Recipe Gifts: easy creative gifting

I can't think of anyone who doesn't need a creative gift idea--something unique that will stand out, be both useful and fun, that nobody else will duplicate.

Today I'm excited to share with you some recipe gifts that are:

• creative and 100% unique because I designed them myself
• easy gifts because you just click & give

I personally really like giving recipe gifts.  This might be because I have collected recipes for so long that I get to be picky and only keep the best. But I think it's also because recipes are both useful and fun.  

I have incorporated recipes into these gifts, something you can have professionally printed (except in the case of the last one, which is print-at-home) that I think would be perfect for kids going off to college or work, someone with a birthday, or just a fun neighbor/friend/co-worker gift for Christmas or Valentine's Day.  I'll include links for easy ordering, too.  

I've got 4 gifts to share with you here (1 with 2 different types to choose from), and I'd love to know in the comments which is your favorite!  I can't wait to show you:

Mug Recipe Mugs

What They Are:  Mug recipes are single-serving recipes made with a few ingredients, a large mug, and a microwave.  I've designed these 15-oz. mugs with an easy, single-serving recipe right on it! 

French Toast in a Mug for breakfast!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup in a mug for lunch!

What to Know:  The ceramic mugs are dishwasher-safe as well as microwave-safe.  This 15-oz. size is perfect for mug recipes (including the additional ones below!).  

How to Gift:  Find the French Toast in a Mug mug here and the Loaded Baked Potato Soup in a Mug mug here, then follow the ordering instructions at the right.  I always wait for a 50% off sale (they happen once a month for 7-10 days), but you do you.  😁

Mug Recipe Cards

What They Are:  As you know, mug recipes are single-serving recipes made with a few ingredients, a large mug, and a microwave.  I created these cards as a small collection to include breakfast, lunch or dinner, and dessert recipes that can all be made in a mug!  Each 2-sided 5x7 greeting card has two recipes for a quick, single-serving breakfast you can make in a mug! 

breakfast-in-a-mug recipe cards

lunch/dinner-in-a-mug recipe cards

dessert-in-a-mug recipe cards

What to Know:   After receiving your professionally-printed cards, simply cut the cards in half and you'll have two recipe-card-size recipes.  Cards after cutting are 3.5 x 5.  Cards come in sets of 10, so you'll have plenty to gift and share.  You can see mine below.  (I gave these to the kids from our church when they graduated from high school one year.)

all 3 sets of mug recipe cards - front and back

all 3 recipe cards after I cut them, for a total of 6 recipes

How to Gift:  Find the Breakfast Mug Recipe cards here, and/or the Lunch/Dinner Recipe cards here, and/or the Dessert Mug Recipe cards here.  Follow the directions at the right to order them.  I like to wait for a 50% off sale, so check the price shown and see if it's 50% off currently.

Candy Cane Meringues Recipe Cards

What They Are:  Well, they just happen to be one of my favorite homemade treats at Christmastime, that's what!  This is a favorite recipe that I made to gift to friends at Christmas, and because I'd made them for a party one of my friends went to the year before and I knew she LOVED them, I decided to gift the recipe along with the meringues.  (She was thrilled!)

Note:  These are a great, festive treat for your gluten-free friends!  

my Candy Cane Meringues recipe card design

my Candy Cane Meringue recipe cards, 
front and back, after I cut them

What to Know:   After receiving the professionally-printed cards, you'll cut the cards in half to make two recipe-card-size recipes.  Cards after cutting are 3.5 x 5.  Cards come in sets of 10, so you'll have 20 to keep, gift, and share.  You can see mine above, although I personalized mine on the back, and yours will not have my name on them (nor "from the kitchen of").  

How to Gift:  Find the Candy Cane Meringue recipe cards here.  Order them following the directions at the right.  If the cards don't show 50% off, you can check back later to catch that sale.  (Just be sure you refresh the page.)  Cut the cards in half.  Make the meringues, then gift them to the recipients along with this cute recipe.

Quick Cakes Recipe Cards

What They Are:  Quick Cakes are a collection of mug recipes, similar to the ones shown previously, only they're all made using cake mix.  They're single-serving cakes.  I think having a variety (using several recipes) is fun for parties or large gatherings where everyone can choose the type of cake they want!  

What to Know:   Unlike the other recipe gifts shown here, these cards are print-at-home.  Each of the 10 recipes is approximately the size of a playing card, so a little smaller than a regular recipe card.  You can click the downloadable Quick Cakes Recipe Card pages here to see all 10 recipes, from strawberry shortcake to chocolate lava cake, and download following the directions there at the right.  After printing, you'll cut out the cards.

the Quick Cakes Recipe Cards printed, cut,
and ready to gift with a boxed cake mix

How to Gift:  After printing at home, cut out the cards, punch a hole in the top left corner, assemble with a book ring, then gift with a box of cake mix!

NOTE:  I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too.  If you're new to Forever and open your free account here to give it a try, you'll get a $20 welcome coupon towards anything mentioned in this post.

Which one do you think looks the most fun to gift?  Tell me in the comments.

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Scrapbook Look #8 - June 2026

 "Scrapbooking isn't just re-living memories.  It's re-loving them."  ~Janna W.

Welcome back to Scrapbook Look!  However you like to do it, we can all enjoy the relaxing and therapeutic benefits of scrapbooking, including a quick pre-designed yearbook that doesn't require extra software.

This month, I'm starting with thanks!  This is my Thanksgiving 2025 page.  I usually just use one digital art collection on a page/event, but I mixed two collections here, and I love how it turned out.  It's fun to look back on that day by having this record of it!

And here's what that page I created digitally looks like printed.  I am so blown away every.time. I get a book back from Forever Print.

Next, I'm sharing a layout that I have really been loving in my last 3 or 4 family yearbooks.  

Sometimes I have photos that fit nicely into a theme, like this Thanksgiving one above.  But sometimes there are months in which I've just taken a handful of random pictures.  I'm not really a "put one photo on a page" type of gal, so sometimes there are multiple unrelated photos that I want to put on a page.

And that was the case in January.  So, I used a winter-ish template--something pre-designed for me that I could adjust as needed.

I love how it turned out!  I've credited below the digital art designer who created the page, but the one thing I added myself was the word January.  I used a fun technique you can do in Artisan called Shape Titles (which I demo here) to choose a fun font from my computer and include both an outline and a fill color that I could color match to the page.  This technique allows me to stretch the text box however I want.  

There was an event in between this page and the one I'll share last.  Again, February photos were random, so I used the same idea as my January page, only a different pre-designed template, and this time on two pages instead of one.

Here's the template I chose.  I like using pre-designed templates because the designers (credited below) use layouts and color combinations I wouldn't think of.  

I love these editable templates!  This allows for 10 photos, and although I do happen to have 10 photos I want to put on these pages, they aren't in the orientations this layout provides.  Plus, with 5 different events to write about, I need a lot more text space.  (Photos are not actually worth a thousand words.  We need the words!)  So, I just moved things around and adjusted!  How fun is this?!

One thing I love about digital scrapbooking in general is that you can not only crop a photo but you can resize it, too, zooming in on it if you like!  It's the BEST. 

  

CREDITS

• Scrapbook pages made using Artisan software by Forever.  (information | subscription | digital art store)
• Digital art credit:  A Day of Thanksgiving Kit by MagsGraphics, Tabbed Photo Mats - Thanksgiving by Forever Digital Art, Monthly Memories Layered Templates No. 1 by Katie Pertiet Designs, and Family Yearbook 1 by Forever Digital Art (designed by Michelle Bell)
• Digital book printed here (in gorgeous, high-quality pages I fall in love with every time), with the digital version PDF also kept forever there in my private account.  

NOTE:  I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too.  If you're new to Forever and open your free account here to give it a try, you'll get a $20 welcome coupon towards anything mentioned in this post, along with 2 GB of private Cloud Storage (a $50 value).

FAQ

Why digital?

First, there's no "right way" to scrapbook, except for two things:  1- quality so your book will last for many, many years to come, and 2- something you will love and therefore do.  

I personally choose digital because it's faster and easier, taking up less space in my house than the papers and scissors and stickers (and table space) I needed when I was a paper scrapbooker.  I like that instead of having to crop (cut) a photo to make it fit, I can easily resize, zoom in, etc.

I also love the ability to print multiple copies with just the click of a button, and for safety reasons I like that my scrapbooks exist both digitally and in print.  (I have scanned my old paper scrapbooks for the same reason.)  

And you print it, too?

Yes!!  Aside from what I mentioned above:  Print has increased accessibility!  I print my digitally-created scrapbooks because print is an easily-accessible form of seeing and also sharing (and gifting!) photos and memories.  Print doesn't need a full battery in an expensive gadget.  Plus, photo experts still recommend print as an important way to store photos and memories, in addition to digital forms.

Thanks for stopping in.  See you at next month's Scrapbook Look!  (Or, first click the Scrapbook Look tag at the bottom of this post to see more scrapbook pages.)  

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Killarney National Park, Ireland + a travel photo tip

Ireland had never been on my radar.  But it was high on my daughter's list, so when she graduated from college (and had worked so hard we felt like she deserved a vacation!), I went to Ireland.  I swear, I have never been the same since.  It's now on my list of dreamy places where my heart feels at home.  I'd go back in a minute!

I had several favorite places in Ireland, but today I'm going to share just one:  Killarney National Park.   

MY FAVORITE PLACES IN KILLARNEY NATIONAL PARK

The town of Killarney in County Kerry, about a 3 1/2 hour drive southwest of Dublin, is a stop on the Ring of Kerry scenic drive.  

The town of Killarney itself has a lovely cathedral, St. Mary's.  The stone is so beautiful, and I loved the wooden beams in the ceiling! 

For me, the biggest draw was the rest of the national park area.  The ruins of Muckross Abbey were so fun to explore.  The yew tree in the cloister (bottom left) is just stunning.  And the water dripping off the buildings over the centuries has made a few stalactites (bottom right)!

 

Muckross House is nearby, and although the mansion itself was neat to see, for me the big draw was the extensive gardens.  The rhododendrons growing in the gardens of Muckross House were jaw-dropping.  There were so many, and they were so tall!  This is my 6'3" husband standing in front of one(?)!  We saw a few that must have been at least 30 or 40 feet tall.  

My daughter took this little video of her walking into a grove of rhodies.  It was incredible!  (Blogger is having trouble with this video, so watch it at the link below.)

13 Gorgeous Seconds of Rhododendrons in Ireland

Torc Waterfall reminded me so much of the Pacific Northwest, so I automatically loved it since that's where my heart lives, but it was also fun to see holly trees growing wild here in Ireland, too!

My other favorite part of Killarney National Park was the Gap of Dunloe.  It's a narrow mountain pass with lakes, a river, and the most charming stone bridge.  The pictures don't do it justice!

+ A TRAVEL PHOTO TIP

If you're like me, you take a lot of photos while traveling.  Since phones are easily lost or stolen, I suggest regularly (daily, or just setting it to auto-upload) backing up everything in the cloud.  

I don't mean iCloud, either, since they don't actually guarantee that they are a backup.  

(Yes, iCloud actually says in their terms of service--even when you are paying to use their services--they are not a backup, and they suggest you backup your photos and videos elsewhere.  Google Photos actually fits into the same category of not actually guaranteeing anything.)  

I personally use this unique cloud service for security and guarantees.  It has a (free) phone app and also a setting to auto-upload from your phone to the cloud so that everything is backed up without you having to even think about it--especially nice when you're on vacation.

This gives me so much peace of mind when I travel!  If something happens to my phone, at least nothing happens to my photos and videos.  

You can do the same thing here!  And here's the app information.

I highly recommend all of Ireland, but if you find yourself there, be sure to wend your way to Killarney National Park!

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NOTE:  I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too.  If you're new to Forever and open your free account here to give it a try, you'll get a $20 welcome coupon towards anything mentioned in this post.

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Ditching Monthly Cloud Payments

 I'm so excited for this summer for several reasons, but a big one is what I'm calling

THE "SUMMER OF 69"

As I've talked to people the last several years about preserving photos and videos permanently, I've been struck at how common it is to be surprised about several aspects of the "usual" way of doing things.

Many people don't know this, but there's a way to stop paying monthly fees for the rest of your life to back up your photos and videos (to places that reserve rights to close your account at any time).

And even a way to stop buying a more expensive phone with bigger storage space all the time.

My goal is to tell 69 people about it this summer! Totally life-changing information (and no sales pitch, I promise). I just want to teach people.

To be a part of the Summer of 69 between Memorial Day and Labor Day 2026, just email me at photoandstorytreasures@gmail.com and we'll set up a Zoom time to chat.

You'll get a lot of important information, but you'll also be entered in a drawing for a $25 gift card. More than once, if you like.

NOTE: The first 69 people will be entered into the drawing, but I'll definitely talk to 70+ people about this life-changing option. That goes for anyone reading this after Labor Day 2026--email me anyway. I'm always happy to get you out of those "monthly payments until you die" plans you are probably doing, even if you miss the gift card drawing for The "Summer of 69."

Being able to truly preserve my photos and videos forever with no monthly subscription payments and the ability to actually delete things from my phone while still accessing them through my phone is the greatest thing I've discovered for my digital memories. Being able to pass them down--guaranteed--to future generations is the icing on the cake.

I can't wait to tell you about it. 😊💕

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