It's that time, Christmas Favorite Things.....

It's time to start thinking about our Favorite Things for the holidays.  I love to ask all of you each year what your favorite new things are, and then publish your responses, usually the last week of November.

So put on your thinking caps, and send them to me in an email.

I'll give you a tease for one of my favorite things this year, and it's a great one, girlfriends...

Okay, I've been a fan of Susan Branch forever.  She has this whimsical, quirky style of writing and drawing that is often imitated, but never duplicated.  She's the best, in my opinion, when it comes to originality in illustrating books, all of her work is done by  hand, no fonts, ladies, it's all her handwriting. She has wonderful books, great pajamas, labels, tea towels, stickers, a plethoria of unusual items are sold in her shop online.  if you aren't familiar with her work, you really need to check her out.

A few years ago, she came out with a line of scrapbooking papers and stickers.  Our local Michael's had a whole kiosk full of her things, and I loved browsing thru them.  I got the idea to make both boys a Recipe Scrapbook, using her designs for Christmas.  It was quite an undertaking, as I had to make two original copies of everything, but they were a huge success, my guys have loved them, they have all of our family favorites in one book, and they use them constantly.

I'm on Susan's newsletter mailing list, and this year she introduced her Recipe Scrapbook  Binder.  It comes with pages, stickers, recipe cards, everything you need to start creating memories for your family.

The price of $19.00 is a huge savings, I had several hundred dollars in my guy's collection when I did theirs, as I had to buy everything individually, and then buy the binders.

So, if there is someone in your family that you would love to give a special memory to this Christmas, there is plenty of time to start your own scrapbook.  It doesn't have to be finished by Christmas, in fact, these things are never finished, you just keep adding to them year after year.

CLICK HERE to see her wonderful scrapbook, and if you want to be in for a real treat, CLICK HERE and browse her entire site.

She has given me permission to use her Pumpkin Cheesecake in my Christmas Recipe Collection.  I'll have this posted before Thanksgiving, some of you might enjoy making her cheesecake recipe for the holidays.  It sounds yummy, with a Gingersnap Crust, Rum, and a Bourbon Praline Topping.  It was featured in her Autumn Book that I had bought for V a couple of years ago, she copied the recipe and brought it to me last week, so I'll get it posted soon. 

Meanwhile, check out her scrapbook, I wish you could see pages of the ones I did for the guys, they turned out really well!

~ jan