Thursday, February 28, 2013

Chorizo Fried Rice

While looking for some new / different recipes to try I found this fried rice recipe.  This has become a favourite and frequently cooked meal :)  This was a quick and simple recipe and I used it as a base - I adapted it to suit our tasts by adding extra vegetables (onion and capsicum) and worchestire sauce.   The recipe I'm sharing is my adapted version - enjoy :)

Chorizo Fried Rice
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten lightly
2 chorizo sausages, sliced thinly
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
2 cups coarsely shredded wombok
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 medium capsicum, diced
1 cup frozen peas and corn mixture
3 cups cold cooked rice
3 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs worchestshire sauce

1. Geat oli in wok, gook eggs over medium heat, swirling work to form thin omelette.  Remove from work, cool.  Roll omelette tightly, cut into thin strips.
2. Add chorizo to wok, sitr fry about 5 minutes or until crisp..  Add garlic, ginger, wombok, frozen vegetables, onion and capsicum..  Stir fry until vegetables just soften.
3. Add rice, omelette and sauces to wok,  stir fry until combined and heated through.

**You can replace 1 chorizo with diced chicken breast.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Baby shower card

I'm sharing the cute & simple card I made for Kate's baby shower today :) I love the cute elephant! I cut him out of the wrapping paper I wrapped the gift in and added a sweet googly eye. I inked up my fave stamp again for the chevron background - love the shades of blue and kraft colour combo.
 

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Planning our road trip

Things have been a bit hectic around here lately and I realised I hadn't shared that Craig and I are off to Melbourne in 10 days time on a road trip :) Things are just so crazy - we had oringally decided to go on a road trip (destination unkown) in mid April after the school holiday rush. Due to the floods, we decided to move the trip forward a month.  After doing some research on things to see & do - we decided to head to Melbourne! 

 
We have picked up our Tourist Park Guide & maps and have found lots of things to see and do on this website. I would love to hear any other suggestions!?!?

Now all that's left to do is check / organise the camper trailer and pack - it's going to be a busy weekend LOL

Monday, February 25, 2013

Baby Shower

Yesterday we had Kate's baby shower. Mum, my aunty Lib and I provided a delicious afternoon tea at mum's house.   Lots of chatting and laughing - a lovely afternoon :)

 

I organised some games - I found some new and fun games thanks to the Internet :) We played-
* baby gift bingo
* pass the parcel game
* baby scattergories
* Guess the girth
* made play-dough babies (bit worried about some of those weird looking 'babies' LOL)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Stampin' Up! class

My Stampin' Up! demo has retired, so I went on the search for a new demo...after asking around  Bron was recommended to me :)   After booking a party with Bron she mentioned she did monthly classes, so I decided to sign up for one.  Unfortunately the January class was cancelled due to the floods, but Bron found a new venue and I was lucky to get a spot in the February class on Saturday :)  We made an OTP and a card.   For the OTP we used a plastic photo frame to make a calendar

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For the card we made a shaker card.

 
Bron made these very cute thank you gifts - a cute wrapper for a yummy chocolate :)
 
 
I am looking forward to my SU party on Saturdy night - Bron has a great card design for us to make and I'm looking forward to spending time with friends :)

Saturday, February 23, 2013

February Card swap

This month's card swap at Simply Crafty was "Girl (tween / teen) Cards".

My card

Linda's card
 


Tanya's card


Dilys' card
 

Danielle's card


Cathie's card

We decided to try something different from our usual handmade embellishment swap and did a ribbon swap.  Everyone placed 6 x 50cm length ribbons into a bag and we swapped them - great way to add some new ribbons to our stash :)

Friday, February 22, 2013

Ombre Thank You cards

These are the last design I made on Sunday for the donated cards.   I love this design and the ombre colours!!  I think I will try making a few birthday cards in this design in various colours :)

 


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Butterfly Thank You cards

Sharing 2 more thank you cards that I made on Sunday.   Cathie counted the cards and I'm happy to say that we made over100 cards to donate!!  Cathie took the cards to Red Cross who are also still routinely visiting flood victims and will distribute the cards. She said they were very excited and thought their clients would love to receive some, especially the less mobile or elderly.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Flower Thank You card

Just popping in to share some more Thank You cards I made on Sunday to donate to flood victims. 



Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Making jewellry

After making some covered buttons for scrapbook embellishments (similar to Flair buttons), I decided to have a go at making some fabric covered buttons brooches.  I did a search on ebay and  found a great seller.  I brought some 4.5cm buttons (with tool) - I think the bigger size will make a nice sized brooch.   I was also inspired to buy a pendant kit from the same seller - it will be nice to try something new.  My parcel arrived today, so I picked up some brooch pins at Spotlight ready to get creative on the weekend :)
 
 
 
After a few disastrous attempts at my ripple blanket I've lost motivation :(  I have started the blanket about 8 times - 1st time it took 5 rows before I realised I was not following the pattern correctly.  Mel Goodsell is hosting a ripple-along on her blog, so I have signed up - this should give me the motivation try again!  I have 8 weeks before my baby nephew is due - so the pressure is on LOL 

Monday, February 18, 2013

Embossed Thank You cards

I had a lovely day card making at Simply Crafty yesterday. Cathie suggested the group could make "Thank You" cards to donate, so people from the floods could give the cards to people that helped them. So I could get a few cards made I decided to create a card, then make 2 more in different colours. These are the first 3 cards I made.



Sunday, February 17, 2013

Scooter Cards

This month's card swap for Simply Crafty was "girl" cards. I decided to do a tween / teen themed card - a good excuse to ink up this cute new scooter stamp :) I couldn't decide what colour to use, so I made a few cards in pink, blue and yellow.  I added some crackle glaze to the scooter image to give it some shine.  I am still loving the ombre & chevron backgrounds :)


 
 

I thought I would share a pic of my messy desk taken while I was in the middle of cardmaking :)

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Girl's Night Out

It's been ages since Ive had a girl's night out! I had a fun night out with Cassie, Donna and some friends - we started off with dinner, cocktails and cathching up. After dinner we went to see comedian Kitty Flanigan. Kitty was hilarious - no-stop laughter! After the show, we went back to the pub for a few more cocktails and a bit more chatting :)




Friday, February 15, 2013

Valentine's Day card

I hope your Valentine's Day was filled with lots of romance, flowers and chocolates :) Craig and I usually just exchange cards and go out for dinner.   I was motivated this year and made Craig a card :)

 
Craig surprised me with this....a declaration of love on the LED billboard above the Telstra Icon Store, Bourke St Melbourne :) I thought it was a photoshop app at first, until Craig assured me it wasn't LOL  You can read more about the Billboard Of Love here.  This man makes me swoon with his romantic gestures :) 

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Thrifty Thursday

Craig and I both had a day off on Monday, so I took the opportunity to visit a few op shops while we were out and about :) I was unlucky with the first 2 shops (I did consider buying an oil painting at the 2nd shop, but decided against it), but was a bit luckier with the last shop.

A cute denim top for $2 for Rylie. This will be cute with leggings and a skivvy when the weather gets a bit cooler.
 

A small wreath 50c - putting this aside for Christmas crafts.


Two books - $1 and $2

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Did anyone else find any treasures this week?

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Purple flower card

I wanted to make a birthday card for my friend Tanya's birthday. Only problem is that her favourite colour is purple and that's a colour I rarely use, so I didn't have any pattern paper I could use. So it was time to "think outside the box" and try some of those techniques I had been wanting to try :) First of all I used a stamp (yay- finally got to ink it up!) to create the cream background, I then layered that onto punched light purple borders.  I had a few ideas for the focal point - punched / 3D flowers, quilled flower, tag, but decided to try a stamped flower image - LOVE it!   I finished the card off by adding some twine and a button and adhering it onto a dark purple card base.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Back To School Card

With all the flood craziness I was a bit late mailing my nieces / nephew a "Back to school" gift and card :( Oh well, better late than never I guess :) Can't wait for them to arrive and hear if the kids liked them. This is the card I made to send with their present.
 

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Cleaning up

The shopping centre has allowed staff to go in to start the HUGE task of cleaning up, so Craig has been very busy. Thought I would share of pic of him in his trendy cleaning gear :)


Mum and I volunteered at Citicoast Church / Lions Club today - we took food & water over to North Bundy to a tent that had been set up. We walked around handing out water and food to everyone cleaning up. Walking around seeing all the mess and devastation was a real eye opener. Someone likened it to a war zone - a pretty close description. After we handed out all of our supplies we went back to the tent to help with the sausage sizzle.