Blooming Love with Lori

Happy Valentine's day to you all! Today I have a cute little project to share with you that can easily be made using any of the 6x6 paper pads carried in the store.  I chose a love theme for today, but obviously you could use it for so much more.

This sweet little Lolli-pot favor was cut with a file from Creations by AR (they come in SVG, DXF, and PDF format and this one is easy to cut by hand).  Each piece was cut from a different pattern from the paper pad.  Before placing the insert in the pot, a sucker is inserted through the hole upside down.  I then created my large flower using an oversize bottle cap and some flowers from my stash.  The package of Petaloo Color-Me-Crazy flowers has some large flowers that are perfect for this!  To finish off my project, I used Stickles in Baby Blue, Cotton Candy, Lime Green, and Pink.

Now, for a little talk about adhesive - if you belong to our Yahoo group, you know that Kim has been taking signups for an adhesive club.  Officially, signups are closed for the club, but if you get in touch with Kim by end of day Friday (2/15) she should be able to add you in.  I use a variety of adhesives when putting this type of item together, and I have a feeling that all of them will be making an appearance in the adhesive club!  Here's what I use, and why I use it:

• Scor Tape - great for holding together simple 3-D items because it holds instantly, but once it's stuck, it's stuck. I used this on the actual flower pot.
• Glossy Accents - great for small areas and for more complicated items because it gives a bit of wiggle room for adjustments but it does dry pretty quickly. (I usually count to 60 to be safe!) I used this to assemble the tray for the pot and to stick the pot to the tray.In addition to being a great adhesive, as its name implies, it makes great epoxy-like accents.
• Mini Glue Dots (3/16") - great for sticking small things to other things, or sticking things to small and/or odd-shaped things. I used three of them to stick my big flower to my sucker stick.
• Cosmo Cricket Glubers (2") - great for sticking larger items together, especially heavy items.  I used these to adhere the layers of my flowers and the bottle cap to the center.

If you'd like to make your own version of this project, I have a supply list.

Items available from Cutters Creek:

• 6x6 paper pad - mine is Echo Park Paper, but there are almost 30 choices in the store!
• Scor Tape 1/4"
• Glossy Accents
• Mini Glue Dots
• Glubers 2"
• Stickles
• Color Me Crazy flowers

Other Items:

• Lolli-Pot template from Creations by AR
• 2" bottle cap
• Epiphany Crafts heart 25 punch and epoxy bubbles
• sucker (I used a Charm's blow pop)

Lori's a Real Witch Today! - with Echo Park Paper

Hello and welcome to one more project for Echo Park Paper month here at Cutters Creek!  I've been feeling a little witchy lately, and I LOVE the Echo Park Apothecary Collection, so I thought I'd sneak in a Halloween decor project that is super easy.

Ta-da!  Are you impressed?!  The bottom circle for the hat brim is 7.5", but you can make this any size you'd like.  The top of the hat is just a cone rolled from an arc of cardstock.  If you don't have a compass (arc? compass?  what's with the geometry today?), which I don't, you can make your own with a pen or pencil with string tied to it (I used ribbon).  I did not measure; I just guessed and eyeballed it.  Hold the end of the string on the corner of the paper, stretch it taut, and use the pencil to draw a curve (arc) on the cardstock from one side to the next.  Once the cardstock is cut, line one straight edge with Scor Tape.  Roll it into a cone and press the Scor Tape to seal.

The fancy design on the hat brim is actually a leftover negative piece from a previous Cricut cut.  (You can see it on this project.)  After adhering the design to the cardstock base, you'll want to adhere the cone.  The easiest way to do this is with the iBond cordless hot glue gun.  I used a black glue stick from the Solid Color set, figuring it would blend in with the dark purple cardstock and black sheer ribbon I was using.  After adhering the cone, I added a 3/4" strip of the orange diamond paper as a hat band then glued down the sheer black ribbon, rolling it as I moved around the hat.

I used another 3/4" strip of the same paper to add a ribbon to the side of the hat.  On top of that I layered a cobweb cut from the cobweb pattern paper and a rolled ribbon flower using sheer black ribbon and a 2" Gluber, then embellished with some clear sparkly adhesive gems.  I added a couple more cobwebs cut from the paper as well.  I used Black Diamond Stickles to outline all of the cobwebs, and added some more sparkly gems to the other two webs.  I created the spider by tying pieces of black hemp cord, then unsticking enough of the Scor Tape to stick the end of the hemp cord down into the top of the cone and readhering the Scor Tape.

 Finally, I cut a label from the "Labels" sheet, curled the ends slightly, and adhered it to the front of the hat.  Other than drying time for the Stickles, this project took very little time -  I just played and enjoyed myself!  I'm already thinking of what I can make for Christmas next...