DIY Washi Tape Recipe Notebook (with free Printable)

There's only one week left until I head off to my next ice show contract.  (Eek.)  I've been doing a bit of packing and a lot of crafting to gear up for this next adventure.

I'll have a full kitchen on this next contract and I couldn't be more excited about it!  I've been pinning recipes on pinterest, checking out cookbooks from the library, and leafing through cooking magazines in checkout lines like a woman who is totally obsessed.

The obsession has been paying off, though, and I've amassed tons of recipes that I can't wait to make this summer.  I wanted to keep all those recipes in one organized place, so I decided to make a recipe notebook.  This notebook needed some washi tape on it.  Obviously.

You can download the Yum! printable right here.

Here's what you'll need if you want to make this notebook too:

1.  A notebook.  I used a 9" by 12" sketch pad that was on sale at Micheals for $5.
2.  The printed out Yum! printable
3.  A piece of thick paper to go in between the notebook cover and the printable so the design on the cover of the notebook won't be visible through the printable.
4.  Two kinds of washi tape
5.  Scissors

Directions:

Start by printing and cutting out the free printable Yum!

Now set the Yum! aside and start washi taping the notebook.  Yes, I did just use "washi taping" as a verb.

1.  Cut the thick piece of paper so it's the same size as the notebook, place it on top of the notebook, and use washi tape to secure the two outside corners (the top right and bottom right) so that it looks like there is a triangle of washi tape in those two spots.

2.  Place 4 more strips of washi tape on the bottom right corner of the notebook, parallel to the strip in the corner, wrapping the excess tape around onto the back of the cover.  Do the same thing on the bottom left corner, but don't wrap the tape around the cover yet.  Instead, leave the excess tape hanging off the cover (as pictured above) and then cut it off of the side with the spiral binding with scissors once you've placed all 5 strips of tape.  Now you can wrap the excess tape on the bottom edge around the cover.  Tape the top corners exactly as you taped the bottom corners.

3.  Now that all of the corners are taped, it's time to fill in the middle.  Starting at the bottom and working your way up, apply 5 more strips of washi tape as pictured above.  This time the tape will be horizontal instead of diagonal.  Cut off the rough edges of the tape strips diagonally so they match up with the diagonal tape.

4.  Repeat step 3 on the remaining 3 sides of the cover.  Once you've done that, your notebook should look like the 4th picture above.

Now it's time to place the Yum! printable in the middle of the notebook and tape down it's entire perimeter using the second type of washi tape.  You're notebook cover is all finished (yay!) and it should now look like the very first picture in this post.

Fill the inside of your notebook with recipes from all over the place: cutouts from magazines, printouts from websites, handwritten notes from your parents' kitchen, etc.

To add a little extra flair, use washi tape to tape in the recipes.  That way the inside of the notebook matches the cover and the whole thing will feel more cohesive.

I found that most printouts from websites will already have the recipe source printed somewhere on the page (like the Caramelized Peach and Brie Quesadilla with Honey Recipe from Oprah.com).  If the printout doesn't have that, or if you're using a recipe from a magazine or a book, make sure that you write down where the recipe came from.  That way you can refer back to the original source if you ever want to share the recipe with a friend or write about it on your blog.  (I'm a firm believer in citing your sources!)

I'm super excited to get cooking, and I hope that this post has inspired you too!  What are your favorite recipes?

Happy cooking!
xoxo
Laura

Hand Embroidered Thank You Cards with a Free Printable Stencil

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  There are so many things to be thankful for this time of year, so why not say it with a handmade card?  (I made these because I recently received some birthday presents, but don't forget about the Christmas presents and the plethora of holiday parties on the horizon.) 

To begin, I made a stencil that will fit on a 3.5" by 5" card.  

You can download it as a free printable right here.

Once you've downloaded and printed the stencil, place your card on top of a cork board, cut out the stencil, and tape it on top of the front of the card.  

Use a push pin to poke holes all along the letters on the stencil.  When you've finished that, remove the stencil and you'll be ready to begin the embroidery.

Thread a needle with embroidery thread and use a basic chain stitch to embroider the letters.  Here's how to do a chain stitch:

1. Bring the needle up through the first hole.
2. Bring the needle back down through the same hole, but don't pull it out all the way.
3. With the back of the needle still halfway through the first hole, bring the front of the needle part of the way up through the second hole.  Check the picture to make sure your needle looks like mine.
4. Loop the thread up and around the needle.
5. Now you can pull the needle through the two holes and you will have the first loop on your chain.
6. Repeat the process over and over again to make a chain.  Each time you finish a loop, that loop's second hole becomes the first hole for the next loop.  For example, when you've finished step 5 and you have your first loop, you've just done step 1 for the next loop, so you'll repeat your process by bring the needle back down the hole it just came out of, halfway up through the next one, wrap the thread around the front of the needle, then pull the needle out again and you'll have your second link in the chain stitch. Keep going until you reach the end of a line, then bring the needle out and around the last loop and back down through the last hole to secure the chain.  Once your thread is down under the card, you can move it to the hole where you want to start your next chain and begin again.  Keep going until you've embroidered the whole word.

I hope this tutorial makes sense, because once you get the hang of doing a chain stitch it's easy and makes a big impact.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section below.  

Happy Friday!

xoxo

Laura