October 19, 2022Community, Inspiration, Learn

Baking Memories with a Recipe Swap and Giveaway!

Close To My Heartbaking, baking memories, cake, cardmaking, christmas, cinnamon rolls, circles, cookies, cooking, crafting, Family, food, free, Freshly Baked, friends, fun, giveaway, Holiday, holiday treats, kitchen, lick the bowl, love, memories, Memory Keeping, potatoes, recipe cards, recipe swap, recipes, scrapbooking workshop, stamp, straight cut, sweet life, Thin Cuts, treats, yummy 57 Comments

Some of life’s sweetest moments take place in our very own kitchens. It is where we gather with friends and family to share stories and make memories, often while enjoying something appetizing that has been carefully plated by the host. Today, we invite you to be our guest as we combine two of our favorites—food + crafting!

Even though in scrapbooking we often find a lot of squares and straight edges, have you noticed how prevalent circles are in a kitchen? From an array of dishes to cakes and cookies, circles are everywhere!

We took that familiar basic shape and used it to make a scrapbook page with our Freshly Baked paper collection, easily creating a space for preserving a moment where friends gathered to spend quality time together and make a delicious treat.

The smaller, patterned paper circles making up the larger circle shape on the page were cut from the Freshly Baked paper packet using the Circles Thin Cuts. The additional page elements, including the title and the smaller accents scattered across the page, are either stickers from this collection or stamped images from the Freshly Baked—Scrapbooking stamp set.

This second scrapbook page also carries the circle theme, this time through the designs on the patterned papers rather than the way the papers were cut. With just a few strips of paper, and some additional straight cuts, this delectable page also comes together quickly!

One of our favorite things on this page (besides the super cute couple pictured! ❤️) is the cookie cooling rack with the cookies on top of it! The cookie shapes were easily cut with the Freshly Baked—Scrapbooking Stamp + Thin Cuts and then colored in to create accents to accompany the photo. For easier attachment, and to avoid having the space behind it appear too busy through its spaces, we mounted the die-cut cooling rack on White Daisy cardstock. The white space surrounding the cookies provides our eyes with a place to rest as we visually take this delicious page in.

As you can see from these two examples, the Freshly Baked collection has all the ingredients you need to preserve memories of food, recipes, traditions, and other kitchen fun in amazing scrapbooking layouts. Next time you’re preparing a meal–whether it’s an old family favorite, something new, or a meal for a special occasion–take pictures of the process and the result (so millennial of us, but why not?!), and then add these, along with pictures of the chefs and a copy of the recipes, to your scrapbooks!

Not sure where to start? Give one of our workshop kits a taste! The Freshly Baked scrapbooking workshop is designed to create three coordinating 12″ x 12″ two-page layouts that would make a great home for any of your kitchen exploits.

Include the recipes as part of the journaling and turn your scrapbooks into an even more valuable keepsake!For even more crafting assistance with the recipe side of your cooking adventures, the Freshly Baked—Cardmaking Stamp + Thin Cuts are designed to make actual recipe cards.

This stamp and die set can be used to make cards to add to your scrapbook pages, or to make cards that you keep in your kitchen, or even to create a combination of both ideas—just imagine the beautiful functionality of a scrapbook dedicated to recipes with pictures and stories that you keep in your kitchen! (To see how and why Karen Pedersen, our Creative Arts Manager, preserves her recipes using this yummy collection of products, check out the video at the end of this post!)

Because we love food and memory keeping, we thought it would be fun to host another recipe swap, right here on the blog! We’ve done this a few times before and with huge success. It’s so exciting to see what everyone is cooking up in their kitchens, to get to know each other through our stories, and to pick up new recipes and ideas along the way! We’ve started you off with two actual recipes in the photos above–now it’s your turn!

If you’d like to participate (and we hope you will), share a special recipe and a memory that goes along with it in the comments below. If you’re not quite sure whether or not you want to share those delicious recipes running through your mind right now, we’re sweetening the deal by adding a giveaway. Share more than one recipe, even, and increase your chances to win one of THREE Freshly Baked—Cardmaking Stamp + Thin Cuts!

For your recipe to be counted as an entry in the drawing, you must also be subscribed to this blog. (If you are not yet a subscriber, all you have to do is push the big blue button on the sidebar that says, “Subscribe to list.”) You will have until 3 p.m. Friday, October 21 (MST) to enter. Even if you miss the deadline, share a recipe anyway! We want to hear from you! (While you’re at it, be sure to check out this video to see how Karen uses the Freshly Baked product collection to document and organize her own recipes!)

Now tell us…what kind of yummy memories are you baking up in your kitchen? 😋

Recipes:

12″ x 12″ Baking Memories Page
Z8047 Freshly Baked—Scrapbooking Stamp + Thin Cuts, X7285S Freshly Baked Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet, X6050 Flamingo Cardstock, X6046 French Vanilla Cardstock, X6066 Honey Butter Cardstock, X6068 Seabrook Cardstock, X5950 Toffee Cardstock, Z4189 Intense Black Exclusive Inks^™ Stamp Pad, Z3561 Black Diamond Stickles^™ Glitter Glue, Z3630 Watercolor Pencils, Z3224 Small Round Waterbrush, Z4575 Black LePen^™, X7285E Freshly Baked Dots, Z3943 Circles Thin Cuts, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Z5038 Die-cutting & Embossing Machine

12″ x 12″ Lick the Bowl Page
Z8047 Freshly Baked—Scrapbooking Stamp + Thin Cuts, X7285S Freshly Baked Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet, X7285D Freshly Baked Picture My Life^™ Cards, X6046 French Vanilla Cardstock, X6066 Honey Butter Cardstock, X6049 Scarlet Cardstock, X6068 Seabrook Cardstock, X5950 Toffee Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z6531 Mocha Exclusive Inks™ Stamp Pad, Z3555 Christmas Red Stickles^™Glitter Glue, Z3787 Platinum Stickles^™Glitter Glue, Z3559 Waterfall Stickles^™ Glitter Glue, Z3630 Watercolor Pencils, Z4575 Black LePen^™, X7285E Freshly Baked Dots, Z2060 Thin 3-D Foam Tape, Z5038 Die-cutting & Embossing Machine

4″ x 6″ Creamy Cinnamon Rolls Recipe Card
Z8046 Freshly Baked—Cardmaking Stamp + Thin Cuts, X7285S Freshly Baked Paper Packet + Sticker Sheet, X6068 Seabrook Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z6531 Mocha Exclusive Inks^™ Stamp Pad, Z6526 Scarlet Exclusive Inks^™ Stamp Pad, Z2805 Black Exclusive Inks^™ Stamp Pad, Z1509 Sepia LePen^™, X7285E Freshly Baked Dots, Z4607 4″ Masking Tape, Z5038 Die-cutting & Embossing Machine

4″ x 6″ Sour Cream Cheese Potatoes Recipe Card
Z8046 Freshly Baked—Cardmaking Stamp + Thin Cuts, X7285S Freshly Baked Paper Packet + Stickers, X6066 Honey Butter Cardstock, X6049 Scarlet Cardstock, X6068 Seabrook Cardstock, 1385 White Daisy Cardstock, Z3839 Scarlet Glitter Paper, Z4189 Intense Black Exclusive Inks^™ Stamp Pad, Z4575 Black LePen^™, Z1500 Red LePen^™, Z5038 Die-cutting & Embossing Machine

A Giveaway, from our Holiday Kitchen to Yours!

Close To My Heartalmond bars, christmas, cut above, food, giveaway, Holiday, Holiday Kitchen, Karen Pedersen, kitchen, Memory Keeping, michelle snyder, preserving memories, recipe book, Recipe Kit, recipes, storytelling, sugar cookies, tradition 125 Comments

Can you believe that Christmas Day is less than 2 weeks away? As we all attempt to get some last-minute menu details in place, we thought it would be fun to host a recipe swap, right here on the blog! If you’d like to participate (and we hope you will), just post a holiday recipe and any story that might go along with it in the comments below.

To get us started, we have some yummy treats from a few of our favorite ladies at the Home Office:

If you’re not quite sure whether or not you want to share those delicious recipes and memories that are running through your mind right now, we’re sweetening the deal by adding a giveaway to help you preserve, celebrate, and remember your holiday table the way you would any other tradition. Share a recipe in the comments below and be a subscriber to this blog for a chance to win one of FIVE Cut Above^® Holiday Kitchen Bundles!

The Cut Above^® Holiday Kitchen bundle comes with:

30 – recipe cards
12 – overflow cards
10 – title cards
8 – journaling cards
6 – divider pages
2 – sticker sheets
36 – Memory Protectors™
1 – My Acrylix^® From the Kitchen stamp set
1 – Black Everyday Life™ Album

Whether they are old family recipes or new favorites, the meals and goodies we prepare become part of the holidays themselves. The Holiday Kitchen Cut Above^® recipe kit includes everything you need to get all those recipes in one place together with the stories and memories that make them so special—and it makes a wonderful gift, especially when filled up with your tried and true recipes!

Share a favorite recipe with us or share more than one to increase your chances to win a Cut Above^® Holiday Kitchen bundle. (Posting the same recipe multiple times does not count and will not increase your chances of winning!) If you are not yet a subscriber, all you have to do is push the big blue button on the side bar that says “Subscribe to list” for your entry to count for the prize drawing. You have until noon tomorrow, Friday, December 14 (MST) to enter. Even if you miss the deadline, share a recipe anyway! The more the merrier!

Now remember, this Holiday Kitchen recipe kit is only available for purchase through the end of the year. Make sure to get yours while you still can!

Now it’s your turn: what’s cooking in your holiday kitchen?

Memories from the Kitchen and Giveaway

Close To My Heartalbum, cut above, Everyday Life, free, Gimme Some Sugar, giveaway, kitchen, Kitchen Traditions, my acrylix, nostalgia, Recipe Kit, recipes, stamp set 173 Comments

You may have heard it said that the kitchen is the most important room in a home. It is where you go to gather with your family and guests to cook, eat, socialize, do homework, craft, play games, and, on occasion, even scrapbook 😉 . With so much of our day-to-day happening around the kitchen, we are experiencing moments that are inevitably turning into nostalgic memories that we long to hold onto.

Naturally, because of our whole-hearted belief that everyone should be memory keepers, we came up with a system to help you preserve those precious memories from the kitchen.

Designed for so much more than to hold recipes, the Cut Above^® Kitchen Traditions recipe kit is a collection of materials you can use to create a unique keepsake. It comes with recipe cards for those memorable meals that you yearn for, while also providing a place for photos and journaling to share why the recipes mean something to you.

We offer the kit in three configurations, so you can choose what fits your needs best. The first is the basic Cut Above^® Kitchen Traditions recipe kit, which comes with 60 4″ x 6″ cards (including recipe, title, journaling, and pattern cards), six 6″ x 8″ divider pages, two sticker sheets, and a helpful guide containing tips and ideas on how to use the kit. The second option is the Cut Above^® Kitchen Traditions recipe kit with Memory Protectors™. This option includes all the same materials as the first but also comes with 6 Memory Protectors™ to hold your cards and pages. The last option is the Cut Above^® Kitchen Traditions Bundle, which is an all-inclusive bundle that comes with the basic kit, the Memory Protectors, and a Bashful Everyday Life™ album and the coordinating My Acrylix^® Kitchen Traditions stamp set (D1770).

We want to give all memory keepers—and aspiring memory keepers—the tools you need to beautifully document those special moments from your kitchen. That is why we are giving away 5 (!!!) Kitchen Traditions bundles to 5 lucky winners! For a chance to win, you will have to do a little bit more than what we’ve done in the past. First, you must be a subscriber to this blog. (If you aren’t yet, just push that big blue “Subscribe to list” button on the sidebar!) Second, you must leave a recipe you love in the comments below with a short explanation of why you love it. The drawing will take place Monday, April 30, at 2 p.m. MDT and winners will be notified via e-mail, as usual.

To kick things off, here’s a recipe from Close To My Heart President Monica Wihongi:

Frijoles a la Charra (Bean Soup)

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh cilantro
1 diced white onion
6 strips cut bacon cut into 1 inch pieces (raw)
4 cans La Constena pinto beans
1 can Rotel Mexican Festival tomatoes
3 cans petite diced tomato
¼ cup mild Herdez Salsa Casera

Directions:

In a large pot, boil the beans. While you wait for the beans to boil, fry the bacon in a separate large pan. Once the bacon is soft, add the onion and sauté it in the bacon grease. Add one can of diced tomatoes at a time and bring to a boil each time. Add the Rotel tomatoes and bring to a boil again. Add Herdez Salsa and cilantro and bring to a boil one last time. Combine your mixture with beans in the large pot and bring to a boil then simmer for 10 minutes.

Now, it’s your turn. Can’t wait to see what’s cooking in your kitchen!

Make It from Your Heart

Tag Archives: kitchen

Baking Memories with a Recipe Swap and Giveaway!

A Giveaway, from our Holiday Kitchen to Yours!

Like this:

Memories from the Kitchen and Giveaway

Frijoles a la Charra (Bean Soup)

Ingredients:

Directions:

Like this:

Share this:

Share this:

Like this:

Frijoles a la Charra (Bean Soup)

Ingredients:

Directions:

Share this:

Like this: