An Upcycled Recipe Index System

 I love to cook, and I have collected a ton of recipe books, as well as the clippings and printouts from the internet.  I recently decided that I needed a system of indexing my collection.  When I find a recipe I like, I flag it in the book.  That seems like a great idea, until you can't remember which book that particular book was in.  So, I need one place where I can write down the recipe name, and where it is, so that I can find them easier.  I found this huge book at the Goodwill for 3 bucks!  This is perfect.

 Just wanted to show you the pictures in the book...these come into play later.  I found the binder mechanisms at a scrapbook show for 50 CENTS EACH!  I grabbed up several of them, and this project is a perfect opportunity to use them.  I wanted to be able to add and remove pages from my index as needed.

 I didn't have the screws and acorn caps to attach the binder mechanism to the book.  So, after removing the pages of the book, and figuring out where the holes needed to be, I punched the holes, and used these brads that look like screws...

 I used hot glue under the mechanism where the brad would come through, then glued it down, and then set the brad.

 Then I had these little baubles that are perfect to glue over the tines of the brad to cover them and give a finished look.

 After I took out the pages of the book, I covered the spine with another piece of chipboard to strengthen it, then covered that with one of the books index pages.  I added a mechanism to the left and to the right sides of the book...

 The rings are not very big, and I wanted to be able to have as much space as I could, so I made a double-three-ring-binder!  I did have to cut the pages a bit to make them fit, but the filler paper is still 10" tall by 6 1/2" wide.  I got the paper with the reinforced hole edge, because I wanted the pages to be able to take some wear-and-tear.

 It closes perfectly!

 I tore out all of the pictures of the book, and used them for divider pages.

I punched out tabs from the index pages, then used scraps of manilla folders to punch out labels, and wrote all of the categories I wanted for my index.

I then rummaged through my stash and came up with this little bit of dangle for the spine.  I looped them though an eyelet that I set in it.

Well, what do you think?  Now I have to just sit and add my recipe names to my index, and remember to keep it up, and I will never spend an hour trying to find that perfect cocktail sauce recipe ever again!

Stay Crafty My Friends!