Crochet "Paper Chain" Scarf

This scarf looks like the paper chains I made as a kid at Christmastime.  I saw a scarf like this hanging in Michael's and knew even I, a novice at crochet, could make it.

I used cheap yarn in white and bright red.  Each ring is 40 stitches around and consists of one row of chains and then four rows of double crochet.  Easy!  You just have to remember to join your chain into the last chain before starting on the first row of double crochet.
 

You're Sweet Thank You Card with Elemental

This card came together in minutes.  The papers are from CTMH's Elemental papers, and the apples and sentiment are from the stamp set "So Sweet."  The apples were inked with cranberry ink, then "kissed" with a newsprint stamp to make them a little more old fashioned looking.

The apples are raised with dimensional adhesive.  Everything is distressed with cocoa ink.

Nick's Smiling Face

Nick was in an exceptionally smiley mood one day when he got home from school, so I snapped several pictures of him smiling--not always an easy task.  His blue and brown shirt coordinated well with CTMH's new Wonderland paper pack, and this is the layout I created.  The layout itself is a combination from a bunch of layouts I saw while looking through examples.

While trying to find just the right title for the layout, I came across James Taylor's song "Your Smiling Face," which was perfect.  I printed the lyrics and cut them out with a crazy font--"Christy" I think.

The tag is a punch, and I added the mini binder clip.  "Nick" is made with CTMH's stamp set Typeface, and the flourishes are second generation stamped from the Pair-a-Phrase set.  The date stamp is a retired set called Today's Date.  The arrow embellishment points to the 26th, the actual day I took the picture.

"2011" and "love" are from a set of CTMH rub-ons.  I added random CTMH mocha opaques.

There is a partial circle of mocha opaques on the first page and another one bridging the two pages.  I made these by using round dimensional elements as a guide. (see photo above)

Blog Award

Yesterday, Lisa at her blog, Lisa's Loft of Joy, gave me a "Liebster Blog" award:

First and foremost, THANK YOU, Lisa!  Please visit her blog  HERE

  Admittedly, I usually ignore blog awards, and (get ready this is going to offend many of you) find them too often resembling a chain letter, because to post that you received the award, you are supposed to bestow the award on someone else, therefore pressuring them into passing the award on to someone else, etc. etc.

Those of you who know me, probably aren't surprised at my attitude:  When I receive those emails where you are supposed to forward it on to 5, 10, or 20 people for good luck, wealth, or to avoid death, I've been known to send it right back to the friend who sent it to me 20 times to annoy them.  Rude?  Probably, but it stops the forwards.  :)

Back to the Liebster Blog Award:  I decided to accept this award (FYI:  I'm told by Lisa that Liebster means "beloved" or "favorite" in German).  Because it's directed at "smaller" blogs, those with 200 or less followers, and it helps them get more hits and then potentially more followers, it seems like not only a good deal for me, but for five more small blogs, so here it goes:

Here are the Liebster Blog Award Rules (not in my words):

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

5. And most of all - have fun!

Now, my own rule:  If any of the people I pass the award on to have any reservations about participating, PLEASE don't worry about it.  Just know that I do enjoy your blog. 

My picks (in no particular order):

Erica's blog: From the Heart

Janelle's blog: Jak's Scraps

Leslie's blog: Panda Scrapper

Beth's blog: Paper by the Lake

Janelle's blog: Stamp and the City

Although the Lieber rules state the receipients must have less than 200 followers, I limited mine to less than 100 followers, so please help out these blogs and give them a look!

Playing with Paper: Buy this Book!

This post is a review, testimonial, plug, or whatever you want to call it for the book Playing with Paper by Angelia Wigginton.  I've been mentioning it in a lot of my posts, so I thought I'd devote a post to the book.

Here's the book itself.  I wonder if I'm violating copyright laws by posting pics of it.  If there are any complaints, I'll delete this post.

And here are some of the layouts I've done that were inspired by the book, along with the picture from the book that inspired each.  There are many, many I've yet to try.  Links included to my original layout posts, in case you want more info and missed the earlier posts.

Chicago!  For original layout post, just scroll down--I posted it earlier today.

My Orange Beach LO.  I loved the big picture with the "sloppy" sewing sewing and buttons on the edge.  The original post HERE.

My New Orleans/Pat O'Briens Hurricane LO.  I thought the swirls created a party-like feeling.  Original post HERE.

LO from Gul Islands National Seashore.  I liked the block of photos and the cluster of embellishments on the black cs.  Original post HERE.

The book's layout was the view of NYC, but it worked great for my views from Niagara Falls.  My daughter, Jessy, was even pictured with the big binoculars, which triggered the idea to do the LO.  Original post HERE.

Nick's first day of school.  I liked all the curved lines and the black flourishes.  Original post HERE.

This is the last of the layouts inspired by this book SO FAR, but I'm sure I'll be doing more.

Chicago Layout with Elemental and Typeset

This layout was so fun to make and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  (The sound you hear is me blowing my own horn.).  The idea was copied straight from my current favorite creative inspirational book, Playing with Paper by Angelia Wigginton.  (I plan to do a post later today dedicated to how great this book is.)

I needed lots of patterns of paper that would compliment each other.  Elemental and Typeset, both new from Close to My Heart, work GREAT together.  Elemental papers are shown in the pic toward the left, and Typeset are in the upper center.

What really makes this layout representative of Chicago, is the shape of this building.  It definitely looks like the Sears Tower with its two big antenna things.  Technically, it's called the Willis Tower now (I had to look that up, because I couldn't remember the new name and probably never will).  And, technically, it's the John Hancock Building that is shaped like the building in my layout with the sloping sides, but oh well, it looks like Chicago.

I made this Sears/Willis/John Hancock Tower/Building by adhering many 3-inch wide pieces of different patterned papers together.  Once I had a long enough piece of paper, I used my paper trimmer to make the base of the building three inches wide and tapered the sides to two inches wide at the top.

Also, the background paper I used, the Lagoon grid from the Typeset paper pack, really helped me keep my buildings and title straight on the page.  I didn't plan it that way, but it really made it easier.  I cut it 11x11, so there would be 1/2 inch of the black base showing around the edge.

When I finished the skyline, I almost didn't want to add anything else.  I was so proud of myself, and I was afraid I'd ruin it somehow.  I think I'm going to try some more skylines.  Maybe a French Quarter feel for New Orleans, and a Des Moines one with the State Capitol Dome (yes, I'm in Iowa).  San Francisco, New York, and St. Louis would be fun cities to try too.  If I make this a two-page layout, I think I would try to come up with some kind of Wrigleyville theme, with maybe the Ferris wheel from Navy Pier. 

All the elements of the page are sparingly edged with CTMH Cranberry ink.  I think it helps tie all the competing patterns together.

The bottom border is from this punch for EK Success.  It's CTMH Pacifica cs, which is in some of the Elemental cs and also brings out the Cubbie blue in my daughter's sweatshirt.  It represents Lake Michigan, or the Chicago River, or both.  The "2008" shown in this picture is from the retired CTMH stamp set "Save the Date."  I used Colonial White ink on black cs.

I didn't want a huge title drawing too much attention to itself, so I used CTMH's "Vintage Type" stamp set for the letters and punched them out with a 1/2-inch punch (edged in Cranberry ink.)

The completed page again.  The black mat is flat on the page, and then the white mat with photo (all edged in Cranberry ink) are raised with dimensional adhesive.  

Retro-Look Coffee Cup Card

A coffee or tea lover's card for sure.  The colors here remind me of a 1950s kitchen.  All materials are from Close to My Heart.  The B&T paper is from the Elemental paper pack.  The cup is from the new stamp set, Winter, and the sentiment is from the new set, Remarkable Wreath.

The center square is raised with dimensional adhesive.  The pink mat, which is CTMH's Cotton Candy cs, was embossed with my Cuttlebug.  Thanks for looking!

Sparkling Margarita Card

This card is FULL of sparkle.  The large circular image is from Impression Obsession.  The sentiment is from Unity Stamp Co, and the little lime slice is from CTMH.  The lime is glittered with Stickles, as are the moon and stars, palm leaves and lights, the waves, and the margarita and its glass, lime, and umbrella.  The margarita didn't photograph well.  It's actually sparkly green with clear sparkly salt around the rim.  The background paper, from The Paper Studio, even has glitter in the swirls.  I colored all the images with copics before glitzing them up with Stickles.

Gulf Islands Nat'l Seashore Layout with Elemental

The LAST layout for my Feb. 2011 vacation.  I used CTMH's new Elemental B&T papers on a black background.  Not the typical color scheme for a beach layout, but it was a cloudy day, and I think the muted colors work well with the Fort Pickens ruins.

This page started from an idea from Angelia Wigginton's book "Playing with Paper."  I drew, then cut out the flower and leaves, then stamped over the flower with some words.  "Explore" is made with the new Vintage Type stamp set.  I even got out the messy colonial white pigment ink to make the flourish from the You and Me stamp set.

The second page is the layout turned a quarter turn (kind of).  I used more Vintage Type letters--definitely one of my new favorites for titles.  The label is from the You and Me set again.  I also added some misc. metal embellishments and bling.

Gnome Card

This card was stamped with CTMH's Gnome Garden stamp set.  The sentiment is from Remarkable Wreath.  The background is the yellow pattern from CTMH's new paper pack Elemental.  The gnome, sentiment, and butterfly are attached with dimensional adhesive, and there is a little silver glitter gel on the grass and the butterfly.  The images are all colored with copics.

Sonoma Halloween Card

The CTMH Sonoma papers work well for a vintage Halloween card.  I added black, colonial white, and sunset cs.  The stamps are all CTMH:  Moments in Time (calendar), October Word Puzzle ("October"), Thriller (flourish over October), and Beware (Bat stamp).  The card design is based on Jean Franks Beck's design called "Little Spook" in the book, The Best of Stamp It Cards from Leisure Arts (Papercrafts Magazine).  Beck used different papers and stamps, but the basic design is hers.

Wonderland Mitten Card

I just got the new Wonderland kit, and couldn't wait to use it, and I came up with this mitten card.  I drew a pattern for the mitten, then cut it out with the stripe B&T paper from Wonderland, then cut out the cuff of the mitten with the stripes going the other way.  I blanket stitched along the bottom of the cuff with lavendar ribbon.  "You warm my heart" is from the WOTG Wonderland stamp set.  The snowflake in the righthand corner and the greenery in the lower left are punches.  I added some misc.-sized bling to the grennery for a little sparkle. 

Another 365 Days of Photos

For those of you who enjoyed stalking me throughout 2010, I've started another 365-day photo project as of today.  Find it HERE.  Stop by and comment on the random photos of my life!

Typeset Birthday Card

I really like the new Typeset paper from CTMH.  This time I used it for an old fashioned looking birthday card.  I paired it with the All You Need Is Love stamp set.  The outside sentiment is a little hard to read in the picture.  It says, "Just living is not enough..."

The inside says, "one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. --Hans Christian Andersen"

"Happy Birthday" is from the stamp set Card Chatter-Birthday.  The stamps were all colored with copic markers, but everything else is CTMH.

First Day of School with Typeset

I finally had time to create something with some of my products from the new CTMH catalog.  These papers are from the new paperpack, Typeset.  I think they work great for a first day of school layout.  The layout is based, loosely, on a layout in the book Playing with Paper by Angelia Wigginton titled "Circular Logic."  This started out as a mirror image layout, but the two pages took on their own personalities.

Nick's page has lots of buttons and uses the new CTMH stamp set Vintage Type for both the typewriter-look letters and the little stamped tag under the buttons at the bottom center.  "Day" is made from CTMH's Posterboard alphabet, stamped on another Typeset B&T paper.  The banner to the left, SEP (for Southeast Polk--Nick's high school), is made with Pennant alphabet.  All the embellishments are CTMH.

Jess's page uses some stamps from CTMH's Friendship, Delightful Things, and Delightful Alphabet stamps.  "School" is stamped with Token alphabet, then punched, and attached with dimensional tape.  Both layouts have touches of gold/yellow accents because Nick's high school and Jess's college (Univ. of Iowa) both use the colors black and gold.