Swirly in Craft Ideas Magazine Fall 2016

 We are thrilled to be part of the 2016 Fall issue of Craft ideas Magazine with a Thanksgiving project.

Corn cob place card holder

 

What we really enjoy with the how-to project for the magazine is that will supplied them with step by step photos to make the project.

 

 Be sure to check out a copy of Craft ideas Fall magazines at your favorite magazine seller.

Be Green and make your own LORAX!

This project is for personal, non-commercial use.

Our kids have been eagerly awaiting The Lorax movie since seeing the trailer last fall. They also received the book for Christmas and we must have read it to them once a week since then. They know it word for word. So you know where we will be heading this weekend... but before that we thought we would create a little LORAX how~to in celebration of the Lorax and Dr. Seuss' upcoming birthday.

**The orange handle lino cutter in the picture above is not something you need for this project. We used this to create the hair texture then realized a toothpick could work just as well.

Materials for the Lorax
• 2 oz White, Orange & Yellow Premo Polymer clay
• 1/4 circle cutter
• black craft paint
• toothpick
• super slicer
• 20 gauge wire and wire cutters
• Sculpey Ultra Light
• oven
• ceramic tile
• drill

Materials for the Truffula Trees
• bamboo skewers
• fuzzy pom poms
• yellow and black craft paint
• glue
• paint brush

Materials for the Green hill
• 2 oz Green Premo clay
• toothpick
• paper flowers


To make the Truffula Trees. Paint the bamboo skewers yellow. Once dry use a dry brush and paint your black stripes. add glue to the end of your skewer and insert your fuzzy pom poms. Cut skewers to various sizes.


We created an egg shape armature with the Ultra light sculpey (make and bake the armature first) to insert in the center of the Lorax. It will make it lighter to stay on the skewer. If you don't plan on making it a plant stake then you don't have to make the armature.

Using the orange clay, we rolled and sculpted the body. Use a bamboo skewer to help form and mold the legs. Use a piece of the wire to insert into both of the arms to give it more strength. Once you decide the placement of your arms smooth them to the Loraxs' body.


Using a 1/4" circle cutter, make the eyes and eye lids. Roll out a small orange oval for the nose and a small snake for the mouth.
Take some yellow and shape the eyebrows and mustache. Then add the features to the face.


Once the Lorax is complete, use a toothpick to create the fur.
Then place your figure on a smooth ceramic tile and bake in your oven according to the manufacturer's instructions. Let cool.


Once cooled, use some black craft paint to paint the mouth and eyes.


If you want to make it a plant stake like the image below, use a power drill and very carefully drill a hole in the bottom the width of your bamboo skewer.

There you have it. You can make a bunch of these Lorax plant stakes which make a neat gift for your teacher or family members for spring or Earth Day. UNLESS....


...you want to create a little "scene" with a green hill and paper flowers and some Truffula trees.

Enjoy and have fun creating your own little Lorax world.
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!


Here is the what our 6 year old created while we were making this how-to.
Definitely LORAX approved!
~Lianne & Paul

Things we LOVE!

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Valentine's Day.

We didn't do anything for each other mainly because we have been celebrating, designing and thinking Valentine's for the past two months. So yesterday was all about the kids (when isn't it?). The whole day was full of things they love to do. So we played games, did crafts made brownies and cookies which we decorated after dinner and watched some Valentine's specials that we DVR'd.

Today got us thinking about things we love and we thought we would share some for today's post since February is the month of love. So here are a few things that make us swoon (of course we aren't going to list family or friends... that's a given!)

• We LOVE curling up in a big chair next to a window when the sunlight is pouring in.

• We LOVE visiting our favorite blogs to read their new posts of the day.

• We LOVE going to the bookstore and discovering new holiday themed magazines and books. Counting down the minutes to all the new Easter/Spring issues.

• We LOVE the feeling minutes after we send out our e~mailer announcing our new ornament collection is online.

• We LOVE reading and listening (podcasts) about other artists and crafters work and how they create. Here are a few of our top favorites:
Podcasts:
Escape from illustration Island and Ask Tara Reed
Blogs:
the creative mind of Holli Conger illustration tips series and Blu Penny Sketchbook stories

• We LOVE a clean and organized studio

• We LOVE getting mail and receiving packages. How exciting it is to get little (or sometime large: we are expecting our shipment of clay for the year any day now) gifts delivered right to our front door.

• We LOVE making lists and being able to cross off completed tasks when done....Like this weeks post which is our 200th!

Comment and share with us some of the things you LOVE about the simple things in life.
Enjoy the week:)

Have you heard the news?

With everything going around here at the studio lately... getting prepared for the upcoming Holidays season and our little guy starting Kindergarten (sniff sniff)....we haven't had time to post a lot but we did want to remind you of another date to remember.... Not only does this day mark the launch of our New 2010 Halloween Autumn ornaments but Monday September 13th also is the start of the 6th season of the Martha Stewart Show which is moving to the Hallmark Channel. Smart move? I guess we will find out. But for us being huge Martha fans to be able to have large blocks of Martha programming all day is exciting! Plus we're looking forward to a new Halloween & Christmas special!

So on Monday morning get your coffee and check out our new designs while enjoying some Martha on the tube. Now that's a "Good Thing".

Swirling around Brimfield Antique fair... part one

We have been MIA lately here on our blog to be honest. Some days we don't know if we are coming or going so we are really going to try to be better with our postings.

We thought we would take a little break from the Swirly studio on this beautiful clear Saturday and visit the Brimfield Antique and Collectible show. It's the largest outdoor antique show in the world, held since 1959 in Brimfield, Massachusetts, three times each year, with thousands of dealers attending! With these shows you really need to come with a game plan. We tried to do our homework and reread Flea Market Style magazine for tips and wore comfortable shoes. We did some serious walking....6 hours straight! We weren't going to subject our little ones (a 1 & almost 5 year old) to this long day of looking but don't touch, so we dropped them off with family.

The show is always fun. The last time we were there, it was before kids, and we found some nice treasures. This year we didn't have the same luck but it was nice to get out in the fresh air and be inspired.

Here are some photos. They are not the greatest; we took them super quick as to not to be to obvious, because we felt a little weird taking pictures of the people's collectibles even though no one said we couldn't, but we still felt the eyes glaring.

So enjoy and our next post will be more on Brimfield Antique fair and what we at Swirly designs live for... the holiday decorations.



tons and tons of tents


it was extremely crowded but since it's outside and there is so much to see it's not that bad


the show goes on for miles and you never see it all. We only made it half way down the street then crossed over and came back and that took 6 hours.


The show has everything from fine antiques to just plain junk


these were cool springs... visually pretty but not sure what to do with them.


we looked high and low for these knobs for our bedroom doors and of course we got something else and now we see them everywhere!


It was a good thing our five year old wasn't here or else we would want to get this fire truck.


lots of kitchen decor like these wire baskets








Some of the vendors had some clever ideas for displaying their goods


and others would just dump them in boxes.


pretty spools of thread


more door knobs


the old toy vendors always draws a crowd. We both point out the toys we had as kids and wonder if we only kept them in better condition. Of course this Animal doll from the Muppets looks like he's hanging himself... Yikes!


You gotta love this Dukes of Hazzard lunch box.


and check out this giant hot dog...this is perfect way to end part one of this post.
Enjoy your weekend
~Lianne & Paul

Some Easter treats

Wishing you all a Happy Easter!
Here are a few treats we picked up this season to add to our ever growing collection.


This cute little egg tree we found at Homegoods. We couldn't resit picking one up. Lately, we have been searching for more smaller trees to display our new mini swirly designs. This tree is displaying our mini carrots and our mini bunny from last year.


This chick peeking out from his egg was in our 2008 Easter swirly collection.

Here is another little tree we picked up online from the BethanyLowe collection. She always has fun and different trees for every holiday season.

Here are a few places we found online that carry Bethany Lowe trees plus many more holiday decor: Traditions year round and the other Bayberry Cove.


Chirp! Chirp!




We liked this fun little Bunny snow globe by artist Jim Shore even though his style seems to be everywhere lately.


This is not a Jim Shore piece but it looks like they were trying to be. What do you think?





The egg print and the chocolate bunny print were pieces the we made with Moonrock paper company that were sold in TJX stores last year. We made boxes and easter bags in some nice Easter colors.


And what's Easter with out all the magazines celebrating the joy and fun of Easter, right?
Well unfortunately we only found one magazine worth picking up. It's one that always delivers when it comes to celebrating Easter season..... and that of course is Martha Stewart Living. Always filled with fun and inspiring projects. Martha even has her website full of ideas and projects for the big day. Check out Easter photo gallery.
Happy Easter Everybody!
~Lianne & Paul