Happy New Year!

I don't know about you, but for me, the start of school is much more MY new year than the actual January 1 date. It's never been more true than this year, either, as my family and I have just completed a move to Northern Virginia. My sons are at seperate schools this year, too, so between all of that, I'm swimming in paperwork.

Since we are in a new home, I've been able to adhere to my favorite adage a bit better (I'm a poster child for "A place for everything and everything in its place"!), although the last couple of days have been challenging. This morning, knowing that I needed a project to share with you, I decided to create something that would pull double duty. Here's what I came up with (and it only took about an hour to create!).



Similar to an accordian file, this easy creation is going to keep all those pieces of paper organized perfectly! I started by determining how many files I wanted (I went with five - too many tends to give me too many places to lose things), then cutting and covering chipboards covers. Once those steps were done, I punched all the pieces for binding.



I use my Bind It All from Zutter quite often, so for those on the fence about getting one, I give it two thumbs up. This black tab on the side is an often-overlooked feature on this machine - it allows you to line up your holes perfectly every time, especially important when you're punching lots of pieces, such as here.

Once all the pieces are punched, you can thread in the wire coil and bind. Here's what the inside ended up looking like:



I didn't want to create an all day project, so in the interest of keeping it simple, I decided that I wanted some sort of label on the front. I turned to my Spellbinders dies and choose Antique Label 1 because it reflected the feel of the papers that I had chosen. Once I cut and embossed it, I used it as a stencil with matching ink.



I then stamped "New Beginnings" (so appropriate!), a Papertrey Ink sentiment. Look at how cool it turned out!


I hope that this inspires you to create a beautiful home for all of your paperwork. If you have any questions about the tools that I used, or the specifics of how to create something like this, just LMK! Happy New Year! ;)