First of all, did March fly by for you, too?
It seems like 2021 just refuses to slow down (quite unlike 2020, amiright)? So much happened in March, though, and I cannot wait to share it with you! Luckily I don’t have to… because here I am… sharing everything that happened in March!
Maddie Mondays
Mondays are my “me” days (Hoki and I have taken to calling them my Maddie Mondays). It’s the one day of the week that I don’t have to work on anything other than what I want…or just sit on the couch and do nothing (but let’s be real, I wouldn’t know how to sit and do nothing even if I tried).
In March, I decided to finally paint something to hang over my fireplace and make some curtains for my bedroom. I’m partial to the painting, but Hoki is particularly excited about being able to block out the morning sun now!
A New Computer
In December, I had purchased most of the things I needed to build a new computer, but decided to pause on buying the last few parts because prices were SOOOO high (like >300% MSRP), but after months of waiting and watching the prices only rise more, I finally broke down at the end of February and bought them.
And can I just say, how GRATEFUL I am for Twitch? I decided to build my new computer on stream, and SO many people stopped into my stream to help me put it together, despite it being an epically long stream. So if you’re one of those people, just know how appreciative I am of you! I could not have done it so quickly or so well without the help of those of you in my chat.
I really do love my Twitch community, and if you haven’t checked it out, I really encourage you to! There are so many makers, crafters, and creators streaming, you’re bound to find something you enjoy (not to mention your favorite artist right here, who streams every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday)!
My Favorite Bread Recipe
One of the things that I’ve carried over from 2020 is…making my own bread. I know that sounds so extra, but hear me out: bread dough is actually pretty easy to bring together, and homemade bread tastes ten times better than what you can find in the store. Not to mention this recipe only requires 2/3 cup of honey and NO sugar.
Since I’ve mentioned my bread making tendencies on stream several times now, I thought I would give you all my favorite recipe for. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!
(I adapted this from this recipe, which I found on AllRecipes.com.)
Ingredients
3 cups lukewarm water
4 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
⅔ cup honey
5 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour (plus additional for kneading)
Directions
- Combine lukewarm water, yeast, and ⅓ cup of honey. Let sit for 10 – 20 minutes until bubbly
- Mix in bread flour. Let sit for an additional 30 – 45 minutes until mixture is bubbly and has risen
- Add in rest of the ingredients (don’t forget the second ⅓ cup of honey) and mix together
- Turn onto counter and begin to knead, adding more wheat flour until the bread is slightly sticky but comes away from the counter
- Put in bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a dish towel, and allow to rise until doubled (about 30 minutes – 1 hour)
- Divide dough in half and place in greased bread tins
- Cover again and allow to rise until doubled in size again
- Cook in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Add foil on top (to prevent tops from burning) and cook for a further 10 – 15 minutes.
Tips for getting your bread to rise:
My house is SUPER cold, so I microwave a bowl of water for about three minutes (until water is boiling and producing steam). Quickly take the bowl of water out of the microwave and replace with the bowl of dough, shutting the microwave door as quickly as possible. This essentially acts as a proving draw that will help your bread rise.
Green Rider
I think the biggest thing that happened this last month is…we announced the second Green Rider book soundtrack project! We are in full fundraising mode right now, but I’m also streaming my brainstorming sessions. Since I’m streaming my process on Twitch now, it’s been a lot of fun to get others’ input as I start creating the concepts for my shoots.
As of right now, we are about 60% funded with a little less than three weeks left to get to our goal. If you love beautiful, epic, film-score-esque music, or you love my art (which I’m assuming is why you’re here), you can learn more about the project here!
Passages
March saw the final (I promise) iteration of the Thistle costume. I decided to power through one night and just get it done. The next day was going to be the perfect weather, and I just really wanted to have that shoot finished and under my belt. Our shoot the next afternoon turned out way better than I imagined (even with some seriously interesting weather)! I’m currently editing these on stream two days a week if you want to get a sneak peak of the final images.
If you missed the streams, though, or you want a condensed version of everything I did (and redid) to pull the costume together, I also (finally) got the whole process vlogged. You can see the full video on my Patreon!
Speaking of Patreon, I’m currently running a poll to help me choose the next story in this series. I know, I literally just finished the Thistle shoot, but I’m too excited – I need to start the next costume! I would love your help deciding what I’m going to do. You can vote in the poll here!
Anyway, that’s the roundup for March! Hopefully this was less a “fire hose of information” and more of a useful roundup of all the things going on and links needed to find all the things you’re most interested in checking out.
Until next time!
Leave A Comment