LollyChops

Ramblings from the Peanut Gallery

Hi everyone!  I have a lot of random stuff to share today...  not a particular project per se...  mostly bits and bobs from lots of different things... 

The weekend recap...
MomChops and I met up with my friend Crystal Saturday morning and we had breakfast and then did a little skirt fitting (MomChops is making Crystal two wrap skirts). 

Once we were done, I taught Crystal how to make jewelry!  She walked out of the LC craft room with a bracelet and earrings (I am kicking myself for not taking pics...  I'll have to ask her to bring them next time so I can get a pic to share)!

The LollyChops Salon for Dogs...
...is officially closed down for the summer!  DogChops had her 4th and final haircut Saturday evening.  When I was done RonChops spied the trimmers and made a comment about potentially starting to "bark" the next time he cuts his hair (I used his hair trimmer to cut her hair).  Poor RonChops...  the trimmers are tad on the furry side now...  even after a deep cleaning.  I just could not get it all out of there!!

Donna Downey Design Team!!!
I delivered my first DT project to Donna Downey Sunday evening.

That teal heat is just a little peep of the project.  As soon as it's posted, I'll let you guys know so you can check it out!

The whole project might have been done entirely in teal...  but I can't really say (hello teal, Lolly loves you).

Teal is such a versatile color, don't you think???

I used one of Donna's new stamps + paper, fabric, vellum and metallic Zing embossing powder to make that little fella...  I really love it and can't wait to share the finished project with you guys!

Scrapper's Boutique Class!!!
MomChops and I are busy getting ready for my first class (the owl bag)!  If you would like the details, please email me!

She made 8 craft aprons from scratch (all lined in a different color)!!!  Each person in the class will have an apron to wear to help them a) look super cute and b) protect their clothes.

I expect there to be a riot over who gets to wear the teal apron!  We might have to draw straws!!!

Sew...
We could not possibly leave those aprons plain now could we?!?!?!?!

HECK NO LOLLY!
(you know that's what you were thinking deep down in your crafty teal lovin little hearts)

...so me and MomChops are are decorating the fronts of each one!

Here is a little peep of what they are going to look like!!!

We are making these flowers HERE.
...and using this stamp from Donna Downey HERE.
(just a note...)
(MomChops had already purchased this stamp way before I was asked to join Donna's DT)
(we had the design for this planned weeks and weeks ago)
(honest to peanuts)

Best Friends Forever...
Thanks for ALL of your tips and suggestions last week on how I could "fix" my friends sign!

Here are the results!

Since the letters were basically glued down to the board I could not get them off without doing serious damage to the piece...
I sorta kinda tried and almost had a little mini craft heart attack when things started ripping!!!

So I tried the "paint them brown or black" suggestion and decided that was a tad too dark...

I don't have any pics cause I am dorky like that!
(but you guys like that about me... right?????)

Nextly...  I tried another suggestion (one I had tried and thrown out earlier)!

Glossy Accents!!!

Here they are nice and puffy and shiny (and drying)...

I really loves them... can you guess why?

a) because this means the letters are still teal

b) teal makes everything better (especially crafts and especially letters)

c) all of the above

d) just because

If you guessed "C" and "D" you win a shopping spree in Lolly's craft room!!!

Nextly...

I had to work on the fence...

I got one of those foam wedge thingy's...
...then dunked and dabbed it in my ColorBox chalk ink... (in creamy brown)...

...and made fence-ish lines...

I think it looks ok....

PigChops however is thinking to himself...

"...boy am I glad I am not inside THAT fence... it looks so much stronger now!!!"

"whew"

"hey LambChops...  what's for dinner??"

hmmmm...

Lastly...
I wanted to share more LollyChops inspired projects that you guys have sent me recently!

Gladys from My Paper Crafting made this awesome card after watching the rolled flower tutorial found HERE!
I really really loves it to pieces!
I am so totally gonna do something like this!

Adrian made the flowers from this post HERE
(like the ones on the aprons above)
..and used them as pretty napkin holders for a party she hosted...

She said that as the party wore on the girls took the flowers and wore them on their wrists, necks and ankles!

They were evidently a HUGE hit!

Gabi from Hobbies and More (and all the way from Germany too!!!)...made this killer wreath using those same fabric flowers from above and fabric strip flowers (both found HERE) plus some wrapped wire flowers found on this post HERE and rolled flowers (found HERE) AND a smooshy stack butterfly too (found HERE)!!!!

She's caught the LollyChops bug in a bad way...

Someone throw Gabi a glitter birds life raft!

She's gonna need saving!

Emily from Little Leaf Designs made this little felt flower brooch.
(hello...  I LOVE IT!!!)!!!
You can see the tutorial for the brooch HERE and the tutorial for the butterfly HERE!!!

Fiorella (all the way from Italy) was inspired do a little fancy pants crochet on the page!
She's got some super neat borders going on there don't you think?!?!?!
You can see the crochet on the page tutorial HERE!

Karen added MomChops little crochet butterfly to her stunning embroidery piece!!!
You can see the butterfly tutorial and pattern HERE.

Christina made up a mess for crochet roses (tutorial HERE)!!!!
(don't you love that crochet basket bottom...  LOVE that)!!!

...and lastly!!!!

Lousie from The Sleepy Badger Crafts made herself a Wendy the Bird and Abraham Owl
(to keep Mr. Snuffles the Crochet Badger company)
You can see the tutorial for Wendy HERE and Abraham HERE!

Thanks for sharing your crafts with me you guys!  Stuff like this warms my heart BIG TIME!  If you sent me something and it's not posted here, pretty please send it again!  My inbox is in bad shape these days!

Thus ends the ramblings from the LollyChops Peanut Gallery...

I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Remember...  HUGS not THUGS!

P.S.  I'll be back next Monday with the last of the cards and gifts I have received for Crystal!  She's done with chemo and is starting radiation next week (and is doing rather well)!  I received over THREE HUNDRED cards for her (thanks to all of you)!!!  I'll share pics from her cube soon (you can barely see her desk now and the walls are positively covered)!!!!

P.S.S.T.  RonChops is still super busy and has not had time to work on the video!  I'll have to bribe him with BBQ next...

O.M.T.  I have been asked to join The Color Room design team!  Each week a new sketch and color combo is posted and you create something based on those colors!  I won't be doing scrapbook pages...  but altered stuff (go check it out and join in the fun... it's open to everyone)!

Old McLolly had a farm... eieio!

Ahoy, Maties!!
I had the best birthday weekend ever!  My sister came to town on Friday evening and we went out to dinner (one of the Jonas Brothers was a table over from us with a bodyguard and a date...  it was almost as exciting as my birthday).  Ha!

I got to hang out with RonChops ALL DAY Saturday (something we have not done much of lately because of our respective jobs)...  when we woke up on birthday morning he hugged me and whispered "happy birthday" right off the bat (he knows I gobble that kind of thing up)!!!

Then Sunday we had a swim party at our house with my parents and sister...  BBQ and yummy cake for dessert!  It was FABULOUS!  Somehow in the middle of ALL that I managed to work up a project to share today!  I am pretty excited about it!

Enough with the chitter chatter Lolly old pants...  get on with it already!
I saw a zinc wall art circle thingy last week on Making it Lovely that I just about fell in love with (on-the-spot).  You can see it in this post HERE.  It's really a modern art piece but I was inspired to do something else...  entirely different!

Barnyard Circle Wall Art Thingy

The base for this project is an old particle board table top!
(if you are old like me... you might remember these from the late 80's)

These tables had 3 legs and were normally covered with a nice frilly ruffle table cloth / skirt thing.
It was a bear to adjust the skirt cause it got caught on the particle board edges...
(is it coming back to you yet???)

Oh how I miss those times!

**snort**

Well the 80's are over so it's time to get that fella out of the attic get crafty with it!

I unscrewed and removed the leg holder things and nailed a little picture hanger to the back...
(my grandpa gave me that little hammer and I love it to pieces!!!!)

I sprayed that fancy table top with Killz in a can!
(it's the most amazing stuff EVER!!!)!!!

One coat and I was ready to go!!!

I used October Afternoon papers (all different collections)!

Then I cut out a few circles...
(for all the newbies out there... when Lolly says a few...  she really means a few hundred)

So in reality it was something like...

19 different papers in (forgive me) 6 different sizes (remember that I love you all)...
...with roughly 8 of each size (schmooch).

I am not good at math...  but trust me...  that's a LOT of circles!

You guys are still with me right?????

Guys?????

This is where I usually loose everyone...

Before I started my circle cutting extravaganza...

I did a little prototype to make sure it was gonna look like I had envisioned it.

It looked ok so I forged ahead and then started cutting out 367 (thousand) circles.

I glued the biggest circles (2.5 inchers) down to the table top with a wet glue.
I wanted to make sure they were gonna stay on there good!

Once I had all of the larger circles covering the base...
(don't worry about the gaps cause you are gonna cover them all up!)

I started using 3 dimensional adhesives to lay the other circles over the top...
(I used all different brands...  pop dots, zots, MS pop dots, American Crafts pop dots...)
(I used TONS of the stuff...  tons I tell ya)!

I just keep on truckin' and layering circles...

Once you have exhausted your entire supply of 3 dimensional adhesives...
...and part of your Moms supply as well...


You will have something that looks like this...
(only not as over exposed as mine is I hope)

I was honestly gonna stop here...

But RonChops (the official chief craft inspector) took one look at it and thought that it looked kinda plain...

He actually said (this is a direct quote here folks)...
"So what are you gonna put on top of it... it looks kinda plain..."

PLAIN ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?
(6,423 circles and 7,426 pop dots and the man thinks it looks PLAIN????)

(I hate it when he's right!)

So I decided to add something else to it...

Thus enters the animals part of the project...

October Afternoon has a piece of paper in one of their collections that's covered in animals.
It's from their "Farm Fresh" line and it's called "Farmyard"
(fitting... right???)

I decided to replicate those animals in Adobe Illustrator and then turn them into .svg files I could cut with my Cricut and SCAL!
(and I am gonna share all the files I made with you towards the bottom so hang tight)

Soooo....  here we go...

We have Mr. ChickenChops...
He has a chicken body, chicken legs, chicken eyes, a chicken beak and a chicken wing!
(all separate .svg files)

All chicken.  All the time.

bock...  bock... bock!

Then I made a sheep... Ole SheepChops...
(aka LambChops)

Only once I cut him out he was rather plain and unsheepified...

So I cut cotton balls in half (cut side facing up) and glued them to his little sheepy body.

I think he looks rather sheepish now don't you???

Here we have PigChops...
...and for his little PigChops hooves...
I made "straps" with white pieces of paper and glued them to the feet and legs...

...soooo...

You have perfect little pigs feet!

I also sprayed his little piggy body with some Shimmerz Spritz in the color "Bed of Roses"...
I think that gave him some pigtastic depth... don't you?!?!?!

Nextly...

I painted chipboard letters with....

TEAL!!!!

Whew...  a project just isn't a project without the tangy zip of teal right???
(or is that miracle whip...)

I also made a little fence too!
(the .svg files for the fence are at the bottom as well)

...I inked the edges and stuck the pickets together with green brads!

Then I stuck the fence to the board and started arranging animals and letters...

With an oink oink here and an oink oink there...
...here an oink there an oink everywhere an oink oink!!!

I cut off the edges of the fence and kinda rounded them in the shape of the board...

Then I played around with arranging animals and letters again...
(I kinda liked "friends" down there but the animals were hanging off the bottom too much)

EIEIO!

I did not like how the letters blended with the board so I tried some different finishes...
(clockwise from left...  MS glitter bead ball things, diamond dust and diamond glaze)

I still can't decide which I like best so the letters are still plain for now!
(and teal... which is utterly fabulous of course!!!)

Here is a close-up of the top...

...and a close-up of the bottom!

...and a pic with my now standard brick back drop...
I dunno about the letters for "friends"
I think they blend too much?!?!?!

UPDATE:
I am thinking about changing the letters to black and making the fence posts darker...
...once I saw these pics I realized there was just not enough contrast!!!!
What do you guys think????
I am torn and don't know what to do!!!!
(calgon...  take me away!)

ACK!!

...and in case you have a Circut and SCAL you can cut the animals out yourself...
(just a heads up... this is a .zip file with all of the animal pieces grouped by color and placed in individual .svg files )

...or you can just print the files, cut them out and trace them onto any paper you like!

I looooove October Afternoon and these papers were a blast to work with!
I think this little project would look awesome in a kids room don't you???

That's all folks!  I hope you enjoyed today's project!

I'll be back next week with who knows what...???
(hopefully a Sizzix video...  poor RonChops has been working a LOT lately so he's had no time to do the editing for us)!

More HUGS than you can stand!!!

P.S.  I am waaaaay behind on comments and email!  I hope to be able to ketchup this week!  Pretty please bear with me!

P.S.S.T.  My owl bag class has been scheduled! You can choose between purple or teal!

It's going to be at 10:30 am on Saturday, July 10 at Scrapper's Boutique, North Richland Hills, TX (817-503-0777)!
(I posted the wrong date on my FB!!!)

I hope to see you there!

I will also have owl bag kits for sale as well!  I'll post the details as soon as they are available.

Last thing I swears... I have been asked to join Donna Downey's design team!!!!!!  I'll share more on that later!  WOO HOOT!

Some things are not meant to be...

I am beginning to think that my video camera has it out for me (and it's teamed up with my computer now). 

RonChops and I worked all day Sunday on my Sizzix demo video... only to have the computer crash and basically delete the whole completed video.  It did this fatal crash thing, then repaired something or another and thusly proceeded to repair the video right off the computer!!!!!!!!!!!

!!! (that pics to the right there is one of the stills from my video) !!!

Never fear...  it just so happens that I am actually blogging someplace else today (so this whole video craftostrophy could not have have come at a better time)... I'll have to keep telling myself that over and over again to see if it actually sinks in!

Before I ship you off to a land far far away...
Here's what's going on in my neck of the woods this week...

I am prepping for my Enda the Owl Bag class!
(I will post the dates and location as soon as it's all settled)...

I have to prepare something like 880 felt squares.
...and then cut them with my Sizzix...
..gulp..

I am doing the sample bags this week and will post those over on my FB once they are done.

There will be a teal bag and a purple bag too!

This is Stanley...  he visited his Aunt LollyChops this past weekend...
MomChops is coming to take him home today (she misses her baby boy).

He's kin to Slightly Wobbly Brown Bear (my new boyfriend)!

MomChops and I have become obsessed with the felted animals made by this lovely lady HERE.

We are a bad influence on each other like that!

...and finally...
The inspiration board needs another makeover!
(actually I just need a bigger inspiration board...  more like an inspiration WALL really)

...lastly...
I actually did complete a project that I can share with you!
(no magic computer bunnies stole it from me)...

I'll give you a hint...

...it's got flowers...

...it's bright and pretty...

...and I think it has something to do with HUGS...
(but I can't be sure)

You can go see the whole completed project and the how-to over on the Shimmerz blog by following this link HERE.

Do me a favor and leave me a little HUG (or 3) if you drop in and see my Shimmerz project.

Lolly could use some extra hugs right now!

XO,

P.S.  I'll post the Sizzix video later this week (poor RonChops just needs to start the editing all over again)...
I think I'll make him a cake to help the process along...  :D

Buttons & Scallops Bridal Clutch

Hi everyone!  I had a super fabulous blog break last week (but I honestly missed you guys)!  I hope everyone is enjoying summer so far!  RonChops and I have been swimming, biking, mowing and washing dogs like nobody's business!  DogChops and HarrietChops have allergies during the spring and summer so they get LOTS of special-shampoo-for-dogs-with-itchy-skin-baths + benadryl and overall coddling and love to get them through their itchy patches.

The LollyChops Salon for Dogs
I am on hair cut #3 for ole DogChops.  She's super furry and it takes about 4 - 5 haircuts to get it all off (I just plum wear out and have to do them in batches)!

This photo is after her 3rd haircut (each session is roughly 45 minutes at The LollyChops Salon for Dogs).  I am accepting applications if anyone out there wants a summer job! 

Love is in the air...
My sweet friend Beth is getting married in a few weeks and I wanted to make her something special to either carry with her as a little clutch or store special wedding keepsakes in after wards.  So that's the basis for today's post (plus I have a lot of random stuff towards the bottom...  so if this frilly little white clutch is not your thing - scroll down to the bottom for some TEAL happenins).

The Buttons and Scallops Clutch Clutch (goose)

I started with this little balsa wood box I snagged at a wicked floral wholesale place in my area.
It was only FIFTY CENTS?!?!?!
Needless to say, I bought a few for future craft projects galore!

Here is how it opens and what the inside looks like.
I snipped off the brown cord and removed the wooden button.

I put two coats of white acrylic paint on it (but wish I had done 4 - 4 would have made it more opaque)!

Thus enters the "scallops" part of the project...

I then used my new Sizzix on the edge die from Tim Holtz to cut felt, fabric, batting and something else that was furry that I had in my stash!  You can see the scallops on the edge die I used HERE.
(I have no idea what material the furry stuff is but it worked with everything else I had going on... so I rolled with it)

I laid the pieces out to make sure everything was going to look like it did in my 3:00 am vision.
(those 3:00 am visions are real sleep busters...  boooooooo for 3:00 am craft visions!!!!!)

Then...

I decided that the painted wood pieces that would be left poking out were kinda boring so I grabbed my new Shimmerz Blingz in Pixie Dust and painted the exposed pieces to jazz them up a bit!  You can check out Shimmerz products HERE.

Just a note:  I am gonna be a guest designer on the Shimmerz blog for the next two months, so you'll be seeing more projects with these cool products here and there.  This product however was already in my stash and purchased by me.  I always want to be sure give full disclosure on stuff like this ok!

I used Fabri-tac to adhere the scallop strips to the wooden box.

I just ran a strip of glue down the backside of each piece... and layered them in little rows.

Once I got to the top of the box I had a little dilemma...  the scallops needed to go down the other side in the opposite direction...

Sew....

I folded a piece of batting in half and ran it through the Sizzix using that same scallop die...
...and I ended up with a nice top cap piece that would help me transition from one side to the other.

See how it caps off the top kinda nice like???

I decided that it was too boring though...

Sew...

I ran another one through on the scallops side and came up with another smaller top cap piece to place on top of the original top cap thingy.

Was that too many tops? hmmmm

Bring on the buttons!

The ends were so boring that I decided to spice them up with some buttons...
So I laid them out to see what they would look like and they seemed ok to me....

So I glued those fellas down!

Next up I found a cute button in my stash and made that the new button for the clasp.

I had to find a clever way to get the button to stick in place and stay strong since I only had one hole and could not really "sew' it on there....

Sew... TEAL TO THE RESCUE!!!!

(you guys didn't really think I could do a project without teal did you???)
I basically took this little teal bead (it's amazonite) and used it as an anchor to help the button stay in place.
I used teal thread too cause teal is my BFF.
(yay for super secret teal elements!!!!)

We should change the wedding rules so it's now...
"Something old, something new, something borrowed and something TEAL!!!"

What do you guys think?!?!?!

hehehe...

Nextly... I took some eyelet trim I had in my stash and glued that down to each side...
I let the top flap of the trim hang into the box.  It actually looks kinda neat!
(the flowers in the eyelet trim match with the flowers on the button in the front...  I LOVE it when craft karma happens)

I saw THIS little ribbon ruffle tutorial over on Little Birdie Secrets and used that to make my ribbon ruffle for my clutch border!
I just glued it down with the same Fabri-tac glue I pretty much used for this entire project!

The little ribbon ruffle covers up the scallop sides and makes a nice little snuggle border for the buttons!

Here is the back.
It's so scallopy I could just give it a little HUG - couldn't you?!?!?!

Here's my craft table after I was done.
(not my usual chaos right?!?!?!)

I wanted to work teal into this project so bad I could hardly stand it!!!
Teal goodies just kinda crept onto the table and kept asking to be added to the project!
(I escaped with just that one teeny tiny little teal bead)

Oh and can you spy the teal mouse RonChops got for me!!!!
Can you believe he found me a teal mouse!!!!!
(I heart me some RonChops)

Here is the official Glamor Shots photo of the back of the bag...

...and other official Glamor Shots photo of the buttony fabulous front view!
If you squint you can spot the 1980's Glamor Shots big hair (with the soft fuzzy glow)!
Can ya see it?????

Time for Teal and a peepy blue cow...
I wanted to share a few of my other vacation projects that you might have already spied if you are checking out my FaceBook page...  

I made MomChops a little shadow box using a 7 Gypsies printer tray and papers and elements from Crate Paper - The Brook Collection kit.
You can see the printer tray HERE and the Crate Paper collection kit HERE!
(I loooove this collection with all my heart!!!)

There is a little floral element in the design so I recreated it using floral wire and beads, Glimmer Mist and punched circles.

There is also a little butterfly in the design as well so I recreated that using felt, vellum and more floral wire and Glimmer Mist.

I love taking elements from patterned paper and using other materials to recreate those same elements!
I think that really adds something extra special to your projects!

(you can see MomChops and my brother (MichaelChops) bottom left...  Michael was just a little fella back then... he's graduating from Georgia Tech in August with a PhD in some computer science micro chip design nerd something or another.  I am SUPER proud of him!)

One last pic..  I seriously LOVE this collection!

Peeka Moo!

Lastly... remember that blue moo cow I shared from the Cosmo Cricket - Garden Variety collection???
Well I made a little banner with him!
(using the Maya Road canvas banner I crocheted on last post)

He's peeping out from behind a little balsa wood fence I made using the Sizzix - Create-a-Bow die!
You can see that die HERE!
I know...  it's a BOW die but I saw a picket fence immediately as soon as I got it (thanks Eileen!!!!)!
(which is why I looove Sizzix dies...  you have to see beyond the obvious with them cause there is sooo much you can do with those shapes!)

Lastly... (for real this time)...
I am trying to catch up with Christine Middlecamp and her AMAZING 16 Doilies project!
I am woefully behind.
(I have only managed to get ONE done so far!)

Check out Christine's progress!  Talk about amazing!

You can follow along and learn how to make an amazing collage like this one HERE!
(if nothing else, go check out the details)

Each one is simply stunning!!!

So that's all I gots for today!

Thanks for dropping by for a visit!  Have a fabulous week!

P.S.  I was thinking about doing a quick video next Monday, showing you guys the materials you can cut with a Sizzix (and how it all works)...  let me know if you might want to see something like that!  You all know by now that I am a HUGE Sizzix fan!  I want to spread the Sizzix love (hehehe)!!

P.S.S.T.  More hugs than you can stand!