Another great list!!! BTW That one stamp lady was on Carol Duvall's today. She usually uses one stamp or set of stamps to make so many different things.

hi, I just posted about ABs on the Craft & Dec page (post about going away gift). I'm in a round robin right now. Each participant passes their book to the same person after a certain length of time (1 month in our case). Each time we get another book, we work in it and send it on to that same person. Eventually our books come back to us. We formed a yahoo group just for sharing about our progress, and to post pictures. And yes, I think the main thing is to have a theme. I was really scared to take part in one of these, but now I highly recommend a round robin. I've also heard of "Tip Ins" --a kind of swap where others send pages or spreads that you "tip in" to your book. You can attach the pages directly to other pages, or cut off existing pages leaving only a tab, and glue the tip-in to that.

I think you'll find those stars are plenty deep enough. That company was started by the husband of the original owner of House on the Hill. The business was sold when she got cancer but on a trip to Switzerland his interest revived. So the name may be new but it's a company with a lot of history. Two things come to mind about deep designs aside from the mold itself. One is the cookie dough. Humidity (water content) makes a big difference. If you develop a recipe that really works for you and have a scales, I'd transpose it to weight. Volume isn't very helpful except for those really skilled bakers who know by feel when the dough is "just right" and adjust with every batch. Secondly, a good impression takes a fair amount of pressure. A lot of springerle makers press the designs on a lower table or counter to get more leverage. One guy even got up ON the counter and KNEELED on the mold. That may be extreme, but you can't be dainty with these things. Getting a good impression also is dependent on the amount/type of leavening (the recipe) and the accuracy of a slow oven so the dough doesn't spread too much. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Basically it's practice and figuring out what works for you. Carol

Hi Angela ! I too am addicted to scrapbooking !! If you do a search under Yahoo, Excite, or any other search engine, you should find several listings for scrapbook conventions. I received a beautiful Christmas card last year from a relative that had vellum paper on it. I will do my best to describe it. It had a decorative cardstock sheet (6 x 8 1/2) as the background(it was white with large red polka dots all over it). In the center of that paper was a lime green sheet of cardstock cut to the size of 4 1/2 x 7 1/2 that had been pasted down. On top of that she had cut the same size from a sheet of ivory vellum paper. This vellum paper was not pasted down to the lime green.. instead, it was attached by a ribbon. To do this, you simpy lay the vellum paper down ontop of the lime green card, lining it up, and punch two holes (about 1" apart) at the top of the entire stack. She then threaded sheer red ribbon through it and that is how the vellum was attached. She had printed her Christmas greeting on the vellum paper prior to attaching it to the card and when you lift the vellum paper, you will find the photo of her children. Very beautiful and creative. Needless to say, I kept the card as a "template" for invitations, birthday cards or any other reason I can think of to make this card. Just an idea! Tracye Here is a link that might be useful: Tracye's Treasures