Swapping with a School Theme

Oh.. my... MIA I have been....I exchanged with a partner on Yummy Recipe swaps this month for a school theme, "Sandwiches and Snacks" I got a cute school time bag and crayons, a fun sandwich receipe and the cutest crust and sandwich cutter, with a pattern for a school vest.... IT is a great package...

Yummy Recipe Swap Packages Sent and Received

Want to swap some handmade recipes and goodies with other recipe collectors and friends?

Then check out Yummy Recipe Swap over on Flickr. It is a great place to swap all kinds of recipes weather for eating or gardening or spas fromt he kitchen or this month's new swap, "Cooking Tips" fun fun fun!!!!

The Spa recipe one I made for Clasheen included a sponge with a hand crocheted top for the bath.. :) and I made a little booklet recipe for the spa treatment I sent..

This one was for sweet month Valentine's and I chose a coconut recipe...which I sent on to Always Joy we have to send one ingredient along with the recipe too... :)

I got this lovely package from Vickyplum with handmade egg cozys and heart cutters and cute strawberry fat 1/4 and heart buttons.. :)

This was the jar recipe I sent to my partner.. funkyluke I sent her the currant rice made with rasins.
And the swap for "Mixed in a Jar" and this is what I got from Always joy ....it even had the cutest corn cob holders with it....and a neat hotpad....

Then we had the one for the garden...I decided to make recipes for rich potting soil and bug sprays made from the kitchen. I had a lot of fun making up the package..I even got one of those cute squirrmy rubber worms that lights up when hit, and pictures of my flower beds, an emery board made in the shape of a leaf, some soil fertilizer cubes, flower seeds, and a handmade recipe card booklet I made from pretty scrapbooking paper and tied it together with a piece of yarn...

This is the lovely tote bag Girly girl Bags made me to go with my spa package she sent me. Isn't it the cutest print...See the coffee scrub spa treatment recipe it came with yummy smelling coffee beans too... :)

Recipe Handmade Cards for Gifts

Handmade recipe cards make wonderful "cost saving" gift for anyone. A friend, Mom, sister, a neighbor, teacher, mail lady, your favorite hairdresser or nail lady. Just about any occasion it is a welcomed gift. After all we all need recipes for our parties or get togethers. I love getting them and you can then put them into a "Scrapebook" recipe book. What a great way to store those recipe cards!

What you'll need:
Cardstock [Michael's or any crafting store has a wide variety]

Index cards or whiter or cream color cardstock
Printer
Scissors
stickers [any craft store even Walmart]

decorative hole punches

stamps [in any design desired]

buttons

How to make it:
You can either purchase cardstock paper at your craft store or you can print on printer paper and glue to index cards. I recommend using the cardstock paper.

Basic Directions:

• Decide on whether you will use 3x5" or 4x6" recipe cards. (Hint: Whether you are going to put it into a card holder or a scrapebook will determine the size]
• Layering your recipe cards are fun
• use a larger card stock paper for the backing maybe 5x7
• then print out your recipe card
• glue it to a smaller one like 4x5
• then glue the recipe card to the 5x7 paper backing
• add your stickers or buttons around the edges
• maybe punches of stamping designs
• always put your name and who its to with the date on the back using a pretty glittery ink[that is if you haven't already typed it on the front of the recipe card. This is i,portant to do if you plan on putting it into a scrapebook]

Genreal Directions:

• Choose a theme [like if it is for a dinner mabye you want stickers with forks, or candles, or if its a bar b que maybe some stickers of cooking outside, or ants, or grills, you decide]
• pick out some decorative stickers or buttons to match your theme
• Either write your recipes on the cards or use your computet [ I suggest for better reading to use your computer. There are many available templates.]
• f you give them as gifts, you can make one or several and tie them together with a pretty ribbon or wrap them up in tissue paper or netting and tie with ribbon or yarn.
• Add a few theme related gifts, such as a jar of bar b que sauce with your bar b que recipe. It is always great to include one of the ingredients with the recipe or all of the ingredents in a basket.
• You can also do a 4 season theme and make 4 recipes with a theme for each season.
• Or theme it to a holiday and put the recipes and the themed extras into a basket
• How about making a recipe that is not edible, but instead one for a Kitchen Spa, Garden, Pet recipe [for food or cleaning items], or even one to prepare you for a party like a "B" day or tea party.

There are tons of ideas for recipes and making them themed with a few little extras goes a long way and will be very appreciated by any person you decide to give it to!

Happy recipe making!

My Knit/Crochet Spring Fling Party Recipes

Our annual "Spring Fling" party at my house for my LYG was a blast and as usual I had to come up with a theme...I decided on butterflys and flowers....I searched the Internet and found this cute ideas on About and made regular cupcakes and bought some gummy worms for the bodies and cut them in 1/2, then I used sugar sprinkled jelly candies and sliced them in 1/2 and used them for the wings, the feelers were made from licorice.....fun fun...

the "Dirt" flower pots I "tweeked" a little, I bought some pound cake and pushed it into the bottom of the little pots I found at Michaels, then made some chocolate and vanilla pudding and put that in, then topped it with crushed Oreos to look like dirt. Before adding the pudding and cut a straw to size and pushed it into the pound cake. then at the end stuck a floer into the straw and used the left over gummy worms on top...and there you have your flower pots....so easy and perfect for any spring or summer party!!!

Cinnamon Sticks GUEST GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Cinnamon Sticks GUEST GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sweet Potato REcipe Contest!! Win $1000

Sweet Bytes is offering a wonderful contest!! You could win $1000 just for making your favorite "original" sweet potoa recipe. All ya have to do is make it, photo it and post it on your blog, then let Sweet Bytes know... Go over there right now, and read all the rules and get cooking...............

Entries will be accepted beginning Saturday February 21, 2009 at 9:00 am ET through 11:59 pm ET on Tuesday, March 31, 2009. Contest is only open to US residents who are 18 years of age or older and currently maintain a blog. Winners picked April 9th

Recipe Swap Cupcake Lovers

I run a small recipe swap on Flickr, Yummy Recipe Swap, and this was the recipe I recieved for Feburary's swap. It is a really great one for cupcakes. I love getting new recipes especially ones for desserts.

I decided to check out some cupcake variation ideas for decorating them once I make them and here are some of my results.