Bind-it-All Project 1 - binding your childrens artwork

For the past few years I have been saving my daughters artwork from pre-school. It kind of got to the point where is was "out of control" so it was time to organize it. I have a really hard time parting with anything of my daughters (clothes that no longer fit, her drawings, old birthday cards, toys) just about everything.

I am a huge fan of the Bind-it-All machine by Zutter Innovative. In the Autumn 2009 issue of Somerset Memories I wrote an article about the Bind-it-All that featured the artwork of Shona Cole and Audrey Hernandez. I have been using the Bind-it-All quite a lot and decided this binding system was the best way to create books and archive my daughters artwork. I went through all her paintings, drawings and collages and weeded out some (this part was not easy) and kept the very best ones to bind in what appears to be the first 4 volumes of what could turn into a very large collection/library of Izzy's Art.

The Covers were made of recycled cardboard. Izzy helped paint them which was messy but fun as usual! We used white paint to do her hand prints - this was with out a doubt her favorite part! After the paint had dried we sealed the covers with Collage Pauge. We then simply bound all the books, trying to keep a theme for each one, one is collages, one is paintings, one is "holiday" artwork, and the other number and letter learning worksheets. I used the Antique Brass o-wires to bind the books and added a simple bow to the bind of each book when I was finished.

So much fun and such a great way to preserve your child's artwork for them to look back at and cherish when they are older!