The Birthday Book

Today’s date is an interesting one—09/09/09; we won’t see such a repeating, single-digit date until 01/01/2101. Just a little trivia for you as it seems I’ve been awfully focused on calendars lately.

To add to my calendar obsession, I thought it would be nice to make perpetual birthday calendars for our family this year—something they can use year after year and even add to as needed. They’ll make nice stocking stuffers at Christmas.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

This is the cover of the first of the birthday books. I used pretty double-sided cardstock and layered the front and back covers with two different pieces. Each book will utilize different paper designs, but this cover gives you an example. The label is a free graphic offered by The Graphics Fairy to which I merely added the title.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Inside is a page for each calendar month with recorded birthdays and room to add more—each page uses a different cardstock priint. I created the calendar pages on my computer using Microsoft Word. The edges were cut using my Creative Memories scallop paper cutter.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

This is the back of this birthday book. I used my Zutter Bind-it-all V2.0 machine to make the bindings.

Resources

While I opted just to create my own book by simply playing around until I had what I wanted, there are numerous tutorials, free printables, and other resources available for making such a project. Here are just a few.

• Mish Mash
• Birthday calendar download from Splitcoaststampers
• Birthday calendar tutorial
• Blank calendar templates (some are old, but you’ll find a monthly template you can use)
• JustRite Perpetual Special Occasions Calendar
• Perpetual Birthday Calendar from A Page At A Time blog
• The Graphics Fairy
• Zutter Bind-it-All

Manicure Kits

Over the weekend I sewed five little manicure kit covers using a cute tutorial written by dhbuscher.com and featured on One Pretty Thing.

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The easy tutorial makes for a project that works up quite quickly. Four kits were made with bits of leftover fabric from my Tiffany's project to give as gifts; one of which will be added to Connie’s gift basket.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

I also made one for Carolyn’s Chanel gift basket. My interfacing is Timtex which I’ve been hoarding since it’s no longer manufactured, so these kits are certainly hardy little things.

My sisters will love these little manicure kits and the extra ones I made will make for nice little gifts for others.

Labor Day Blogiversary Giveaway Winner

Happy Labor Day to everyone! For most of us, it’s the symbolic end of summer. Generally it means a day of rest and end-of-summer picnics and that’s what we’re doing at our house today.

To capture the beginning of autumn colors, I offered a small portable watercolor painting set giveaway on Friday. The lucky name drawn out of my mythical (number generator) hat is …

… Kim of Midwest Musings. Kim, please email me with your mailing address so I can get my package out to you.

Thank you everyone for sharing your fall inspirations, just reading them inspires me to look at the world around me in different ways.

Blogiversary Giveaway

Yesterday marked two years of sharing my world with you; today begins my third year of blogging.

To celebrate my tiny moment in history (or herstory as the case may be) and since my blog is all about living life creatively, I’m offering a small gift set of a portable pocket painting kit to thank you for accompanying me on this marvelous blogging adventure.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Although the Tucson valley doesn’t experience any semblance of a typical fall season, it’s rapidly approaching for most of you. I thought some lucky person might like to venture forth and capture the colors of fall leaves somewhere. Whether you know how to draw or paint is really not important, getting outside and doing something creative is the point.

How to Get Your Name Included: One Rule

Please leave a comment on this post telling me something special that inspires you creatively during the fall season.

I’m a stickler for rules, so do remember my one and only request for adding your name to the drawing. I’ll randomly choose a name and announce it Monday morning. By the way, it’s okay to participate if you live outside the U.S., I’ll throw your name in the basket, too—after all, the internet is not geographically discriminating and neither am I.

Thank you all for visiting my blog over the past couple of years!

The Gift of Affirmations

Gifts of kindness and encouragement are always wonderful to give as well as receive. I love the beautiful affirmations project designed by a team of bloggers who share their project with us for free: Jamie Ridler Studios, Joy Rebel, Kind Over Matter, mae-b at deviant art, and Magpie Girl.


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There are 36 affirmations and I made two sets yesterday afternoon. I printed one of the available designs on one side of cardstock sheets (you can see the back of one affirmation in the lower left of the photo) before printing the affirmations themselves on the other side.


© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Next I worked on making the little boxes to hold the affirmations. I began by printing cardstock with different designs on both sides and then cut out my box pieces with the printable template. Assembly was very easy. The design elements and box pattern/template were created by mae-b at deviant art; you’ll find them at Kind Over Matter along with the instructions.

Resources

• Jamie Ridler Studios
• Joy Rebel
• Kind Over Matter
• mae-b at deviant art
• Magpie Girl

Lace Sachet Knitting

When I worked on my Tiffany-themed Christmas gift in May for one of my sisters, I bought too much yarn for the small lace bag component.

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The lace bags are so cute and easy to knit I’ve decided to make more using my leftover yarn. Here’s the link to the pattern. The yarn is Naturally Caron Spa silky soft bamboo blend in the color Ocean Spray (#0005) purchased at Jo-Ann’s. I love the color, reminds me of sea glass.

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

Knitting these bags is so relaxing. They make sweet gifts in which you can tuck all sorts of things—a gift card, special soap, or other little treats. If you use them as sachets, tuck your herbs into a small organza bag before inserting into the lace knit bag.

Summer Fruits Recipes

The fruits of summer have been calling my name and I willingly succumbed. Throw fruit my way and I’ll roll over like a puppy to have my tummy rubbed. Here are a few recipes I tried over the last couple of days.

Ham and Pear Sandwiches


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• 6 to 12 slices French bread or sourdough baguette
• 2 tablespoons honey mustard
• ½ pound thinly sliced baked ham
• 1 large ripe pear, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese

Yield: Makes 6 servings

Spread bread with mustard. Top with ham, pear and crumbled blue cheese. Close sandwiches with remaining bread or serve open face.

Source: Sorry, but I cannot remember—shame on me. There are various renditions of this recipe all over the internet, including one by Martha Stewart (she toasts her bread).

Review: I substituted Swiss cheese as my husband won’t eat blue cheese; it would also be good with Pepper Jack or Gruyère. Honey mustard is a favorite, but we also tried it with Dijon. This recipe is not only super easy and fast to assemble, it’s delicious.

Mango Bread


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• 6¼ oz butter
• 1 cup fine sugar
• 4 eggs
• 6 oz can mango pulp
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 2 cups self-raising flour
• ½ cup chopped dried mango

Lightly grease a 6" x 9.8" loaf pan. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Transfer mixture to large bowl, stir in remaining ingredients. Spread mixture into prepared pan, bake at 350°F for 50 minutes, or until lightly brown and firm. Stand bread in pan for 5 minutes, turn onto wire rack to cool.

Source: An Australian recipe from Joyce’s Fine Cooking

Review: While it’s not a difficult recipe, I don’t like the floury taste. It took 15 minutes longer than instructed to bake and, even then, it didn’t seem done to me. Maybe it’s because I made my own mango pulp instead of using canned or maybe the recipe calls for too much flour. Whatever the reason, I won’t make this again.

Chilled Red Berry Soup


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• 1 pint fresh raspberries
• 1 pint fresh strawberries
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup ginger ale
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp triple sec
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• fresh mint leaves for garnish

Reserve 6 strawberries and 12 raspberries for garnish. Puree the remaining berries in a food processor or blender. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve over a non-reactive bowl, pushing as much pulp through as possible. Leave seeds behind.

Whisk remaining ingredients, except reserved berries and mint, into the puree. Cover and refrigerate until cold. Garnish with berries and mint.

Source: From Savor: The Royal Caribbean International Cookbook

Review: I love eating cold fruit soups when adventuring about on cruise ships and was tickled to try out this recipe. However, it left a metallic aftertaste in my mouth which bothered me. Royal Caribbean’s chefs are much better at making this recipe than I am.

Peaches under Meringue


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• 2 ripe peaches, halved and pitted
• 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar, divided
• 1 large egg white
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped sesame candy or crushed Amaretti

© June Scroggin, All Rights Reserved

About the latter two ingredients—I couldn’t find the sesame candy anywhere, but my friend Cindy found a box of the Amaretti for me at Starbucks.

Preheat broiler.

Put peaches cut side up on a baking sheet and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar (total). Broil 4 to 5 inches from heat until tops begin to brown, 2 to 4 minutes.

Beat egg white with a pinch of salt in a deep bowl using an electric mixer at medium-high speed until foamy. Gradually add remaining 3 tablespoon sugar, beating until white holds stiff, glossy peaks. Fold in sesame candy or Amaretti.

Place a dollop of meringue on each peach half and broil 30 seconds. Turn off broiler and leave peaches in oven just until tips of meringue are browned, 30 seconds to 1 minute (watch carefully).

Source: Gourmet magazine, August 2009 issue

Review: We love the yummy results. This recipe is easy to make.