Jikes

At least I can claim that I have tried a new cola again - an organic one - but once again only one sip and then pouring the rest down the drain, as it really tasted...... well not like a cola is supposed to taste in my world.

Busy As a Bee

WOW did I really manage to do all that today?? And still little over one hour left of the day :o) So what is much? Well saw 3 (!!) photo exhibitions, attended 1 Sakura festival (celebrating the blooming Japanese cherry trees), laundry, grocery shopping, 2 cards, update of the wardrope (as in buying 6 pcs of clothing that can be mixed and matches so can be used both for work clothes and casual clothes), saw one movie on tv..... and created a scrumptios present for a teemage boy that I will give him tomorrow.

He is not allowed to eat sweets etc often, but tomorrow will be an exemption, and he loves cake. Had to improvise a little, as the tip I wanted to use for the frosting is soldout nationwide, but think these will make him smile before eating.

Ohh and the not decorated ones? They will be individually wrapped and placed in my freezer for "a rainy day" :o)

Blogging Delays.....

Not because Blogger is acting up, but because my body is acting up. Is it because the MS, activity level or frustrations about events at my job? I am not sure, but what I am sure of is, that my body craves a lot of sleep at the moment. Still manage the things in my calendar and balancing to do the things I like to do.

Wednesday, Karen gave me a blog award - Thank you :o)

Liebster is a German word that translates to; dearest, beloved or in this case favorite. The idea of the Liebster Award is to give it to an up and coming blog with fewer than 200 followers. – in order to create new connections, and bring attention to their wonderful blogs.

Here are the conditions that go along with accepting the award;

1. Thank the Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented you the award.
3. Copy and paste the Liebster Blog Award on your blog.
4. Present the award to 5 bloggers who have a following 200 or less, who you feel deserve it.
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment on their blog.

Two blogs that immediately spring into my mind were Judy's blog and Karen's - well Karen already has it, because she is the one giving me this award, and Judy got it from the same source as Karens - so guessing this mentioning means extra tribute to their blogs :o)

Passing on the award to these wonderful ladies:

1. Claire - a good friends that is always able to make me smile
2. Rosemary - for being the wonderful person that she is  
3. AnneMarie - describing her details on the cards she creates, always makes me smile
4. Petra - who shares the dream of "I wish my creativity could me my job"
5. Bridget - missing your posts and your quotes, betting you will have something up your sleeve when little Ethan starts helping you blog ;o)

Think of a Number

Reading this I thought of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. It is a good mystery (who-did-it) book, where the main character does not want a great deal of attention but rather to be allowed to investigate circumstances of a crime.

Imagine getting a letter in the mail, where the anonymous sender asks you to think of a number. After you thought of a number, the sender contacts you once more, and reveals exactly that number, that you thought off. Would that not be creepy? The retired police investigator, Dave Gurney, is contacted by the letter's reciepient (they know each other from colleague but lost contact) and asked to look at this matter as an consultant.

Page after page you are drawn deeper into the story with more details that you are unable to connect, and you have to read on to figure this out. So why the Miss Marple comparison? Well Gurney and Marple are both looking at actual facts and not some random whimsical facts - a great attention to details that needs some mindpuzzling, an art they are both excellent at.

John Verdon's book is simply one of those, that you do not want to put down until you have read the last page - the one recommending this book to me had warned me about that fact, and I am so glad that she lured me into reading this.

Katie Fforde's Recipe

Have read all Katie Fforde's previous books, so had pre-ordered this as soon as I saw that it was being published. Love those crafty worlds that all the heroines of this books are in trying to find their place of happiness.

Katie Fforde is following the beat: the trend of the vast number of reality shows with cooking and/or baking competitions (MasterChef, The Next Great Baker, CupCake Wars etc): the heroine of this book, Zoe Harper, has won a place in a cooking competition - winning this competition could get her closer to fullfilling her dream of opening a delicatessen.

I was in an almost all girls class for 3 years (24 girls and 4 boys), so I laughed when I read the description of another of the cooking competition participants, Cher. I have met persons like Cher - the persons that really puts your temper to the limit and demands a numerous count-to-tens in the hope not to explode with rage. That made me connect much more with Zoe while reading the book and it felt like sweeping into her world, as Katie Fforde is very good of describing the scenery.

Maybe my fondness of Katie Fforde books reflects my wish to someday do something creative for a living - but currently that is only a distant dream, as I have no clue how to pursue it and make it happen. In the meantime I will "just" continue reading Katie Fforde's books.

An Apple a Day....

.... keeps the doctor away. Well despite having MS, it might be partly true - do not have to se a doctor very often and currently coping with the MonSter.

Although I grew up in a place where we had lots and lots of apple treas - hence a lot of apple jam, apple pies, apple cakes etc. But I just realised, that we never had homemade apple chips (nor did we have homemade potato chips despite of always having a year+ stock of potatoes). Wonder why that is, since it is so simple and cheap to make?

Or does it all comes down to the fact, that we are often locked in family traditions when it comes to food? I can not eat most of the food that my parents eat, as it is heavy traditional Danish cooking with a lot of gravy and meat, not compatible to my MS. I have travelled a lot and thus also influenced by the variety of food I have tasted - and when it comes to snacks I like my apple chips, which I bought at a store until lately. And soo not going to ask my mum, why we ever made some of these, as I will get the usual remark "Are you complaining about the food I serve?"

They are so easy to make: wash the apple and slice it into 7-9 thin slices and remove the core (or you can remove the core before the slicing) place it on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 2 hours at 110 degrees (Celcius), and you will get crispy apple chips. If you want a little salt or sugar or cinnamon flavour, drissle a little on the slices before baking - I prefer mine plain which are an extra bonus as they are low-fat :o) If you place the chips in an airtight container, they will be good for 1-2 weeks.

April 2012 Tea Swap - Part 2

Fran called out this month's tea swap with tea as the theme and the optional colours: yellow and purple. Two things came into my mind when spotting the theme and colors: teapot digistamp from InStyle Stamps and Easter. And my swap partner this month? Fran :o)

A galore of stamps can be used on a tri-fold card, since there are so many "windows" that can be filled out: teabag and sentiment are from Taylored Expressions, the cup are from Bugaboo  Stamps and the chicks are from Toricos Digital Stamps. Once again I used the Moroccan Tile digipaper from Mel Stamps. Two flowers are from Michaels (Thanks Karen) and stamps are coloured with my copics.

The teas I sent Fran has a Chinese them, since I have just been there (again) and a little something extra as thanks for Fran summoning and organizing us tea swappers every month :o)

Owl Family

Easter was very wet and cold, so I curled up on my couch in a blanket, with some books and lots of tea. Easter was followed by 4 working days, that were all work-eat-sleep, so I made a project of something I found on the internet.

First one had to be blue - I did not have the blues during Easter due to the bad weater, because I was in the company of great books - but simply because I love blue.

Quickly more matte paper made appointments with the printer so more owl members could emerge.

Printer was obsessed and spat out even more members in a hurry to meet the world.

13 family members celebrating that number 14 was adopted by a little boy as soon as he was made..... yep reconnecting with the inner child again and it feels wonderful. Just seeing that little boy's big eyes when he could chose one and take it home - priceless!!!

Make sure you chose paper that is a little heavier than normal copy paper, and all it takes is a color printer, scissor and some glue to make some of these. Visit 3eyedbear, where you can download any of these for free and you are on your way to bring forth smiles :o)

April 2012 Tea Swap - Part 1

Received the monthly tea swap yesterday all the way from Hawaii. Perfect timing as it was snowing when I went to the postoffice to pick up my mail yesterday - Where did spring go? We had some good days about 3 weeks ago and now this?! It did not stay on the ground and hurried home to make a cup of tea while opening the envelope.

My swap partner this month is Fran, and she used a stampset, that I've never seen before. Love the purple/lavendar colors with the green - a reminder that according to the calendar it is spring, despite the winter-like weather and love those yellow flowers on the teapot (daffodils are actually in bloom locally this weekend).

When you open the card, the tea slides from the purple holder, thus presenting you with the card's teas: Vanilla chai from BIGELOW and Calm from TAZO. Thanks Fran :o) Can't wait to try those teas.

Happy Easter

Are they not cute? Easter eggs that makes you smile.

Long weekend have started, since we have local holidays Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday, but sadly weather forecast is not as nice as last year's.

Happy Easter everyone.

Easter Colors

Is there such a thing as particular Easter colors? In my book the colors of Easter are pretty much represented of the colors of the spring flowers, but tend to lean at yellow and green being the primary Easter colors. Think it is because Easter is usually the time where grass gets the fresh green color back and that daffodils are present everywhere you go.

Created a card for a married couple, that loves strong colors. The stamp is from PANDURO HOBBY, that I love using and coloured it with some COPICs. Found some Mel Stampz freebie digi paper (Moroccan Tile) to add a exotic touch to the card: the recipients have travelled the world, so think they would like this more than the usual patterns used.

Entering it into Card Crafter's Circle: Challenge #16 Easter

Because I Can: Card for Emily

I saw a request for a little girl named Emily for cards to be sent to her and cheer her up while undergoing treatment for leukemia, just before I went travelling. Finally some crafting time, so I could finish a card and send to that little girl.

When spotting this wonderful digi from Limited Runs Digital Stamps I knew that this was the stamp for the get well card, I was going to make. I mean: Who does not smile when spotting this happy little frog? Coloured him up with 3 different green COPICs and mounted him on two layers of freebie paper from Crafts Beautiful and voila one card already posted for the receiver.