Bind-It-All: Make It Custom with the Bind-it-All: Part 2

A few days ago I shared with you a little about why I love the Bind-It-All -- it's the ability to make custom books from just about anything!!! In my classes I am always trying to push the envelope of what the Bind-It-All can do. Today I am sharing a few more of the custom books I've made and a little about how I made them. ANYONE with ANY skill level can make these books!!

This is the third book I want to show you, which mixes acrylic pages from Clear Scraps with chipboard page I covered with Echo Park paper and two different types of paper bags. Here is Enjoy Life:

Here you can see that I used treat bags and mini lunch sacks mixed with acrylic pages and some chipboard pages to create this fun and festive custom book. I used banner pennants from a Clear Scraps Large Acrylic Banner as some of the pages, mounting one towards the bottom of the book and the other page is rather free-floating at the top of the binding.

I also only bound 6" worth of the left side of each page regardless of the size of the page (the go up to 8" tall). This is a great way to conserve O-Wire (used 10 loops of O-Wire versus the 14 loops an 8" page would require) and gives the book a playful, Willy Wonka-esque feel.

To bind like this, set the Bind-It-All to the "C" Setting and insert each page into the Bind-It-All with the bottom of the page (or bag) butted up against the black stop guide tab that you set to "C". Punch 6 holes, then move the stop guide tab to "A" and slide the page over. Insert the peg on the back of the stop guide tab into the 3rd hole from the bottom of the page. Press the handle of the Bind-It-All down and punch another set of holes, 4 this time, for a total of 10. Repeat on every page. Lay the back cover of the book on top of the front cover so that the inside of the back over is facing up and thread the O-Wires through from the back pages to the front. Then close with the Bind-It-All. It's a good idea to use large diameter O-Wire, like 1" or 1 -1/4", on projects like this so that you have room for all of the embellishments on the pages. Here's a look at the back pages in the book so you can view of how the binding looks:

The binding does not extend continuously up the edge of the page but stops about 2' short. It's just a fun way to make a book and conserve wire.

I am teaching this book in classes at Collective Journey in Redlands, CA (ph: 909-793-2200) on May 1st from 1-4pm and at Scrapbooking Made Simple in Santa Clarita CA (ph: 661-298-1112) on May 21st from 2pm-5pm. Just call the store to sign up.

Another book where I use different sized pages in one book is this Sew Cute Mini Book class I taught:

Here I used 6x8 Pages as a base for the book and sipping tags (about 2.5" wide) and 6x6 Pages. Some of the 6x6 pages are flush right and some are flush left.

Here's how I punched the binding holes in each page:

6x8 Pages - Set the Bind-It-All to "C". Punch 6 holes and then move the black stop guide tab to "A". Slide the page over, putting the peg into the 5th holes, and punch another set of holes. Set the Bind it All to "A" again and slide the page over again, this time making sure the left side of the page is flush with the edge of the Bind-It-All. This will give you a 1/2" space between the end of the page and the row of holes. Insert the peg on the back of the black stop guide tab into the nearest hole and punch the last hole needed.
6x6 pages - Flush Right. Set the Bind-It-All to the "C" Setting. Insert the 6x6 page into the machine with the RIGHT hand side flush with the black stop guide tab. Punch 6 holes. Set the Bind-It-All "A" and slide the page to the right. Insert the peg into the nearest hole and punch. There is no need for a 1/2" space between the holes and end of the page on this edge -- the holes will need to go continuously to the end of the page to be able to be bound to the 6x8 book base. On the page above you can see how the holes start 1/2" in from the right edge of the page but continue all the way to the edge of the left side of the page.
6x6 pages - Flush Left. Set the Bind-It-All to the "C" Setting. Insert the 6x6 page into the machine with the LEFT hand side flush with the black stop guide tab. Punch 6 holes. Set the Bind-It-All "A" and slide the page to the right. Insert the peg into the nearest hole and punch. There is no need for a 1/2" space between the holes and end of the page on this edge -- the holes will need to go continuously to the end of the page to be able to be bound to the 6x8 book base. On the page below you can see how the holes start 1/2" in from the left edge of the page but continue all the way to the edge of the right side of the page.

For the tags, you will use the "eyeball" method. Use the holes printed on the top of the Bind-It-All as a guide for placement of the tag into the machine. You will only need 5 holes on the bottom of each tag. Make sure the edge of the tag is between the holes -- if the edge of the tag is in the center of where a hole is to be punched, then the Bind-It-All will punch a partial hole there, resulting in what I call a "bite mark".

Another thing I do to make my binding life easier is to put the base of my book together, bind, and then embellish. Cover all chipboard pages with paper and be sure to punch holes in all tags, bags and so on that you plan to use in the book. This is for two reasons.

If you put embellishments too close to the area where the holes need to be punched, the page won't be able to slip into the Bind It All properly and you will have to punch through them or remove them, possibly damaging the book in the process.
If you plan to use alot of chunky embellishments in your book, binding it first helps you place those embellies throughout the book evenly so that it does not have the alligator effect (the ends of the pages gapeopen like an alligator mouth). Here are the embellies I used in this book: buttons, twine, and more. I was able to keep the book pretty flat even with all of these bulky embellies because I was able to spread them out across the pages since I had already bound the book.