Goodness of Life, Baroque Alphabet Thanks Card

I love the Baroque Alphabet it is so easy to make something quick with a monogram.
This card gives the impression of 3 dimensional frames because of the mitred looking corners.
I cut 2 squares of Cardstock one Hollyhock and one black, then cut each one in half diagonally using my paper trimmer. I did the same with smaller squares to frame the Monogram. The card is 6"x6" size.

Stamps: Baroque Alphabet, Goodness of Life
Cardstock Colors: Black, Hollyhock, Blush, White -- Ink Colors: Hollyhock & Black

Chocolate Chunk Bread Pudding

We've had two days of rain and tonight I was in the mood for something warm and comforting. This dessert is so delicious. I found it in a Pampered Chef Cookbook - Cooking for Two and More. Croissants form the base for this bread pudding, soaking up a delicious custard which is studded with chocolate gems. The top is sprinkled with sugar and becomes crisp like french Palmiers pastry. Be sure to use bittersweet chocolate, it makes a wonderful counterpoint to the sweet custard. I have made 3 changes to the original recipe...
First - I love the increased richness of the custard which comes from using whipping cream instead of the original half and half.
Second - I use Girardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips. I prefer the large gems of chocolate instead of the fine flake I got when coarsely chopping block chocolate.
And finally - I added cinnamon to the sugar that is sprinkled on top. Chocolate and cinnamon truly are a wonderful combination.
Enjoy this easy recipe which strikes a wonderful balance between creamy and crisp, bitter and sweet. It makes a lovely desert or a decadent breakfast with tea, coffee, or Mexican drinking chocolate.


2 eggs
2/3 cup whipping or heavy cream, unwhipped (or half and half)
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 medium croissants, cut int cubes
1 oz bittersweet chocolate chips (scant 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1) Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly spray mini baking dish with non-stick cooking spray (pie plate size or smaller.)
2) Whisk eggs one at a time, then whisk in Whipping Cream, vanilla and 1/4 cup sugar.
3) Place croissant cubes into baking dish; top sprinkled with chocolate chips. Slowly pour egg mixture over croissants; let stand 10 minutes.
4) Mix together remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over top.
5) Bake 34-40 minutes or until top is deep golden brown and thermometer reads 160 degrees F. 6) Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Uptown Girls Card

This is one of my all time favorite stamp sets and how can you go wrong with black and pink.

I like to stamp with Archival Black Ink, it's just deeper and richer than regular black and once its dry it won't run when you color. The image is colored with markers. Girly Girl is stamped on vellum in Archival Black Ink.
All supplies by Close To My Heart
Stamps: Uptown Girls, Girly Girl
Colors: Archival Black, Baby Pink, Desert Sand

Stamp Storage Question Answered

I had the following question in response to my post about my Craft Room.

YOU DID A FANTASTIC JOB...TELL ME HOW DO YOU SORT YOUR STAMPS IN YOUR STORAGE BOXES? AND THEN KEEP TRACK SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH EACH BOX TO KNOW WHAT IS IN WHAT?
THANKS BETH A ROOKIE!
(((((HUGS)))))) GREAT JOB KIDDO!

Thanks, Beth!
I really am happy with my newly organized stamp room.

I will start with an overview of my stamp organization system and explain in more detail below.

I store my stamps in the My Acrylix Organizers according to Color Coded Category.
I have a clear label on each box with the category name of stamps in each box (made with my Dymo label maker.)
I keep an Inventory Listing of all my Acrylix stamp sets in a Microsoft Excel File.
All E-sized stamp sets are stored in a large white 3 ring binder.

Click photos for larger view

Inventory Listing Microsoft Excel File
Sometimes when I'm looking for a stamp set, I can not figure out how a particular stamp set would be categorized so I look it up in my Stamp Set Inventory. I have inventoried all of the stamp sets that I own in a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet and I just look up the name and see what color/category it says. Then I know which box to look in (it also helps me keep track of which stamp sets I own.) When I receive an order of stamps I sit down and put my initials on the stamp set with a sharpie marker, then I log the stamp set into my Inventory file in Excel.

Each stamp set is on a line by itself, the information I track is Item Number, Stamp Set Name, Color, Category, Status. I use the Status field to indicate Retired, Stamp of the Month or Special stamp sets - for regular stamp sets I leave the status field blank. With more than 100 stamp sets this is a quick way to know what I have & where to find it. I can quickly re-sort the information by any category to quickly find what I am looking for.

Color Coded Category
Did you know that Close To My Heart stamp sets are color coded by category?
Categories and Colors are as follows:

Alphabet - Indian Corn Blue
Animals, Outdoor, Travel - Topiary
Autumn - Olive
Celebration - Amethyst
Everyday Life - Crystal Blue
Frames, Tags, Borders - Lilac Mist
Sentiments - Pink
Spring - Yellow
Summer - Sunflower
Winter - Desert Sand

And that is how I organize My Acrylix Stamp Sets. If you have further questions, leave a comment (Click COMMENTS below) and I'll answer here so all the info is in the same place.

New Shelves in Craft Room

This is my stamping and scrapbooking area. Having supplies organized on this main work station has made such a nice change. Now I love to work in this room crafting or on my laptop. The white desktop makes it lighter and brighter than the old dark table that I had before.

Click Photo for Larger View

I have a lot of challenges in this room. Every wall has some obstruction to it, windows, closet doors, or access pathways into the room or closets...

This is an elfa shelving system from The Container Store. The entire system hangs from a support strip across the top. Robert installed the top strip for me, then I was able to place the standards (vertical keystrips) and brackets and shelves, myself. The beauty of this system is that I can change it around whenever I want to fit what I need at the time. I'm able to make the shelves whatever height I need and have a few options of shelf depth as well.

The desktop I am using at the bottom is 24" deep. It is completely supported by brackets on the key strips. NO TABLE LEGS AT ALL. I can zip all over in my rolling office chair and never bang my knees! At the back of the desk area I have Sterilite Show Off containers (Walmart) without their lids as storage for embellishments, distressing kit, and a power strip for plugging stuff in without having to crawl under the desk.

The next shelf up is 8" deep and holds my Ink Stak ordered from Stamper's Storage. I have the ShortStak which holds 60 ink pads and markers. I need Robert to paint it white for me. However, I am considering switching to the new carousel Exclusive Inks organizer from CTMH as that would free up a whole shelf of storage space. The small frosted drawers on the left (Container Store) hold adhesive and acrylic stamp blocks.

The next two shelves hold my stamps, sassy strands, buttons and flat packaged accessories. My Acrylix Organizer boxes are from CTMH.

The top shelf is 12" deep and holds (from left) my design books, binder for E-Size stamp sets, and My Accent, Eyelet, and Ribbon Rounds Organizer Cases. Finally all of my solid cardstock is at hand stored in Vertical Storage Files (Cropper Hopper.)

Thanks Gourmet Momma - Crispy Pork Cutlets

Quite awhile back I submitted an "Ask the Chef" question to Gourmet Momma over at GourmetMomma.blogspot.com about getting chicken breasts to cook all the way through. She posted a wonderful solution with step-by-step-photos back on September 1st. Click Here to see her answer.

Well I haven't happened to have made chicken since she posted her answer but on the very day I read her answer I had bought thick pork chops to make for dinner - you know the ones you buy in bulk at the club stores. Well her chicken solution got me to thinking - I always see recipes that call for pork cutlets and nobody around here seems to SELL pork cutlets. So armed with the how-to photos I decided to make cutlets out of my chops and make a new recipe out of America's Test Kitchen, Fast & Fresh 64 Suppers 30 Minutes or Less. They were delicious and the leftovers reheated well in the oven on a stoneware pan --- THANKS Gourmet Momma! Click Photos for larger view.

To make your own cutlets. Place Boneless Pork Chop on cutting board. Place left hand flat on top of pork chop. Cut chop in half working slowly with a very sharp knife held parallel to the cutting board. I was able to get 3 cutlets out of each pork chop. Click Link above for Gourmet Momma's more detailed tutorial.

Crispy Pork Cutlets

5 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into pieces
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
8 boneless pork cutlets (3-4 ounces each), about 1/4 inch thick
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. Pulse bread in food processor until coarsely ground; transfer to a shallow dish. I ground the bread in small batches in my blender. Place flour in second shallow dish. Beat eggs with mustard in third shallow dish. Pat pork dry and season with salt and pepper. One at a time, coat cutlets lightly with flour, dip in egg mixture, and then dredge in bread crumbs, pressing to adhere. I tried out my new Pampered Chef Coating Trays. They were so handy. The rectangle shape took up less counter space than the 3 pie tins I usually use, and because they clip together I didn't have drips all over my counter. When I was finished they went in the dishwasher and they nest for compact storage - very handy! Place coated cutlets on a platter with wax paper between each layer.


2. Heat 1/4 cup oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking; a cast iron skillet is perfect for this. Fry half of cutlets until deep golden and crisp, about 3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towel-lined plate and transfer to oven on stoneware or baking sheet, to keep warm. Wipe out skillet and repeat with remaining oil and cutlets. I used the same oil for all 3 batches but it didn't seem to hurt anything.

The magazine suggests serving these with buttered egg noodles tossed with parsley, but I was in comfort food mode on this day. I served it with Smashed Potatoes and Grandma's Cabbage. That was a bit ambitious, too many pots and dishes going all at once and too much food! Next time I will just serve it with the cabbage. I will share the cabbage recipe soon. Click Here for link to Smashed Potatoes Recipe.

Simple Blossoms Card

Happy World Card Making Day!


Sunflower Card Base Random Stamped with Outline Images in Sunflower Ink
White Strip of Cardstock Random Stamped with Solid Stamps, then overstamped with darker or contrasting ink with outline stamps.
Red flowers stamped by inking Solid Stamp in Holiday Red ink then stamping off ink on scratch paper then stamping on project. This gives a lighter intensity of the same color and is called 2nd Generation Stamping. Then ink the outline stamp in holiday red ink and stamp as usual.

All supplies by Close To My Heart
Stamps: Simple Blossoms
Colors: Citrus Leaf, Clover Meadow, Sunflower, Holiday Red

Oven Baked Pancake

Sorry no posts for awhile - I've been down, feeling lonely this week.

When I was a child we used to sometimes eat at The Original Pancake House. As I remember it we would go on Sunday after church, it was far from home, they were always very busy and we had to wait forever. They had so many good things I had a hard time deciding what to get... There were Pigs in a Blanket, Silver Dollar Pancakes, or the Dutch Baby. Today we're talking about the Dutch Baby. So much do I love these things that when I go back to visit family in California I always have to eat at The Original Pancake House. So about that Dutch Baby... It's a large baked pancake - it gets all puffy, tall and crisp around the sides and moist and custardy in the center melting with whipped butter and dusted with powdered sugar. It is served with additional powdered sugar and lemon wedges on the side. Kind-of a breakfast version of Yorkshire pudding or a giant popover. It is heaven!


This recipe fills my craving for that wonderful pancake. It's very easy to make, I generally make it in a Pyrex pie plate or one leftover from a pie shop pie. It would also cook perfectly in a 10" cast iron skillet 12" is too large. The lemon juice will dissolve much of the sugar and you really do need more sugar on the side in order to strike the right balance between tart and sweet. I got this recipe from the Food Section of the Orange County Register in 1994 (wow! before I was even a bride!)

Oven Baked Pancake

Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
nutmeg, a few grains
1 Tablespoon oil

1) Place oven rack in center position. Set oven temperature to 450 degrees F.

2) Blend eggs, milk, flour, salt, nutmeg in blender (this morning I just beat them with a whisk and it worked fine, just be sure to beat the eggs on their own before adding the other ingredients.) Put oil in pie pan and heat in oven for 5 minutes.

3) When oil is hot, pull oven rack forward and pour batter into pan still on oven rack. Be sure to pour it into the middle of the oil. The oil will spread to coat the pan as you pour in the batter. Push rack back in and Bake uncovered for 18-20 minutes.

4) Cut into wedges, top with butter and drift with powdered sugar. Serve with lemon wedges and small bowl of powdered sugar and serve.

Serves 1 or 2 by itself. Can serve 3 or 4 if served along side additional breakfast foods like sausage, eggs, and fruit.