Thoughts on cooking and stamping

I had a moment of self discovery this morning...I was putting together a batch of muffins, and grabbed my Southern Living Cookbook. I’ve made these muffins a zillion times but I still have the recipe out in front of me each time; I just am a “recipe follower” by nature. The interesting thing is this recipe is for Blueberry Streusel Muffins and my “version” is without streusel /blueberries, but instead I make it with chocolate chips! So, I follow but adapt.

I think my card making is a LOT like that too, whether it’s following a sketch or saving a beautiful card for future inspiration, it’s basically a “recipe”. Take this wonderful card by Laurie Schmidlin...there were so many elements that I loved and I thought, “Hey, I have a tree stamp that would work great like this!”

Laurie Schmidlin's card:

Here is my “adaptation”!

Card Materials:
Papers: Basic Grey, DCWV Robin’s Egg #1
Stamps by The Angel Company: Tag Tidbits, Spring Time
Accessories: Nestabilities, ribbon (Joanns), buttons from Ava embellishment collection

And now to share my Chocolate Chip Muffins...easy and quick!

1 ¾ c. flour
2 ¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
½ c. sugar
1 large egg
¾ c. milk
1/3 c. oil

Combine the dry ingredients and stir well (baking powder clumps taste bad!) and make a well in center. Combine egg, milk and oil; stir well. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened (this is the KEY to good muffins). Add 1 cup chocolate chips.

Spoon into greased muffin tins – dozen. Bake at 400 degrees for 18 min. or until golden. Remove from pan immediately and enjoy!