It's the House Mouse Grand Prize!

 

Wow...look what arrived in today's mail.  I was so excited, I just set everything out on the kitchen counter.  There are waaay too many goodies for my little photo box.  I was the lucky winner of the very first House Mouse  and Friends Monday Challenge blog hop.    I'm pinching myself that's for sure!  What a blessing.  Be sure to hop on over to the blog for this week's challenge #71...there's still time to play.   It's a "sweet" one!  (hint, hint)

Foodie Friday - Kentucky Hot Browns

Welcome to another Foodie Friday!  Today, I've got dinner for you.  We've lived nearly all over the country and I've got to tell you the truth...some of the very best cooks live in Kentucky.  One of the very best, in our humble opinion, is Sarah Fritschner.  There are alot of recipes for Kentucky Hot Browns out there, but we love Sarah's the best.  They're easy, delicious, and company worthy so here we go.....

Notes:   The tomato is optional.  I put the bacon on top because I like to crumble it over my Hot Brown but you can also place it under the tomato if you choose.  We like our tomato topped with some additional Parmesan cheese and just slightly warmed for the last couple of minutes of broiling time.

KENTUCKY HOT BROWNS

This recipe serves 4  (I cut the recipe in half to serve 2.   If you need more servings, just double or triple it. Easy!!)

8 thick white bread slices (I used a thick sliced oval shaped "country white" bread)

1 lb. roasted turkey slices 

     This is a great recipe for leftover turkey.  In summer, we grill turkey breasts and freeze slices for this

      recipe.

Cheese Sauce (recipe follows)

1 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese

8 bacon slices, cooked

2 large tomatoes, sliced and halved  (optional)

                                    

Trim crusts from bread slices, and discard.  Place bread on a baking sheet, and broil 3 inches from heat until toasted, turning once.

Arrange 1 bread slice in each of 4 lightly greased baking dishes.  Top bread evenly with turkey.  Pour hot Cheese Sauce evenly over turkey, and sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.

                                    

Broil 6 inches from heat for about 4 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned; remove from oven, top evenly with bacon and tomato.  Serve immediately. 

Prep time: 20 min.,  Broil: 4 min.

CHEESE SAUCE

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/3 cup all purpose flour

3 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Whisk in flour, and cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. 

Gradually whisk in milk.  Bring to a boil, and cook, whisking constantly, 1-2 minutes or until thickened.  Whisk in cheese, salt, and pepper.  Remove from heat.  

                                    

Prep time:  5 min., Cooking time:  8 min.

 

The Cutting Cafe - I Scream, You Scream...Ice Cream!!

 

It's hot and steamy outside...the perfect excuse for a yummy ice cream cone.  The good news?  This cone is calorie free!!  A dreamy swirl of Dark Chocolate and Pink Pirouette decorated with a generous sprinkle of sparkly gems. 

I used two sets from The Cutting Cafe to create this cool treat.  The perfect summertime set, Sweet Stuff.  This set is chock full of popsicles, ice cream, cake, lollipops and sentiments to go with them.  I used Birthday Fun for my sentiment circle.  Birthday Fun is a set of ...are you ready?...63 images!! 

While you're feasting on all the yummy digital stamps at the Cutting Cafe, you might want to check out the DT call Regina has posted..  Regina is looking for some new designers for the next term.  Just check out the requirements here.

Thanks for stopping by...I love your visits and your comments!

Supplies:

Stamps - The Cutting Cafe Sweet Stuff, Birthday Fun

Paper - PTI Dark Chocolate, SU Pink Pirouette

Accessories - stick on gems, Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle dies, Scor-Pal

House Mouse Challenge and a Grand Prize!

Have you heard?  House Mouse and Friends has a brand new DT and Challenge Blog.  Last week they had their first blog hop and guess who won the Grand Prize?  Me!!!  (insert happy dance!)  I seriously uttered a big ole' squeal..and danced around the room.  The dog thought I was playing so we both had a good time!   There were lots of other winners too, so head on over to the  HM blog and see who the lucky ducks are.

Guess what?  You can win a House Mouse stamp this week, too!  Here are the details:  Simply create a card or project that is "Sweet" themed and uses at least one House Mouse & Friends Image then link it up on the House Mouse and Friends Challenge blog.

I used the sketch from Midnight Madness Sketch  MMSC57 on Priscilla Styles.  Not their usual style  but my image is big so not much room for lots of embellishments and guess what?  Priscilla offers two sketches..one more elaborate and one simple.  No reason not to play, right?

                                                       

This also qualifies for the caardvarks June challenge to use wet/dry embossing, and the One Stop Craft Challenge #83 to make your own DP.

See that cute sentiment?  It's from The Cutting Cafe, of course.  It's from a really cool set called Sweet Stuff.  It's loaded with ...well, Sweet Stuff!  Popsicles, cake, lollipops, ice cream cones and no calories!!!

            

Thanks for stopping by my playground.  I'll be sure to show you what I won when it comes....oh somebody pinch me, would you?  Thanks to the team at House Mouse and Friends!!

                                           

Clear Scraps Album #1

This is my very first Clear Scraps album.  It was so much fun that I know I'll doing many more.  I've got another in progress for our grandson. 

I'm ashamed to say that I got these books at CHA in Orlando and didn't have the courage to take them on but once I did some research, it really wasn't hard at all.

I had purchased these papers from Imaginisce awhile ago just because they are so pretty and girly and I knew my granddaughter would love them.  

Supplies:

Album - Clear Scraps

Paper - Imaginisce Fairest of Them All

Ink - Papertrey Chai

Accessories - paper roses, stick on pearls, sanding block, Tom-bow Mono Multi, ribbons

 

Pink Fusion

 

This is my submission for Guest CAS DT spot on SCS.  We were to make card using bright colors with black matting.  I decided to combine the challenge with the Inspiration Challenge (IC235) on SCS...Oh, my!  Steph found the most awesome store called Layla Grace.  Wow, what awesome eye candy and so much inspiration.  I could spend some serious $ here.  Since that's not possible, I will come back for inspiration that's for sure!

 

I chose this headband as my inspiration primarily because I thought the bright colors were perfect for the CAS challenge. 

 

My flower is made from tissue paper that I ran through my Big Shot with the Spellbinders Peony die.  I layered a bunch of the cutouts, ran them through with a brad then proceeded to scrunch them up around the brad.   Easy, peasy!   I stuck it to my card with a glue dot.

 

The base is PTI cream layered over with vellum that I ran through the Big Shot with a Cuttlebug die.  I popped the image panel up on the vellum with dimensionals.

 

That's it for today....Thanks for playing on the playground!

  

Foodie Friday - French Breakfast Puffs

 

Welcome to another Foodie Friday....My DH finally has a day off after working 12 days straight.  Since we have a day of yard work ahead of us and because he loves breakfast, I wanted to make something super special for him today.  Our DDIL baked these for us when we were visiting a few weeks ago.  Oh, my!!  These are from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook but I've had them before. 


If I say warm, melt in your mouth, cinnamonny (is that a word?), sugary, and oh so easy...would I be able to entice to head to the kitchen right now?

You can because these are super simple.  Bet you have all the ingredients in your fridge and pantry so here we go:

French Breakfast Puffs

3 cups all purpose flour (always stir it up a bit and spoon lightly in your measuring cup..don't tap it down)

3 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon grund nutmeg

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup shortening (I used butter flavor Crisco)

2 eggs

1 cup milk (I used whole milk because I had some in the fridge for another recipe)

Coating

1/2 lb. (2 sticks) real unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease 12-15 muffin cups. 

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.  Set aside.

In another large bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening.

Add one half of the flour mixture, pour in all the milk and beat on low speed just until blended.  Add the remaining flour and beat well just until completely blended.

Fill the greased muffin cups 2/3 full. 

Bake for 18-25 min.  or until golden.  (I baked mine about 19 min.  Check yours with a toothpick poked in the center after 18 minutes, if it comes out clean, they're done.)

While muffins are baking, prepare the coating.  Melt the butter in a glass bowl or pan.  In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. 

Remove the muffins from the pan immediately.  Be careful, they're tender.  Dip the warm muffins in the butter coating completely.  (If you have a couple of kids handy, they'll love doing this job for you!)

Now roll the muffins in the cinnamon/sugar.  Make sure to coat these completely.

Now, bite into one of these warm sugary confections...you'll want to use a plate so you can catch the crumbs and shhhhh...lick the plate and your fingers.

Yes, they're that good!!

After cooling, you can freeze these and reheat later.

Edited to add:  I made these for church using a mini muffin pan.  Worked out great!  The recipe made about 28-30 minis.  Sorry, I lost count as I needed over a 100 servings.  I baked them about 11-12 min.  Be sure to check with a toothpick for doneness.

The Cutting Cafe - Best Wishes

Gosh...it's June already!  Anybody know where May went?  We've been having the normal afternoon thunderstorms almost daily.  The big ones cause the barometric pressure to drop fast and when that happens, my blood pressure goes up.  Weird, right?  Means I have to take extra meds and I get a horrible headache.  It's subsided a bit so I'll try to make this brief.  

 

At any rate, when I think of June, I think of weddings...we don't have any icoming up soon but when I found this elegant Color Splash Challenge #18 over on Hand Stamped Sentiments blog, I just couldn't resist playing along.  

                                            

                                             

                                                  

Regina, over at The Cutting Cafe has just designed a set of card frames called fittingly, Celebration Frames.  You get 3 frames..."Party Time", "Happy Birthday" and"Best Wishes".  I thought the Best Wishes would be perfect for a wedding card.  

 

                                    

I tried to keep the card CAS (Clean and Simple) so I added a strip of DP and simple sentiment panel.  See that cute bag?  It's one of my most favorite bags.   It's by The Digi Chick and it's called Funky Bag 2.  I'm not sure why as I think it's just perfect.  I kept it simple to go with the card and because I wanted it to look more taylored like the card.  The bag is closed with a velcro dot and the accent is just a gem glued into the depression on my button.    I printed the DP from a free download pack I got a long time ago.  It's on my other computer so I'll look it up and add it later.  I think it's called Lola.   Isn't it elegant?  I used the leftover strip on my card so no waste!

 

Thanks for stopping by to play with me today.  I love your comments!!

 

Supplies:

Paper - Neenah Classic, digital DP

Stamps - The Cutting Cafe Celebration Frames, unnamed rubber

Ink - Versafine

Accessories - Funky Bag Template - The Digi Chick, May Arts silk ribbon, silver twine, silver gems, button, velcro dot

 

PDSS16 - John 15:13

Hi Everybody!  It's time for another Posh Designs Scrapbook Store sketch.  Nini's sketches are always so imaginative and fun.   You actually saw a sneak peak of it on this post...and here's another with a completely different feel.  This is going to my sweet Bible study leader. 

 

                           

 

Here's the sketch :

 

and here's what you can win...you know Posh Designs always has some goodies for playing along!

Woo-Hoo.....Yummy Primas...brand new in the package! 

The deadline:  June 14th @ 11:59 PM EST Canada   Get creating and then head on over to the Posh blog and link up.  Can't wait to see what you do with this fun sketch!!

Thanks for playing with me today!!

Supplies:

Paper - Papertrey Ink Berry Sorbet, Blush Blossom, Neenah Classic White

Stamps - Our Daily Bread Designs Friendship, Papertrey Polka Dot Basics

Ink -  Versafine black, SU Craft White, PTI Berry Sorbet

Accessories - Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Martha Stewart Flowers, Michael's bling

 

If it's the First of the Month, It Must be Paper Cubed!!

The first of every month the team over at the Paper Cubed (P3) blog have a super challenge for you!  This month, Kim, our team coordinator, challenged us to make a container. 

Well, it's summer and in summer, my mind turns to picnics....I adore picnics.  My poor DH gets so tired of hearing me say it because he's not a trudge, sweat, swat while you eat kinda guy, but sometimes he gives in and lets me plan one. 

I had this paper from Gooseberry Patch on my desk, so when Kim sent her challenge over, I saw the bounties of summer packed into this little basket template from Papertrey Ink.  Inside, I've packed a jar of my Spiced Peach Jam and a package of my homemade Multigrain Pancake Mix.  I made a recipe card to go with it.

Be sure to pop over to the Paper Cubed blog to check out the rest of the eye candy from the P3 team then get creating and link up your project at P3 to win a $15 gift certificate to Lauren Meader's MyTime Made Easy site.  Lauren used to design for Papertrey and designed the template for this basket.  You've got a month so no need to feel rushed.  Have fun and good luck!!  Be sure to check out the rest of the awesome projects from the team at the links below.

P3 Team

Michelle

Melanie

Tammy

Sandy

Lorrinda

Supplies:

Template - Papertrey Ink Pack a Picnic

Paper - Gooseberry Patch, SU Barely Banana, White

Stamps - Papertrey Fruitful

Accessories - Martha Stewart punch, Spellbinders circle dies, SU flowers, plaid brads (Target $1 spot), Scor-Tape

With Liberty and Justice for All - Thank You for Your Service

Happy Memorial Day!  We want to thank all the brave men and women who sacrifice daily so that we may enjoy the privileges of liberty.  Please take a moment today and whisper a prayer for these heroes and their families.  

Make a quick card today for one of the heroes in our military and send it off.  What no patriotic stamps?  You can change that by heading to The Cutting Cafe and downloading this super We Love our Troops set, Regina designed just for our men and women in the military.   34 awesome stamps!!

This qualifies for these challenges:

CAS69 - SCS Heroes

No Time to Stamp 141 - Flying High and Proud Color Challenge

Stampin B - Challenge60 Patriotic card

Supplies:

Paper - Neenah Classic

Stamps - The Cutting Cafe We Love our Troops

Accessories - Spellbinders circle dies, dimensionals. ribbon, The Print Shop

   

A CAS Sweet Summer at the Amusement Park

This is my final submission for Challenge 4 (a moveable part) for the CAS Summer DT challenge.  The theme challenge is Summer and  Amusement Park. Jen (aka Miss Boo), the CAS forum coordinator said she was off to ride the roller coaster...that got my mind going.  I'm not a roller coaster girl...the ferris wheel is more my speed, nice and slow and high enough to see everything!  Problem...no roller coaster stamp  -  Solution...make my own!

I cut a out the large Spellbinder Snowflake out of foil cardstock then trimmed off all the little parts that make it a fancy flake.  Then I free hand cut the "V" for the base from the same paper.  The center is a stamp from Inkadinkadoo "Circle and Dots" set, stamped with Kaleidascope Carnival ink (appropriate, huh?)  cut to fit with a Spellbinder's circle die.  I added the "lights" with colored stick on gems.

The "chairs" are small Spellbinder circle dies cut by placing the cardstock about 2/3 of the way on the die.  Now for how to get it to move.  This took a bit of trial and error.  If the chairs weren't popped up, they hit the base and wouldn't turn.  I tried several ways and finally ended up putting small square dimensionals aroun the center brad.  I left the paper on the top side of the dimensional so it wouln't stick. 

I punched a hole at the top of the base piece using a long reach circle punch, then inserted the brad into the hole.  I placed the brad tongs through a button, opening the prongs just enough to hold it.  Now the receipient can turn the button and turn the wheel on the front.  You can use this technique for many types of moveable card parts...try it and let me know!

                                  

The "Sweet Summer" sentiment is printed directly on my cardstock using Print shop and the super Sweet Summer stamp from The Cutting Cafe.  Can you believe it's only 99 cents?  And you can make it any size you want to!!  One of my favorite stamps for summer cards.

Thanks for stopping by. 

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen!, Goodbye

There's a  brand new blog hop going on over at House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge Blog.  One of the requirements is to make a Goodbye/Farewell card.   In addition, the Featured Stamper #173 challenge on SCS this week is the awesome CAS stamper, Emily.  Be sure to hop over and check out her fabulous gallery of CAS cards.

                                     

Sadly, I don't have a House Mouse stamp that would fit this challenge as I only have a couple; but I found this little Seed Shooter in my stash that I thought I could make work.  I used my JustRite Stampers lower case Times New Roman font for the sentiment.  Since I'm in CAS mode,  I decided to make this little guy the star and keep everything super simple.

Be sure to check out the DT samples on the House Mouse & Friends site.  There's some great inspiration there! And, don't forget Emily's gallery on SCS!!

Here are a couple of other challenges as well:
Creative Craft - Ribbon & Bows
All Sorts - Tag

Supplies:

Paper- Neenah Classic. Papertrey Leaf Green

Stamps - Stampabilities Seed Shooter, JRS lower case Times New Roman

Ink - Memorex, Copic markers

Accessories - PTI leaf green ribbon, Making Memories bling, Spellbinders circle dies

Blog Candy and Eye Candy Alert

I just checked out Lorrinda's blog, Isn't that Sweet.  She's one of my Paper Cubed Design Team buddies.  While I was oohing and ahhing over her creations, I saw that she had a link to this awesome blog..Make it Crafty...my goodness!  This lady has some SERIOUS talent!!...and an awesome blog candy as well.

 

 

As fun as this is, it pales compared to her talent!  Check out this card...

In addition to being gorgeous, that horse ROCKS!  She designed the mechanism that makes it rock back and forth!  Fabulous!!  She's got a video at the link showing it rocking....way cool!

Head on over and check her out! 

  

Clean and Simple

 

I can't believe it!  I made it through the first two challenges for the CAS Summer DT on SplitcoastStampers.

Now there are 19 super talented ladies and me in the running for the next challenges.  Challenge 3 was to make a card using pop dots/dimensionals.  We also have the option of making two cards.  The theme is Summer/Amusement Park.

I have used this LO before...it's quick, easy.  I chose this bright Summer Sunrise from Papertrey to give it a summery feel.  Both the flower and the panel are popped up. 

Supplies:

Paper - Neenah Classic

Ink - Memorex, Copic markers

Stamps - Papertrey  Friends Til the End

Accessories - PTI Summer Sunrise ribbon, dimensionals

Here's my second card.   It also qualifies for the 4th challenge to make something moveable on your card.  The propellers on the airplane turn!  I just cut an extra set (ask me how many I cut before I got one to stay together!) of propellers and used a brad to make them turn.  Since texture is also a criteria I tried to add some extra on this one.  The clouds are heat embossed and popped up, the airplane is covered with Crystal Effects as well as embossed.  I dropped a teensy bit of embossing powder on the plane body to simulate dents...this pilot is no sissy!  The plane is cut out and popped on dimensionals as well. 

Our grandson's bedroom is decorated in these colors and theme.  My DH has always called our sons "Buddy" so the sentiment is special to me.

What do you think?

Supplies:

Paper - Neenah Classic, Papertrey

Stamps - Papertrey Fly Away, Scattered Showers Additions

Ink - Copic markers, silver paint pen, SU white

Accessories - sewing machine, twine, button, brad, dimensionals, Clear EP, Crystal Effects

Foodie Friday - Chocolate Berry Meringue

Welcome to Foodie Friday!  I showed you this dessert last year but we had friends over tonight and it's sooo good, I thought it deserved repeating.  It takes several steps but you can do most of it ahead and nothing is too difficult, even for a beginner.

Here we go:

Chocolate Berry Meringue

1 recipe Chocolate Meringue

1 recipe Raspberry Puree

1 recipe whipping cream

6 c. fresh fruit - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and/or kiwi

Additional shaved chocolate, if desired

Rapsberry Puree

1-1/2 c. fresh or frozen raspberries (thaw and drain if frozen)

1 T. sugar

Place raspberries in blender.  Puree until smooth, sieve out seeds, if desired.  Stir in 1 T. sugar.  Cover and chill until serving time.

Chocolate Meringue

6 egg whites, allow to stand at room temp. at least 30 minutes

1 c. sugar

3 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet good quality chocolate, grated

3 T. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 t. balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.  Draw a 10" circle on the paper/foil, leaving a 1-2 inch margin outside the circle.  Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, beat egg whites with mixer on medium to high speed until soft peaks form (tips stand straight up) and sugar is dissolved.  Gently fold in the grated chocolate, cocoa powder and vinegar.  Spread the meringue onto the parchment circle.  Place in oven.  Immediately, reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.  Bake for 1 hour.  Remove from oven, set on a rack and let cool completely on the baking sheet.  Carefully  remove meringue from paper/foil; transfer to a serving platter.

Whipping Cream

1 c. whipping cream

1 T. confectioner's sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

In chilled bowl, beat cream, sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form.  Spread onto meringue, top with berries, and shaved chocolate, if desired.

To serve - drizzle plates with Raspberry Puree, top with a slice of the meringue and additional shaved chocolate. 

Serves 6-10

Enjoy!  Let me know if you make it.  Really....it's easy!

Beautiful Random Act of Kindness

I think stampers are the most generous people in the world!   Look what I found in my mailbox...

 

 

Aren't these just gorgeous?!!   They are a gift from Lynne (http://www.mymadkow.typepad.com/)

Lynne is one of my team mates on the Posh Designs Scrapbook Store DT.  Be sure to check out her blog if you'd like to see more of her awesome work.  She does alot of gorgeous scrapbook pages, so if you're a scrapbooker, you're in for some awesome eye candy.

Thanks for stopping by...I didn't get much stamping done today...back to the dr. for more tests and still painting the walls.