She had been asking me for a while to do a challenge for her...which involved me coming up with a bunch of random recipes for her to try and make. I used this challenge for her birthday present and made her a recipe book. It was actually rather simple and fun to make. Like any craft though, it took time. I made it in three days (it would have been shorter if I didn't buy paint that happened to take two days to completely dry).
I've decided to share with you just how I made the book, in case anyone out there is interested in making one. Recipe books are something we can always use. We keep those special family recipes in there. We scrawl our secret ingredients and opinions in the side bars. We pass them on from one generation to the next. Really, recipe books don't only give us directions for delicious meals, but they also connect us. The recipes that they hold could be from our mothers, our grandmothers, even our great-great-grandmothers. They really do connect us to them, and allow use to make food that they themselves enjoyed.
To make the recipe book I did, you will need the following items:
- A photo album (I got one with two photo slots per page)
- Glue
- Paint
- Beads/buttons
- Black thread
- Scissors
- Index cards
- Ink pens
- Computer/really good handwriting skills
Step 1: The Cover
Paint the cover. I painted the cover first so that the paint would have time to dry while I made the recipes. This turned out to be a good thing because the paint took two days to fully dry.
Step 2: The Bookmark
For this part, there's a few different steps. Just because I feel the need to explain to how I tied the book mark on.
To start off, you need string. I used black embroidery thread (which you can purchase at Walmart for 30 cents). Cut the tread to be twice as long as you want it to be and fold it in half. Slip it under the top ring of your photo album, as shown in the picture to the left.
Next, hold the top of the thread in your hand. Take the ends of the thread and fold it over the ring, putting it through the loop the top of the thread makes.
Then, pull the thread. Let go of the top part and pull the ends through the loop.
The result should look like the picture to the right.
The last part of this step is to add beads/buttons to your bookmark. I used two ladybug buttons. Resulting in what you see.
Step 3: Recipe Writing
Now, if you have really good -legible - handwriting you don't need to use a computer for this part. Though I like to think I have decent handwriting, I fail at writing in straight lines on unlined paper...and I wanted to use unlined index cards. So, I typed up my recipes.
A good place to find recipes is on Pintrest (http://pinterest.com/), but I also pulled some from my mom's cook books. She has a few cookbooks and some family recipes, so I took some of them and put them in the book.
Once you have the recipes typed out then print them and cut them apart. If you wrote the recipes on the index cards, good for you. You can skip the next part :D Congrats on having the great writing skills! I envy you.
Step 4: Recipe Cards
This step is easy but time consuming. Glue your recipes to the index cards. I made the recipes small enough that there is room for notes on the side. You can make them bigger though.
Step 5: Dividers
While the recipe cards are drying, I made a 'title card' for each section of my book. I made one for: Desserts, appetizers, drinks, salads, main meals, and crusts/breads (I added this one after I made this photo as an after thought because I had pie crust and bread recipes). For this, I just drew on the index cards.
If you haven't noticed, I sort of have a lady bug theme going on. So I used red and black ink and drew tiny lady bugs on the cards. I also used hearts for my 'i' dots. It added a bit of character and fit my sister, who loves lady bugs.
Step 6: Organization
Once your recipe cards are dried (not fried, like I originally typed. Seriously, don't fry your recipe cards. That's not how cooking works), slip them in the photo slots of your album.
I organized the book I made where the recipes went: Appetizers, Salads, Main Meals, Desserts, drinks and Crusts/Breads. I also made sure to start each section on the right side of the book. Don't ask why, because my only reason is that I thought it looked better that way.
Step 7: The Final Product
Once your book is done, have fun using it! Keep adding recipes, write down cooking tips and such in it. Really just personalize it. Have fun cooking and using those recipes that are important to you. And don't forget just how important those recipes are.
As I stated at the beginning of this post, recipes connect us. They connect us to the creator of the recipes as well as those who have used them before us. We're all connected in this crazy world, and this is just a physical reminder of that.
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