Genealogy

I've really been into the idea of recording genealogy lately. And I love genealogy scrapbooking products. I adore Karen Foster Designs' Kids' Ancestry Line (see left). They are so fun-looking and perfect for connecting kids to their roots. I also like K & Company's Ancestry.com line (below). Obviously, it's more adult-like. I'm trying to decide whether I can abide the muted tones though. I keep telling myself I need to record this stuff while the people who still know my ancient history are around and cognitient of it. I need to just purchase one of the many genealogy scrapbook lines available now and give myself that kick in the rear I need to get it all down.

Transparencies in Scrapbooking and Dear Lizzy

OK, so I have a bunch of transparencies, but I never know what to do with them. Today

I saw this page, which uses transparencies and looks great. It's on the site Scrapbook Circle, which has some great scrapbook pages and ideas. It's a wonderful scrap blog; a definite bookmark. I found the site when visiting Elizabeth Kartchner's site Dear Lizzy. She seems to be really into mixing pastels and brights and I love her collections. It's a great site to visit if you wanna look at what's new in her paper line or to just see her pages and projects. Her stuff is usually really girly, but I can't help being entranced by it. If you scroll down a bit, she shows you how to make a fabric mini album (as seen in the picture to the right). It's just so cute.

Fall Crafts

If I had to, I would say I'm more artsy than craftsy. Although sometimes it's nice to do a little craft that doesn't take long yet still provides that feeling of accomplishment with a usable by-product (it has be something I would display in my home). Better Homes and Gardens has some neat fall crafts like these Tin Can Luminarias.

Martha Stewart's site posts a craft of the day. I really like the Shivering Bats Shade. Although I wouldn't use bats, I like the idea and it's super-easy. I also like the Family Fan Chart (although not a "fall" craft, it's still fun). The site provides this template, which makes it easy. Although someone posting as "artdork" posted an updated version as a jpg that looks nicer (it's made to fit a 20" x 28" frame). The Accordion Travelogue is also pretty cool.

Fall Desserts

My FAVORITE time for dessert is fall (and that's saying a lot because I like dessert any time)! I love pumpkin and apple flavors. What I enjoy making (and eating) the most is pumpkin pie with a crispy topping, apple crisp, and sweet potato pecan pie (oh, don't even get me going on sweet potato recipes!). But I'm always on the lookout for yummy and not too complicated dessert recipes. BHG has a section of "36 Yummy Pumpkin Recipes" that include: (And the pictures below are from BHG recipes on their site.)

Pumpkin-Chocolate Cheesecake Bars,

Pumpkin Custards with Peppery Pecans,

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Pumpkin Cookies,

Spiced Pumpkin Donuts,

Double Decker Pumpkin Bread (I already have a go-to pumpkin bread recipe, but this one, with a layer of cream cheese in it, looks scrumptious),

Pumpkin-Praline Cheesecake (I usually make a pumpkin-swirl cheesecake, but this one looks super-easy if you nix the praline powder),

Pumpkin Creme Caramel,

Pumpkin Tiramisu (How awesome that sounds! Ack!!!!),

Ginger Pumpkin Mousse,

Pumpkin Spice Whoopies.

Martha Stewart has some great-looking pumpkin recipes as well, of course. Like Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Icing, Chocolate-Pumpkin Tart, Pumpkin Muffins.

Something I make all through the fall and winter and that is beloved every time is Apple Crisp. I've used the same recipe for years and it's always excellent. I got it from and friend who got it from a friend (so I have no idea who "Mrs. Jezowski" actually is). Give it a try and I'm sure you'll return to it again and again, both for its ease and its deliciousness. We like it with a scoop of French Vanilla ice cream.

Mrs. Jezowski's Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp

8 large tart apples, peeled and sliced thinly

1 tsp. cinnamon (or more)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

1/2 cup melted butter

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place sliced apples in a 9" X 13" greased pan.

2. Combine the cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle apples with 1/2 of mixture.

3. Combine sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, and egg. Spread over apple slices. Sprinkle with the rest of the cinnamon mixture. Pour melted butter over the top.

4. Bake for 40 minutes or until brown and bubbly on top. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

For the Crisp I made this year I used CORTLAND APPLES which were AWESOME because they weren't too juicy. I don't like to dish out some crisp and have loads of juice left in the pan (like always happens with Granny Smiths). Cortland was the perfect variety for great taste and texture.

Pumpkin Decorating

This year I'm really liking the look of pumpkin stencils that you don't carve through the pumpkin like the following example from Better Homes and Gardens (you can get free stencil downloads there like this owl one). BHG has an entire section of stencils of various dog breeds and cat breeds as well as "text me" pumpkin carving stencils. They also have a cool video called "Pumpkin Carving 101" that has some neat ideas. Or you can get a written tutorial.

{The above images are all from BHG.com/stencilgallery.}

Photographing Layouts

Here are some of my favorite scrapbook layouts from the past few months. I like to take pictures of them and post them on Facebook as friends and I do weekly scrapbook challenges together. My problem is that I never can get my layouts to look perfect. In the magazine the layouts are always straight and there's nothing intruding from the background. I'm sure part of it is that I don't have the best camera, but what else can I do to photograph them better?

Stamping

I just purchased the Fiskars stamp set Bold Flowers from ebay (you can get it at Joanns.com). I love buying stamps (especially the clear ones, and they're so much easier to use, it's like, why didn't we think of that sooner?). The thing is, once I've bought them, I rarely use them. I love to see what other people have done with them and it's usually viewing others' projects that I'm motivated to buy the stamp (the Bold Flowers set was used in one of my scrapbooking magazines this month). I guess I just forget to use them or it seems like too much work. I don't really know. I'd love to incorporate them more in my scrapbook pages. I know I'm CAPABLE of using stamps well as I've done it many a time; I just need to do it MORE.

Prima Book

My bestest buddy introduced me to Prima as she has a friend who works there and gets to adopt lots of freebies. They've got a new book out, which is sure to be as fantastic as all their amazing products. I love their flowers and butterflies.

Fall Decor

Bought a bunch of Gourds at the Garlic Festival this past weekend. I also found a great vintage two-tier serving platter with 22K gold splatter accents on it for $4 at an antique store. Love it! So, I put a bunch of little pumpkins and gourds on it. I'm currently using it as a centerpiece (I moved the flowers off the table). Last year, we set big gourds in the window flower boxes of the four front-facing upstairs windows. But they kept falling down in the wind and whatnot, so this year, I'd like to put them there on boards with nails poking up so they can be held firmly in place.

The October Martha Stewart has great pumpkin carving ideas, as usual (as seen below). I love the carvings that don't go through the pumpkin, but scrape the top layer so the light shows through. I think I'll try something like that this year.

Insulators

My in-laws were here this weekend and my father-in-law had a serious jones for the old abandoned insulators one sees around here. So, he went out with my husband and they happened to find a bunch of downed ones. I have to admit, they're pretty cool. I got a wooden beam from a power line with 4 insulators screwed onto it in addition to a bunch of individual ones. I'd like to display them, but I'm not sure how. My mother-in-law is trying to find a way to turn some of theirs into lamps. I've seen a couple of uses on the web, but I'm not attracted to any of them. What to do...

Scrapbook Albums

I make a yearly scrapbook of my family's goings-on in addition to whatever little projects I do. This scrapbook does not span the traditional year, but rather I make them in years from my wedding anniversary. Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult to fit all the pages I do into one post-bound book and I end up having two books/year. Although I find post-bound books far easier to use than strap books, it still is rather annoying when I need to add a page into the middle. A friend was asking me yesterday how I house my pages, because these other methods have gotten old. But now, I've found D-Ring albums and that solves a lot of the problems. I prefer Pioneer brand albums because they consistently fit my 12x12 pages (so many albums/page protectors don't and I end up having to trim my pages to get them into the album, which I do NOT LIKE). With D-Ring albums, I can add more pages AND I can add pages without removing any of the others (you may like this too, if, like me, you don't scrap chronologically). Joann Fabrics often has their albums on sale, but D-Rings can also be purchased at Amazon.

A couple of caveats with the D-Ring album: one is that they ARE bulky. That doesn't bother me too much, but if you like to keep your scrapbooks more compact, it may be a problem for you. The other thing is that, if you do a lot of two-page layouts (like I do), you're gonna have like a 2" space between them due to the rings. With the postbound albums, the pages flow together a lot nicer.

Halloween Decor

I am not one to decorate for Halloween (I do the autumnal thing: pumpkins, gourds). It's just never been my thing. In fact, I find most Halloween decorations kind of off-putting. HOWEVER, while at Joann Fabrics, I noticed that Martha Stewart Holidays has tons of cool stuff for Halloween! I love these test tubes. And, frankly, I have no idea why or what I would do with them. Every time I see them I have to strongly resist the urge to buy them (???). I also like the window clings and cut-outs. And, of course, the baking cups. These things are not cutesy, scary or overdone. Like most products a la Martha Stewart, they're tasteful.

Scrapbooking Sites

OK, so I don't usually troll through the internet looking for new sites. I'm just not a "surfer." But I love discovering new sites that appeal to my interests by being directed to them. I've discovered recently a couple of scrapbooking sites. Crate Paper has a great scrap blog with beautiful pages and some cool projects on it. Love it. Great for inspiration. And my neighbor told me about Tim Holtz' site where you can find product demo videos and a really cool gallery of projects and pages. The videos are basically about how to use Holtz' own line of products, but I learned how to use the Distress Ink I already own in ways I never would have known about otherwise.

Becky Higgins' Project Life is available again from Amazon. It was gone shortly after I put it on my wishlist and now it's back to taunt me. I would Luuurrve to own this kit (but where to find an extra $50?).

Becky's website contains links to her blog as well as FREE downloads! She has a Personal Yearbook download, which is intended for school age children to record moment in the year. But it would also be great for adults to want to highlight some memories without getting into scrapbooking whole hog. She also has a lovely picture of doors available in various sizes as well as free fonts. But my favorite thing for download now is her Adult Life Story. I intend to print several copies and coax my children's grandparents into completing them!

New Patterned Papers

Can I just say I am so excited for the arrival (due out later this month) of Die Cuts with a View The Colorful Life Stack? It is gorgeous! Their Black Currant Stack looks great too. I love the sparity of using just three colors--shades of black, white and pink. This Stack is already out, but I haven't bought it yet. No doubt I will get both of these stacks.

I love all things Crate Paper as well. I would love to get ahold of their Snow Day Collection. I have used several of their collections in the past and they always deliver with good quality cardstock and great embellishments that aren't cutesy. View a pretty tower of their collections.

If you're like me, having 20+ pages of the same stack ends up being altogether too much. Before I get even half way finished with it, I'm into another sort of patterned paper and, truth be told, I rarely return to the older ones. I guess there's good (creativity) and bad (pocketbook) things about the continued invention of new scrapbooking products. There's always something new to love and buy and the older stuff that was once so cool falls by the wayside. I always say I'll use my stash, but really, when I'm realistic, I know that's not going to happen.

Serena & Lily

I love getting this catalogue! Everything, from its cool design to the weightiness of the paper, makes it seem like a magazine. And, the price of most everything in it means that's probably all it will ever be to me. But, Serena & Lily is so fun to look through. The products are whimsical and cool, sweet and classic.

I think their Sarah Bird Lamp (left) or the Alabaster Ring Lamp (below) would look lovely in a girl's room. I especially love their paint colors. I use them as a springboard for scrapbook page colors as well as interior paint and furniture colors. You should definitely check out their palette.