TUTORIAL: Paper Bag Scrapbooks

I'm excited to share this! I absolutely LOVE how these little books turned out for Luke and Riley (my five-year old nephew and four-year old niece). They were fun to work on, not at all difficult, and made a very unique gift. Best of all, the kids thought they were really cool!

This is not my original idea. When Mark was sick and got cards from all around the world, he received one like this from a company called Mars. Each of the little pockets contained a few smaller cards for Mark (from the employees) and the pages had a space/Mars theme. I thought it was SO creative that I just had to hold onto it (after Mark enjoyed it, of course!) so that I could reverse-engineer it and make my own.

Nine years later, I finally did. I made cute little paper bag scrapbooks for Luke and Riley. First, I'll show you the pictures of mine to kind of explain more about how it works. Then I'll do the tutorial for assembling the bags into a book with pockets.

Here is what it looks like from the other angles:

For Luke and Riley's books, I picked out some stickers and blank note cards (with envelopes) from a craft store. I glued some colorful paper to each page (I used very thin paper meant for origami, and the glue showed through in several spots. I would probably use a strong glue stick for attaching the paper to each page.)

I wanted their books to stay kind of rustic--I knew if I tried to make them "perfect", I would never get them finished. And the kids would never notice the flaws, so I just went with it. I didn't measure anything or even draw straight lines to cut the paper--I just made approximate cuts. And the result is exactly what I wanted--perfectly imperfect.

For the pages, I was kind of clueless what to write. I asked Becky (my sister-in-law) to ask the kids a list of questions (via video) and then I used their answers to write a little book tailored to each of them. So, here are the pages, one by one. You'll notice that it alternates full- and half-pages, due to the folds of the bag.

Brian and Becky are not 55 and 59 years old, haha. I wanted the kids to make their best guesses for the questions--no help from grown-ups.

Yes, Luke's favorite animal is an axolotl--wtf?! I was school by a five-year old.

I wrote little tidbits on the pages and added some pictures. I even edited some of the pictures for fun--Riley riding a unicorn is my favorite! I also made her a nurse, and turned Luke into a pilot and a Mario Bros. character. I had most of the photos printed at a one-hour place, but some of them I just printed at home on a regular laser printer and they turned out fine.

I left a blank space on the last page for them to write their names.

For the back cover, I just glued some colorful paper. In retrospect, I wish I had written a little note like "Made just for you, with lots of love! Aunt Katie" or something like that

What are the little pockets between pages for? Well, I'm glad you asked! You can put whatever you want in them, of course. I thought the kids would have fun opening several different things, so I used envelopes. I bought blank cards in a couple of different sizes, all blank inside and including an envelope.

The larger ones (4x6) had colorful fronts, but the rest was blank. The others were totally blank card stock. I chose to use the larger ones for photographs (I labeled them "Say Cheese!" on the envelopes); and each of the smaller cards contained one of two things: 1) "Fun Facts" or 2) "[chuckles]".

The "Fun Facts" envelopes contain a card with a random bit of trivia that I thought the kids would like. (I just looked up "kids trivia" on google and found them that way.) The "[chuckles]" cards have a kids' joke on them--I wrote the joke question on the front of the card and the answer on the inner part. I randomly placed stickers on cards and envelopes, just to make them a little more fun.

Then you slide them into the cool little pockets between the pages!

Isn't that such a fun way to make a scrapbook?! They won't last forever, obviously, especially with a four- and five-year old flipping through them; but they are so creative and fun.

Some people were curious about how the books are put together, so I made a little tutorial.

You can add as many pages/bags as you want, but I wouldn't recommend using more than six bags, because it will stretch out the "spine" once you start adding envelopes. I wouldn't use less than four, though, or it won't be very impressive.

Okay, here goes...

Materials needed:

• 4-6 standard paper lunch bags
• Adhesive for paper--I used several, via trial and error as I went along. I used a very strong spray adhesive to glue the bags together. It's hard to keep the spray off of the other pages, so there is probably a better option. But you want something strong that will spread across the whole bag.
• Scissors
• Cards and envelopes--whatever size and however many you'd like, as long as they fit inside the bags. I used ten 4x6 cards and twenty-four 2x3 cards.
• Scrapbook stuff for decorating--paper, markers, stickers, etc.

First thing's first: Count out 4-6 standard size paper lunch bags.

When putting this together, you want to make sure you know what parts get glued together. This is what I'll be referring to in the tutorial:

This probably should say "flat face" instead of side. It's the part facing upward!

First, grab one bag and lay it with the flat face upward:

Then you're going to fold the top down like this:

Now, you should see the bottom of the bag facing up, on top of that flat face. See picture below:

Lay two bags next to each other so that you can see the bottom side of both. Those will get glued together--see photo below for where to put the glue:

Make sure that the long pages are facing in the same direction when you glue these together.

After glueing:

Next, you're going to add another page by glueing two long faces together. Grab another one of the bags. Lay the first bags (that you've already glued) down on the table so that you just see the smooth side--no folds or anything--facing up. See photo below: the bags I already glued are the ones that are resting on the table (you can't see the second bag, but it's there). 

Spread glue on each face like in the photo below and glue those together:

Note: Be careful with the little semi-circle cut-outs at the top of each bag. Those will be cut off later, but just make sure you don't accidentally glue them shut when you press the bags together--don't put glue right on the edge of that little semi-circle (in the photo above, you can see what I'm referring to on the left side of the bag).

And then after glueing (this is three bags total):

Then you'll add a fourth bag, glueing the bottoms together the same way you did for the first two bags. Spread glue on the bottom of each bag--one fresh bag and one that is part of your book--and then glue those together. See photo below:

And after:

That is what it looks like with four bags total. You could leave it at that, which will give you a front and back cover, four full-size pages and four half-size pages (or two, if you aren't counting both front and back). This creates four separate pockets between pages.

With Luke and Riley's books, I added a couple more bags (six total), which gave me a front and back cover, six full pages, and six half-pages. It created six separate pockets for the envelopes. I put two large envelopes and 3-4 small envelopes in each pocket--so in total, I used 12 large cards and 20 small cards for each book. This made a very thick book that I think should probably be the maximum size for this. I was worried about the "spine" splitting apart as the pockets got fuller--it's fine like this, but I don't know how it would have lasted with any more in there!

You'll notice some of the folds may need to be glued shut. Any open parts that face the spine can be glued shut. (There is nothing wrong with leaving them, but I preferred to glue mine shut. Just be sure you don't glue your pockets together!

When you are done adding pages, set the book with the spine facing to the left. With the scissors, cut off the raw edges on the side opposite the spine. See picture below:

And after that, you're ready to go to town with decorations, photos, memories, tidbits, etc. The best part is adding the cards!

Isn't this such a cute idea? I didn't even google this paper bags thing--so it's probably all over the internet already--but I'd never seen it before and I thought it was super creative. I have another idea of one I want to make--so I'll post about that after I'm done (if it turns out well).

If you make one, I'd love to see pictures for more ideas! You can either email them to me or tag me on Instagram (@runsforcookies). While I rarely post on Instagram, I do like to scroll through it. And I love looking at other people's crafts--so show me :)

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VEGAN RECIPE REVIEW: Cashew-Bean Queso

We had a super fun time with Dave and Renee last night--it had been way too long! We played Euchre and I think that was probably the worst game of Euchre I've ever played, thanks to very unlucky deals, but we needed the laughs.

Before they came over, I made a vegan queso dip recipe that I'd been wanting to try for the longest time. A reader named Laura sent me this recipe last fall and said it was the best vegan queso dip. I kept forgetting about it, but when I wanted to hurry and put together a snack before Dave and Renee came over, it popped into my head and I thought I had all the ingredients. And luckily, I did!

I hadn't been planning to review it here, so I didn't take pictures; but Jerry loved it so much that he asked me to make more of it today for the Superbowl. This time, I figured I'd take some pictures and post about it here.

Usually I write my opinion after the recipe stuff, but since this is my second time making it in two days, I think it speaks for itself. This was VERY good (we ate it with tortilla chips). The flavor reminded me a lot of chili cheese dip; the texture was a little different because of the puréed beans, but I thought the texture was perfect for a dip.

What the others thought: Dave complimented it right away, but I never mentioned anything about it being vegan. Renee ate some, so I'm assuming she liked it. Jerry loved it and finished off the bowl last night. Noah thought it was surprisingly good. Eli, being Eli, said it was okay--if he was "into vegan food" he would like it. Hahaha.

Anyway, this recipe was actually from a book called The Great Vegan Bean Book by Kathy Hester. I was so glad to google it and see that it was also printed online so that I could share it! You can find the recipe here (I'll link to it again at the end of the post). I ended up changing a couple of things after tasting, but I didn't make any changes until after I tried it as written.

(There's actually not much to write... this is another very simple recipe!)

First, the ingredients:

Cashews, white beans, nutritional yeast, unsweetened non-dairy milk, chopped green chiles, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt. Optional pickled or fresh jalapeño slices. I ended up using jalapeño slices--not pictured.

(I didn't mean to add the tomatoes to the ingredients photo, because they aren't called for in the recipe. After tasting the recipe as-is, I made a few adjustments, including the tomatoes, which I'll explain below.)

I used great northern beans because they have very soft skin and blend very smooth. Soy milk is my non-dairy milk of choice.

This really couldn't be any simpler: Just put all ingredients in a blender. (The cashews should be soaked in water until soft unless you have a high-powered blender that can get them super smooth.)

Blend until completely smooth.

There was still a tiny bit of texture to it but I realized it was from the beans, so there no amount of blending was going make it smoother. (The texture wasn't bad in any way--I was just unsure if I should keep blending to try to get it even smoother.)

Definitely serve this when it's hot--it's amazing! Yesterday, I ended up putting it in a small crockpot so that it would stay warm until we were ready to eat it.

YUM! It was SO good and the whole thing took less than five minutes to make. I always have those ingredients on hand, so this is something I could definitely make for last-minute guests. And it's super healthy; I think that it would be just almost as good on a baked potato as it was with chips.

Jerry and I gave it a try right away and we both loved it. First, though, I decided to add a couple of things. I *love* green chiles and you couldn't really taste them, so I added the rest of the can. I kind of missed a chunky texture, so I added a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles (yesterday, I used few big scoops of fresh salsa) and stirred it in--I didn't blend it. 

This is what it looked like after I stirred everything in. Not sure if it looks better or worse, haha! But it tasted amazing :)

I'm sure I'll be making this frequently! Here is the link to the recipe: Cashew-Bean Queso.

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(Almost) Wordless

Renee and I have been trying to get together for MONTHS, and even when we plan something weeks in advance, things come up and we've had to reschedule. Out of nowhere today, Renee texted and asked if today would work because they'd had a last-minute change of plans. It just so happens that Jerry has today off and we had nothing going on, so it worked out perfectly--just very last minute.

Anyway, my house is nowhere near clean enough to have people over, so I'm going to get to it now. I don't have a very recent picture of Renee, Dave, Jerry, and me, so I'll share an oldie but goodie :)

Warrior Dash in Joliet, IL in 2010

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Friday Night Photos #103

For being TWO WEEKS since my last Friday Night Photos post, you would think I'd have a ton of pictures to post today. However, I don't have many at all! It's not like we haven't really done anything--it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks--but I just forget to take pictures.

I brought Luke and Riley their Christmas gifts (it had been over a month since I last saw them!) and I completely forgot to take pictures. I gave each of them a "book" that I made from paper lunch bags. A couple people asked for more pictures of it, so I will make a tutorial with the details. (Hopefully next week.) Here is the other post I did about it, though--there are a few photos.

Both of the kids really liked going through the books, but Riley was especially fun to watch. She wanted to open every single envelope and she loved looking at the picture cards. Luke is AMAZING in that he is reading now--he's only five years old, but he was reading the book I'd made (just tidbits about himself). I assumed Becky and/or Brian would read them out loud, but Luke only needed help with about one of every 20 words.

Anyway, as for my pictures... here are the few I have:

We got this from Amazon yesterday (canned cat food) and I was so curious because Chick was *very* interested in it--like he knew what it was. He was pawing at it for the longest time, trying to open it.

Eli's Winterfest dance was last weekend. He went with his girlfriend and another couple, and I took some pictures here before they left. I love that Eli wanted to wear his Hey Dude! shoes. I wear mine pretty much everywhere. They were *freezing* in this picture.

This is the fabric that I pieced together to make a bed for the cats. I cut up a too-big coat (the faux-fur lining is super soft) and then sewed pieces together. I needed to make it a particular size rectangle for what I plan to do with it, so I was taking the tiniest scraps at the end and adding them. I *barely* had enough to make the size I needed.

I guess Jerry took this picture when I was sick... I thought it was funny because of how oddly-shaped my head looks. I had my hair up in a messy bun with the hood over it.

Estelle has been loving the light therapy lamp. I even turn it on just for her when I'm prepping breakfast or making tea or something.

This isn't the cat bed I made with the fabric; I just draped the fabric over a different bed for now, so Phoebe could try it out. She loves sitting in front of the fake fireplace in my bedroom; I turn on the electric heater for her and she loves it.

This was a quick, last-minute project when I got annoyed at the boys' towels being so sloppy in the cabinet. I would fold them and put them away, but then they'd wind up a mess again. I'm not crazy about this version of the towel holder (it was a make-up-as-you-go-along thing) and I wish I'd have made it smaller so I'd have to really squeeze the towels in there. But I may make a different version; we'll see how this one works out. Regardless, it's nice not to have a pile of towels in the cabinet.

I made dill pickle roasted chick peas for a vegan recipe review this week. Unfortunately, they didn't have any flavor... but they looked really good!

For those of you that do the Wordle, can you believe this one from yesterday?! I started with STEAM, which looked like a great guess. But I immediately realized how difficult this would be, and only because it was dependent on pure luck. It was a guessing game, and I lost in the end. It broke my streak. Ugh!

For those of you that don't do the Wordle (you should!), I had five tries to guess the Wordle, knowing it was STA_E. And I lost! I tried STARE, STALE, STAVE, STAKE, and STATE. The answer was STAGE. See? I just had to have luck on my side, and I clearly did not ;)

I shouldn't have saved this picture for last, because it looks pretty gross. But I'm currently marinating some seitan "steaks". I've been experimenting a lot with seitan recently and it's SO good. I'm curious how these will turn out.

I bought some silicone reusable bags (they zip closed, just like Ziploc bags do). I felt guilty about using plastic whenever I marinated tofu, so I got some of these. They're nice! It's just not nearly as convenient as tossing a bag in the trash when it's dirty, because you still have to wash it. Still, now I don't feel so guilty by using plastic, so it's worth it ;)

Okay, I've got a lot going on today. Noah and Eli are having their girlfriends over; we're going to order pizza and do a game night. I'm excited that the girls are up for it! I'll probably make a homemade pizza for Jerry and me, but I know Eli has missed ordering pizza on Fridays (we used to do it every week for a long time, but we stopped doing it a few years ago). I'm not sure what game we'll play, but I'm so happy I finished the dining room table and we now have seating for eight.

Have a great weekend! xo

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Three Things Thursday: Noah!

Was there any question what I was going to write about for Three Things Thursday today? ;)

Last week, I shared a bunch of fun facts about Eli--three things from several categories--so naturally, I want to share the same about Noah. (Noah is my 18-year old and Eli is my 17-year old)

It's funny, how different the two of them are. Noah has always been great in school, very independent, extremely good with money, and his group of friends is on the large side, but pretty tight-knit. Eli has always been the most compassionate kid I know, outdoorsy, artistic, marches to the beat of his own drum (doesn't feel pressured to "fit in"), and his core friend group is smaller, but he has a lot of acquaintances.

I wish the two of them would hang out together more, but they don't have much in common. Pretty much nothing makes me happier than when I see the boys laughing together!

Here we go--same questions I asked Eli last week...

What are your three favorite TV shows?

The Office
Psych
Star Wars: The Clone Wars

What are your three favorite pastimes?

Video games
Cars
Spending time with my girlfriend

What are your three favorite foods?

Spaghetti
Ramen ("real" Ramen, not instant Ramen)
Oreos

What are your three favorite things to talk about?

Cars
Star Wars and Marvel--"nerd" stuff
Video games

What are three things that make you laugh?

My girlfriend mispronouncing things
Gen Z humor
Sarcasm

(Noah actually texted me a video about Gen Z humor, because I just don't "get it".)

What are three things on your bucket list?

Go to Japan
Own my dream car (a Nisson Skyline R32)
Adopt a FIV-positive cat from the shelter [Noah volunteers at a cat shelter; I'll write more about this after his questions.]

What are three things you are most proud of?

Buying my own car
That I know what I want to do with my life (tune cars)
My driving skills

What are three things you like most about yourself?

[Noah didn't want to answer this one, so I'll answer for him...]
Thoughtful
Sentimental
Trust-worthy

What are your favorite articles of clothing?

Cargo pants
Sweatshirts
Coats

What are your three favorite memories?

Star Wars movie marathon
Star Wars marathon Chicago
Getting Dunkin’ and walking the Freedom Trail in Boston

What are your three favorite school subjects?

Science
History
Automotive

What are three foods you cannot stand?

Olives
Coleslaw
Microwaved hot dogs

[Microwaved beef hot dogs?! So specifically weird. I was curious about this, and he said it was because he used to eat them every time he went to my parents' house--and one day, he just decided how gross they are, and now he shudders to even think about it! Haha]

What are the three most memorable gifts you've received?

A keyboard (a piano-keyboard, not a computer keyboard)
My computer
Our family trip to Boston

What are your three favorite animals?
Domestic house cats
Raccoons
Meerkats

What are your three favorite things to do with your family?

Movies
Games
Vacations

I just have to comment on Noah wanting to adopt a FIV-positive cat, because until recently, this is so unlike anything I'd heard him say. He has to do volunteer hours for school, and he was able to choose whatever sort of volunteering he wanted. He was thinking he'd pick up trash or something, but his girlfriend encouraged him to volunteer at the cat shelter where she also volunteers.

Noah *really* didn't want to do that because he thinks cleaning up after cats is pretty much the grossest thing in the world. When he flipped out about cleaning up cat puke one day, I told him that he may want to re-think going into nursing. That's when he changed his mind and switched his classes from nursing to auto care at school. (He said that money was the only real reason he wanted to do nursing in the first place; so he felt good about the change to something he's interested in.)

Anyway, he agreed to try the shelter after I put a lot of pressure on him to do so. Working at the shelter over the last month or so has changed him, big time! He adores the cats (he's always loved our cats, but he's not *as* cat crazy as Jerry and I are). He said he likes playing with the ones that have FIV because they never get adopted and they always "look sad". This broke my heart! (You shouldn't put FIV-positive cats with negative cats because FIV is contagious. Technically, the chances of spreading it are very low unless the cats fight with each other, but in an ideal situation, they should be separate. At the shelter, there is a "FIV-positive room" where the cats with FIV stay.)

Anyway, Noah sends me pictures just about every day of cats that he wants to adopt (whether or not they are FIV-positive or negative). We definitely cannot adopt another cat--at least until Phoebe and Estelle have passed. (They are not at all friendly toward other cats.) I just love how much volunteering at the shelter has impacted Noah in a positive way!

Okay, so there's a little about Noah. Clearly, cars are his thing! (Which is odd, because neither Jerry nor I are into cars.) Anyway, I'm lucky to have such great kids <3

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 89

Because I'm a total nerd, I wore my "I'm a Nervous Rex" shirt to my psychiatrist appointment today.

I'll get right to it: this week went nothing like I'd planned. 

Gah! I thought I was so ready to do a February challenge--something as simple as eating at the dining table for all of meals--but apparently, I was not. Funnily enough, a lot of the time I just plain forgot about sitting at the table until I was halfway done eating! That really made me realize how much of a HABIT eating is; the if, when, where, and why we eat are all habits in and of themselves. 

IF: Are we eating or are we purposely going hungry?

WHEN: Could be a certain time of day, or when your partner gets home, or when dinner is over, etc. Or even a certain time of year (holidays).

WHERE: At the table? On the couch? In bed?

WHY: Are we actually hungry? Or are we eating because ______ (fill in the blank)?

When I think of it that way, eating habits are actually really complicated--I noticed that quite a bit over the last week.

Anyway, even though I didn't do my challenge as planned, I really did make a good effort at eating healthier and cutting out (or at least down on) the snacking. And I was very happy to see that it paid off on the scale today:

I was at 149.8, which is down from last week's 153.0. Last Wednesday, I was stunned to see that number after having skipped a weigh-in. So, keeping that in mind all week, I was able to make some better choices overall.

I'd still like to work on eating at the table, so I think I might start with just one meal at a time. First will be dinner, because that is the easiest one (for me, anyway). When the family is home, I actually really love to sit down and eat together (even if the boys do finish their food before I even take a bite of mine!). I'll see how it goes this week, and then next week I may add in another meal. 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how I did this week--even though I didn't do what I had challenged myself to do, I made some progress by changing up the way I'd been snacking. Rather than eating high-calorie junk, I had fruit (or nothing at all, after eating a filling dinner). I consciously drank more water, although definitely not as much as I aim for.

I'm hoping to have another good week. Once I get at least a few more days under my belt, I'll start to feel more confident. It was really nice not seeing the scale go up (yet again) this week, though!

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Jerry Loses His Dad Bod: Week 4

It seems like I just started this series--we can't be four weeks in already--?!

(In the photo above, Jerry was trying to imitate my face while I was taking the picture. I was backed up to the wall and couldn't back up any farther--so I pulled the camera as close to my face as possible, while smushing my head toward the wall. His imitation is spot-on.

It's funny how Jerry's attitude toward weight loss is so different than mine. I wish I had his attitude! He's working hard on losing weight, but he honestly doesn't care about the scale. He doesn't worry about weigh-ins or overthink anything (meanwhile, I overthink EVERYTHING).

So, how did Jerry do this week?

His weight was at 191.2, which is down just a little from last week's 192.0. He started this whole thing four weeks ago at 193.6. While he definitely wanted to be down more by now, he's just cool with the fact that he's losing at all.

His body fat and waist measurements were down this week, too, which is great:

Last week, his body fat was at 23.8%, and four weeks ago, his body fat was at 24.4%. Now it's at 22.9%. His waist was 37 inches and now it's at 34.25 inches (Last week was 34.5). I'd say that's good progress! Jerry has always lost body mass before his weight starts going down, so that may be why he's only lost a couple of pounds, but there is a noticeable difference in his waist and body fat.

But anyway... Here is Jerry's recap of the week, in his words:

"This week was really difficult for me. Although the scale shows a loss, I feel like it should've been better. Eating wise, it didn't seem so difficult. It was emotionally difficult and my work schedule was garbage. A couple weeks ago my grandfather died and they held a memorial for him at the local VFW. He was the last surviving veteran of WWII in his branch and the service was emotional to say the least.

If that wasn't enough, my cousin on the same side of the family died unexpectedly a week prior to my grandfather's memorial. With that said, I had a whirlwind of emotions... grief and guilt being the highest on the list. I was close to my grandpa when I was younger and then as an adult I didn't see him as much as I wish I would have. That's the guilt. And it's sticking in me like a knife.

With the death of my cousin, it's just made me wish that it didn't take a death or something serious like this to bring everyone together. So, there are some plans for the future to get people together and hopefully bring this once tight-knit family back together. 

My work schedule this week also played a role in some way. I had to get back onto a dayshift schedule for a couple days for some training I had yesterday. The switching back and forth is difficult. However, it gave me a couple days of being up in the morning and hanging out with the family all day. I miss those times and I haven't felt that good since I started night shift. So, it was worth it. 

Plans for this week? Well, I want to maintain my activity at work but I think I'm going to start incorporating some running, at least for now. I don't have a plan, just winging it and getting my baseline back. And with the eating, I'll be trying to bring more fruits and vegetables into the diet. Good luck to me."

Wow. I typed my portion of this while he was typing his thoughts out to give me. So I didn't read it until after I was done writing my whole intro. While I knew this was a difficult week emotionally, I didn't even think about how it would affect his weight or eating habits. After reading that, I'm super impressed that he wasn't emotionally eating all week long.

I'm proud of him--he's been working hard! (Definitely harder than I.)

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