7Gypsies Binderie Punch

Reported by Amanda Talbert

I love to admire, covet, and buy scrapbook paper. I'm sure I'm not the only one. The problem with this, beyond storage, is how to use it. You see, I am not much of a scrapbooker. An entire scrapbook worth of work is a very long-term project and I do not have the attention span for it. That's why I love mini albums and hybrid scrapping.

Putting together all the little things I have made so that I can turn them into a lovely gift or store them for perusing later can be a challenge. That's where the Binderie by 7Gypsies comes in. As 7Gypsies says on their website, with the Binderie you can, "Bind it in style!"

I ordered my Binderie from Two Peas in a Bucket for $19.95 and it arrived very quickly. It came with the device and a starter kit that includes paper, bookboard, and binder rings for putting it all together.

The instruction booklet also had very nice pictures and descriptions to help me learn how to use the placement slider for getting nicely placed and evenly spaced punches. It was this spacking help that first intrigued me about the device.

I decided to really put the hole punching strength of this little baby to the test with my project. I went right for punching holes in CDs since I had some freebies around. I also felt pretty strongly that if the Binderie could punch through CDs without breaking them then it could do just about anything. I started with just a plain CD to see how it would go.

All I had to do was slide the CD in a push the little button on top and I had a very nice hole. The Binderie didn't make a single grumble about going through the thick plastic, and the hole it made was very smooth and clean. I checked closely; there are no cracks radiating from the hole, and no chips anywhere in the plastic.

Once I was convinced the Binderie punch could handle the CD, I set out to do a little Christmas in July crafting. I covered CDs with lovely scrapbooking paper and diecut letters and then stuck them in the punch and let her rip.

After I punched holes in the CDs I strung raffia through them. I was a little worried that the edges of the holes would cut the thin raffia. I moved the banner I made quite a bit and there were no problems at all.

When I was making my banner I covered both sides of the CD with a layer or two of paper. In the closeup below you can see how nicely it punched.

I also made a small hanger for my daughter's door with the same technique.

The Binderie takes 6 AA batteries or you can buy an A/C adapter for it. I used it with batteries. The paperwork that came with it say that it can punch paper, cardstock, bookboard, but that you shouldn't try to punch acrylic with it. I tried paper, card, CD plastic, grungeboard, and cereal box. It worked on all of them.

Pros:

  • The Binder is compact and light-weight. You could take it along to craft just about anywhere.
  • The electrical operation triggered by the button on the top is much easier than having to manually punch a hole in something.
  • There are a wide variety of things you can punch.
  • The holes punched are round, smooth, and even.
  • You can punch one hole or two and with the slide out part of the unit you can evenly place as many holes as you want.

Cons:

  • If you don't want to burn through batteries you will have to buy the A/C adapter seperately.
  • It can be a little difficult to get the hang of the slide out arm, it takes practice.
  • There is a set depth for hole placement. You can't punch a hole out in the middle of anything.
  • The price for the Binderie from most of the sites I looked at is twice what I paid for it.

If my 7Gypsies Binderie went missing, I would buy it again. I would buy it over and over if I had to. That's how much I like it. I can hardly wait to try punching something else. Do you have any suggestions for me? I would love to let you know how it punches through all of your favorite craft things.

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