Read It Forward: Three Free Books

I read the Hey, It’s Free blog when I have time in order to discover all sorts of free wonders to be had. Today I discovered three new free books and thought I’d quick tell you about the opportunity in case you don’t know about this wondrous blog.

Sponsored by Crown Publishing Group, their Read It Forward program provides an opportunity for you to get free books here and there. The title says it all—read and pay the opportunity forward by giving the book(s) to someone else to enjoy.

Source: Crown Publishing Group

The offer lasts only as long as the limited number of copies available. Don’t stall, my friends, hustle over there right now and then make your way to Hey, It's Free to find other items you may like. Click here for the books.

Blessings Friday: Christmas 2009

Source: The Graphics Fairy blog

Merry Christmas to all of you—my husband and I wish you an abundance of blessings!

Hugs,

Almost Elf Time

It’s Christmas Eve and this afternoon my husband and I will pretend to be elves and deliver our last little gifts to nearby friends and neighbors.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

We’ll deliver the Magic Reindeer Feed and Rudolph’s Spare Red Noses I made to all the neighborhood children. But we haven’t forgotten their parents; we’ll give them a copy of Richard Paul Evan’s book The Christmas Box as well as a tin of Cinnamon Toast Pecans I made and the recipe in case they want to try making some themselves.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved. Holly sprigs graphic from The Graphics Fairy blog

I converted Paula Deen’s recipe to a card for my recipe box. Click on the picture to enlarge for saving to your computer and printing. For gifting with the pecan treats, I printed the recipe on cardstock, made decorative corners, and backed it with a piece of dark-red cardstock.

All the little gifts are lined up on the pool table, ready for stuffing in our elf sacks (no, we really don't have elf sacks), and off we'll go just when the sun is starting to go down and the Christmas lights come on in all the houses. I love Christmas Eve!

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve and enjoy all the magic this night brings to the world.

Kitchen Measurement Conversion Charts

My presents are made and wrapped, the house is ready, and this week is when I can enjoy some leisurely baking. Yesterday I shared some recipes I like to make at Christmas. Anna at Thimbleanna asked for measurement conversions to U.S. standard for the shortbread recipe. I have provided those in the comments section for that post.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

After thinking about Anna’s request and the number of recipes I have requiring conversion, I decided to make some simple conversion charts using measurements from one of my cookbooks.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

I printed them on magnetic paper last night and stuck them on my fridge. The banner graphic came from Karen at The Graphics Fairy blog. Now I have an easily available resource when using recipes originating outside the U.S.

Just click on the pictures to make them larger for printing on magnetic paper. I’ve also created a PDF version in case you prefer that; it’s available here and in the Tutorials section on my sidebar. I hope this small project helps in your Christmas food projects.

Recipes and Sewing Mrs. Claus’ New Bag

Holiday Recipes

All my Christmas preparations are done and all I’m doing now is having some fun in the kitchen, baking a bit here and cooking a bit there. I’m having a lovely, relaxing time.

On a recent trip to Michaels to get some craft supplies since there’s still at least one tiny nook in my house not yet inundated with creative tools, I found holiday recipe boxes on sale. I could make such a box as I did for Halloween a couple of years ago, but the ones at Michaels were cute, cheap, and ready to go.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Packages of gaily-designed recipe cards were tucked in the $1 bins, so I grabbed a bunch of those along with two of the recipe boxes. One box and packages of recipe cards will go to my daughter Lindsay. Now I’m pulling out holiday recipes from my computer archives to put on my card set to store in my new box.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Here are a few recipe cards I’ve made in the past in case you’re seeking to add to your own collection. This card was put in use yesterday to make Yule Bread in honor of Winter Solstice.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved. Recipe card graphic purchased from The Vintage Workshop.

Pfeffernuesse—German peppernut cookies are one of my all-time favorites. After living in Germany twice and being spoiled by the glorious Weihnachten traditions there, I cannot survive without these delectable cookies each year.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved. Recipe card graphic purchased from The Vintage Workshop.

Shortbread is my husband’s favorite, so he’s now stocked up with this treat for awhile.

Mrs. Claus’ New Bag

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Mrs. Claus (that would be me) needed a new red-and-white bag, so I’ve made one exactly like the Japanese Knot Bag I made last year for a blog giveaway using the free tutorial at Show Your Workings.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

I’ve been thinking about that bag since my giveaway and wanted one for myself; thank goodness I still had some of the same fabric in my stash. I love that the bag is reversible, so Mrs. Claus can enjoy whichever side makes her happy on any given day.

Shenry’s Christmas VI CD Swap: “Whoopee with Sass”

Warning: Dear Gentle Readers who expect a safe crafty subject today. It’s not. Don’t read if you’re easily offended. If you do choose to read, please don’t fuss at me later; I’ve tried to keep it somewhat under control.

Once again, I’ve participated in Shenry's annual Christmas CD Swap. The theme this year was challenging for me, one of his suggested considerations was “Orgasmalanche” and another Michael Jackson. I had to ask a friend what the first term meant.

Source: I received it in an email the other day, but it originates at parodyville.com

Since Michael Jackson really doesn’t do anything at all for me, I worked on the “Orgasmalanche” theme—which was rather brave of me considering it’s a public display of naughtiness. It’s probably good the mostly young people in the swap learn we old folks still have a life, y’know. This can be my good deed on behalf of baby boomers everywhere. My CD is titled “Whoopee with Sass”.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

We’re tasked to explain our music choices on our blogs—awkward for me as I keep such subjects private and do not write about them. However, I chose to accept the challenge and am endeavoring to meet the established parameters.

In considering my play list, I contemplated … uh … making love … as a type of bell curve where everything starts slow and easy, somewhat tentative. Then it all gets much more energetic and builds to a peak—enough said about that bit. Then the bell curve turns downward to cuddling time. Everyone’s different, but this is my world view of such matters and my musical offerings reflect this perception.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

If I’m going to put brazen music CDs into the hands of the other participants, I figured I could at least make everything look pretty. I used a CD Kit from Chronicle Books (various versions can be found cheaper at Amazon.com) to create my gift set offerings and printed my play list on pink paper.

Blessings Friday: Recycling Christmas Cards

Christmas cards are filling up our mailbox, but what do we do with the cards after the holidays? The subject has been discussed on many blogs and just the other day Finnyknits offered a couple of new ideas. Today I thought I’d continue the virtual conversation.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens magazine, December 2009

Last night I remembered this magazine article I’d recently read, so I dug it out and scanned it into my computer to share with you. It’s a lovely charitable idea to consider.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Yesterday I used tutorials found at Chica and Jo’s blog to make a note pad and a matchbook-style note pad out of two recycled cards. My little test projects went well and were very fast to make.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Here’s another view so you can see the end of the cat note pad where it’s edged with padding compound to make pages that you can tear off. I wanted to keep the sentiment in the matchbook-style pad so I was careful how I cut the card. This one will go in my knitting bag for making notations about what row I’m on at any given time.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

A couple of years ago I posted a tutorial about making small origami gift boxes out of old cards, perfect for tiny gifts like candies or jewelry.

Resources

• Craft Christmas ornaments with Junk Mail Gems
• Create a recycled Christmas card banner
• Crochet card edges to make new cards at FaveCrafts
• Finnyknits makes a yearly post sharing creative card recycling projects: 2009, 2008, 2007
• Make origami greeting card boxes with me (a PDF link is listed in my Tutorials in the sidebar)
• Many project ideas may be found at Chica and Jo’s blog
• Recycled Card Program at St. Jude’s Ranch
• Use the cards in rubber stamping projects at About.com

The blessings of receiving cards at any holiday or special occasion are double-fold—we can also use the cards later to continue the love.