I wanted to make an easy way to access recipes that I use a lot without having to have my cellphone (where I already have a recipe book with all the recipes I've liked) out in the counter while cooking. The first thing I did was print the recipes and put them in a binder like book but it was just too burdensome and intrusive so I just continued to use my phone.

I hadn't even considered cards until just recently when I saw it in a youtube video (even though there's already a recipe box in my house).

This is how I made my own recipe cards.

Supplies

The tools and materials I used where:

Box with a lid to put the recipes
Computer
Software for making the cards
Printer paper
Printer
Laminator
Packing paper for decorating the box
Color paper
Permanent marker
Stamps

Most of the material are optional the only thing you really need is a box and cards of the size of the box.

Step 1: Creating the Recipe Cards

The first thing I did was look for cards that were already sold with a template for recipe writing. There were but then I realized that since I already had hundreds of recipes on my phone and it was going to be a pain having to transcribe them to paper. Another issue that I had was the size since some of the recipes I have a pretty long so I would have to write in a small letter which is a little annoying.

So I decided to search for a template online, so I could print them. I settled with Canva and I choose a pretty simple design. I edited to my liking and exported it.

Then I got on Affinity Designer to tweak the design even more and also change the size so it would be appropriate for the box I already owned.

You could use any software you want or have in hand like Adobe programs, Canva itself or you could probably use microsoft word.
As you can see I settled on a pretty simplistic design for a couple of reasons. I didn't want to add any images so as to not waste printer ink and I wanted it to be easy to read.
When accounting for size I also had to take into consideration the fact that I'll laminate the cards so I need them to be a little bit smaller so they'll fit in the box laminated.

Step 2: Organization

The next thing to consider was the categories of my recipes and how many dividers I was going to need to make.

I spent some time in a notepad organizing my recipes until I found my categories. I assigned color to each one of them so I could make each card according to its category.

I also spent some time arranging the recipes in the document so it would be optimal use of space and I wouldn't have to waste that much paper. I ended up with a configuration of 3 recipes in normal size and a little much smaller one that I would use for really simple recipes.

Step 3: Making the Dividers

Knowing how many categories I now could make the dividers.

I could have also made them in the computer and printed them but since there were not that many I made them by hand.

I grabbed some color paper sheets that were the same as the colors I choose for my categories.
I measured (taking into account the laminating) the size they would have to be and cut them. Mine ended up being 14.8cm by 9.6cm.
I took care of letting a piece of paper on top for the tab where the name of the category was.
Then I decorated the paper with stamps related to cooking.
I drew straight horizontal lines every 0.5cm to have a place to write the recipes that each category contains.
I laminated them*

*I laminated the cards before I wrote anything in them since I knew I would make mistakes and maybe some day I would want to add a recipe or even remove one and I didn't want to be blocked form doing so.

I used a permanent marker to write form outside the laminate and if I want I can easily erase it using isopropyl alcohol.

Step 4: Printing the Recipes

Once I had my recipe cards designed I started the migration process from my recipes document to the recipe cards template.

Be sure to adapt the cards to the size paper you are using to print. I'm using letter size.

Since I decided to laminate the recipe cards I printed them in printer paper.

If you don't want to laminate then it's better to print in a thicker paper like cardstock.

After printing I cut them to size and started the laminating process.

Step 5: Decorate Your Box

Since the box I'm using is branded I'm going to cover it using packing paper and a water and glue mixture. Depending of the surface of your box it's a good idea to sand the surface of it.

First I cut strips of the packing paper to size.
Create a mix of water and glue in an approximately 1 to 1 ratio.
Dip the strips in the mixture and apply it on the desired surface. In however many layers you want.
Let dry and decorate however you please.