pretty little recipe cards

Growing up with a mom that cooks like a Food Network chef, she always went to her yellow vintage recipe box when picking out meals to make for the week. It had recipes so packed in it that it never was even able to close properly. When I think about growing up and when I think about my sweet mom and her gift of cooking, I always think of that old yellow box.

Maybe it's the fact that I'm growing up and I now dream about buying food processors and spatulas instead of trendy clothing, but not too long ago I had this random epiphany that I should invest a recipe box like my moms before they get too old and outdated that you can't find them on ebay anymore. I refuse to believe that the only recipe boxes available are the ones on Etsy that barely hold 50 recipes. I wanted a big, vintage recipe box overflowing with cooking inspiration and family favorite recipes.

So, you better believe I looked up the Betty Crocker recipe box, found the same one as my mom but in a pretty redish/deep pink color instead of yellow just to mix things up, and I ordered it. Best $15 I have ever spent. It was delivered soon thereafter, and as expected, it was filled to the brim with hideously designed Betty Crocker recipes. No offense Betty, but I would have probably tried some of those recipes or even refrained from throwing them in the trash can if they just were designed half-decent. Some vintage designs are beautiful, but these weren't. But anyways, before I threw them away, you betcha I measured the cards and made some much prettier ones to replace them. I wanted a cohesive recipe box with plenty of blank recipe cards that I could fill-in in the future. I'll probably make a few different variations of this recipe card design just to mix things up and have some variety, but for now I'm satisfied for sure.

So, because I want to share the love and because I struggled hard to find cute recipe cards online (and ended up just making my own, go figure). I thought I would give my lovely readers some free recipe cards. Maybe this will inspire you to cook more or maybe this is just what you needed to start a recipe box of your own. Click here to see the downloadable PDF.*

Instructions: Just bring them to your local print shop, ask for them to be printed double-sided on heavier weight (80 or 100 pound) paper and cut them out afterwards on the crop marks. (Or have the printing place cut them for you if they offer that service.) To fill a small recipe box, you would probably have to print about 50 copies of the 4 on a sheet design, for the huge recipe box that I bought, you would need about 3 times that. I would say, print a moderate amount and you can always print out more as needed. Volla!

*The beautiful floral graphic was created by SisterPixel. I randomly found these cute flowers one day and had to incorporate them into something.