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 As I thought about Women’s History Month, I gravitated to what the women before me have left for me. I’m sure my female ancestors didn’t leave me anything intentionally…most didn’t even know me. What I do treasure from them is their handwriting. I’m fortunate enough to have asked for something in my paternal Grandmother’s handwriting before she passed away. My aunt honored that request by gifting me with one of my grandmother’s recipes in her very own handwriting.
This month I’d likes to share with you some of my ideas on preserving recipes. First, I scan them into my computer...if you don't have a scanner, take a digital photograph (it's the same thing). By creating a digital image, you now have even more options such as the greater ability to share with others, manipulate or enlarge them. Secondly, I will eventually scrapbook the recipe with a story
The recipe I shared on my blog:
http://ethnicscrapbooking.typepad.com/ethnic_scrapbooking/2007/01/new_business_fa.htm
will be used in a variety of ways.
1. I plan to scrapbook the original on a page about my Grandmother, using the highest quality materials I can afford. It's something I want to last for generations to come.
2. In the attached image, I created a page showing my Dad making the nut rolls using this recipe. It will remind me of when he kept calling her at the nursing home asking her questions about the ingredients (it was so cute). I plan to frame this page and hang it in my kitchen.
3. I plan to share this copy with any relative who asks for it.
4. I'll also use it on a layout about the aunt who gave it to me and how touched I was that she remembered what I said years before, that I didn't have any document with my Grandmother's writing on it.
5. I also put an enlarged copy of the recipe in the front of one of my favorite Martha Stewart cookbooks… the one I reach for every Christmas season.
A few years ago, I helped a friend scan all of her family recipes and print them out along with photographs of family members and then she had the document bound at Staples and gave it as a Christmas gift to her siblings.
I've seen many recipe books done in this fashion at the book stores, the most recent one was a Christmas gift I received in 2006, a recipe book by Rachel Ray...it had scrapbook style random photos of her on the pages in the side bar.
My challenge to you this month is to honor the women in your lives by creating a layout or album about them and how they enriched your life. | 
