Easy Birthday Cover-All Album

It is really, really, REALLY easy to make a cute album quickly using Zutter Cover-Alls.  The Design Team loves 'em and we swear by 'em.  Why?  Because, along with your Bind-it-All, these little album-starters can make you look like the amazing craft diva that you are, in no time flat! 

Start with a Cover-All, decorate the cover as you wish.  Create your inner pages from cardstock, patterned paper...punch and bind to the plastic inner mounting page.  Then insert the plastic page into the back pocket of the Cover-All.  Voila.  You can customize your inside pages ANY WAY you want. Add little goodies of various sizes and textures to truly make it all your own.

This little album was made for a friend's daughter's birthday.  I like to make these as gifts so the recipients can add their own photos and journaling.  Or, many times, I tell them to give me the photos and I add them in, and let them do the journaling.  Any way you work it, it's an always appreciated and thoughtful gift!

Use a variety of paper patterns for matting and enhancing the pages.  Along with border punches, you can really up the "wow" factor on the pages!

As you are trimming the papers, save the scraps and strips for embellishing.  Add coordinating stickers to make creating go fast and easy!

I like to add folds and flaps to give the pages interest and movement.  Plus, for most recipients who are not scrappy or crafty, they LOVE the interactive elements!

Start with a set of papers that coordinate well together and have fun.  We are lucky that we get a batch of papers from Basic Grey every now and then.  This collection called "Life of the Party" was perfect for this birthday theme.

Original Zutter Cover-Alls are on CLEARANCE at http://www.binditall.com/.  They come in three spine styles, and sizes 3X4, 6X6, 5X7.5 and 8X8.  They can accommodate owire sizes 3/4" and 1", so bulk up with the pages if you want!  50% off until they are gone, and they will be gone for good!

Founding Zutter Zister Nan Paturzo

BC Crops for Kids - Sept 30 thru Oct 2, 2011

Here is info on an event that Zutter is please to be part of!  Our own Zutter Zister DT member, Fleur Smith is teaching one of her spectacular projects!  If you are in BC or nearby, we hope you can support this wonderful event!
BC Scrapbooking Crop for Kids is an annual charity scrapbooking event benefitting BC Children's Hospital Foundation. Since 2008 it has become BC's most popular educational and inspirational paper crafting weekend. We offer a weekend-long crop with amazing classes designed and taught by talented designers. All of these classes are generously sponsored by local scrapbook retailers and scrapbook manufacturers. Proceeds from the sales of crop seats, class seats and any other products offered will benefit BC Children's Hospital Foundation.

2011 Date: September 30, 2011 - October 2, 2011 Location: Ramada Plaza Conference Centre, Abbotsford, BC Zutter donated supplies for Zutter Zister Fleur's "Year In Review" mini album class.

It will be a fun class and you will be supporting a great charity. Hope to see you there.

Zutter Zister DT Member Fleur Smith

It's a party...

and I'll scrap it if I want to :)

I recently went to my boss' 70th birthday party and we were asked not to bring presents. I thought instead I would take lots of pictures and make him a mini album to remember the day. So, it's a gift, but not a gift, if that makes sense. We had a great time and they asked my husband, who is a musician, to sing at the party.  And, when they heard that my youngest son also sings they asked if he would as well (that's them below singing "Hey Soul Sister" in the photo below!). It was a great night and I had so much fun creating this mini album for him.

I started by covering a Zutter 6" x 6" Cover-All* with patterned paper then added some embellishments. When I do a masculine mini album I try and keep the embellishments to a minimum.  But this is so pretty, it doesn't really look "minimum" to the non-scrappy eye!  ;)

I kept the inside fairly simple and added some extra pages (in case they wanted to add other photos) and a pocket page to keep a copy of the invitation in.  You can create flaps and folds with your pages and punch how you wish with the Bind-it-All.  Bind all the pages together, and you have a gift....well, a non-gift.... that will be treasured!

It was a great way to celebrate this special occasion with them and for them to have something to remember it by.

* Zutter's original Cover-Alls are on clearance.  These being one of the easiest and quickest way to use your Bind-it-All for albums, snap some up while you can!

Zutter Zisters Design Team Member Fleur Smith

From Binder Rings to Zutter Owire: How to Convert a Mini

There are so many pre-fab books on the market nowadays such as Punky Sprouts, Clear Scraps, Bare Elements by Creative Imaginations, Bascially Bare and don't forget you can always create your own book using Covers and Acrylic Pages from Zutter. Many of these pre-fab mini books feature a 2 hole binder ring style binding but it is easy to convert that to an Owire binding with your Bind-It-All.

 

Recently I created a Halloween Trick or Treat Book using a Chipboard Purse Album from Clear Scraps where I converted the binding from binder rings to Owires.

 

The first step in converting the binding from rings to Owires is covering the pages. I prefer to paint the pages rather than cover them completely with paper because it is just alot faster and easier! I always cover my pages before binding, whether it is a pre-fab book or a bunch of chipboard pages, and then decorate after the binding is completed.  This is so that my embellies don't get damaged or interfere with the binding. A bonus is that early on the process, I feel like I am getting alot done!

I painted all of these pages in this mini book but the binding holes were still visible. Then I cut rectangles of paper and used them as mats or borders on the pages, placing them so they covered the pre-cut binding holes. Note: If I had completely covered the pages with paper instead of painting, I would not have had to add any extra paper to cover the binding holes.

The next step is to decide where to bind the book. You may decide to choose a completely different binding area than what the book "recommended" with it's pre-punched holes. The key is to find a straight surface of about 4" or more in length. On this mini, I decided to bind the book along the same edge where the binding holes were previously placed.

On a shaped book or any book that does not measure in half inch increments (like a 6.25" wide book) you will want to measure the binding side of the book and locate the center. This can be done by inserting the page into the Bind-It-All and holding a ruler up to it. This book measured 6 3/8" from side to side so I lined up the centering arrow printed on the Bind-It-All with half that measurement (about 3 1/4") and punched 6 binding holes. I then used the peg on the back of the stop guide tab to punch additional holes continuously along the edge of the page. 

The inner pages of this book were super tricky because they were just slightly smaller than the covers. I lined up an inner page with a cover and inserted both into the Bind It All. I then inserted the peg on the back of the stop guide tab into one of the holes on the cover and punched 6 holes. The Bind-It-All will re-punch the holes in the cover but punch new holes in the inner page. I then used the tab to punch holes continuously along the edge of each inner page. 

After all the pages were punched, I bound the book with Owires and decorated! One of the coolest things about Owires is they also provide a place for "jewelry" to hang from between you pages. Beads, bauble, and other items can be attached to the Owires between the pages using jump rings or ribbon to create extra interest. On this mini book, I used some pages from several mini shaped acrylic books by Clear Scraps (bat, pumpkin, and ghost) as dangling embellishments between my pages by attaching them to the O-Wires.

 On the final page in the book I attached a tag with journaling to the Owires with a bit of ribbon.

Any book that has a 4" straight edge or longer can be converted to an Owire based binding. This makes for a stronger book as well as provides a fun place to hang extra embellishments within the book. Try converting your next pre-fab book into a masterpiece with your Bind-It -All!

Supplies:

• Bind-It-All, O-Wire - Zutter 
• Acrylic, Chipboard Mini Albums - Clear Scraps 
• Ink - Clearsnap, Tsukinenko 
• Paint - KaiserCraft, Sharpie (Paint Pen), Making Memories (Black, Purple) 
• Chipboard Diecuts - Cosmo Cricket 
• Misc Embellies - Pink Paislee, My Mind's Eye, Creative Imaginations 
• Pen - Uni-Ball Signo  
• Diecuts - Sizziz 
• Paper - American Crafts (foil), Bazzill, Bo Bunny Press, Unknown 
• Flair - American Crafts 
• Rub-Ons - SEI 
• Ribbon - May Arts, hydrangeahippo.etsy.com 
• Stickers - Cosmo Cricket 
• Buttons - hydrangeahippo.etsy.com 
• Epoxies - Creative Imaginations

Jennifer Priest

http://hydrangeahippo.blogspot.com

Bind-it-All 101 - Starts this Week!

Bind-it-All 101:

Punching & Binding and ZO Much More

4 Weeks - $25

Taught ONLINE

Starts this week - September 7 -  but join anytime and view lessons at your own pace.

Join Founding Zutter Zister Nan Paturzo in this info rich and project packed "101" course on everything you need to know about how to use your Bind-it-All.  Taught exclusively at My Creative Classroom.  This 4-week course will have you punching and binding everything you can imagine...and then some!

Take the course at your own pace, from anywhere you have a computer and internet access.  Suitable for the BIA V2.0 (pink) or the original blue version tool.

More information and register CLICK HERE.

Read about all the upcoming Fall classes online here.