New Look Recipe Albums, and pressie for my Mum :)

Dear Blog pals, I thought you would like to see some of my recent crafting projects. This one has not only proved to be a bit of a challenge but also a real joy to make. Whilst visting my family in Dublin in August this year, my Mum showed me a collection of wonderful old recipe paper cuttings from comics she lovingly collected as a child, along with a rather sad and tatty looking recipe book she was given one year by her Aunt. As you can see by the pics, the illustration on the recipe cuttings are simply adorable, these ofcourse are the real deal and very retro, I just love them! and can see ofcourse how much they would have appealed to my Mum as a child. These (considering their age) were not in bad condition at all) unlike the poor old recipe book, which really was in a very sorry state. My Mum informs me the pages (even when new) were very badly bound together, and kept falling out, hence all the old celloptape marks, oh dear :( oh well, as least glue has inproved over the years. So, I decided to take onboard the challenge of giving them all a new life, and bringing back some of their once loved sparkle. I wanted to keep things pretty simple as I didn't want to take anything away from their original charm, plus, I had to think of a way to rebind the recipe book, giving it a new look, but still allowing you to view the original cover. Plus, there was also a little drawing that my Mum had done as a child, that I wanted to add, but as she had also writen on the back, had to think of a way to include this, so that you could still view both sides. Here are some before photos.....

My Mum also, loved as a child to cut out small and funny pictures and add those to her books, so with all the left over cuttings, I managed to create a little pocket, and popped in some bits and bobs for her to glue in herself and recapture some of her childhood memories. I'm pleased to report this has now been delived to my Mum all wrapped and looking lovely, and am also pleased to report, that she is delighted with it :) so can now share with all of you, so here is what I did....

I also had a wonderful trip to Bicester Village the other day, where I picked up some great bargains. Totally scrummy Cath Kidston bits and bobs, and also some Emma Bridgewater cute little tins to store all my water colour pencils in (thinking of you there, Carole) and all at half price! I will share my goodies with you all soon. So, at this point my dear blogging pals, I would just like to say, if I don't get to blog again before Christmas, I would like to wish you all the most fantastic Christmas and new year and hope that Santa brings you all something wonderful. More soon.... Happy Crafting and Christmas!!! Hugs Suzie xxxx :)