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Your Cookbook
by Aby Garvey
 
 Gather your recipes (be they on index cards, scraps of paper, chocolate-covered computer printouts) and use an in-box or bin to store them temporarily. Grab sticky notes and a pen and head for a large, flat surface.
 Cookbooks are traditionally arranged according to main ingredients (beef, chicken, fish, pork, vegetarian) or by course (appetizers, beverages, breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and side dishes). Depending on your recipe collection and cooking habits, you may prefer to sort by occasion, cuisines or cooking method. Use a sorting scheme that makes sense to you.
 Eliminate recipes that no longer fit your eating habits, cooking style or lifestyle. Remember, the most useful collections are filled with items you use and love. Sort recipes into piles, using the sticky notes to designate the categories.
Make a cover for your binder by using your favorite cardstock, journaling cards, rubber stamps, rub-on letters, letter stickers and cardstock die. Cut a 12 x 12 inch piece of cardstock to fit your binder, glue the other elements into place and let them dry. Slide the completed paper into the binder cover.
Label the binder’s spine by trimming the cardstock to 2¾ inches wide by 11-3/8 inches long. Apply adhesive letters vertically to spell out a word of your choosing.
To make binder tabs, use your paper trimmer to cut cardstock strips that will fit the inserts supplied with your self-adhesive index tabs. Use the label-maker to create category labels (beef, fish, chicken, pasta) and apply them to the cardstock strips.
 To create section dividers, slide the labeled strips into the index tabs and attach the tabs to a sheet protector, which you’ll then place in the binder.
 When you insert recipes into your binder, place the full-page recipes into the 8½ x 11 inch sheet protectors and use the photo holder sleeves for recipe cards. Glue any recipe clippings onto an index card or 8½ x 11 inch paper. Pop each sheet into the appropriate section of your binder.
• Since a binder can hold both recipe cards and sheets of paper, you won’t need to recopy your old recipes. After all, handwritten recipes (Grandma’s Apple Pie, Mom’s Summer Chili, etc) are wonderful keepsakes.
• Create a special mark for recipes that are a big hit. (There’s nothing better than cooking up family favorites!)
• If you like to experiment, delegate a section for “Recipes to Try.”
SUPPLY LIST
• one 1½-inch three-ring binder with extra-wide extended covers
• assorted cardstock
• journaling cards
• cardstock flowers
• clear stamps and a clear block (as used for scrapbooking)
• ink pad for stamping
• letter stickers
• rub-on letters
• rub-on doodles
• 2-inch self-adhesive index tabs
• sheet protectors
• clear photo holders for four 4 x 6 inch photos and eight 3½ x 5 inch photos
• coordinating piece of rickrack
• craft glue-stick
EQUIPMENT LIST
• paper trimmer and scissors
• label maker with clear tape
Aby Garvey
Aby Garvey specializes in providing creative solutions for organizing dilemmas. Visit her website at simplify101.com
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