by Dagny Roth

Created on: February 19, 2009   Last Updated: October 10, 2011

A scrapbook recipe organizer is a fun way to keep track of all your favorite dishes! This fun craft can be a family do it together project and will bring lots of warm memories as you sort together all the yummy family favorites. This project is an inexpensive, time saving  resource.  No more constantly thumbing through your old cookbooks to find the recipes you are looking for. The materials needed don't have to be elaborate and a basic list is suggested below:

-3 Ring Folder/Binder with cover pocket

-Inside tab dividers with pockets

-Notebook Paper or Construction Paper which you will hole punch

-Note Cards (optional)

-Decorative Material, ie: scrapbooking paper, trinkets, etc.

The easiest way to do this is to write down your favorite recipes on the paper. You can cut out magazine photos and glue them on construction paper hole punched too!

Create categories using the divider tabs such as: dinner, appetizers, lunch, pasta, meat however you prefer to search for your recipes. You can even create a "Grandma" tab for all the handed down recipes or have each member of the family create their own personal tab with their favorite recipes. One suggestion also is to create tabs for holidays. Christmas could include your ham recipe or Grandma's sugar cookies. You can also create a tab for recipes you haven't tried yet but keep meaning to.

If you want you can also include recipes on notecards and simply keep them in the pockets or just use the pockets to put the recipes you have found or torn from magazines but haven't had a chance to jot down. If there is room add a notes column or area where you can write in helpful hints or tips you have learned to make the receipe better. For example; perhaps the recipe you tried from a cookbook didn't turn out as well as you hoped the first time but the second time you changed it up...added your own elements...make a note. The scrapbook can become a momentum later too; a remembrance of special meals you made and the dates you made them. Involve the kids and have them help you cut out fun photos or color on the cover to add that personal touch. Perhaps you may even want to have a day where they select a recipe and you can walk them through the step by step process teaching them how to cook!

The front cover can be fun. You can handmake or do a computer print out with something like, "SMITH FAMILY RECIPES". To spruce up the scrapbook add pretty designs/paper and magazine photos of all your yummy meals!

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