Home Decor: Family Recipes

Most people have a traditional family recipe, one that is a classic dish with an original twist, is always requested for potlucks and parties or is a secret only shared amongst fellow family members.

Some recipes that come to mind are my great grandmother's recipe for arroz con pollo (the Cuban version of chicken and rice), my grandmother's authentic Italian meatball recipe (evidently I don't get this one 'til marriage...we'll see about that) and my mom's signature key lime pie recipe.

All of these recipes have very different origins, but they reflect the diversity of my family and the generational love of cooking that my whole family possesses, which is pretty cool.

And just like the history that is captured through photographs and displayed prominently on the walls of our homes, why shouldn't our family culinary histories also be displayed?

We love these ideas of taking hand written family recipes and framing them for some truly original home decor!

What are some recipes you would display?

Display recipes using multicolored and differently sized frames.

Take your recipe to a printing store and blow it up to put in a large frame.

Hang recipes in frames using ribbon.

London 2012 Olympics

It's a pretty big deal when an event only rolls around every couple of years, so why not get the kids excited about the festivities and participate in an Olympic Games of their own?

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Create a backyard Olympics with sprints, swimming races in the pool, long jump and best cartwheels contest. You can also craft your own torches and medals for an awards ceremony! Check out our Pinterest page for more Olympic Games inspired crafts and activities! 

Going Green with Home Cleaning

There's been a ton of recipes floating around the internet lately (especially Pinterest) to help families stay green and clean with a variety of homemade cleaning solutions including laundry detergent, glass cleaner and floor cleaner.

We want to know, have you tried any of these DIY cleaner recipes? Are they worth the extra time to make when you're busy wrangling up the kids? What are the pros and cons?

If you haven't given any at-home cleaners a whirl here are some recipes we thought looked pretty simple for a first-timer, we're going to try some out ourselves! (Just click on the picture for the recipe.)

Laundry Detergent

Glass Cleaner

Floor Cleaner

We're seeing a lot of common ingredients here, this might not be too difficult!

Hot Trend: Chalkboards

Remember when chalkboards reminded you of your elementary school days or someone dragging their fingernails along the surface, creating a horrible shiver-inducing sound?

Great, now I have the chills.

Anyways, chalkboards made a "hottest trend" comeback , and it doesn't look like they're going away anytime soon. Here are some of our favorite ways to display a chalkboard in the home, just make sure you're careful with those fingernails!

We love the idea of an art display wall with temporary art constantly being added below the display.

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This is a great way to stay organized and keep track of each child's chores while still fitting in with your home decor.

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These flower pots keep things orderly and they make for a fun DIY project with unlimited decorating options.

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We even have a chalkboard in the Giggle Magazine office, mainly for moments like this...

Get painting, Gigglers!