"Altered Recipe/Memory Binder"

 Hello Friends,

I am really trying to cook more from scratch, for our health and having a good selection of recipes and being organised I think is the key for me. With working split shifts, I am going to try and menu plan, so I utilise my time better.   

I have updated my recipe storage....... I have changed it a few times over the years, but it hasn't been very usable. I have altered another 70's craft binder, which I found in the Salvos for $3. It will give me space for 8.5 x 11 refills and paper.  I am finding, that making and using binder journals is fun and easy, to add and take out pages. You can find them pretty cheap at thrift stores and you can even buy new ones cheap and still alter and use them for your style of creativity......

This was a general craft binder with pages and dividers. I gave it a really good wipe over and dry. I had some Cooking themed scrapbook paper that I hadn't used so it was perfect for this project. I just measured the covers and spine and cut and decorated them to my liking. 

On the inside of the binder, I did the same thing with some more paper. I added a clear page protector with a tab, on top, to make it easier to slide in recipes.  I can pop them in and see them, until I add them to my pages.  I am going to add a page protector to each divider to keep the clippings more organised......

I thought out what sections I wanted to use for my recipes and I cut our 12 -  8 1/4 x 11 pieces of the paper and put it through my laminator to make it stronger. They can be wiped over if needed...... I then just measured where the rings were and used my Crop-O-Dile to punch the holes and added them to the binder. 

I printed out a few different pages with Conversions and Tips on them and did the same thing with these. They are handy to refer to when needed.......

I also printed out some tabs and wrote on them. I then laminated, cut them out and stapled them onto the sides of the dividers.

The sections I have used are - Beverages, Bake-Sweet, Bake-Savoury, Desserts, Crockpot-Casseroles, Festive, Meat, Soups-Salads, Sauces-Preserves, Grans-Family Faves, Pasta and This N That.  I will also use some subheadings under a few of the sections like Baking and Meat. You make them to what you like of course.

I have used some free digital recipe pages, that I have printed and I will also use some other paper in it, to write my family recipes on to keep. I also like pulling out recipes from magazines and these will be added to pages also.

 This will also be part Memory album for my boys.......Mum also collected recipe clippings and she made an awesome recipe book, with many handwritten recipes, that I have kept..... 

In the section of Gran, I am going to add a few family pics of mum and her Grandchildren in the kitchen. Mum spent lots of time with my boys in the kitchen making cakes and slices and she loved spoiling them. They are memories I want my boys to carry with them and that is why I am adding them to this journal. I want this to be handed on to my boys. They can cook of course but it will be family memories and I know they will treasure it later on.....

Thanks for stopping by and please if you have a question or would like to leave me a comment, please do. Stay tuned as I get working on my next journals and see what I get up to ;)

Hugz K xx