Scrapping by Design

Since I started making videos showing projects made with the Zutter Bind-it-All, people have been asking me to do a video showing it in operation.

Your wish is my command. Here’s the Zutter Bind-it-All Video  Demo. I want to point out that I have using Version One. Version Two is exactly the same except that it will punch  more pages at once and it is easier to do a long line of binding. Version One punches six holes and sets  six coils without you stopping to measure and realign. As I understand it, Version Two does more than six. Oh, and one last thing, Version Two is PINK!

Here it is at Amazon: ZUTTER BIND IT ALL PINK VER 2 SCRAPBOOK & PAPER CRAFT TOOL

Zutter makes various accessories for the Bind-it-All, none of which I own.  The only one I’m planning on buying is a Spacer that allows you to put a row of wire binding on tiny mini-albums.  Without it, the punched holes are placed too far inside the album.

You can also get a carrying case, wire cutters, the Round-It-All for making rounded corners, a special cutting tool that cuts several pages at once. Additionally, the company sells precut pages and special acrylic pages.

I was trying for something a little different the year I made this Christmas scrapbook layout with serendipity squares (or more accurately, serendipity circles).

I cut up holiday cards into little pieces, and glued them to the pages to form a wreath shape. I made sure to carry some consistent colors throughout so the “serendipity” would have consistency rather than a cacophony of colors. I used left over ribbon to decorate the wreaths, and I hung “ornaments” featuring mugshots and journaling.

I like this because it recycles cards and ribbon as well as keeping some memories of the holiday cards and ribbon received.

I’ll do a video tutorial some day showing how to make serendipty squares for those who have not previously tried this technique.

I’ve finally taken the Zutter Bind-it-All out of its packing case and discovered how easy it is to use. I made these three hand made birthday books in perhaps two hours for the first one and less for the other two.

For whatever reason, I purchased the first version of the Bind-it-All in May and I didn’t unpack it until last week.  I regret that because its an awesome little tool. Even better, the company has released version 2, which is pink and can do heavier jobs that Version 1.

Amazon has it: ZUTTER BIND IT ALL PINK VER 2 SCRAPBOOK & PAPER CRAFT TOOL

If you don’t have the Bind-it-All, you can obviously bind the book some other way. I would probably punch holes at intervals, then bind either with ribbon or with binder rings.

The birthday books are 12 inches by four inches and have 12 double page spreads: one for each month.

Each book opens to a card stock page with a table containing the birthstones and flowers for each month. It’s a print out from a Word document.

Shopping List:

• Scrapbook paper for cover:  2 complementary patterns
• Scrapbook paper for pages. You need something that can be written on. I found paper resembling a lined notebook.  One 12″ by 12″ scrapbook paper cuts into six 6 inch by 4 inch rectangles. Since you glue these back to back, you need four sheets of paper for the pages.
• 1 sheet of card stock suitable for printing your birthstones and flower of the months, plus enough to make small labels with each month.
• 2 small pieces of paper (card stock or scrapbook paper) to make a small rectangle block to frame your embellishment on the front cover.
• 1 border punch to create a decorative border along the front cover
• miscellaneous embellishments for the pages and cover

Here is a video showing the inside of the birthday books.

Corrine, an altered book artist extraordinaire and publisher of the Glitz-Oh-Girl blog, has a wonderful new book sculpture. It’s a gardening book made into a flower doll.

No description does it justice. Just click over toA Flower Girl for Cyber Fiber.

A gal going by the name of fauxwurden or The Handy Goddess on YouTube sent me a link to her new YouTube video. She has a great how-to video showing exactly how to make gift boxes out of recycled materials such as calendars or Christmas cards.

I struggled to design some little boxes for my advent calendars this year. I eventually created a design that works, and I’ll probably post directions later. However, I think these ones that the Handy Goddess came up with are excellent.

Check out the video at How to Make Gift Boxes from Recycled Materials.

I made these two holiday cards using 3-layer clear acrylic stamps. Its the Snowscape package from the Autumn Leaves collection from Stampology.

I made the first one at a make and take at Making Memories with Scrapbooking in Vancouver. I purchased the stamp set there as well.

The stamp set contains 12 acrylic stamps, which can be layered to create four individual stamped images. One set creates the tree tag that you see in the card above. The second creates a scalloped circle with a bird, the third set makes a layered snowflake and the last set creates a founded rectangle forming the word snow against a background of snowflakes.

Here is a video tutorial showing how I made the card using the layered acrylic stamps.

I made several different versions of these cards, all featuring the same layered acrylic stamped element. It’s a great way for using up scraps of paper and card stock as well.

This hand made holiday card uses three-dimensional (3-D) stamped elements — one of my favorite looks. I also like the old fashioned winter scene with the house surrounded by snowbanks and trees.

The house and two trees are three-dimensional, created by layering stamped elements.

Shopping List

Chestnut Lane stamp by GCS Artstamps

Wishing You Joy stamp by Kolette Hall

Santa Silhouette by A Muse Artstamps

Red and Green Glaze Pens

Diamond or Clear Glitter Glue

Blue Glitter Glue

White dimensional glue

Art Brown dye ink from Memories

Powder Blue Chalk Ink

Blue ribbon

3-D dots or adhesive

Trimming Scissors

White Paper

Here is the Video Tutorial for this stamped Holiday Card.

I have named this card White Christmas.

Thanks to Making Memories Scrapbook Store in Vancouver for this winter mini-album that is bound with the Zutter Bind It All.  I made it at a make and take that I attended a few days ago. Let me tell you, it was a great break for me to go to this little event. I had been struggling with a particularly nasty computer virus that took several days to fix and I really needed to focus on something more pleasurable than computer trouble shooting.

Anyway, back to the winter mini album. As you can see, its wire bound, designed with a blue monochromatic color scheme and decorated with punched shapes and scrapbook paper.

Here is a video demonstration showing the inside pages.

I love the Zutter Bind It All. I just wish I had waited and bought the new version that came out awhile ago. The new one can cut through more layers of paper or card stock at once, and can make wider rows of binding without having to stop and measure. Also, as they keep point out, its PINK!

Amazon carries the ZUTTER BIND IT ALL PINK VER 2 SCRAPBOOK & PAPER CRAFT TOOL

I’ve made these three 2009 scrapbook calendars from a Maya Road Chipboard Mini Album. They’re Christmas gifts for various friends, and each has a different theme.

I made a variation of the yellow one at a class run by Clipper Street, a Vancouver scrapbook store. I changed a few things to make it different and uniquely my own.  Most importantly, I changed the calendar pages from transparency paper to card stock. The transparency paper that Clipper Street used was lovely, but it is also quite costly to purchase, and may not be readily available everywhere. Additionally, not every printer can handle it. I decided card stock was a safer bet.

This class was over a year ago. I thought perhaps the Maya Road Ring Binder album was no longer available, but this morning, I received an email saying that Two Peas in a Bucket has them. Not only do they have them, but there is a sale on right now. Spend $35 on Maya Road products and you get some free embellishments. Here is the link to the Chipboard Binder Mini Album, 6 “.

These binders also come in other sizes, most of which would work just as well for this project.

Here is the video tutorial for this scrapbook calendar:

As for the calendar pages, I used a free template found on the Web. Google “calendar template 2009″ and you will get plenty of hits. The one I used was from WinCalendar. I also added the birthstones and the flower to each month.

These scrapbook calendars are attractive and functional. I have made mine as a scrapbook, in that they all contain photographs. Naturally, you could create them as an art calendar instead, using images or embellishments that you have created.

Happy 2009!

Thanks to Corrinne from my Altered Book Yahoo group, I now know the name of the beautiful paper cutting craft I write about yesterday. It’s scherenschnitte. Wikipedia has a brief write up at this link:Scherenschnitte.

If anyone knows more about this craft,why not flesh out the entry at Wikipedia? You register for free and then you can add and modify information on any of the wikis. I do that from time to time myself.

Here’s another blog post with beautiful examples of scherenschnitte. Artisan Jen Miinnis actually has it carved on pumpkins.   Jen Minnis Art Blog

There are so many paper crafts to explore it takes the breath away.