Cookies in a click

Just a quick post to share this fantastic video which manages to combine photo shop and baking cookies in the most creative way...



Pretty neat don't you think!

mars

I decided to continue with the collage idea for this month ...

Happy Spring!

Splodgy Cakes, Marshmallows and Mess

Hi, I'm back! It got cold again and had the cheek to snow even more then on top of that it rained, so I went and hid! 

Now if only that had been an option the truth is I've had a lot on recently and that combined with the weather has prevented me from doing what I'd like to i.e. getting outside and playing with the camera so I've been feeling a bit low and not very communicative not to mention totally bogged down.

 Enough grumbling! I need a laugh and you might too so here's the story of the cakes I mentioned in my previous post. 

The wee one wanted to take birthday cake into school to share with her class because her birthday fell on a school day this year (being born near a mid-term break means this does not happen often). I was a bit reluctant as she is in primary 5 now and I felt that the school would be less keen on kids taking in cake to share as they got older but word came back that it "should be ok" (in other words teacher wanted some cake! lol)  So keeping in mind that that teachers generally have enough to do in a day I figured I'd save the hunt for a knife to cut the cake and paper towels to serve it on by making individual cakes. Then followed that bright idea that rather than make cupcakes I could make mini cupcakes and chocolate dipped marshmallows! Pure genius! Couldn't be easier I thought! 

So there I am in the kitchen with my friend having a good catch-up on everything and dolloping  cake mix in to mini paper cases...

"really!" ... splodge... "what did you say to that?" ...splat ... "you're kidding!"... splodge...

the end result  - way too much cake mix in the cases. What I brought out the oven was a tray load of over-sized, lopsided and mostly stuck together cakes... honestly it looked like I had poured the cake mix over the tray and the paper cases just happened to be in the way!

some of the rescued ones

When we were done laughing and eating the mess I had a second try without the chatting and I'm pleased to say they turned out great and went well when they went in to the school! But the lesson here is most definitely that old favourite of teachers everywhere, "less talking, more concentrating"

ta-da!

février

Well February sneaked up on me pretty quickly and this months calendar was put together rather hastily but here it is any way ...

 

Lots of little love notes!

Happy valentines day!

Not only did the month sneak up on me it's currently flying by! The wee one's birthday has flew past and that's us on St Valentines day already. More about the birthday later, the cakes really deserve a post of their own! (for all the wrong reasons! lol!)

  

Happy Haggis Day!

Just a daft wee post in celebration of Burns night. Scottish poet Robert Burns is remembered each year on his birthday with a traditional traditional meal of haggis, neeps and tatties (gross bits of sheep, turnips and potatoes).
There are also recitals of his poetry in particular Address to a Haggis which starts with the verse

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

An' aye the rest o' it's as lagn's his arm an' the rest! (I think this is a ploy, you see by the time the person reciting the poem gets to the end of it you'll be so hungry you'll eat just about anything including the aforementioned gross bits of sheep!)

Now there are all sorts of wonderful stories about what a haggis looks like and how to catch one but I'm not going to go into all that daftness. Instead I'm going to share some other haggis related daftness...

Let me introduce you to the McShoogle clan ...

Last year's trip to Iona had a distinctly Scottish flavour to it and we decided to entertain the kids with a haggis hunt (yes they are meant to look like haggis! ;-p) We made these and hid them all over the place and sent the kids to find them with a few clues to help, it was great fun!

They are easy to make you need some old (but clean!) pairs of tan tights, some newspaper (or old plastic bags - which can be retrieved and reused at the end of the activity!) and some permanent markers.

Cut the legs of the tights from the body part and cut off the toe part too.

Next cut them into equal lengths, you will probably need to overlap about 2 or 3 layers.

Tie a knot near to one end then stuff them and shape to look like haggis before tying the knot at the other end.

Next doodle faces and there you have it !

If you are hunting these guys out doors where others are you could attach a label as I did, it read something like "this is...(insert Scottish name)... he/she is just biding their time till the weans find him/her, please leave her/him here, thanks!"

Marbles on the loose

That's right I'm getting out ! It doesn't happen often but I have two events in the near future (two! and we're still months from my birthday - must be Christmas again!)

The first one is the Reel Big Fish gig this evening, so I'm super excited about that. Hopefully I'll get some photos.

The second one is not till February and not only have I bought a dress (yes, a dress! I normally am not comfy in a dress but some situations call for a little bit of class) but I've also got this...

How gorgeous is that mask? I love it! I found it in an ebay shop - Just Posh Art . They have the most amazing selection of Venetian masks and I would happily recommend them.
So hopefully there will be some photos from that event too (maybe even proof I wore a dress! lol!)

The shot of the mask also sees me taking my first steps with my new DSLR. All I can say is I love it but wow! it's going to take me a while to get it all worked out :)

janvier

I tried without luck to find a calendar I liked for 2010. There are many gorgeous calendars about but of all the ones I saw there were always 2 or 3 pictures I didn't feel like looking at for 28+ days. Then I remembered I had found a D.I.Y. calendar a few months before Christmas, so I figure now I have no one but myself to blame if the month looks less that great.

In a bid to make sure I don't give up half way through the year I've decided to share my efforts each month. So with out further rambling here's January...

Made with a patchwork of craft papers and various die cut snow flakes covered in glitter. (can't think what inspired this! lol! )