THE FOOD ALPHABET

A long time ago, Mr. Potatohead and I made up our own FOOD ALPHABET of some of our favourite foods from A to Z. Then I drew our whole food extravaganza in Photoshop and printed it out as a giant poster. THEN, I told Mr. Potatohead that I'm not getting married until we eat all the foods on this list (in one sitting! just kidding). I don't think we've gone through the entire thing yet but I do have photographic evidence of a few of them - maybe I shall post them sometime. 

For the letter M, we're talking specific mexifries here... specifically the MEXIFRIES DELUXE from TACO LUIS, the local celebrity at Lansdowne Mall: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2240938759

For the letter T, we're talking giant MONSTER TAKOYAKI BALLS from TENKU near the Bridgeport Skytrain Station: http://www.bakudanyaki.com/menu.html

Do check out both - they are awesome.

...and now I'm hungry.

tick tock, kwok got a clock!

Ignore the cringe-worthy title of this post and just let me have my ridiculous rhyme okay? Moving on...

Remember the lace doily clock from this post? Well, the clock is officially mine, thanks to a wonderfully (and sneakily) orchestrated surprise by Mr. Potatohead! He knew that I loved this clock but I thought it was too small as a showpiece on my wall (the original is 7 inches). So he messaged the fabulous folks at Uncommon and asked them to custom-make an especially LARGE one for me!!! I'm such a lucky girl. 

It's funny though. When my parents saw it, they were like, "That's not a clock. You can't even tell the time!" ... Oh Parental Kwoks... IT DOESN'T MATTER! In this case, prettiness takes priority over practicality.

LOVE IT.

Thanks again, Mr. Potatohead. You're a real special SPUD! hahaha

Doodle of the Day: Comfort Drawing

I have a whole list of comfort foods that I could easily consume on a daily basis if my arteries allowed. I also have what I call "comfort drawing" which refers to drawing something that's easy and "comfortable" for me. It's for times when I want to create something but don't really want to think... so I default to drawing mindlessly. In this case, it's random signature laura-flowers (with a couple of silly-lookin' birds thrown in).

Usually I make my lines thicker and go over each line a couple of times with my pen, but today I just drew everything with quick strokes and a more "clean-line" style without thinking too much about what I was actually drawing.

I could comfort-draw like this forever. =)

the REAL IRONMAN!!!

I'm not a huge fan of Ironman (He's not a real superhero! He's just a rich guy with gadgets...) but after I watched the first movie, I was inspired to draw a sketch of him just for fun. 

I didn't draw this first picture (I wish!) This is the one I looked at to draw my sketch.

(below) THIS is the one I drew. I did it freehand in Photoshop with my tablet pen.

And just recently, while I was doing my laundry, I had a crazy little idea... (see below).

Clearly I have too much time on my hands.

panda painting

Yesterday, I spent time throwing paint on a T-shirt for my friend's belated birthday present. When I'm painting, I have a really bad habit of rushing, and my impatience results in splattering paint all over the shirt. Instead of trying to wash off the spots, I got experimental and ended up flooding the shirt with water to create a fuzzy "watercolour" effect along the edges. I covered the rest of the splatters with the green paint splotches/embroidered felt material. I probably spent more time trying to fix the shirt than actually painting it. 

Anyway, I don't know if my friend will actually wear this or not - something about the panda just sitting there like a LETHARGIC LUMP makes me laugh. Is this shirt wearable? Leave a comment and let me know. I totally won't be offended if you say no. hahah =) 

And if you see my friend walking around wearing this shirt, I give you permission to point and laugh.

STORY OF MY LIFE.

One day...I shall win a donut. One day...

emo guitar

I don't know where I got the idea of a guitar playing a guitar.... but it turned into an Emo Sing-along...

what we do in class.

Petey Pufferfish, Part II

Look what else I found in my art archives... ANOTHER pufferfish... haha! I think I just thought pufferfish were cute so I started drawing them. It wasn't until after the fact that I googled what they looked like in real life:

via google

i'm a procrastinating pufferfish

 Petey Pufferfish procrastinated and produced an appallingly poor paper. 

Now say that 10x. 

Apparently, pufferfish don't actually puff up unless they're super stressed. I feel like a pufferfish right now.

Okay honestly I haven't had time to create anything new because I've been busy with school... (3 more weeks! It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN!!!) So in the next little while, I'll probably be uploading some of my old artwork... but it will probably be new to you all anyway, since most of these images have never seen the light of day before. I think I created this one when I was playing around with Photoshop effects.

Anyways...

To my fellow ELFs: we're almost done!!!

And to all of you feeling like a pufferfish right now, hang in there!

which hamburger should I keep? YOU DECIDE!

I'm a person who can often get RESTLESS, and I like change. Not drastic uncomfortable change, but creative change. So in my restlessness, I decided to change the look of my blog. I have to admit that right after I did it, I immediately missed the happy hamburger, who had been the permanent resident at the top of my page FOREVER (...and by "forever" I mean the two months that I've had this blog). Instead, I replaced him with what looks like the hamburger from hell, wreaking havoc on innocent foodie civilians... (what have I done?!?!) 

Anyway, I decided to have YOU, my blog readers, decide which layout you like better. Or, you can give me a suggestion for something else (for example: the happy hamburger from the old layout + the "kwok's kreations" logo from the new layout). 

Leave a comment and let me know! I'd really appreciate it! =)

OR

Meet Mikey

Not that many people know, but Mr. Potatohead and I have actually had a bunny for the past 4 (or so) years. We had two other bunnies during this time but Mikey here outlasted them all... He's a tough meatball. He even puts up with me calling him "FAT ONE" all the time. I never really liked pets until I met Mikey. It actually took me 3 years to actually truly learn to like him. But now he's like my son. My grumpy, stubborn, lardy lump of a son. And I love him that way! Also, I think he takes after his mother because he eats as much as me. Oh and he LOVES to munch on cardboard boxes and toilet paper rolls... which are edible but aren't exactly good for him... (just like me and junk food!) We are so alike.

When I saw this stuffed bunny at Urban Outfitters, I thought, "MIKEY!!!!!" because he has a moustache just like him. But Mikey could take on this furry fiend, any day. 

WHO IS THE REAL MOUSTACHE BUNNY? 

For Lent, I'm giving up... POTATOES!!!!! 


For those of you who are not familiar with this Christian tradition, Lent is the season before Easter. Lent is a time of growth and simplicity - it's kind of like "spring cleaning" (actually, Lent comes from the Germanic word for springtime)<-- wikipedia!! It's a time to clean out those things in our lives that can often take up too much of our time, or take a priority over our relationship with God. I know some people are giving up TV, or Facebook, or websurfing on their iPhones during this time. Since I don't watch TV, don't go on Facebook regularly, and don't own an iPhone (remember? I'm a grandma from the 60's), I've decided to give up potatoes for 40 days. For those of you who know me well, potatoes are like my DAILY DIET... that and burgers. I honestly do need to eat more healthy foods since I was bred on Mr. Noodles my whole life, so this will be a good opportunity to change my insanely bad eating habits. HELP!

I started the fast from potatoes yesterday, and I'm already in withdrawal mode (which is probably why I photoshopped potatoheads (see previous post)... it's to compensate for the lack of potatoes/fries/chips consumption.

Anyway, please support me and my Potato Fast in these 2 ways:
1) If you see me, remind me not to eat potatoes!
2) DO NOT eat potatoes in front of me... or I will kill you. just kidding!!!


(but not really).

5 Years of Wonderful Randomness

Dearest Mr. Potato Head, 

It's been 5 hilarious years.

Let's make it 50. <3

Yours Truly,

Miss Potato Head

Introducing... FOODIE BAGS!

So as I mentioned previously, the talented Miss Peng and I are working on a little project that we like to call...

FOODIEBAGS!

We design cute and practical lunch bags that you wouldn't be ashamed to carry around. This is our first "prototype". So without further ado, I present to you, the DINER DASH bag  featuring Mr. Moustache-Burger*...

*note: Mr. Moustache-Burger's facial aesthetics can undergo fabric surgery:

(the moustache is not necessary... that was just me).

This foodiebag was made with the skill and patience of Miss Peng as she crafted this entire bag by hand! As many of our friends have noticed (and witnessed), the start of this project has made us more spinster-like than ever (imagine the Hunchback of Notre Dame tirelessly trying to thread a needle...) <-- yes, that is what we have become. But we have sewing machines on the way, which will definitely help with our sewing craze! For better or for worse...

More designs coming soon =) 

Lovebird #1 has found a home!

Michelle, the very first customer of a lovebird pin, is an incredibly talented photographer. I was going to take my own photographs of my bird creation in a lovely white bird-cage, but I'm glad Michelle offered because she did a MUCH better job =) See more of her work here (wedding photography blog) and here (personal blog). I LOVE the rustic feel of the moments she captures. 

Lovebird #1 is now proudly pinned onto a cute navy blue toggle coat! 

If you are interested in buying a lovebird pin, I'm thinking of making some more in the near future! So I'll let you guys know when I've got my act together. 

Japadog Drafts

Mmmm... Japadog.

If you haven't tried them, you have to go downtown and eat one. Actually, I tried making my own teri-mayo japanese hotdog once and it wasn't too bad... wasn't too bad at all. I was at UBC today and Japadog actually had a stand set up outside. But it was cold and wet and raining, so I didn't go get one. =(

But it DID remind me of these Japadog drafts I drew once upon a time (which I dug out again from the archives of my computer)... My friend @ co + lab (squared) apparel sent these and another artist's drafts to the Japadog (owner?) guy... but in the end I think they wanted more of a logo, and weren't really interested in t-shirts. I'm not quite sure. Oh well, no hard feelings Japadog, because I'm still a happy customer. =)

Anyway, I'm still pretty proud of these, especially the last one because who doesn't love GIANT SUMOS carrying a GARGANTUAN HOTDOG?!?!?!?!

Lovebirds

I am excited to be working on a new collaboration project with the one and only Miss Peng. We've both been wanting to do this for awhile now, and we're slowly but surely getting our act together. More details about our up&coming project in the near future.

But for now, here is what I labored on tonight:

felt + buttons + sequins + lace + thread + stitched together with patience = lovebirds

Actually the pink one cracks me up because it looks funny somehow, and the blue one apparently looks like the Twitter Bird. I'm not quite sure exactly what I'm going to do with these birds... maybe make them into pins? Anyway, for all those who know that I don't watch TV (or have cable) and constantly ask me, "What do you do with your time?!" .... I guess this is what I do. haha

the happy hedgehog

Meet the Happy Hedgehog. He likes long walks on the beach, afternoon strolls in the park, and would rather not be mistaken for his abrasive cousin, Prickles the Porcupine.

When I find myself writing personal ads for fictional animals, I know I need sleep.

I will have more exciting posts coming soon, but I have been preoccupied with other things lately... like finishing my resume (which I did tonight!!! Yay! Victory Dance!) ... Maybe I should save the Victory Dance for when I ACTUALLY get a job, but at least I took the first step. And for that, I feel like a happy hedgehog =)

Life is Beautyfull =)

I drew this while I was in class today... (too funny: my prof was sleeping during her own guest speaker's presentation... HAHAHA!) Actually, my friend and I tried to take a picture of her with an iPhone, but she was too far away. Anyway, back to the picture: I actually drew it with black pen on white paper, and then I went home and photoshopped it to death.