99 red balloons

Last week at art group L lent me some of her scrap-booking toys to play with: a set of alphabet dies and the cutest balloon punch. I ran off some sets of letters during the week, and then when I went to pack everything up to give back, I came across the little balloon punch buried in paper bits. Knowing that everyone was waiting for me to come back to the group, I hurriedly grabbed some different coloured papers and card-stock scraps and got punching. It was fun!

I finished with the expensive red card-stock bits and that was the most fun of all. The punch just sliced through and the balloons went flying around my ears, down my neck, landing on the floor and everywhere - I was in too much of a rush to pick them up.

Guess what song I was humming all afternoon?

My prize has arrived!

I've been working on lots of things this week, but they're presents so I can't share them yet.

But look what the postman brought me! It's my Scrap Jazz prize! It's supposed to be US$50 (around S$75) worth of goodies from Scrapbook.com - but I tell you, there's NO WAY I could buy this lot for S$75, even if it was available here which much of it isn't. Isn't it nuts that even with the shipping costs, it's cheaper to buy on-line than from the shops here?

Anyway, this is what I've been waiting for!


See that red, white and blue pack of chipboard die-cuts at the top left side? That's absolutely perfect for my latest LO for the April LO Challenge, which is to produce a LO with a title from a TV programme. Mine's to be called Top Gear and I'm featuring photos from when the Formula 1 came to Singapore for the first time, for the first ever night race in F1 history. My brother came out to stay, and we all managed to get tickets. I'm no petrol-head (although I love watching Top Gear!) but I had a wonderful time. The noise was indescribable! David Coulthard walked right past us the night before it all started and my brother got a snap of him, so that has to go in. It was also the race when Massa tried to drive out of the pits with the fuel line still attached to his car - big oops!

So please excuse me while I go and clear that load of beautiful stash off my desk and get stuck in!

Molasses cookies recipe

Ingredients:

* 1-1/2 cups ghee or butter
* 1-3/4 cups blackstrap molasses
* 4 eggs
* 3 cups rye flour
* 2 cups rice flour or oat flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 2 tablespoons hot water
* 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
* 1 9oz. package dark chocolate chips

How to make it:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
2. If using butter, beat it in a large bowl until soft.
3. Add molasses gradually to the butter or ghee, beating in.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well.
5. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to the moist mixture.
6. In another bowl, blend the flours and salt together.
7. Gradually add flour mixture to moist mixture, beating until well mixed.
8. Stir in chocolate chips (add nuts if desired).
9. Use a heaping tablespoon of dough for each cookie, and place on non-stick cookie sheet.
10. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
11. Let cool before removing.
12. Makes about 60 cookies, which freeze beautifully.

This has been adapted from the recipe on the Blood Type Diet website www.dadamo.com. Measurements are in US cups. Delicious!

Happy Easter!

:( DH delayed

Last weekend DH went to the back of beyond in Oz for a week to work. He was coming back tonight. Yesterday he called to say that everything that could go wrong [i]has[/i] gone wrong - even the backup equipment failed. So he'll be away until next weekend. His parents are coming to stay with us for a fortnight on Monday week, so if he isn't back for their arrival then he'll have more to worry about than failed backup kit!

Meanwhile that gives me a little more time to prepare. I spent yesterday baking. I made nearly 60 molasses cookies and a box of spicy fruit slices. Today I'll be making soup to freeze and some beef stew. That, along with some fish and a turkey I got for the visit, is about all our freezer will hold. We have an enormous freezer, but nearly half the useful space is taken up with the water chiller, and the ice-maker that we don't use. It's the most stupid freezer I've ever had.

On the craft front, I've been lent a pack of Cuttlebug alphabet dies by Lorraine, so I'm going to run those through and get a few sets cut before I give them back on Thursday. Plus I have another Challenge LO to complete today: about the gadget/object that I can't do without. That's a tough one. I mean my laptop is very high on the list but I want something that everyone else won't be using too. Hmm, thinking cap on!

I can't believe how lucky I am!

On Wednesday I had my piano lesson and afterwards I stopped in Made With Love, one of the scrap-book shops in the same shopping mall. I found a little something for a friend of mine in the US who lives on the stunningly beautiful Olympic Peninsula, where Twilight is set. She's a very good photographer, and I asked if she could post some photos of the area. Bless her, she went out with her camera and took some absolutely gorgeous shots for me. Have a look at Tamara's blog My Corner of the Northwest to see them.

So I came home laden with my music and various parcels I'd... ahem... found in Made With Love and the $2 shop upstairs. (Oh and in Spotlight... I'm just not safe when it comes to crafting materials!) And waiting for me in my post box was another little treasure trove from Port Angeles. Talk about telepathic!

There's a card and her little something in the post to look out for, but if she happens to read this too then THANK YOU TAMARA!

Here's what she sent me. The card is meticulously hand-made and quite beautiful.


I've had a few more crafty days lately, but I can't show you anything I've made, because it's all for other people who haven't received them yet, so it wouldn't be fair to post them here first. But once the recipient has OKed it, I'll be able to show you.

Singapore River

I was sitting by the riverside the other day with my camera and 10 minutes to kill.