March madness crafty blogger links with a surreal scene from Los Angeles

Seeing snow in Los Angeles always makes me giggle.

And who doesn't like a good giggle?

Cathie Filian

Turn a hardware store washer into a papered necklace with Cathie's tutorial.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Looking for a little crafting encouragement? Tammy found it through an Etsian jewelry designer.

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
Organization in her creative space isn't Linda's forte, so check out a "before" shot. Any ideas on getting her craft room organized are welcome--post a comment with your ideas.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Make a fab mixed media journal cover with Madge in this week's post for iLoveToCreate!

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi tried having some custom-printed fabrics made, and she learned a lot in the process.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
At Craftside there is tutorial on turning a box into a book, how to paint a bunny rabbit and carrot Chinese brush style, putting words on a spoon and a sneak peek into the new book 1000 ideas from 100 Fashion Designers with my own fashion star sighting.

The Artful Crafter
Eileen shares directions for making flowers from fabric scraps or from paper coffee filters.

The Crochet Dude
Drew reveals his favorite cookbooks and answers 8 important questions.

About Family Crafts
Sherri challenges you to create your own leprechaun trap. Use her tips and the photos that have been submitted so far for inspiration.

Aileen's Musings
Come journey with Aileen along her creative process as she transforms a paper napkin into 3 whimsical pieces of art!

Mixed Media Greeting Card Album using embellishment ideas from the book The Scrapbook Embellishment Handbook by Sherry Steveson

First let me say mixed media crafting makes a mess! A fabulously fun one, but none the less a big a** mess.

I love working with all sorts of bits and pieces so the book The Scrapbook Embellishment Handbook was right up my alley being that it is divided up by chapter based on each type of embellishment....very cool!

The first embellishment that caught my eye was the little metal frame on this page in the "Metal" chapter.
I save tin cans to recycle into die cut elements and so it was easy to run a piece of soda can through the Sizzix die cutter with the slide/frame die.
I have a stash of old family slides and it's cool that they fit perfectly in the Inkssentials Memory Frames by Ranger.
But I think they would look better hanging being back lit so I then when to my stash of scrapbook paper catalogs which happen to be a great source of little images and backgrounds. I also poked through an old catalog of stock photography. Out of these two I filled my little frame.
I punched two tiny wings from the McGill punch and textured them. I assembled these elements along with a tag that said "wander" which I thought went great with the road image and shoes with a bit of wire.

For the background I cut a piece of woven plaid fabric and fringed the edge by pulling a few of the threads out from each side and glued it onto the cover of The Greeting Card Album.

I put an image into the soda can die cut frame.
Printed out the words "knot nice" with my label maker.
Glued it all onto the plaid cover with a sawed off end of a spent 12 gauge shotgun shell casing.

Kind of eclectic but so am I!

Want more fabulously fun ideas on how to use embellishments? Grab a copy of:
The Scrapbook Embellishment Handbook
By
Sherry Steveson

Product Description from the publisher Memory Makers Books:

"The Scrapbook Embellishment Handbook, author Sherry Steveson covers 17 popular types of embellishments and teaches you how to utilize them on your layouts. With beginner, intermediate and advanced techniques for each embellishment, you will get over 50 step-by-step demonstrations, plus 130+ layouts and projects that illustrate these techniques.

A bonus Step It Up gallery shows you how adding embellishments can enhance a layout. In the gallery, you will see how a layout starts with a simple design, then is passed to a second scrapbooker who adds a few embellishments and finally it is passed to a third scrapper who adds even more embellishments, completing the look.

About the Author
Sherry Steveson has been scrapbooking for nearly nine years, and her work has been featured in Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbook Trends, Simple Scrapbooks, Scrapbooks, Etc. and Memory Makers Magazine. She is a design team member for several kit clubs, a manufacturer, and an online store. She is also the author of When Life Gives You Lemons."

Scissor Poster and Crafty Blogger Links

Mixed Media Artist

Want to try a little layers experiment in Photoshop?

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside has an inside peek into how to choose the right color for a design, a free pattern for knitting cuffs with the boy/girl icons on them, a fun logo made with a scribble, a tutorial on how to make a Steampunk style necklace with a recycled soda can and polymer clay heart and some Lisa Kettell news about her Art Opera.

The Artful Crafter
If you've done metal embossing in the past or would like to learn about this art form, let Eileen bring you up to date.

About Family Crafts
Sherri shows you how you can transform ordinary flower pots into a variety of fun craft projects.

Aileen's Musings
This week Aileen has a fabulous dollar store find she wants to share with you! Stop by and see what she's created and take part in her challenge.

Cathie Filian
Check out Cathie's blog for 11 DIY wedding favor ideas.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy gives you an update about the new jewelry book she's working on plus a little inside scoop.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Connie's added more stitchable signs to her Laundry Room Collection - add a little humor to a household chore.

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
Being creative for a cause is great inspiration. Check out what Linda did with some t-shirts for Camp Shaw's silent auction.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Madge is so ready for spring, how about you? Here's a tutorial for a yarn flower loom embellished frame that's sure to cure the winter blues.

Chain Soup and Photo necklace inspired by the fab book Chain Style by Jane Dickerson

I love chain and the book Chain Style is positively the most inspiring book on this topic! I combined my love of chain with some of my favorite photos to make this necklace:

I am calling it "chain soup necklace".
Have you ever made "bead soup" necklaces? Where you go to your stash of all your leftovers and just string or link them up and you come out with a cool mixed design?

Well, that's what I felt like doing after flipping through page after page of Chain Style savoring all the chain pieces combined with fun elements.

So here is how I made my chain soup (and photo) necklace:

I cut up a contact sheet of photos into little squares that fit into the little photo links. I used a wide variety of photos, as it turned out there was quite a mixture.

Then I made them into bead links with a piece of 20 gauge wire the same way you would with a bead just using the set of holes on the top side of the photo frame link.

Then all that was left to do is go through the stash of leftover chain and link it all together with a single big link between each photo frame link along with tiny lengths of chain that dripped and swagged.

So if you are like me and love chain you will definitely be super inspired by:

Chain Style: 50 Contemporary Jewelry Designs
by
Jane Dickerson

More about from the publisher Interweave

"Incorporating chain as a key element in jewelry design is becoming increasingly popular, and this handy instructional assists jewelry artists in discovering the ease and affordability of manipulating the medium to produce stunning and fashionable pieces. Using commonly found chain metals, such as brass, copper, sterling silver, gunmetal, aluminum, base metal, and goldtone, this extensive and accessible reference presents 50 fun and creative methods for showcasing chain styles to make even the most inexperienced designer look like a pro. Covering basic essential techniques—including opening and closing jump rings, cutting, oxidizing, and hammering—this informative and engaging manual focuses on simple chain styles that can be constructed to form clean, modern, wearable art."

Happy Chinese New Year Crafty Blogger links and the next thing I want to knit

Is this not the funniest thing? A knit balloon animal bunny! It was in the Lion Brand Yarn booth at CHA. I love it! I sent an email to their list asking about where the pattern could be found but haven't gotten a response yet. Has anyone seen it? Please leave a comment if you have!

Cross Stitch at About.com
Since Connie can't crochet, she decided to create some Cross Stitch Doilies simple enough for beginning stitchers.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi's "question of the month" is what's your top ten list of mixed media art blogs to read regularly?

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside is in love with a free tattoo style Valentine graphic from the book Design Parts Sourcebook: Rock and Street Culture, a how-to on making a freeform monoprint, dresses folded from maps, and a lovebird puppet.

The Artful Crafter
Do you dream of designing and making your own jewelry? Here are some tips from Eileen to help you get started.

The Crochet Dude
Drew offers up a great review on the new Debbie Stoller line of yarns "Stitch Nation".

About Family Crafts
Need an easy, last-minute Valentine's Day gift or card? Sherri has some great ideas for you!

Aileen's Musings
Aileen's offering some whimsical freebie postcards for you to download and send to a friend!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy reviews a new craft book she received: The Perfect Handmade Bag by Clare Youngs.

How to make a button covered headband with a recycled t-shirt inspired by a project from the book The Paper Bride by Esther K. Smith

Love is in the air....love of the book:
The Paper Bride: Wedding DIY from Pop-the-Question to Tie-the-Knot and Happily Ever After by Esther K SmithI'm not sure which I love more, sticky notes or crafting? As you can see my copy of The Paper Bride has lots of sticky notes which means I want to make lots of stuff from it. Surprising, I know being that I am so far from the marring type it's not funny. But that doesn't mean the great projects contained in it can't be used for other events and just plain everyday creativity.
The project from The Paper Bride that was my inspiration was one that you sewed buttons on a ribbon to make a headband that looked really cute. (Yes, this is probably the only non paper project in the book but it just called to me today and I'll get to the yummy paper projects next!) So off to my stash of JHB buttons and my cut up t-shirt scraps. I was wanting one with stretch.

TIP: I like to keep my buttons in pie tins and as I'm sorting though them I transfer them from one to another. When I'm done I dump them all back into one and slide the empty one underneath the full one.

I cut a loop of t-shirt that fit snugly around my head and then just picked out random buttons and stitched them on. As I went I did gather the fabric a bit at each button. This made it a bit more dimensional. Oooh, me breaking out of my standard rigidness. It was one of my new year's resolutions ya know.
More from the publisher Potter Craft about The Paper Bride:

"The one-stop guide to making a celebration that's all about you with ubiquitous, affordable, recyclable paper! Letterpress artist, designer, and once-bride Esther K. Smith inspires you with one-of-a-kind invitations, albums, guest books, and more. Planning an elaborate event? A simple, sophisticated soiree? Or something wild and wonderful? Customize your wedding with fresh paper ideas from the author of the classic How to Make Books and the ingenious Magic Books & Paper Toys. Learn to make your own exciting, affordable mementos, invitation wraps, pop-up maps, save-the-date postcards, and party décor—projects with maximum impact that require only simple tools and basic skills . New to paper crafts? Start with lined envelopes. Ready for a challenge? Learn to stitch special bindings for your guest book and photo album. There is even a project for the groom-to-be. Just grab the good scissors, choose your paper, and begin! Smith's inventive techniques and no-nonsense wit will inspire you to make your own paper-perfect wedding. About the Author Esther K. Smith owns and operates Purgatory Pie Press in New York City, which is a letterpress printer and creative partnership. The press has exhibited work at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Smith College, as well as at book centers throughout the world."

Cool Wedding Dress Photo and Crafty Blogger links I love

This was a store front in North Hollywood. My friend and I both really liked the black light effect on the wedding dresses.

Mixed Media Artist
Snow painting? Sure...go shovel up a small bucket full and meet Cyndi at her blog!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got how-tos on making a double sided hanger out of a soda tab, burning the edges of silk, a good list of essential oils to add to homemade paints, a gift tote bag tutorial and some really wacky mannequin outfits from CHA!

The Artful Crafter
How to make laminated tasseled bookmarks and personalize them for any occasion. And don't miss Eileen's follow-on tutorial on making your own tassels (should you run out mid-project as she did, lol).

About Family Crafts
Sherri wonders, "What could you create using buttons?"

Aileen's Musings
Aileen has a funtastical mini tutorial on creating a mailable canvas valentine and birthday card!

Cathie Filian
Enter to win Cathie's HUGE 101 Snappy Fashions Giveaway!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy is so excited! She has some new craft books to read, yes!

Cross Stitch at About.com
Stitch up some witty signs for your laundry room using patterns Connie created using help from the About.com Laundry Guide Mary.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Make a romantic ribbon wristlet with The Impatient Crafter for iLoveToCreate.

Paper Flower inspired by one from the beautiful book- Home, Paper, Scissors by Patricia Zapata

I "heart" paper flowers and there is a great project in the book Home, Paper, Scissors: Decorative Paper Accessories for the Home by Patricia Zapata that I used as my guide to make this one:
With Valentine's Day and Spring approaching I am in the mood to make some flowers. I also got a wonderful new tool at CHA and I was itchin' to use it! This is the pretty paper flower I made using a tutorial from Home, Paper, Scissors and my new Paper Quilling Fringer tool from Lake City Craft Company and if you are an avid paper crafter you will want one of these babies.(and a few other tools and supplies!)
So here is how I made my new and recycled paper flower.

I started by cutting a 3/8 inch wide strip of a beautiful multi-colored piece of Kiki Art scrapbook paper. Because I cut the strip like this the center of the flower has a nice gradation.
Then I ran it through the Quilling Fringer tool. How cool is that? It tool all of a few seconds and I had a perfectly fringed strip of paper to make the center of my flower.
Then to make the stem of my flower I recycled a chop stick and wrapped the tip with the fringed strip securing it with some Scotch Adhesive Dot Roller.
Then to cut the petals of the flower I recycled the Sunday comics and ran them through the Sizzix die cutter. I used to have so much fun with the funnies as a kid I am actively going to work with them more. They're fun....and funny!

Then I wrapped the chopstick with some floral tape and put it in a recycled sake bottle.

Bloomin' fun I must say!
More about Home, Paper, Scissors: Decorative Paper Accessories for the Home by Patricia Zapata from Potter Craft:

Product Description

Papercrafts have as strong and loyal a following as ever, and with Home, Paper, Scissors, paper devotees can now create a beautiful collection of projects to accent their homes and to give as gifts.

They’re quick and simple to create—most take just an hour or two to make and involve only simple cutting, folding, and gluing. Yet the outcomes are stunning. Drawing inspiration from the natural world, Zapata incorporates earthy colors and sleek, organic style into projects that will have people asking, "Is that really made from paper?"

Divided into sections on decorating, entertaining, and gifting, the book features pieces ranging from lamps to bowls to keepsake boxes and journals. For anyone who’s striving to live a greener life, most of the more than 30 projects can be made from recycled materials such as brown bags, manila folders, magazines, and even junk mail.

Pick your paper, grab a pair of scissors, and get started folding your way toward a one-of-a-kind home accessory or handmade gift!

About the Author
PATRICIA ZAPATA’s work has been featured on HGTV’s That’s Clever and in Craft magazine. She sells her handmade cards, wall art, and other paper products at her online store, ALittleHut.com. She also blogs on CraftySynergy.com, a site that features interviews with artists and tips on how to run a craft business.