Hello 2014!

Holidays are over and there just seems to be this little undercurrent of

relief/sadness/frustration/shock/"now-what?" 

... running through the house.  Maybe it's how quickly the holidays fly past with the constant stream of family and friends, entertaining and party-going.  Not that I would actually change anything because I absolutely adore Christmas, but I kinda feel like it's a lot of hype....maybe too much build-up that the experience can't possibly compare with the pre-holiday excitement.

Maybe it's because I'm exhausted.

......this too shall pass.

Dinner tonight was a trial recreation of a beautiful potato leek soup that my friend Janice concocted.

It didn't turn out exactly as the original, however the variation with carrots adopted from one of my fav cookbooks of all time resulted in a totally yum-i-licious creamy concoction. Janet and Greta have a version of this recipe in their Crazy Plates cookbook

On another note, I have not exercised in a few weeks......hence the soup.  I am a bad bad pseudo healthy person at present.....gone is the running and protein + veg dinners.....HELLO red wine!  ....and chocolate.   Ok, I know that I cannot continue to eat as I have the last 2 weeks, however it was a heck of a lotta fun!  ....except there may be a little snugness to my pants at present.

On that note, New Years resolution #1........

Quiet please...

I will endeavour to eat.  To become friends with the food I place in my body and stop beating myself up whenever I indulge in something purely for the pleasure of it.  I will eat for nutrition and I will eat for energy...but I will also eat for pleasure and enjoy both the creating of the dish and the consumption of it.  

Ok and another little bit....maybe a resolution...maybe not?  

I want to let go of crazy.  Not fun crazy or wild crazy.....the crazy that enters your life when you allow a self-indulgent person to continually make selfish choices that place you in situations surrounding you with drama.

I say "you", but it's not you, it's me.  I want to end the drama.  It might mean making some changes in the relationships to the people that are closest to me, but life is too short to be consumed by the bad decisions of others.  I want to laugh more and celebrate happiness more.  Perhaps re-committing myself to my book of joy....my gratitude journal....

....that is perhaps a good place to start.

Busy, busy....

Things have been a wee bit crazy of late but I do have a few things to share.

First, the birthday cake I made for my son and mom's birthdays.....double chocolate with tiny merringues to decorate! ...... as requested by my son.

He definitely wants what he wants.....lol.  So when he said "layer cake" in chocolate with chocolate icing and little meringues....I didn't bat an eye.  But, when he asked if I could make it 3 tiers high...I suggested that it was too much cake.  Whew! 

I found the cake recipe here and I used the icing recipe that goes with it.  I actually cut the pieces in the same size as the meringues....about 1" - 1.25" thick and it was MORE than enough.  The cake is very rich and very moist and almost resembles a brownie. 

To offset the cake, we ate one off my favorites, sushi....

...and I've just found the perfect French baguette ......Yuuuuummm!!!!!

Try this recipe here....it is fantastic!!!!!

Happy creating!

Happy Easter!

I've just completed my first {successful} cheesecake and I couldn't have chosen a better flavour!

Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake..... "YUMMMMM" ( said in a high singy voice)

Here's mine.....

The recipe is from All Recipes which is my very most favourite food site!  I hve been using this for years and assumed more people knew about this site, but I wanted to share just in case some people hadn't used it yet....great resource!  At the top of the page there's a box, and you search based on a search term like "beef and barley soup", or underneath that you will see "ingredient" and you can search based on ingredients that you want to include.  Then when the results of your search come up, you can sort it by relevance, rating, etc...I like rating 'cause then I get the very best of the best!

Anyways, back to the cheesecake...I made this and it really takes quite a while....  Read the reviews for tips on how to refrigerate the layers before adding the next layer, and on baking instuctions to avoid those nasty cracks!  I scaled this recipe (another neat little function that the website offers) for 50% more and this made a nice thick 9.5" cheesecake.  My 12 dinner guests ate this Friday and then some again on Saturday then we had a couple of pieces on Sunday...then another 4 pieces were served last night....and there's still more!!!!  I cut it in about a 1" - 1.5" sections cause it's crazy rich and oh soooooo delish!

 ...and you can find the recipe here.

Cheers!

Whipped off a quick one today....

I have been VERY inspired to create recently....  So today, in between laundry, haircuts and a visit with Jen, I made this little gem for the sketch over at Sketchabilities.

Here's the sketch....



......and here's mine.....



I loved the colours in this photo but I wasn't sure how to enhance the intense blue of her eyes.  Every paper seemed to compete with their colour, so I opted for a fleshy yellow and coral mix with some touches of navy.  I love this combo!



I made the flowers by punching white and yellow cardstock, then wetting it and shaping it before allowing it to dry.  I used blush to add a subtle colour to the insides of the blooms and then used a bit of homemade glimmer mist and smooch on some of them.




This photo shows the subtle colour created by the blush and a q-tip that some have, and the more intense colour from the smooch that other's have.  The overall shimmer is the mist I made.

Thanks for peeking!

New Layout Creation

 

I've been thinking about trying another sketch and so I've just finished a layout for this month's sketch challenge at Once Upon A Sketch.  It was tough to incorporate their theme of "it's the weekend" but I wanted to do a little layout on my closest GF who is usally part of my weekend plans......






I was inspired to create flowers this  month and have been furiously punch - wetting - misting - wrinkling - gluing.  I'm getting better with making the things but it's definitely time consuming.  I made some of these on the layout....






Anyways, that's a wrap!

Cheers!

Pad Thai!!!!

Dinner was aweeeesome (said in a high singing voice) if I do say so myself! I have used the same recipe for over 15 years ....just with small personal variations in the amount of tamarind, fish sauce and peanuts. Yum!!!!

Email me if you want the recipe!

Cheers!

A little bit of creativity...

I was inspired by the latest sketch #201 at Skissedilla's blog....



I came up with a concept and started to scrap but I NEVER really know how it will turn out until it's done.  So....... tada!




I used miscellaneous flowers I had and then made the white ones to match but punhing them out and following a tutorial on You tube to dry emboss them....I think I like the ones I made better...

..........and I luuuuv dimensional media!

 

so to highlight the detail in the background, I used Gelatos to colour it and then some glittery craft paint to highlight it.

 

Material List

Artist Loft Watercolours

DecoArt craft acrylics

Faber-Castell Gelatos

crafter's workshop masks

 stamp from Finnabair's Sunrise-Sunset line with Prima

journalling stamp from 7 gypsies

spellbinders die

provocraft embossing folder

Martha Stewart corner and edge punch set

several punches and paper piercers to create corner decoration

stitching to frame the piece

 

 

I'm pretty happy with it and of course my boys always think my creations are just the best thing they've ever seen.  They're a real confidence booster!

 

Thanks for peeking!

I luuuv.....

....the amazing Garielle Pollacco.  She is super talented and so inspiring!

I just entered her contest for some beautiful Maja papers here so that I can scrap with some new and relevant sctuff!  ...my stash is soooo old!

Check it out! 

Cheers!

A few Layouts that I love...

Well I have been on a roll.....

Just a fun one

I think I did this one about 2 years ago....sigh....LOL....

The journalling tag hidden under the photo...

I made the paper flowers....pretty happy with how they turned out!

This photo was taken a loooong time ago but the kids just look too cute!  Budget scrapbooking (and limited access to product) = hand-cut palm tree leaves.

ok...this is a prime example or how my vision for a layout NEVER turns out how I had planned. 

My scrapbooking peeps....I think I saw something like this in a magazine at the time, but now I have no idea where.  I love how the rub-ons frame the tearing.  Too pretty!  (But then I am prejudiced!)

Thanks for peeking!  Lots more to come!

Finished Product....

So I just realized that I never posted the final LO I created....

And I'm sure that I will have questions on the story behind the LO so here goes:

My wonderful DH has a favorite drink in the summer, a Rocket.  Rockets are made from 1/2 a smirnoff ice mixed with 1/2 a coors light.  While at a friends cottage, he was frustrated with continually mixing, cups not big enough...etc etc.  So a little tape and 2 straws and voila.....a new-fangled rocket delivery contraption.

Yes, he is McGuyver.

Thanks for peeking!

Katrina