Hi, guys! I’m so excited to share something with you today that I’ve been working really hard on for the last few weeks. It’s my new organized recipe binder printables that I’ve just added to my resource library, which also includes pantry and spice labels, gift tags, and more! Creating graphics is pretty new to me, but this project has really helped me learn a lot. I’m so happy with how it turned out, and now all my recipes have an organized home in one place.
It all started with the New Year. The thing I love most about a new year is that I always get so motivated to organize my life. I wish I stayed that way all year long, but sadly I don’t, so I have to try to get in as much organization as I can while I am motivated. I typically reach my organization quota within the first couple of months of the year. The good thing is that once I put a new system in place I am usually able to keep up with it if it works.
A couple of years ago my oldest son and I started putting together a menu for the week each Sunday. At the time, it really helped my then 4 year old, who is a picky eater, feel like he had some say in his meals. I found he was much more likely to eat the food he didn’t love if he helped me make the food decisions earlier in the week. Fast forward a couple of years, and it still works great for us. A few weeks ago, though, I realized that I am all over the place with my recipes. I have our recipes stored anywhere between my computer, my phone, a few print outs that are scattered all over the place, and pages from magazines that I’ve saved. Luckily, my temporary organization motivation has set in, and I’ve come up with a great binder to corral it all.
I picked up a 1 inch binder and some tab dividers at the office supply store. Then I started thinking “hmm…I can’t have just a plain white boring binder hanging out in my kitchen” so I turned to good ol’ Pinterest to spruce it up, but I just couldn’t find what I was looking for out there. Luckily, one of my goals this year is to learn more about creating graphics, so I thought I’d get started.
The recipe binder design combines my love of two things…Kate Spade and fleur de lis. I love Kate’s spade mix of bold patterns and bright colors, and the fleur de lis is for my hometown, New Orleans. If you came over to my house you could play “Spot the Fleur de Lis” in every room. I love them so much it only made sense to include them in the design.
For the outside of the binder, I created a cover, a back, and of course, a spine, so it’s easy to spot on the shelf. The front cover is even personalized!
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Here is what I used to help put the recipe binder together:
- 1 inch binder or larger
- divider tabs
- heavier paper (I used 32 lb., which is not as heavy as card stock)
- adhesive spray
- washi tape (here’s a link to the striped tape I used)
- label maker (I used pink label tape)
Inside is 16 divider pages for the most common types of recipes, and I also designed some blank divider pages. You could easily just print these pages out, hole punch them, and put these in front of the dividers, but I didn’t want them to get lost within my recipes. I printed the divider pages on slightly heavier 32lb. paper, and I sprayed the backs of each page with an adhesive spray. Then, I adhered each page directly to the tabbed dividers and hole punched them. You could also print the pages on card stock to differentiate them a little more from your recipes.
Once you’ve confirmed your email address, you will receive our weekly newsletter full of our latest posts, as well as content that is exclusive for A Home To Grow Old In subscribers. Plus, you’ll have access to our Resource Library that is full of FREE printables and SVG cut files.
To take my personal binder a little further, I covered the tabs of the dividers with this washi tape that I had on hand, and I printed labels on pink tape with my label maker.
Once I had the binder itself put together, I spent a couple of hours gathering up and organizing all my recipes. Most of my recipes were already printed. I learned the hard way a while back to make sure to print out the recipes I love. There was a s’mores bar recipe that I found on a blog that was to die for! Whenever I made it, I would just pull up my link to the blog. Then, one day the blog wasn’t there anymore! I have tried other recipes and made my own up, but they still don’t compare to the original. π Lesson learned! (UPDATE…I’ve recently come up with a s’mores bars recipe that beats the pants off my lost recipe! You can check it out here.) But, I still had some favorite recipes saved in apps that I hadn’t printed out, so I took care of that. Lastly, I went through my magazines and tore out recipes and put those in page protectors (my hubby was super happy to see my magazine pile dwindle down).
Now when my son and I do our weekly menu I have my recipe binder to go to when we get stumped for dinner ideas. It also makes putting my grocery shopping list a lot easier to put together because my ingredient lists are together in one place.
I love this so much, and I hope you do, too! If you would like to receive access to my resource library which includes these recipe binder printables, as well as pantry and spice labels, gift tags, and other printables for all over your home, just sign up to receive emails of my blog posts here. I will never spam you or sell your email address (see my policies), and you can unsubscribe at any time. I just request that you download my printables for personal use only!
By the way, these files are easy to personalize for your family! You are able to add text to the cover page by clicking on the “your family” text, as well as on some blank divider pages at the end of the document. Once you customize it, print it out, and you’re ready to start organizing!
If you’re looking to get organized for the new year, check out my organizational series!
If you like this, don’t forget to pin it!
I LOVE this! Thanks for sending the link for the printable. Jay and I keep saying we’re going to organize our recipe book and I sort of did once, but it’s falling apart and nowhere near this cute and organized!
Thanks so much! You’ll have to post a pic once you put it together. I’d love to see it!
Such a great idea! I hope you’ll be back this Sunday! Pinning this to our Inspiration Monday board! XO
Thanks so much, Julie! I look forward to coming back.
I am like you with recipes in too many places. I like the idea of a binder. Right now, I think all I’m going to be able to manage is a dedicated drawer, but at least that would get it all in the same place for now. Thank you for sharing with us at Brag About It! Pinned and tweeted to share π
Laura, I completely understand! It’s taken me a long time to get this far with my recipes. Thanks so much for hosting Brag About It and sharing my post!
i cant find the link to download
Hi Ivette! I just sent you an email, so Please let me know if you didn’t receive it! Thanks!
i have already signed up for emails but cant seem to get back into the recipe binder printable. please reply asap. trying to do this for christmas for my siblings
Sandi, I just emailed you, so please let me know if you didn’t receive it! I’m so excited to hear that you’re using it!
I downloaded the recipe binder printables and it won’t allow me to personalize. (I click on the text and nothing happens…no text box opens for editing/input.) Ideas?
Thanks!
Trying again…says your web page is down? This is clearly not my day!
I downloaded the recipe binder downloadable but it does not allow me to edit/personalize. No text box opens, etc. Ideas?
Thanks.
Hi, Cheryl! I sent you an email yesterday, and I hope everything is working now! Please let me know if you still need help with your binder!
love it
Love Kate Spade and you did a great Kate Spade Hack on this, my friend!
Hey Robin…these printables are fantastic! Even though I use many recipes on line, I still have my volumes of printed off recipes that I don’t see digitizing anytime soon and am always looking for ways to keep them organized.
Thanks for the tips and access to these lovelies!
This is a fantastic idea Robin! What a great way to keep recipes organized!
Hello Robin.
I just subscribed & i verified my email. I am trying to download/print the Kate Spade recipe binder but it wont let me. it says i need a password to go into the library. Can you please help me out?
I signed up and left my first name and email this morning, but still haven’t received the okay to download the recipe binder. We’re having a wedding shower next week for a teacher at my school and really need something. Can you send it to me or should I plan to find something else?
Thanks!
Hi, Melissa! I’m sorry you didn’t receive it! I just emailed you, so please let me if you didn’t receive it. Good luck with the shower. I’d love to hear how your binder turns out!
i cant find the link for these
Please send me the link for to download. Thank you.
Hi, Patti! The links to all of my printables are available in the subscriber library that you can access by clicking on the “Printables” tab above. You should have received the login info and link in your welcome email after you signed up, but if didn’t, please let me know. Thank you so much for checking them out!
Thank you, Robin. It turned out beautiful and will be the perfect gift for a very deserving person. I pray that she uses it well as she begins her new life with her son. Thanks again.
Yay, Patti! I’m so happy to hear it turned out well, and what a sweet idea to give it as a gift! I know this takes a lot of time to put together, so I’m sure the person you are giving the binder to will really appreciate it. It means a lot to me that you used my printables for something so special. Thank you for taking the time to let me know!
I am unable to access the printables, any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Seems there is a password and I don’t have that and don’t know how I can get it. I did subscribe btw.
Hi, Pamela! I just sent you an email. Please let me know if you didn’t receive it!
Hi! Got it! Thanks so very much for your prompt reply! Very user-friendly and beautiful. Thanks again and best wishes.
I’m so happy to hear it! Thanks, Pamela!
It will take me a while to get a picture of my cookbook. You see I have a notebook for
Austrian American Recipes Beef & Game Beverages Cakes, Cupcakes Candy
Canning & Freezing and Jellies, Jams and preserves Copy Cat Recipes Desserts
Fish and Shellfish German Recipes Holiday Recipes Irish Recipes
Homemade mixes and Cake Mix Recipes Ice Cream and other frozen treats
Indian Recipes (Native American) Jewish Recipes Pies and pastries Pizza & Calzones
Pork and BBQ Poultry Pre1950 Recipes, Swiss and of course My menu planning notebook. Several are in 1″ notebooks but most are in 5 inch notebooks. The Austrian American, German, Irish, Native American, Swiss and are Jewish are all the recipes I have collected to remind me of what what mine and my husbands Grandparents and Great Grandparents cooked. I do a l a lot of printing and I am so glad that I got a new HP instant ink printer for Mother’s day
Wow, Jackie, that is quite the collection of recipes! I bet your recipe binder is going to look great printed on your new printer. Iβd love to see it! Happy belated Motherβs Day! Thanks for taking the time to write me.