Scrapbooking Recipes?????????

Have you ever tried to make a Recipe Scrapbook? My sister LOVES to cook. Unfortunately I don't share that interest....but I DO create in a different way....I SCRAPBOOK! Last year for her birthday, I created this wonderful scrapbook full of our mother's recipes. Our mother is A GREAT COOK....really....we're not just saying that...it is a shared opinion among many. Anyway, my sister moved to California a few years ago and it had prompted her to request that my mother write down her recipes. I came up with this idea to scrapbook it! But what I thought was REALLY cool was using my recipe card stamps and creating these recipe cards which I laminated and tucked into small pockets that I would create on a scrapbook page! So this way, my sister did not have to worry about damaging the pages - she can just grab the recipe cards she needs. She could even keep all the recipe cards together in a recipe box.

So I wanted to make double page spreads for each recipe. I included comments from 1 or 2 family members on a specific recipe (usually their favorite dish).

Note the recipe card tucked in a pocket I made on the page. Remember, you will have to measure your recipe card so that you can create a pocket that will not be too large nor to small to house the card. You want the card to be able to peek out just enough so you can see the tab. I used my Tab punch by Stampin' Up! to create the recipe card.

Our little sister, Krystal, loves our mother's spaghetti, so she is the family member featured on this page. I would get together with my mom and she would cook one of her dishes (which was perfect since that meant I didn't have to cook dinner that night)! I photographed each dish to include in the scrapbook and she would then go over the recipe with me and I'd make notes. Below is the second page of the 2 page spread. Below is what the recipe stamp set looks like. The exact one I used from my project is retired...but actually I prefer the current one in the catalog. Here's a photo of the set (image copyright Stampin' Up!):

My daughter LOVES this dish my mom makes. It's a Filipino dish called Aroscaldo. It's basically chicken rice soup. For our family, it's a sort of COMFORT FOOD. I love eating this in the winter. My version of this dish.....not that great...although my 6 year old was sweet enough to say it was "good.....in a different way" when I asked her to compare it to Lola's (a Filipino word for Grandma) cooking......ha ha ha ha.

My mother really likes this recipe she uses for pork chops, so I feature her (and my father) on this page. My favorite element on this page is the brown ring I use in the middle called a bosher (I dunno....kinda like a button and a washer....bosher?????). I wraped some linen thread around it. The bosher is made by Bazzil. The scrapbook store I purchased it from closed sometime last year but I did find a website that does sell it (here is the link). I really like the flowers on this patterned paper and so relied on the flowers to detail the page. It really didn't need much. The bosher did well to add some texture. All I added in addition to it was a tag and stickers!

What I like about the page above is the pocket. I made a pocket with some double-sided patterned paper, punched some holes down each side and threaded some ribbon through it. I knotted each end and then placed some foam adhesive to pop the pocket up from the page!

I played with patterns in the page above. I think it worked out. I like this page because if has a few quotes on it. Adding quotes really personalizes this recipe book....making it both a recipe book AND family scrapbook. And all the hours of work paid off when I got to see the smile on my sister's face when she opened it! I'm not always expressive of my love in words....and I think that is why I enjoy creating things for my friends and family.

This page is one of my favorites because I LOVE this dish and I like journaling with white gel pen on really dark cardstock. Be sure you are able to test out gel pens before purchasing them!!! You want to make sure the ink flows smoothly! I FINALLY found a great white gel pen when I purchased a Signo Gel Pen available in the Stampin' Up! catalog! I also love the colors here....makes me feel warm and cozy!

Well - that's it for now. Here's a slideshow of all the pages if you wanna peek at them!

Valentine's Day Treat Bag!

Love You Much Stamp Set Item #113756

(image copyright Stampin' Up!)

Hi Everyone! I know this might be a little late for ideas for Valentine's Day...but it's a quick project you could do...and you could apply the idea to a birthday party, Christmas treat bag, or party favors! I wanted to create a treat bag that my daughter could give away to her classmates on Valentine's Day. We did a mini 3x3 card last year...but wanted to do CANDY this time!


The bags had about 4 pieces of candy each: mini M&M's, Nerds, Laffy Taffy, and my ALL TIME favorite candy Bottle Caps! If you wanted to put less candy or smaller pieces in the bag, just fold the top flap in half!
I actually used some old neon paper I had (I'm not a fan of neon colors at all so jumped at this chance to use them up!). I used regular printer type paper...not cardstock. Other options would be to use construction paper or scrap pieces of cardstock.

I will be posting a video on my YouTube Channel. If you subscribe to this blog, you get ideas more often than subscribing to my YouTube videos only....I blog way more than I make videos!!!!

This project would be awesome to do with children. My daughter Isabel LOVED it!!!! She got to color, put candy in bags, glue on hearts, use a stapler....she did most of the work! Here's what it looked like:
Now, since we had to make a total of 23, the use of punches REALLY allowed us to make them VERY QUICKLY! Here are all the items we used:

1) 4x4 pieces of paper or cardstock.

2) Scallop Circle Punch (Stampin' Up!)

3) Heart to Heart Punch (Stampin' Up!)

4) craft glue

5) 1/16" Handheld Punch (Stampin' Up!)

6) Stapler

7) Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad

8) Blender Pen

9) Basic Black Classic Stampin' Pad

10) 4 x 6 inch Plastic Baggie (got it at Mitchael's in the candy making section)

11) Love You Much Stamp Set by Stampin' Up!

(Photos of some of these items can be found at the end of this post. Those photos are copyright Stampin' Up!)


My 6 year old did the stamping and coloring (as you can see from the image...he he)...she did such a great job.....SHE'S SO CRAFTY! I punched out the circle scallops and hearts since her hands are so small...they couldn't manage the punches as easily. Maybe if we chose a less complicated shape to punch out, she would have done fine on her own.

I folded the 4x4 pieces in half, placed it at the top of the bag, then stapled it. You then glue on the scallop circle OVER the staple so that you can't see it! If you have the time, add pop dots or foam adhesive to give some dimension to the scallops and the hearts!!!! We had to go quickly to allow enough time in the day to do some "girl time" stuff at the mall and run errands! We had TONS of fun by the way!! Here's a side note....if you like bread pudding.....ya gotta stop over at the Nordstrom Bistro (in Lynnwood Nordstrom) and try their bread pudding.......YUMMMMMMMMMMM!




Let's get back on track.....On the back of bag, I had her put "from Isabel". Since they would be passing SO MANY of these out, I thought it easiest to NOT put her classmates names on them.
At the end of the day, Isabel said she had SO MUCH FUN making these Valentine's Day Treat Bags and spending time with her Mommy on our little "Girls Only Day" together. We're gonna make this "Girls Only Day" a monthly thing!!!!! NO BOYS ALLOWED!!!!
HAPPY HEARTS DAY!!!!

Scallop Circle Punch

Heart to Heart Punch

1/16" Handheld Punch

Free Giveaway at Mad Cropper and Scrappy Jo's!

HURRY, CONTEST ENDS FEB 14TH, 2009!

I entered a drawing for some free stuff:) from Scrappy Jo's.

First, go to the MadCropper site to get directions on entering and follow the directions.......GOOD LUCK YALL!

Valentine Scrapbooking Post #1: An Engagement

Aaaaaahhhhhhhh. A Valentine's Day Wedding!

I've been trying to figure out a way to scrapbook these engagement photos of my brother-in-law Chay and his fiancee Jackie. What makes all these photos even more special is that they were taken by the Groom's brother, Cham (ckaophotogrphy.com).

So, I took the theme of Valentine's Day and used it to come up with the colors for the project: red, pink, white, black, and gray. I also decided to use quotes about Love for each page. I thought the quotes would do well to unite all the pages and become a scrapbook of photos with quotations.

I will be presenting this scrapbook to the bride and groom on their wedding day. The size of the scrapbook pages are 8.5" x 8.5". I'd like to share some of the pages I created.

I needed some inspiration, so I made a trip down to Lasting Memories in Lynnwood, Washington to find some coordinating products. I work fastest and easiest with coordinating papers and embellishments. Then I don't have to look around my scrap room to find specific things. This keeps me focused on the project and gives me direction. I used mostly Making Memories products.......LOVE THEM!
I scrapbooked a combination of color photos and black and white photos. As long as I used either all color photos or all black and white photos on a 2 page spread, the pages worked well together.

Here's the first page of the scrapbook:

I used lots of buttons to add personality and texture to the page. For the first time I used lace cardstock......SO MUCH FUN!!! It was a 12" x 12" page which needed to be trimmed down so that I could use pieces of it on several pages. Here I placed the lace behind the photo. For some reason, I don't use a lot of photo mats...I always end up placing scrap pieces behind the photos. I just love that sort of look.

I placed the photo corners in a spot where one of the curls from the lace cardstock curled over onto the photo corner......I loved the way that looked.

I used LOTS of Love Notes Die-Cut Tags by Making Memories.

The white lace cardstock is by K I Memories called Bloom Frost Lace Cardstock. I can't find a link to this specific item on the K I Memories website (it's probably discontinued).....but I did purchase the lace cardstock at Lasting Memories in Lynnwood, Washington.

I love how the flowers seem to frame this photo! I was drawn to this patterned paper in the store, but wasn't sure how it was going to work with the photos....but I bought it anyway. I think it worked! I thought handwriting the quotes added something personal....a part of me and my love. Isn't it amazing how you can literally wrap up a gift in your love???????

Here's a couple close-up photos of the page.

This very beautiful patterned cardstock is made by S.E.I. It's called Jolie Chocolat "praline". I cut out the section with the flowers and used it on this page. I tried to search shopsei.com for this paper, but couldn't find it so here is another link to a site called Crafty Tart which will show you just how cute this patterned paper is!

The flowers are mostly felt and paper from Making Memories: Blossoms & Buttons "In Bloom". It comes with red, white, and orange felt flowers, some white paper flowers with polka dots, and red, blue and orange buttons.
The white with red polka-dot ribbon is by American Crafts.

The chipboard embellishments are also from Making Memories called "jigsaw shapes".

Here's a close up so you can see the detail of the flowers and the quote.

Here's another page featuring the S.E.I. paper it's actually another part of the same piece of patterned paper. I used a craft knife to trim out one of the butterfly wings so that it would overlap the photo. TIP: Be sure to use a glass mat to trim, a self healing mat will not glide very well and will result in paper tears.



Once again, I used the Making Memories jigsaw shapes and Love Notes Die-Cut Tags (link above). I really love the softness that the pink adds. Very feminine. Very lovey dovey!
Here I used more lace cadstock by K I Memories but used red instead. This page didn't really need much. I think the beautiful photo and quote say enough. The tag is more of the Making Memories Die-Cuts. I used a white Signo Gel Pen to write the quote.
Again, the photos and quote is all I needed to create the feel I wanted for this page.....love, unity in the intertwined fingers.....romance. The quote reads: "The spaces between your fingers were created so that anther's could fill them in." (Sigh).

A close up of the photo of the bride-to-be. I hope this scrapbook I create can express all the love I want it to. I'm so very happy these two found one another.....and I can't wait for some nieces or nephew to run around.....REAL SOON! I still have a few more pages to create. I will share them when they are done!!!!! Enjoy!