My New Customized Recipe Binders!

Oh Em Geee. I am so excited to share this with you guys! The inner OCD person in me is jumping up and down. I have some awesome new recipe binders!
I have confessed my obsession with recipes, cooking magazines and cookbooks before (in this post). And that was all before Pinterest! Needless to say, my trusty red leather C.R. Gibson binders were maxed out. I had 3 and they were overflowing. I couldn't fit anything into the rings anymore and got tired of carrying it anywhere; it was way too heavy. As a result, my recipes became more unorganized.

I researched several options for kitchen binders and settled on doing a custom order through Zazzle.com, and I knew that once I found what I liked I would order a lot. I wanted plenty of room for my current collection and room to grow. After researching lots of designs and Zazzle shops, I stumbled upon Dulce Dahlia designs and knew this would be a perfect fit. I liked her chevron and quatrefoil designs and could tell from her other work that she 'got' it. I emailed Sarah to inquire about a custom order last Sunday (8 days ago). She wrote me back immediately and by the end of the day, she had created custom designs for me (with options)! I loved her responsiveness and that she accommodated my requests so easily. I placed my order on Monday and by Friday my new goodies were on my doorstep. Gotta love the instant gratification!

Without further adieu, here are my new recipes binders!

I am in love. They are 2-inch binders in a pale gray color with a quatrefoil/Moroccan tile pattern. Because I was ordering so many and knew they would have a presence on a shelf or counter, I wanted them to be neutral.

I asked Sarah to work from one of her current designs, but add a 'tag' to the front and spine with custom text. I think they turned out pretty great!

I ordered 10 binders - Yes, 10. I'm cra-zay. Here are the categories I ordered:

Appetizers & Drinks

Salads & Soups

Main Dishes - Volume I

Main Dishes - Volume II

Main Dishes - Volume III

Side Dishes

Bread & Breakfast

Desserts

This & That - for miscellaneous tips, sauces, jams, food gifts, holidays, etc.

Favorites - for all of my printer-friendly recipes from this blog

Organization like this makes me happy.

Inside each binder, I organized the categories further with page protector/dividers from Office Depot. I researched divider tabs quite a bit, too, and was disappointed in what I found. I wanted the whole binder to be consistent and these page protector/divider combos proved to be the best way to customize the divider myself. I also like that behind the divider cover I could store other small clippings at the start of that section. Sarah was also kind enough to provide me with the .psd for the cover 'tag' as well as what fonts and color she used. I dropped those things into Word and made my own divider artwork.

The tabs also came with printable labels that I customized in a consistent font, too.

If you're curious and plan to do something like this for yourself, here is a link to a document I created that lists all of the binders and the sub-sections in each. I made a category for pretty much everything!!

Filling the binder was easy as I already had the majority of my recipes in page protectors from my prior system. I did do a little shuffling around to make it extra organized.

For example, in the 'hot appetizers' section I grouped dips together, things baked in pastry/crescents (like the above), etc.

Some of the page protectors are maxed out with small clippings. In the cocktail section, I grouped things by sangrias, margaritas, fruit-based cocktails, lemonades, teas, punches, etc. I am hoping this really detailed system will make it super easy to add new clippings from magazines or new print-outs from blogs and websites. Everything has a place...

In my Desserts binder (which happens to be the most full binder already), I have a spread with 3 various lemon bar recipes. One day, I need to make all 3 and do a taste test. In the meantime, I love the options! :)

One thing I love doing is making notes on recipes when I try them. I always write what we thought, when we made it and any modifications I made. If I make it when entertaining, I usually jot down who I made it for.

This is something my mom has always done and it makes it so personal, and so much easier. There's simply no way you can remember it all!

10 new binders in the kitchen certainly caused some re-arranging, but I made it work. I used a corner of the counter to position them in a curve. I don't have a lot of storage space for things like this, so the counter is the only spot. I did joke to Keith that soon I'll need a bigger kitchen with a bookshelf...one thing at a time! :)

I hope you enjoyed this and will consider ordering something like this, too! You could also order just one binder and it would make a perfect gift for a newlywed, mother, grandmother or friend. The quality is great and they are nice and durable.
You may remember other designs that my friend Michelle designed for me - they were also perfect for gifts!

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking this up to i heart organizing!