I love to cook. Really. I love everything about it. From the precision involved with chopping, to the repetitive motion of mixing, all of it is a lullaby for my soul in some small way. And not only do I get the enjoyment of preparing the food, but I get to see my family gathered, sitting around the table together to share a meal and savor the flavors that I have brought together for them. It doesn’t get much better than that!
With my love of cooking comes a fascination with collecting recipes and cookbooks. I have shelves full of hard-cover editions from my favorite chefs. Envelopes exploding at the seams, that I once established as an attempt to contain my ever expanding piles of magazine clippings and computer print-outs. My recipe box is stuffed with three different styles of index cards, in my attempt to be organized. With recipes in more than one place, it obviously tends to be difficult to find exactly what I need.
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In an effort to bring organization to this area of my life, I have been working for months on rethinking and redesigning what is considered the *norm* in regards to recipe filing. Not only do we have a stamp set to offer you that is visually appealing, we have an entirely new system that will carry you through for years to come. It all starts with the card… recipe cards that is! (Don't forget, you can always click the images for a larger view.)
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I have designed my own version of a recipe card, one that will cater to how you actually USE the card, and look good too.
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One of the things that always frustrated me most about
recipe cards is that you had plenty of room horizontally for the ingredients,
but not enough room vertically. Ingredients are easiest to go through if they are in a simple one-column
format. Our recipe card utilizes
vertical space perfectly, complimenting any type of list format.
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The other thing I really like is being able to place the subtitles
where and when I need them. Especially
ingredients vs. instructions. In this
photo, I am showing you two of my favorite recipes. One of them only has a small handful of
ingredients, while the other one has an entire page. Because “ingredients” and “instructions” are
stamps in the coordinating stamp set, you can position them wherever you need
them to be to suit your needs.
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So now that I have given you a brief description of the actual recipe cards, why don’t I show you a little project I made with them?
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One of the neat things about this group of new products is
that not only can use them in your own personal space as a means of
organization, you can also make gifts, use them as a party theme and much, much
more, as the design team will be demonstrating when the new gallery goes live
on the 15th! Today, I thought I would show you a little something
that would be fantastic for either the holidays or a shower gift. I don’t know any cook, experienced or not,
that wouldn’t be appreciative of brand new stainless cooking utensils. My mother-in-law got me some as a gift a few
years ago and it was one of the best, most well-loved gifts I have received during
my adult years. I use them practically every
day! Ever since then, I have taken the
same opportunity with new brides, special friends for their birthdays and more,
I just put my own little twist to it!
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I went through my recipes and picked out one to coordinate with each type of utensil I had purchased. For example, pie server with pie (duh!), spatula with casserole, ladle with soup, whisk with an egg dish, etc…
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I then prepared recipe cards to go with each of the
utensils, displaying their coordinating recipe. In this case, I began by stamping the borders at the side of my cards,
followed by “from the kitchen of” directly underneath it. I wrote my name on each one.
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To save time since I was making several cards at once, I decided
to customize a grouping of a few of the subtitles on a single block that I knew I wanted towards
the top of each card. It is easy to do
this and be sure that the subtitles are evenly spaced to fall between the lines
printed on the recipe card. Just place
the subtitles, word side down (as if you were stamping) in the position you
would like. Then press the block on top
of them to adhere them and pick them all up a once.
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After I filled in the appropriate areas for the subtitles
that I just stamped, ending with the ingredients, it was time to add the
instructions. I stamped its subtitle
next. If the ingredients list was short
enough, the instructions usually began on the front, but other longer recipes
sometimes started on the back. This just
proves how versatile and flexible these cards & stamps can be.
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After filling in all the recipe information for each card, I
prepared them to be tied to their coordinating cooking utensil. I placed a bull nose paper clip (from Target’s
office supply section) at the end of each card. I then threaded the BACK handle only of each clip with Ocean
Tides swiss dot ribbon (more to come about this NEW color later!) It just ends up having a much neater finished
appearance if you thread just one handle rather than both.
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You can tie each card to the appropriate utensil. The good thing about cooking utensils is that
they almost always come with a hole in the handle so that they can be hung on
pot racks, or in your case, allow you to tie on some pretty ribbon!
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Now that we had the utensils done, how about a box to store
them in? Did I mention that these recipe
cards, measuring 5-7/8 x 2-3/4 inches, were designed to store perfectly in our
exclusive egg box? (You just slip out the removable *egg insert*!) It is a super-sturdy &
well constructed box, made out of heavy-weight chipboard, its already a beautiful
white, perfect to act as a blank slate for you and your creativity. I started
by stamping some Ocean Tides cardstock with versamark using the leaf image from
First Fruits in order to create some papers that could cover the four sides of
my box. You will need to have two pieces that measure 6-1/4 x 2-1/4 inches and
two pieces that measure 4-3/8 x 2-1/4. I
was able to get a slight *linen* texture to the stamped image by kissing the
stamp against some linen fabric before stamping. Neat effect, isn’t it?
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To adhere the leaf strips to the box, using a foam brush,
apply Mod Podge to the box and back of the paper. Be sure to do both the outside of the box and the paper, otherwise it may not adhere correctly. Set aside to allow to dry for about 15 minutes or longer.
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Next, you want to put a nice layer of Mod Podge on top of your paper and up the exposed edge of the raw white box. I always use Matte Finish Mod Podge, just because that suits my taste and I like the finished product. Set aside to dry.
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Once dry, you can go back in with a file and sand down any extra cardstock that doesn't quite meet at the corners.
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After completing that, it was time to work on the lid of the box. I stamped the small dots from Polka Dot Basics onto Ocean Tides cardstock with white acrylic paint and adhered it to cover the entire top. I then ran strips of Sticky Strip around the box lid in two places to affix ribbon bands.
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I wrapped the ribbon all the way around to the interior of the lid. To cover the ends, I just cut a piece of white cardstock to size and adhered it as a lining. This kept everything clean and finished, like I prefer.
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I used a piece of chipboard that I painted white as the sturdy base for the rest of the decorative elements for the lid of my custom recipe box. The scrolled label frame (heat embossed with white Filigree embossing powder) and *Recipes* title are both from a $5 mini set called Recipe Box Label. We are hoping to bring you more styles for the box top labels in the future to make the original recipe set even more versatile!
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I used Mod Podge on the lid topper too, that way everything can be easily wiped off when there are food splatters or spills! I am in love with the detail of this frame, and I hope you are too!
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I added a few bows to the front of the box using Gorilla Glue. Those babies aren't going anywhere! I go the idea of this look from a cute storage box that I saw at a boutique a while back. I think it is such a pretty look, and we can all use a little beauty in the things we use every day!
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I did something a bit different with the inside of the box. I wanted to make a divider for the roomy interior, so I cut a piece of foam core board to just a hair over 6-inches by 2-3/4-inches high. I then cut and scored a piece of white cardstock that could go up and over three sides of the foam core.
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After adhering them together I had a divider that looked as though it had originally come with the box!
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The great thing about this divider is that it fits snugly enough that it will separate the contents securely, so there is no need for adhesive.
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This means you can move the divider according to number of recipe cards you have and to suit your needs. In this particular one, I placed the section dividers & recipes in the front, and then had room in the back for extra recipe cards and a pen to fill them out. Everything in it's place, neat & tidy!
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The only thing left now is the section dividers! There are nine subtitle section divider stamps in this set (see list in photo). They all coordinate with a 1-3/8 inch circle punch, making them easy to use. When adhering the circular tabs in place, be sure to hold one up to the box to make sure that you do not place it in such a fashion that it may be too tall for the box.
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Here is the final ensemble. For packaging your special gift, you can wrap each individual utensil in crisp white tissue and insert them along with the recipe box in a pretty gift bag or basket! I think this is such a personal and memorable gift that any recipient would be so appreciative of! .................................................................................................................
Do you enjoy cooking? Or know someone who does? How would you utilize this set and coordinating product?
Let me know your thoughts and you could win Recipe Box & Recipe Box Label stamp sets, along with a set of our exclusive recipe cards and egg box to store them in!
That's a $50 value!
I look forward to reading your comments, and good luck!
Fine Print: Contest will close @ 11pm EST tonight (Friday, October 10th). The winner will be chosen via a Random Number Generator and posted here. Winner is responsible for providing shipping address after announcement has been made. Please, only one entry per person.
---> CONTEST NOW CLOSED: Thank you so much for your overwhelming support and excitement. There is nothing better than having you *get* all the details incorporated into the exclusive products created for Papertrey ink. Thank you!
Here's the winner..
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Want to see a bit more done with Recipe Box stamp set? Check out what Lauren Meader has created with it!
Melissa Bickford has an additions set fro Merry & Bright being released this month. She will be sharing some sneak peeks and project ideas on her blog every day of the countdown, so be sure to check it out!
Heather Nichols has not one, but two sets being released this month. She'll be stamping her heart out this month, just for you. You can check in on her latest projects by visiting her blog each day!
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Stamps: Recipe Box & Recipe Box Label (to be released October 15th) Polka Dot Basics, First Fruits (leaf)
Ink: Ocean Tides Palette, Versamark (embossing & watermark for leaves)
Paper: Ocean Tides & Stamper's Select White cardstocks
Other: Ocean Tides stitched ribbon & swiss dots satin ribbon, egg box, recipe cards, Matte finish Mod Podge & foam brush. Gorilla Glue, chipboard, foam core board, silver bull nose paper clips from Target, white acrylic paint
Oh wow! I love this set/ you're recipe box creation! You're story about collecting recipe books sound just like my godmother! Everytime we get together, she searches endlessly for a recipe she knows she flagged. This would make sure a perfect present for her, and such a fun activity we could share together. I also love how you're recipe cards are very LONG- those small 4x6 cards just don't cut it sometimes, but most everything in storage I've seen is geared towards this side. Thanks so much!