APR: Altered recipes

This week the Artist's Play Room with Jenn at Just Add Water, Silly asked us for


altered recipes. Little did Jenn realize what she was getting into. Back at Christmas in 2008, I received a small handmade art journal from my dear friend Halle. It didn't take long until I started filling it with altered recipes, something I had wanted to make for a long time.

Allow me to explain that I have shown all these photos previously over about a year's time from late 2008 through nearly all of 2009. Since most people who visit my blog today have never seen them, I decided to pull them out of mothballs and show them again. Because I took them from my blog, the images were quite small. I found when I enlarged them, they were huge. So, I've shown both a small and a large image, since Jenn would probably like recipes everyone can read. Of course, some of them were not meant to be read anyway, because I took recipes from magazines or images that spoke to the nature of an altered recipe book. For your enjoyment, here is my APR entry this week. You will need to click once on the large photo to see it in its entirety in a new window. Edit: I would like to add these were taken using my former scanner.


I began this book with a hand written recipe, over which I added a tape transfer and a tiny wooden slotted spoon. I hate my handwriting, so was glad I could cover most of it.




I realize this is not a recipe, but it was a two page spread I loved in the book. The stoves are tape transfers, the words are from various book pages, and the girls are from Paper Whimsey.


I can't draw, so all you real sketch artists, please don't laugh. I drew the big top over the recipe I found on the internet and printed in pink. I added an elephant from my stash for decoration.




I found this image and recipe in a magazine on drinks and had to use it. With the image enlarged, you can tell the image was from a magazine.


Another one of those spreads I made to create a bit of whimsey and humor. I felt it went well in the book. All images are from various magazines.





Again, no recipe, but I used old recipes I cut in squares and edged with various ink pads.



I suspect you are wondering why I called this an altered recipe book. Again, a bit of whimsey, since I attached an old seed packet after I stamped (yes, STAMPED) the background.




Ah! A real recipe. But it looks more like a page in a scrapbook than it does in an altered art book. I used the layering technique scrapbookers use as well as a wooden spoon used in scrapbooks. To my credit, I spent a lot of time trying to make the spoon look old and well used, like most of my wooden spoons.



When a friend learned I was making an altered recipe book, old culinary type books appeared on my doorstep. Since I love, love, love Flan, I couldn't help but make this two page spread, especially after I found those cute custard cups in the scrapbook section of Michael's.




I realize these are only a few of the many pages I made in this book, but I thought that was enough for the challenge. If you want to see more, do a page search for "altered recipes." And thanks for sticking with me through this walk down memory lane.

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