Recipe/Photo Album

The idea for this project has been kicking around in my brain for quite some time.  However, I had planned to make it for myself.  In the end it became a present for my youngest brother.  He enjoys cooking, he finds it's a stress reliever similar to how I feel about most cooking. So, I made this for him for Christmas.

 This is the cover of the book.  I planned on using my Bind-It-All for the binding but in the end it was a little over 2 inches thick and no one makes the binding rings large enough.  I then planned to use O-Rings but the largest size you can buy at my Office Depot or Staples is 2 inches.  It was a little tight but I was able to close them.  I'm working on getting 3 inch rings so it will flip easily.

Here is a picture of one of the inside pages.  It is actually an envelope mini-album.  I used these envelopes

The envelope measures 9.5 inches by 6.5 inches.  I have a ton of them around and use them constantly.  They were the perfect size for this project.  It meant each recipe card could be 8.5 inches by 6.45 inches and the pages measured at exactly half of an 8.5  by 11 inch piece of paper.  I slit one side of the envelope, sealed  the top as though I was mailing it and then covered them.

 This is one of the pages with the recipe card pulled out.  I made a frame for the picture using rolling pins found on "From My Kitchen".  The phone is from the same cart.  All of the recipe cards are made using a box from George and welding a tab off of "From My Kitchen".

Here is another page. I used the same rolling pin but this time I used the pie from Paper Dolls (I can't remember if it is Dress Up or Everyday). 

 This is the envelope with the recipe card inside.

 Now pulled out.  You can't read it very well but I used my Cri-Kits and wrote on the frame of this page.  I used the same paper for the frame so it would blend in nicely.  I also used my Cri-Kits to write the name of each recipe on the tab.  I then colored them in using alcohol inks.

 This is the Pumpkin Pie page.  I make the pumpkin "glop" for the pies (not the canned pumpkin filling) that is why it explains which pumpkins to buy when making pumpkin pies.  I had an extra pie so I put it on the recipe card instead of the envelope.  The pie is made using "From My Kitchen" cart.  The pumpkin is from SVGCuts' Heirloom Pumpkins. 

 This is a long recipe so it goes onto the back of the recipe card.

Here is the back of the recipe card and the back of the envelope.

 I thought this was another great page.  The turkey is from Doodlecharms cart.  Again, you can see the recipe card inside the envelope...

and outside the envelope.

Here you can see the pages inside the back cover.  I used almost exclusively DCWV stacks for this project (The Natural, Autumn Splendor and Bon Voyage).  It was wonderful to be able to go to a couple of stacks and find the tons of paper I need for this.  I have used most of my pattern paper from The Natural and Autumn Splendor.  Having the matching cardstock was FANTASTIC.  The one other paper I used is here on the front flap and the inside cover.  It is Tim Holtz's Seasonal stack.  Oh my goodness, I'm absolutely in love with this stack.  He made one page that is all old recipe cards.  It was the most perfect paper for this project.  The only problem, I didn't want to cut the paper.

This is one more picture of the inside of the book.  I used Winter Frolic for the sledder and snow angel.

As I was writing this post, I decided it is tough to follow exactly what I did.  So, I thought I would do a step by step tutorial.
Envelopes/Outside Pages
1.  Get your envelopes and measure them.
2.  Split them on the side you want to insert the recipe cards.  I used the right side.
3.  Seal the envelopes.
4.  Cover the envelope front and back.  I made certain the bottom and right side was even on all of my pages. I knew the top was likely to be inside the bindng so less important to be even. I used my ATG gun to afix everything.  This project used up more than 3 rolls of ATG tape.
5.  Set the envelopes aside.

Recipe Cards
1.  Cut out enough cards for all of your recipes.  I ended up doing 20 recipes.  I used manilla folders (the kind you use for filing) for my pages.  You don't need anything as heavy as chip board but you could use it if you wanted.
2.  Cut out your pattern paper to go over the front and back of your recipe card.  Cut a space the appropriate size to insert your recipe under the pattern paper.  (You could just adhere the recipe to the top of the pattern paper but I thought it looked a little more professional by creating a frame).
3.  Print out your recipes and afix them to the manilla folder.
4.  Afix the pattern paper to the recipes and manilla folder.  Make certain to remember if you have a recipe that continues onto the back side of the recipe card.

Putting the recipe cards and envelopes together.
1.  Decide which cards will go into each envelope.
2.  Add photos and embellishments as your desire.
3.  Place them in your desired order and create a stack with them.  You will need to measure this soon.

Cover
1. Measure the outer edge of your recipe cards inside of the envelopes.  Add enough size to make certain your cover is larger than your pages.  This will allow the cover to protect the tabs of the pages.  You could make this like a traditional word book where you can see each page but I wanted it to have a little more protection. 
2.  Measure the height of the stack of all of the embellished envelopes with their recipe cards inside.
3.  I used two pieces of chip board for each piece of the cover and then added a piece of cardstock around that.  Cut the chip board to size.
4.  Cut the pattern paper 1/2 inch larger than the chip board.  For the back cover, which will have a flap that goes all the way around to the front and clasps, add another 1/2 inch.  This will pattern paper will be the outside cover of the book.
5.  Cut a piece of coordinating paper the exact same size as the chipboard.  This is the inside cover of the book.
6.  Lay out your back cover, large piece, 1/4 inch, piece the height of the book, 1/4 inch, and flap.  My flap was 2 inches which happened to be the same height as the book.  When you adhere the paper to the chipboard, make certain you score it and leave enough room for the book to bend.
7. Choose your closure.  I was very simple and used a small round piece of velcro which I adhered using zip dry.  You could do any number of neat things to keep it closed.  Some of the Tim Holtz closures would be very cool.
8.  Using a Bind-It-All, Crop-o-dile or a hole punch, punch the holes in the cover and all of the pages.  I made certain I removed the recipe cards so they didn't get punched or cut while I was punching the pages.
9.  Assemble.

I hope this tutorial made it easier to understand how I did this.  If you have further questions just leave me a comment and a way to get back in touch with you.  I'm sorry this was so long but I hope it provided some inspiration for you.  Thank you for reading and looking.