Cricut Christmas Stockings

I made these stockings two years ago but I didn't have a blog back then.  We decorated the house and put up the Christmas tree on Sunday and I thought- I really need to photograph and blog about these!

I got a new sewing machine that year and couldn't wait to use it.

These were SO much fun to make!  We needed stockings, and I love the idea of something homemade that my kids can keep to remember me.  I have a homemade stocking that my great-grandmother gave me that I will always cherish.

I made these using the Cricut.  The two cartridges I used were Doodlecharms and Paper Doll Dress-Up.  I used Cricut Design Studio to stretch and "fatten" some of the characters so that they all had the same dimensions.  Though the Cricut probably could have cut the felt- I didn't want to mess with ruining the mat with fuzz so I didn't try it.  Instead I cut the images with paper and used them like I would any fabric pattern.  It was actually pretty fast.

This one's my husband's.  I straight stitched most of Santa and then blanket stitched the edges of the red to make it "pop" a bit more.  All stitches are done using my sewing machine.  The snowflakes were done using one of the design stitches on my machine, and sewing lots of intersecting lines to create the snowflake look.

This one's mine :)

My son chose a gingerbread man:

My daughter was a newborn, and a little angel, so I thought an angel was appropriate for her :)

 the necklaces' star is a brad.

 And here's my son's reindeer.  I think this one's my favorite!  So cute!

Then I finished them up by trimming the fuzz a bit and embroidering everyone's names on them using a Bernette embroidery machine.

I've been crafting like crazy lately.  I made cards all day today and I'm excited to start on some Christmas crafts!  I'm starting another advent calendar, too.  THIS ONE I recently made is for "events," the next one's for treats!

Also- Lifestyle Crafts has another giveaway.  Enter to win this:

And don't forget about the Grand Prize- submit your projects to the online gallery to be entered to win.
To enter to this week's giveaway- follow the instructions HERE and tell them "Rhinestones and Ribbon sent me".

-Tiffany

Doodlebug "Cake and Ice Cream" Birthday Party!

My darling daughter recently turned TWO!  And what better way to celebrate a darling two year old girl's birthday than to use Doodlebug's Cake & Ice Cream collection!  

(I apologize for some of the photos- I only had my point-and-shoot camera that day)

I made her cute party invitations with the collection's paper, buttons, stickers and jewels, added some Doodletwine, and then cut out the cute cupcake with my Cricut using the Birthday Bash cartridge!

Recognize this? :)  I originally made it with her birthday in mind.  Love it!   You can see the tutorial on how it was made HERE.

I LOVE cupcakes!  Especially pink sparkly ones :)

I made these cupcake wrappers with my Cricut "Cupcake Wrappers" cartridge and used the cardstock stickers from the collection to make the toppers.

And here's the cutest two year old on the planet!

She was a princess!

The tiara was another item done on my Cricut, and the cake icon is from the Cake & Ice Cream Cute Cuts.  The tiara is actually two more cupcake wrappers enlarged and glued end to end.  Easy peasy (and she loved it!) not everything has to be hard and complicated :)

I love rosettes so much I made giant ones to hang from the ceiling!

Each one takes three 12x12 pieces of cardstock.  The tissue paper pom poms are a Martha Stewart creation I learned how to make HERE.

The utensils can't be in a boring container :)

I took a soup can and embellished it.  Cute and easy to do.

And finally- matching gift tags!

Don't forget to check out the Doodlebug blog this week. 

They're showcasing the Classic Collection.  Beautiful!

And there's a giveaway!

-Tiffany

Yep... Lifestyle Crafts has Black Friday deals!

Nesting dies have been one of the most popular products for Lifestyle Crafts, so they're offering them for 50% off for Black Friday!  Sale runs Nov 25th-Nov 28th and they can be purchased HERE on their website.  Just enter "RHINESTONES" at checkout!

The sale includes holiday nesting dies as well. 64 total sets to choose from!

-Tiffany

Fun Home Decor Wood Turkey Tutorial! (Mod-Podge anyone?? :)

 Hello!

Am I the cutest thing or what?

I had fun with my Cricut on Saturday.  I don't have a lot of "Thanksgiving" decor- so I thought I'd make a 3D version of the cutest turkey on the Create-A-Critter Cricut Cartridge.

  He's made of wood!  Fun, right?  And he's covered with sparkly and soft fuzzy Doodlebug goodness!

Here's how I made him:

Using my Gypsy I separated the body and hat image to cut each one individually on different types of paper.

 The "Hide" feature is my favorite part of the Gypsy.  I love being able to cut parts of images if I need to.

The Cricut images were all cut at 11"

For the body I used Doodlebug's Crushed Velvet cardstock (so he has a soft fuzzy body) and Sugar Coated cardstock in Bon Bon (for some sparkly wings).

I used Crushed Velvet cardstock for the hat, too, in Beetle Black.

 I have the Cricut Expression and the rollers will leave small lines in the Crushed Velvet cardstock which can be brushed over with your hands and they disappear, or you can cut the image upside down (flip feature) and flip the cardstock over too so that the rollers roll over the back of the cardstock instead of the front.

 All the cardstock for all the layers is Doodlebug.

Once you have all the layers cut out, place them over one another (don't glue them together), line them up well, and then cut off the bottom of the image so that you have a flat bottom for the wood pieces to stand upright on.

Keep the cute little feet.  You'll cut those out of wood, too, just not attached to the body.

 Lay all your pieces on a sheet of wood (this is a scrap from another project).

I used wood that's 3/4 inch thick.

 Trace all images with a pencil and set paper pieces aside.  Cut out the wood images on a Band-Saw.

 Here's all the finished wood pieces.  I changed the design of the wings at the last minute.  I wanted the wings to stand out instead of the chest of the turkey standing out.  If you notice the brown sparkly body image above, I just cut the wings out of that.

 Now for the fun part!

I love painting and glittering!  Paint the outer edges of your wood pieces, and paint a little on the front just around the edge in case your paper doesn't cover the entire front of the wood piece exactly.

 While your paint is still wet, DUMP glitter all over the paint.  I used Doodlebug's Sugar Coating glitter.  Do this over a Tidy Tray that's been rubbed with an Embossing Buddy (to control static) so that you can save the leftover glitter and put it back into the bottle.  The glitter goes a very long way.  After tapping off the excess and putting the extra back into the bottle you'll be surprised how little glitter is used, but due to the wet paint, the piece gets fully covered.

 Repeat on all pieces that you want glittered.

When the paint has dried, pull out the Mod Podge!

 You'll want to do each item one at a time.

Paint the front of the piece with a layer of Mod Podge.

 Quickly place the cut piece of cardstock from the Cricut machine over the wet Mod Podge and smooth with a credit card or other smoothing tool to get out all air bubbles.  Usually when using Mod Podge you would then paint over the paper as well to seal the paper.  I skipped this step because I wanted the paper to still be glittery or velvety.

 Repeat with all other pieces.

 Also- you'll want to pay attention to all the edges.  Make sure Mod Podge gets under the whole edge so that when dry, the paper doesn't lift and curl.  Don't worry about the mess- Mod Podge dries clear (I used Gloss Luster and it dries clear.  Some Mod Podge products have color or sparkle in them, so get one that dries clear.)

 I then cut a 3/4 inch strip of the Crushed Velvet cardstock using my paper trimmer to wrap around the outer edge of his body so that his head and body would be soft as well.

 Then I hot-glued each layer together, added some googly eyes, and a Making Memories ribbon and buckle for the hat.

I glued his cute feet to the front of him so that he looks like he's sitting.  Cute feet, right? :)

 Gobble gobble!!!

Hope I've inspired you to create something for your home and to try something new!

Supplies used:

Doodlebug Sugar Coated Carstock in Bon Bon, Ladybug and Tangerine (wings, red feathers, beak and the red hangy-down thingy (does that thing have a name?  ha ha! :)

Doodlebug Crushed Velvet Cardstock in Bon Bon and Beetle Black (body and hat)

Doodlebug Spot Glittered Cardstock in Tangerine (feet and back feathers)

Doodlebug Sugar Coating glitter in Bon Bon, Ladybug and Tangerine (for the edges of each layer)

googly eyes

Making Memories ribbon and buckle

-Tiffany

"Just For You" Release + Discount Code and iPad 2 giveaway!

Introducing the "Just for You" release.

This release includes rosette dies, a cute bakery box die with labels, a frame or card easel die with embellishments, and four new mini alphabets.

Here are a few fun project ideas for these dies.

Thinking ahead to holidays that are coming up, I needed more Valentines items for my home.
Pennants are super popular (and super cute) so I thought I'd make one!

This pennant was made using the new Rosette die with the eyelet edge.  The rosette dies also have circle dies to coordinate with the center of the rosette.

I also used the Edge It die set and the nesting pennant dies

The letters on the pennant are one of the new mini alphabets.

The paper and ribbon is from Stampin' Up!

I wanted to think "outside the box" with the Rosette die, so I thought it would be fun to make it a ruffle instead of a Rosette!

I used the Rosette die for the "ruffled" pink strip across the card.  Instead of gluing the edges to make a rosette, you can fan fold it and keep it flat to make ruffles.  I also used the nesting leaves die set.

It's nice to see some bright summer colors in the middle of winter- don't you think? :)

Paper is by My Mind's Eye, ribbon and button is Stampin' Up!, cardstock is Making Memories, twine is Doodlebug

The Bakery Box die set is another fun one.  I can see myself using this one a lot for treat gifts.

It's the cutest little thing! :)

Probably my favorite box from Lifestyle Crafts so far.

It comes with two sets of labels for the front of the box.

Paper is Doodlebug (birthday box) and stash from my scraps for the other one.  Cardstock is Stampin' Up! and the cute cake brad is Doodlebug

The card and easel die was used for these two projects.  You can cut the front of a card with a window:

And also cut an easel for the back.

It also comes with flowers or holly berries to embellish the front.

Paper is Stampin' Up!

One last project.  I'm in a "teal" phase.  And a damask phase (have you seen my craft room? :)  My daughter's room is also damask.  Just love it :)

This frame uses the L Letterpress, the Damask Printing Plate Set, and silver and teal ink.

Special discount just for you for the "Just For You" release celebration!

(Wow- say that 5 times fast :)

You can get 20% off your online order from Lifestyle Crafts website by entering code:

RHINESTONES

at checkout

YAY!!!

Also- you could win an iPad 2 this week by becoming a fan of Lifestyle Crafts on facebook!

Simply post that you are a fan on this blog post (not the other post last week) and tell them
"Rhinestones and Ribbon sent me"

You can also get additional entries by:

-Posting about this contest on your blog

-Tweeting about this contest

-Sharing this contest on facebook

All kinds of fun!  Tell your friends!!!  I hope you win!!!

-Tiffany