Recipe Scrapbook

Tessa posing with her beautiful Recipe Scrapbook

Today's post is featuring my friend Tessa and her fun creation: a Recipe Scrapbook! (You can find Tessa's own blog here: http://momentsinmada.blogspot.com/)

One of my favorite pages from Tessa's Recipe Scrapbook

Tessa's Recipe Scrapbook combines 2 of my favorite things: cooking recipes and scrap-booking! This is an easy and fun craft project for anyone and it also uses a lot of items you may already have.

To make your very own Recipe Scrapbook, all you need are some simple supplies:

• blank notebook or journal
• magazine clippings/pictures
• glue or tape
• your favorite cooking recipes

A Mexican-themed recipe page in Tessa's Recipe Scrapbook

Then, to make your very own Recipe Scrapbook, start by gluing or taping clippings or pictures from magazines into your blank journal.  You can be as creative as you want with this, and it's also fun to make this an on-going project where you add more pictures as you find them.  

Happy crafting! You can get as creative as you want with this fun and useful project, the Recipe Scrapbook!  Thanks for letting me highlight you, your Recipe Scrapbook, and your cooking today, Tessa!

The completed Lemon Cloud Pie recipe page with the finished pie!

Tessa with her delicious Lemon Cloud Pie!

Easy Display Board

I have been trying to figure out an inexpensive way to decorate the blank wall behind my sewing area in our living room.  It is was plain white and pretty drab-looking.

See for yourself:

So, I was reading one of my favorite craft blogs (check it out here: www.makeit-loveit.com) and she had the cutest tutorial for something called a "Project Display Board."  It only requires wood/cardboard/thick paper, any kind of material/paper/tissue/pictures, some glue and clothespins! I have all of those things here in my house in Madagascar, so I decided to try it out!

Here is her lovely tutorial: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/12/project-display-board.html

And here is my finished product! 

It is SO simple, and SO quick to make! I used regular-sized clothespins (her tutorial uses large clothespins) on which I glued purple and pink tissue paper (which I received in a care package for my birthday recently!).  I used fabric from the local market here that was leftover from a quilt back I recently made for a birthday present.  And, I cut up the boards (well, not really...the hubbie helped me cut the boards...I think he enjoyed using his knife for this!) from an old cardboard box that we had in our house.  So, the total cost of this project was $0! (The hubbie was especially excited about this!)

I currently have pinned some birthday cards and a few pictures to these display boards, but I know that I will find more things/papers to rotate onto the board.  I'm also super excited that I have some color on that wall...and not just hospital-room white everywhere! 

Here are some close-ups of the finished product: 

As always, happy crafting!

Fun & Fast Craft Project

I am in a crafty mood today and have limited craft supplies here in Madagascar (and today is Sunday, so all of the stores in town that may have had some supplies are closed) so I had to get a little creative. I have been storing all my pens/pencils/highlighters/markers in old tin cans, and so I decided to make them look a little better!

Here is the finished product: decorated pen/pencil holders! :)

You will need: 

Tissue paper (I used pretty purple flower tissue paper that I received in care package!)

Tin cans (I used old tomato paste cans, cleaned and dried)

Glue
Scissors 

Simple instructions:
1.  Cut tissue paper to fit the circumference of the tin cans
2.  Apply glue generously to the outside circumference of the tin cans
3.  Roll each tin can (with glue on it) on cut, & measured tissue paper
4.  Glue excess tissue paper to the bottom of each tin can and on the top, inside of each can

Happy crafting!