Bind-it-All 101 Fall Session Begins September 17!

Do you have a Bind-it-All in your closet collecting dust?  Now that the kids are back in school, are you ready to get your creative schooling in gear too?  This class can help!  Learn all the basics of your Bind-it-All and get fall (and holiday) crafting going early!

Once you master this class you will wonder why you waited so long! This course will cover the very basics of using the Bind-it-All for punching and binding custom mini books. This information-rich, project-packed, four week course will cover:

1. Overview of the Bind-it-All : Includes review of settings, tools, maintenance, and accessories.
2. Punching Basics: Includes creating your own Bind-it-All Punching & Binding Guide and tips for punching centered and even holes.
3. Binding with Confidence: Covers the use of the Owire Sizing Templates and how to bind perfect “o-shaped” owire spines.
4. Mini Delights: Create two custom bound mini albums – one 3X4 mini and one 4X4 mini, utilizing easy techniques you can repeat again with any theme.
5. Everyday Albums : Take your custom binding up a size or two with a 6X6 and 8X8 album. Explore different punching styles for a truly unique project!
6. Bonus! Binding Above & Beyond: Explore how to use your Bind-it-All using every day, around-the-house materials. In this lesson we will review other punching materials and expand from the basic to the uber creative! Take these project starters and take off with creative ideas and executions of your own!

Once you master this course, you will feel confident in taking on any custom binding project. If you are new or “rusty” with the Bind-it-All, this class is a “must".

BIA 101 Projects

 Four weeks, $25.  Enroll here or get more information. 
Course begins September 17, 2013.

Note: All online courses can be taken from anywhere you have Internet access.  Zutter has partnered exclusively with My Creative Classroom.  Classes are taken on your own time (there are no set times to log in), at your own pace.  You can view the lessons anytime once class begins, and you will have indefinite access to the materials for future viewing.  Learn more about these classes here.

Bind-it-All Scores a Big Hit!

Here at Zutter we like to advocate that the Bind-it-All is not just for crafting (though we LOVE our crafty projects!)  There are times that our faithful Bind-it-All can create projects that are not traditionally crafty.   

Take for example this project that I recently completed for our karate studio where we train – the Orange County School of Martial Arts, known to us as OC Kicks!  They recently staged a large competitive tournament, and in true martial arts fashion, we all came together to put the details together.   

One item we needed were scoring paddles.  These are the score signs that the judges will flash once a competitor has demonstrated their karate form.  Scores generally are between 5.0 and 10.0.  Manufactured signs can be quite expensive (we needed at least 30!), and others made with regular copy paper and bound with office document binders just didn’t suit the look we wanted.  We wanted something that would last years into the future when we have annual tournaments.

Cue the trumpets – Bind-it-All and Zutter to the rescue! 

I experimented with a variety of styles, but finally settled on using 10X10 Zutter Clipboard Wood (available at Liquidation prices), 4X6 pieces of cardstock, and Zutter ¾” owire in silver.  With the help of a woodworking friend (he’s a red belt ninja), we created these uber professional looking scoring paddles.

Large 3.5” size numbers were printed on the cardstock, which were rounded with the Round-it-All to create a smooth finish.  The wood-working ninja fashioned a handle and attached it to one edge of the Clipboard Wood.   We painted the entire piece midnight blue.  I punched the holes for the cardstock, and set up an owire assembly line and bound all the numbers to the boards.  

The scoring paddles were the hit and looked great in action.  Zutter Zister Nan and daughter Franny took home some bling and karate-chopped our way to helping with a great event.  So think outside the crafty box and use your Bind-it-All and Zutter materials for other events – you’ll be amazed at what you can create!

Franny tried to swing a score higher than a perfect 10!

Bind-it-All 101: Class Begins February 19

Did you get a Bind-it-All over the holidays?  Do you have one in your closet collecting dust?  Is one of your new year resolutions to make the most of your scrappy tools?  This class can help!  Learn all the basics of your Bind-it-All and get your year off to a punchy and bindy beginning!

Once you master this class you will wonder why you waited so long! This course will cover the very basics of using the Bind-it-All for punching and binding custom mini books. This information-rich, project-packed, four week course will cover:

1. Overview of the Bind-it-All : Includes review of settings, tools, maintenance, and accessories.
2. Punching Basics: Includes creating your own Bind-it-All Punching & Binding Guide and tips for punching centered and even holes.
3. Binding with Confidence: Covers the use of the Owire Sizing Templates and how to bind perfect “o-shaped” owire spines.
4. Mini Delights: Create two custom bound mini albums – one 3X4 mini and one 4X4 mini, utilizing easy techniques you can repeat again with any theme.
5. Everyday Albums : Take your custom binding up a size or two with a 6X6 and 8X8 album. Explore different punching styles for a truly unique project!
6. Bonus! Binding Above & Beyond: Explore how to use your Bind-it-All using every day, around-the-house materials. In this lesson we will review other punching materials and expand from the basic to the uber creative! Take these project starters and take off with creative ideas and executions of your own!

Once you master this course, you will feel confident in taking on any custom binding project. If you are new or “rusty” with the Bind-it-All, this class is a “must".

BIA 101 Projects

 Four weeks, $25.  Enroll here or get more information.

Note: All online courses can be taken from anywhere you have Internet access.  Zutter has partnered exclusively with My Creative Classroom.  Classes are taken on your own time (there are no set times to log in), at your own pace.  You can view the lessons anytime once class begins, and you will have indefinite access to the materials for future viewing.  Learn more about these classes here.

DIY Business Tools

Have you ever gone to an office supply store to find a tool you needed and they just don't seem to have it? As a small business owner, I collect email addresses from my customers and I need a place to store them. No store sells email sign up books!

Years ago I used my Bind-it-All to create my own email signup book! I created the "pages" in a word processing program, completely personalized with info for my unique business. Then I printed the pages, cut them apart, and then bound them with my Bind-it-All. After I took the email book with me to a few events, other business owners wanted one of their own! Here are some of the books I have made over the years for other business owners:

It's been super fun to make these books for some of my fellow vendors at Crafted as well as friends in the past. The book above was created for Rain Hannah of Honey & Ollie, a fabulous jewelry shop at Crafted. 

Here is another book I created for Laura Miller of Dove Chocolate Discoveries:

If you have brick and mortar shop, are a direct sales consultant (like Close to My Heart or Miche Bags), or just an independent business owner, email lists are essential to growing your business!

Guess what? Whenever you need a slick and classy business tool, look to your Bind-it-All for a solution. Think of your Bind-it-All outside of the craft room!

Happy Creating :)

Visit my blog at:

http://hydrangeahippo.com

Meet Our Certified Instructors: Kimberly Congdon

Introducing Kimberly Congdon,  one of our Certified Educators! 

Kimberly Congdon lives in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Which is pretty much in between Chicago and Milwaukee.   Kimberly has a classroom in her home where she has been teaching paper craft classes since January 2008.   You can also find her teaching in Illinois craft stores and in various Stores, Museums, and schools in her town.  Scrapbooking since she was 17,  is her first love but since she is running out of space for storing all of her albums (over 85) she has been doing more altered art projects.  Kimberly teaches between 3-6 classes per week.  Between card classes, cricut classes, scrapbooking, home décor, party décor, and kid classes, she is also busy designing items for a few local stores.  You can find her busy on line as well.  Kimberly is a big fan of pinterest, instagram, and facebook.  Now that she is adding the Zutter certification to her resume you will find her teaching zutter classes real soon.

Website: www.scrapitgirl.com 

Meet Our Certified Instructors: Betty Scott

Introducing Betty Scott, one of our Certified Instructors!

As a child, Betty would sometimes wander away from the house as she gleefully picked flowers from the neighbors’ yards. As a young wife, she was creating sand painted terrariums. As an adult, that passion turned into a career as successful floral designer, owning her own shop for 40 years. Now she spends her free time paper crafting, where she applies her design talents to card making. She’s especially fond of iris folding and creating flowers using paper!  You can see one of her iris fold cards in the June 2012 issue of Scrap & Stamp Arts magazine.

To book a class with Betty and the Create N Craft designers, please visit: http://www.createncraft.com/

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