WOW, I AM SO HONORED!!!!!!

I entered a project to be featured on the Cricut Instructional DVD that Above Rubies Studio is making. Megan contacted me today to say that she just loves my project & that it will definitely be featured on the DVD. Click on either link above in this post to see how your projects can be featured too. But hurry, the contest ends on November 25, 2009.

Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Christmas Ornaments

I made 10 of these ornaments for Christmas presents this year. I can see myself making many more in different designs. I had so much fun with these, I just want to keep going.

For the base I used wooden blocks that rubber stamps had been unmounted from. Thanks Kelly Scott from the Cricut MB for all of the blocks that yo did not want. Anyone else that wants to get rid of any of them, please let me know!!

I painted the blocks with acrylic paint. I screwed in the eye screws to the top of the block.
The front & back panels were cut from the Stretch Your Imagination Cart. I inked the light blue paper with white pigment ink to soften it a bit.
The snowmen were cut from the Doodle Charms Cart in blackout. I gave the snowmen a little dimension by edging them with light blue and white chalk. I attached the carrot noses. Using a Versamark pad, UTEE, and my heat gun I embossed the snowmen. This gave them a glass-like appearance. I then bent them to make them look like cracked ice. After all of this was set, I used black Liquid Embossing to dot on the eyes and buttons. The Liquid Embossing is shiny and raised giving even more dimension. I attached a ribbon "scarf" around each of the snowmen's necks. Thanks Tracy (Craft Junkie Too) for that idea.
I lightly painted Mod Podge onto the face of the block and the back of the blue panel & attached. When all of them were set, I added another light coat of Mod Podge and to the back of the snowmen and attached.

The 2009 is cut from the Alphalicious Cart. I used CDS to weld the numbers together. I attached the 2009 to the panel. Then used the same process as above to attach the panels to the blocks.

I then just tied a ribbon bow the the top of the block around the eye screw. I added a little drop of Glossy dimensions under the knot of the bow to make sure it stayed in place. (I am not the best decorative bow tying person .- LOL)

Here is a closer up view of the snowmen to show the crackled ice look. Not sure if it is showing up to good though.

And this is a close up of the back side. After the last layer of Mod Podge dried, I added some dots on the 2009 with a blue glitter pen. Again not sure if this is showing up to good in the pic.

Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Blog Candy from Crafty Chatter

Crafty Chatter is giving away a Surprise Blog Candy. It will have be at least $100 in value, but you just don't know exactly what you will get. They do give hints as to what will be in the box, but you don't know colors or quantity of the items.

The blog candy will end when they reach 100 followers or November 22nd, whichever comes first. So go over & enter the contest.
Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Fleur-di-lis Pins/Necklaces

Well, we live in the New Orleans area. So right now, everyone is having Black & Gold Fever. Go Saints 7-0!!!!! My daughter's school was having a Black & Gold Day yesterday before the Saints vs. Falcons game. Her teacher is a huge Saints fan & already gives not HW on Monday if the Saints win. So this week it is Tuesday, Woo Hoo!!

But anyway, I made these pins for my daughter's class & her teacher. Not sure if the boys (3rd grade) would wear the pins, I added yard so they would have a choice to wear them around their neck.

I sized the fleur-di-lis in CDS. The larger one was 4x4 and the smaller one was 3x3. They are cut out of Shrinky Dink shrink plastic. I cut them using my Cricut w/ the deep cut blade set on 6 & on multi cut 4 (twice) and I still had to finish cutting them out with an exacto knife.

After they were cut out, I placed them in the oven to shrink (follow package instructions). I used acrylic paint to color them. The gold paint that I got was metallic & actually looked better on the wrong side of the piece, so that's how I put them together. I used E-6000 glue (recommended) to adhere the fleur-di-lis together and to attach the pin to the back.

The teacher & all of the kids really loved them.
Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Christmas Rectangular Album

Again the inspiration for this album came from Angie's video for her Rectangular Coaster Album. Instead of using coasters I used 140 lb. watercolor paper & cut everything on my Cricut.

Front:

Front Inside (4 sides):

Back Inside (2 sides): Oops - I forgot some of my doodling on the sides of these pages. I will have to fix that later.

Back:

Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Paper Flowers

Update: After I posted this, I noticed that they have a New Video for Donna's Layered Flowers. I could not go without adding it to this post. It is wonderful and Donna is so excited about them.

I just love these flowers. The inspiration came from This Video from Leah's Scrapbook Room Videos. I call them Donna's Flowers. I just love her style. She makes hers from old dictionary pages and the Accucut Die System. I used an old phone book and cut a 6 inch scallop circle with my Cricut, then just basically followed her instruction. I don't have glimmer mist or anything like that. So I just ran a pigment ink pad over my crumpled flower until it looked the way I wanted it to. Then I just lightly spritzed it with water to make it a little more pliable.
This is a single layer flower with an embellishment (adhesive backed) from a pack that I found at the Dollar Tree.

I sprayed them with Krylon Preserve It, just to help them keep. I also brushed them with some Mod Podge. This gave them a little shine & gave them a little more stability.


The next one is a double layered flower with a button in the center. I used it to embellish a sticky note holder that I made (see previous post).
Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Sticky Note Holders

I made Sticky Note Holders in several different styles. The inspiration for all of theses came from Angie & her Chic'n Scratch Live Videos.

These first 2 holders are an adaptation from the Pocket Card. I just didn't put pockets on the inside, I added sticky notes. The cardstock measurements & score line measurements are just altered to fit the sticky noted.
1st one:
Mini Monograms Cart for scallops & circle
MS Doily Border Punch
Studio G December Stamp Set
Velcro for closure
ATG

2nd one:
Mini Monograms Cart for circle & scallop
Ribbon for decoration & closure
CAD to punch holes for ribbon
Stamp- ?
ATG & Pop Dots

I got the inspiration for this one from This Video of Angie's.
Crimper Book Style:
Fiskar's Crimper
Ribbon
ATG
Mini Monograms Cart for circle & scallop
Glossy Accents
Prima flower
Making Memories Bronze Snap
CAD to attach snap

I think this one is my most favorite of all. The inspiration for this one came from This Video of Angie's.
Coaster & Binder Clip Style:
4x4 140 lb. Watercolor Paper (chipboard or coaster work well too)
4x4 Patterned cardstock for both sides.
A small piece of matching cardstock to fit on the binder clip
Ribbon
Mod Podge to cover each side after printed cardstock is attached. I also put some on the edges. I think it helps to seal it a little better.
ATG

The back side. This sticky note holder can be used either way depending on the user's mood. Also the sticky notes are not stuck down, so no damage when they are finished. Just add a new pad of sticky notes.
Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Paper Bows

I made these paper bows using Tammy's Video Tutorial on the Christmas With The Cricut Blog. At the end of the tutorial for the Explosion Box there is a video on how to make these bows. Thanks so much Tammy. These were so much fun & easy to make.

This was my first bow. I made this just out of cheap plain cardstock (not knowing if this would be a successful attempt). I was very pleased with how it turned out so I added some dots of clear opalescence glitter glue to the bow.

This was the 2nd bow. I made this with some double sided Christmas cardstock. I wanted to try something a little different with this one though (narrower strips). I think I like the original one better, but the narrower strips might work better if you make a smaller bow (shorter strips).

Overall I am happy with them & will definitely be making many more for all occasions.
Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Don't Forget: Blog Candy!!

Above Rubies Studio is giving away some great prizes from Oct 15 through Oct. 30. Megan will be drawing names for each day on Oct. 31. Go there to check it out.

Enfys is also giving away some great things that we might not otherwise ever get to try. Go to Going Buggy to see how to enter & what a great idea this is. She is drawing for these awesome things on Nov. 9.

Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Enfys Is Offering Great Blog Candy

Click the title of this post to see how you can have a chance at it. She is doing something that I have not seen before. If you live in the US or Canada you have a chance to get some great UK items. If you are from the UK, you have a chance to get some wonderful US items.

Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Inchie Swaps: Due Jan 15, Jan, 30, & Feb. 15 2010

For those of you that may need a reminder as to what inchies are: They are 1 inch shapes uses as a base. They can be any shape as long as they are 1"x 1". There are also Twinchies 2"x 2" & and Trinchies 3"x 3". These were all made for swaps hosted by KellyScott on the Cricut MB. You can see more of my inchies, twinchies, & trinchies by clicking on those words.

Birthday Theme Swap:
Details: Base was cut from George & Basic Shapes Cart. Present was the icon from the Wild Cards Cart. I added a dot of opal glitter glue at the center of the bow (doesn't show well in pic).

Kid Theme Swap:
Details: Base was cut from the George & Basic Shapes Cart. Bug was cut from the Doodlecharms Cart. I used pop dots to add dimension to the back of the bug.

School Theme Swap:
Details: Base was cut from the George & Basic Shapes Cart. Stamp is Studio G $1 stamps from the September set. I also edges around the base with brown pigment ink for a little distressed look.
Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Halloween Party Favors

These are the Halloween Party Favors that I made for my daughter's class. I covered toilet paper rolls with either orange or black cardstock. The I attached the Paper Doll Witches & Frankensteins to them. I cut out circles and attached them to the bottoms of the rolls with Zip Dry Glue (This stuff made an excellent bottom - holds great even when filled.)

I filled them with Skittles, Starbursts, Halloween Kaleidoscopes, Halloween Pencils, and Halloween Bookmarks.

Details:
Dolls are all Paper Doll Dress Up Cart.
Faces are Peachy Keen Stamps & hand doodled.
I used markers & gel pens to hand embellish the dolls & clothing.
Bookmarks: Base is from the Tags Bags Boxes & More Cart. The stacked pumpkins are from the Stretch Your Imagination Cart. I cut off the feet, arms, & scarf.
Tag is from the Plantin Schoolbook Cart. "BOO" is stamped from a Martha Stewart Halloween stamp set that I got on clearance at M's last year. I also edged with a black stamp pad

Standing & wrapped in Cello bags.

Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Purse Shaped Giftcard Holder (Pocket Card Holder)

Well here is the pic of the purse shaped giftcard holder that I mentioned in my last post. You can check out my previous post HERE, I have a link to where I found the directions for these. The only thing I did different on this one is that I cut the sides at angles & punched holes in the top to add the ribbon strap. This one also only has 1 pocket. I added the message on the inside of the flap.

For the embellishment, I used an inchie from one of the swaps I was in. Kelly Scott (from the Cricut MB) made the inchie which is the flower on the white 1 inch square base. I layered that on a 1 1/2 inch base & then layered that onto a 2 inch base. I added pop dots below the embellishment to close the top & be able to open it.

I used the Threading Water border punch for the ebge of the top flap. The paper (I think) is from a Nana's Kid's stack.
Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Above Rubies Studio

Click the title (or the badge in the left column of my blog) to check out this great new site. Megan has great tips and info for Cricut, Gypsy, SCAL, PRIZES and more!!! She also has videos. And we all know we ALL just love videos.

PS: Also check out It's Spectacular. They are the sposor for Megan's Day 1 give away. Keep checking Above Rubies Studio all week for great prizes. The drawings will be held on 10/31/09.
Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori

Crafting Status

Well, I still don't have anything to show yet. But, I did start getting a little of my crafting fever back again slowly. I had a 40th b-day party to go to so I made a gift box & tag card for the present (no pics - oops!). I also made a giftcard holder (purse shaped) for my niece (pic soon). I also have started on my daughter's Halloween class favors. This is getting me back into things. I am having fun again figuring out what I am going to do with them. I'm not rushing myself & I'm having fun. As soon as I get them made I will be posting the pics of them too. I'm still not getting any inventory to keep on hand done. I also think I am just burnt out on doing cards & such. I think projects will get me back into the swing of things. I will probably do something for Thanksgiving then start on Christmas. Hopefully after that I will be back to my normal Craft Obsessed self. Wish me luck.
Thanks for looking. Questions & comments are always welcomed.
Lori
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