Neith"s Crafty Creations - image created with Club Scrap DigiDeluxe Refresh and Serengeti Kits

Friday, December 5, 2008

Gauntlet Gloves


Gauntlets by Neith Juch


Club Scrap Digital Demo Kit Let Me Count The Ways 2/06;

To create this layout, I used the template from the and new Free Digital Demo Kit and chose my own papers, altered the sizes and layer styles of each element, and added inked edges to the two main papers.

We've been working hard on donations for the church fair! I coordinated and ran projects with the youth group to create a number of items to sell, made more goodies on my own, and worked with my kids to create even more! These gauntlet style gloves were inspired by both Selena Gomez's character in Wizards of Waverly Place and the clearance children's knitting machine that we found and have made tons of knit tubes from! (Note that the gloves will actually sell in matched pairs, but I needed to take a sample photo to display!) The kids probably cranked out about half of the gloves and I stitched thumb holes into them... we're also donating some cards, gift bags, crochet produce bags, and amigurumi catnip treats! Wish us luck with the sales tomorrow!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Nature's Bounty and Beauty - 3 Digital Layouts



Topsfield Fair 2008 by Neith Juch


Milestones 12/08 CS DigiKit;

Really get the colors to pop on your prints by layering on another copy of the same print (or a solid) and applying the Layer Style of Overlay to it! Be sure to grab colors from your page to use for your fonts.

Sometimes a crisp and clean color block treatment is just what you need for a layout! To create a perfect color block in PSE, Click on View: Grid and use Edit: Preferences to adjust the spacing of your grid lines. You'll want to check off View: Snap To: Grid. You can resize elements to fit within the gridlines and also use the rectangular marquee tool in order to cut away anything that falls outside of the grid lines that you want to use.

Thoreau's Lake by Neith Juch


Refresh 2/07 DigiGoodies; Scan of my own inked edge paper;

There are times when a photo speaks for itself and very little else is needed... and other times when you just want to add an image to a favorite quote.

 by Neith Juch


Body and Soul 5/08 DigiGoodies;

I know that I have more photos of Lynch Park than I can count... but I have spent so much time there between my own childhood and sharing it with my children. I think that this is the only very low tide photo that I've scrapped though!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Embed Morse Code, Etc Into Your Layouts

Are you looking for more creative ways to title your layouts? Have you thought about using a code? You could try converting your message to binary code (like my husband did with my birthday candles last night!), morse code, braille or anything you dream up! In this layout, the knotted rope spells out "ROPE" to go along with a photo where I was learning and practicing rope coiling, but had also learned morse code, knot typing, and a whole lot more at our extended field trip to Mystic Seaport!

Learning the Ropes


Club Scrap: Academy 8/07 - B&B UM Stamps; Interior Designs 11/06 - Brown Plain; Retreat 2006 - Translucent Print; Wild Wild West 10/05 - Brick Plain; Scrapbook Takeout: Adventures in Altering 8/07 - Heidi Swapp Raw Chipboard Alphabet Lemonade Stand; Zig: Memory Writer - Pure Chocolate; Packing Cord (titled with a morse code pattern);

If you don't want to incorporate it into the title, what about using it for a background pattern? There are so many ways to hide messages in your art! Another cool idea is to include your message in a pattern for knitting or crocheting! Knitty Gritty had Adina Klein in Episode DKNG-410 with her Fibonacci Knitting designs. Uncommon Threads featured Barry Klein and Fayla Reiss demonstrating how they use dates, converted to numbers, to create crochet plaid patterns in episode DUCT-242.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Mirror Mirror Kit - 2 Cards and 1 DigiLayout

I really adore the color combination in the newest Club Scrap kit! I've always been a big fan of greens and browns for scrapbooking... Lately, it seems my kids are always dressed in shades of browns, greens, and blues! So the colors worked wonderfully for the book that I just posted, but they also work great for all kinds of other things! Here are a few examples!

Christmas Joy Card by Neith Juch


Club Scrap: 11/08 Mirror Mirror Light Celery, Dark Celery, Brown, B&B UM Stamps; 2008 Old World Christmas: Greetings UM Stamps; 2008 Holiday Projects: Holiday Collection Stencil; 6/2000 Heritage: Journaling Stencil; Club Scrap Earth Hybrid Ink Pad; ColorBox Stylus Tool; Holiday Ornament Stencil Tutorial Video;Ranger - Distress Stickles: Walnut Stain;

Club Scrap has been filling its new Cinema with loads of wonderful project and technique videos to help you create! They even have a gorgeous video to help with techniques for using the holiday ornament stencil that I used on this card! I added some Distress Stickles to the ornaments and the torn edge on my card, added lines inked through the journaling stencil, and more using the great stripes stamp from the Mirror Mirror kit, both straight on and as a second generation of stamping for the distressed background.

Day and Night Card by Neith Juch, front


This cute little day and night card combines the papers from this month's Club Scrap kit with some patterned paper and stamps from Scrapbook Takeout. When you open the card, you have a little night scene off in the corner!

Day and Night Card by Neith Juch, inside


Scrapbook Takeout: June 08 Eclectica: Unmounted Stamps; July 08 Potpourri - Unmounted Stamps; Dream Street Cafe Chic Lounge and Fashionista Paper;
Club Scrap: Mirror Mirror 11/08 - Paper in Robins Egg Blue, Dark Celery, Light Celery, Brown, and White;
Ranger: Archival Ink Pad in Coffee;

Barista by Neith Juch


You'd think that he was a movie star to see my children react to their cousin serving them at Starbucks! So, it seemed only proper to give him the star treatment in this layout! The Expanded Art overlay provided a wonderful, yet masculine, glam for the page! I used the magic wand to select all of the black and gray in the overlay and then used the Adjust Hue/Saturation enhancement to colorize it and turn it to a dark green. To create a colorful custom title, I cut small pieces of the printed tags to fit inside of the font!

Club Scrap: Mirror Mirror CSt Digital Kit;

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Travelogue Wired Book



Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


A great way to commemorate a special trip is to create a small coffee table album! To simplify things and to unify the album, pick one color palette for your papers, embellishments, and inks or paints. Choose a small selection of stamps and use them to create accents, borders, decorative strips, etc. In no time you'll have a gorgeous little album to keep or give to whomever shared the journey with you!

Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


I created this originally for a challenge with a specific set of embellishments and stamps to draw from, just added the inks, paints, paper, and binding! I plan to bring it with me to Thanksgiving and have my mom, grandma, and the girls add the journaling since they were all there, but I wasn't!

Supplies Used:
  • Scrapbook Takeout: April 08 Graffiti Artist - Heidie Swapp Mini Chipboard Variety Set; June 08 Eclectica: Unmounted Stamps, American Crafts Treehouse Chipboard Shapes, Hambly Brocade Overlay; July 08 Potpourri Works: Unmounted Stamps; August 08 Summer Splash: Maya Road Sheer Journaling Card; Prima Flowers; October 08 Scrap Harvest: My Minds Eye Everyday Journaling Card, My Minds Eye Happy Journaling Card, My Minds Eye Scroll Die Cut, My Minds Eye Happy Graph Transparency, My Minds Eye Coastal "Celebrate" Chipboard Accessories, My Minds Eye Mellow "Happy" Assortment Tags, Kaiser Craft Wooden Button Flowers; Kaiser Craft Rhinestones, Bazzill Crochet Blossom, Dream Street Cafe Chic Lounge and Venti Latte Paper;
  • Club Scrap: Mirror Mirror 11/08 - Beads and Paper in Robins Egg Blue, Dark Celery, Light Celery, and Brown; Wired Book Design; Waxed Linen Thread;
  • Ranger: Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber in Aqua and Lettuce; Adirondack Dye Ink in Ocean Aqua; Adirondack Pigment Ink in Snow White, Archival Ink Pad in Coffee; Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso and Paint in Yellow Pastel and Saddle Brown;
  • Jewelry Wire;


Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


Travelogue Book by Neith Juch


Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The College Years - 6 Layouts & 1 Postcard

Ahh, college... It's a time when you have full freedom to reimagine yourself in any way that you wish. You have no permanent career or meetings with your children's school for which you have to maintain proper appearances. You can be you. I do miss feeling free to dye my hair, write and read lots of poetry, etc and may go back to it all one day, but for now, I'll scrap it!

Fade Away and Radiate


Club Scrap: Simply Beautiful 5/07 - Green 8.5x11 Print, Green Cut Out, Rose Plain, Rose Cut Out, Lilac Print, Lilac Cut Out, Beads, Paper Flower, Mini Brad, UM Stamps; Big & Tall 2004 - UM Font; Road Trip 3/05 - UM Font;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Espresso;
Blue Moon Beads: Gold Head Pin;

Roots


Club Scrap: Generations 4/08 - Translucent Print, JR WM Stamp; Farmer's Market 10/06 - Pumpkin Plain; Paisley 3/06 - Burnt Orange Print, Olive 8.5x11 CSt Print, UM Stamps;
Scrapbook Takeout: 8/07 Adventures in Altering Kit - Maya Road Fresh Chipboard Scroll Corners; Grungeboard Alphabet (as stencil);
Ranger: Adirondack Ink Pads - Espresso, Pesto, Rust; Distress Crackle Paint - Dried Marigold;
Zig: Memory Writer - Chocolate;

Postcard of Me


Club Scrap: Egyptian 8/03 - Rollergraph Stamp, UM Stamps, Stencil;
StampFrancisco - Nebti Stamp;
Ranger: Adirondack Ink in Caramel and Latte;
Clearsnap: Fluid Chalk Ink, ColorBox Stylus Tool;

Hymn to the goddess Neith, unknown source:
Most ancient Mother
Great Radiant One,
Lady of the Stars,
Mistress of the Celestial Ocean
Highest Judge,
Fiery One who rose from the Primordial Floods,
It is Neit who reaches down from the heavens
to take the hands of each who dies,
taking them into Her arms
to place them as stars of the universe,
each to light Her perfect body
with an emerald light,
sowing mortals upon Her heavenly self,
as others sow the green plants of the fields.
Though if Her anger was provoked
She might cause the sky to crash upon the ground,
still She was Mother of All
broad winged Goddess who protects from evil,
who defends the good with bow and arrow,
as She once defended those ancient priestesses
who took Her name:
Neit Hotep,
Meryet Neit,
Her Neit,
priestess queens who ruled when Egypt was young,
when only women served at Neit's altars,
each knowing throughout her life
that she would one day glisten as a star
upon the measureless body of the Mother of Heaven.

Cooking in 1995


Club Scrap: Culinary 3/04 - Frame Stamp, UM B&B Stamps, White 8.5x11 JR Print, Olive 8.5x11 JR Print, Silver Translucent 8.5x11 JR Print Green Plain, Silver Plain, Burgundy Plain;
Stayzon: Olive;
Unknown Silver Ink Pad;
Sizzix: Sizzlits Alphabet;

Ordeal by Nina Cassian


Club Scrap: Generations 4/08 - DP01;
Font: Keetano ATL My Gangsta;
Adobe PSE5.0: Altered Hues; Altered Contrast; Drop Shadows;

Ordeal
I promise to make you more alive than you’ve ever been.
For the first time you’ll see your pores opening
like gills of fish and you’ll hear
the noise of blood in galleries
and feel light gliding over your corneas
like the dragging of a dress across the floor.
For the first time, you’ll note gravity’s prick
like a thorn in your heel,
and your shoulder blades will hurt
from the imperative of wings.
I promise to make you so alive that
the fall of dust on furniture will deafen you,
and you’ll feel your eyebrows like two wounds forming
and your memories will seem to begin
with the creation of the world.

by Nina Cassian
translated by Michael Impey and Brian Swann

The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury


Club Scrap: 05/08 Body & Soul DigiKit - DP04; Interior Designs 11/06 - Xtra37;Font: Font Garden - FG Adrian;
Adobe PSE5.0: Altered Hues; Drop Shadows;

The Fog Horn by Ray Bradbury
(an excerpt in which McDunn speaks)

“I’ll make a voice like all of time and all the fog that
ever was; I’ll make a voice that is like an empty bed
beside you all night long, and like an empty house when
you open the door, and like trees in autumn with no
leaves. A sound like the birds flying south, crying, and a
sound like November wind and the sea on the hard, cold
shore. I’ll make a sound that’s so alone that no one
can miss it, that whoever hears it will weep in their
souls and hearths will seem warmer, and being inside
will seem better to all those who hear it in the distant
towns. I’ll make a sound and an apparatus and they’ll
call it a Fog Horn and whoever hears it will know the
sadness of eternity and the briefness of life.”

The Spectator by Neith C Juch


Club Scrap: Body & Soul 5/08 DigiKit - DP06; Tran08;
Font: Exocet;
Adobe PSE5.0: Altered Hues;

Monday, November 10, 2008

Scrapbook Takeout Holiday Workshop Week

Scrapbook Takeout Holiday Workshop 2008
http://forum.scrapbooktakeout.com/index.php?showforum=108

ETA: Due to an outage, the forum was down on Tuesday morning and Francine's class has been posted to her blog, for now... http://francineclouden.typepad.com/tuesday_todo/

For the next few days there are a bunch of fun online workshops going on at Scrapbook Takeout!

Today's classes include a Paper Bag Christmas Card and Easy Evergreen Cards; Tuesday's classes include a Stacked Christmas Tree and Mini Album Tin Ornament; Wednesday's classes include a set with a Gift Bag, Tag and Gift Card Holder; Thursday's classes include chipboard ornaments; Friday's classes include Christmas Treet Boxes and a Christmas Ornament!

Please check it out, sign in, and let them know that I sent you!

Here's my quick version of Lizette's Paper Bag Christmas Card! I used only the paper bag, remnants from the FFC Exclusive Christmas Brights ALSB Kit, 2 mini brads, and one ink pad! This "card" would be perfect to fill not only with a nice big letter to a loved one, but stuff a bagged holiday drink mix inside, or some other treat that you can get relatively flat!

Groovy Christmas Paper Bag Card


Scrapbook Takeout: Lizette's Paper Bag Card Class November 2008 Holiday Workshop;
Club Scrap: FFC Christmas Bright ALSB Kit Remnant Paper and Tags; Generations 4/08 - Berry Mini Brads;

Saturday, November 8, 2008

The Natural and the Unnatural - 4 Digital Layouts

Here are a few of my recent digital layouts for you guys!

Uatchet in the Mirror Maze


Club Scrap: Mirror Mirror 11/08 CSDigi Sr Kit;

Uatchet in the Mirror Maze
With so many arrows to choose from, it's so easy to cut one out of a printed tag, or use the stencil shapes to cut arrows where none existed before! Layer them up, copy and paste sections of the arrows from the background print to make it overlap one of them... Add a tall and skinny photo and even borrow a natural border from the photo to help matte it! In no time you'll have the perfect layout! (Of course, if your photo also happens to be of your daughter's first adventure in a mirror maze, then things will really fall right into place!)

Look! - Sebek and the Stag Beetle


Private Eye CS DigiGoodies Kit 10/08;

Look! - Sebek and the Stag Beetle
Zoom in on a photo by enlarging a section of it and clipping it to fit inside the magnifying glass. Create a shaded glass overlay by duplicating the layer with the photo and using Layer Style >> Wow Plasic in Photoshop Elements.

The Awesome Power of Nature


Club Scrap: Retreat 2007 Digital Kit - PS06; Refresh 02/07 Digital Kit - PLtGreen, PTrans, Trans14, Trans18;
Fonts: CoventryGarden, Glider Girls;
Photoshop Elements 5.0: Blending Modes - Difference, Overlay; Altered Hues;

Triceratops


Club Scrap: Avant Garde 3/08 Digital Kit - DP; Great Outdoors 10/07 Digital Kit - Xtra66, Xtra67, Xtra68; Collections 6/06 Digital Kit - Alpha;
Adobe Photoshop Elements: Blending Mode - Multiply; Drop Shadow - Soft Edge; Altered Hues;
Personal Scan of a Tile;
Clay Sculpture by Nekhebet;

Friday, November 7, 2008

Awesome Bracelet from Swap goodies and Prizes!

I just realized that I had not yet scanned the awesome bracelet that I made using Luanne's Charm Bracelet Kit, that I won in her CSChat contest, and charms from the swap that we had at the Club Scrap September 2008 Main Retreat! There are tons of cool finds in it! Luanne hand selected the Scrabble tiles to use my kids' first initials (yeah, in birth order, their initials spell a word!) and the phrase "Be Here Now" in charms along with tons of other goodies, many that I couldn't fit onto the bracelet! I also have another silver charm bracelet that just uses charms from the swap! many of the swap dangles are filled with CS beads and on my other bracelet there are a lot of CS stamps on shrink plastic! I'll have to scan that one for you all later!

Funky Charm Bracelet by Neith

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Halloweens Past

With Halloween right around the corner, we're getting ready to run up to my parents' store and have the girls work on their fabulous three hours per year career as models! In the meantime, here are a few photos from Halloweens past! Also, be sure to check out my previous post filled with more Halloween layouts!

Halloween Ad circa 1990s

Supplies Used
Club Scrap: Main Retreat 2007 - 8.5x11 ALSB Design; Egyptian 8/03 - Green Debossed 8.5 Print; Poetic 9/03 - Yellow; Hearth & Home 10/03 - Charcoal; Down to Earth 4/05 - UM Stamps;
Ranger: Antiquities Ink Pad - Frosted Crystal; Archival Ink Pad - Jet Black;
Scrapbook Takeout: Ribbon Slide;
Zig: Writer - Pure Black;

This is one of many photos from past Halloween ad shoots at my parent's store. I think this was when I was in high school!

Halloween Coloring Contest Winner

Supplies Used
Club Scrap: Main Retreat 2007 - 8.5x11 ALSB Design & Fibers; Poetic - 9/03 Brown Print; Work Bench 8/05 - Green Embossed Plain; Rhapsody 3/07 - Rust Plain; Bridges 2/08 - Poetry Words;
Scrapbook Takeout: Harvest Feast 10/07 - 7 Gypsies Zanzibar Stickers;
Zig: Chocolate Memory Writer;

The Beverly Times used to run coloring contests each year for Halloween and Easter. Sponsoring stores picked 1-3 winners each season for their image and submitted them towards the grand prize. I'd won a few individual business prizes, like a $10 savings account, gift certificates, and the like... but in 1984, with my age listed as "almost 10", I managed not only to win $10 at the candy shop, but the grand prize! Unfortunately, coffee got spilled on the submission before I got it back, and over time the newsprint deteriorated, crinkled, etc before I managed to scan it in! believe me, the background used to be crisp while the paper bag, that I attached, was not! My winning bank account one, from one Easter, also had an add-on :) For it, I tinted a pinch of a cotton ball with a light yellow marker and put it on the baby chick who was hatching out of an egg! I can't remember everything that I won, but it included a black and white tv (that still ran when my son turned 10!), six tickets and programs to the incredible stage production in town, aka the magic show, and some more!



Monday, September 1, 2008

Safari Classics Meet Recycling

Club Scrap recently had a challenge to incorporate at least 2 recycled or household items in your layouts and I managed a slew of them! When I created my ALSB for the Safari Crafter Classics (owning a zoo membership for a few years means that I do have even more zoo photos still to scrap! but, remember that plenty of other themes look great on these papers!), all but two pages wound up qualifying for the challenge!

Mostly, I went on an aluminum can frenzy after seeing the Michael Strong TV Weekly Webisode, Heavy Metal, and all of Luanne's great creations with Coke cans! But I also had a little stack of used Priority Mail box scraps (we had cut up some spent boxes in order to make over 60 handmade mini books as Valentine's Day treats and other mini books afterwards and I still had the scraps) along with some emptied pantry boxes, extra scraps of tin foil, etc. If the idea of using potentially acidic chipboard and cardboard isn't to your liking, think about going with the metal route... or some other things that I'll share soon!

If you are interested in trying your hand at scrapping with aluminum cans, you'll have a blast! Get out your die cutter as the thicker dies will cut right through them and use a rolling cutter with most low-profile dies, or run them through an embossing folder! Crack out your metal embossing tools and play away! Ink them up with alcohol inks, paints, etc! Or pick a beautifully colored section of the can and showcase it on your layouts (like the green leaves on my second layout here or the red heart on my Carnival Love Tests layout)!

And, don't forget that those gorgeous chipboard shapes make wonderful templates to cut shapes from other materials, or use the offset when you punch yours out as a more permanent stencil!

Safari Crafter Classic ALSB #1

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 Kit - ALSB #1, Green Print, Green Plain, Black Plain; Collections 6/06 - UM Font;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Espresso; Distress Crackle Paint - Brushed Corduroy; Stickles - Gold, Lime Green;
Scrapbook Takeout - Graffiti Artist 4/08 Preserves Kit - Heidi Swapp Mini GhostShapes; Tell Your Story 3/08 The Works Kit - Tim Holtz Grungeboard Alphabet (as a stencil)
Recycled Material: Aluminum Can (band on crown); Cereal Box (large alpha);

Safari Crafter Classic ALSB #2

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic Kit 2007 - ALSB #2, Black Plain, Green Plain, Green Print;
EK Success: Paper Shapers - Sunflower;
Scrapbook Takeout: Parisian Vintage Chic - Maya Road Fresh Chipboard Trees (as stencil);
Zig: Millennium - Pure Black;
Recycled Material: Aluminum Can; Cardboard Box;

Safari Crafter Classic ALSB #3

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic Kit 2007 - ALSB #3, Dark Orange Plain, Light Orange Print, Light Orange Plain Rhapsody 3/07 - Beads;
Darice: Jewelry Wire;
Ranger: Adirondack Alcohol Inks - Espresso, Ginger, Rust, Slate, Terra Cotta; Alcohol Ink Applicator; Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Ginger;
Zig: Writer - Chocolate;
Recycled Material: 100 Calorie Cookies Box; Tin Foil (wrapped around box strip);

Safari Crafter Classic ALSB #4

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 Kit - ALSB #4; Dark Orange Plain, Light Orange 12x12 Print, Light Orange 8.5x11 Print;
Ranger: Adirondack Pigment Ink Pad - Terra Cotta; Archival Ink Pad - Sepia;
Sizzix: Sizzlits - Rat-a-Tat Alphabet;
Ten Seconds Studio: Mold B23; Metal Embossing Tools;
Recycled Material: Aluminum Can; Cereal Box;

Safari Crafter Classic ALSB #5

Safari Crafter Classic Kit 2007 - ALSB #5, Dark Orange Print, Light Orange, Black; Serengeti Crafter Classic 2008 - Cut Out Journaling Block;
Ranger: Adirondack Alcohol Inks - Espresso, Ginger, Rust, Slate, Terra Cotta; Alcohol Ink Applicator;
Scrapbook Takeout: Chipboard Shapes (as stencils);
Recycled Material: Used Priority Mail Box; Tin Foil;

Safari Crafter Classic ALSB #6

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 Kit - ALSB #6, Dark Orange Print, Light Orange Plain, Black Plain; It's a Boy/It's a Girl 2006 - UM Font;
Leow & Cornell - Aqua Crayons;
Ranger: Adirondack Alcohol Inks - Bottle, Stream; Alcohol Ink Applicator Tool;
Sizzix: Original Die - Tickets 39-1111;
Recycled Material - Barq's Root Beer Can; Old Cork Coaster;

Safari Crafter Classic ALSB #7

Club Scrap: Safari FFC Crafter Classic Kit 2007 - Light Orange 8.5x11 Print, Dark Orange Plain, Black Print, ALSB #7; Paisley 03/06 - Coral; Tonic Glass Cutting Mat;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Ginger;
Scrapbook Takeout - Tell Your Story 3/08 The Works Kit - Tim Holtz Grungeboard Alphabet (as a stencil)

Safari Crafter Classic ALSB #

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 - ALSB #8, Black Print, Light Orange Plain, Dark Orange Plain;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Ginger; Adirondack Pigment Ink Pad - Terra Cotta;
Zig: Millennium Writer - Pure Black;


Safari Crafter Classic ALSB #9

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 - ALSB #9; Black Plain, Dark Orange Plain, Green Plain, Green Print, Light Orange Print;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Ginger;
Sizzix: Sizzlits - Rat-a-Tat Alphabet;
Recycled Item: Snack Box;

Safari Crafter Classic ALSB #10

Club Scrap: Safari Crafter Classic 2007 - ALSB #10; Black Plain, Dark Orange Plain, Green Plain, Green Print; Rhapsody 3/07 - Beads;
Sizzix: Sizzlits - #654526 Latches;
Recycled Material: Tin Can (Die cut into latches); Packing Twine (left over scrap with a knot on one end from when a Cub Scout cut too much at a den meeting... I knew I had those stray pieces in the bottom of my den leader's bag!);

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Going Green: Crochet Produce & Gift Bags

Crochet Produce Bags in Hot Green and Off White

I'm going to start to showcase some more of my crafts that don't always involve paper, stamps, or beads. And, this week I'm going to provide you all with some environmentally friendly ideas! To kick it off, here's my latest obsession, Crochet Produce Bags!

Crochet Produce Bags in Rose Pink and NaturalI've whipped up a bunch of these for myself and for gifts! Every time we go out shopping with our lime green bags, we get tons of attention and I can't even begin to count the number of people that I've directed to the instructions! I've consistently managed to make one bag during a single dvd viewing (including bonus features) and have made others while walking around in Boston or riding the subway and train during our day trips this month! Also, they make great gift wrap bags! You can see them here holding sets of ALSB pages that we're giving as gifts! (Think Down to Earth, Hometown, Farmer's Market, Salsa, etc!)

I absolutely adore this "donate what you can" Crochet Grocery Bag Pattern By Haley Waxberg (proceeds help pay for a woman's reconstructive surgery). It's a simple combination of single crochet, chain, and slip stitches to create a wonderfully stretchy netted produce/shopping bag.

Crochet Produce Bags in Rose Pink and NaturalI altered the pattern, just a little, in between the increasing rows, I did one less row than called for and did 12-14 of the ch5 rows as the main body.. also, I thickened my straps a little and used 100% cotton by Lily and by Bernat.