So many of my favorite memories revolve around food:
“rooting in the candy cupboard” at Grandma’s house
sitting at the 50s Formica table sampling Great-grandma’s egg custard
learning fractions with Mom using recipes to make math more fun
Many of those memories found their way into a recipe scrapbook that I gave to my Mom as a Christmas gift a few years ago. The book highlighted the women in my family (they do most of the cooking!) and the recipes that tell my family story.
Memories of my great-grandma and her egg-cellent cup custard
The Project Overview: No Photoshop Required
Each page or two of the book was dedicated to a different woman beginning with my great-grandma and ending with my niece and nephew. Okay I cheated a little and included a couple guys: my nephew and my brother. Here’s a look at the elements I chose to tell each of their stories.
Family Photos
I scanned in my favorite family photos and printed them out so that I could cut them out in interesting shapes. Color photo copies would have worked too. I’m not fabulous with Photoshop so I did everything “old-school” scrap-booking style.
My mom and creative inpiration
Recipes
I also scanned in some of our recipes, like the old ones in my great-grandma’s handwriting. I typed up other ones that weren’t so visually interesting.
Heirlooms
Family heirlooms made up the other major visual element . My sister and I each photographed things we had inherited that were iconic to us, things like Great-Grandma’s china, a Pillsbury DoughBoy doll, and the plastic Kool-Aid Cho-Cho-Cherry mug we used at Grandma’s house.
Kool-aid at Grandma’s
Stories
Written memories along with the visual ones accompanied each section. I typed up a little blurb including favorite food related memories.
Including the Kids
My sister staged a photo shoot with her kids (Mom’s grandchildren) baking. We included a “recipe” that my niece wrote in her 6-year-old handwriting. Of course, the kids didn’t know why they were doing it because kids have a hard time keeping a secret.
My niece and nephew helping out with a top secret photo shoot.
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