Template Creation - Pages - Recipe Card

I would recommend doing this on a Mac, rather than an iPad. Easier access to the controls needed to design the Recipe card. I just started to create the following on my M4 iPad Pro with Pages v14.3 and gave up after too many expletives and slow progress.

You are creating a reusable template, so the image section is just a media placeholder in the template. When you start a new card using this template, you would just drop an image on that media placeholder.

The left column can be a series of stacked text boxes each receiving the Arrange panel > Text Wrap: None so you can position them closely together without disruption. Pumpkin soup can be a placeholder text named Recipe name. On creating a recipe from this template, you simply click on that placeholder field and enter the real recipe name. Use placeholder text to your advantage in each text box, so you can just click on that field in a future recipe using this template.

If you choose to fill the entire background of each text box with color, you will need to set the Text inset value to 0 (found on the Text panel when each Text box is selected).

The right column of this example card can be a large text box with a numbered list. I recommend each list item be a short placeholder text name so you can fill the real list item later by typing over the placeholder text. You can manage the gap between bullets with the Spacing > After paragraph value.

When you are done, then File menu > Save as Template… > Add to Template Chooser and give it a meaningful name.

Pages User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

Pages User Guide for iPad - Apple Support

You need a 4 x 6 Recipe card or really small text to fit your planned content on a 3 x 5 card.

The following is a 3 x 5 card zoomed at 150%. The title is just centered text. The sub-headings of Ingredients and Directions are left aligned in a single-row, two-column table with its grid lines hidden. There are two text boxes aligned and adjacent to one another to contain the ingredients and directions. The heading and footers are hidden, and the card margins are set a 0.25 in on the Document panel.

You should research how heavy a card stock your printer can accommodate as this might be different between inkjet and laser printer models. An office supply store may have the Avery 5389 which is two 4x6 cards per sheet. Or instead of Pages, you could use Avery's free online Design and Print tool to design your 5389 blank recipe cards instead of the rigors of blank card alignment in your printer.

To place each Text box exactly where you want it, it must be selected and then on the Arrange panel, set Text Wrap to None.

When you create a Text box only select and apply placeholder text to those items whose name will change once the template is used to create a new recipe card. You likely do not want the entire contents of a Text box to be placeholder text, just some items in it.

You can create a 3 x 5 card by using File menu > Page Setup… > Paper Size menu. If 3 x 5 is already on it, then select that menu entry and your Pages document will automatically rescale to that size. If no 3 x 5 is found, then select the Manage Custom Sizes on that menu, and on the subsequent display, click [+] to add a new card, double-click that card entry and name it 3 x 5 and then fill in the Width and Height data with zero margin values and click OK.

At this point, you will have a Pages document that has just resized down to a 3 x 5 measurement. I suggest you perform an ordinary save to your Desktop as contrary to expectation, that 3 x 5 document size will not appear on a Paper size menu after you exit Pages. Continue to develop your Recipe card and when satisfied that you are done, then you save it per the File menu > Save as Template… as I mentioned above. Now, you don't care if a 3 x 5 paper size does not appear on any menu as you have the template.