Book Review- "Paper Crafting with Carol Duvall"

I get a lot of inspiration for my projects from blogs, galleries, and magazines, but I very rarely look at books for inspiration.  The last time I was at the library, I took a minute to head to the paper crafts section (745.54) to see what was there.  I found this book: Paper Crafting with Carol Duvall. 

I've never watched Carol Duvall on TV and don't know anything about her.  I wasn't very optimistic about the book- it looked a little dated.  I wondered if there would be anything in there that was unique or inspirational enough for me to check it out.  I quickly thumbed through the book.  There were some projects that were more appropriate for beginners and some that simply weren't my taste, but I found quite a few projects that looked interesting.  I checked out the book.

Once I got home, I marked the projects I wanted to try.  As you can see, there were many.

I really like the way this book is set up.  Projects are divided into five chapters: Creative Cards, Just Because, Paper Plus, Show-Offs, and From the Shoe Box.  Each project has a supply list and big beautiful pictures that show the step-by-step procedure.  The tone is conversational and there are a lot of helpful hints along the way.  The projects are suitable for a variety of skill levels.

Today I'm going to share two projects from the Paper Plus section.  The first is a Refrigerator Puzzle.  I've seen these before.  Every time I do, I mean to make one.  And then I forget.  But this time I actually did!  I dug through my box of unscrapped photos and found an 8x10 group shot from Trevor's 2nd birthday.  I trimmed it down a bit, then cut the pieces into squares and attached magnets.  It was very quick and easy and was a hit with my family.  I'm glad I finally made one.

The next project was inspired by Carol's Note Card Coasters.  While I was digging out the photo from Trevor's 2nd birthday, I came upon a stack of pictures Steve took when we went to the Chihuly exhibit at the deYoung Museum.  I'd set them aside to use for notecards and forgot about them.  (Are you seeing a trend?)  As I started to gather the supplies to make the Note Card Coasters, I came upon this coaster kit that I received years ago.

I decided to use the kit instead of making the cork-based coasters from the book.  Here are the coasters I made using Steve's photographs:

Today is Steve's birthday.  He'll be opening these soon.  (Hopefully before he reads this post.)  Happy birthday Steve!  I love you!

I've done two other projects from the book so far, which I will share next week.  Overall, I am very happy with this book and would definitely recommend it.