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 :)