DIY Recipe Books

I talked briefly about making recipe books for Christmas and I never seemed to find the time to blog about how I made them. I was going through some older photos on my computer this morning and found the shots I took while I was in the middle of the project. So finally you will see my simple little project just in case you need a go to gift for friends and family.

Supplies: Scissors, hole punch, ribbon or yarn, craft glue, ruler, colorful card stock/scrapbook paper and a few of your favorite recipes handwritten or typed...

To get started I chose very colorful patterns of card stock. I found mine at Target. For about $10 I got a nice amount and have a ton left over for other projects! I also bought some plain bright colored card stock for the inside pages.

I also had a plan. The books were not going to have a ton of recipes. Instead I chose a theme. I included one recipe per family member in my house. But for Mazzy and Remy I used one. Basically I chose a favorite recipe for each of us and typed them out.

After measuring and cutting (all depending on what size you would like to make your recipe books) you can cut out your typed recipes and glue them to the pages of solid color card stock. After the glue dries you can use the hole punch to create two holes through all of the pieces of paper. Once you have done that just thread some ribbon or yarn through so that it can all be held together. You can make these as simple or as fancy as you would like. You could even decorate the cover with a family photo or write something special.

*So this concludes my long overdue post on my recipe book craft. Certainly not too hard and very fun and there is a lot of room for more creativity. I plan on making a few just to have on hand for birthdays and such. I am going to try to blog my DIY crafts and recipes more often. Out of laziness I just stopped but I forgot how much fun it was to share my part-time craftiness with you. I'm thinking next I owe you all a recipe so look for one soon. 

Neglect

Wow! How is it already near the end of February? Where have I been? I wish I had a really awesome excuse for my lack of posts but the truth is I have been consumed by knitting and working and helping out a friend. That's it. No fancy reason, just a lot of running around and a few days of professional laziness. I have also been wondering if I want to take this blog in a new direction. I'm playing with a few ideas currently. I have a lot of things that need to be tackled at home and projects half completed that are screaming my name... So for at least a couple of months my blogging will suffer. I guess I need to embrace mobile blogging. With Instagram I feel like I post a lot of what is going on in my life just through my photographs. Maybe I'm afraid I will be overloading the internet with my "stuff" or maybe I just got so behind in blogging that I don't even know where to start again? I'll have to sit on these questions for a bit. In the mean time enjoy the changing seasons and hopefully I will see you soon...

Quick update...

Well I'm still on my nutritional cleansing kick! Weighed in today and I'm down a total of 18 lbs.!
I expected to lose weight but honestly this has been such a painless way to drop some weight. I'm convinced that what I am doing could change so many other people's lives. That is why I am talking about it so much!

Other than that, life has been moving along nicely in our neck of the woods. School is back in session for the kiddos and work is taking up a lot of my time. I've been knitting a lot more than I had been last year so that feels good. I still have loads to get done but I'm feeling so blessed and I'm trying not to fret over things that aren't too terribly important. I feel bad for neglecting my blog but I just don't have a lot to say right now. I think of things to write and then they get absorbed by my brain before I can sit down and collect my thoughts. I feel the same way about my songwriting lately. I know I have plenty to say but I can't concentrate long enough to say it. So instead I keep busy with my cameras and try to capture the moments that inspire me and even the ones that frustrate me. I guess either way I am doing something with my creative energy so I shouldn't complain. I'm sure someday I will have too much time on my hands so I'll just enjoy the craziness of motherhood.