I Have a Problem

Hi. My name is BigR, and I am a rubber stamp-o-holic.

Yikes! After several weeks of procrastinating, I finally got our office/craft room organized this weekend. It was a task that involved a big mess and a lot of filing, so I had been putting it off by claiming that other areas of the house were much higher priorities. However, this weekend, I really didn't want to go in to work, so organizing the office became a much higher priority. Obviously. (You will start to note that this post is a true Chronicle of Procrastination.)

In the midst of organizing, I started to notice how many Stampin' Up rubber stamp sets I have that have been neither used or mounted! I lost track of how many sets that actually was. I am happy to say that all of my stamps are now ready for immediate use, as I got all of the newbies mounted while watching season 4 of Weeds.

It's been difficult to make going to work after hours a priority, when I have such an urgent need for thank you, birthday, and graduation cards. For that reason, I spent a few hours last night getting reacquainted with my paper supplies and making the following cards:

Since I realized how many stamps I have that I never actually use, I've decided to challenge myself to use all of them. I think this will reintroduce me to what I have already purchased, and get my creative juices flowing for Christmas card design. Stay tuned for the results from my first personal challenge, Stampin' Up! set "She's All That."

Alright. Back to work. Really.

Tiramasu Cupcakes

I'm not sure I can really describe how thrilled I have been with Martha's new cupcake book. I'm so anxious to try every recipe in there!

This past weekend, we were guests at our friends' Italian feast. This was an opportunity to try out a new recipe from the cookbook. I decided to take a stab at Martha's Tiramsu Cupcakes.

The cake part was a dense sponge cake, which to me, sort of seems like an oxymoron. Since the cupcakes are drenched with a syrup made of espresso and Marsala, the cupcakes need to be able to stand up to a bunch of liquid. However, for me, the balance wasn't quite right and I think they need a bit more liquid to more closely resemble tiramsu.

The icing was scrumptious! Whipped cream, marscarpone, and powdered sugar. No problems there at all.

Overall, I think the cupcakes were enjoyed, and I'll try this recipe again.