Baked Lemon - Chicken Breasts with Herbs

Tweaked the popular lemon chicken recipe to make this by stuffing with garlic and sprinkling oven-dried mint which I crushed/powdered with hands and sieved on top.. Served with home-made garlic bread (turned out very average.. boo hoo..) and veg corn soup.

Dinner that day:

Photo fridge magnet for my neighbour

My neighbour is a very sweet lady.. her daughter's family stays abroad and so she misses being with him. But her daughter keeps sending her his pics on Whatsapp.. Having a son almost that age, I understand how cherished these memories would be for her.. So I made this fridge magnet for her as a gift..
(Again, please excuse me for the pic.. even the stray glue marks show..hmm !!)

I cut two pieces of card stock of equal dimensions for the base (to give it proper strength), rounded the corners with my Docrafts Corner Cutter and stuck them together. Then matted a DCWV pattern paper after rounding its corners too. Then I die-cut the photo using Spellbinders Nestabilities Blossoms 4 die and matted it on to black card stock cut with the same die. The embellishment are glass stones that we usually find in our homes for decor (to put in fish tanks, glass bowls etc), some pearls and a Portacraft sticker with ribbon bought from Itsy Bitsy during the recent summer sale.. I bought the Spellbinders Die too on the same sale and was raring to try it :-). After sticking it all together, I stuck some self-adhesive magnetic tape (that hubby bought for me in a US craft store - was on my wishlist and on his phone to-do list for a long time :-)) on the back to convert it to a fridge magnet.

So, how has this turned out??

Li'l N's Birthday album

This is one MEGA project I was (and still continue to.. for the stamping and embellishments) working on for weeks together.. Each page is a project in itself and I used the opportunity to learn quite a few techniques.. I have finished some of the pages.. here's the stack:

And a sample of the insides:

(The decoration at  home was entirely done by me and balloons were blown by my father-in-law.. will add more pics of it later)

For the cover page, I have painted the background with acrylics on canvas, used some homemade texture paste and hand-cut stencil for the squares.. painted on it with pearl metallic acrylics (matching his outfit) and used wooden store-bought alphabet. The '1' is handcut and painted, again to match his outfit that day..  :-)

Will keep uploading pics now and then as I keep completing the album...

Bagels with Cream Cheese

V LOVVVES bagels.. He has a few every time he goes to the US and almost everytime we go to a Dunkin Donuts outlet.. This one has been on my must-try list for a long time but I was a bit apprehensive about getting the texture right (my nemesis in baking!) But when I did dare try, what a treat we had that Sunday morn for breakfast!!

Made the bagels and the cream cheese from scratch.. Will upload the recipe soon.. if you'd like to try it sooner, please check Peter Reinhart's recipe on Epicurious and Yummy Tummy for the Cream Cheese! Both are a little time and effort-consuming.. but worth it, really!!

Flowers with Thanks to Dr. Sonia

Hello all!! I'm back from a loooooong hiatus, thanks to Dr. Sonia.. She literally brought my blogging spirit back to life when she put in a comment in my previous post asking if everything was right :-) I just adore her for her time management and involvement with all her readers despite being a busy professional with an active kid at home!! KUDOS TO YOU MA'AM!!

Though I have not been blogging actively for the months past, I have been experimenting a lot with cooking and crafting too whenever I can steal time after my son sleeps (and everyone else too, for it usually gets past 1 or 2 at night!!). Yes, I really don't focus too much on photographing and blogging/recording things too much due to this time crunch but just manage to click a few pics with hubby's phone for memories' sake..Well, there's no stopping us crafters, right? :-)

That said, it is really becoming increasingly difficult for women to manage everything these days.. Work, home, child(ren), hobbies, relatives, guests, social circle and what not.. PHEW!! ;-).. So, here's a little bunch of handmade flowers for all the wonderful ladies and Dr. Sonia especially!

I die cut half A4 sheets of blue and teal felt, a pink jute sheet and a purple foam sheet to begin with.. Here, I have used Sizzix Tattered Florals die. Then, I layered the flowers with different combinations to check out what looks good. Once the combinations fell in place, I used a head pin and a bead for the center and glued the layers using hot glue (by melting a glue stick over a candle..I had bought the glue stick in an exhibition long back and it was lying unused till now!). Then applied distress inks (Worn lipstick, Evergreen Bough and Chipped Sapphire) around the edges of some of the flowers (lighter toned layers) to make em pop and voila.. done!

Will be posting more pics of my craft work and a few special new dishes that I tried (all in the past few weeks) in future posts.. but please do bear with the poor quality and raw, unedited or minimally edited pics.. Time is at a very high premium and I'd rather prefer to use it to finish those n projects that I always start but have to leave unfinished!!

New Born Baby Card

Wish you all a Very Happy New Year!!

V's cousin has had a baby boy recently.. news of a new birth in the family evokes a completely different, happy and nostalgic feeling in me after my son's birth.. i sure felt happier earlier too when i heard such news but this is so different!! I hope other mothers too can identify with what this is about.. hmm :)

I have made this card to welcome the little one.. Have done some basic stamping, embossing, inking and matting.. The banner is made by cutting pieces out of a washi tape..

How is the card? Here's a close up and better view:

Congrats card for sis

Hi all! I made this card for a special li'l girl who's becoming a prettier damsel everyday and is getting engaged! My baby sister is getting married!! How time flies...

I have embossed the floral pattern from an Itsy Bitsy stencil and inked the raised areas. Have added die cut and embossed elements which I have inked and stamped. And finished with the bow.. Hmmm, need a little more practice with bow making isn't it? :)

Hope u like it sis... We are all jumping in joy for you :)