What did you make for Lunch

Today I was watching a cooking show on Netflix called Chef's Table.  It is always interesting to me to see what others have had to go through to get where they are and the Why to their story.  Well you can guess that watching this show made me hungry.  I had one Apple in my fruit basket and I had made some rolls earlier.  My Mom who will be 95 soon loves Grilled Cheese I knew I had some Brie left over and so I decided to make a Grilled Brie with Apple sandwich.  I first sauteed the Apples in some Coconut Oil and sprinkled with Cinnamon.  Not very creative but sometimes you have to work with what you have.  LOL!

I have a GE Monogram cooktop, it is induction.  I love it it cooks so fast.  It boils water in 90 seconds so you do have to watch what you are doing you cannot put oil in and walk away it heats up fast. You do have to stay on top of it.
I do have to say that I love my cooktop.  I got a set of Cuisinart pot and pans that work with induction-
Induction elements use electricity to produce a magnetic field that reacts with the iron in metal cookware - including cast iron and magnetic stainless steel pans - and transfers the heat to the cookware.

The Apples that I cooked were to thick so I sliced them in half again. The Brie comes from Costco.  It is made in a little town in France at a butter and cheese co-op on the Normandy Coast.  When I saw that Costco sold it I was blown away.

I cut one slice of the Brie and broke it in 2 and placed it on the roll with 3 slices of Apple and then I drizzled honey over that and put the top roll on and placed it back in the same pan I did the Apples in.

This was a great lunch and my Mom who is a very picky eater ate 2 of them.  She says oh I love Brie and smiles.

Watch this wonderful video on the My Crush little books that are perfect for Mother's Day and Father's Day. Of course you can use them for anytime or anyone they are made for him and her. Just add photos, journaling, and don't forget the embellishments!

Clayton Historical Society

Yesterday I worked as a docent for the Clayton Historical Society via the Clayton Valley Woman's Club.  The Gardens at all the homes are spectacular and it is so amazing.  I am sorry that I didn't get to get pictures of any of the others.
The weather was actually perfect.  Not to hot and not to cold.  A light jacket was fine.  Today looks like more of the same so come on out and take a look!

Don't worry if you miss this yesterday it is still going on today.  You can buy your tickets and see all 5 gardens.  Each one is so different!  Can you see the face in the pond?  The husband makes all the birdhouses and the Wife make all the sculptures.  It is quite the team effort.

The property is an acre of land and they have been there for 14 years now.  The chairs and pot are all painted blue.  There were some on the top level that were painted orange.  She says she does different colors each year.  What a great idea that is.

Look What's Coming in May!

Here is a sneak peek of what is coming in May for National Scrapbooking Month.  You won't want to miss out on this one.  It's bright cheery and summery.  This is just 2 of the papers that will in the pack and the best part is the Price.  You will get 2 each of 6 papers and it will only be $8.95.

Keep checking back for more on this pack.

Blossom WOTG all done

I love make the Work Shops on the Go Kits.
Here is what it looks like all done and ready to send out.  The Kit makes 5 of each card.  You even have a little bit leftover.

This card uses the the flowers from up above.

Here is the 3rd card, but do you see what I forgot to do. Yep the bow with the Glacier Twine.  I even like it without the bow.

 

When I was done and packing up I liked the way it looked on the Paper Cutter.  So I had to get a picture of that too.  Can you tell I love to take photos.  Sometime I just can't resist.

Seasonal Expression 2 The New Catalog

I am loving the new Seasonal Expressions 2 catalog.  It is 38 pages of goodness!!!

I love the Blossom Cardmaking Kit.  What fun would that be to give as a gift or to get one of them. You get everything  you need to complete 15 cards with envelopes.  The only thing you will need is your inks.  They have such a fun festive and summery feel to them.

The Blossom Paper pack is great for making scrapbook pages too.  You can even add the Blossom Complements and Assortments too.

The Blossom paper pack makes beautiful invitations as well as cards.  You will have lots of fun with this paper pack and all the fun stamp sets that you can use with it..

Lets see what you can do with this fun paper pack.

Blossom Workshop On The Go

Guess what I am making.
Yep the Blossom Workshop On The Go cardmaking kit.  I can't stop smiling when I see all the fun colors and the new Coral Sequins.

Check back tomorrow and see it all!!  Love this kit!

Bon Appetit Cooking Club

Tuesday night was my cooking Club get together.  I love to cook!  Our club is called Bon Appetit and their are 5 of us.  They all have known each other and have some great stories about how they met. They are a fun bunch of Ladies and I love being apart of thier group.  We meet once a month and we cook out of the What Can I bring? Cookbook by Anne Byrn.  I got mine on Amazon.com.  This month I was to bring Soup/Veggie.  I made the Jackie's Potato Soup on page 76-77, Jeannine was our hostess and she made the Judy's Mom's Meat Loaf page 190-191.  Pam made The Old-Fashioned Macaroni Salad on page 142-143, Cathy made Suzanne's Guacamole page 8-9, and Jeanne made the Orange Marmalade Cake from page 353- 355

You can see it all here except for my soup.
Yep I forgot to take pictures of the table setting and of the food before we started digging into it.  But it is so good you just want to eat it.  Luckily there was still some meatloaf left in the dish when I remembered to take the picture.  Next time!!!! LOL

Here it is all on the plate.  It was so good.  The plates are from Butler's Pantry and the Bowls are from (wait for it) Ikea.  We all could not believe that the bowls were from Ikea.  Guess I better take a second look next time. You can see the cookbook that we are cooking out of this year.  We try to make every recipe in the book.  We have been cooking out of this one for some time now and we love it.  You should try it.

Here you can see the dessert all plated up.  Jeanne is new to our group and she has set the bar high. This dessert was AWESOME.  The frosting has Sour Cream in it.  It was so good not even crumbs were left on the plates.
Check out the little goody bags that Jeannine made filled sweet tart jelly beans.  She is such a crafty lady!

This is our hostess Jeannine what a fun lady she is and she is so creative too.  Can you see the place cards she made.  The table was so beautifully set and the center piece just made you smile.  Great food, great company, and a great time too.  Thanks ladies!

***Update on the Jackie's Potato Soup.  I made a double batch because I have been searching for the perfect Potato Soup for quite awhile now.  Every cookbook we cook out of I try the Potato Soup and every time I have not been impressed.  But this one was different.  By the next night the whole thing was gone.  That is a good sign since there are 7 of us and not everyone likes the same thing.  This one was a winner for sure. ***  
Don't tell them that it has carrots.  I grated them with my Kitchen Aid mixer attachment so it grated them very fine.  Love that!  I blended the flour and milk in my Vitamix (no lumps at all).  After mixing the flour mixture in with the soup. I took about 3 big ladles full of the soup mix with big chunks of Potatoes in it and placed them in the Vitamix and that blended it all up.  I placed that back in the soup.  That made it so creamy and thick.  I love, love my Kitchen Aid mixer and my Vitamix.  

Keep checking back.  I will add our cooking club each month to my blog.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Artfully Sent meets Frozen

Well today when Helen came over she said she had a Great Grand daughter Kaydence that was turning 6 on Sunday.  Happy Birthday Kaydence!  So I ask my usual questions.  What is her favorite thing.  Answer: Frozen.  So that is where we started.
Anna is her favorite.  Helen wanted to make her a pop-card so we used Artfully Sent and found one that work.  We used the Love Bug card.  I just ungrouped it and deleted everything but the card base and inside with the cut makes.
I used the Cut then Print for the Anna and we also cut out some snowflakes from Frozen too for the inside.

For the front we used the Happy Birthday sentiment from page 36 of the Artfully Sent handbook #M10678E for the Explore. We cut it down so there is a border around it. The 6th is from an image search cut out in carnary along with the cupcake frosting and candle flame.

Clayton Relay for Life Update

Just a reminder for the Card Class for the Clayton Relay For Life Fundraiser April 18th Saturday 10 am - 12:30 pm.
The cost is $25.00 all of which will go to Clayton Relay for Life.  You will go home with 5 cards, a gift and a chance at 2 raffle prizes.  You won't want to miss out.

Here is what we will be making.

Hope to see you there.  I will be donating my time and supplies for this class and any sales that result from this class I will give 20% back to the Clayton Relay. This also includes any sales from my website the entire month of April.  You can see all the products here Come join us and have a great time.
Contact me at michelesinkitstampit@gmail.com

Here is the location

St. John's Episcopal Church

Parish Hall

5555 Clayton Road, Clayton 94517

Wine Bottle Make Over

I have not shown you any of my Home Decor lately.  I happen to have a couple of empty wine bottles and I have seen them covered with twine and other things.  So when I saw the ones on page 8 of the new Seasonal Inspiration 2 idea book I knew I wanted to make one.  So this is what I did.

I used the Glacier Extra Thick Twine and wrapped it around the center of the bottle.  It took the entire packet.  The flower ribbon is from my stash and so are the bigger flowers.  The center of the flower are Bling Gold Gems.  The burlap ribbon is also from my stash.  I still have a clear one to do so you will have to wait for that one.

Don't forget that I am doing a fundraiser for Relay for Life Clayton.  I am donating 2% of all my sales for April 2015 so be sure to join in and help out. 

Wavy Bloom D1651 and Blossom Paper Pack

I love the new Seasonal Inspirations 2 idea book.  It has things that make you very happy in it.  I have fun shading in the flowers for Wavy Bloom D1651 from page 12.  I used the Blossom Paper pack and backed it with Black and Chrystal Blue and place it on a Daisy White card.  I use some Washi Tape from my stash folded it in half to make it thinner and made some tails too.

The flower is stamped in Black then the fun begins.  I use our ShinHan markers Light Orange, Pastel Green, Marigold.  On the leaf I used Leaf Green, Sap Green.  I cut it out and shaped it then I used a glue dot to attach it to the card.  I used the Bling Gold Gem in the center of the flower.  I stamped the sentiment in Black and it was done.  This was a fun and fast card and as you can see you could make it too.

Thanks for stopping by!
Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Hostess Rewards C1613 Paper Bird

I just love this Hostess Rewards C1613 Paper Bird stamp set it is so versatile. I can see many uses for it.  I used the Jackson Paper pack and made a manly card.
How do you get a Hostess Rewards stamp set you ask?  Well its simple just place an order for $150.00 of more and you can purchase any of the Hostess Rewards stamp on pages 5-10 in the Annual Inspiration book or pages 4-5 in the Seasonal Inspirations 2 book.

I sponge the bird in Pacifica on Daisy White cardstock and then sponged over it in Chrystal Blue. I cut a triangle in Colonial White and a larger one in Outdoor Denim the Greetings is stamped in Chrystal Blue and sponged over it in the Chrystal Blue to, that is hard to see in the picture.  I used some sequins from my stash. I use a Black sparkle for the bird's eye. I popped the bird up on 3-D Foam tape. 

April Stamp of the Month Typed Note S1504

April's Stamp of the Month Typed Noted S1504 is a fun one.  I was playing around with the Fundamental Paper pack and decided to use it with the SOTM.  The Typewriter is so cute I knew when I was done that I would have to take pictures of it using one of my old hand crank telephone with the mouth piece.  I love antiques!  

You can get the SOTM for only $5.00 when you purchase $50.00 or more.  You can also buy it outright for $17.95.  This month you can also purchase the Deal of the Day and that will qualify you for the SOTM too.  

I made an assorted batch of note cards.  I think they turned out cute and I love the Fundamental Paper pack too.  That is the on of the new Washi Tapes on the side of each card.

Here is a Thank you card with a Pixie Typewriter.

This is the Birthday one with a Chrystal Blue Typewriter

A Hello Card with a Pear Typewriter.

Just for you card with a Canary Typewriter.

I used Daisy White. Kraft cardstock for the cards.  

Inks were Pixie, Canary, Chrystal Blue, and Pear.  

When you order on my website this month I will be donating 20% of my sales to Relay For Life Clayton.

Artfully Sent Easter Card #3

This is the Pop Up card from page 41 it code #M1067BD for the Explore.  I used the Pocket card from page 17 for the front code #MCBA4F.  I backed it with a scrap I had and placed Pink Glitter Gems in the center of the flowers.  The stamp set is Happy Everything and also Hopping By for the Easter.

The pop up is a bunny that I cut out in what else but Chocolate.  The bow is cut out in Canary and I stamped the egg that they could color in too!

 

Be sure to check out the Deal of the Day every day in April 2015

Don't forget that this month I will be donating 20% of my sales to Relay for Life Clayton so be sure to join in on that when you order

Artfully Sent Easter Card

This card is cut from page 41 in Artfully Sent.  It is the sleeve card #M1011EF for the explore.  I cuts out the shapes so you can back it with what ever paper you want you could even use our shimmer tape or Washi Tape too!

I used scraps that I had from our new Blossom Paper pack

 I stamped it with D1633 Hopping By.  What a cute stamp set this is.  I used Canary and Pixie Cardstock.  I placed a rectangle of Honey Cardstock to back the egg so you wouldn't see all the strips of paper I used.

I love the cards on Artfully Sent they are so fun to make and to receive too.
Thanks for stopping by!

Don't forget about the Deal Of the Day for April.

If you order be sure to Join in on the Relay for Life Clayton Fundraiser too.  I will give 20% of all my sales this month. Lots of great things going on this month.