LollyChops

Magic Cheese Box Productions presents... mindless ramblings!

Firstly I gotta shout out a GINORMOUS THANKS to each and every one of you for leaving me so many sweet comments last week (you guys are basically the coolest).  I was really excited to post my video tutorial (finger twinkles and all) and I got so many links and pictures of finished projects (many of you saying you grabbed paper, scissors and tweezers and busted out flowers before I was even finished gabbing!!!)!  I just totally loved the heck out of that!  So thanks again!!  :D

I am working on a video tutorial for a project I shared last year (that heart flower picture thing-a-ma-bob up top there is the 2010 version).  I'll post that finger twinkler video next Monday!  This week I'll be recording my third take of the tutorial (the first take was an hour and 15 minutes long, the second 18 minutes and hopefully this next one will be down to around 10 minutes).  Do you see a trend here?!?!  hehehe...  You can call me ChattyChops-A-Lot.

Mish Mash
So today I have this massive mish mash of stuff to share (the magic cheese box made me do it).  I'll just dive right in and explain things as I go along.

Video Camera Set-Up
Several of you asked how I had my video camera positioned so I thought I would show ya!

RonChops created this stand thingy from microphone boom stand and then he added the head from a tripod to it (so the camera would be securely connected and not crash down on me (it's pretty darn crafty - from a man craft perspective)!

The camera basically hangs right over my work area.  All we have to do is flip the video upside down and POOF...  LC tutorial videos are happenin'!

Shown to the top left is the big ole craft room view with all the crazy lights I have (there are about 5 total and they seem to do the trick since I film around 10 - 11 o'clock at night).  I try to be all artsy fartsy and bounce the lights off the walls and ceiling... I am all about being artsy fartsy whenever possible (snort)!

So for the video table area I Zot a piece of LollyChops paper down using re-positionable Zots so it does not move around on me during filming (which sounds kinda fancy but it's really not).
That also helps me to know what table area I have focused in the camera view so I am not constantly looking up to make sure I am working on screen...  Hello neck cramps, this is Lolly...
(ummm  yeah... I learned my lesson about that on my first try).

Meet OCD Lolly

I document the details from my projects in a little sketch book.

That's not weird is it???

Guys????

Ok so maybe that's just a tad obsessive.
Just a teeny tiny tad.

:)

Some of you have asked me about this so I thought I would share a few pics of my book from some of my recent projects.
That pic up there is the page from the perpetual calendar ScrapyLand project I shared last week.

Sometimes I start from a sketch and sometimes I just wing it (flap flap flap).
I document the list of the products I use (including samples and skews as well as any other details I think I need to remember).
I also document the date and approximately how long it took me to do the project (this includes brainstorming time which sometimes is WAY longer that the project takes to execute).

Disclaimer:  unless you speak, read and write chicken (aka chicken scratch)...  don't even attempt to try to read my scrawl.  It's total chaos.

The last of the year long quilt group... A Notion or Two

MomChops finished off the last of the quilt squares we needed to do for the quilt group I joined
(I should just say she joined it since she did most of the heavy lifting)!

This last one is for the organizer of the whole thing (Dana from Old Red Barn Co).
She sent each person a set of fabric in one particular color.
I got the browns.
I wonder who got the teals.
Lucky ducks.

Catherine from OriginalStitch sent me the following:  Real English tea (loose and of two different kinds), a tea strainer thingy (official English name for it - or so I'm told) and a beautiful handmade bag (which you can see hanging in my craft room off to the right in the pic way way above).
When I did my tea bag carriers two weeks ago, her and I struck up a conversation and she then wrote the most adorable post on proper tea preparation (she then promptly sent me some goodies so I could make the real thing (thanks Catherine!!!)).  You can read her sweet post HERE.

LollyChops Out and About

Dara made a cork wreath after seeing my tutorial on it a while back.
You can read all about her cork wreath making adventures HERE.

Silsine made a mini desk calendar using my calendar templates from a few weeks back.
You can see the video of the entire project she made HERE.

Daniela made some really cute Valentines projects using the rolled flowers tutorial from last week!
(she busted out this cute project and had it up on her blog and theirs in record time)!
You can see her projects HERE on the Elle's Studio blog.
LOVE them!

...Oh and Carrie from DixieMango sent me these lovely vintage canning jars!
They are too nice to put regular old supplies in so I am having the glitter deer watch over them until I can figure out an uber crafty way to display them in my craft room!

...and almost finally...
DogChops is still in love with her Christmas Goose!
(I found them just like this after she was finished playing with her Goose one fine morning)
GooseNaps are the best don't you agree?!?!?

And last to lastly...  I made a couple cards for my latest ScrapyLand DT assignment.

These pics are of bottoms only...  just cause they were the most special parts!
(as bottoms tend to be sometimes right??)

That's all she wrote... BUT...
I have one question for all of you multi-lingual girls!

How do you say "HUGS" in your language?
I have a little HUGS project planned and I need some help in that department!

So far I know "KRAM" means HUGS in Swedish...  but that's about as international as I get.  Lame right?

So please leave me a comment with some international HUGS and I'll share what I have up my sleeves SOON!

Oh and if you have some LC projects or just general crafty projects you would like to share from your blogs or Flickrs, please post a link in the comments so we can all check them out!  Spread the crafty love!

Have a souper week everyone!

More Krams than you can stands!

My first ever video tutorial!!

I am over-the-top excited to share my first video tutorial with you guys (over-the-top excited for me means that there was an awful lot of finger twinkling going on in this puppy)!!!

I did my very best to keep this as short as I could (if you wanna call 14 minutes and 54 seconds short...)... while still trying to give you all of the info and examples you need to make these on your own!

Don your craft snorkel and let's dive right in!

Flower Tutorial from Lolly Chops.

I definitely learned a few things with this tutorial... for one, donuts and coffee before recording makes for excessive witch-like finger twinkles.  Seriously!

Lastly...
Pictured to the left is my  latest Design Team project for ScrapyLand.  Using the QuicKutz months border die, I decided to make a magnetic perpetual calendar.  

I cut out zillions of flowers from Bazzill, Crate and Basic Grey papers (it might be zillions of millions but I lost count).  I used 5 or so different Sizzix flower dies and glued them all together in layers using brads, buttons and bling for the centers.   Once I had the frame made and the months border and numbers cut out - I glued magnets to the back of each piece.

The frame I made has a pocket in the back that holds a piece of paper you can slide out (that's the Hambly wood grain paper in there now) as well as a magnetic sheet made from a vent cover (you can see the magnetic vent covers HERE).  That way when you get tired of the paper you have in there, you can simply change it out (like it's ever possible to get tired of wood grain anything right?!?!?!).

I covered a little match box with some matching paper and hung it from the nail that the whole thing hangs from...  the extra numbers are stored inside!

So what's next Lolly???
I was thinking about creating a video tutorial or two from some of my past projects...  sew... if there is a particular project of mine that you would like to see me make all live and chatty like... please let me know (I can add in extra finger twinkles on request)!

Do you want to see me glue 365 flowers to a styrofoam ball, or perhaps sew a few hundred leaves to the back of a hamie...  smoosh up some smooshy stacks or create a cork wreath?  (or maybe I am just crazy and need to step slowly away from the video camera...hehehe)!!

Let me know what you think and pretty please have a super fabulous week too!

More RUGS than you can stand (with some hugs too)!

Teal tea toters and more tatters too...

I have more tea stuff and tatting to share today but before we jump into that arena of rabid over caffeinated sharks (I am talking about the tea drinkers not the tatterers)... I  want to share a few peeps of my first ever ScrapyLand Design Team project!

Susan (DT boss lady) asked us to create a project with no constraints...  all she asked was that it have a theme of "resolutions"...  So I busted out every single craft supply in my arsenal and 20 hours later I had a cute little mini book that only had one page (totally not kidding...  just one page...  for reals).  I might be a teeny weeny tiny whiny bit overzealous when it comes to these DT assignments (hard to believe right) but I am having so much fun with it I don't mind putting in a little extra lovin' (crafts are the coolest!!!!!).

So there it is.
My first ever mini book (with a mini-mini book inside)!

It's mostly teals...  are you shocked?

Teal...  really Lolly?!?!

NO WAY!

Hello?

Anyone out there?

If you read this blog with any regularity you will know this is my way of indicating the cricket sound
(also known as the cricket cone of silence)
He's cheesey and teal and I am ok with that!

Speaking of cheese...
(this is what we call a mega veer off course)

I have been thinking that we need a cheese ranking system around here.
If I get a tad too cheesy I have decided to rank my cheesiness.

Here is how this will work...

1 cheese =  when writing the post I utter an inside groan (nothing audible)

2 cheeses = eye roll combined with a barely audible groan

3 cheeses = loud groan with thoughts of quitting blogging because I am losing it

(this particular section...
...the creation of the cheese ranking system
...constitutes a 3 cheese ranking)

 
That's a LOT of cheese.
(If I ever rank my cheesiness too low you gotta let me know so I can revise the cheese rank for the post)
You guys cool with that?
heh

Ok now that I have that out of the way...  back to my project!

The spine of the January mini-mini book is made from felt and it's teal too...
...yet another LollyChops shocker...
(seeing as how I am part felt and I actually bleed teal... this makes perfect sense really)

...and that's the back cover.

You can read ALL about my project (what it's supposed to be, how I made it, see more pics, etc... over on the ScrapyLand blog today!  Go check it out HERE!

So let's talk tea (again)...
After I finished up the paper tea bag template last week (you can see that version HERE) I got to thinking that a fabric version was in order (paper is only going to last so long in your purse and evidently a LOT of you guys carry super special secret blends of tea bags around with you).  So I called MomChops Sewing Shop and she came over with her mad sewing skillz Sunday to help me work the template into a fabric version!

We'll roll right into that and then I have a few more small things to share...

Cut out two pieces of fabric using the template I am going to share at the bottom of this post.
Sew the two pieces together (right sides facing each other).
Leave the end open (the end is the left side where the orange squiggles are in the pic)

Clip your corners and trim your edges.

Then right side out the pieces you just sewed together...

...and iron the seams nice and tidy and tuck the ends inside the little pocket you just made.

Your end should look like this.

Sew around most of the edges like this - see next pic to see what I mean by "most of the edges"
(sewing on top of the seam you just created on the right side of the fabric gives your work a nice finished look)

The only way I can tell you where not to sew is to show you...  so here goes.
You gotta fold the right side over to make the little pocket...  so don't sew on the bottom of the fold or on the left inside corner (does that make sense???).

If you sew all the way around the whole thing and then fold it over and sew again...
...that's just not as nice looking in my crafty opinion.

So that's what your tea pocket should look like when done!

Oh and if you goof...  and make a tea bag holder with a left side pocket instead that's ok too!
You can give it to your left handed friends!
(momChops and I goofed and made the second prototype the wrong way...  we always work in muslin first for just this reason!!!)

So now that you have the pocket made you gotta close it right?!?!

You can either use Velcro (which you need to sew on for best results) ...  this is the sticky kind and it's a bear trying to sew the sticky stuff on...  so get some of the non sticky for this closure method)

OR

You can get all crafty fancy pants and sew a button hole and button on.
I personally LOVE this one (MomChops took the orange butterfly and the pink one home with her and I kept the teal one...  yeah yeah I know...  me and teal).  hehehehe!

You can get the fabric version of the tea bag template below!

 

Now that you have your lovely fabric tea bag holder I thought it might be nice to direct you to a lovely post that Catherine from OriginalStitch wrote for the brewing of proper English tea (you can read it HERE)!  She shared this with me last week and I wanted to make sure you guys saw it.  The very night I read this I had 3 whole cups made just the way she described and I have been hooked ever since.  No more tossing the tea bag in cold water in the microwave.  This is my new favorite way to drink tea!  Give it a try!

Oh and if you want to see another totally COOL way to make a fabric tea bag holder go take a look HERE.  Jennifer sent me that link and I think that's another totally awesome tutorial!

I also wanted to share another pic of my Sister's tatting!  She's finishing up her first week of tatting and she sent me and my mom these pics!

She's evidently making a bracelet for that gold circle thing in the picture
(which she tells is is some sort of thread cutter - coolest looking thread cutter ever!!!).

...and this is her other project!
I am so proud of her!
She's totally rocking this tatting thing!!!

So LASTLY...  one more bit of news and I am off!
In about 3- 4 weeks I am going to reach 1 million hits on my blog!  I think that's pretty darn neat and I want to celebrate!!!  I am definitely going to do a giveaway...  I already started making what I am going to give away and you guys are gonna LOVE it (I hope)... 

But... I really wanted to see if you had any other ideas for what I could do to celebrate!  This is exciting stuff right!?!?!?!  I would love to hear your ideas over the next couple of weeks.  I wish we could all get together for a mega party...  would that be COOL or what!!!!  Sigh.  This whole giant planet earth being so big thing is so totally not cool.

I hope you all have a terrific week!  I loves the lot of yas!

 

P.S.S.T.  Guess what comes in the mail today (maybe)?????
MY REPAIRED VIDEO CAMERA!!!  WOO HOO!
I'll be sharing the fabled craft video tutorial next Monday (assuming I don't blow anything up).

O.M.T.  Here is a little sneaky peepy of my NEXT ScrapyLand project!

It's totally FUN!

I cannot wait to show you the whole thing!

More HUGS than you can stand!!!!!

The Mad Tatter's Teabag Template

Sometimes I get so goofy with the titles of these posts I feel all embarrassed for myself.  This is NOT one of those times.  Ok so maybe it is just a wee little bit.

The Mad Tatter
I have a few things to share today.  We'll start with the whole mad tatter reference.  My sister was here last week for a visit and decided that she wanted to learn tatting.  In case you don't know what tatting is you can learn all about it HERE.

Her and my mom went to half price books, they found a couple books on tatting and within 24 hours she was a tatting fool.  You can see some of her very first work below.

...I have now given her the new cuddly nick name of...  The Mad Tatter.
I stink at anything involving yarn or string (other than crochet and even that I am not all that terrific at).  Heck I still have two scarves on my knitting needles that I cannot finish because I have NO IDEA how to cast off!  Since my sister - The Mad Tatter - is over there showing us up by making lace....

...I will now show you much easier crafts that don't make your brain hurt.

Teabag Holder for Gifts-n-Stuff Template
A few months ago I saw a really cool project over on Spoonfull of Sugar (you can see their elegant take on this project HERE).  It was for little tea bag holders that were so precious they made my brain turn pink!  I was completely smitten and stashed it away in my notebook of ideas I need to try someday.  So that day is today!

Once I had the template worked out I decided to create a download and print freebie so you can make them too!  It's at the bottom of this post in the usual spot.

It's Tea Time!

First...  print the template on heavy card stock paper and cut it out.
Crease along the lines that say "fold here"...

There are 3 different ways you can close these up.

You can use this nifty notch and die cutting toll thingy from Basic Grey (you can get one HERE).
It comes with a zillion ideas and 3 different die cutters that you can use with the handle.
It makes doing closures on little tidy packages like this a breeze!

 
Once you have the notch cut it will look something like this.
You run a line of glue in the areas I have colored pink.

Fold the right flap over and glue it down just on the inside of that crease.
It will make a little pocket that looks something like that pic up there.

If you go with the die cut notch when you close the little pocket it will look something like this.

BUT if you don't want to mess with a notch die cut tool...  you can try something easier...

VELCRO!
Yep...  you can get some of that sticky sided Velcro and cut it into small squares.
You just stick the squares on either side and viola...  you have a closed tea bag holder...
My thinking with using Velcro was that you might just make this little tea bag holder so stinkin' cute that the person who receives it will carry their tea bags around in it...
(yeah I know no one carries tea bags around but in my fantasy world filled with handmade things they do)!!!

So if you don't want to mess with die cut tools and Velcro tabs...

You can use glue dots (or Zots - those are what I use).
The receiver will have to rip the package open thus destroying your crazy CUTE packaging.
That's just not something that makes my heart feel special.
I like the idea of them keeping it forever.
Cause you know...
...it's too precious to throw away.

Right?

So see... there is some tea.
You can get two in there but it's a little snug.  If you want to make it to hold more than one tea bag you can make the template longer and give yourself more of a pocket.
I mean who really only carries around one tea bag at a time.
Actually...  who really carries tea bags around?

hmmmmm

Raise your hand if you carry tea bags around!!

Anyone?

Helloooooo?

Dog Chops to the rescue!
She had to work at it but she got her hands up!

Ok so moving on...

My favorite way to seal them up tight is the Velcro method.  It's pretty snazzy and fast and like I said...  folks will now have a cute tea bag carrying case for ever and ever.  Ahem!

 I decided to share a one way you can decorate the holders.  Quick and easy stuff.  Trust Lolly!

First get some chipboard hearts.
I used these HERE.

Trace around them onto paper and cut the shapes out...

Ink the edges of the chipboard hearts before you glue the paper to them...
Let them dry.
Let me rephrase that...

Really really really really let them dry...

...or you will end up with ink ALL over the table, the dogs, your hands, your nose... the list goes on.

Once they are so dry you could feed a cactus with them...

Just glue the paper to them.

Assemble nicely on the tea bag holder you just cut out, folded, scalloped, stamped AND inked...

...and poof...  in as easy as 15 minutes you have a tea bag holder (kidding... it only takes like 13 minutes...  I was rounding up).

You can ALSO use the tried and true patented smooshy stack method to make some nice butterflies or hearts for the fronts!

You can read all about the smooshy stack super top secret assembly at this post HERE.

Since I shared a pic of DogChops I have to share my craft table too...
(it's actually pretty clean all things considered).

OH!!!  ...I need to share the teeny tiniest of pictures of my first Scrapy Land Design Team project!

That's all I can show until it's officially revealed!

I worked on this sucker for about 20 hours!  I officially started on it Friday night at a crop I went to at my favorite store on the whole entire planet (Anthologies) and finished it up late on Saturday evening (more like Sunday morning really).  It was really and truly a labor of love!  I cannot wait to share it with you guys!

So that's all I gots for today!

You can download the template for the tea bag holders below.

I hope everyone is staying warm (it was 17 for the low over the weekend here - that's just plain ole cold)!

I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead (and I will see what I can do about your calendar requests).  The two projects I did this past weekend left no time for more mini calendars!

P.S.  xoxoxoxoxoxo (could you tell that was a Valentines craft???).  Did the excessive amount of hearts give it away???

Chicken fried camera with a side of calendars...

My video tutorial is not going to be shared with you guys today as it's on it's way to California for it's BIG screen debut!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!

The folks at the Canon factory are going to be up to their knees in my swirly flower tutorial in about 4 days!

I am pretty sure that we'll be seeing LOADS more crafts on the Canon site come next Monday!

Wondering what in the heck I am talking about???

Well... something bad happened on Saturday after I was done filming (I cut my tutorial time to 14 minutes... down from the hour long diatribe of the first version).  I was real proud of myself!!!  RonChops and I connected the video camera (the one he got me for Christmas) to his beloved Power Mac desktop...  and well ummmm...  about 5 seconds into it we smelled something.  Not a good something...  a chicken fried camera something.  Only there was no gravy and no mashed potatoes.

We fried the camera (completely) AND (as an added bonus) both of the fire wire ports on his Mac too (yip-e).  We kinda sat there in stunned silence after it happened and spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone with Apple tech support (those guys are amazing!!).  Sadly the camera has to go to California to be fixed (with my crafty flower tutorial still inside) and the apple going to be taken to the place where apples go to be fixed (someplace local).  Talk about deflating the crafty sails!

So instead of a nice video tutorial + calendar combo...  I just have some calendars today.  I changed them up a little from last years version in that I did not do the vellum overlay or a cover (you can see the ones from last year HERE).

If you really really liked the vellum overlay thing let me know and I'll post that next week...  I used vellum for my own personal craft room calendar and I was getting kinda annoyed that the ends were curling on me!  I was thinking I could use brads to nail them down some but I dunno...  those of you who printed them last year and used the vellum will have to let me know what you think.  The photo corners I used to help tack them down kept falling off on me too!

I also created some really teeny tiny versions that you can use in scrapbook layouts and on cards and such. 

Let's get started with the teeny tiny ones first and what you might do with those... and then we'll move on to the big fellas!

I spaced them nicely so you would have room to cut or punch them out.

I really really REALLY love the scrolly border punch from Stampin' Up!
You can get it from this nice gal HERE!
If I could have only one punch in my arsenal it would be this fella.
He's the coolest!!!

I made these little calendars small enough to work with just about any 1.5 inch punch...
So they are pretty easy to work with.

I like to back my punched shapes with a background color and since my favorite punch does not have a one size up shape to go behind it I simply place it on a piece of colored card stock...

...and freehand cut around it.
Easy Cheese!

So for the bigger ones...
I print them all out on 110lb card stock...
Then I cut just inside the dotted border with a paper trimmer...

...and Zuttered them together!
You can read all about the Zutter binding thingy HERE.
If you don't have one that's ok!
You can see how I put these together last year with a simple hole punch at this post HERE!

You can download the teeny tiny calendars below...

...and the whole set of the bigger ones below this (click on the "download and print PDF here" image)...

 

You guys still with me or are ya sound asleep?
I almost feel like I cheated you today...  this is so short and so boring you might actually be getting on your jammies and calling it a day!

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

It looks like the video camera (complete with the tape STILL inside) should be back in about 3 weeks (I hope).  So it's gonna be a while before I have any video tutorials round these parts.  I am pretty bummed about to tell you the truth.  I was really looking forward to this today.  :(

I'll be back next week with something new and fabric-y!

Hope everyone has a great first week of January (can you believe it's 2010...  crazy!!!)!

P.S.  RonChops has been giving me a hard time about these calendars all weekend.  Evidently they do not meet his cool craft seal of approval.  He's rather fond of vellum and has been telling me all day that he thinks I need the vellum overlay thingy...  OH and AND he's totally not fond of the font I used either.  He really likes the handwriting fonts.

If you guys are with RonChops (basically if you want to gang up on me) that's cool.  I'll work up a vellum-y and handwriting font-y version just for you (and RonChops too of course...  I cannot have him harassing me about these calendars all year long...  it's only January for crying out loud!)...  But if you guys think he's crazy (MUHAHAHAHA) that's cool too!  Inquiring minds want to know!

P.S.S.T. xoxoxoxox's

I gots big news, a sharsey and some other random stuff...

Hi everyone!  Whew... I have been so busy in the craft room this past week and a half I have hardly had time to come up for air (breath Lolly... breath!!!!).

Firstly I have to share some news I am pretty darn excited about!  About a month ago I applied for a design team position with ScrapyLand.  ScrapyLand is an on line paper crafts store + blog + message board of fantastic folks and I wanted to be on their first ever design team REAL REAL BAD!  So I tossed my name into the hat and found out earlier this week that I made the cut!  I am one of 4 girls who will be on this dynamic and fun team creating projects on a weekly basis!  I am going to be sharing a lot of what I do as part of my blog here - but I will also be encouraging you guys to go check out what the other SL Girls are also creating!  There is going to be lots of inspiration going on over there!

So guess what...!!!
Video tutorials are on the horizon!!!

My favorite guy in the whole wide world (Sir RonChops-A-Lot) gave me a video camera for Christmas (that guy is the coolest...honest to peanuts).  I have been having a blast trying to figure out the whole video tutorial thing (mostly laughing at myself in the process).

Those little flowers over there are going to be my first tutorial!  I will be doing my 3rd take tomorrow and will post whatever it is in whatever state it's in on Monday!  My first attempt was an hour long (and these things take like 30 seconds to make).  I was talking...  a lot... and I was out of the camera...  a lot.  So I tried again and this time I got it down to 27 minutes!  Sew...  I figure one more take and I should be down to less than 15 minutes!  I mean you think I talk a lot when I write.  har har...  I am Miss Chatty Cathy pants when I get on camera.  Not that any of you should be surprised by this revelation right?!?!?!

Nextly...  Just so you don't think I have been totally craft slacking I am going to share something I never ever share here (and it's stuff you will be seeing intermingled with everything else I am doing from now on)...

Scrapbook pages!

yep...  I scraped this whole week and wanted to share some of my projects.

So here they are (no LC border cause...  well just cause).

Our dearest friends got a new puppy for Christmas so I took some pictures of him and made a little page commemorating his cuteness...

...and guess what you guys...

...guess what they named him!!!

HANK!

Can you believe it!
Of all the names in the whole wide world of sports they named him HANK!
I actually squealed when I found out!  You can read all about Hank the Tree Stump HERE and download the Hank the Tree Stump embroidery pattern HERE.
I loves me some Hank the Tree Stump.

Poor RonChops is still recovering from the squeal cause I was sitting right next to him.
Poor guy.

I also did a page with DogChops and her Christmas Goose.
She's still carrying it around but is starting to leave it in random rooms now.
I think the love affair might be coming to a close...
...but then again...
... her and GooseChops are sitting right next to me so maybe they have rekindled the romance??
I'll keep you posted as this thing develops!

So lastly...  I also made a page commemorating the Christmas Eve snow we got!
Three.
Whole.
Inches.
!!!!!!!!!

I know you yankees are laughing at me over here with my impressive three whole inches... but this is Texas folks.  We never see stuff like round these parts!!!

Ron and I are still talking about it.  I think we sat on the couch the entire day with a fire blazing looking out the window the whole time.  It was pretty magical!  The last of the snow finally cleared up just yesterday (which is also pretty amazing).

So that's all I gots for today!  I will be posting my first ever video tutorial and the 2010 Calendars on Monday!  I hope to see you and your snow shoes round here again next year!

It's been a blast!  Thanks to each and every one of you (again) for joining me for this wild ride-o-crafts!  You all make it way more fun than if I was at this thing alone talking to myself!  I do enough of that in the craft room (just ask RonChops).

From all of us here at the Chops household... have a safe and happy new year you guys!

I loves the lot of yas.  Fur serious.

P.S.  Please let me know what you might want to see more of in 2010.  More paper crafts, more fabric, more sewing, less gabbing (kidding... muhahahahaha), more download and print freebies?  Bring it on!!!!

The Christmas Goose

DogChops is Goose napping after squeaking up a snow storm with her new pal.

Gets lots of rest and have a wonderful weekend everyone!

xoxoxoxoxo + Christmas HUGS!
Lolly & The Chops

Someone please throw those poor little glitter birds a life raft...

This is one of those projects that starts out one way in your mind and quickly morphs into something else entirely.  My intention was to make some lovely little white glitter birds perched on a white painted twig...  (very wintry) and somehow I ended up with multi-colored glitter birds perched on what RonChops has aptly named The Crafty Crocheted Life Raft...

So...  how do we get from one extreme to the other?

Don your snorkel and follow me into the depths of the craft room (I promise not to be as cheesy next year...  ok not really but sometimes the cheese factor gets so deep around these parts that I should start serving virtual crackers).

How it all started...
I found several types of foam birds with feathers in the floral department of Hobby Lobby, Michaels and JoAnns (yeah I actually went to all three places... you can ask poor RonChops...  the man was on the bird tracking mission with me one fine Saturday morning).  A task I am sure he'll never repeat.  Ever again.  Ever.  Amen.

At first I could only find colorful birds and since I wanted a wintry white wonderland of birdiness - all those colorful birds were not going to cut the mustard.

BUT...  JoAnns saved the day and I found some that were all white with clips on their bottoms!

So several types of birds later (and a twig scout of the back yard)...  I had my birds and twigs.

I attached the birds to the unpainted twigs just to make sure they were going to look ok and I was pretty excited by the results!

I first spray painted the twigs with white spray paint.
Once I had a good coat on them I brought them inside and painted one more coat with white acrylic paint.

Then it was time to get the glitter on the birds...

I experimented with the multi-colored birds at first so I could see how the glitter went on them.
I simply painted glitter glue on his little birdy body and then sprinkled white sparkly  glitter all over him.

As I suspected...  you could definitely see everything clear through the glitter....

Soooo...

I painted all of the rest of the multi-colored birds white...
...I was not worried about getting paint on their beaks or eyes because I wanted to paint them black once the glitter festival was over!

Ahhhh....  MUCH better!
(this is with eyes and beaks painted black)

The glitter I used for this bird was different from the first bird....

...and this my friends is the exact moment when the project started to veer off course...
...way off course...
...like call the coast guard and come rescue the glitter birds cause it's about to get crazy off course...

Backstory...Martha came out with these fabulous new glitters this past season that are like little mini sticks of glitter (instead of little glitter squares).

So I had to have some and busted out the 50% off Michaels coupon that came with the December MS Living so I could get a whole glorious set of this ultra fabulous stuff!

BUT...since I was still in experimentation mode...
I decided to try some regular glitter glue on the next bird.

So I squirted a ton of glitter glue on the bird....

...and spread it all around with a paint brush...

...and you could barely see a thing...
...the glitter was just too light...

Sooooo...

...I went completely insane and busted out some of those Martha Stewart glitter sticks and sprinkled them all over him (right on top of the glitter glue)!

...and it was FABULOUS!!!!

Since that was so fabulous I decided to try another of my new Martha Stewart products (the glitter balls)...and...

 

...ummm...
...not so fabulous...

So I applied more glue and more balls and even more glue and more balls...

...and then I ended up with this poor lumpy fella.
RonChops came in to check on my progress and looked at him and said...

"whoa...  what exactly is the bally stuff you have on there anyway...???"

Sew...

I went back to the glitter sticks!
I loves me some glitter sticks!!
(I found out it's not actually called glitter sticks but tinsel-cut glitter)
You can see it HERE.

The name "Tinsel-Cut Glitter" is so elegant and so Martha Stewartesque.

"Glitter Sticks" is straight up LollyChops (insert banjo music here).

These are several of the glitter bird variations drying on my holiday kleenex box that RonChops got me all special (this was when I was in the throws of the sniffles this past month).
The reason I loves it so much is because a) it's teal and b) it's got a snowman on it.
I love teal and snowmen (and RonChops too)!!

So once I finished glittering up my birds with the glitter sticks...

It was time to introduce them to the dogs.

At first DogChops was a little nervous...
...a little trepidations...

CharlotteChops was in mid-sooze and could not be bothered with such things.

When I put them down in front of her she just kinda sniffed at them and then...

Stood back up and licked her chops...
So I had to put them away so we could avoid a doggie stomach pumping ER trip!

Once I had them on the branch...
(notice how I decided to try nearly every color in the MS Glitter Sticks pack...)

...the vision I had of pure white snowy birds on a lovely wintery white branch was thrown by the wayside...

So I had to come up with a plan B (or in my case it's always plan C since I am a Chops...  we always skip over plan B and go straight to plan C... it's just the way things are done).

Thus enters the life raft part of the craft project...
(you knew that was coming right??)

I had these random crocheted strips laying around
(they were leftover from another project that went awry)
(I could actually devote an entire closet to all of my craft project misfits)

So I sewed them around a grapevine wreath...
That's what you would have done too right?
You have all of these birds, teal and green crocheted strips and a wreath...
The logical choice is to combine them.
Right?

Hello?

(enter the cricket cone of silence)

Ok so maybe not.

Anyway... I perched the glitter birds at the top of the crochet strip encrusted wreath...
(these birds had clips on their bottoms so they went on pretty easy)

AND...

Are you ready....

Are you sure you are ready????

TA DA!

It's The Glitter Birds Life Raft!!!

Ahhhh.
Ummmm.

Yeah.

So I actually saw RonChops see this for the first time when he did not know that I could see him looking at it... (I was in stealth mode...nearly invisible really)

...and he had this totally horrified look on his face...

I think it was a mix of "oh man is she really going to leave that hanging up in the living room" combined with a side of "what in the heck is that thing anyway" with a said out-loud exclamation of "that looks like a life raft!!!!"...

Yep... he's right.  It totally does.

So we just about died laughing and then started discussing how I could have done it differently.

Several of his suggestions were as follows:
1) Make the crocheted stripes red and white and slant them so it looks more like a candy cane
2) Leave the birds either one or two colors only (he was not digging the whole multi colored birds thing AT ALL)
3) Maybe go back to the wintry white branch with wintry white birds idea (my favorite)

Moral of the story...  when you get overly excited about your craft supplies stay focused so things don't get too out of hand.  A wintry white vision of birds in snow this is not!

For now I have to leave that thing hanging over the mantel.  It's too funny not to leave up there!

That's it for today folks!  I am sad to say that I did not get the calendars done this past week (boooooo Lolly).

Between working too much and still rocking out with The Sniffles there was just not time.

Those calendars are nearly done so keep your eyeballs peeled for them in the next couple weeks...

Oh and I am going to be kinda sporadically posting between today and January 11 (think of it as a bloggy vacation).  I'll drop in with pictures of what I am working on (like those Christmas cards over there) but no tutorials.  I need to get focused and caught up on all of your comments and email and projects and such over the next three weeks so NO crazy long posts until I get things more organized!

Wrapping it up!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for hanging out with me these past 16 months!!  When I started this blog I had no idea I would meet so many wonderful people and that we would have so many crafty adventures together!

I loves you guys!!!

I hope you all have a safe and wonderful holiday!

P.S.  I can't wait to see what this next year brings can you?!?!?!?!

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program...

I have been fighting some major sniffles for about 3 weeks now and it's finally got the better of me!

I'll be back next Monday with...

The Glitter Birds Project

&

The 2010 Calendars!

Hope everyone has a terrific week!

P.S.  If you're feeling lucky go check out Carrie's birthday giveaway HERE.  Please tell her to send some Dexter wrinkles my way cause I have the sniffles and need some puppy lovin'...

A sneaky gift idea + double chocolate waffle mix

  How do you know when LollyChops is in full out hairy holiday craft scramble mode?

   When she has to start doubling up the projects in a post (and they contain more than 40 pictures each (but not this post so don't be scared)).

When that happens you know something is a rye in this bread basket-o-crafts!!

I always think it's best to start off Mondays with love so I have a little drama to share (so much drama around here these days...  Friday it was my Pioneer Woman cookbook signing cop-out (speaking of...  don't you just LOVE my signed copy!!!).  Thanks again to the complete stranger (Kristy) who I met in line and not only got it signed personalized to ME she also mailed it to me LIGHTNING fast).  I am going to add some extra glitter to my coffee today in her honor! 

So when I came into the craft room Sunday morning there were two new additions to the window sill.

Initially they were just minding their own business.

Each lost in their own thoughts...  until he reached out an antler...

 
Thusly begins "The Glitter Deer Love Story"...  haha...  ok maybe that was only funny to me.

Don't you just love them!  GLITTER DEER!!  I got them at the dollar store Sunday!  I spotted them from across the store and stealthly hurried over (so as not to draw any attention to them dare someone else pick them up before me)!  I am actually hoping that I can soak off all of the glitter and re-apply an even better glitter coat to their deer-y little bodies!  I'll keep you posted on deer progress (har har har)!

So for today's project we have something kinda sneaky and simple...
(and maybe just a little 1970s...I dunno)

You take cans of General Foods International drink mixes...
(with the drink mix still inside and sealed up tight)

...and you decorate them with paper and ribbons and glitter and such...

...and you give them away as gifts.

Totally not even kidding.
Might seem kinda silly but it's CHEAP and they are actually really FUN to make.
Trust Lolly.

I am only going to show you how I put one together...cause I love yas and want to spare your sanity...
...but only for today...

My next post is gonna drive you batty.
Honest to peanuts.

I started with a piece of double sided "My Mind's Eye - Colorful Christmas - Winter Wonderland" paper.
You can get it HERE.

I decided to cut around the stitched lines and use that as the top layer

Hey:  Sorry the pictures are so bad.
It's cloudy and rainy here and I just could not get enough light going on in the craft room.

I ran both pieces through my Xyron and turned them into a gigantic paper sticker (fabulous stuff).

...and then I stuck the whole thing to the side of the drink mix can...

Only I goofed on this one and made it too short...

...so I added another piece of paper to the top of that
(again...using my Xyron to turn it into a giant sticker).

The 12x12 paper is not long enough to go all the way around the can...

...so you have to come up with something decorative to cover that up!!!!

Hello, fun...  this is Lolly calling!

I know. I know.
Maybe it's just me that gets a kick out of needing to make something decorative to cover up holes and such!

So I threw some stickers and tree die cuts on there and POOF...  your open ends are covered up nice (and crafty).

I also added some dingle berry pom-poms on there just to make it kinda cute!
RonChops tells me I should not call them dingle berries...
He says there is a negative connotation there?!?!?!
What do you think?

I decided that I wanted a piece of paper to cover the lid as well...
So I measured the inside of the lid and cut a piece of paper to size...

and...

Used my corner chomper to round the corners...
The 1/2 inch rounded corner fits the lids PERFECTLY!
(I was so excited about it working out like that)

I simply glued the paper to the lid and I was all done!

The paper with the little houses is by American Crafts and it's called MerryMint.
You can get the paper with the larger houses and scenes HERE and the little house strips HERE.
I cut the shapes out and used a matching Bo Bunny spotted paper as the background for the little houses.

To add a little more interest to the sky area of the tin, I cut out little clouds that I had run through my CuttleBug (Swiss Dots folder) and also punched some snowflakes and added Stickles to them.
(If you are not a paper crafter you probably have NO idea what in the heck I am talking about right now...
but if you are you are hopefully sitting there nodding)

I also made up another one using an empty tin that I am going to use for tags.
I did not make this one Christmasy as I want to use it year round.

Oh and I used my new super fabulous white pen!
You can watch a review on white pens HERE.
(I actually got this pen because of this review)

I made a PDF of the instructions to make the drinks, so all you have to do is print them, cut them out and tuck them under the plastic lid!
I also left a space so you can write the flavor at the top!

You can download that PDF HERE.

So about that Double Chocolate Waffle Mix...
I am co-posting again today with Sara from Our Best Bites.  She came up with a gifty jar mix for Double Chocolate Waffles and I came up with a 2.5 inch circle you can punch out or cut out and place on top!

Easy Cheese!

 
You can get the PDF for them below:

Head over to Our Best Bites to get the skinny on making up these mixes to give as gifts!
To use these labels you will want to either use a 2.5 inch circle punch or just simply cut them out!

So that's all I gots for today!

I'll be back later this week Monday with another SIMPLE holiday craft project...
(just a hint...glitter birds!!!!!)

Holiday HUGS!

 

P.S.S.T.  Thanks so much for all the emails and comments you guys have been bestowing upon me lately!  I am reading every single word but cannot always write you back!  I am working on that but it's real hard.  Know that I read and cherish everything you take the time to send to me/say to me!  You guys have me laughing DAILY!

O.M.T.  I added a way to sign up for email notifications up there on the top right side (in case you don't use RSS readers).  I have been asked to add this feature for a long time and I finally got around to it!!

I loves yas.  For serious.
xoxoxoxoxo's