Irish Soda Bread Paper Recipe Album

I posted these pics to Facebook, but never got around to posting them to the blog. There's quite a few, so I'll post my faves here. You can view the rest on Facebook.

So, here's the backstory: in late autumn, my sister's boyfriend Dave began expressing an interest in Irish Soda Bread. He likes to cook and bake, so I think he was trying to figure out how to make it. Everywhere Amy went it seemed - restaurants, get togethers - she sleuthed for info about the bread and recipes.

Late autumn means holiday shopping, right? Traditionally, we exchange gifts with everyone on my side of the family. When Amy started interrogating people about the bread, the wheels in my head began to turn. In want of an original Christmas gift idea for Dave, I asked Amy if he had an Irish recipe book or something similar. Since he didn't, I decided to make one using the Spice of Life Paper Album Kit.

I culled together various images and clippings I found online. I printed the pictures using my Kodak printer, cropped them, and, along with the paper and stickers that came with the kit plus a few other embellishments, created a one-of-a-kind keepsake.

I wasn't sure I'd get it finished in time for our holiday get-together, but I did, with a LOT of help from Adam! This product resulted from our joint effort. He sacrificed much of his time (and sanity), so I could finish it. What a great husband!

The whole thing only took me about 2 - 3 days to complete. I started with the history of Irish Soda Bread, which I printed on vellum. I added a basic recipe plus a few variations, including one involving jalepenos!

I included definitions of the different types of bread plus mixing and baking techniques.

I even put a space in the back for Dave to slide in his own recipe cards using a memorabilia pocket! How nifty is that?

I used an X-acto knife to cut a slit along the folds of the inside front and back covers to slip in the ribbon. Then, I adhered the ribbon with adhesive.

The icing on the "bread" was that Dave absolutely loved the recipe book! We even got him a large cast-iron skillet to go with it.