For the Woman That Has Everything

In late October, Trent’s paternal grandmother turned 80 years old. This past summer, we spent a week with the entire family in Colorado to celebrate the big birthday, but we didn’t give her a gift, as we figured we’d wait until her actual birthday. Fast forward two months and, oh dear, now what do we do?!

All of my grandparents either passed away before I was born or when I was pretty young, so I’m never quite sure how to navigate the whole “grandmother” thing. Trent’s grandma is quite fiesty, very active (um, she flies airplanes with her husband on a monthly basis) and has no room for “stuff.” OK, now what do I get for her??? Personally, I think this should be Trent’s problem, but let’s be honest, boys don’t do gifts.

While perusing my favorite shopping website, I did a search for vintage items with the tag “1928,” the year Trent’s grandmother was born. I happened to come upon a cookbook, in relatively good condition, copyrighted 1928. I also found a woman who searches through old newspapers, cuts out kitchy articles, and sells them. I bought both items and waited patiently for them to arrive….very patiently, as one shipped a bit late (due to some miscommunication, but both sellers were FABULOUS and I totally recommend them).

The book finally got here a week or so ago and I set to work jazzing it up for Trent’s grandmother. It was in amazing shape, except for the cover, which was a bit wrecked from wear and tear. I decided to recover the book…but a crafty Martha Stewart I am not. Here’s what we ended up with:

I bought some fun paper that went with the original cover color at Paper Source, then affixed it to the cover with book binding glue. If I was really crafty, I would have removed the cover completely and made a new one, making it look a bit more professional…but I’m not, so this will have to do.

The inside covers had maps of the US with food all over them.

That’s the lady that wrote the book. Gotta love a giant collar/broach combo. Trent’s grandma lives in Tennessee, so I thought she’d like the whole “Southern Cooking” thing.

Ha! Immaturity, 1920’s style. Love it!

Here is a picture (albeit, not a great one) of one of the newspaper articles I got with the book. I stuck them inside, marking some fun recipes.

All wrapped up and ready to go! I sent it off today (only a month late…), hopefully she’ll enjoy it.

Thus ends the only ever edition of Crazybananas Goes Crafting. Tomorrow I’ll write about something more normal. I promise.