personalize a monogram

Here is another one of the little home dec projects I've done recently.



Super simple. Printed a few pictures of us. Punched a hole in each picture and tied each picture to the "H" (for Higgins) with a piece of ribbon. Done. Sits on our entry table inside the front door.



You can find these large letters just about anywhere these days, including the Ross/TJMaxx/Marshalls type of stores. I got this one at Razmataz (one of my favorite stores) here in the Phoenix area. It's a chain and there are several locations around the valley. (I don't know if they have locations elsewhere, and I don't believe they have a website yet.) Since most of you don't live in AZ, you might want to try doing a search online or something.

banana bread & a great cause

To celebrate fall (and make good use of some bananas that were getting "soft"), I made 8 little loaves of banana bread the other day to share with neighbors. Here's the recipe I use.



Banana Bread (makes 4 mini loaves)

2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. oil
3/4 c. milk
1 egg
3 ripe bananas, mashed
chopped nuts or chocolate chips (optional)

Combine all ingredients (except nuts or chocolate chips) in a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for about one minute. Then add the nuts or chocolate chips (I'm all about adding the chocolate!) and stir them in with a spoon. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350.

This recipe makes 4 mini loaves (I love the Pampered Chef mini loaf pan that's a baking stone). You could also pour the mixture into a mini muffin pan. If you do the mini muffins, they only need about 10 minutes in the oven. Or you could do one large loaf of banana bread and that would take about an hour to bake.

[ great cause ]



My little friend, Makenzie Moore, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in her brain stem about a year and a half ago. Makenzie is such a rock, such a strength to her family & those who know her, and absolutely exudes light & joy. I'm blessed by her influence.

There is an event coming up on October 13th near Phoenix, and all proceeds benefit the National Brain Tumor Foundation. If you're interested in participating in some way, check out this link. You'll get to read Makenzie's story and get all the information. Perhaps you're able to make a small donation or, if you're in AZ, even join Makenzie on the walk. I am so sad I won't be able to be there for the walk (I'll be in Orlando for our last CKU of the year).

welcome back, fall.

I get "Fall Fever" every year, without fail. The fact that it's below 100 degrees in the middle of the afternoon here in Arizona, actually FEELS cool. I know that sounds strange or even made-up to anyone outside of this area, but I'm totally serious. We even opened up a couple doors yesterday morning (it was in the 70s) to let a cool breeze through the house. It was GLORIOUS.

That is, of course, until I saw ... Mr. Scorpion in the middle of our office floor! But wait. It's okay. He wasn't moving.

I was cautious, but not freaking out. Until David poked at it's "dead" body to make sure it really was dead. Oh NO. No, no, no. Mr. Scorpion was totally FAKING dead and started threatening David with a little attitude.

At this point, I'm up on a chair making some sort of squealing noises, which causes Porter & Claire to come running in and check out what all the excitement was about. Once Porter began laughing at me, I calmed down a little bit, got some high tech supplies for David (plastic cup, rubbing alcohol, and a lighter) and we all went outside for an exciting show of destroying that nasty little imposter.

And so ... our doors are shut now. In case you were wondering.

[ books to give away! ]

So I bet you're wondering who gets a free copy of my new book? I was going to give 2 copies away but just reading all that YOU are grateful for, made me MORE grateful, and so I felt more generous. Congratulations to the following friends:

1. "Brooke", who recently had car problems & wasn't sure she could send enroll her child in pre-school (but she can, so that's great!).
2. "pholub", who is finally of Tamoxifin for breast cancer (so happy for you).
3. "familywithfivekids", who was singing Wicked songs outloud & doesn't seem to think she can carry a tune (who cares, right?).
4. "cathy.gray", who is celebrating her husband's 50th birthday today (and 20 years of marriage with him - congratulations!)
5. "Natalie", who just miscarried the other day and had the roughest day of her life (you are in my prayers; I wish I could give you a hug).

Reading through your blessings uplifts and inspires me. THANK YOU for that.

Ladies, e-mail me (bhiggins@ckmedia.com) and let me know where you'd like me to ship your book. : )

frame your art

Most of you that read my blog are scrapbook artists (or as my friend, Ali Edwards, calls it ... LIFE ARTISTS. Love that.) Let me ask you something: Are all of your works of art hidden in albums? Have you displayed your art in your home? Just in case you haven't yet, here's something simple you can do:



Choose any frame, any size, and decorate a page with a family picture or something. I made this for my friend, Jen. I mentioned earlier that I've been doing some other home decor projects and I'll be sharing those in the coming days.

Speaking of Ali, I got a sneak peak at her new book, Life Artist: Scrapbooking Life's Journey. Excellent. Just what we all expect from Ali, and what we love about her. So proud of her on another fabulous project. I'm totally inspired. Alright - enough gushing.

I feel like I've got a little catching up to do with some of your questions:

[ teaching ]

Some of you have asked about when & where I'm teaching at various events. Part of the reason why I keep this blog is to keep those who are interested totally informed about anything and everything "work-related" that I'm involved in. So I promise you, if I've got a new project, product, or book - you'll know. If I'm showing up at a scrapbook store or teaching at a convention - you'll know. My last 2 scheduled events for the year are CKU-Orlando (Oct. 11-13) and CKC-Kansas City (Oct. 19-20).

[ good photos ]

chance1 asked about photographing projects. She said her flash is always "shining in the pics". The trick is this: Natural, indirect light (NOT direct sunlight) and turn OFF the flash. You can manually turn the flash off on your camera. If you don't know how, read that part of your manual. For most cameras, you just need to press the lightening bolt icon until you can see that the flash is off (because the lightening bolt is in a circle with a diagonal line going through it.

[ clarification ]

A few of you have asked about the contents of my new Sketches book. ALL of the sketches in this book are collected from all of my published sketches from the past 5 years. This includes my "Becky's Sketch" column in Creating Keepsakes magazine, Sketches 1 and 2 books, online bonus material, etc. But every SINGLE layout that I did for this book (nearly 200) is BRAND NEW. It took me roughly 5 months to pull that off.

[ because i love you ]

It only feels natural to give a couple books away, right? Absolutely! No trivia. Just post a comment with your name & one of the SPECIFIC blessings that you are enjoying today. I believe that the very act of writing down your blessings makes you more aware of those blessings.

I'll choose a couple names at random and I'll do this on Tuesday, 9/25. So you have until Monday night.

[ ps ]

Congratulations to Elizabeth Kartchner, our newly named Scrapbooker of the Year!

who's the winner?

Back from MemoryTrends. Enjoyed meeting the Scrapbooker of the Year finalists. By the time you read this, you may have already heard the news. I have no idea who the winner is and I believe the results will be announced this evening in Las Vegas. Very exciting time for these ladies.



Also have to say that we had the best meal ever in Las Vegas. Ana Cabrera is a total foodie and did an amazing job choosing our restaurant Monday evening. Social House ROCKS. And so did the company. And I even tried RAW things. I'm proud of myself. Like yellow-tail tuna and fluke! For a non-sushi girl, that's not bad!

from ckc to mt

Translation: From Creating Keepsakes Convention to MemoryTrends (trade show).

The CKC was in Phoenix (my backyard) this past weekend. Always lovely to meet such kind people and see many familiar faces from previous events. Check out the t-shirts that a group of friends made to wear at the event. And this other gal ... I happened to see her sitting in the hallway between classes looking at my new book. That made me feel good. : )

MemoryTrends is in Las Vegas this week. I'm just popping in & out. Looking forward to seeing what's new. Totally stoked about dinner plans with friends while we're all there.

And, of course, the best part of this busy time as I'm bouncing from here to there a bit ... a solid Sunday of just being with my family, going to church, visiting a few friends, painting pictures and reading books with my kids, chatting with neighbors on our walk, getting a little creative with a couple home decor projects (I'll share some pics soon), even getting a much-needed nap. Just BEING with my family.

This is the stuff I love the most. No question.

kotm update

Just keeping you up-to-date on the Kit of the Month program ...

If you have a trip that you want to get into an album, or you (or a friend) are going to be traveling soon ... check this out. It's this month's kit of the month. Snatch one before the end of the month so you don't miss out. It's really versatile and I love the freshly designed elements. Here are a couple layouts I did with the kit, for my friend Erin. It's her recent trip to Scotland with her hubby.



In other CK news ...

It was so much fun to meet some of you at my little "appearances" last weekend around the Phoenix area. I look forward to seeing many more of you THIS weekend at the Phoenix scrapbook convention. Be prepared for great shopping & some fantastic classes.

Keeping this short today. Take care.

Woo hoo!

I am SO excited & SO pleased to let you know that the new "Best of Becky Higgins Sketches" books are NOW SHIPPING.



Some of you pre-ordered the book, some of you will be heading to your local scrapbook or craft store and some of you might need a little nudge with this one. Do you really need another book? Here's my shameless plug: It's one thing to have 200 sketches in one cute little book (that doesn't take up a lot of space on your table). But this is another thing ...



Do you know what that is? Two HUNDRED layouts. I did 200 brand-new layouts for this book, so you're getting oodles of inspiration for photo ideas, themes to write about, color schemes, design ideas, you name it. This is the most amount of layouts that I've ever done for any of my books. The sketches helped me pull those off even faster.

Okay, enough about that.


[ fantastic ]



Kudos to Heidi Swapp and the whole team that pulled off a great Creative Escape for 600 attendees. It was truly a pleasure to be there, and to come in contact with inspiring women who have so much to share. So privileged to soak in all that Allison Tyler Jones had to say in her keynote address, spend a little time catching up with my good friend Stacy Julian, and hang out with Margi Romney-Aslett (who constantly makes me laugh!).

Speaking of Marji ... happy birthday to HER today! Marji recently learned that it was "my thing" to always, always wear rubber gloves with kitchen chores. So she brought me a super adorable pair of new gloves that makes me feel like a diva while I'm scrubbing my dishes. Incidentally, I gave her a gift too, but she wasn't nearly excited about the pair of disposable gloves I gave her. I'm not sure why. I use these in the kitchen, too, for handling meat and onions and such.



Yes, I'm totally serious. You can buy them in bulk at Costco and I love Costco for that.

[ remembering ]

Just thinking about today and what it memorializes. My thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost loved ones six years ago today. I know some are still deeply affected by those tragic events every day of their life and it is my prayer that they can find peace and feel joy in their life.

creative escape

Wanted to wish you a most wonderful weekend. Anyone doing anything out of the ordinary this weekend?

I'm a STUDENT at Creative Escape this weekend (it's here local to me, in Phoenix). So fun to be on the other side of things for a change. To just show up & learn from other teachers & make projects that stretch me to try things that I normally wouldn't do. Aslo really fun to see some familiar faces of some that I've met before at CKUs or conventions ... even a few pals from South Africa. Loving that.

Did a quick photo shoot for a pair of brothers a few days ago. These little feet belong to Kaden & Kobe. It's amazing to me how your "baby" suddenly looks huge when another baby comes along.

AZ friends - see you saturday!

Hitting some random topics today:

[ RECIPE ALBUM ]



To view my recipe album - it was featured in an article I published a few years ago - click here. (Thank you Donna!)

[ CKU-DETROIT STUDENTS ]

Attention all cute friends in my Sketches class in Detroit (April): Meaghan asked about seeing the layouts from the class since you didn't get a handout in my class. YES! I can't post them here, but you will be receiving an e-mail from CK soon with the handout and layout images. I hope that helps.

[ E-mail address ]

Meaghan also asked, along with several others, about e-mailing me directly to share some CKU pictures, etc. That's totally fine. You can contact me directly at bhiggins@ckmedia.com.

[ Attn: AZ friends ]

I'll be at 2 Recollections locations this Saturday. Come say hi in Glendale (1-3pm) or Scottsdale (4-6pm). Not both, because then you would look like a stalker. : )

I'm giving away a bunch of free stuff. You can get a free vendor faire pass to the Phoenix scrapbook convention, which is coming up NEXT WEEKEND. You'll also have a shot at walking away with my new Sketches book. Yay for that.



[ Video clip ]

The latest video segment that you can watch on Creating Keepsakes' website is featuring yours truly being a dork. Actually, it's a little bit fun. At the recent CHA (trade show) in Chicago, I got to see my new book for the first time and they got the moment on film. On the homepage, found in the bottom right corner, there are always video clips for you to watch.

chicken pillows

This one's a staple for our family:



[ CHICKEN PILLOWS ]

2-3 pieces of cooked chicken breasts, diced
(or 2 cans of chicken if you're in a pinch for time)
8 oz. cream cheese
Salt & pepper
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
6 crescent rolls (Pillsbury Grands are best)
stuffing mix (I prefer Pepperidge Farm brand)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 c. milk

Combine first 3 ingredients. Add a spoonful of mixture on crescent roll. Wrap around and pinch the edges. Dip in melted butter and then roll in stuffing mix. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. Serve with mushroom sauce (combine soup and milk in saucepan over low heat until smooth and creamy).