Here's My Big 2009 Holiday Project

Here's the smaller file, if you don't have the bandwidth or time to wait for the bigger file to load or if you're viewing on your iPhone or Droid!

I'm working on a way to share the large file. It's 62 MB, but you can see the pages really well.

For the last month or so, I've spent a bit of my creative time working on getting this recipe book together for members of my favorite Yahoo art group, TreasureArtTrends. This is a slide show set to music of the pages inside it that were done by me and ten of my online friends. (I did the covers. They're digital collage with elements bought from Designer Digitals and put together with PhotoShop Elements 7.0, then hand-embellished.) I assembled the book with a spiral binding. This is done with a special punching machine.

Each includes a favorite recipe for the holidays. In one case, I requested a recipe, the one for pavlova, a signature Australian desert, done by an Australian member. The pages were to be 5" high and 7" wide, the theme is Christmas, and they had to include at least one recipe. Many of the recipes ended up being tucked into pockets or cards while some are on the backs of the pages. Just a warning: in these photos, you can't always see the recipes.

The music is Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Wizards in Winter from their The Lost Christmas Eve album. This music is a favorite with me all year 'round. The Sports Fan and I always start our holiday season by attending TSO's concert here in Phoenix, which we did two weeks ago.

I think that every style of Christmas decor is included in this small, but very chunky book.

Enjoy! And Merry Christmas!