Got my Binding Buddy!

One of my most frequently used paper crafting tools is the Zutter Bind-it-All. This tool allows me to punch holes in paper or chipboard, and to compress owire so that I can spiral bind the books I craft. It is so flexible, in fact, that I have used it to punch through layers of fused felt and stabilizer. In the sewing mini notebook shown below, I fused three layers of felt plus stabilizer for my cover, punched it, and then bound the book with owire.

One of the drawbacks to the Bind-it-All is that up until recently, it could only compress 6 owire spirals at one time. If you needed to compress a longer length of owire, you had to slide your project sideways and compress the owire in sections. This was not difficult to do, but it did take a little bit of extra effort. At this year’s summer CHA (Craft Hobby Association) event, Zutter Products introduced the Binding Buddy, an upgrade to either the original blue Bind-it-All or the pink Bind-it-All V2.0. The Binding Buddy allows you to close up to 12 rings at one time for 3/8 inch, 3/4 inch and 1 inch wide owire. I just got my Binding Buddy in the mail today, two rectangles of metal that you clip onto your Bind-it-All.

I was pleased to discover that installing and using it is intuitive; I did not have to refer to the illustrations on the back of the package to figure things out.

I ordered the Binding Buddy back in August, along with a new binding accessory called an Add-it-All. The company had a few shipping issues, which resulted in a longer-than-normal wait for these products. When they arrived, however, Zutter Innovative Products included an extra Add-it-All package as their way of saying “Thanks for your patience.”

The Add-it-All allows you to insert pages, photos, booklets, envelopes, mini bags and more to your already bound book. You attach the Add-it-All to your extra “page,” and simply insert the page wherever you wish in your book. The Add-it-All itself is a length of pre-punched, flexible acrylic to which a paper-backed adhesive strip has been added. You get 3 strips per package and can cut them to whatever length you need.

Zutter Products provides a short video about how to use both the Binding Buddy and the Add-it-All, which you can view below.

You may be able to find Zutter products at your local scrapbooking store or at Hobby Lobby, but if not, you can visit Zutter Innovative Products online, and purchase whatever you need. The cost for the Binding Buddy is $12.99, and a package of three Add-it-Alls costs $3.99, plus shipping.

For ideas about how to use the Bind-it-All and other Zutter products, visit their blog at http://binditall.blogspot.com/.