Tutorial: White Space Layout

whats essential

White space is also known as negative space, and is that part of a layout that isn’t “filled up” with elements. It doesn’t need to be white, just empty, but I chose to use white card stock for my background. White space is an effective design element because it allows the eyes to rest, and also helps to emphasize the elements that are there, thus pulling the viewer in.
You will need:

1 photo
12×12 Card stock
Patterned paper
felt or other trim
acrylic paint in two colours
journaling stamp
Phrase stamp
decorative stamp
circle label
letter stickers (small and large)
decorative border punch or scissors
Bubble wrap

1. Paint a roughly square shape in the center of the card stock. This doesn’t have to be precise, simple swipe the brush several times across the card stock

2. Brush some of the second colour of paint across a piece of bubble wrap and press into the top left and bottom right corners of the painted square

3. Stick photo approximately in center of painted area

4. Cut a strip of patterned paper about 1.5″ wide by 7″ long and tear a bit off each end. Use the punch or scissors to make a border along one long side. Add to left, slightly on top of photo

5. Stamp journaling spot to bottom left of photo, slightly on top of the paper strip

6. Add felt trim and circle label as shown

7. Add title with letter stickers

8. Stamp phrase stamp below title, overlapping journaling spot

9. Use decorative stamp to make a photo corner above the top right edge of photo

10. Add journaling and voila!

Note: This tutorial was originally posted on my tutorial blog Tuesday To-Do

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When I knit socks (which sadly I have not done in a while; need to get a new pair on the needles soon!) I generally stick to pretty simple designs and colorwork that isn’t all that detailed.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a fancy sock, I’m also just pretty lazy and I figure a project worked on size 0 or 1 US needles is going to take a long time even without the added work of intricate colorwork, so why make it more complicated?

But there are definitely socks out there I’d be willing to make an exception for, and I think Tangled Bliss by Annette Schleicher may just be one of them.

If you can’t tell from looking, this is decidedly an advanced knitting pattern. There’s brioche for the cuffs, complex looking colorwork done with the ladderback jacquard technique, multiple charts, and colors changing everywhere.

There are links to tutorials for all the special skills in the pattern, but still it would help to have a handle on these concepts before you get started.

The pattern uses three colors of light fingering weight yarn at a whopping 31 stitches per 4 inches/10 cm (that’s 7.75 stitches per inch/2.5 cm).

Would you believe me if I told you that this pattern was designed for a speed knitting contest? Speed would be the last thing on my mind.

But again, I think all the work for these fancy socks would be worth it. I love hoe the colorwork looks like an old tile floor, and think of the bragging rights when you tell people you made them yourself. (Though of course you did; have you ever seen store-bought socks that look anything like this?)

Best of all, this pattern is available for free on Ravelry, so there’s no reason not to give it a try if you’ve got the skills. If you do, I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Annette Schleicher]

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