Product Review: Zutter Bind-It-All

by Elizabeth Wickland

Keepsakes recently received a shipment from Zutter, including their personal binding machine, the Bind-It-All. I'd heard of them before, and heard people rave about them, but didn't have any real interest in one. I assumed they cost hundreds of dollars and weren't something I would use much. I didn't think much about it again, until it was time to bind a project I was working on for the store. So Friday, I tried the Zutter Bind-It-All for the first time.

WOW. First, the Bind-It-All is compact. It's small enough to sit on an out-of-the-way shelf until it's needed, and it doesn't take up a whole table while being used. Second, this little machine does both the punching and the binding, which is nice. Third, it is very easy to use, even without instructions. I have used other binding machines before when I was teaching, and they were not at all intuitive. This little machine is easy to figure out, even the very first time. It has a practically fool-proof slide to adjust the settings and allows for a freestyle sort of punching, continuous punching, and two depth adjusters so you can create books with pages that nestle perfectly inside the covers. I am impressed.

Once I was sold on the functionality of the tool, I reluctantly looked at its price tag. As I said before, I expected it to be hundreds of dollars, simply because most high quality, heavy duty scrapbooking tools are. And this is a high quality, heavy duty scrapbooking tool with a lifetime warranty. But much to my surprise (and delight!) the Bind-It-All retails for about $65, making it an affordable investment!

I originally thought it was something I wouldn't use often, but the more I thought about it, the more uses came to mind. Obviously, it was perfect for mini albums, which I am making a lot of these days. But then I thought... why stop at mini albums? It would be simple to put my scrapbook pages in page protectors, decorate two chipboard covers and bind the whole set together to make my own full-size custom albums! The Bind-It-All works with cardstock, chipboard, acrylic... even as thick as a standard CD.

All in all, I think it's a great product. It was easy to figure out, easy to use, and created a professional-looking binding in seconds. It's a quality tool at a reasonable price . And everyone I know who has one absolutely loves it.