the cupcake stand, found a Playmobil plant stand that I used to showcase my magic wand biscuits, place every toys carefully on the table, then the food. Matilda came back from the garden with beautiful flowers she picked from the garden, so of course we placed them on the table, here are some pics...

Now the activity,

We made some fairy wings,
What we need...

Wire,
Strong tape,
Different pieces of fabric,
String
Beads
Fake flowers, leaves,
Some elastic.

1- With the wire make a 8 shape, see below in red.
2- Secure it with the tape, see below in green.
3- Pull up each wing like the purple arrow shows you below.

Now, you have the structure of your wings.

4- Cut long pieces of fabric, then use them to hide the wire going around it many times...

5- When you done, the fun part starts, use the fabric, the flowers, the leaves to decorate the wings as you like, secure them with the tape, or use the metal stalk which comes usually with those fake flowers.
6- Make the kids bead the strings when they need your help so if you are already with someone else they don't get bored!
7- Then use the beaded string to finish the look of your wings!

8- Finish by putting the elastic for your fairy to wear her wings.
Take a 70 cm long elastic which it is represented in orange, see below. Attached it at its middle on the top of the wings, see orange dot. Then take first extremity, make a knot where the green dot is, and the second one where the red dot is.

Here is a few versions you can end up with... and of course you can make crowns and wands the same way! Have fun!...

Matilda and her friends had a wonderful time!

Artistically yours,
Miss Drey.

2012-04-27T10:14:00.004+02:00

Hi Lil'guys!

I have been making little movies to make life again to really short videos and pics of the kids that now I got by millions!!! They are a really cool gifts for your loved ones, and if at the beginning it took me a little time to get use to all the tools, i Movie is an awesome application, you really can make amazing videos!!!

I had a lot of fun yesterday with Jack and Matilda, making this little trailer for the blog using the program i Movie, have a look!...

Click here: Lil'Dreys Art and Craft, the trailer...

The Art of Life

Create, CR8, CR8...

The Life of Art

Lil'Dreys, a Way of Life

See you soon!
Miss Drey.

"Mummy, they are the Most Beautiful and Yummy Chocolate Fairy Cupcakes Ever !!!!"...

2012-04-23T12:38:00.000+02:00

Hi Lil'guys!

Here are the Gorgeous Cupcakes that we made with Matilda for my Birthday! Matilda has a thing for those tiny pastries, she LOVES to decorate them! The frosting would be turquoise one day, pink or yellow the other days, matching the appropriate candies and glitters on top!!!
Although they look very sweet, they are not on the sugary side, the frosting is made mainly with cream cheese... which make them even more delicious!!

"Make a wish mummy!" Jack & Matilda

... "They look really completely delicious mummy!"... Jack.

"This one is my best Fairy cupcake!" Matilda

Here is the recipe of those Divine Cupcake to die for... You will now realize how easy they are to make!!!...

THE CAKE:

You will need :

-16 cupcakes paper cases

- 16 holes cupcake baking tray

- A small saucepan

- An electric mixer + mixer bowl

The Dark chocolate version:

- 200g dark chocolate

- 125g butter

- 115g brown sugar

- 3 eggs + 1 yolk

- 80g flour

The milk chocolate version:

- 200g milk chocolate

- 125g butter

- 100g brown sugar

- 3 eggs + 1 yolk

- 100g flour

The white chocolate version:

- 200g white chocolate

- 125g butter

- 90g brown sugar

- 3 eggs + 1 yolk

- 120g flour

Preheat your oven at 180º C.

In a little saucepan, melt the butter and the chocolate together under small heat.

In the bowl, mix the eggs + the yolk with the sugar using the electric mixer until the mixture looks pale and creamy, it should take at least 3 or 4 minutes.

Stir in the bowl the melted chocolate/butter.

Finally add the flour and mix.

Put the paper cases in the holes of the baking tray.

Fill up the 3/4 of each cupcake case with the batter.

Bake for...

10 minutes for the dark chocolate version.

12 minutes for the milk chocolate version.

14 minutes for the white chocolate version.

The milk chocolate version, after they cooled down, ready to be frosted...

THE FROSTING:

You will need:

-A piping bag

-Electric mixer + Small mixing bowl

- 200g cream cheese

- 1 Tablespoon of milk

-1 Tablespoon of lemon juice

-Icing sugar to taste

-Food coloring

-Sprinkles

-Edible glitters

In the Bowl, the cream cheese, the milk, the lemon juice unti nice and smooth.

Add little by little the icing sugar until you have the sweetness wanted.

From here, you can play with the color of the frosting using the food coloring, start by very little drops until you have the desired color.

Fill up the piping bag, then start to decorate each cupcake.

(the cupcake have to be cold before frosting)

Finally, have fun customizing your frosted cupcakes with the glitters, sprinkles, fresh fruits like blueberries, candies, chocolates!!!...

Enjoy!

Experimente, try new ways to frost your cupcakes!!!

Yellow frosting with an edible spray pearl effect...

Blue frosting, edible spray pearl effect, disco dust glitters.

Blue frosting, disco dust glitters, sprinkles.

I had some left over batter so I used a small heart shape silicone tray and used the left over frosting with some glitter on top of course!!!

See you soon!
Miss Drey.

Pretty Spring... Joli printemps...

2012-04-20T10:46:00.005+02:00

Hi lil'guys!

Yeah!!! Springtime! Matilda's favorite season, she is just amazed by the bright colors of the trees, but above by all the cute flowers that she can pick wit real care and displays later all around the house in her odd but sweet little vases!!!

For the holidays, it became a tradition to put together a holiday book, Jack and Matilda would present what they've done, seen, collected... during those special days. For their covers, they made beautiful trees mix matching techniques, collage, wax crayons, tempera paint, glitters...

They were just stunning!

Salut Lil'Kids!

Aaah, Le printemps! La saison préférée de Matilda, elle est tout simplement émerveillée par les couleurs toutes tendres du feuillage précoces des arbres, mais surtourt par toutes ces jolies fleurs qu'elle sélectionne avec soin pour plus les placer tout autour de la maison dans de surprenants petits vases!!!

Pour chaque vacances, il est devenutradition de confectionner un cahier de vie où Jack et Matilda présentent ce qu'ils ont fait, vu, collectionné... pour ces périodes toujours un peu plus spéciales.

Pour leurs couvertures, ils ont décidé de faire des arbres en mélangeant des techniques comme le collage, crayons de cire, gouache, paillettes...

Je dois dire qu'ils ont fait du bon travail!!!

Spring tree by Jack. L'arbre de Jack.

Spring tree by Matilda. L'arbre de Matilda.

See you soon!
A bientôt!

Miss Drey.

Jack Sparrow and the pirates of the caribbean Birthday Party, Part1: the invitations

2012-03-26T18:21:00.000+02:00

Hi Guys!

For Matilda's 5th and Jack's 7th birthday, we went with one theme, The pirates of the Caribbean.

Matilda acted as Elizabeth Swan at hers and Jack of course as Jack Sparrow at his! They were really cool birthdays to plan!

Jack aka "Jack Sparrow"

Matilda aka "Elizabeth Swan"

For the Pirate of the Caribbean invitations,

On cream color paper, I print text + photos of the movie (found on the internet),

Tear up the 4 sides of the paper,

Burn the 4 sides,

And I closed the letters with hot wax and a stamp inserting before hand 2 red ribbons and a piece of cream embroidery ribbon, the effect is amazing!

Now, i just need to put the name guest ...

Love,
Miss Drey

What is going on?!!!!!.... Where is Miss Drey?..

2011-07-04T10:56:00.000+02:00

Hi guys!
I have been missing you... We moved, me and my little family, to a new house in the mountain, it is amazing but unfortunately, getting internet up there is a challenge, 2 months and a half and still at this day, don't have it! I am in France right now, in a hotel near Toulouse, so I'll be back on line for the next 2 weeks for sure but after that who knows!!!...
Lots of love,
Miss Drey

My little Van Gogh (s), Starry night...

2011-04-11T14:38:00.003+02:00

Hi guys!

I had my kids painting on canvas since they were very little, it all started with Jack playing more with my paintbrushes and my tubs of paint instead of his toys on the baby play mat ( I used to put him next to me when I was painting). One day I decided to give it a try, I put him some old clothes and I let him play with paint, rolls, sponges, there was paint everywhere!!!...and he loved it!!! At the end I just took him fully clothed straight to the bathtub...
By the time he could walk, he had me as his assistant, the fact that he was not talking yet wasn't a problem, he made me understand when his hands needed to be cleaned, when he needed to have an other color and so on... Let's say that this period the only time that I could paint was when he was napping!!!...

Untitled, by Jack. Acrylic on Canvas.

Now the years have passed and they might not paint as much as before (so many others thing they love to do!!!) But when they do...

I used to have a workshop at Lil'Dreys called "Paint after a famous artist", it had a lot of succes, kids would try Miro, Kandinsky, Arcimboldo, Seurat... and make it their own version.

Maia after Seurat's pointillism...

Kandinsky inspiration work.

Marcel decided to work after Arcimboldo, he made it his own using a mushroom instead of a face and worked it inside out...

Tallulah's Van Gogh's Sunflowers

Samuel's Van Gogh's Sunflowers

After a little while I couldn't help noticing that Van Gogh work was the most picked by the children and there are some other work...

Emma Rose, she worked during 8 months every Monday, and she delivered a beautiful Starry Night.

Tallulah working on her Room at Arles, this painting had so many layers, it is a breathtaking painting!!!
After my laptop got stolen, unfortunately, I lost the picture of the finished artwork, but hopefully, I'll get a photo from her mom soon!!!

And now I'll present you my Jack's work, he started after Emma Rose, they became really friends and decided to work on the same subject. It took Jack around 4 months working on his once a week.

The village, jack made some funny faces houses... He used little tiles to make a swimming pool...

He added a few details like this houses on a mountain, he told me "This is my painting I can do what ever I want!"...

He added some silver glitter stars in the sky...

He also glued a tree made of felt...

"This is a black duck flying in the the sky, it is black because it's night time..." said Jack to me.

Jack's Starry Night. Mixed techniques on canvas.

Of course, his sister wanted to help Jack with his painting... So she started her own...

A pink tree for Matilda... With lots of sparkling tiles...

Her houses...

Here is her painting but she always says that she is not completely done yet, will see...

Jack was so thrilled to be able to see the real painting at the MoMa in New York, he was really surprise how small it was though!!!

And for those who wants to see it as close at being at the MoMa, check out http://www.googleartproject.com/museums/moma/the-starry-night.

This is an amazing website Google Art Project that allows you to visit quiet a few museums, and most of all the close up on the painting are absolutely unbelievable!!! See details of Starry night...

Enjoy!

Love, Miss Drey.

And I'll turn you into a sweet princess...

2011-04-04T14:29:00.005+02:00

Hi guys!

Once upon a time a little girl was dreaming to become a princess,... what was that again?... once upon a time?!!! a little girl?!!!... OK, let me start again... Since forever, little and bigger girls are dreaming to become princesses... Matilda, Mandisa, Calista... Julia, Yuko... And all these girls inspired me for this project, very young to older, I'll try to take the essence of a person and turn them into pretty princesses...

Princess Nicole, a young artiste from Lil'Dreys...

Princess Julia, inspired by my aunt...

Princesse Yuko, a close friend of mine

In color..

Princess Nicole...

Princess Ankù, she used to put tights as scarf when she 2 years old!...

Princess Calista, ah... Calista, the sweetest chatterbox!...

But my little project of mine took the next level when I decided to tackle a tiny sweet incredible little star, Iris. This little one is one of the precious children of my best friend/sister, Vanja, I actually dedicate this post to her, I love you and I miss you so much...

Vanja and her little ones, Mandisa, Iris, Gabriel.

Iris, look at her! She is just sparkling!!!

Princess Iris, Busy.

Look at those big brown eyes, this mouth...and those curly hair!!!!....

My Princess Iris...

I wanted to paint her on a big canvas, I wanted a painting that would look great in a toddler's room and could age well, a painting that you could keep, not too baby... I thought by doing a cubism version of my little watercolor, so I made copies of it, cut them into pieces, and assemble them back in I hope an esthetic, fun way...

My montage...

Detail of the dress

Big dark eyes...

Crazy hair...

A crown, of course...

And here she is... "Princess Iris", (122x88cm) Acrylic and ribbon, 2011.

Love,

Miss Drey

Miss Drey's Favorite books of the week

2011-03-29T09:00:00.004+02:00

Hi guys!

Each week I will go through my bookshelves and introduce you to my favorite books...
After my post about "inspiration from fashion", I'll continue on the subject...

Atlas of fashion designers

“The traditional demarcation line of fashion – London, Paris, New York and Milan – is changing its original boundaries. Humanity is too rich, heterogeneous, multicultural and dynamic to center its attention exclusively on these four cities. While we continue to view these places as the neuralgic centers of fashion, we are increasingly paying attention to designs coming out of different parts of the world, ones that promise to explode the panorama of international fashion in the years ahead.”

-Atlas of Fashion Designers

The fashion industry itself is incredibly diverse, and while the notion of ‘fashion’ is disregarded by some and lovingly embraced by others, it nonetheless remains an enormous field of artistic creativity. Fashion designers create artwork with a function, adorning the human body with all manners of material in an effort to intrigue or seduce; each article of clothing speaking with its own voice on the behalf of its wearer.

This book has brought together images and information on the very finest in the fashion industry today. Designers from around the globe bring unique perspectives and interpretations of what fashion can be in the modern age, so if you need info for research, reference for artwork, or if you just love fashion, check it out!

Fruits

A collection of Tokyo street fashion portraits from Japan's premier street fanzine of the same name, first established by photographer Shoichi Aoki in 1994. With an extensive collection of portraits and cult images that uniquely documents the changing face of street fashion throughout the last decade. Features kids aged on average between 12 and 18, wearing clothes that are a mixture of high fashion and home-made ensembles, creating a novel, if not hysterical, effect If you like harajuku style, gothic lolita, raver or punk rock fashion this is an awesome book to check out for inspiration!

This litte piggy went to prada

For the woman more accustomed to singing Missoni's praises than singing lullabies comes Amy Allen's irresistible This Little Piggy Went to Prada: Nursery Rhymes for the Blahnik Brigade. Filled from cover to cover with sumptuous full color illustrations by Eun-Kyung Kung, This Little Piggy Went to Prada presents classic nursery rhymes with a thoroughly modern and charmingly ironic spin that will make the most sleepless fashionista mom smile, even when she's knee-deep in diapers.

“Nursery rhymes have never been so fashionable…Can any stylish mother resist its name-dropping charms?” (London Times )

“A beautifully designed collection of irreverent nursery rhymes updated for ‘the Blahnik Brigade’” (Time Out London )

“Posh new nursery rhymes…In This Little Piggy Went to Prada, Amy Allen rewrites childhood standards with a designer bent.” (PAGE 6, New York Post )

“The book that fashion lovers should know by heart…It’s the new must have…it guarantees you a giggle.” (Vogue (UK) )

“The must-have accessory for the Birkin-toting and Blahnik-wearing yummy mummy.” (Harper's Bazaar )

“A perfect gift for the new mother nostalgic for the freedom of single life.” (Daily Mail (London) )

“Any new mom who loves her designer labels will appreciate This Little Piggy Went to Prada.” (Hello (UK) )

catwalking

Whereas the first models to grace the catwalks were hired from the ranks of seamstresses and paid wages on par with floorsweepers, the model turned supermodel of the 80s and 90s has become the ultimate dream of self-made success.

Catwalking is a stunning look at the world of the fashion industry and modelling, illustrated with a wealth of rare photographs and graphic material.

I hope you enjoyed...

Love, Miss Drey.

Vogue, L'Officiel, Harper's Bazaar, Elle Magazine ...Source of inspiration.

2011-03-28T04:03:00.001+02:00

Hi guys!

I always had a thing for fashion, and I LOVE fashion's magazines, so times to times I go back to them to look for inspiration, for my "lady sitting on a bench", I used a photo from the Marie Claire magazine as far as I remember, I loved the attitude of the model and I knew I wanted to paint her, it is not just a copy, I tried to intensify the fact that she was waiting for something or someone, I changed most of the colors and certain things to make it my own... So here's my painting...

"The lady waiting, sitting on a bench", Barcelona 2010

And there, some details...

Detail of the hat

Polka dot dress...

Some bracelets...

I particularly love the work on the bench!!!

the layers of the dress, and a sock and shoe detail...

Sketch before the painting...

If I remember well, it was a page from the "South African Marie Claire"

I have used magazines for a long time for inspiration and while tidying up my studio the other day I found this drawing that I made when I was 16 or 17 years old...

It is very old and not in very good condition but I still really like it! It actually makes me think of a good friend of mine, AnnaE, a classmate in fashion school, a stunning, sharp and talented girl that one!!! yeah she really looks a lot alike!!!

Here's an illustration of hers by the way, told you! She is good!...

Petite gitane by AnnaE.

Click here to visit her blog.

Love, Miss Drey.

Family portrait... my sister Manu.

2011-03-13T19:24:00.000+01:00

Hi guys!
I unfortunately dropped my new macbook pro on the floor! I know it is horrible, believe me I screamed!! But I managed somehow to damaged only the iphoto and nothing else, for this reason I can only use old pictures that I already have in my computer until I get it fixed....

So today, I am presenting you a painting of my sister that I did for her, it took me a couple of days to do the whole thing, it was easy, I wanted something pretty, for her of her... I tried to integrate things that she likes and who she is in it... She loves Nature, she loves to mountain bike, she has a big thing for video games, she is so generous, she has a big heart..., there she is...

To my baby sister Emmanuelle aka Manu, I love you...

Miss Drey.

"Manu", Barcelona 2010

My Mona Lisa...

2011-02-03T12:30:00.001+01:00

Hi guys!

Okay, so today, I will talk about my first painting I made in South Africa, Cape Town , I call it "My Mona Lisa".

We basically just arrived, and rented a furnished flat for the beginning, so I didn't have all my material and tools with me, so decided to go for a smaller canvas, and maybe work on a woman's portrait, I wanted to get the african feel of course but without losing my style (did I have a style at that point? not sure!!! So maybe, I should say: without losing "myself" or something like this!!!).

Made a few sketches first but could not come up with THE face... until I did :-)

In the search of THE face...

I actually had this postcard to help me, it's a photo by Peter Maltbie, I loved the "The queen" feel" in it, I wanted something like this in my painting,

The pic is actually featuring The Cast gold "beads" of the Baule of Ivory which you can see at the Gold of Africa Museum, in Cape Town.

The choice of colors came to me after we went to visit the Gold of Africa Museum of Cape Town, amazing museum, you can check their website for more info and pics, http://www.goldofafrica.com/.

the Gold of Africa Museum

They have their own restaurant, GOLD, with a wicked atmosphere and delicious food! A must do! See their review on the EatOut website, http://www.eatout.co.za/restaurants/5220/gold%C2%A0restaurant.

Where was I again? oh yeah, the colors.... I work with what I saw at the museum and this postcard below...

it's a picture of Craig Fraser, and it's from a book: Mud Chic, lifestyle and inspiration from the xhosa people of the Eastern Cape.

And there...

"My Mona Lisa", 2008

Miss Drey.

Matilda's Fancy Nancy little dress...

2011-02-01T10:00:00.005+01:00

Hi guys!

As I said in my first post, I love making things, and just about anything I try to make...
Today, it's sewing time! I will dedicate my post to my super cool godmother, Naninotte who loves to sew and bead... I remembered her making all kind of stuff with me when I was little before she moved to live in Martinique in the Caribbean.

Here is a little dress that I sewed last summer for Matilda. It is a very simple dress, I picked the yellow fabric because this color is amazing on her!(and maybe because she would OD with the pink that she loved insanely at that time!!!) but she picked the blue and the grey ribbon (i didn't have any pink in my ribbon jar...). Matilda is a fan of the "Fancy Nancy" books (it's a little girl who customized anything in her life to be fancy, it is a very sweet book!)...

The first of the "Fancy Nancy" collection
illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser
Written by Jane O'Connor

...so I made a little hook on the front so she could attach different things on it, that day we made a little composition with a flower, feathers and ribbons...

"Et voilà!!!" as Fancy Nancy would say, she speaks some french because it's fancy!

Merci maman!!!...

Detail of the back

My princess in her new dress...

Check out les "délicailloux de Naninotte", http://lesdelicailloux.canalblog.com/

Merci Marraine for being the way you are, love you.

Miss Drey.

Fan de Comic Books...

2011-01-31T15:35:00.001+01:00

Hi guys!

I wanted to get a nice birthday present for Matilda's godfather, Mr Z, and as a fan of comic book, I thought why not pick one of his favorites, and make it as a painting. My husband (fan as well) helped me to choose the book and the page...

WATCHMEN

the page that my husband picked...

I drew first all the outlines and then painted color by color, it was easy in a way that it was only plain shades but the scale of it, and the details!... I spent so much more time that I though I would!!!! So yeah, I didn't finish on time... But I think it didn't matter at the end, because I loved it and HE LOVED IT TOO!!!... And there it is...

'The day the earth stood still', after the Watchmen, 2006

My husband a "bit jealous" wanted one too, so from "The Samourai, heaven and earth",...

the right page...

There it is...

the Samourai, after "The samourai", 2006
sorry the picture is not so good, the flash is making the painting shiny:-(

Miss Drey.

Jack's Birthday Lego Party

2011-01-27T15:12:00.012+01:00

Hi guys!

Back in South Africa, Cape Town, I opened a 350m2 conceptstore, Lil'Dreys Deci Dela, where I was selling about everything that I love, antique furniture that I customized, books, bags, jewelry, toys,... Anything who caught my eyes at point in my life was ending up in my store!

.....but more important, I was hosting art workshops for kids which led to art birthday parties later on.

This was my art workshops logo, the first girl is Matilda, then you have Jack, Zoé and Nicole.
I decided not to draw eyes on my little characters, my daughter Matilda (3y.old) decided not to have noses anymore on hers!

Matilda's drawing, at 3 years old.

My tailored-made parties became a huge hit over there...

I really miss all the party plannings around the kids' wishes (incredible sometimes!!!) and make their special day a moment that they will never forget! See their faces on their D Day, is wicked!

I will in the future post some pictures of some of my best parties and show you how from a theme I get ideas for an activity, buffet, etc... but here is a little preview, this pictures have been taken at Lilla's party, she wanted a Harajuku girls Party ( Gwen Stefani's japanese dancers if you are not too familiar with them!) It was for her 7th Birthday, we customized tutus, had hair do and make up, and a hip hop dance show...

in the middle of decoration time

Customize your own tutu workshop

But back to Jack, he had of course an amazing party last year but I don't have that kind of space anymore here in our flat in Barcelona, so he invited 15 of his friends (against almost 40 last year!)and asked me for a Lego party.

Lego are so much fun and colorful so it was kind an easy one! and the fact that we went to the Lego store in NY helped as well!

Dragon Lego sculpture coming through ceilings and walls at the Lego Store in NY.

Jack and Matilda

Ok, what do we need for a kid's party?
1- invitations
2- a cake + eats + drinks
3- an activity / games
4- decorations
5- party favors for the guests

Invitations:
I went to a shop which specialized in packaging, you can find a nice variety of boxes for pretty cheap, I decided to go for small square shape boxes, they didn't have the vibrant colors of Lego so I just took them in white, in mind to paint them with Jack and Matilda, I also purchased some foam 12mm thick from the same shop.
Once home, I cut circles (10mm of diameter), you will need 4 for each box, Matilda has been in charge to glue them on the lid in each corner. (just with white glue, if she messed it would not have matter, the glue dries clear).
Later in the afternoon we painted the "Lego boxes", some yellow, some red, some blue, some black, and some gold. (it's better in this kind of project to use acrylic paint, water based, dries quickly and waterproof). They really looked great, inside we just put a note with all the details of the birthday party, I used a nice font and put the words in different colors, oh I dropped some Lego sweets in there as well, we found them at Dylan's candy bar shop in NY again.

Paradise on earth for the sweet tooth!

a gold Lego brick invitation with its content

Cake + eats + drinks:
I make my kids' birthday cake every year, it is another interesting medium to work with! I used a chocolate recipe of mine which is to die for and so easy and quick to make.
I baked 5 cakes for my Lego cake, 1 with dark chocolate, 2 with milk chocolate and 2 with white chocolate.

Here is the recipes:

- 200g of dark chocolate
-125g of butter
-3 eggs + 1 yolk of an egg
-100g of sugar
-80g of flour

or

-200g of milk chocolate

- 125g of butter

- 3 eggs + 1 yolk of a egg

- 90g of sugar

- 90g of flour

- 200g of white chocolate

- 125g of butter

- 3 eggs + 1 yolk of a egg

- 80g of sugar

- 100g of flour

Preheat your oven at 180˚C.

Butter and flour your baking tray

Melt the chocolate and the butter in a plastic bowl in a microwave for 1 minute, then mix until nice and smooth.

In a big bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar until they get fluffy and a pale yellow color.

Once you are done, add the melted chocolate in the egg mixture, mix well but don't over do it.

Then mix in the flour.

Pour your batter in your baking tray for 10 minutes or until you insert a knife in the middle of the cake and it comes out clean. ( don't over bake it, 15 min. should be the maximum time but it really depends of the quality of your oven)

The trick is (I learn with time!!) to bake the cakes and put them cling film wrapped in the fridge 2 days before the event, sculpt/shape and ice/decorate the cake the day before (sculpting a cold cake in so much less trouble!!!), and on the day, you just have to take it out of the fridge at least an hour before serving it.

Icing recipe:

-100g of butter

- 400g of icing sugar

- juice of a lime

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla

- 3 tablespoons of iced cold water

- food coloring

- Cream the butter, mix in all the rest of ingredients. Add more icing sugar if the mixed is too hard for you to work with, iced cold water for the opposite.

- To color just add 1 drop at the time of food coloring in your icing until you get the shade desired.

Those links helped me for the process of icing my cake.

http://www.monkeysee.com/play/986-cake-decorating-how-to-crumb-coat

http://www.monkeysee.com/play/987-cake-decorating-how-to-put-icing-on

For the rest of the buffet,

Put some sweets, but don't go crazy, usually I put lollipops ( it takes a while for the kid to suck them), i bought some gummy bears, and colors related sweets like bananas, strawberries...

Jack's birthday was after lunch, so I didn't put to much savory things, but mini pastries like baby croissants, baby pains au chocolat... And I break down a Toblerone chocolate bar.

I don't do sodas, so we had differente kind juices and water...

The Lego sweets were a huge hit at the party!!!

For the finally with the cake, I always opened a bottle of kid's champagne that they drink out of plastic wine glasses, and they love it!!! This year I actually customize the bottles, so there they are....

Cheers Jack!!!

activity / games

For the activity, I always try to do something again linked to the theme, we had a mix group, so for the boys, I came up with Building your own robot with Lego and stuff..., and for the girls Making your own jewelry using Lego and stuff...

For the robots, they had wooden trays to build their artwork on, and a choice of Lego, wooden bricks, toothpicks, colored tapes,... my mum was there to assist them if they needed the hot glue gun.

Here are pictures of some robots made by the boys...

Jack's robot

For the jewelry, they had pipe cleaners to bead and finish the necklace with ribbons, to bead with they had a choice of Lego (that my dad pierced with a tiny drill), and a variety of beads of course! I was the one to assist them.

The girls wore they necklaces and bracelets straight away, and I forgot to take some pictures of them, so here is the one that I made...

I transformed my living into Legoland!! I taped some blue Kraft paper on the floor for some sea, green for some countryside/mountain and some gold for an airport space.... They played the entire afternoon...

Decorations

I used streamers, and balloons (Lego colors) that I hang from the ceiling and walls, used black table clothes as I have lots of bright colors to put on the table. I made a champagne glass tower, and I used those huge Lego boxes and Lego head (they actually are the boxes where my kids keep their loose Lego) I found them at Caixaforum museum's shop, here in Barcelona, they are wicked!!!

The buffet table

Set up of the art table

Party favors

I bought little shiny bags with round patterns on them at the packaging shop to put the party favors, I labelled them with the name of each guest, with the Lego font that I found on the net, here is the link: http://fonts.elport.info/font/LEGothic/LEGothic%20font.htm, and finally filled them with some chocolate and a thank you note.

The party favors in the background

Et voilà! After the cake and the kiddies champagne, I put on the Lego dvd, everyone had a chance to calm down before the parents came to pick them up!

Jack and his friends enjoyed very much the party, Matilda told me ''it's my turn now, I want a fairy party''!, and my answer...''But my baby, your birthday is not before 6 months!!!''

I am sure I can organize a little ''Fancy Nancy'' tea party with a couple of her friends before then!....

Miss Drey.

I am Drey....

2011-01-23T20:32:00.002+01:00

Hi guys! my name is Drey, I am 30 years old, I am a french girl from a tiny island situated in the South Pacific, New Caledonia, and I am married to a wonderful Danish man that I met in London, I am a mum of two incredible kids Jack, who is now 6 and born in London and Matilda, who is 4 and born in
Barcelona.

We have been travelling around the globe with our little ones, tasting new food, experiencing new culture, meeting amazing people, enjoying art and craft of all the places we've crossed...

I am a creative kind as you would have guessed! I love art, I love craft, everything that I do have to look good...I mean great! So there I am, Lil'Dreys Art&Craft blog, I will share all my projects, experiences, from me painting, me doing art with my kids, me preparing special events like a christmas dinner or a kid's birthday party,...

My goal: for myself, compiling my work and ideas in one place and having it as a live portfolio,
and for you, getting inspired and making you do things with your hands, you will see being creative just makes your life so much more colorful...

Have fun, and don't hesitate to ask me anything you want!....

Artistically yours, Miss Drey