Hey all,

I was just browsing Google Blogsearch for new scrapbook blogposts and I found the site Ask the Frugal Decorating Diva and I noticed an article she did about recipe scrapbooks. The question she was asked to answer is:

I am making recipie scrapbooks for my sisters, and sister-in-law for next Christmas of all my great grandmother, grandma, and mom’s recipies. Have you made one before? ?f you have, do you have any suggestions? I want the theme to be something like “generations of good cooking”. I plan on the books only being a 6X6 so when they are cooking they don’t have a big 12×12 on the counter. I just need someone else’s creative mind to help me on how to get started. I have already typed, printed and cut the recipies to the size of a recipe card. Thanks for any ideas!!

And these are her answers and my thoughts about it:

I can help with this one! I just made *8* of these for Christmas gifts for this last Christmas - three for my sisters, one for my mother, one for each of my three kids and one for me. So I have some suggestions I can share!

1. I made mine 8.5 X 11 and I did that because the supplies I wanted to use required no cutting if I did that. You’ll see more about why that was important in just a minute.

I'm still thinking about a 12" scrapbook, because I'll have more in such a scrapbook. Knowing me, that would be a good thing. I know it will be a lot to handle in the kitchen, but on the other hand, having everything quite clearly in a bigger form will accommodate me better, I think. Don't get me wrong, I have good eyesight, but I want to be able to include little details, if necessary, too.

2. I typed all the recipes into my computer and then printed off the number of copies I needed (8). I ALSO made copies of my stained and smudged and obviously used recipe cards to use as embellishments in the albums. They look SO COOL.

Hmmm printing out the recipes. Now there's an idea. That way I can still read what it was meant to say in about ten years. That would be good :)
I have a recipe cards, but I have hardly used them. I was planning on including the recipe itself in my scrapbook, instead of only the recipe card. I'll just have to think about that.

3. I put the recipes on one piece of paper on the LEFT side of the book and a picture of who gave me the recipe on the RIGHT side. So anyone using a recipe would have a picture of who’s recipe it was. And I scrapped both sides - stickers, ribbons, metal embellishments - you name it - I used it.

Since it's not an heirloom album, I don't need the picture on the right. But maybe it comes in handy to make a spread of the recipe. Just in case I really to include more information then I thought. I'm not sure yet. It's not an easy job, figuring out how to this best.

4. I wrote journaling about where the recipes commonly appeared - for instance there is an egg dish I frequently make for Mother’s Day and a cookie my oldest son prefers to cake for his birthday. So I told stories that remind people of times when the recipes were served.

Again, it's not an heirloom, but I do like the idea of including these sort of details, if I can get them, about the recipes or ingredients. This does mean it will take more time to make the album, but it will be more informative than a normal cooking book. I have to admit, it does sound nice!

5. I also wrote journaling about the people. I looked the meaning up online of mine and my sister’s names - and included them in the book on a page with their picture.

In my case this is not necessary. It is, however, something to remember for the future. Maybe if I make such an album for a relative or a friend. In that case it would be nice to include this.

6. I used OVERHEAD TRANSPARENCIES as SPLASH GUARDS for ALL the pages. So if you open the album to a recipe, there is a clear sheet that covers the recipe and another clear sheet that covers the person’s picture. So no mixer throwing cake mix around the kitchen will get anything on the pages. THIS is one reason I went with 8.5X11. All I had to do with the transparency sheets was use a three hole punch on them (which worked just fine)

I'm not sure what she means with overhead transparencies. If she means the ones you can put on a overhead to project something, then I get it. Otherwise, can someone explain it to me? If it means what I think it means, I could use a "normal" binder for my recipe scrapbook. Hmmm, gotta think about that one!

7. I used a standard loose leaf notebook for this.

This doesn't seem practical to me. Knowing me the notebook will be "broken" before I know it. And this is a recipe album I want to keep for a long, long time. So, back to other ideas: an album of some kind.

8. I put pages with pockets inside so people could put recipe cards in them. Clear sheet covers are great for this.

My album will evolve into a big one, I hope, so it would indeed be wise to include extra pages so that I can continue, no matter what. The only exception will be that I won't use recipe cards, but that's okay.

9. I put a family tree and special dedication (with date) in the very front of the book

Not necessary in my case. Something to remember though.

10. For older recipes, like my grand mother’s coconut pie, I used the Internet to get interesting info about old fashioned ingredients. For instance, her recipe called for “sweet milk” and I looked up online what that was and wrote a little blurb about. Did the same thing with my father’s “glop” recipe.

This is fun too. I think I'll include it whenever I can.

11. I added a few “tips” I found in old cookbooks - stuff I didn’t know and thought were interesting

I think I'll do the same. You can never have too many tips while you're cooking, right?

12. I did sections with tabs - soups, salads, sides, main dishes, desserts, and misc.

Same idea here. Otherwise it's going to be too much of a hassle.

13. I left “blanks” in the back of the book so people could add more stuff to it if they wanted.

In my case not necessary, but something to remember for gifts.

14. I found , when making so many of the same thing, that doing all eight of the same page at the same time went faster than doing one book at a time (which is how I started doing them).

This will only be the case when I will make several of the same. Good to remember though!

I think these are wonderful tips! Although I'm not making a recipe scrapbook for a family member, I do think I can use several of these tips. I have included all of them, just in case I do like to make a kind of "heirloom" scrapbook in the future, or in case one of you might want to make one. In that case: Have Fun!

Send me your tips if you have more! You can leave a comment here or send me an e-mail at ilse at ilsesjournal dot com {rewrite!}

Talk to you later!