Chef in the making

My middle child Lachlan is 6yrs old and he is so much like me. Anything he puts his heart in to creatively he does his best at and most of the time is really good at it too. He 'builds' things. Most of the time he is grabbing boxes that are ready for recycling and cutting and sticking them together to make something - anything - he just builds. He told us one day that he is going to be a builder. Fantastic mate you go for it was all he got from us, as we are as proud as punch that he is so talented.

A couple of months ago - out of the blue - he tells us he wants to be a chef. Don't know where he got the idea from and I have been very tentative to let him 'create'. I am sure he will be good at it if he get the opportunity to actually do some cooking or baking. So I bit the bullet on the weekend and let him 'create' some macaroons with me. We made traditional macaroons that made very little of them so next time we will be doubling the recipe.

Here he is 'mixing' the egg whites.

Meringue ready for the almond flour and icing sugar mixture.

I didn't take any photos other than the finished product after this.

Here is the finished product. As you can see this is only a couple of them. I had a few of them crack on me and some of them were way too big but for my first go they were good. First time I have tried tasting them too and I love them. Unfortunately I ate most of them because they were so mouthwatering good. As you can see there are lumps and that is after sifting the flour/icing sugar mix three times. Maybe it was my folding technique - I simply don't know but we did it and hopefully it will work out better next time.

I got the recipe for these at Martha Stewart here.

Fudge cupcakes with a twist

Recently I have been making lots of food and experimenting with different dishes. Most of it has been healthy sugar free foods but I have been researching party food and came across a blog that has 'experiments' with cupcakes, it is called Bake it in a cake. Although this creation did not come from her site the idea certainly did so I must give credit. It is great to see so many different ways of having cupcakes.

My kids loved them - or at least they said they did but I have no idea as I can't eat them.

If you are in Australia you know what a Mint Slice and Caramel Crown biscuit/cookie is. I just put a little bit of the cake mix at the bottom of the cupcake paper and then put the biscuit on top (flat) and then more mix on top. Next time around I will put less mix at the bottom.

Fairy Wishes once again

Good afternoon my lovelies. What an awfully dreadful day it is here in Melbourne but at least I don't have to do a school run due to the holidays although the noise and carrying on by my kids is driving me a little bonkers.

Anyway this card is for the sketch over at The Sweet Stop. I used an image by the very talented Sureya at DeviantArt. This one is called Little Leaf Fairy. I must say she was a dream to colour. What do you think...??? My 6yr DS thought her hair was very realistic looking and asked me how I did it and could I teach him LOL. Yes my boys when you have had lots of practice. Boy is he gonna be a Jack of all trades. Anyway. Here she is.

Blender Challenge entry

Good morning everyone. Wow it has been a long time since I did a post for Mad for Markers and I am truly sorry to Miss Sammi but thankfully she has been a super duper friends and understands my woes. Anyway - a card to enter in to the Blender Challenge at Copic Oz. What that means is that they want you to use your blender somewhere on your creation so what better use of the blender than using it for scales on the little mermaid. I have just spotted the blender on her tail to make it look like she has scales. What do you all think...??? She is cute regardless.

Copics used:

Skin: E0000, 00, 11, 02

Hair: BV0000, 00, 02

Tail: BG13, 23, 15, blender.

Can you see a pattern here...???

Nope there is no pattern here. It is a pattern of regular posts. Sorry for the deception but it got you to look didn't it....???? LOL. I have the colouring bug - at least for now so I am going with it. Frankly I have had such a big rut that this is amazing even me.

Anyway. This card is just another card that I wanted to make. I bought the image from JustInkLined and thought it was very cute. As soon as I saw it I imagined it as greyscale but with pink so I went with it. I layered the rabbit to make him stand out.

A very simple card made for a little girl.

Copics used:

W1, 3, 5, 7, blender

R81, 85, W1, W3, blender.

Purple and Yellow delight

Good morning everyone. Yep I have been busy last couple of days.

Someone asked me to make an 80th Birthday card if I could and I tried my hardest to find a nice image but didn't and then by accident while looking on JustInkLined I found one. I love this Peony and it comes on an A4 sheet with different sentiments that you can put on there. Anyway printed it off and made this card. Even though I was too late making the card my friend asked for a card with Purple and Yellow so thought I would still make it. Coloured with Copics and yellow background is airbrushed.

Copics used:

Flower: BV0000, 00, 02, 04

Stem/leaves: G20, 21, 24, 26

Airbrush: Y18

Friend....hooray

Oh My Lord - I am so so so sorry for my lack of posts. I have decided that I needed to pull back on the card making as 1). I have a million cards sitting here gathering dust and 2). I wanted to make a card when I wanted to make a card not when the next challenge or DT project was needed so hence why I have given up running Friday Sketch Challenge.

So I got this image from MayzyArt found here. I bought it a while ago and still love it but hit a wall and didn't know what to do with it. Thankfully after the Copic Colouring Day through Mad for Markers I got some inspiration back and decided to do the 'Distressed/Vintage' colouring that we learnt on the day. See we all need to keep learning new things so it doesn't become boring. So here she is - Shawna with Latte all vintage.

Copics used:

Skin: E000, 00, 11, 02

Skirt: G20, G24, W1

Boots: E57, 59, blender

Leg warmers: Y23, 26, W1

Sweater: E50, 53, W1,

Hair: E31, 35, W1 (are you seeing a pattern here)

Hat: Y23, 26, YR14, blender

Scarf: R85, 81, W1

This card was not made for any challenges. Just made it for the fun of it. Just a note - when you are trying to do the Vintage look use very limited colours. You don't want it to look like your normal colouring.

Good morning or evening or afternoon - where ever you may be. A nice sunny Autumn day here is Melbourne. School holidays are coming to an end and that means more creating time for me when kids are back at school. I did however get this card done for today's post. I used Party Blower digital stamp from Spesch Stamps. She is one of my favs and I do seldom use her but here she is. Enjoy your weekend everyone.

The sketch today is by Susan. If you wish to see the rest of the DT's creations at Friday Sketch Challenge go here.

All markers available at Mad for Markers.

Markers:

Skin - E000, 00, 11, 04

Hair- E49, 79, 70

Top - R32, 35, 37

Skirt - B91, 95, 97

Bow - Y15, 38, YR14

Blower - Y38, YR12

Hat - Y15, 38, R29

WOYWW

What is on your workdesk Wednesday.....!!!!!!

Here you go:

I have been playing lots lately. I have made lots of earrings, started making beaded bouquets so have bought some silk flowers to give them a go too. I have been kept very busy. It is hard to get my head around the bouquets as they have to be wired together as well as being on wire too - at least that is what I am going to do to keep it really firm.

Yes for the moment (for me) it is very messy and most of the time I now have my ideas lying around. Now I hope by seeing this you will understand why I haven't posted a lot lately. Will keep you tuned in on my earrings etc. I now have to figure out how to take nice photos of them all.

Preview Day 1 - Dark Fairy

Good morning my sweets. It is always a long time between posts for me lately but I have other projects that I deem more important than my paper crafting at the moment so I apologize.

Today at Spesch Stamps we have a preview of the new stamps by Max. This stamp is 'Dark Fairy'. I love her. She is not sweet I can tell you that. She is fabulous though and great to colour. Pop in to the Spesch blog to see the previews by the DT. They once again have done a wonderful job. This card was made with a fabulous sketch by The Sweet Stop. I didn't get creative today. I just did the exact sketch. I wanted to show off our lovely girl. Enjoy your day. Will see you tomorrow for more previews for Spesch.