How to Make a Cookbook Scrapbook

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A good cookbook is often passed down from generation to generation. However, before cookbooks were commonly used, many household cooks used recipe cards to write down their meals. If you have a collection of these cards or of traditional family recipes, then it is a good idea to keep them safe for posterity. One way that you can do this is to make a cooking scrapbook. You can make it on the computer or by using creative scrap booking materials. This article will tell you how to make a cookbook scrapbook.

Steps

1. Decide upon the format for your cookbook scrapbook. This usually depends upon the purpose it will have: functional, keepsake or gift for the family. The following are common formatting options that you can choose:
   • Purchase a binder or bound notebook with clear pockets and pages. This is the best format for a functional cookbook. You can gather recipes and place them in the clear pockets where they are protected from kitchen splatter. You can also lay a spiral notebook or a three ring binder flat on a counter surface for easy reference.
   • Buy a scrapbook from a scrap booking store that allows you to add pages to it as you continue to scrapbook recipes. This is best for a keepsake of family recipes. You may want to add the originally written recipes in pockets or glue them directly on the page. A keepsake scrapbook is less for kitchen use and more for keeping track of family history. You can use scrap booking materials, such as stamps, stickers, ribbons and papers to artistically show your family's cooking traditions.
   • Go online to a book creation website, such as Blurb.com, TheSecretIngredients.com or Shutterfly.com. These sites can help you to create a printed, professional book that can be a keepsake for all family members. Add recipes, photos, textured backgrounds and more to create a bound book. You will probably need to download a book creation software program in order to layout your book.
2. Gather all of your recipes. Organize them in a way that makes sense to you. For example, you can organize them by date, by type of cuisine, or by the author of the recipe.
3. Create a theme for your scrapbook, if you have 1. Some good themes include a holiday recipe book, a summer recipe book, a baking recipe book, a simple recipe book or a family recipe book.
4. Choose card stock or strong paper to use in your cookbook scrap booking project. No matter which option you chose for your scrapbook, it is likely to be used occasionally for cooking. If possible, choose a glossy paper that is easy to wipe off, in case of splattering.
5. Protect heirloom recipe cards. You should consider any cards that have passed down from generation to generation as priceless historical artifacts. Create a protective pocket or sheet from a plastic pocket or plastic page covers, and then rewrite the recipe on a new piece of scrap booking paper.
   • When you rewrite your recipes, you can use a computer, if your handwriting is not very good. The more beautiful the script, the more it will look like an heirloom book, even if you are just using a handwriting font on the computer.
6. Consider adding the following elements to your scrapbook: photos of the recipe creators, stories about the recipe or the person who wrote it, a shopping list at the beginning, collage elements from magazines, signatures and other decorative elements.
7. Spend time decorating each page on the computer, book creation software or by hand. Use decorations that have to do with the recipe, such as pictures of food, or elements that remind you of the person who wrote it. Use a three-hole punch and hole protectors and then place them in your binder.
   • If you are using book creation software, you will need to send it to the book creation website by uploading it. They will usually send a proof, which you should go over very carefully. Once they get your final approval, they will send it to be printed. Order as many copies as you want for yourself and your family. There are usually discounts for buying a number of books at once.
8. Place plastic tabs at the beginning of each new section. Label the tabs and place them slightly apart, moving down the length of the book. This will give people easy access to different types of recipes.
9. Give a family cooking scrapbook to friends and family for gifts. It is a good reminder for young or old of the recipes that have stood for generations. Leave blank pages at the end where they can add their own favorite recipes.

Things You'll Need

• Binder
• Spiral notebook
• Empty scrapbook
• Recipes
• Photos
• Computer
• Book creation software
• Stories
• Ingredient/shopping list
• Paper, stickers and/or stamps
• Word Processing program
• Printer
• Plastic tabs

Sources and Citations

• http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/family-recipe-scrapbook?czone=crafts/memorykeeping-cnt/family-memories�er=276976&gallery=274487&slide=180802
• http://stamping.thefuntimesguide.com/2009/04/recipe_scrapbook.php
• http://www.joy-for-scrapbooking.com/scrapbooking-a-cookbook.html
• http://www.thesecretingredients.com/

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Baby Scrapbook Ideas

Come to find out, that baby scrapbooking has become pretty popular among scrappers in the last couple of years. The perfect time for you as a mom to start creating your baby scrapbook is when you are expecting. You can start to collect as many things like your first sonogram picture, baby shower and why not your OBGYN visits.


Capturing every moment, from pregnancy to the first years are the most important and believe me you will be thanking yourself later. I know many moms that have done this and have just now completed their baby scrapbook. One of them told me the other day, that they can't wait to give this to their daughter as a high school graduation present.


Example: Here are some ideas to get you started




Make A Pregnancy Journal:

You want to get into the habit, to journal every part of your pregnancy. From the first trimester, to birth (babies weight and length). You need to also include time of birth, the length of your labor and your doctors name etc. etc. So when it is time for you to journal beside your scrapbooking photos, you will be well prepared.


Photos Include Milestones:

Take pictures from pregnancy to 1 year. Try to capture your babies different moods; from sleeping, sad, happy and playful moments. Also pictures with Mommy, Daddy, close friends and relatives are also wonderful. 


Scrapbooking Emotion:

This scrapbook needs to be filled with emotion. You are telling a story to your child through the eyes of the scrapbook. Pick topics to journal about what will make your innermost feelings emerge. Also, have your closest friends and relatives journal their own thoughts and feelings about your little one, so that you can add their writing to the scrapbook.



When using these baby scrapbooking ideas, you will find that you will more than likely come up with many more personal ideas of your own to include in your baby scrapbook. Your little one will not stay little forever, so why not create a memory for you and for them.

How To Start Your Own Scrapbooking Club

Have you ever thought about starting your own Scrapbooking Club? When it comes to forming a Scrapbooking Club or Group you need to sit down and create a list of start up questions.


~ Example ~

Group Size:
How big would you like your scrapbooking club or group to be? Would you like a small close knit group of friends? Or, would you like a bigger collaboration of people, to make it more of a scrapbooking event?

  

• Tip #1: - once a week, every two weeks, once a month etc. etc.

• Tip #2: - Create a mini survey for your first gathering, hand out mini surveys that you created. Asking your fellow scrapbookers what day, weeks, and time etc. would work best for them. This can help you create your scrapbook club or group schedule better.

• Tip #1: Make this experience fun for all. Create an atmosphere that is very inviting, by offering eats and the latest scrapbook magazines to look through for the latest and greatest scrapbooking ideas.

• Tip #2: I like to put out on the individual tables some simple community tools like: Silent Eyelet Setter, trimmers and Coluzzle templates. These are some added touches that I like to offer to my fellow scrapbookers. 

• Tip #3: Scraps, I also like to place a little lunch size bag in the middle of each one of my work tables. This is for all of the scraps to be thrown away.  

Location:

Picking a scrapbooking location, Example: The location could be at your house, your local church, or at a community hall. The reason why picking a location is so important, is because scrapbookers have a lot of supplies. That being said, they need plenty of space to be able to work. 


Time:

How many times, would you like for your scrapbook club or group to meet?




Structure:

You can start out by conducting the club or group yourself and then you can open up guest spots. Bring in scrapbooking insturctors, to teach some of their more famous techniques. To find these kind of scrapbooking instuctors, you can call your local craft or scrapbooking stores to get more information on this subject.

Remember to have fun. If you think this is something that you would like to try and have fun creating. This is a way to get together with your closest scrapbooking friends, along with meeting new ones...

Using Premade Scrapbooking Pages

Have you ever heard of Premade Scrapbooking Pages? In this post, I'm going to explain to you what it means to use premade scrapbooking pages. On some occasions, my schedule is all over the place but I want to work on scrapbooking before that week is out.

But I don't feel up to doing a digital scrapbook, I want to create the more traditional scrapbook. That is when I pull out my already premade scrapbooking pages, this really does save me a lot of time and energy.

Now what I love about the premade scrapbooking pages is that they come in premade assorted themes. Anywhere from spring flowers, Mother's Day, Father's Day, pumpkins, snowman. You also can find custom scrapbooking pages like, for the holiday that is just next month 4th July.  

When shopping for premade scrapbooking pages, only look for the ones that state (acid free) this is very important. When I first started doing scrapbooks with premade pages I didn't know you had to only use acid free premade paper. You can come across premade paper with pretty high levels of acid and mixing that with your photos that already have acid in them, can and will distort your photos over time.

One of the other unique thing about premade scrapbooking pages is that they are usually hand made, so that will ensure you the buyer long-lasting scrapbook memories. Now keep in mind that your total investment will cost you anywhere from $4.99 to $19.99 depending on your personal preference.

Overall, when I don't have a lot of time on my hands, but I want to do a more traditional scrapbook; using premade scrapbooking pages is the way to go.

Making a Wedding Scrapbook

One of the first things that I highly recommend is when it comes to creating a wedding scrapbook, you need to be prepared in advance. Make a checklist, of what you want to have in your wedding scrapbook. I like to create an outline, especially when it comes to creating wedding scrapbooks. When you plan ahead and create that outline, you will be saving yourself a tremendous amount of time and energy. For then you will be able to funnel that time and energy into the more important parts of your wedding scrapbook.

Tip: Don't just capture the wedding

Capture the engagement and also the honeymoon. This will make for an overall wonderful wedding scrapbook(s). You will want to create at least 2 to 3 small size books, 6" x 6" or 8" x 8" size pages work the best. The reason why I say that, 6" x 6" or 8"x 8" is the best size. Is because, you might encounter a problem with the page dimensions. In some cases they can become thicker and possibly bulker then a regular sized scrapbook.

Digital scrapbooking works wonders, when creating your wedding scrapbook. You don't have to worry about gluing or adhering the back of your precious photos. Make this scrapbook all digital, drag and drop your photos to each page. When creating your scrapbook, you need to keep in mind that you are telling a story. Don't forget to journal beside your photos and be as detailed as possible.

I personally love working on a digital wedding platform. You will begin to experience the kind of embellishments these digital platforms have to offer.

Example: 

Wedding ring, flowers, wedding cakes, hearts etc. etc. These kinds of embellishments, will help to emphasize the overall look and feel of your scrapbook(s). 


Why I choose to create wedding scrapbooks in a digitial format, Is because it doesn't stop with just one print. You can reprint over and over again, it also protects your precious scrapbooking memories. 

Felt Scrapbooking

When it comes to Felt it is one of the contemporary fabrics that have been around for years in the world of crafting. There is so many things you can do with felt like making felt flowers, frames and butterflies etc etc. One other wonderful thing about felt is that it has a variety of colors.




Example: Felt Embellishments


Felt Flowers -


I love to use this tool called a Die-cut. When you get more advanced in the world of scrapbooking. This tool will probably become your right hand man. Now at first you will have scissors to do the job and that's ok. You can still make the felt flower, you just will be making hand-cut flower shapes instead. One of the things that I love about felt is that when you cut it, it does not frey. So there is no need to break out the sewing machine to hem the edges.


Frames - 

Frame matting your photos. I like to create my frames into the traditional square like frames. But you can create your frame into a star, sun, circle or any other shape for that matter. You will need to accent your edges. What I feel that has worked the best for me over the years was to embroider. This will add more texture and become a real eye-catcher.

Butterflies -

Who doesn't love Butterflies. The best way I feel that you can create those perfect Butterflies is by hand-cut. Some people do use their die-cut machine. But I personally enjoy creating my butterflies by hand, because I like the more home made look that it gives. Keep in mind, what ever your approach maybe. You need to stick to that same approach when creating the wings of the butterfly. Last but certainly not least, you want to bring your butterfly to life. So, by doing that, you need to only adhere the butterflies body to your scrapbook page. You then need to leave the butterflies wings free so that it gives that flying effect.


Remember to always make scrapbooking fun...

Kids Scrapbooking Project

It's all about capturing those memories. We all know that kids don't stay little for ever and what a fantastic way to preserve those moments. Don't throw those scraps away from your previous projects. Save them, because your scraps will become the biggest part of your next scrapbooking project with your kids.

• Tip: This is a great way to recycle all of your undesired materials. While taking those materials and making wonderful memories with your child(ren).  

Put your child(ren) to work. I like to give my little guys the task of making 6"x 6" or 8"x 8" size pages. My little guys love the task of adhering the photos that they have chosen to the pages. 

• Tip: The best size photos for 6" x 6" or 8" x 8" pages are wallet size (print out your photos). With having a wallet size photo, you will be able to fit a considerable amount of photos on each page.

What you will learn is that when scrapbooking with your child(ren), you will want them to have their own supplies. Make their supplies inexpensive by going to your local Dollar Store. Their supplies can be anything from buying double sided tape to stickers and stamps. At my local Dollar Store, you can even find Disney Characters to use for their scrapbook. Keep in mind, they don't have to have a special occasion to make a wonderful scrapbook.

What I have learnt over the years when it comes to scrapbooking with my kids, is that don't plan ahead for your child(ren) when it comes time for them to make their own scrapbook. Make your child(ren) a big part of the process from begining to end. I feel when you do that, it really starts to create a whole new bonding experience between you and your child(ren).

Scrapbook Clubs

I know for me when I started out I had ideas after ideas of all the scrapbooks that I wanted to create. Then I would have to say about six months or so into it I started to find myself running out of ideas.

It started becoming stressful. It started getting harder and harder to find packs of embellishments. Or that one unique cardstock. So I thought, let me turn to craft stores online to order my supplies. Come to find out the color cardstock that I thought was orange was more of a yellow. My patterns were sometimes not the right patterns that I ordered and I would have the hassle of having to send half of my order back or in some cases all of my order. It really started to becoming time-consuming.


Well, were you aware that there are monthly scrapbooking kit clubs. One of my scrapbooking friends made me aware of this and I have to say I became a big fan.


Well organized scrapbooking kits with all the expert designs you can think of. You can select patterns, embellishments, and different types of cardstock. Those days of running to store after store looking for scrapbooking supplies or even leaping from one website to another was over.


When you join one of these scrapbooking clubs you can order exactly what you want and get exactly what you ordered right to your door. I do want to give you one word of advice. Don't just run and sign up for the first scrapbook club you come across. You need to do your homework.


Ask yourself these questions, before signing up with a scrapbooking kit club.


 1. What is my budget? What am I willing to pay? To give you an idea, the general middle of the road cost-plus shipping and handling is, anywhere from $19.99 to $29.99 or more. It all depends on what you are willing to spend.

2. There are so many kits to choose from. What kind of kits are you most interested in? What I have learned is that there are so many different kinds of kits from cardstock to mini-albums to straightforward scrapbook kits. Sky's the limit to what you are most interested in.


3. Do you want the freedom to order without a monthly fee? Or, do you want to become a member and have a monthly club fee? Another Hot Tip: Scrapbooking Clubs sometimes need you to sign up for six months or even in some cases up to a year membership. Do your research and read the long-term agreement on the sites that interest you the most. 

4. Another question that seems to come up a lot. Is, what if after I sign up for a scrapbooking club site and I start to notice that I don't like the kind of kits that I am seeing? In some cases the sites will give you the option to skip a kit. But in other cases it's not so easy. Make sure you do your homework before signing up for any site.


5. Cancellation Policy? Be aware, again do your homework and go to the agreement policy on that site(s). To see what their cancellation policy is. I always will make sure to read the cancellation policy of a site before I sign up.

Mini Scrapbooks

This is one of my favorite scrapbooks to make. You'll be pleasantly surprised by how easy mini scrapbooks are to make and how cost-effective they are.

Step 1: I recommend your page size be 6"x 6". If you keep the size under 8" x 8" you will definitely be on the right track to making a mini scrapbook. These size pages are the perfect size to hold your standard 4" x 6" photos. This will leave you about and extra 2" or so for you to create the perfect inscription on your pages.

Step 2: When creating a mini scrapbook album. You need to keep in mind that mini scrapbooks are occasion themed. Meaning, this kind of scrapbook is usually themed to suit the occasion at hand. The most favored occasions consist of birthdays, baby showers, weddings, and all the major holidays.

Step 3: After completing step 1 and 2. You are ready to begin the fun side of creating a mini scrapbook. Have you ever heard of a Paper Lunch Bag or using Envelopes or even Coffee Filters to create your mini scrapbook? You can use just about anything to create your scrapbook. When it comes to mini scrapbooks, we the scrapper are looking for the next products or ideas that we like to find or comes up with.


Paper Lunch Bag -


You will need two paper bags placed on top of one another.

You then need to fold both paper bags in half. You are creating the spine feature of the mini scrapbook.

Create spine punch holes 3/4" apart from one another.

I highly recommend in this next step you use ties to bind the mini scrapbook together. In my opinion the ties work the best for this project.

Envelopes -

Embellishments are a wonderful choice for creating your scrapbook. What I love to do is add my embellishments to both sides of my envelopes for added effect. You can use as many envelopes as you need for this project.

Next, make your writing come to life. This is when you can break out your rubber stamps or let your imagination take you on a journey.

You will then punch at least two holes on the side of your individual envelopes.

Tie it all together by adding a tie or some ribbon.

The most important task of all is: Don't forget to added your photos.


Coffee Filter -


The kind of filters that I feel work the best is cone-shaped coffee filters. They really make the scrapbook come to life.


You will then need scrap paper and card stock. I like to add the scrap paper and the card stock in between the coffee filters to bring more character to the mini scrapbook.

• Embellishments

• Photos

Instead of punching one hole. You will be punching three holes on the end of the filters.

You then will be using a tie or ribbon, what ever you prefer to bring the mini scrapbook filters together.




This is an overview of how to create a mini scrapbook and always remember to bring your creativity to the table.

Digital Scrapbooking

This is for all you beginner scrapbookers that are looking for that professional digital scrapbooking designs.


Like in my last post, I truly believe in bringing your creativity to life. I was once you're so called traditional scrapbooker. But as I started to really get the hang of things, I started to experiment with as we scrapbookers like to call it Digital Scrapping. Now, my so called scrapbooker friends that were more on the traditional side of things were against the idea, but I didn't let that slow me down. I started to dip my toes into the digital scrapping world, and I have never looked back. 



To give you an overview of what Digital Scrapbooking is. It's the ability to be able to transform or freeze your images/photos into a digital design, instead of the more traditional way. It eliminates your scissors, glue and embellishment but of course, not your paper. Or in some cases you won't even need any paper. 

Do you have a digital camera to take your photographs? I take my photographs and store them on my computer in a folder named Digital Photos. You need to be able to have easy access to your photos. So, I highly suggest you create a folder on your desktop to store all your photographs that you intend to use.  This step alone will help to eliminate the time and energy spent. Let's not forget the expense of getting copies of your photos made.


Are you wondering how to resize your photos? Adobe Photoshop Element is as easy as 123. Adobe Photoshop Element is a software tool that will become one of your best friends when working to create a digital scrapbook. This software alone will help to resize and or clear up all of your photos to the utmost professional images you desire.   


You will be pleasantly surprised on how easy a lot of the digital scrapbooking software works for you in this day and age. What I like about the digital scrapbooking software that is out there today; is that most of them have a free 30-day trail for your convenience and you can also find free digital scrapbooking sites. But please don't just settle on the first site you come upon, do your research.


These digital scrapbooking sites have so many wonderful scrapbooking designs. I also love how you can create your own photo collage frames without in some cases the slightest effort. 

Don't get me wrong my passion is still in creating traditional scrapbooks. But to get that more professional look, that is when I turn to digital scrapbooking. If you want to learn the digital scrapbooking side. Don't think you need to be a so called digital scrapbooking guru. By all means don't let fear of failure discourage you, what you create doesn't have to be perfect. 

Keep in mind what ever you create will be wonderful memories to you and your close family members.

Let The Scrapbooking Begin

Have you always wanted to be a scrapbooker? I wanted to eliminate some of the difficult parts, and show you how scrapbooking can be very enjoyable from beginning to end. When you start to implement the overall steps of this scrapbooking blog. You will start to understand that scrapbooking; once you get the hang of it, is a very enjoyable hobby to learn. 

Themes:

How I like to look at it, is that Scrapbooking is an Art. Before you start you need to think of a theme for your pictures. Deciding on a theme is one of the most important steps you will take. If you don't make choosing a theme the first priority, you will fall short and the thought of becoming a scrapbooker will turn into a chore and not a hobby.

Matting:

After you have chosen a theme. Matting is the next step you will really need to understand. This is a process of taking your photos and applying them to your pages. In some cases scrapbookers like myself, like to double or even sometimes triple mat our photos for an awesome added effect. This overall will make your photos pop right off the page with character and creativity. 

Embellishments:

This is where the fun begins. Embellishments are decorations that are used for your individual scrapbooking pages. I love when I get to this stage, because this is where I feel my creative juices start to flow. You can buy packaged embellishments at your local craft store. Or you can create your own home made embellishments with leftover scraps like (ribbons, beads, lace, and some leftover scrap paper). 

Words:

Don't forget your words. When I first started out; I have to admit that I had a hard time coming up with creative words to use. The thesaurus and I became best friends and I also went to my local Michael's to buy rubber stamps that said it all. You can find some really cute rubber stamps to really compliment your pages.




Overall for you the scrapbooking beginner, this is a fun and enjoyable learning process. Don't be afraid to allow your imagination and your creativity to come together and start to make beautiful scrapbooking memories.