4th of July - Simple Sweet Treats!

DID YOU KNOW?

Independence Day, commonly known as July 4th or the Fourth of July, commemorates the Continental Congress’ adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

The document, primarily written by Thomas Jefferson, served as a formal announcement that the 13 American colonies were no longer part of the British Empire and would henceforth be free and independent states. Regarded as the birthday of the United States of America, the day is typically celebrated with parades, fireworks, ceremonies, barbecues and family gatherings.

Many of us will be having or attending a 4th of July celebration this Sunday!  I am always looking for simple, yet holiday specific, dishes to share with my family and friends.  These are great bite sized sweet treats that are sure to impress your party guests!

****FRUIT TART FLAG ****

RECIPE:

• Fill premade miniature tart shells or phyllo cups with sweet mascarpone cream (recipe below), then arrange on a tray and top with blueberries and halved strawberry slices to create stars and stripes.

• Mascarpone Cream:  Beat an 8-ounce container of mascarpone cheese and 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar with a mixer until smooth. Gently fold in 1/2 cup freshly whipped cream.

Have a Safe and Happy 4th of July weekend!  Make sure to post comments on how much your guests enjoyed these delicious little tarts.

Digi Scrapbooking

Ok, I recently purchased My Memories Suite by polaroid and am going to be trying my hand at Digital Scrapbooking.  Do we have any Digital Scrappers wishing to share there own words of wisdom.  I'll let you know once I have dug into it and let you know what I think.  Would love to hear from you on great sites with free stuff!

Who Makes The Best Photo Books?

I recently went in search for the "Best Photo Book" printing services.  I read many reviews and pondered a lot of information about what and who publishes the best photo books.  I found that there is far more out there than just Shutterfly and Snapfish! 

Who knew there were so many?  And what makes them the best and so different than the rest?

It really boils down, to some degree, to what you want from your book!  Another important consideration is quality.  Quality of the book and quality of the image printing.  What paper is being used?  It seems 100 lb. archival quality silk paper is a nicer more sustainable paper used and you should look for this.

Next, and not at all the least, is price comparison.  When I reviewed prices it seemed they all were just within a few dollars of each other and offered the same size photo book options.  When you added shipping in they averaged in at about the same in cost. 

The other consideration, and an important one, is additional page costs and page number limitations.  Average you will find for pages included in the price is commonly 20 (1 page front and 1 page back = 10 pages in total)  This can considerably increase your cost if it's not added in to from the start.  How many photo's and how much journaling in the photo book would you like?  The more photo's per page the less each will stand out on their own.

I came across this link that proved very helpful in making my decision and thought I would share:
http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news/show/97676/the-great-photo-book-round-up-review-who-makes-the-best-photo-books.html

I have ordered family books from Snapfish in the past and was fairly pleased.  But I want to make sure my professional portraits are being displayed in their finest possible so I thought I would do a little more research.

In the end I chose to purchase my first book from Inkubook.  The software to build the book was user friendly although I had a glitch or two, over the weekend, when designing the book.  This was recognized by Inkubook and they offered to extend any discount deadlines in the event it caused me to miss out on a special offer.

My next book I plan to order from AdoramaPix.  I like some of their professional design templates at first glance.  Nothing too busy and a classic elegance to display my photo's nicely.

I'll let you know of my final review when I receive my book.

I hope this has been helpful and welcome your thoughts on your own Photo Book experiences!