A DIY Project that Isn't

From our previous posts you know that we're doing personalized cook booklets for our wedding favors, having signage that features lettering from vintage cookbooks, and creating centerpieces that include vintage cookbooks. As we're inviting all of our guests to share with us their favorite recipe(s), instead of a guest book we wanted to have a scrapbook/clipping book where guests can paste their recipe(s) and sign their names.

This idea sprung from two comments friends Nina and Heather made about collecting recipes and handwritten recipes. My mom (and my gram) collected index cards of handwritten recipes in 3x5 metal tins. My great grandmother clipped recipes and added them to her cookbooks (from what I've been told).

On Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=41240337) and Ebay, every once in awhile you'll come across someone's clipping book - a journal filled with collected recipes.

(Source)

I have an old three ring photo album binder that I've been putting recipes in for years. There are handwritten recipes, typed recipes, clipped recipes from magazines, as well as (gasp!) clipped recipes from cookbooks.

(Personal Photo)

Another DIY project was born. This one like the personalized cook booklets was high on the scale of must haves. Drum roll please... we were going to create own upcycled vintage feel clipping book/guest book.

NOTE: Handmade journals can be found on Etsy ranging in price from $15 to $60. When I first started looking I hadn't come across options that worked with our color scheme or highlighted cooking. The closest to what I was looking for were handmade journals adorned with antique jewelry by Gerri Newfy

(http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17419067) or upcycled dictionaries by Tomboy (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_1&listing_id=29064129) and Wishful Thinking (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15824026) or travel books by Sackcloth Design (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=40877195) but no cookbooks. Some Etsy vendors such as ElegantlyBound offered custom books (http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElegantlyBound).

This DIY Project wasn't going to save us any money - it in fact (like our wedding cake and our cake topper) it was going to be a splurge. Why? This clipping book is going be a frequent visitor in our kitchen and a reminder of our day where we were surrounded by friends and family.

I added the guest scrapbook to our Todo List. I scoured the Interwebs and found a couple of sites with instructions (http://www.cat-sidh.net/Tutorials/Binding.html, http://www.doe.in.gov/olt/grantprojects/books/Coptic%20Book.htm, http://www.altered-book.com/coptic-stitch.html) for how to make a coptic stitch binding (with this binding your book can lay flat - which is important when you're cooking). I was convinced I could make this project. I'd gone so far as choosing lovely handmade paper for the signatures.

And then I got real.

Just because I could create our guest scrapbook, did I really have the time?

This was one of the projects that wasn't easily handled by a group. So back to Etsy I went. I searched and searched for coptic stitch handmade journals (I'd become obsessed with coptic stitch binding). After weeks of browsing, I came across an artist who used recycled materials and had enough signatures in her book for each guest to provide a recipe (200 pages, 400 if you count both sides!).

cubes and I talked about the project and we both agreed we should make this purchase. Today I plunked down my cash and ordered - A Coptic Stitch Vintage Look Jute and Leather Journal 8 1/2 x 6 with Names from Crearting Handmade.

(Source)

I have ideas for a couple of customizations to bring it a little closer to what I'd dreamed of. But this is one DIY project that I'm relieved not to be tackling for the wedding. We're actually saving money by purchasing a journal.

Did you decide to pass on a DIY project? What did you do instead? Did you find that you saved money?