Mum, can we make a cake?

(Creation and photo courtesy of Margaret Crawford, Stamps Ahead)

Do these words sound familiar? Usually at a totally unsuitable time. But now, there's a fast and happy solution.

My friend Margaret Crawford scrapped this page above as part of a 21-day scrapbooking challenge she has undertaken to raise funds for homeless kids. I'm sponsoring her $1 a day and so far, I'm up for $10. Margaret has been such a good friend to me that I wanted to send some traffic her way. Click HERE to see her scrapbook pages, she's led a interesting life so lots of variety.

Back to the cake. Margaret's niece, Jess, shared a recipe where you put some very basic ingredients in a normal coffee mug, mix them together and microwave them for 3 minutes. Out comes a cake fit to feed two kids. Pretty good I reckon, here's the recipe that Ashley followed (originally off Facebook):


5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons self-raising flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.


I don't have a picture of the end result. Would you believe my phone rang as the microwave beeped and by the time I got back to the action, the cake was almost gone, courtesy of Ashley and his furry friends, Holly and Toby Beagles.

Have a great L O N G weekend. I'm hoping to be back here before it's over.

Love from Crafty Kim

Rugby-Themed Birthday Card for 9 Year Old

My son attended the birthday party of a new-found school friend. They have both started playing Rugby Union for school sport so when I came across some stamped football-related images from my friend Romaine (these impressions were made many moons ago), I decided to make the birthday boy's card using them. Nothing like using up your stash.

The school colours are red, grey and blue so I water-coloured the images in these colours and teamed them with matching card stock and ribbon. The background was made with a new Cuttlebug embossing folder which I think is great for male cards of any age. The number nine is a piece of chipboard inked in red and then coated with Crystal Effects.

I printed a greeting for the inside of the card using my PC and colour printer:


Thanks for looking. Hope you're having a good day.

Love from Crafty Kim

School Boy Card

My son, Ashley, changed schools this year, into Year 3 at his new school. Here are a couple of happy snaps from his first day there:

Looking a bit pensive, or maybe just embarrassed by Mum taking photos

Here he's thinking "I've almost made it to the
classroom where the photos will finally end"

In his first week of new school, Ashley turned 8 years old and in keeping with his new school colours, a friend made him a birthday card in the school colours (being red, white and blue) shown at the top of this post.

Now in his second term, Ashley is really enjoying it. In fact, he's coped better with the change than I have! Thanks for stopping by and reading. I'll be making a few more posts about family and friends as I'm now using this blog as an attempt to keep in touch. But there'll still be plenty of paper-craft to be seen so please keep following.

Love from Crafty Kim

Happy Mother's Day

Best wishes to all the mothers out there. Hope you're having a nice day. Here in Sydney, the weather is gorgeous, a gift in itself.

Last month I taught a "Flowers for Mum" class. Thought I'd share the cards with you. The first is shown above. I love the paper.

I think the following card was the class participants' favourite:


Lastly is the flower pot card I made for my own Mum:


My own Mother's Day began on the AFL football field to watch my 8 year old son, Ashley, play. I also received a lovely bunch of pink roses that he had organised himself through a school promotional fundraiser and a hand-made card. I'm so lucky!


Love from Crafty Kim

It's great to be eight...

Back at the beginning of February, my son Ashley turned eight years old. Above is the card I made for him. It really is a great age; life is full of play, sport, school, friends and other fun.

Ashley isn't particularly into dirt biking or motorcycling but he's past the age where cutsie images appeal (kids grow up too fast). I wanted to make something a bit "cool". He liked it, that's what I was hoping.

He didn't have a big party this year but still managed a session of slot car racing, dinner at McDonalds and a sleep-over with three mates (I must be mad). Here he is with the figure eight cake I made for him:


Thanks for looking.

Love from Crafty Kim

Happy Birthday Cards

Not too long ago, a friend had a birthday and I made her this card using a Stampin' Up! set from the USA that I have long admired, called Branch Out:


I love the boots and the swing. I was remembering a farm where they have a tyre hanging from one of their many trees so it seemed appropriate.

And then a little friend, formerly aged 4 and 3/4 years, turned the big 5 and I made her this card using a new Stampin' Up! set called Pony Party:


As an alternative to colouring-in the image, I've used a technique called Paper Piecing. You stamp the image onto different patterned papers and then get snipping, pasting the various components onto a base image.

Like the glittery five? I'm not much of a bling girl myself but the little Miss, she lurves sparkles. She is also a big fan of My Little Pony and horses in general. So Ashley and I gave her a craft kit to make horse pictures using mosaic tile stickers. And we couldn't resist buying her the new picture book called about the library cat called Dewey Readmore Books. It is adapted from another book of the same name, this one for grown-ups:

If you're open to a literary recommendation, this book is a heart-warming read for any animal lover.

Love from Crafty Kim

The Embossing Class Cards Revealed

Just popping in quickly to show you in more detail the cards we made at my embossing class last month.

Here they are. The first one uses white embossing on vellum:


This second one uses a technique called emboss resist and also has a faux metal embellishment.


This last one (which looks better in real life - was rushing when I photographed), uses clear embossing and bleach.


Thanks to everyone who attended. I had a great night catching up with friends while we crafted. Hopefully you learnt something in the process :)

I have another class coming up at the end of this month, focusing on Flowers for Mum. But if you don't need Mother's Day cards, we will use different greetings to make birthday or get well or whatever cards take your fancy. I'll post more about it soon.

Love from Crafty Kim