Grandma's Recipe Album

Now that Christmas is over and this gift has been given, I can share one of my very favorite projects from this holiday season. When my grandmother passed away, my dad copied all the recipes we wanted he to from her recipe box.  For a Christmas gift to one of my family members, I complied Grandma's recipes in an album.   

I started with a Simple Stories Snap Binder.  I like these because they are so very customizable.  As you can see, I set out right away to paper over the cover with some Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party paper and Crate Paper stickers. 

Inside, I used the included chipboard dividers to split the recipe book up into your standard sections.

I really liked the look of Bo Bunny's The Avenue Recipe Cards, so I chose to use those.  As you can see from the photo above, there are the traditional 4 x 6 recipe cards, and larger, full page recipe cards.

While I wrote most of the recipes onto the Bo Bunny cards, I did copy and print a few of the cards that my Grandma had hand written onto patterned paper and added them to the album that way.  Having a recipe or two in her own writing just feels extra special. 

There's a section for Main Dishes.

and one for desserts.

I included photos of some of the prepared foods from the recipes.  It was a nice way to add some color to the album.

The last section in the album is for memories.  Not standard in most cook books, but fitting for this one.

In this section I left a little card with one of my favorite memories of cooking with my grandma.  I also put in lots of blank cards so the recipient can add her own memories and collect memories from other family members.
To be honest, I kind of wanted to keep this gift for myself.  I love how it turned out, so I guess I'll be making another one for me in the near future!
Have you ever scrapped special recipes? I'd love to hear about it (or see pictures) if you did! 

Front Porch Thank You Card with Picture Frame Hang Tag

This time of year always makes me feel especially thankful, so why not use that feeling to build up my thank you note stash? Today I have a very fast Front Porch Thank You Card.  It's especially fast, because instead of cutting more paper layers, I used a Picture Frame Hang Tag to frame the focal point of my card.

Everything on this card is from Pebbles Front Porch collection. I love those sweet little Hang Tags. They have so many great uses in cards, layouts, and even mini albums.

I hope you had a wonderful week!

I Love You Layout

I've been wanting to scrap with Pink Paislee's Hey Kid for a while.  I finally got around to it (and I finally had just the right photo). Here's my I Love You Layout.

These two have such big personalities, and I love how this picture seems to capture them perfectly.

Thanks for stopping by!

Quick Christmas Boxes

Sometimes it's a lot easier to add some washi tape and die cut pieces to a cute box then to create something from scratch...enter these Quick Christmas Boxes.

This is how my kid's teachers received their Christmas gifts this year.  I took some store bought boxes that I had on hand, wrapped some washi tape around them (because everything is better with washi tape).

 Added a sticker or die cut piece (I used pieces from Crate Paper's Bundled Up and Echo Park's Tis the Season)

 and hung a die cut shape from some twine to use as a gift tag.

Simple, fast, and pretty cute!

Party Cracker Gift Boxes

I needed a few small gift boxes for some hand made presents my boys made for a few of our family members.  I didn't have any small boxes, so I decided to make my own using some leftover papers from the Gift Card Envelopes that I made and my We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board.  Here are my Party Cracker Gift Boxes.

The box design is not my own. Just Google "We R Memory Keeper's Party Crackers Envelope Punch" and you'll get lots of different instructions on how to make these.  I tweeked the measurements a bit to make the small enough for my needs.  These are actually small enough that you could get 4 boxes from 1 sheet of paper. 

I used a mixture of papers and embellishments from Imaginice's Colors of Christmas collection and Crate Paper's  Bundled Up. 

To be honest, I really don't like wrapping gifts - but making custom packaging for gifts? I can totally get on board with that!

Chirstmas Card Photo Shoot

Back in October I borrowed my neighbor's back yard and took a bunch of photos, hoping to have at least one suitable photo for this year's Christmas card.  Being a scrapbooker, I couldn't just leave all those fun photos for the card, though.

I couldn't wait to use Echo Park's Tis the Season to do a little holiday scrapping.  It's full of deep rich greens, classic Christmas red, and pops of black and silver.

 I used the same collection for my second layout, but decided to add a little sparkle by matting the photo with Pow! glitter paper.

 

Wishing you a very merry Christmas!

Wonderful Sequins

Sometimes you just feel like making a card.  I took a quick break from holiday scrapping to
make a bright little card using Pebbles From Me to You Collection. 

Have I mentioned how much I love sequins?  This is a trend I can whole heartedly get behind!

Thanks for stopping by.  Now I'm headed back to the Christmas scrapping.

Cookie Cutter Ornaments

One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is to make Christmas ornaments.  This year I decided to make Cookie Cutter Ornaments using Crate Paper's Bundled Up.

There's not much to say about creating these.  I just took some metal Christmas Cookie Cutters and cut patterned paper to fit.  Then I layered up a few die cut papers.  Add some twine for hanging, and you're all set.
Thanks for stopping by!

Gift Card Envelopes

This time of year, I seem to need oodles and oodles of gift card envelopes.  Sure, I could just used the ones they come in, but what would be the fun in that?  Here's a few I came up with this weekend using the We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board.

I used a smattering of different papers and embellishments (scroll to the bottom for the list), but kept the design pretty simple.
The smaller envelopes are the right size to hold a gift card with a backing (I have target gift cards in some of them, and I left them on the little card that they come on so I could write on there how much is on the gift card). 

The larger envelopes are big enough to slip an embellished tag (and attached gift card) in. For the envelope below, I cut off the top flap and opted for an open pocket instead.

Or, large enough to put an i-tunes gift card into. 

 For this holder, instead of adding glue to hold the top flap down, I made a little envelope wrap to tuck the flap under.

 Just a simple way to add a little extra fun to gift card giving!

Supplies:
American Crafts Peppermint Express
Imaginisce Colors of Christmas
Simple Stories December Documented
We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board

 Thanks for stopping by!

Snowflake Card

Tis the season for getting waaaaay behind on my blog! Sorry I've neglected you here a bit, but if you're looking for some amazing holiday projects and great deals, check out A Walk Down Memory Lane's 12 Days of Christmas.  Each day from the 1st - 12th there's a new amazing deal and a fantastic Christmas project (and the deals accumulate, so the deal that was good on the 1st is still good on the 12th!).  I do have a quick Snowflake Card today, too.

I loved this snowflake from Tim Holtz's Stampers Anonymous Christmas Blueprint stamp set. Gold is showing up everywhere these days. It's super trendy in fashion, decor, and paper crafting, so I thought it would be fun to stamp this card in gold ink.  I cut the entire snowflake out, and then layered it on top of the same image stamped in black ink. 

When I was all done, I decided it needed a little something extra, so I added a fun little sequin!

Thanks for stopping by. 

December Card Class In a Box

December's Card Class in a Box is just about ready to go out  and I thought I share a look at the cards.
These are all the cards in the class:

Here's a close up of the cards I created for the class.

If you're interested in purchasing a subscription to the Card Class In a Box or want to learn more about what it is (they make an awesome Christmas present!), you can find all of the information by clicking here or by calling A Walk Down Memory Lane at (712)476-3443. 

Scrapping School Photos Part 2

Today I have another school photo using Simple Stories Smarty Pants.

 For this layout, I mixed and matched a lot of different patterned papers, so I decided to keep the embellishments fairly simple.  However, I couldn't resist popping that pushpin sticker up with some foam adhesive to make it look like it was pinning the "school rocks" banner to the layout.

 Have a fantastic weekend!

Scrapping School Photos

About a month ago I got my kids' school photos. I never expect great grand wonderful things out of a school photo, but it doesn't mean I won't scrap those school photos anyways!

My big kid finally lost his first tooth (layout about that to come soon!) 3 days before school pictures.  I'm pretty sure he was way more concerned about showing off the new empty space in his mouth than smiling! 

I used Simple Stories Smarty Pants paper and stickers to capture his first grade school photo. I love how easily Simple Stories stickers layer up!   

I little more layering of stickers for the title, and this one is going in the scrap book! 

Thanks for stopping by today!

I love you so

I don't know about you, but it always seems there are 3 times as many crafts to make as Christmas approaches.  It was fun to step back holiday paper crafting and do a little "free" scrapping this weekend.  Here's a layout from some photos I took this summer.

The shades of gray and rich blues in Pebbles Front Porch were perfect for scrapping these photos. The photo frames make easy work of making interesting photo mats.

Pebbles makes such lovely chipboard embellishments, and I try to use them any chance I get.  

I used a little bit of Tim Holtz Chipped Sapphire ink to turn the alphabet stickers from gray to blue.  I also couldn't help but find a reason to use one of those adorable clothespins!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Little Lotion Bars in Pretty Tins

Are you thinking about gifts for the holidays? Today I have homemade little lotions bars  in pretty tins that are perfect for slipping in your purse. Dressing up the packaging with some washi tape and patterned paper makes these especially wonderful. 

Including packaging, these run about $1 - $2 per packaged lotion bar, super affordable. To keep cost down, I ordered most of products online through Amazon. 

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat melt:
3/4 cup Beeswax
3/4 cup Shea Butter ($3.50) - you can substitute cocoa butter for an amazing natural chocolate scent or vegetable shortening as a cost cutter as well.
3/4 cup coconut oil ($2.00) - I like coconut oil for it's many wonderful qualities, but olive oil, almond oil, or a mix of these liquid oils can be substituted.

It will take about 10 minutes for the ingredients to go from solid to liquid. 

*Optional step: You can add essential oils (for scented lotion bars) and or vitamin E oil (for preservation).

 You can pour the lotion bars into any mold you'd like, but for these, I just poured the lotion bars directly into the tins I will be using for gifting.  I was able to find my tins for $5 per 10 pack. While my lotions bars were cooling (which happened very quickly since the tins are small), I decorated the lids (which took about 5 - 10 minutes).

 I printed small labels on patterned paper from Pebbles Inc. Front Porch collection.  I used my Silhouette digital die cutting machine to cut those labels into small circles (if you don't have a Silhouette, you could use circle punches, dies, or even just a scissors). I cut a second larger circle from Front Porch paper as well. I sized this circle to be slightly smaller than the lid of the tin.  Use Permanent Glue Dots® to attach the smaller paper circle to the larger one and to attach the large circle to the lid of the container. 

You can also add little strips of paper or washi tape to the edge of your tin. 

...and there you have it easy little gifts in about 20 minutes!