Do you have old family recipes to scrapbook? Recipes you want to preserve? Would you like to pass recipes and their stories along to your children or grandchildren?
Are you looking for a unique gift for a bride? Or maybe you just want to get some order to your own recipe collection.
Let’s face it; almost everyone has recipes. With the internet and social sites like Pinterest, I think my collection is even worse bigger and better!
Every time I want to make something, I print out a recipe. If it’s a keeper, it gets tossed into the drawer with the rest of the collection. Next time I make it, I usually end up printing it out again because it’s too much hassle to try to find it in that messy drawer.
Imagine how nice it would be to have these recipes organized and easy to locate.
I’ve got other recipes in the drawer too. Old family favourites that may disappear as we go farther and farther into the online world.
No matter which scenario you fit into, I’ve got the perfect solution. Make a scrapbook.
“But I’m not a scrapbooker”
You don’t have to put a label on it. After all, anyone from any walk of life can cut and paste. And in some cases, you don’t even have to do that. There are so many different ways to make a scrapbook.
And you don’t need an endless supply of scrapbook tools. (But hey, if you’ve already got them, you can put them to good use!) Making a simple recipe scrapbook doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. You can do it with items you already own.
If you’re into recycling, even better!
Gather your recipes
Gathering your recipes can be a simple process, especially if you’re simply organizing them for your own use. But what if you want to make one or more collections for others?
Here’s some ideas:
- If you love to write or have perfect penmanship, you may want to write out all your recipes by hand.
- It takes patience and a bit of skill or computer knowledge to type out recipes, especially if you want the formatting to be uniform and attractive and if you’re trying to make it fit a certain size page.
- An easy way to get the recipes ready for an album is to take photos of your recipes.
- Take photos of the prepared dishes or ingredients. Find stock photos online. Cut up an old cookbook. Or put photos of the people the recipes came from or the people who like that one.
- Make the pages once, then photocopy them if you’re making multiple albums. If you visit a print shop, you might even have the option of reducing or increasing the size of your printed pages.
What type of book do you put pages in?
Scrapbooks
You can buy scrapbooks ranging in size from 4”x6” to 12”x12”. There are dedicated recipe books, paper lines and page protectors— the plastic sleeves you can slip your photos or scrapbooked pages into. If you want to keep it simple, pick up a 3-ring school binder and inexpensive plastic sleeves.
Make a book from scratch
It’s easy to make a small handmade book to put your recipes in. Ask me how. Or search the tutorials on this website.
Use an old hardcover book
I like using old recipe books to save recipes in. Perhaps you inherited one of those but never use it. Simply place your recipes on top of the pages. Add photo mats or paint over the printed page a bit to separate your recipe from the type on the pages.
Make scrapbook pages
This is probably the best way if you want to make multiple copies of a book.
What to include in your recipe books
First, make sure the recipe is intact. If you wrote it out, doublecheck that you’ve listed all the ingredients and all the steps.
Who is the recipe from? This is your chance to share some family history. Include a photo of the person who used to make it or gave it to you. Tell what you know about the recipe. Was it anyone’s favourite? Was it made at a special occasion or special time of year? Tell any stories you know about the recipe. You can even tell details about the person. Who was it? What was the connection to the cookbook recipient. Do you know birth (and death) dates? And don’t forget to include any tips, tricks or funny stories about flops.
Any recipe book is like a bit of family history whether it’s your own collection, a new collection you hope become favourites or traditional family recipes.
It’s not only a great tribute, it’s a special gift, especially for those who might otherwise be hard to buy for. What fun to give a new bride a collection of recipes from her new family!
Things to gather to make a book
Recipe cards – Purchase printed recipe cards from your local scrapbook store or pick up a package of white lined cards at a dollar store. Or use paper or backs of greeting cards or anything else you have at home.
A computer – If you want to type out your recipes, you’ll need this. If you’re stuck on formatting, don’t forget to use the “Help” tool built into your software. You can print on precut cards or keep it simple and print them on pages that are folded and tucked into an envelope album.
Images – Gather family photos. Use pictures from old cookbooks. Buy stickers. Cut words from recipe books. Print titles on your computer. You could also use a label maker or alphabet stickers or stamps to make recipe titles.
As you can see, there’s no limit to what you can do to scrapbook a recipe collection.
Have you made a recipe scrapbook? What did you do?