Archive for March, 2010

“SOAR” A Tussie Mussie With Attitude! (A Cricut Project!)


2010
03.23
Some people call it a  tussie mussie/tussy mussy, while other people call them a nosegay or a cone.  I prefer the sound of a tussie mussie – it sounds a bit more eclectic, a little more creative!  I just love how this tussie mussie turned out – it’s got a  bit of funky attitud and a little bit of soul which is just the way I like my things to look and feel!  INGREDIENTS
Cricut Expression
“Tie the Knot” Cricut cartridge
“Indie Art” Solutions Cartridge
1 12X12 Jenni Bowlin Vintage Black Bookprint paper
1 12×12 off-white cardstock
1 12×12 black cardstock
Light pink ruffled ribbon trim (We bought ours at Joanns!)
Black elastic ruffled ribbon/trim (We bought ours at Hobby Lobby!)
1 metal flower embellie (or make one with your Cricut!)
2 silver eyelets large enough to slide wire for handle through
1/2 yard black tulle
6 pieces of silver wire with silver beaded ends (We found these in the Christmas isles around the holidays.  If you don’t have the same thing it’s okay because you can make your own by slipping a silver bead, or any bead/button of your choice on the end of a piece of wire.  Just twist the wire around to secure the bead!)
White Pen
12″ Beaded garland (This was also found in the Christmas Isles but I have since seen it available at Hobby Lobby in the Home Decor department in a variety of colors.  Pinks and Blues are also available in the Spring Decor area too!)  If you can’t find this in a store near you don’t fret!  This can easily be made too! Use up some of those beads you keep buying and have been meaning to use in one of your projects!  Simply use fishline, jewlery wire, etc to string th beads.  Do three strands and randomly twist together.  OR, just use ribbon or any other item that would make an awesome hanger!)
Your Preferred Adhesive (I used a hot glue gun on the entire project!)
Your Preferred eyelet setter ( I used a Crop-A-Dile!)

INSTRUCTIONS

1.Using your Cricut Expression and “Tie the Knot” cartridge cut the cone (see photo below!) using the “Fit to Size” button.

2. Using the off-white paper and the ”Indie Art”  Solutions cartridge cut the wings (see photo below).  Select the ”blackout” feature since this will be the bottom layer of the wings.  I cut mine at 6 1/2″.
When cutting the wings you will need to either use the “flip” button and cut the base cut 2x or select the shift key for the opposite side.)
3.Next, make sure the “blackout” feature is no longer hightlighted.  Now load the black paper onto the mat to cut the base cut of the wings.  Again, cut the wings at 6 1/2″.
Now comes the fun part!
4.  Adhere the two layers of wings together.  Using your white pen, add accents in random dots around the edges of the top layer.
5.  Next, grab the cone you just cut from the bookprint paper and form a cone shape. The scalloped edge is the top of the cone.  Adhere to hold shape.  (I used dots of hot glue along the seam!) PLEASE NOTE:  If you find this cone is too large, simply roll the cone a bit tighter.  The tulle in the inside will hide the extra paper – OR (of course) just cut it at a smaller size! :)
6.  Cut a piece of the light pink ruffled ribbon to go around the cone approximately a 1/4 of the way down from the top.  Next, cut the black stretchy ruffled trim/ribbon the same size as the pink ribbon.  Using a hot glue gun (or your preferred adhesive!) glue the black ribbon to the top edge of the pink ribbon to give the ribbon a layered look.  Attach to the cone by gluing in dots with the seam centered in the back.  
7.  Now it’s time to attach the wings.  Before gluing, carefully crease the wings  by bending them upward to give them a more 3D effect once attached to the cone.  (If this doesn’t make sense let me know and I will post a photo of this step!)
8.  Attach the wings to the back of the cone so that the placement covers the ribbon seams.  Carefully attach the second wing so that it lines up with the first.
9.  Using your preferred eyelet setter( I used a Crop-A-Dile), set an eyelet on both sides of the cone – approximately a 1/2″ from the top.
10. Attach the beaded handle by threading the wire/string through the eyelets and twisting or tying.
11. While holding all six pieces of beaded wire, twist the ends together. Squirt a small dab of hot glue  inside of the bottom of the cone opening while carefully pushing the twisted wire ends into the the cone. Hold until glue sets.
12. Attach your desired embellie to the front of the tussie mussie (I used a metal flower embellie that I had in my stash and added the pink bead to the center!) 
13.  Bunch up the black tulle and place inside the cone fluffing and rearranging  so that it’s fancy schmancy!
14. Last but not least….using the white pen, wrap each scallop at the top of the cone around the pen to form “petals.”
OPTIONAL:  Ink the edges of the wings, cone, etc… or use Glimmer Mist to give your whole tussie mussie some extra pizazz!
 

"WHO ATE MY LUCKY CHARMS?" 2-PAGE 12X12 LAYOUT


2010
03.16
A darling 2-page 12×12 layout of my two little hams celebrating St. Patrick’s Day!  I’m not sure what is happening with my youngest fella with the flared nostrils….Maybe…just maybe he actually DID see a leprechaun!  This layout was made using a solid green Bazill base, patterned paper in a green tone (sorry I forgot to write down the manufacturer for this one).  Both pieces of patterned paper were cut at 10″x11″ and adhered to the solid green paper.  The larger photo was printed out on 8 1/2″ x 11″ photo paper and then cropped a bit.  The pot o’gold, shamrocks and leprechaun were cut from the Paper Dolls Cricut Cartridge.  The font was cut using Alphalicious.  White paper was used for the shadow and the base was cut from black paper at 2 1/2″.  The flower is a Prima using three different flowers to give dimension – the center was made using gold Stickles. The vine is actually a piece of scrap green ribbon with gold beading down the center. All of the die cuts were given some pizazz and sha-zam by using Sakura gel pens in gray, black and white – yellow, gold and green Stickles were also used on the die cuts to kick ‘em up a notch!

Easter Egg Contest!


2010
03.15

Mar 15, 2010 Olive Blog Contests, Don’t You?! from Olive Juice Studio by Olive Juice Studio

Guess the Number of Eggs in the Basket!!!
Win…
1 Martha Stewart – “Double Loop” Punch Around the Page Set (Use this set to create one continuous die-cut border – perfect for cards and layouts!)
1 K&Company Accordian Book Kit
1 Colorbok Chipboard Book
4 yds. 5/8″ Pink Ribbon with birds and hearts printed on it
3 yds. 3/8″ ribbon in blue/yellow/brown print – both perfect for your springtime projects!
 The original plan was to wait until we got 100 followers before we started our uber cool giveaways and contests…We don’t feel like waiting any longer and want to get this show started!  We are extremely giddy with excitement to announce our first ever blog contest!  By the way….we aren’t just another blog who gives out “blog candy”…..we’re going to kick that up a notch too because we’re giving out “olive juice cocktails”… 
(In case you didn’t know, olive juice goes nicely with a delicious blogtini …We serve our cocktails with a shot of inspiration, going heavy on the creative juice!) 
So here’s the contest….
See the photo of the Easter basket with the goodies?  Guess how many eggs are in the basket and you could be the winner! (If more than one person guesses correctly, I will put those names in a bowl and draw one name who will be announced the winner. If no one guesses the correct number of eggs I will use the next closest number. If more than one person does not guess the correct number but selected the next closest number, I will put those names in a bowl to select the winner.)  I sure hope that made sense… And just so you know, we have no idea how many eggs are in the basket either and won’t know until we count them the the day of the drawing!
Contest Rules: 
1.You need to FOLLOW/subscribe to our blog. If you are already subscribed to our blog –  that’s fabulous!  Just follow the remaining rules!  To FOLLOW our blog scroll down 3/4 of the way and it is located on the righthand side.  Look for the button that says “FOLLOW” and click on it.  It will direct you on what to do from there!  Please email us if you get stuck so we can “try” to help you out!
2. You need to leave a comment  here so I know who is participating in the contest.
3. Send us an email at olivejuicestudio@yahoo.com with your name and the number of eggs you think are in the basket.
4.  If you have a blog, you need to post the contest details linking back to us on your blog somewhere for others to see. (If you do not have a blog you can still participate. Just send us an email stating that you don’t have a blog but would like to be a part of the contest and then follow the other steps above.)
5. You need to leave a comment under  the “Tell Us What You Think” blog entry below ABOVE this post!
That’s all you have to do!  It’s so easy peasy anyone can enter!
BUT there’s EVEN MORE..!
IF, we reach 100 subscribers,  I will throw in more goodies for every 15 followers after that!  (These prizes will be announced as the number of subscribers increases!)
The Contest starts today and ends on Friday, April 2nd at 11:59PM.  The winner will be announced on Saturday, April 3rd sometime during cocktail hours between 4:00-7:00 PM (We are located in Illinois so it will be based on CST)
 
GOOD LUCK!!!!

Olive crafts, don’t you?

x Kim

Three Layouts Using Pen/Marker Doodling


2010
03.01
“Stinker Pants”
This was such a fun layout to do for one of my lil’ guys!  It sure brings back memories of his silly antics when he was just 18 mos (he’s now seven!)  The mischief in the photos happened while I was talking on the phone -maybe a two minute period, max.  Within these few minutes he decided to pull his sweater off -and  as you can see, got tangled up!  Meanwhile, with the sweater still wrapped around his head and caught under his arms, he went to the fridge and grabbed the bottle of cranberry juice (you can see it sitting on the couch in the photos!) to pour into his sippy cup - which, of course, he tried  to do all by himself……on our couch…in the living room….uh-huh – a big drippy mess….THEN… he.decided the newspaper would be a fun thing to dismantle and toss around the room like party streamers…yep – all within two minutes… (that would have been a fitting title for this layout too!)  Was I mad?  Noooo…I laughed so hard I was crying!  Talk about a KODAK MOMENT -  you’ll see many more of those “Kodak Moments” as I post more layouts of my silly family!
“I’m Soooooo Cute @ 5!”
A few doodles to go along with my lil’ guy’s masterpiece – I love this picture!  Yes, we don’t blink often and have VERY large circle eyes…we kind of resemble zombies, don’t we?  Maybe that was the day we were all brainwashed by the aliens that landed in our backyard…I’m sure if you have little boys you can relate to similar tales! LOL!
I rarely ever use solid paper for backgrounds but it is so much fun to doodle on layouts.  If you’ve shied away from doodling you REALLY have to try it.  Plus, there’s less pressure  because it’s not considered as cool as previous years! LOL!  So jump on board the Olive Juice Studio Bandwagon and try it out yourself!  You’re going to love it!  Just remember to keep in mind that you don’t have to be a great drawer to doodle – that’s what makes it so much fun and practically error proof!  “Most” mistakes blend right into the design!
“Cool Dude”
This here is just a 2-page 12×12 layout that I did for the same lil’ dude as above…No Cricut in this layout either BUT like I said on the “Home” page it can easily be “Cricut-fied” just by using your handy dandy Cricut and cartridges and some chipboard!

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