Old Book Covers? Yes Please!

Jennifer Priest here with a fun Halloween mini I created using actual old book covers! Using book pages for decoupage and other projects, like wreaths, is so popular but what do you do with the leftover book coves? Many vintage books, like the reader's Digest Condensed book here, have old covers with a great patina and fabulous designs. They are great to repurpose as mini album covers like this:

Tie all kinds of lace and trim to the binding to give the book a spooky feel for Halloween!

  

The pages can be bigger than the covers, like this 5x7 Chipboard Covers and Glassine Bags I used here:

Consider wrapping pages with trim and tying it in a knot after the pages are bound--this eliminates the risk of accidentally punching through and cutting a trim.

Hope you enjoyed this book! And next time, before you throw those old book covers away,think about giving them new life with your Bind-it-All!

Visit my blog at:

http://hydrangeahippo.com

A Haunting We Will Go

I love halloween! It's one of my favorite times of the year.  I love carving pumpkins, seeing my kids get dressed up and trick or treating.
Here's a quick and easy Bind-it-All mini album celebrating all things scary and creepy.

For the cover, I used a die cut paper and simply cut it to the size I needed it, added some halloween graphics and title and you have a quick title page.

For the inside, I kept it really simple and added one picture wrapped in twine and one or two embellishments. 

 Celebrate Halloween this year with a quick Bind-it-All mini album!

ZZ DT 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

More Boo for your Binding!

It's Halloween....oooooh, so scary!  But oh so fun to scare up creative projects! A couple of the Original Zutter Zisters have been having a scary good time!

First up - Annette West - just recently transplanted from Saudi Arabia to Calgary, Canada.

Annette made this creepy crawly coffin with a - surprise! - mini book tucked inside.

 Read what Annette had to say about this frightfully fun project:

"I made the coffin from chipboard, it was a breeze to use my Zutter Kutter to make the shapes and then covered it with all the bits and pieces I found at the Dollar Store – my first time in a country that loves to decorate for Halloween, I was amazed at all the fun stuff you can find!

I cut thin chipboard into coffin shapes for the covers and pages and then covered these with patterned papers. Made pockets for lots of tags and extra journaling on some of the pages and then decorated the owire with fibres, skulls and chains with dangly bits and a little glass bottle filled with shiny stuff."

 Lea Sanders has made some spooktacular albums for this time of year (or as in the case of the Twilight projects - good for ANY time of year!) This Halloween album has such howling detailed goodness on the cover - with stickers, epoxy stickers and patterned papers from K & Company.  The inside pages carry on the patterns with ghosts, bats and witches!  Love the beautiful black owire binding too - nicely rounded owire - nothing scary there! 

And Lea knows the way around a Twilight project!  These Cullen-themed goodies were made for a Facebook contest she hosted.  I am so envious of Lea's Twi-themed projects.  She used papers from Creative Imaginations, Basic Grey, and Teresa Collins, along with glittered alpha stickers from American Crafts.  The covered brads from Imaginisce sets the covers off nicely.  I take a bite of these any day!

So although today is Halloween....make sure you make some time to cherish the memories with a BOO-tiful project for yourself!

Happy Howling Halloween!