Thursday, March 12, 2009

29 Days of Sweets

My Step-son and his wife were married a year ago. They had a fun reception which included a full table full of cookies (which my mother-in-law and I made). We had a lot of fun making and arranging the cookies. Sadly the Bride and Groom were so busy that they didn't get any of the cookies.


I decided that for their Anniversary I would make a unique recipe book that included all of the cookie recipes plus some other family favorites. I customized it by making it their wedding colors (Pink & Brown) and played on their Wedding date (Feb. 29th Leap year). So of course the book had to include 29 recipes.

I had lots of fun with this. I created some cute recipe cards with some amazing digital paper and embellishments which I printed out on blank 4 x 6 index cards. It had a great old casual look and feel. I used regular scrapbook paper to cover a 6 inch book with 20 pages (7-Gypsies) and inked everything to grunge it up.


I cut 6 inch squares and then cut them in half to create pockets for the recipe cards. I then put an eyelet in each side of the pocket to maintain strength and threaded some ribbon through the top eyelet.

I put numbers (1-29) on each recipe card and punched out circles (stamped 1-29 on them). I placed the numbered circles on each pocket so that it was easy to return the recipe card to it's pocket. I left several pages so that they could personalize the album with pictures. I also added several extra pockets with cards for their favorite dessert recipes.



I wanted this book to be personal so I added some gel pens so that they could mark the book up. On the back inside cover I wrote a personal message and on the back outside of the book I stamped and wrote some important dates for them to remember (wedding date, etc). I had fun making this even though it took more work than I thought it would. It was definately worth it. Since the Recipe cards are 4x6 the cards stick out of the top a bit to add to the home made rustic feel.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Down But Not Out

I haven't posted anything new here for a while for a few reasons. I had surgery at the end of October to fix one problem but now can't sit for more than a few minutes without lots of pain - how embarrasing! So now I am having another surgery on the 24th of this month to fix this problem (fingers and eyes crossed). Not to worry it is just a same-day surgery and hopefully I'll recooperate quickly. I'm soooooooo tired of not being able to do what I love. Being down and inactive has put a kink in my plans (literally in my lower back for two weeks). Now that my back has unfrozen I will try to get some things created. I don't do bored very well.

I have created a few things (very slow and frustrating) so I will post them. I have something in mind for my Easter "Stretch Your Imagination" challenge and hopefully I will get it completed before Easter actually passes by.

I am so far behind on Birthday, Anniversary's and general creative fun. I have been busy though (in bed on my back with my laptop) learning about Digital Scrapbooking. I LOVE the idea and hope to create some fun albums with it. I do love the physical paper arts too though so I will have to balance the two.

Those that truly know me know that my life is never boring (understatement) but very blessed (also an understatement) and when it seems like I'm exaggerating I'm really not telling everything because the general public wouldn't believe me if I did. I think it took a few years for my Brother-in-law to really believe some of my stories but now he claims that I am much more interesting than anything he could watch on TV. I'm not sure if that is good or bad but we like to kid each other.

So having said all that....I include the following. Our desktop computer went down (it was networked throughout our house so all of our files are stored there)! I have been soooo spoiled, by my talented husband, to be able to log on wherever I am in the house and access information and print. My poor husband worked on it for over a month, ordering parts, testing equipment and such. Finally he got all the right parts and got it up and running (not the network yet). While I was doing my happy dance (Ouch!) my new HP All-In-One fancy printer stopped printing with black ink so my poor husband worked on it for a while but couldn't get it fixed. In the meantime he found the same printer (only one version earlier) at a Charity Store for $25. He thought that he could use it for parts but after working on it he has it up and running perfectly while I try to contact HP about my new expensive printer that won't work! At least we now have a decent printer. Whoooo Hoooo...and then my laptop died.

It was actually kind of funny because my husband went to look something up on my laptop (because I was having problems) and it just died. The blue screen of death came up and then it just went black. His hands went up in the air and he had that look in his eyes that said, "It wasn't me!" After spending long hours trying to get it to boot up he finally said let's shop around for laptop prices.

I was so sad because I bought that laptop with money that my Grandfather left me when he died almost seven years ago and it was a big splurge - large screen (15 in.) fast and it had lots of memory (40 GB)... OK, so back then it was a great laptop! I've been having problems with it for awhile but kept hoping that it would get over it...kind of like the flu. Alas, after long faithful years of service, fun and comfort it is gone. SIGH, it will be missed!

OK, so now for some exciting news. After window shopping on the net and going to Costco so we wouldn't miss the laptop sale (painful ride) I have a shiny new laptop with all the bells and whistles. I can even watch BlueRay movies on it. It has a larger screen and weighs a lot less than my old laptop. I have spent time trying to update everything and get acquainted with my new laptop and I think we are going to get along just fine.

Well, to make a long story even longer I thought that I would explain why I haven't posted anything for awhile but I do see a light in the not so distant future and I should be up and creating all the fun things that I have stored in my head soon.