Countdown to the Holidays

Ahhh…the days after Thanksgiving are so FULL! And I am not talking about just my stomach, though there has been plenty of eating. The last days of November are always a countdown to the holiday season. We take out the Christmas decorations, marvel at the way I packed up everything last year (and not in a good way!), and enjoy eating leftovers while promising to get back on my diet on Monday. I also start a mini panic about making Christmas cards, making little gifties for family and friends and wonder where the time is going.

I did manage to start making some cute little gifts for some of my scrappy friends. These are post-it note holders using Zutter 4X4 acrylic and chipboard covers. Just cover the chipboard in your preferred patterned paper, trim the acrylic with paint, then punch and bind. I adhere the post-it notepad to the inside of the chipboard after binding so it doesn’t get in the way. A few quickie embellishments and voila! I will be cranking more of these out in the wee hours of the night when the house is sleeping. I try to buy cute colors of the note pads when they are on sale at the office supply and then find papers I like to match. Give it a try.

Tomorrow is December 1. Can Christmas be only a tad over three weeks away?!?! Yikes. Hope you enjoy your countdown to the holidays. And I WILL be back on my diet tomorrow :)

Footnote: The cover is acrylic, edged with brown paint with a ribbon and flower on the bottom front. The chipboard forms the back cover, and the post-it pad is attached to the inside back cover. The post-it pad is a bright blue, so may be difficult to distinguish against the patterned paper.

Experimenting With Clipboard Wood and Metal

Zutter has some very exciting new products out that are just completely fun!! They have Clipboard Wood Covers (yes, the stuff that those office type clipboards are made of) in a variety of sizes. They have Rivets, a Rivet Setter Kit, a Hole Punch Kit and the Pound-It-All.

The Pound-It-All is a wonderful tool if you are like me and have a flimsy type craft table to work on, or those fold-up types that you usually find at crops. The Pound-It-All allows you to pound away with your hole punch and rivet setter on your table surface instead of having to crawl around on the floor for a surface hard enough to pound on! Yeah!


Here's what I was experimenting with...using the Clipboard Wood, some 38 gauge metal, Teresa Collins paper, 7 Gypsies Tag, Ranger Paint Dabber, an embossing folder and the Hole Punch, Rivet Setter, Pound-It-All and Rivets .....all from Zutter.

Wow! What fun!!

Circle Mini Book

A circle book I made for my stepdaughter with photos of our granddaughter and people love this design as it looks so much fun. The best bit is that it is easier to make than it looks! For this version I used scalloped circle cardstock which looks lovely when folded up in this way.

Instructions for making the Circle Book are here. I am working on how to get the pdf to show in this post... so bear with me on that... ;)

Croppin' Fun and Fundraisin'

Design Team members Jennifer Priest and Nan Paturzo descended upon Desert Scrappers this weekend in Palm Desert, CA. Jen was there to promote and raise money for Scrapbook Royalty, while Nan was there doing make 'n takes for the new Cover-Alls. Does it look like a silly time? It looks like Nan is trying to round her ear with the R10 Round-it-All! Laura, from Desert Scrappers, has hold of the blue R5 RIA!! Scrapbook Royalty was raising monies for Friends of Scott, a nonprofit that helps to improve the lives of children suffering from Cancer. Over the last two weekends, Jennifer raised over $500 for this organization at two weekend crops! And, she -like all the Scrapbook Royalty team - does this all on a volunteer basis! To find out how to make donations, or to learn about the other awesome work by Scrapbook Royalty, just visit their website!

Cover-Alls Winners!!!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
Congrats to these winners of Cover-Alls samples!

Blog Subscribers – there are 8 of you total, so much better chances of winning!
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
3 – Christina!!
Timestamp: 2008-11-17 19:39:15 UTC

Commenters - thank you for 112 comments left! You all sound excited about Cover-Alls!
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
16 – Jennifer, Cassadaga, NY
95 – Gloria Gomez
58 – ericautk
54 – ahiltz
Timestamp: 2008-11-17 19:38:24 UTC

Be sure to email me at nan@binditall.com with your shipping address! Congrats and have fun!!

Home Decor With the Bind It All

I love to decorate my home to reflect the various seasons and holidays. For Fall, I decided I needed a pumpkin of some kind. I had seen an ingenious use of an old paperback recently to make three dimensional art. I decided this is what I wanted to do, but with a twist....use my Bind-it-All. Here's what I came up with....




Now, here are the instructions on making it!

Paperback Pumpkin

This project uses the Bind-it-All, O-wires, an old paperback book, tissue paper and cardstock to create a pumpkin.

Gather your materials. You will need the following items to complete this project.

Tools:
Zutter Bind-it-All
Zutter Wire Cutters
Zutter craft knife
Cricut or other die cutting machine
Tombo Mono liquid glue
Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator & felt pad
Number two pencil
eraser
Cricut Doodlecharms cartridge
Fiskars Bow Maker

Supplies:
One Zutter 12 inch 5/8 inch diameter O-Wire: Silver
One Zutter 12 inch 3/8 inch diameter O-Wire: Silver
Cardstock: Green and Brown
Ranger Distress Ink: Orange Marmalade
Glimmer Mist: Honey Dew Mist, Autumn Leaves, Harvest Orange
Tissue Paper
7 Gypsies Brads
Prima Flowers
Fancy Pants ribbon
Raffia: natural
Ranger Stickles: Cinnamon and Green
Miscellaneous Buttons
cardboard or chipboard

1. Before starting, remember: Measure twice, cut once.
   
2. With the pencil, draw half a pumpkin on cardboard or chipboard. Using the craft knife, cut out the pattern.
3. Take an old paperback & remove the cover. I then pulled half my book off (it was too thick). Ideally, you'd like to have 150 – 300 pages. Place your template on the book and cut through several layers at a time until you've cut out the shape on the entire book.
4. Separate the pages. Ink the pages with the Ranger Distress Ink Applicator with felt pad. 
5. Using the Bind-it-All and following the instructions for use, punch holes in the pumpkin half for the 5/8 inch O-Wire. (Cut the O-Wire two to three links too long to create a “stem” for your pumpkin). 
6. Assemble and fan out pages. Spray with Glimmer Mist for added color. 
7. Cut leaves from cardstock in various sizes with Cricut Dooddlecharms Font. Decorate with Stickles, buttons, Glimmer Mist, ribbon, paper beads and Prima Flowers. Use 3/8 O-wire for vines. Punch holes in leaf stems and string onto 3/8 O-wire and bind.
8. Spray tissue paper with Green and Brown Glimmer Mist. After dry, stuff into O-Wires for added dimension and color.

Your Paperback Pumpkin is complete and ready for display.

Talkin' Diva

Did you hear me talkin' DIVA-talk on the Diva Craft Lounge on Wednesday? You can hear the whole show here (or click on 11-12-08 show). The Designing with the Divas book has been delayed a bit, but should be out December 12. You can pre-order on the Diva site. Chatting with Danielle and Rayme is always like a little love-fest. They are so fun...and even funnier in person!

Have a DIVA day :)

Big Blue Savings

Zutter Innovative is having a BLUE Sale. The original BLUE Dreamkuts and the original BLUE Bag-a-Bind are both on clearance status, and priced at 33% off original prices. Get 'em while they last. If you purchase here, you get some bonuses with $50+ purchase.

The blue Dreamkuts is identical to the new pink version - the only difference is the color. So if you are more of a blue person than a pink, this is the time to buy!

Drop some not-so-subtle hints for holiday gifts ; )

A Tour Of The Zutter Zisters Site

Did you know, we Zutter Zisters have our own site HERE? Curious? Like to know more? Well, let me tell you about what you can find there!

Looking for inspration? We got it for you! Check out the Design Team Gallery to see what the Zutter Zisters are creating. Also visit Inspiration Station for projects from around the world from fellow Zutter fans. Got a project you'd like us to see, submit it to Inspiration Station!

Looking for the latest and greatest products. Open the Zutter Products section. Here you can see your favorite products and click on the pictures to find out more about them.

Or check out our Videos. We have two up currently featuring Cover-Alls and Teresa Collins Papers.

Or are you stumped about an aspect of your Bind It All or DreamKuts or other Zutter tools? Look no further than the In A Bind? All The Answers section. Here you'll find tips and instructions on your Bind It All; Cover-Alls; punching CDs, Acrylic and Metal; DreamKuts; Round It All and Inner Pages.

Hello from the Arabian Gulf

Well, scrapping here is pretty much like scrapping anywhere - except I am lucky enough to have this as my view when I wake up every day!! I do know that as my supplies dwindle I will have to learn to be more creative with what is available to me and adapt certain things for using in my mini books - but that's part of the fun and you usually end up with some pretty unique looking projects!!Here is a tip for anyone who is new to using their Bind-It-All, one of the first things I did was cut a small square of chipboard and punched it, then added it to the keychain of spacers that comes with your new toy.

Its really handy to have it when I am making either covers or pages - because I can place it on them and know immediately where the holes will be on my finished page... so I avoid putting embellies or chipboard pieces in the wrong place. Oh, and you know the spacers? They really do make a difference when you come to bind the project, you can try guessing the space required for your particular wire if you want... but these really do make a difference if you use them every time! :)

hugs from the Arabian Gulf

Annette

Giveaway! NEW Cover-Alls!

It’s time for a giveaway on the blog….we haven’t done one in awhile! Let’s get everyone excited about the NEW Cover-Alls! These are just going out to stores now, and I have been talking about them for ages. Check out the video and these samples. These are covers that I put together in one night for a show, and they can come together really fast. I like just painting them, or spraying with Glimmermist (and then adding embellishments and titles). I have also used paper to make covers. Just about anything goes. Tips for making the most of your Cover-Alls have just been posted on Zutter Zisters and the Help pages on the corporate site.

So let’s give some away! I will send a random Cover-All sample – could be any size or color (from 3X4, 6X6, 5X7, etc.) to FIVE winners this time. We will select from commenters and those who subscribe to the blog (check out the link to the left that says “Subscribe to this Blog”. )Winners will be selected 11/17! Good Luck!

Gift with Purchase at Angel's Scrapbook Garden!

This is a great deal from Angel's Scrapbook Garden - Zutter's premier online retailer, specializing in Zutter products. Get the freebies pictured above with any purchase of $50 or more. The red owire is perfect for holiday gift making - and this is a 6-pack of 5/8", and who doesn't need adhesive??? These are dimensional foam squares - two packages! Take advantage of this limited time offer.

Thankful

I was inspired to do this album by the challenge issued by Stacy Julian at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Her challenge was “Give Yourself A Present Challenge” where she challenged everyone to snap ten photos of their life right now and scrap them into a tiny album that would fit in a purse. She used a mini mini Bazzill 2 inch square album. I created mine using the Bind It All and DreamKuts. This is a quick and easy project for those beginner mini book makers or those short on time mini book lovers.

Since it is Thanksgiving time in the United States, I decided to call my album: 10 Things to be thankful for..... I snapped and printed ten photos and produced m y album. My emphasis was on creating something quick and easy that I could carry with me. When times get tough or hectic, I just pull out my album and center myself again.

If you want to complete this project, here's how:


Gather your materials. You will need the following items to complete this project.

Tools:
Paper/Photo Trimmer
Zutter Bind It All
Zutter DreamKuts
Zutter Wire Cutters
Fiskars Border Punch
Dymo Phrase Maker
Quick Kutz Revolution Die Machine and Embossing Folder
Tombo Tape Runner
Tombo Mono liquid glue
Creative Memories Journal Pen
Ranger Paint Dabber

Supplies:
One (1) Set Each Zutter 4x4 Chipboard (White) Covers
One Zutter 12 inch 5/8 inch diameter O-Wire: Silver
Me and My Big Ideas Patterned Paper
Bazzill cardstock: White
Cosmo Cricket Chipboard Alphas
Making Memories and Prima Flowers
Making Memories Brads and Clear Embellies
Heidi Grace Flowers with Brads
Miscellaneous Paper Flowers and Buttons
transparency paper

Using DreamKuts, cut white Bazzill cardstock into five 4 x4 pieces. Using DreamKuts cut 14 4x4 patterned papers. Glue patterned paper to outside & inside chipboard covers. Use Fiskars Border Punch and edge ten other patterned papers. Adhere these to front and backs of ten cardstock pages.

Using the Bind It All and following the instructions for use, punch holes for the 5/8 inch O-wire. Assemble and bind per instructions. Paint chipboard alphas with paint dabber. Make Book Title with Dymo Phrase Maker. Create embossed paper with Quick Kutz. Add photos, embellishments and journaling.

Your Ten Things Album is complete and ready to enjoy.