been busy scrapping

I took a week or two off from scrapping... not intentionally mind you... just been busy being creative in other directions.... I'm looking at making Christmas goodies for a Christmas market type thing that my Mom's church is holding in November.... so now I'm looking at quilling, origami, prick and stitch and even searching cross stitch patterns for my mom...

But this weekend it was back to scrapping... oh it is nice to get my hands on my goodies again! Us girls met at Gayle's house for a good scrap afternoon and a major catch up chat session.... I did manage to do some good stuff:

This was one of the layouts from the "mega day" scrap that I went to on the 1st of May.. the only one that I've finished so far... I'm quiet happy how it turned out... slightly different from the original.... they used orange for the accents but I decided red was more suited to my pics. The weaving was interesting but not something I will do in a hurry again!

Then I tackled an easy layout... used Bo bunny easter stickers and hey presto... layout done!

My fav scrap shop, Scraptifity, is closing down... sniff sniff.... but also yippee as they are having a sale... 50% off EVERYTHING... so I've been stocking up a bit... I bought a great Cosmo Cricket paper pack... Get Happy... and have used it to do the following three layouts



The middle one is one I did on Saturday and then I did the other two yesterday. As the paper is all double sided and sooooooooooooooooo nice I didn't want to waste it, so I used the back of the middle ones as the backing for both the others... they all follow each other in the album.

And to add to my scrapping addiction I'm contemplating entering to get a place on the Scrap Shack's design team.... going to be doing lots of scrapping in the next two weeks to get my entries organised.... still trying to source the stuff I need to use though :(

Well to end on a happier note, here is a recipe for Mocha Brownies that I made for the scrap day on Saturday... everyone has raved about them.

Mocha Brownies
Lining the pan isn't busywork; it makes it easy to remove the brownies.
Prep: 15 minutes Total: 3 hours Makes 16
Ingredients
125gm unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for pan
1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
225gm semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs

Directions
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
Brush a 9-inch square baking pan with butter. Line bottom and two sides with a strip of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on the two sides. Butter paper, and set pan aside.
In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Place butter and chocolate in a large heat-proof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of gently simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes; remove bowl from pan. Add sugar; mix to combine. Add eggs, and mix to combine. Add flour mixture; mix just until moistened (do not overmix). Add instant espresso powder. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Using paper overhang, lift brownies out of pan; transfer to a rack to cool completely (still on paper). On a cutting board, using a dampened serrated knife, cut into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.

CATHY'S NOTES: I didn't line my pan... just used spray 'n cook and then butter and they came out okay. Secondly I baked them for the 60 minutes (didn't check them) and they came out hard... next time will cook them for shorter.