Scrap Girls Digital Scrapbooking Adventures

Marshmallow Snowmen

It's simple to make a quick, easy and fun holiday treat made from marshmallows, melted white chocolate and candy. Last year we made these cute Marshmallow Snowmen to bring to my daughter's class party and the kids liked them so much, we made more! We made some to accompany home made cocoa mix that we gave as gifts to our neighbor friends. Here is how you make them.

You will need the following ingredients:
marshmallows
white chocolate
m-n-m’s candies
mini chocolate chips
mini pretzel sticks
lollipop sticks
cellophane bags/ties
wax paper

Melt white chocolate in microwave according to package. Dip one side of marshmallow into melted chocolate, stick it to the side of another marshmallow. Repeat with a third marshmallow. Lay flat on wax paper to cool. Add candy ‘buttons’ and chocolate chip eyes with melted white chocolate on the tip of a toothpick. After chocolate has cooled, add pretzel stick arms and place on a stick. Wrap, tie & watch for smiles! Enjoy!

Snowflake border on the photograph from Brush Set: Snowflake Doodles, recipe card from Cookie Swap Collection, AMC_Friendly Font, AMC_Doodlelicious Font, Lettering Delights Underwood Pica Font.

Pretty Pedi Pals

One of the best things about Scrap Girls is the friends that I have met online. Three years ago we had our first Scrap Girls retreat where we met "in real life." It was so wonderful to be able to see each other in person, to hear their voices and connect the photos of these women with a real person.

It was such an odd feeling, that I already knew these women and yet I had never met them. It turns out that I have made some of the best friends in my life, even though we only 'see' each other once a year. I so look forward to being with my Scrap Girls friends at convention and spending time with these important women in my life.

This year, we were lucky enough to plan in a little girl time and pamper ourselves with a massage and pedicure. I've never had a pedi before! The pampering was great, but just being with my girlfriends was the best part. We had a wonderful time together, and I hope I don't have to wait another year to 'see' my friends again!

Photo folds from the ScrapSimple Embellishment Templates: Photo Folds 4 , word art from the Brush Set: Handwritten Life Biggie, and background papers from Photo Mojo Collection.

History of Art

One of my required courses in college was Art History. I think most students that take an Art History course end up with the same required reading material, the extra large, heavy and cumbersome History of Art by H. W. Janson.

I remember lugging around this large volume, and memorizing names and dates that have now escaped me. This Janson book has continued to come in handy. It has been great for pressing flowers and four leaf clovers, and occasionally referencing the name of an artist or a famous work of art in response to a Jeopardy question.

Now my Janson book makes a great weight for flattening papers and assorted artwork on my scanner! So my advice to current and future art history students, don't worry about the heavy reading. It will come in handy some day.

Arrow from the Milk Jug Arrow Embellishments.

End of the Rainbow

Recently, we enjoyed a summer rain. While it was pouring buckets on one side of our house, it was bright and sunny on the other; the recipe for a perfect rainbow.

My son, Max, was so excited. He noticed it first. He exclaimed, "Mom! There's a RAINBOW!" It was a good one. It stretched from the backyard to the front and when he stood underneath it I said, "You're the pot of gold at the end of my rainbow!"

The elusive gold at the end of the rainbow has been found. It's my son's golden locks!

I made this digital scrapbooking layout with the following products: Pot of Gold Collection Mini, Park Play Collection, Old School Collection Biggie, Milk Jug Arrows Embellishments, Thoughtful Font, Lettering Delights Letterpress Font, Lettering Delights Hoopla Font

Sunkissed

Ahhh, summertime. I love summer! I was a summer baby and so were both of my children. Summer to me is birthday parties! It's sprinklers, kiddie pools, melting popsicles, and sunkissed faces.

My daughter Maddy gets the cutest sunkissed face in the summer. As she spends more time playing outside, she gets more freckles on her cheeks and nose. I always know that summer has arrived when I can no longer count all of the freckles on her face! Maddy's sunkissed summer freckles have to be one of my favorite things about summer.

Products used in this digital scrapbooking layout include: Sweet Summer Collection, Sunny Day Word Art Mini, Lettering Delights Hoopla Font

Banana Bread

When life gives you brown bananas, make banana bread! I have lovingly used my paperback Betty Crocker cookbook for so many years that it is literally falling apart apart at the seams, especially between the pages of 42 and 43 where you would find the Banana Bread recipe. I'm afraid that someday I will go looking for that recipe and it will be lost. Especially since I've added my own little twist on the recipe, and I don't quite know it by heart.

I have decided to make my own cookbook filled with my tried and true favorites. I've just started with a few recipes, and I plan to laminate and bind them together. In case you have a few ripe bananas in your kitchen, you might want to give this recipe a try! Its a winner around our house, rarely lasts more than a day.

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
1/2 cup buttermilk (you can substitute milk or water plus powdered buttermilk)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
raw sugar (that's my special twist, it gives the top a nice sparkly crust)

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 2 loaf pans.
Mix sugar and butter, stir in eggs until well blended.
Add bananas, buttermilk & vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pans.
Sprinkle tops with raw sugar. Bake 1 hour. 
Cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy!

Cookbook layout made with Easy Page Pro Album: 8x8 Cherry Kitchen Cookbook

Craft Cabinet Chaos

We have a cabinet in our house that I have designated as the "kid's craft cabinet." It corrals all sorts of crayons, markers, coloring books, glue, bits of paper - you name it. The kids pretty much have free reign over the cabinet, except for the top shelf, which has a basket of paint, far out of the reach of my four-year-old.

Because I have given them freedom with their craft supplies, along with it came complete and utter chaos! I would show you a before photo, but I'd hate to embarrass myself any further! I have purged and cleaned this cabinet on more than one occasion. I always end up re-sorting the markers and pencils. I decided that they needed labels for their bins so they can figure out where things should go when they are done using them.

Of course, a plain white label will not do for this digital scrapbooker! I made my own with my digital scrapbooking supplies and printed them on glossy cardstock. I laminated and tied them onto the baskets with some ribbon. Since my son can't read yet, I am hoping that he will recognize the pictures in the coordinating papers from the School Time Collection. I'm not sure if this will work, but at least we're taking a step in the right direction.

My craft bin labels were created with these digital scrapbooking products: School Time Collection Biggie & AMC_Chalk Talk Font

Snow Story

Sometimes, pictures speak a thousand words and sometimes they don't tell the whole story. It's easy to forget the little details, unless you take the time to write them down. Often times, it's those funny, little details that make great journaling for a very memorable digital scrapbooking page.

In this case, the pictures didn't tell the "snow story.” On one snowy January day, my son had said such a cute, little thing that when I looked back over the photos that I had taken that day, I remembered how funny it was and didn't want to forget it.

The journaling for this page reads:
This winter, it seemed like every time we went outside to play in the snow, you would get frostbite on the cheeks. You would turn bright pink and when we went inside you would cry that it was so itchy. It didn’t help that you kept eating the snow! So, this time we made a deal that you would keep your scarf on your face. If it fell off your cheeks, I asked you to tell me and I would fix it. I also asked you to try to keep the snow off your face. I suppose I did say “try.” You were so cute trying to catch snowflakes on your tongue and eating the snow. It was difficult for me to insist on keeping your scarf on your face. But, every now and then, when your scarf was down, you would say, "Repair, please!" (Definitely worth journaling, don't you think?)

In this layout, I have used:Snow and Ice Word Art Stickers, Snow Delightful Collection Mini & Lettering Delight's Hoopla Font

The Advent Box Elf

Psst. Can you keep a secret? Shhh! Don't tell anyone! We have elves in our house! The sneaky silly kind that like to create mischief and fun, especially at Christmastime. One particular elf likes to fill the advent box with fun little messages for the children in our house. Our advent box has little elf sized drawers, and every day the children love to peek inside and see what kind of candy, ornament and note the elf has left for them. I got a sneak peek at this year's list of messages! Perhaps I shouldn't tell, but I'm sure you can keep the elf's secret? I was surprised to notice that our elf has taken up digital scrapbooking. I recognized the background paper from the Christmas Past Collection, and I suspect it was carefully written with the Christmas Carol font. I'd love to share the elf's list with you and perhaps you can pass it along to your sneaky little Christmas elf? Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

That sneaky little elf leaves these messages in our advent box:

Make a paper wreath for your bedroom door.
What is your favorite Christmas memory? Share it with your family.
What is the best gift you ever gave? And received?
Make a special hand made Christmas card for someone you love.
Bake some cookies! It’s never to early to start the holiday treats!
Go outside and look for shooting stars tonight. Make a wish on a star.
Have you written your letter to Santa? You better watch out!
Write a letter or draw a picture for your grandparents. Mail it!
Have some hot chocolate with all the good stuff on top....YUM!
Go see Christmas lights after dark. Take along a cozy blanket.
Make paper snowflakes. Hang some on your tree and your windows.
Make micrwave s’mores. Go ahead, you can eat them too!
Have breakfast for dinner! Or dinner for breakfast?
Dance like crazy to your favorite music! Don’t scare the neighbors!
Make silly hats from construction paper, wear them to dinner!
Decorate some ornaments for the Christmas tree. Hang them up!
Sit quietly and watch the sunset, enjoy the company of your family.
Make thumbprint reindeer with paint, don’t forget the antlers and red nose!
Cuddle up on the couch and read a Christmas story to each other.
Make a paper chain for the Christmas tree. See how long you can make it!
Watch your favorite Christmas movie and have a bowl of popcorn too!
Bake Christmas cookies and decorate them. Make sure to save some for Santa!
Make a snowman out of cotton balls! And sing some Christmas Carols!
Did you put out some cookies and milk? Don’t forget to feed Santa’s reindeer!

Making Faces

As a parent, I know it's common to use the phrases, "Don't play with your food!" and "Stop making faces!" with my kids. I'm sure many of you can relate! You might find my daughter's take on that phrase a little amusing.

Recently, we were hit with a power outage due to a wind storm from the after effects of Hurricane Ike. Fortunately, we only lost power. My heart goes out to those that lost so much more. We were lucky; the storm only lasted six hours and there was no damage to our house. We were without electric power for three days, but we had really pleasant temperatures and we managed to have some fun despite the situation.

When it began, we were just about to cook dinner. The lights flickered, the power went out, and our dinner plans had to change. To make light of the situation (no pun intended) my daughter, Maddy, used her creative imagination and made a face from her food. In this situation, I think it was quite appropriate to make faces and play with her food! This moment had to be digi-scrapped, wouldn't you agree?

I made this digital scrapbooking layout using the following Scrap Girls products:Brush Set: Smiley Faces, Happy Family Paper Biggie, Feeling Free Paper, Old School Embellishment Biggie, Brag Book Collection Mini, Childhood Memories Paper Mini & Lettering Delights Mother's Typewriter Font