Cooking? Only if it's out of a scrapbook!

Cooking is almost like crafting. ALMOST. You work with your hands, create lovely things and get to enjoy the finished product after you are done. However, cooking has some pitfalls that crafting does not....which is why at the end of the day, I choose crafting! When you are finished doing a scrapbook page or painting a frame, you can just throw away your scraps, drop cloth and be done with it. BUT, cooking....ahhhh! You cook for a bit and you have to clean a hundred little tiny things when you are done. You have to make sure you don't leave any extra food out, because if you do, you will smell something rotten in a couple days. Even if you cook something AMAZING, you only get to enjoy it a few times. You spend all that time cooking and then 'poof,' your husband gets home and the food is gone. You spend time crafting, and you get to enjoy it FOREVER!

I realize that my logic might possibly be a little skewed, but nonetheless, it is where my opinion stays: crafting will always trump cooking. However, since cooking is a must for this stay-at-home-part-of-the-time-wife, I have turned my cookbook into something worthwhile! A cookbook scrapbook. 

This idea is NOT my own, but I love it! My aunts (years ago) put all our family recipes into a 5x7 cookbook and decorated each page. I, of course, had to be part of this project! As time has gone on and many more recipes have made it into my arsenal of cooking, I have added on to this cookbook. Last night in fact, I could not sleep, so got out some new recipes of mine, typed them into the computer, printed them out, cut them to a 5x7 size, decorated each little 'page' and then found them a special spot in my cookbook.

How to do it: type up your recipe (set the page margins what your cookbook scrapbook will be), print it out in easily readable but CUTE font...colors are good too, cut the page to size, add simple border to the page (You will be SHOCKED how many random boarder stickers you might have!), then add some fun stickers or embellishments to the page. WaaLaa, done!
If you are not a scrapbooker, or just learning how to scrapbook, this is the PERFECT project, because it is very quick and you can make it as complex or as simple as you would like. And, then, when you finally do decide to cook, it will just warm your heart that at least something in your kitchen will last forever....well, at least longer than your food!





Where my recipe book sits open in my kitchen next to all my other "regular" cookbooks.

Not your Grandma's China Cabinet...

**Disclaimer: I am uncertain if the word "china" in the phrase "China cabinet" is supposed to be capitalized or not. Therefore, I used an uppercase about half the time, so at least I'll be right some of the time. I am sorry if I have offended the Chinese or anyone else with my lack of proper capitalization.

Some of my most favorite things to look for at flea markets and antique stores are china cabinets. The reason for this is probably because I have an unnatural love for dishes! LOVE THEM!!! I already own four complete sets of dishes and I am already to starting to collect a fifth (an INCREDIBLE Kelley green antique glass dish set for Christmas....these dishes make me happy every time I see them!!!)....I digress. China cabinets, they are amazing! I bought one a few months ago and am not satisfied with the one coat of paint I put on it. I have constantly thinking about how I am going to make it my own....while nothing has come to me yet, this is a project on the top of my to-do list.

However, when visiting the Motherland, I was reminded of what makes the china cabinet so amazing. Both of my sweet grandmas own very lovely china cabinets. You know the China cabinets I am talking about here: An oak wood (or some other very nice wood) with glass pane windows so you can peek in at their very gorgeous china and crystal. While these China cabinets are very nice, they are traditional and lack the flair that I wish to bring to my own china cabinet someday. BUT, the woman that can bring flair to anything is Tami Trivitt, my mom.

Let me tell you a little bit about her China cabinet. She painted it black (I know what you are thinking....BLACK?! Is she crazy?!), mosaic-ed the back of it with light-aqua-colored translucent mosaic tiles, knocked out the wood shelves of it and replaced them with glass shelves instead, painted the inside sides a light aqua color and then added little jewels on them. Then, she had my grandpa (yes, my entire family is incredibly creative) make lead (stained) glass cabinet doors for the front. To top it all off, she drilled a hole in the back of cabinet, so she could add a light at the top of the cabinet. "OH MY GOODNESS, she has destroyed this piece of wood!!!!" That was my initial thought when she told me about it via phone before I actually saw it in person.

However, what my mom created is one of my favorite pieces of re-done furniture that I have ever seen. I absolutely LOVE it. This amazing 'piece of wood' is not your grandma's china cabinet. :) Every time I see a china cabinet in the antique stores, I try to see it's potential as something that could someday look like this!

THE China Cabinet!

I have learned that the most important part of decorating is not WHAT you have, but HOW you arrange it. I love the way my mom stacks things here and there in her china cabinet. Design everywhere!!!

An up-close view of the mosaic backsplash of the China cabinet...there are even little added jewels here and there, LOVE IT.

The inside corner of the cabinet....little details everywhere!