Grandma’s Kitchen – a DIY project
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Easy suggestions and instructions for a family recipe book full of memories.
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I created this recipe book a year ago as a Keepsake for my six granddaughters. It includes family recipes, cooking tips, old and recent family photos, anecdotes, and quotes. Creating photo-books is easy with the online programs available these days. For this book I chose Vistaprint as they often have specials (which I timed well 🙂 ). I have also used ClickOnPrint, Harvey Norman, and Office Works on other occasions – if I’m rushed for time the later one provides on the spot print-and-go. The VistaPrint program is easy, it will let you know if an image size or resolution is not suitable for the template your placing it in to.
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To create this book I did the following:
- Select square format – 40 pages, plus hard cover
- A variety of page templates are available and can easily be altered.
- I included pictures of myself (the girls grandmother) and their fathers/uncles, great-grandparents, and great-great-grandmother. I referred to each as their relationship to the girls.
- I added anecdotes to many pages, for example for this recipe for lamb shanks I added the photo of me dressed up as Little Bo Peep and added the following short story:~ Loving Lamb ~Little Bo-Peep – 1953/4 – Fancy Dress Competition – Junior School Methodist Ladies College, Kew. The Local Butcher loaned me his cute little lamb, a window prop. In those days Butcher’s used to decorate their windows with ‘things’ and parsley. There was always water trickling down the window – like the front window at the Victorian Art Gallery. I came 2nd – 1st Place was a girl dressed as the Queen in the 1953 Coronation gown and robes – which was very topical then.
- Choose unique headings for the pages that do not have a recipe name. I used these titles: cooking classes, baking tips, more tips, my pies, family, grandma’s words (repeated quotes from myself, and their other grans), and on the front page I introduced the book with … from my kitchen to yours, with love.
- I was surprised how many little anecdotes came to mind once I started – even a short note, like the first page in the video, where there are pictures of my sons with the peppermint choc slice recipe I added – This is scrumptious – it was a favourite for your Dad and Uncles in their school lunch boxes and parties.Â
- I added the names of the people who gave me the recipes, where and when too, and any anecdotes.
- The last page I made fun with eleven individual photos of my sons, granddaughters, and myself, all enjoying food 🙂
- This concept could be adjusted to other projects such as gardening, woodcarving, sewing, etc.
- Enjoy creating your book of Family Recipe Memories. Feel free to comment, email addresses are not used for newsletters or forwarding to third parties, Cheers, Judi
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