Seafood Pies and a mouse ....

Hi there ... How are you today?

I've had a busy week ......  but I'm so proud of myself .... today I finished crocheting a mouse for Madalyn and made seafood pies for the first time ever.  Both were loved by my gorgeous girl.

 Isn't he a cutie!  I would love to do jointed arms and legs .... will have to work out how to do it.

 Here are the seafood pies!  I just layered some filo pastry in muffin tins and baked that in the oven first.  While the pastry was cooking I cooked some leek and garlic, then made a white sauce .... simmered the fish and prawns in that then at last minute added cheese and fresh parsley.  Oh!  I almost forgot ... I also cubed some sweet potato and cooked that in the microwave and stirred that through at the last minute.  Spooned it into the pastry cases and done!  So simple and so delicious!  I sued frozen prawns and white fish ..... but next time I think I will use some smoked salmon .... mmmmmm yum.

I hope you enjoyed your day and your evening meal.

Until next time ... happy crafting, baking and enjoy life.

xoxoxox Carly

Peppa Pig, Baked Goods and the good life .....

Well its been a while ... have been busy I guess .....

Here is a snapshot of the last couple of weeks ....

Knitted Peppa Pig for Madalyn .... she loves it.

My Mother's Day gift from Madalyn.

Planted lots of new trees ... Fuji Apple, Two Way Plum, Almond, Quince and an English Plane Tree

cuteness!

getting trailer loads of rocks to make a feature in the garden

my very first spinach and ricotta pie ... AWESOME!

a cute creature we made using bits I found on my walk.

Foccacia ... yum!

English Plane Tree

Crocheted a Beret for Madalyn in her favourite colour.

So just a few of the things that have been happening ..... be back again soon with some recipes and cards.

xoxoxo Carly

I am a robot ......

Hi there :)  Sometimes I wish I was a robot ... then I could just be plugged in to recharge and I also wouldn't be needing (or wanting LOL) to eat all the time.

I made a couple of quick cards with some new goodies I got from Kaisercraft recently.

I used the Technologic 6 1/2 " Paper Pad and the Technologic Clear Stamps.  I coloured in the stamped image with copics.

Busy day for me ... so just a quick post.  Just wanted to share my robot cards with you.

Happy crafting and blogging.
xoxoxo Carly

I would love to enter this into :-
Crafty Catz - One For the Boys
http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/challenge-179-this-ones-for-boys.html

Feathery Friends

Good afternoon my lovely craft friends.

Today I would like to share a quick card I made using some techniques I have not tried before.

I have used a Kaisercraft stamp called Periwinkle Birds.  I love bird stamps and I thought this one would be super versatile.  I stamped it on white card with black ink .. but then ran some ink pads over the top to give some colour.  Kaisercraft Splice - Green, Versacolour Vanilla and Versacolour Chateau Grey.

The base card is a piece of white card and I ran an ink pad around the areas that would show using the Versacolour Chateau Grey.

The background patterned paper is from a Prima 6x6 pad called Nature Garden Collection.  I distressed the edges with a distressing blade and then used my Tim Holtz idea-ology plastic ruler to pierce holes all around the edge.  First time ever!  I love this ruler .. its clear plastic and has grid lines and one edge is metal .. so good for cutting with a knife or just tearing off paper.  It also has little holes so you can pierce through!
I then hand stitched using some lovely green cotton (doubled up) and then stuck it on the base card.

It doesn't show up but I did use clear spica pen on the flowers in the bottom right corner.  A Kaisercraft sentiment up the top was the finishing touch.  Once again colouring white cardstock with ink pads.

Very pleased with my card .... and all done whilst my 3.5 year old watched an episode of Playschool and was bribed to wait a bit longer with a bowl of green jelly!  So know I'm off to give her a bath.

Have a glorious weekend ... I hope it is filled with nature, song and of course craft.

xoxxoxoxox Carly

More Chocolate??

Hello :)  Did you eat lots of chocolate over the weekend?  I'm typing this up in advance .. and I sure am hoping that I didn't over indulge.  The Easter Bunny usually forgets to leave me something and this year I won't really mind because I have been exercising and really watching what I eat.

Anyway .. this post isn't really about chocolate .. but a chocolate colour is involved.

Yes it's another Gorjuss Girl stamp. ..and there will probably be some more later in the week LOL.  I'm just loving this image so much.  And I have decided that since my craft time is very limited these days that I will colour a whole sheet of images and then put them together when I get a chance.  I can do the colouring whilst my daughter is colouring you see :)

I really love the colours in this one.  I have used some chocolate coloured textured card stock, a scrap of blue ribbon and the polka dot paper is from Fancy Pants Designs Time for Spring pad.

Oh its nice to be colouring and creating again ...... I hope you are getting things done too .... we need our therapy :)

Big hugs ...

xoxox Carly

Cheesecake anyone? Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  Today I made a cheesecake.  My usual 'low fat' modified version with low fat ricotta, cream cheese and yoghurt .....BUT THEN! I totally fattened it up with layers of fudge and chocolate!

Thought I would share :)

 biscuit base ..... 90 grams crushed biscuit and 45 grams melted butter
Bake base in a preheated oven at 160 degrees celcius for 10 minutes.

 Fudge - 200g chocolate, 25g butter, 1/2 tin light sweetened condensed milk.  Stir in pan until well combined and smooth.  Continuous stirring!

Cheesecake mix - 250g low fat cream cheese

                            250g low fat ricotta cheese

                            250g low fat natural yoghurt

                            2 eggs, 1/3 cup caster sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Blend it all together in a food processor.

spread some fudge on the cooled base then pour over the cheesecake misture.

 Bake in oven at 160 for 35 - 40 minutes.  It doesn't matter if it wobbles slightly in the middle still.
Let it cool in the oven with the oven door ajar.

Then top with more of the fudge mix ... you will have to gently reheat your fudge pan to make the fudge      
                                                     spreadable.

ok .. things went terribly wrong here ... I wanted to do a thin shell of white chocolate on top ... it wouldn't spread and went lumpy .... I think its the type of chocolate I used :(

but I fixed it up with a good thick layer of melted dark chocolate!

topped with some eggs and then refrigerated until chocolate set.

 This is the end result!  Way too much chocolate on top ... and was very hard to cut through!

Would have been much better with just the thin layer of chocolate on top.  But it's Easter ...... LOL.

and sliced into ..... ooozey ... yummy and very rich!

Happy Easter and I hope you enjoy this post.  Usually I make this cheesecake ... without the fudge and chocolate and it is absolutely delicious!  So if you would like a healthier version perhaps just do it that way.

xoxoxoxoxo Carly

Shimmer and Shine

Hello there.  Are you all ready for Easter?  Madalyn asked me today how big the Easter Bunny was because she wanted to make him a necklace.  Awwwwww.

I have another Gorjuss Clear stamp card to show you again today.  This is called Purrrfect Pals.  I managed to colour a few of them a while back .. and have just been putting together a card here and there when I get a chance.

I made this one into a square .... the paper was so nice but I struggled to match it to anything.  I think its from a Kaisercraft pad called Candy Lane Collection.

I'm really loving this gorgeous stamp.  It is amazing how fun she is to colour .. and the cat doesn't take long.

I hope the week has been treating you well ... and I hope the Easter Bunny visits you and brings you and your family together for a special day.

Big chocolate hugs and bunny whiskers ...

xoxoxo Carly