Easy recipes using everyday ingredients.

Creating Beautiful Gifts of Food
By Audrey Jeanne Roberts 

Everyone I’ve ever met who loves to cook is a total giver at heart.  They nurture body, soul and spirit with their talent, sending hugs and love along with a tempting morsel or tasty treat.  Many cooks also love to send the recipe used to create their gift of food along with a sentimental note to make it a more special and lasting gift.  However, as creative as many cooks are in the kitchen, hmmm… how can I tactfully say this….let’s just say they just might be a little less than artistic in other areas of life!

Does this describe you?  Do you wish that you could make your recipes as beautiful to look at, as they are to eat?  Do you wish you could turn a plate of cookies into a beautiful presentation gift?  Or perhaps dress up the table for the party you are throwing so the décor is a beautiful as the platters of food?  Do you have basic computer skills?  Then I have an exciting website for you!

 The D.A.I.S.I.E. Company is a digital clip art and printable crafts website (www.daisiecompany.com).  They sell very reasonably priced clip art kits for those who have digital art skills and can use simple programs like Microsoft Digital Image Pro (DIP), Corel Paint Shop Pro (PSP) and Adobe Photoshop Elements.  If you don’t yet have the skills but would like to acquire them, there are tutorials and support forums available on their message board.  They also have a very active message board and warm, loving, friendly and helpful community that will welcome you with open arms. 

Right now they are having a Recipe Card Creating Contest, so you could enter your own recipe and recipe card creation (must be made with Daisie graphics to qualify) and win cash prizes.  If you prefer to use recipes and blank recipe cards created by others you can sign up to become a member at Daisie and make sure you select to receive all mailings and Daisie extras.  If you do this, you’ll receive FREE recipes and recipe cards 5 times a year!  All the cards you see in the gallery that are entered in the contest will eventually be yours!  Not a bad deal!  

For the next seven days (March 7^th through March 13^th, 2007) there will be a link up on my blog (www.daisiecompany.com/blogs/audreyjeanne) allowing you to download for FREE the recipe cards that were mailed out to the Daisie membership in February, 2007.   

Here are direct links to several types of food-oriented kits.  The first is an assortment of candy bar wrappers that would be beautiful for wedding favors, a birthday gift, party favors, bridal shower favors or a hundred other applications.  www.daisiecompany.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_13_39&products_id=768 

A matching Kitchen coordinates set has many variations of recipe cards, shopping lists, note papers and recipe box dividers.
www.daisiecompany.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=806

There are sets for chocoholics, for the holidays and even for summer days.  The best part is that if you are a professional crafter with no employees, you can utilize these kits to create crafts that you resell (within the limits of their very generous Angel policy)

Audrey Jeanne Roberts is an artist, author and designer in the giftware and home décor industries. One of her greatest joys is to encourage creativity in others. You can read her daily blog at: www.daisiecompany.com/blogs/audreyjeanne or see a small part of her portfolio at her licensing agent’s website: www.gracelicensing.com/artists/audrey_jeanne_roberts 

Love always, aj
Audrey Jeanne Roberts