Creative Recipe Scrapbooking

A scrapbook compiling family anecdotes, chronicling events, and conveying the tone and feel of your clan is surely a great way to pass memories through the generations. Long before scrapbooking was a verb, women passed cherished recipes along in much the same way. So it is no great surprise that recipe scrapbooking has evolved as the next great homemade family heirloom.

Recipe scrapbooks will often be smaller than the 12 x 12 albums used for other scrapbooks, because of the function that they serve. A recipe scrapbook may sit on the counter during dinner prep, or be thrown into your purse on your way to the market. Whether for your own use, or as a gift, making a recipe scrapbook is bound to result in a meaningful, personal, and highly useful creation.

Recipe for a Gift

One of my favorite gifts at bridal showers has always been the recipe box filled with index cards provided by the attending friends and family of the bride to be. Imagine how much more beautiful and personalized a recipe scrapbook could be. Along with recipes and ingredients, older and wiser women can include sage marital wisdom, family stories or funny quotes.

A recipe scrapbook could also make a great hostess, teacher or graduation gift. Each of these can be personalized in a different way. For instance, each family could provide the teacher with a recipe, and decorate a page for a whole class gift. If the book is for someone you don't know that well, using vintage style pictures of food taken from old cookbooks or wine bottles can make a cozy looking album. What graduate isn't in need of recipes, wisdom, a taste of home once in a while? I recommend including conversion and measurement charts in all your recipe books, for those fresh out of the nest, and the rest of us with faulty memories.

A Messy Kitchen is a Happy Place...

There are tons of resources that will provide food related quotes, themes, and even complete kits for your recipe scrapbook. A quote can provide a theme and a starting place. For example, "A Messy Kitchen is a Happy Place...This one is Delirious!"

Try this recipe for assembling your family recipe scrapbook. Start out with some vintage looking cardstock, or a blown up page from an old cookbook for your backdrop. Place your directions and ingredients on pages facing each other. Then use photos of your family cooking and eating to personalize the page. You may wish to journal comments from family members on their favorite dishes. Finally, get creative in your use of embellishments. Wine, food, and spice labels, pages from cooking magazines, or clip art can all be fun.

For families with long distance relatives, the recipe scrapbook can be a great way to communicate across the miles. Try making a one based on the region of the country where you reside. Wouldn't relatives in Cape Cod love to get a recipe book full of Southwestern recipes, post cards and family photos from their relatives in New Mexico?

Whether as a gift, a treasured family heirloom, or just a fun and creative way to cook, compiling a recipe scrapbook is a great way to use your cropping time. The inspiration, tools and methods are as endless as recipes themselves. So get cooking, and get cropping!

Have You Tried Scrapbooking Recipes?

Have you seen the new scrapbooking supplies for recipe albums? Local craft stores are responding to the new trend of scrapbooking recipes. You can find albums with a recipe theme, as well as stickers, paper and embellishments to complement the scrapbook. The main thought behind scrapbooking recipes is the same as using photos and memories. We want to preserve the recipes for future generations. However, recipe albums are very popular as gift items as well. Some scrapbookers are even using them in their kitchens as cookbooks.

To begin designing a recipe scrapbook you need to think about your purpose for creating it. Will this be an album documenting family recipes handed down from generation to generation? Or are you creating an album to give as a gift? If this is a recipe album meant to be used in the kitchen, you also may approach the design differently and choose a scrapbook that will be more durable. Albums come in a variety of sizes including, 4x6, 5x7 and 12x12 inches. Choose the one that will best fit your goal for scrapbooking recipes.

Decide whether or not this will be a gift album. You may not want to use the original recipe card written by your great-grandmother in a gift recipe scrapbook. You still could make the recipes personal by writing the ingredients and instructions in your own handwriting instead of a computer font. Recipe albums make welcome gifts for weddings, graduations, Christmas or housewarming gifts.

Which recipes to choose will depend on your goal for the album. You may want to use quick and easy recipes for a graduation gift. Holiday favorites would be ideal for a Christmas gift. You could also narrow down the recipe choices to just desserts, soups, main dishes or family favorites.

When you begin to design your recipe album decide if you want to keep the same layout format for each page and if you will coordinate the embellishments on each page. You may want to keep the album with an overall uniform look, or have each individual page have a unique look.

You can use recipe cards or journaling blocks for the ingredients and instructions. You may also want to include a photo of the dish or a picture of the person who gave you the recipe. Consider adding comments about why you love the dish or opinions from your family on why it is one of their favorites. Try journaling about the history of the recipe or any special memories you have about it. Making the album personal is what scrapbooking is all about.

Scrapbooking recipes doesn't have to be limited to a recipe album. Think about including recipes in other scrapbooks. Highlight the recipe for witch's brew on a Halloween page layout. Recipes on Thanksgiving pages are an obvious choice. Include your secret recipe for perfect gravy. How about including the recipes for the dinner you made for your husband on your first Valentine's Day? You can also include your grandmother's apple pie recipe on a page all about your memories of her. Food is a big part of our lives, and recipes are a natural page element for scrapbooks. Think about creating a recipe album as craft project or add a recipe to your next page layout. Be a part of latest scrapbooking trend and pull out your recipe cards.

Christine Perry is an avid scrapbooker and has over 10 years of scrapbooking experience. Her favorite scrapbooking subjects are her reluctant teenagers. She invites you to her website, http://www.intoscrapbooking.com for more scrapbooking tips and scrapbooking recipes ideas.

Using Heritage Recipes and Scrapbooking

Have you ever seen your grandmother cook a favorite recipe by following along a handwritten recipe that's scratched out on a worn and faded index card, or on the back of something else? These are called heritage recipes, and scrapbooking is a great way to preserve these precious pieces of your family's past. They make great elements for your scrapbook pages. Whether they are on an index card or as part of a letter from a mother to a daughter or any other medium, heritage recipes and scrapbooking seem to go hand in hand. Many scrappers are finding unique and personal ways to incorporate these small but important parts of their family's history into their page layouts.

One of the reasons you might consider heritage recipes and scrapbooking together is that heritage recipes are usually handwritten. Unless you have saved letters or other personal items from your grandmother and great-grandmother, you may not have anything else in her handwriting. These pieces of her past are probably very important to you now, as you can really picture her as you glance over them. Handwriting is very personal and even personality can show through in a handwritten page. Heritage recipes and scrapbooking pages that you save them on can also be passed on from generation to generation. It's unlikely that our computer age will go in reverse so your daughters and granddaughters may not need to use these actual note cards themselves if they decide to try these recipes, but having them preserved in an album really gives them an honorable place in your family's legacy.

You can incorporate heirloom recipes into an album in many different ways. First, you could make a recipe scrapbook. Include only recipes in the album, and each page might reflect an individual recipe or maybe several recipes handed down by the same family member. Recipes can be used on individual page layouts in a traditional family album in many different ways. An obvious choice is including a recipe alongside a page about your grandmother. Holiday pages are opportunities to add a recipe page element. Recipe cards can be highlighted with a picture of your family having a Thanksgiving meal. Handwritten holiday cookie recipes make unique page elements for your Christmas layouts.

If you are going to incorporate heritage recipes in scrapbooking for your own family album, be sure to use the proper elements and embellishments for your pages. Most heritage recipes are very old, so consider giving your page an antique look and feel. Use worn and aged newspaper pages, or elements from the era in which this person lived. That might mean rotary dial phones, or even horse-drawn carriages. Anything and everything that is from that same time in history will really make your heritage recipes and scrapbooking pages seem as if they are pulled together and professional. Be sure that you also use the words and phrases as page accents that are appropriate for any type of recipes, such as "baked with love," or "warms the heart." By using all of these different tips and techniques, you will find that your heritage recipes from your grandmother or great-grandmother really have a place of honor in your family.

Ideas For Doing Scrapbooking - Heritage Recipe Albums

Heritage recipe albums are a priceless treasure. Food often has strong ties to our emotions and memories. Certain foods may remind us of Thanksgiving at Grandma's, or goody baskets received at Christmas time. Most of us associate certain foods with particular events, people or traditions. Foods that remind us of home or family are often a comfort.

Many of us have family recipes that have been passed down for generations. Memories and stories are often lost from one generation to the next. Recipe scrapbooks not only preserve the recipe itself, but also the tips and heart-felt stories that accompany them.

Gathering Recipes

Gathering the recipes and memories from family members is the biggest task in creating a heritage recipe album. Send out a letter or email asking them for several of their favorite family recipes. Have them include thoughts and memories about each recipe.

Include a list of questions to get the information you would like for each recipe. You may want to note that the person shouldn't feel obligated to answer every question for each recipe. Hopefully some will spark some great memories. Ask them to include a photo of an occasion where that recipe was served. Here are some possible questions:


Whose recipe is this?
Who in your family makes this most often, or is most strongly associated with this recipe?
Where did the recipe come from?
Whose favorite recipe is this and why?
Are there any memorable stories associated with this recipe?
Are there any special tips or suggestions in preparing this recipe?
Is there a special secret ingredient for this recipe?
Is there a certain time of year your family enjoys this recipe?
Was this recipe served at a memorable occasion or event?

Scrapbook Layout Suggestions

Now that you have gathered all your recipes and information, it's time to start the album. Here are a few things to consider before you start laying out pages.


Choose your album size and type
Make a list of recipe categories you want to include
Divide the recipes into the proper categories
Choose a color, pattern or some way to distinguish each category

You are ready to begin your recipe album. Some suggested pages may include:



Title page - This may include the name of the family the recipes are from.

Dedication page - This is a great place to describe the person or family and why the album was created.

Table of contents - List each category of food included in the book, ei:Entrees, side dishes, salads and desserts.

Subtitle page - List each recipe included in that category.

Recipe page - For larger albums (12 X 12) a single page per recipe may work. For smaller albums (8 X 8) a two page spread may work better.

Use photo corners to attach recipe card
Include a photo of people or event where recipe was served
Include information from questions sent out

Scrapbooking recipes is a fun creative way to preserve many treasured family traditions. A digital album is a great option that would allow those traditions to be shared with everyone in the family.

About the Author

Melanie Hansen simply-stunning-scrapbooks.com http://www.simply-stunning-scrapbooks.com/

Melanie Hansen is an avid scrapbooker. She loves to share the ideas, tips and techniques she has learned. Visit http://www.simply-stunning-scrapbooks.com/How-to-Make-a-Scrapbook-blog.html to stay up-to-date with ideas, tips and tutorials on traditional and digital scrapbooking.