Christmas Cards

It's that time of year again when we send special hand made greetings around the world. I still need to make a few more cards. I made a dozen for my mom to give away. Here are a couple of them. I love how the pearls really finish off the look of these cards.

The best friends in the world

I have the best friends in the world. These layouts make me smile when I think how special my friends are to me. Thank you!

Chipboard books

I love making chipboard books. They are great for presents or as nice keepsakes to keep closeby. I am currently making a chipboard book as a birthday present so I can't show you yet (sorry mom!). But here is the BoBunny MyWord chipboard book I made about our family. I used SEI papers as well as Creative Cafe felt words for some nice dimension and texture.

Fun ways to journal

I am always looking for fresh new ways to incorporate journalling on my pages. I recently came across this cool site that allows you to create newspaper clippings.

Check it out: http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

I used it to create this cool layout about a trip to Austria where I only had 24 hours notice. I typed in my journalling, printed it on creamy coloured paper and ripped the edges for the look of an authentic newspaper clipping. It makes for a fun way to include the details of a special story on your pages.

Tina's Cottage

My friend Tina has started an annual girls' weekend at her lovely cottage on gorgeous Lake Huron. It has been going for three years now and we have had such a wonderful time, chatting, watching chick flicks, browsing the quaint shops of the Bruce peninsula, taking walks and eating homemade food. Here is a layout of the girls' weekend, 2008 edition as well as some photos.

Thanks Tina!

Favourite Layouts

As it is getting closer to the end of the year, I find myself thinking not only of all the scrapbooking I have yet to do (yikes is it really mid November??), but also of all the layouts I have finished this year. I have been pretty productive this year and looking back through my albums, I am reminded of so many happy memories depicted in the special photos and journalling.

Here are a few of those layouts that make me smile:

Survivor Scrapbooker

During the summer I participated in a "Survivor" style scrapbook challenge over at TSF. It took place over several weeks and was a lot of fun. I learned so many new techniques such as distressing, layering, detailed hand cutting etc. The challenges really helped me take my scrapbooking to a whole new level. Here are some of my favourite layouts from that competition.

Birthday Wishes

This weekend we went to a combo birthday party for a friend's 40th and her daughter's 2nd. That really got me into card making mode. Here are two that I made:

Taste of Summer

A dear friend recently invited me to participate in an email recipe exchange. The directions said the best recipes were the ones you knew by heart and that you made often. I immediately thought of my homemade pork burgers. I had been planning on making them that day. On a cold fall day, those burgers taste just like summer. Whenever we eat them, I think of warm summer days, like the one depicted in this layout I recently finished.

Here is my recipe, one passed down to me by my mom:

1 package of ground pork

1 egg

2 cloves garlic minced

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 teaspoon dried thyme (or more to taste)

1 tablespoon worchestershire sauce

2 tablespoons minced onion

salt and pepper

Combine well. Shape into patties. Grill until no longer pink. Serve on lightly toasted buns. Should make 4 good sized burgers.

Welcome, wilkommen, bienvenue!

Welcome to my new blog, a place for sharing all the good things in life: travel, recipes, favourite books, and of course scrapbooking!

This blog is inspired by a twist on one of my favourite sayings. The 16th century proverb goes something like "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." Well I certainly think you can. Whether it is turning travel glitches into new adventures, creating a gourmet meal out of an empty fridge, and of course transforming bits of paper, ribbon and glue into scrapbooking masterpieces.