Family Binder For My Daughter in Law {Love}

Our son is getting married in 10 days!  We are excited for the wedding and the joy this marriage will bring.  I had the joy of traveling to Chicago for our new daughter-in-law's bridal shower in February.  Besides purchasing a gift for them from their registry, I wanted to create something more personal and unique for them.  I decided to make a Family Binder for our new daughter in law, so that she could have some info and dates and recipes from our family available for when she wants or needs them.  It turned out well and was a fun gift to make.

In the first page protector sleeve, I placed a letter I had written to her...telling her how much we love her and are excited to have her in our family.

I thought that putting our son's family tree in the binder might be helpful someday if they need the full names of some of our family members.

I created a page of all of the birthdays of our son's side of the family, and what year they were born.  

The email addresses of all the family members.

Some Hayden Family favorite recipes, and the little stories behind these dishes.

More recipes

I also included 3 pages of photos of our son during his growing up years, so she can see how their children resemble him for the future.

The ladies at the shower passed around the book and enjoyed looking through it.

And here is the lovely bride to be...the next Mrs. Hayden!

I decorated the front clear pocket of the binder with some vintage book hearts that I handstitched together with embroidery thread.  I also made their last name initial out of 2 colors of paper plus a vintage book page.  And lastly some little book page birds, and a part of our daughter in law's favorite quote.

Consider this idea as a creative, helpful, thoughtful gift for any new bride to be!

Thank you for stopping by!

Blessings!

Donna

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More DIY Binders

Last week I shared a post on how to organize the recipes, magazine pages, and computer print outs that you want to save.  There were pictures from my Recipe Binder and my Ideas Binder.  This post will show my Decorating Binder and Teaching Binder.  See Jane Austen's words above on the cover of the binder?  Oh, so true.

My Decorating Binder is a great place to organize the many great magazine photos I find.  I have one section for Seasons, and have inspirational photos of ideas for Fall, Christmas, Winter, Spring, Summer, and all the holidays in between.  Don't you love that frame with a bunting of real leaves hanging across it?!

And this darling Christmas tree made of layering open books?!  How do people come up with these smart ideas?!

More lovely Autumn ideas.

I have a section for colors.  Better Homes and Gardens has a special article on color each month, with several recommended paint colors in a certain color family.  I love to save those so if I need a really nice green, for instance, I've got some names to investigate.

Then an Interior section, where I gather ideas for pretty rooms, unusual displays, and nice room arrangements.

The Exterior segment holds ideas for outdoor holiday decor, patios, flower beds, door colors, porch displays, etc.

This is my Teaching Notebook...I taught Kindergarten Sunday School for years before we moved down south, and this is the notebook I started for collecting ideas for teaching children.  I am working with middle schoolers at church now, but will still keep up this notebook for the future.

Here is a list of teaching methods.

The Activities Section had great ideas of things to do with a group of children...creating a cardboard castle, for instance!  Alot of my ideas came from the Family Fun magazine.

And of course I had to have a big section for Crafts!

And games!  This notebook is going to be helpful as I have grandchildren down the road.  :)

And of course I needed a spot to keep samples of crafts made previously, so I didn't need to keep re-inventing the wheel every year.  :)

Notebooks are such a great way to organize your recipes, ideas, gift ideas, important papers, etc.  I even have a binder of some of my grown kids special papers and letter from their teen years...like when we had them compose their Top Ten in a Spouse list, before they began to date.  Those are treasures!  In that binder I also have the last letter that my Grandma wrote me, just days before she died of a sudden heart attack.  I'm much more apt to look at these things and enjoy them in a binder, than in a box.

Inspired?  Just start!  When you choose a binder, you are on your way to beautiful notebooks that will be like scrapbooks for years to come.
Thank you so much for stopping by!  Your comments are always a joy to me!

Blessings!
Donna

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DIY Binders

Long before I started blogging, bookmarking, or Pinteresting, I've had a love affair with magazines.  The beautiful photos, fresh new ideas, recipes, trip reviews, information, etc...they are tremendous eye and brain candy for me.  But what to do with the ideas from magazines that I want to keep?

Enter DIY binders.  I gathered some 3 ring binders that had clear pockets on the front.  Create a fun title page to slip into that front pocket, and then fill it with dividers and clear plastic page protectors.  Ready to go!  I love to find a quote for the front of each binder that makes me smile and gives a hint of what is inside.

Over time I have made a variety of binders, including one for  Decorating Ideas and Teaching Children.

This recipe binder was my first!  Isn't that quote so cute and true?

After making and loving the ease of using the recipe binder, I made one for general Ideas.  I love that quote too!  This binder has sections for party ideas, things to make, good-to-know articles, etc.

For this post I will take you on a tour of two of my binders, and will do the others in a subsequent post.  I started the recipe binder with breakfast items and appetizers.

I am inspired by recipes with photos, which works out perfectly for a binder.  I made that chopped holiday salad for a bridal luncheon a few years ago.  So pretty and good.

This section is for main meals.  I can stick in 3x5 card size recipes or whole page ones.  Things from magazines or printed from the internet.  I never fail to be inspired in cooking when I get down my binder and go through all the ideas that have looked good enough to make it into my binder!

This is from my Ideas Binder.  As I was helping plan our daughter's wedding, I began seeing the benefit of collecting photos and ideas of decorations, menus, and centerpiece for all kinds of parties.

I have articles showing how to fold napkins prettily, to how to make DIY votive candles, to how pretty it can look to just put hosta leaves in a white pitcher for a centerpiece.

There is the all-important To Make section in my Ideas Binder.  Anything that I think I might want to make in the future, I tear out of a magazine and put in this section.

It's also a great place to keep those little DIY instructions I bring home from JoAnn Fabrics!

This article inspired me to actually make a Travel Binder and use parts of an old map for decorating it.  See that post here.

The last section in my Ideas Binder is for good ideas that are rather miscellaneous in nature...such as helping aging parents with their finances, or

Keeping a cute haircut possibility  on file.  I have articles in this section on fun games to play with a big group, the warning signs for when your aging parents should stop driving, and what foods to eat in order to stock up on certain nutrients.  

The DIY Binder has been a great help and benefit to me.  Now I can read my magazines, pull out the ideas I might want to try, and then pass on the magazine to someone else before it hits the recycle bin.  And my ideas and recipes have an automatic home to go to, rather than be stacked in the kitchen or bedroom.

Visit again soon for Part 2 of DIY Binders.
Have a wonderful day!

Blessings!
Donna

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