The Katie Bag & FUN FABRIC FIND!!!

Isn't this bag adorable? I love the print, but I really love the style. It's not typical and definitely not SQUARE. The style is called "Curve Appeal" but like my other bags, I named it after the recipient. My niece-in-law was supposed to get this bag for Christmas from my folks. Aunt Lori got a bit sidetracked with this thing called LIFE, but I did get it made and so enjoyed making this.

Edit: I forgot to tell the "story" about this bag for Katie. At Thanksgiving I had Katie & Becky (my niece) tell me styles of purses they liked & prints they liked. Katie's mom was there, too, & said they both liked animal prints. We knew Katie did because the baby's car seat is zebra print with hot pink ruffles! So vogue! LOL! As we went through the different styles Katie said, "I'd use that one as a dance bag." She teaches dance at a local high school. It's different from the ones for Becky & Robin, which makes it fun because these were "purse-onal" bag for each of them! Working full time long hours (practice before school & events after school, plus the whole school day), being a mommy and a wife to a pastor is a hard job, but she does it with grace. We saw our share of zebra's at the Nairobi National Park and they, too, are graceful. Katie, however, is much prettier & doesn't turn her back on us when we take pictures! : )

This bag has seams meet on the front and back rather than the sides, and is cut so there is a high curve on the sides and a dip on the front and back. This bag has slip pockets on the front (which, being a dork, I forgot to take a picture of) and on both sides inside the bag. I can make it with zippered pockets and a closure at the top. I've quilted this fabric myself, again, like my other bags, which means you can choose your own fabric rather than the limited supply of pre-quilted fabrics.

I've put this on my Loribelle Bags Blog with pricing info. I'll put it on Etsy, too, as a custom item. Meanwhile, I have a Messenger Bag to make now then will get some other bags sewn that I've had cut out for some time.

I have to tell you I am SO (or is that SEW) excited about something I found at Hobby Lobby today. Just yesterday a friend suggested I make bags out of canvas. I told her the only place I'd seen any canvas that was pretty was a variety of solid shades at JoAnn's. Lo and behold, today I walked through the fabric section at Hobby Lobby (though I was pretty sure I had every pattern of fabric memorized) and something caught my eye. Once I untangled my eye (just kidding), I walked over & saw the prettiest printed CANVAS fabric! Some was Paisley (sorry Karen Lynn) and some was floral. I can't remember all of it. I asked the lady if that was new (wondering how I could have possibly missed this) and she said yes, it was. She also said they are going to have about 50 different prints! FIFTY!!!! She saw my excitement and asked why anyone would want that. I told her I wanted it for making bags. She nodded and said, "That's what we thought it must be for." Maybe I DO need to work at Hobby Lobby to fill them in on such things. LOL!

Ladies (and any gents who might read this), I can see so many possibilities here: Messenger Bags, the big Robin Tote bag, reusable grocery bags (I actually saw a tutorial using plastic grocery bags & heard in some areas they are charging you to use their plastic bags---yikes!), tents.....well, maybe not. Today there were only about 8 bolts in the store, they weren't on sale and there is no 40% off coupon this week, or I would have brought some home to show you.

Please share other ideas that might be great for a canvas fabric!

Giddy with fabric joy!

Thanks for stopping by today!

P.S. My dd & her friend are working on a camera shots Girl Scout badge. They are finding fabrics to use for backgrounds in my stash. She just brought in one of my partially made bags and said, "Mom, is this going to be a bag?" Yes. "I am so jealous of the person who gets this bag. I could use it as a co-op bag," meaning our homeschool co-op, "You get all the good bags!" Um, honey, I have to make money. "Oh." LOL!

I love Bunny Zoe's Crafts!

Last week I won a prize in the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge. The company providing the prize was Bunny Zoe's Crafts. I had not heard of them before that. Nikki is the owner. You can find her blog HERE. She was lightning fast in corresponding with me and mailing, um, I mean POSTING, my prize! I got a grin out of reading REAL English. She wrote, "I'll get you prize straight out in the post to you today." Brought back warm memories of our year in Africa, particularly our six months in Nairobi Kenya when we met an International host of missionaries and had some dear friends from England. The husband and Phil had a grand time teasing each other about the way they said things.

Nikki posted (that's "put it in the mail" for us US Americans!) my prize on Wednesday last week. It was in my mailbox on Monday morning! It may have been there on Saturday as we forgot to check the mail. WOW. That was some fast mail! I am still waiting on some items that never got forwarded from my old address to here---a grand total of 5 miles---from last summer and fall! Thank you Nikki!

Back to Bunny Zoe's Crafts. These are the two stamps I received (sorry I've not taken pics of my own, but they are covered with ink at the moment!) along with a FEW of the bundle of charms that came. WOW! If you recall, I love the cuteness of those darling Magnolia stamps, but I can't get past the no mouth & nose. Look at these cuties! They have a mouth AND a nose! And aren't they cute little mouths & noses? LOL!

These cuties are from a line called Bildmalarna. They are Mimosa the girl and Mimo the boy. You can see all the Mimosas & Mimo's HERE. I did some money conversions and found that the shipping from the UK to places outside of Europe are $4.06 USD to $8.94 MAX! I've paid nearly that amount for shipping from another state to Texas!

See that little handbag charm? I plan to order some of those if I ever build up my stamping fund again. Those and some more of the Mimosas. And if the British Pound loses value, maybe more! LOL!

If you're looking for a fun new stamp shop be sure and check out Bunny Zoe's Crafts!

When I get a card made, I'll post it here. Purses are top priority right now. I'll be able to post a picture of a new tote this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!

Half-Price Sale!

Half-Price Sale NOW at my Etsy Shop! Click HERE. All ready made Loribelle Bags are half-price now!

Decoupage and Totes

Hello! I don't have a picture of anything to show you, but I do have a new tote finished in a different style. As soon as I saw a picture of the bag, I knew I wanted to try it. It's a gift, though, so the picture has to wait.

I was just reading Sherry's blog Here with more about her 3-d cards, which she discovered are called pyramid cards. These cards she's making with the vintage images are so beautiful. Anyway, another lady commented that in the UK these cards have been around for awhile and she mentioned the older style of these used in decoupage. I immediately thought of a decoupage of Holly Hobbie that I received as a child. It was from either Cathy or Pam Shirley, who were the teenage daughters of some of my parents' friends. I thought they were SO cool (though I don't think "cool" had come back into style---maybe they were groovy! LOL!) and getting a gift from them was super special. This decoupage had several layers of what was likely a greeting card. This was back in the dark ages when even the thought of making a copy of something without smelling like ditto fluid and turning your hands purple was unheard of. For that matter when I started teaching we were still making purple copies! I distinctly remember thinking about how this had been made: buying several of the same card and cutting out the little pieces to stack on top of each other. She even managed to take part of it and somehow make it pooch out kind of rounded. I loved the texture of that piece! Maybe that is part of why I am drawn to Sherry's cards with this pyramid or 3-D shape.

Have you ever decoupaged? I have in more recent times decoupaged flat things like a clipboard or a box. Um, the box isn't flat, but the sides are. I am a dork, but I do know that boxes aren't always flattened! LOL! I'd love to hear your decoupage stories! I'd also like to visit the UK now that it's been mentioned in my blog again. I hear they are much more gluten-free/celiac friendly than the US! : )

Good night!

The coolest thing since sliced (gluten free) bread!

Lori's note: This card is for a card challenge I just discovered HERE at Card Patterns, but there's a lot of babble before the card. Feel free to skip over the babbling!

Are you familiar with the saying, "The greatest thing since sliced bread?" When we lived in Africa that took on a new meaning for me, a very literal meaning. The first loaf I saw from a store in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Dem. Rep. of the Congo) had very irregular slices. Some were a normal thickness, then others were about an inch thick. I learned that likely the factory's cutter had lost blades & they couldn't afford new ones. Once we were in Lodja (middle of Zaire), any bread was homemade, so it was slice as you go. I suspect that when we went to Nairobi they had sliced bread. I do know that coming home to the USA caused serious reverse culture shock. Do you know that there are ENTIRE AISLES of sliced bread in the USA? Oh, you probably do. LOL!

Now that I am on a gluten free diet, life is different. I make most my bread, when I do have bread. It isn't an every day or sometimes even every week occurrence. They DO make sliced gluten free bread. It's in the freezer section and what I've tried (at $6.00 or so a loaf) was nothing to write home about. All this to say when I say something is cooler than sliced gluten free bread---I MEAN IT!

This really does have a point, and in fact has to do with cutting things precisely, just like bread. I recently saw a technique that made me want to print out every vintage image I could find and try it. Sherry Cheever, aka Bad Sherry on SCS, created this amazing card with one of the not yet released die sets from Spellbinders. I'll let you go take a peek at her blog & come back. Just click HERE. WOW! Did you see that? Then a few days later, she decided to make the inverse, or negative of that. Spellbinders Blog has an example of that with some info HERE.

If you're like me, you are ready to go buy a bustle, parasol, and a time machine to live in the days of these images. Though we might have to slice our own bread. Since I can't do that, I decided to try the technique. Here is my first card for this technique:

I used the sketch at Card Patterns week 47 at the top of this blog post.

Here are some different angles so you can see the layers.

I was thinking last night (I had too much caffeine & could not sleep) that this could be done with punches if you don't have any nesting dies. Or, you could simply cut squares or rectangles in layers. If you have the Creative Memories Cutting system, you could do layers with that. Be aware that when you go from one size circle to the next the differences in size aren't always the same as those between the different colored cutters (if you have the CM system I hope that makes sense).

Do you want some FREE images? I searched online & found two that had a lot of images:
http://hubpages.com/hub/vintage-flowers
http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/

Do you see why I was so excited? I almost jumped up & down for joy. Then I thought better of it & remembered I read somewhere that jumping isn't good if you have fibromyalgia. That's my excuse anyway!

I have so many more cards I want to make, but I have purses I NEED to make, so I must use some self control and get busy with those.

Thanks for traveling with me to a time long ago. Wasn't it fun to feel like Jane Seymour in Somewhere in Time for a few minutes? LOL!

Blog Candy at Studio 313

I love Clear Dollar Stamps, in case you haven't noticed! Last year one of the design team members became a stamp illustrator. Shawne has the cutest line of stamps available at Clear Dollar Stamps. This is a card I made with one of her stamps.

Shawne is having a HUGE blog candy contest. On March 20th she will be giving away a $100 gift certificate to CDS. WOW! Click HERE for a link to her blog so you can enter.

If you need inspiration for making cards, be sure to check out Shawne's cards on her blog.

Just a little tidbit of info here, in addition to Shawne becoming a stamp illustrator last year, she also had her 4th baby girl! She is one busy woman!

Thanks for popping in to my blog today!

CDS & SSIC challenges

This card combines the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge with the Clearly Inspired Challenge for this week. The SSIC challenge was to make a card relating to home. You can find more information HERE. The Clearly Inspired Challenge was a sketch challenge. More info HERE.

Details:
Stamps: Ageless Antiques
Ink: Memento Black & Brown
Paper: Textured Red & brown (Hobby Lobby), white, dp from K & Co. winter wonderland and unknown
Accents: Copics & sharpies, brads (with brad part removed) from Oriental Trading, SU punches, dimensionals

Thanks for coming by!

Purse-onal Notes

Made some thank you notes to go with some bags I've sold using the Crazy 4 Challenges sketch 20. If you'd like to see my purses, you can click on the links on my sidebar or go to www.loribellebags.blogspot.com

Details
Stamp: Sizzix collection
Paper: Shimmery Pink, white
Ink: Memento Black, Walnut Stain distress, basic grey dp (I think Sultry)
accessories: copics, ribbon, computer generated words, prima flowers, stick on gem

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge & I won!

This card is for the MMSC for this week. Amazingly, I had it almost finished before the "official" release of the sketch since they do previews now. I hadn't seen the CAS version of the sketch so my sparkles kind of "threw up" on this card. Every time I looked at this card I kept thinking the swirls at the top looked like Moose Antlers. Then I decided they are more like Cape Buffalo or Water Buffalo. Now, everyone sing along with Larry the Cucumber, "Everybody's got a Water Buffalo...."

The details:
Stamps: CDS January Flower of the Month
Ink: Memento Black, So Saffron
Paper: Shimmery White, yellow, Green
Accessories: Sizzix sizzlit swirls, Nestabilities, CB die, stick on gems, copics, Spring Flowers Punch, Ribbon (Michael's), Button (Papertrey Ink)

I encourage you to play in these challenges. I just won a prize from the MMSC blog challenge! It also stretches your creative juices!

Thanks for grazing in my field today!

Somebunny Special

This card is for 2 challenges: Laurie Wilson's Clearly Delightful Challenge & CPS 150. I'll try to add more details later, but wanted to get this posted tonight.

Homeschool co-op resumes on Tuesday and we will be getting up early to take Daddy to work so we can use the car. Good night!

Tuesday A.M. additional stuff:
Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps spring critters
Ink: Stazon Black, Positively Pink
Paper: Watercolor paper, turquoise, yellow, pink, dp from DCWV Spring Stack 09
Accessories: Nestabilities, stick on gems, cb mini tags die, cb embossing folder, watercolor crayons, Lumiere paint

Thanks for hopping by!

New Loribelle Bags blog!

***This is a "sticky post" that will stay at the top for a while. Scroll down to find my newer posts.

Try saying, "Loribelle Bags Blog" 3 times quickly! LOL! I have started a new blog (yes, one more!) strictly dedicated to my Loribelle Bags and other sewn items for sale. There isn't much there yet, but if you'd like to pick up some popcorn, grab a seat, and sit back & watch it grow, I'd love to have you there! Here's the link: http://loribellebags.blogspot.com/

Most of it has already been on here, but I'd love for you to join as a follower so as I add new things (like blog candy) you'll be there to celebrate (and maybe win a prize) with me!

I'll still be keeping this blog with my meandering stories of crafts and such, but the Loribelle Bag Blog will be a way for me to keep the business aspect separate.

Hope to see you over there!

What would your Ultimate Diaper Bag be like?

If you could design the ULTIMATE diaper bag, what features would it have? Would it be fabric so you could wash it? Would it be vinyl so you could just wipe it off & go? What kind of pockets would you want? What size bag? Zipper on top? Zippered pockets? Something that can grow as your kids grow & be a Mom bag (when diapers get replaced with DS games and bottles of formula turn into bottles of water or Fuze!)?

I asked this on Splitcoaststampers & got a great variety of answers that are really helping me to hone in on what would make the ideal diaper bag. Now, I understand that different folks have different takes on what's wonderful, so I will likely be making more than one style. Even so, I'd like your input.

If you are a mom or dad, know a mom or dad, or just think you've got this one down, please share your ideas on diaper bags! I promise mine will not cost what this one costs: Click Here That is a VERY pretty bag, but whatever my design, I can guaranty it will not cost that much! LOL!

This question was posted on Splitcoast before I knew my niece was pregnant, so I'm hoping she'll let me design a bag for Baby Kiser!

A Batch of Cupcakes

Edited to add: I guess you expected pictures with this. I am such a dork! Sorry!

I finally finished my swap cards for our PSF/Dork swap. PSF is Pretend Stamping Friends. They are a group of ladies that chat on SCS like the Dorks. We've built a friendship with each other and do occasional swaps. This time was a Valentine's/Friendship Swap. I used images that could be for either one.

Fair warning: It looks like Barbie exploded on these cards. There is enough pink and purple to wallpaper a giant Barbie Dreamhouse.

The cupcakes are from a stamp set from my "Secret Santa" Karen in New York. I love this set! I've had my eye on it for quite some time and was so surprised when I opened my goody box & found this! My eye is happy to be back in place, too.

The dp is a Valentine pack that my friend Kathy gave me. Again, it was one I'd looked at & had to turn away & make myself not buy it. Kathy had no idea of that when she got this for me! How cool is that!

I had picked up some textured purple & pink cardstock, but when I saw this pearly paper, I HAD to get it at JoAnn. Well, the fact that it was on sale 4/$1 didn't hurt.

I had a slightly different design in mind, but as I chopped paper, it just wasn't going to work right. I scoured the SCS gallery for cupcakes. I found several cards that I liked & wanted to use as my inspiration. When it was all said & done I don't think it ended up looking like any of those. If you can tell, some of the diagonal cuts on the dp are opposite of others. There is a reason for this. I wanted each card to have at least a partial cupcake showing (or piece of cake). If I had cut them all the same, some would have gone through the cupcake & not looked right. Thus, some are backwards! LOL! One has another extra touch b/c I had glue that stuck where it shouldn't stick. Oooops. I "corrected" that problem (aka stuck even more purple on the card). It looked cute just the same.

I layered the cupcake. Though it doesn't really show in the pictures, the whole cupcake is doubled on these, then the icing has a 3rd layer. Sounds yummy!

To be sure these were safe from my Dork Sister Peggysue and I, I made these gluten free. Now before you all say, "YUCK" remember, you don't have to eat them. tee-hee!

I WILL get these in the mail tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks for dropping by & PSF's & dorks, thanks for being patient!

January Birthdays & Challenges

I'm already behind on birthday cards for this year, but considering I never got Christmas cards made, actually FINISHING these cards means I'm ahead of last year! LOL!

Both of these cards are for the C4C19---Crazy 4 Challenges #19 found HERE. The challenge was to make a birthday card. I made 2 birthday cards that aren't traditional in their look but have a traditional flair. These both use the Flower of the Month from Clear Dollar Stamps for January, Carnation. If you look on the background dp I stamped the word "Carnation" (the birth flower for January) and on one I one I stamped the word January on the background. On the other the word January is an extra detail added on the bottom.

I'm not one for believing legends, especially the "religious" ones about "luck" and such. However, as I was trying to find what COLOR carnation is the birth flower for January (I never found that) I ran across a legend about pink carnations that was sweet, though holds no historical fact. Here is the rendition from this website

There is an interesting legend associated with pink carnations. According to Christian legend, carnations first appeared on Earth as Jesus carried the Cross. The Virgin Mary shed tears at Jesus' plight, and pink carnations sprang up from where her tears fell. Thus the pink carnation became the symbol of a mother's undying love, and in 1907 was chosen by Ann Jarvis as the emblem of Mother's Day, now observed in the United States and Canada on the second Sunday in May.

Since the women who will be getting these cards are moms, I thought it would be nice to use pink as I know these moms have undying love for their children.

The first card is also for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge # 21. The verse for this week is:
Hosea 6:1 "Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds."

I tore the picture apart, then put it back together. In true dork form, I had trouble figuring out this part. LOL! Then, I decided to copy, um, I mean CASE, my dork sister Peggysue and try the broken glass technique. I did not have any of the ultra thick embossing powder, so I kept layering versamark & clear regular embossing powder and heating them. Did you know hot melted embossing powder hurts your fingers? Just sayin'.

This card ALSO is for the CPS challenge 149. I turned the layout sideways to work with this image.

Details:
Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps Flower of the Month, January (Carnation)
Ink: memento black & brown, versamark
Paper: Forest Foliage (I think) and a pink from Hobby Lobby, K& Co. "Classic" dp pad
Etc.: nesties, copics, dew drops (from my friend Kathy), ep


Next I used the same image, but used the layout for MMSC 36. I love this Spellbinders Pendant!

The details are the same except no dew drops or versamark with clear ep.

Phew, 2 cards finished and challenges done ON TIME! Amazing!

Thanks for dropping by!

Cookie Card

Since we were fairly broke at Christmas (okay, we stay that way!) I decided to do something different that wouldn't cost money right away for dh. My brother loves the movie "Christmas Vacation" and talks about the "Jelly of the Month Club" that the dad got as his Christmas bonus instead of a big check. I did a variation of this & made my dh a "Chef Mama's Cookie of the Month Club" gift card. My dad got a "Pie of the month club" gift card. I didn't get a shot of that card, though. This was the card I used for dh. Inside it has the "gift certificate" part.

Posting more cards, so stay tuned!

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge

This is my entry for the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge 35. I started it as part of the Clear Dollar Stamps challenge "Bradilicious" but missed the deadline (that's typical of me!). I love the heart & cupcake brads! I decided to go ahead & keep this design & used the sketch on MMSC to do my layout.

Details:
Stamp: Clear Dollar Stamps Jargon & Baked for You Tags
Ink: Memento Black
Markers: Copic & Sharpies
Paper: white, textured cardstock from Hobby Lobby, dp from K & Company (from my sweet friend Kathy)
Etc.: ribbon, heart brads (Hobby Lobby), cupcake brad (from Clear Dollar Stamps), Spellbinders labels

Thanks for looking!

Paging God at Hobby Lobby

Did that title get your attention? This isn't a crafting post, but I was buying crafting supplies at Hobby Lobby when this humorous event happened.

Most of you know that Hobby Lobby is a craft store that is Christian owned. When you go into the store there is "elevator music" playing. If you listen closely you realize it is Christian music they are playing. It's all instrumental and very soothing. You may also know that on their website you can find a link to a Christian message. On Christmas and Easter they put a big full page display in the newspaper with a message about the Lord.

What you may not know is that God can be reached through the overhead announcement/PA system at Hobby Lobby. Not just any Hobby Lobby, mind you, but the one in San Antonio on Bitters Road.

I was in line checking out one day. The young man was entering my items and I was watching like a hawk (being the frugal girl I am) to be sure he entered all my sale items correctly. Suddenly a voice from above spoke. Okay, it was the voice of the manager & the speakers were above. Just go with the story. I heard the voice say, "God, call 026." YES, that is what I heard! Then he repeated it, but this time I heard, "Scott, call 026." Apparently, at Hobby Lobby they also call God Scott. I kind of giggled & said, "I thought he said GOD call 026," thinking I was the only nutcase in the place. The cashier AND the person behind me BOTH said, "That's what I heard, too!" That means that very likely anyone in the store listening heard God being paged over the intercom!

So there you have it. While I believe God is everywhere, I now know that at Hobby Lobby on Bitters in San Antonio, there is a direct line to God on extension 026.

Hope that put a smile on your face today!

My dad's birthday and a card

Yes, Virginia, there is a stamper! My dad's birthday is December 31st. It's always been convenient for him to just throw a New Year's Eve party & celebrate his birthday! LOL! Yesterday was his 75th birthday, but we didn't do a big party like we did at 75. It was a nice quiet evening. I apparently didn't take a picture of him looking up, so the one above is at Christmas of him & my mom with the girls.

His favorite cake is German Chocolate with coconut pecan icing, so I took that. Mom made his favorite pie: Coconut Cream. Do you notice a theme here? Yes, he likes coconut.

My friend Karen (stampngoKaren on Splitcoast Stampers) was my Secret Santa in an exchange we did. She sent me such fun items, but one of my favorites was a cupcake stamp set by Inkadinkadoo that I've had my eye on for a couple of years, I think. She didn't know I'd wanted it, but what a blessing that she chose that one!

You may be thinking, "I know Lori as Attention Deficit issues, but she's gone too far this time. Really, what do her dad's birthday and a secret Santa gift have to do with each other?" Normally, nothing. Well, my dad has white hair, a little beard and a big tummy. He has a deep voice & at Christmas we call him Poppaw Clause. That's not the connection. I used the stamp set to make a card for my dad with a German Chocolate Cupcake topped with Coconut & Pecan frosting!

I used his camera & wasn't familiar with the settings & such, so I didn't snap a very good shot. In real life, the card base is a deep forest green (whatever SU's forest green is now called---is it Forest Foliage?), the papers are from Basic Grey Fruitcake (the little square) and K & Co. Winter Wonderland (the big piece---tee-hee!).

I hope to get some more cards made ASAP, plus will be cutting out & sewing up some bags in the next week.

Thanks for stopping by for this little birthday party!