I do love action shots

I posted the things that I received in the photographer swap I was in, but they do not compare to the wonderful action shots that my partner posted of the things she received from me! I have to share my favorite picture of my favorite item that I sent to her.

This hat was knit using a raspberry colored yarn in a very basic beanie pattern. I used yarn overs to create the gaps through which I threaded the contrasting grey ribbon. Then I made a pin, using a pin-back, a paper clip, and some beads with letters to spell the word "exposure". My boyfriend didn't quite get why I chose exposure as the word for this pin, but I thought it had a good double meaning myself!

Thanks to Jac for modeling the item and doing a much better job at it than I would ever have imagined!

A little bit punk rock, a little bit funky...

I was just a swap "angel" for the first time on Craftster.org. This means that someone was flaked on during a craft swap and an angel is required to fill in so they still receive a swap item.

I was an angel for a girl who had not only been flaked on by her original swap partner, but had also been flaked on by her first angel! Several of us ended up feeling so bad that we decided to take it upon ourselves to each send her something so that she ended up with more items than she would have received in the first place!

As the swap was a writer based swap, I decided to use this as an opportunity to try something new and make a journal from scratch. She mentioned that she likes black with contrast colors, gerbera daisies and punk. I think this fits into each of these categories!!

Here's a brief description of how I made this:

I took standard paper and cut a stack to size with a guillotine. I then took two pieces of cardstock and cut them to be slightly larger than the paper. Using a single hole punch, I evenly marked where holes would go down the one side of paper and also on the cardstock to match. Using a thin piece of ribbon, I weaved it through the holes tightly, tying in a secure knot at one end for accent. I then found a drawing of a gerbera daisy and using digital editing, altered the color curves to create 4 accent flowers. I then cut these out and collaged them on the front cover...VOILA!

It really was that simple and I love the result. I definitely plan on making more of these - especially as they are so easy to customize.