Game On!

Kristin over at the ScrapbookUSA Expo blog has started a fun monthly challenge, and here I am on the last day of the month, just sneaking in!  You should, too -- the prize for the randomly chosen winner is two free Early Bird tickets to the Expo.  That's a $40 value.  Just sayin.

Also, the challenge is to use this sketch from Shawn of Nuts About Sketches, which is a great one I can see using over and over:

Here's my take on it:

I used the cute "Little Sport" collection from Fancy Pants, and chipboard letters from Jenni Bowlin Studio that I snagged at the last ScrapbookUSA Expo.  I created the football accent myself with a scrap of leather-ish vinyl and some embroidery thread.

Look at that face -- little cutie.  And would you believe after doing this whole layout I remember I bought some of those professional player/team pics they do and I totally forgot to include them?  Oh well -- I guess another page is in my future!

To the one I love... Valentine's Card for ScrapbookUSA Expo

Back again with another card for ScrapbookUSA Expo, using the delicious Kissing Booth collection from Basic Grey.  This collection has a lovely eclectic style.  I used a pre-die-cut scallop-edged card, then added the doily and stitched ribbon border strips.  The paper doily went so nicely with this collection, and then trimmed a couple of hearts from one of the sheets of patterned paper.  The flag is one of the great stickers from the collection.

Thank goodness for Valentine's Day -- just the thing to warm up the cold wintertime!

10 Years of US... for ScrapbookUSA Expo

Time again for a project for Scrapbook USA Expo, and this month I get to play with the lovely Kissing Booth collection for Basic Grey. This collection has a lovely eclectic range of papers that would be great for any Valentine's project, or anything romantic or girly.

 Last year my wonderful hubby and I celebrated our tenth anniversary and had new family pictures taken in the same spot where we'd done our engagement pictures. I was inspired by a similar layout I saw in the most recent issue of Creating Keepsakes and started with our engagement picture, then added a small picture from each year of our marriage, and ended with our most recent picture. For this layout I loved the effect of the layered, stitched border strip with buttons, which came pre-made with the collection. How handy is that?! I also used the letter and number stickers for the title and to label the first and last pictures.

Click to enlarge -- you know, if you're dying to see us close up... :)

Click to enlarge

 Valentine's is such a fantastic time to celebrate the loving relationships in our lives -- what better way than with a layout chronicling your journey together?

Infographic: Our Family in 2012

I wasn't planning to make time for Christmas cards this year -- just one thing I couldn't squeeze in -- but then I saw THIS POST from the Nicole's Classes blog on Pinterest, about making an infographic about your family instead of the typical card or newsletter.  I fell in love and decided I'd have to get it done one way or another.  I still wasn't able to get them out in time for Christmas, but I just finished it up and decided it will be perfect to send out as a New Year's greeting.

Click to enlarge

I also set up this photo to include in the envelope.

Hope your New Year is starting out fantastic!

Real Danish Æbleskiver -- by popular demand!

A couple days ago I posted this Instagram picture of my æbleskiver, sizzling away in their cast iron skillet.  Oh, the deliciousness!  Æbleskiver are a traditional Danish Christmas treat, something a little bit like a pancake ball, but ever so much better tasting.  They are served with all kinds of dipping sides -- butter and a sugar/cinnamon mix, jam and powdered sugar, fruit or maple syrup, nutella, etc.  Several people asked for the recipe, so I thought I'd post it here to make it easy to find and use.  I got this recipe while serving as a missionary in Denmark about 13 years ago, and it makes the most moist and fluffy little balls of goodness you could imagine.

Real Danish Æbleskiver
4 eggs, separated
1 T sugar
2 c. sifted flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
1/2 c. melted shortening
2 c. milk

Beat egg yolks and add sugar.  Sift dry ingredients together and add to egg yolk mixture alternately with shortening and milk.  Fold this mixture into stiffly beaten egg whites.  Bake in æbleskiver pan (preheat pan over medium heat -- a good cast iron skillet generally doesn't need to be greased because there's already a lot of oil in the batter, but if you find them a little sticky you can baste the cups with butter).  Fill cups 3/4 full.  Allow to bake until bubbles form around edges.  Then flip each bubbling æbleskive over and finish baking.  Many Danes use a crochet hook to flip them.  Other favorite implements are metal skewers -- I just use a fork. :)

So if YOU have an æbleskiver pan just gathering dust because you don't really know what to do with it, try this out!  If you don't have one yet, here is a good one on Amazon.

PS - some recipes call for various fillings inside the æbleskive itself.  I'm sure that's lovely too, but I never had them that way in Denmark.  If you want to take up æbleskive-making, I'd start out with a recipe like this and get it figured out before moving on to something more complicated.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Pom-Pom Fairies for the Tree

I was looking up an old pin on Pinterest the other day and my Eliza saw a picture of pom-pom clothespin fairies.  "Are those for me?" she asked, with such excitement -- how could I say no?  Especially when I have been wanting to make some so very much!  So we followed the excellent tutorial at that link, and here are the ornaments we created:

The clothespins I found at Hobby Lobby were a little different from the nice rounded heads I've seen elsewhere, and they just needed a little something extra.  I painted tiny wooden balls and hotglued them to the top to create the buns.  The wings are just made from scraps of white craft felt.

My kids (to varying degrees) loved learning how to make pom-poms out of yarn.  They all liked the concept, but only my 9-year-old had the patience to finish the whole thing without my help.  It IS pretty time-consuming.  But they all loved the finished product, and they loved that I wrote their name and the year on the back, so that when they grow up they can take it with them.  I think a new tradition has been born in our family!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season -- only a week left!

Naughty&Nice... for ScrapbookUSA Expo

I have another cute Aspen Frost by Basic Grey layout to show you, brought to you by ScrapbookUSA Expo! My earlier layout was fun and eclectic and pretty darn busy, so I thought I'd show you how well this collection also lends itself to the quick and simple. This layout came together very quickly, but it looks great!

I started by setting up my pictures to print onto a single 8 1/2x11 sheet, leaving that bottom middle space blank. Once I got that printed out, I just had to layer the various papers together, add a few stickers and tags, and it was done! I'm not generally a very quick scrapper, but with the awesome coordinated products Basic Grey sent me, I was able to get this done lickety-split and still feel like it has my own personal stamp. Love it!