It's a Tough Job But Zomebody's Gotta Do It!!"
Today is the
OZZ Blog Hop! Visit all the "Original Zutter Zisters'" blogs plus the Bind It All blog for your chance to win some Zutter goodies and yummies!!
Before our term ended, the Original Zutter Zisters did a swap of 8x8 layouts we all made. Everyone from around the world mailed their pages to Nan Paturzo, Design Team Leader, in Southern California. Then Nan swapped them out and mailed them back to us.
Being Zutter Zisters we naturally wanted to BIND our books with the BIND IT ALL and Nan told us to just make 8x8 pages and don't worry about whether or not our embellishments would be in the way of punching binding holes. WHAT?! Well, she had a little surprise--Zutter just released PAGE PROTECTORS that work with the Bind It All!! WOW!! Get this, there are two different kinds of page protectors -- ones that you bind in the book permanently and then there are ones you can slip in and out of ALREADY BOUND Books?! Is that not the coolest thing ever? I cannot wait to use some of these in my classes and projects ;)
Without further ado, here is the Book I made using all of the Design Team pages:
I just LOVE LOVE LOVE how sturdy the cover is!! I distressed the edges with Pink paint to make the Bamboo detail show up better. The weight of the book, the finished look it has with the page protectors--this is the best swap I have ever been in!! LOL
And here is my layout that I gave in the swap:
Yes, I did machine and hand stitching on these pages. I loved this swap!
So what did I write on my layout? Well, first we chose the projects from each DT member that we loved the best--it was really hard to pick just one! I was really inspired by the other Design Team members. We were from all over the world, all walks of life, and had access to all different kinds of scrapbooking supplies. It was great to see everyone's spin on the same projects or using the same materials over this past year.
And it wasn't like it was difficult to come up with cool things to create with the Bind It All. I consider the Zutter Zisters to be the first REAL manufacturer Design Team that I have ever been on and it has set the mark really really high for other design teams! Zutter allowed us to have pretty much complete creative freedom. I think with a product like the Bind It All, that creative freedom allowed us to really think outside of the box. I have been on my fair share of other design teams and heard stories of (and experienced myself) ridiculous design requests, for example, use Mustard paper with pale pink and a pinecone for a baby project. Okay. Maybe that was extreme, but seriously, Zutter gave us so much room to really go BEYOND the book, go BEYOND binding, it was almost TOO easy each month to create. But I soo loved it!
The other notable thing about being on the DT (seriously I cried when our term was over) is that Zutter has been so generous with us!! I never wanted for wires or covers or pages...my problem was choosing just FOUR, I mean THREE, to use each month! On a side note, I thought we had to do 4 projects each month so I was just trucking along doing all these extra projects until someone shared that I needed to do only 3 a month. It is funny now...
Anyways, I loved that I got extra goodies I could give away in my classes and on my blog, I got all the new stuff to try it out, and I really got to practice alot with my Bind It All. I learned so much while I was on the team. I also pushed myself to try new things and those new projects worked their way into my classes. You might have seen a few candy holders I made recently ...
I even started teaching Bind It All Basics and Bind It All BOOT CAMP classes! Now Nan teaches a Basic online class and I teach a Masterz class at
My Creative Classroom (you should totally check it out). When our term ended I was really sad but then I was overjoyed when Zutter invited us to stay on as the "Original Zutter Zisters"!!! How cool is that?!
Who would have thought I would have ever even owned a Bind It All, let alone be on the Design Team?! In 2007 when the Bind It All first came out I was the last person to jump on the 'bandwagon' so to speak. I talked myself out of the Bind It All every way that I could.
The Christmas before, my husband bought me a really nice day planner that was bound like a book. The spine kept it from laying flat so when I was scheduling something, the book always flopped closed on me. I figured I'd just take the book to Kinko's to have the spine cut off and a wire spiral binding put on--that usually costs just $5. The first Kinko's I went to wanted to keep my book for several hours. NO WAY. The next one wanted to keep it OVERNIGHT?!?! Really, it was going to take them that long to bind the stupid thing?! My WHOLE LIFE was in that book and there is no way I was going to let one of those Kinko's employees up and LOSE my book overnight. What a racket?!
So I marched on over to the nearest scrapbook store, bought a Bind It All and some wires (I didn't even know what size to get, just got some big ones), cut the spine off my book right there in the scrapbook store and proceeded to figure out the Bind It All, with alot of help from other people ;). My first project wasn't even really a scrapbooking one but I have been hooked on the Bind It All ever since. Luckily I now have a Blackberry so there will be no more floppy calendar issues either :0)
I often tell that story to start off my Bind It All classes because the Bind It All really can be used for so much MORE than just scrapbooking--bind kids' school reports, bind take-out menus that you keep at your desk at work, create chore charts for your family, make mini notebooks as co-worker gifts...the sky really is the limit!
And just a little zomething extra: a tutorial. I Glimmer Misted the cover of this Cover-All album with Bubblegum Pink Glimmer Mist. I LOVE that the Cover-Alls come in black (as well as kraft and white) and they all take Glimmer Mist soooo well.
1. Open the Cover-All and lay it flat with the insides facing the table.
2. LIBERALLY Spray Glimmer Mist over the entire Cover-All. If the mist starts to pool, you can dab the excess with a paper towel. Do not rub the paper towel as that will smear the mist.
3. Allow to dry and voila, super cool, punked out cover!
Here's how you know you're having fun--the table is pink! You might wanna use a protective craft mat when spraying so much mist ;)
I also added some paper to the insides of the Cover-All. Don't forget the insides of the covers make great EXTRA PAGES!! To get the half flower, I just cut one large flower in half.
Here's what I did on the inside cover:
And the facing page, the first 8x8 Page Protector:
I also added tissue festooning to the inside of the SPINE of the Cover-All. You can get tissue festooning at most party supply stores for about $5 for 100 feet or so.
1. Crumple the festooning to make it "festive":
2. Apply glue lines to the inside of the Spine of the Cover-All:
3. Press the festooning into the glue lines to line the inside of the Spine. Cut off any extra that hangs out the top and bottom of the book:
I hope you enjoyed this fun little trip into my Zutter History! So what are we giving away during this blog hop? An 8x8 Cover-All (just like the one I used on my project) PLUS matching page protectors! WOOHOO!! Just leave a comment here on this post about WHAT YOU'D USE ZUTTER PAGE PROTECTORS FOR and I will draw one lucky winner from my blog to win this fantabulous, not-even-in-stores-yet prize pack!! I'll announce the winner on 10-26-09. Don't forget to visit all the other Zisters' blogs too:
P.S. Did you spot Yoda in one of the photos? If you think you know where Yoda is, then please email me your answer at hydrangeahippo[at]yahoo[dot]com -- answers in the comments on this blog post will be erased. What do you win? I will cut from vinyl your name and some flowers to personalize your Bind It All like this:
Happy Zuttering!
Upper left corner! To answer some questions, it is a Lego Yoda keychain from Legoland. It is really beat up so I took it off my keyring and it is now attached to a plant holder from Crate & Barrel that I use for my tools and things on a lazy susan on my scrap table.
The trip started a little hot as we were in the sun,outside, checking out all the plants and landscaping goodies. Everything was way out of my price range (a small clay pot for $500?!) so I just got ideas. I felt like I was walking in an article of Sunset or Better Homes & Gardens! LOL The plants were awesome and I got some super ideas for our front yard (yes, we are still working on that).
I know I am not an Orange County girl by any means but at least I can go there, get inspiration, and then come back home where Christmas ornaments only cost $5. This year, our ornament shopping trip will stay in Riverside cuz that's my speed ($10 per kidlet). I am glad we went and checked it out though! For having been born in California I feel like there is so much I have never seen or heard about, right here in my own backyard. I want to take in as much as I can before we move out of state in a few years or so. Memories are all about the experiences, right?
Here's how you know you're having fun--the table is pink! You might wanna use a protective craft mat when spraying so much mist ;)
And the facing page, the first 8x8 Page Protector:
2. Apply glue lines to the inside of the Spine of the Cover-All:
