Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Have You Tried Scrapbooking Recipes?


Have you seen the new scrapbooking supplies for recipe albums? Local craft stores are responding to the new trend of scrapbooking recipes. You can find albums with a recipe theme, as well as stickers, paper and embellishments to complement the scrapbook. The main thought behind scrapbooking recipes is the same as using photos and memories. We want to preserve the recipes for future generations. However, recipe albums are very popular as gift items as well. Some scrapbookers are even using them in their kitchens as cookbooks.

To begin designing a recipe scrapbook you need to think about your purpose for creating it. Will this be an album documenting family recipes handed down from generation to generation? Or are you creating an album to give as a gift? If this is a recipe album meant to be used in the kitchen, you also may approach the design differently and choose a scrapbook that will be more durable. Albums come in a variety of sizes including, 4x6, 5x7 and 12x12 inches. Choose the one that will best fit your goal for scrapbooking recipes.

Decide whether or not this will be a gift album. You may not want to use the original recipe card written by your great-grandmother in a gift recipe scrapbook. You still could make the recipes personal by writing the ingredients and instructions in your own handwriting instead of a computer font. Recipe albums make welcome gifts for weddings, graduations, Christmas or housewarming gifts.

Which recipes to choose will depend on your goal for the album. You may want to use quick and easy recipes for a graduation gift. Holiday favorites would be ideal for a Christmas gift. You could also narrow down the recipe choices to just desserts, soups, main dishes or family favorites.

When you begin to design your recipe album decide if you want to keep the same layout format for each page and if you will coordinate the embellishments on each page. You may want to keep the album with an overall uniform look, or have each individual page have a unique look.

You can use recipe cards or journaling blocks for the ingredients and instructions. You may also want to include a photo of the dish or a picture of the person who gave you the recipe. Consider adding comments about why you love the dish or opinions from your family on why it is one of their favorites. Try journaling about the history of the recipe or any special memories you have about it. Making the album personal is what scrapbooking is all about.

Scrapbooking recipes doesn't have to be limited to a recipe album. Think about including recipes in other scrapbooks. Highlight the recipe for witch's brew on a Halloween page layout. Recipes on Thanksgiving pages are an obvious choice. Include your secret recipe for perfect gravy. How about including the recipes for the dinner you made for your husband on your first Valentine's Day? You can also include your grandmother's apple pie recipe on a page all about your memories of her. Food is a big part of our lives, and recipes are a natural page element for scrapbooks. Think about creating a recipe album as craft project or add a recipe to your next page layout. Be a part of latest scrapbooking trend and pull out your recipe cards.








Christine Perry is an avid scrapbooker and has over 10 years of scrapbooking experience. Her favorite scrapbooking subjects are her reluctant teenagers. She invites you to her website, http://www.intoscrapbooking.com for more scrapbooking tips and scrapbooking recipes ideas.


Monday, February 21, 2011

Free Online Recipes


One reason people love the internet is due to the incredibly quick and pain-free way you can access information. Within seconds, you can access a wealth of information regarding almost any topic imaginable. While the majority of us don't utilize the internet for heavy duty research, one way almost anyone can enjoy the convenience and power of the internet is by locating free online recipes.

Just 15 years ago it didn't seem possible that in the near future, millions of recipes covering almost every kind of food would be readily available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection. The future has arrived so here are several ways to take advantage of free online recipes.

Without a doubt the free online recipes are extremely handy because you can pull up a recipe in a matter of seconds. While many use a search engine like Google, most people often have their preferred recipe websites that include vast databases of recipes. Simply input a key word or keyword phrase like "chili" or "chicken soup" and you will generally find several to dozens of flavorful recipes.

In addition to being easy to access, a lot of recipe websites are full of people that enjoy cooking, have their own favorite recipes and enjoy adding recipes to the database for others to use. These community recipe websites are an excellent way to share knowledge. In addition, the majority of recipe websites offer those that use recipes on the board to add comments. So whether you like a recipe or you didn't like it, you can easily share your comments with others. This is a great way to try out a recipe (especially if many people liked it) or avoid it the recipe if it received bad reviews.

In addition to being able to read recipes on your computer screen, many cooks take it one step further- they print out their favorite recipes. It is extremely easy to print out recipes and many free online recipe sites offer the option of special recipe formatted files which make it a snap to print out your favorite recipes. This way you no longer have to worry about ruining the recipe card while you cook or misplacing it. If you spill something on it, you can effortlessly print it out again.

top of all these advantages, a lot of free online recipe sites have gone one step further in providing quality information on how to make specific meals. Many free online recipe sites now provide images and some even include videos showing you step by step how to prepare a moderate to difficult dish.

Free online recipe web sites are perhaps the quickest way to locate new recipes, read reviews, and chat about the latest or best techniques on cooking and sharing with the world your favorite or time honored family recipe. Free online recipe websites are definitely the ultimate home recipe box.








For a large collection of family friendly free online recipes visit http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/archives.htm