Somerset Holiday & Celebrations 2013

Even thou this magazine was released back in early September, it's one you can refer back to all year long, since it has how-to projects for many holidays and celebrations through out the year.
We are especially overjoyed to have had contributed two holiday themed projects: a Halloween project and a Valentine's one for the 2013 issue of Somerset Holidays & Celebrations.
If you were busy running around for the holidays like a lot of us and missed this issue on newsstands, you can pick up a copy online here.

A Mini Tree Make-Over

 

We had so many things we wanted to share with you during the Christmas season, but time always seems to get away from us, and we never get our posts up. Well until now, so even though this might be a Christmas project you could be crazy like us and display your trees all year round... so this idea is for you now or pin this for Christmas 2014. 

We did a mini makeover on this 30" green table top tree we picked up at one of our many visits to Homegoods over the past holiday season.

(btw Homegoods is one of our favorite spots to find all types of holiday trees)    

 Wish we had a shot of the tree base. Its base was in a brown burlap bag with foe fur wrapped around it...it was oh so UGLY.  So we had to look past that and focus on the tree. We liked the color, height and the branches were easy to bend. We have been looking for a natural looking tree to display our mini woodland collection and this one  fit the bill and for $14.99  how could we not.  At another outing to HG we picked up this pot with bark on it and was saving it for the right tree. Yay!!

How~To: When we removed the burlap from the tree we were left with a small square block of cement in a styrofoam base. We removed the styrofaom and left the cement block. Then we gathered some rocks and a small bucket of quick-setting cement. We added the rocks to bottom of the pot to level the tree. We put  tree in the pot then mixed the cement. We found using a plastic spoon made it easy to scoop and pack down.

 Once the cement was packed down and smoothed over with the back of the spoon we used a wet paper towel to wipe the pot edges before the cement hardens.

**Suggestion: Once the cement hardens in the pot it became rather heavy. We preferred this since we were using it as a display at the craft show and we wouldn't have to worry about it falling over. But if you are using it for your home decor you might want to add more rocks around the sides, so you use less cement. 

The cement should harden in less than a day. We added moss to cover the base and embellished with pine cones and cinnamon sticks to give it that woodland appeal.

See how a simple little make over can turn this little tree into a treasure. We are sure this tree will be hanging around our home well into the spring season. We can already see bunnies and eggs displayed on this beauty.

Share with us your own holiday tree projects or if you have one that needs a little sprucing up, send us a photo and maybe we can help.   info@swirlydesigns.com 

Scupley & Swirly Holiday How-to Series

We are very happy to announce that Sculpey and Swirly will be collaborating on 5 more Holiday How-to projects for 2014!

We really hope you enjoy these creative and fun Holiday themed how-to projects as much as we do  creating them.  To be notified when the projects are online make sure you like Swirly Designs and Sculpey facebook pages.

Below are the projects we created in 2013 

scroll down to see the links for the step by step how-to projects

All projects are for personal, non-commercial use ONLY.

 

The Bunny Egg Treat Box we created for Easter 

 

 We created two Halloween how-to's

Premo! Miniature Vampire Halloween Cup 

and

Halloween Place Card Holder Trio

 Autumn Fox Figurine

Christmas Saint Nick Sculpture

Look who stopped by the studio today.

We had a sweet guest visiting us today at the studio! Dani from SweetDaniB/Invitations, Paper Goods, Favors came by to go over some last minute preparations for our upcoming holiday collaboration! More details soon!

Lianne, Dani & Paul at the Swirly studio.

How-to: Heart Tree Topper

This project is for personal, non-commercial use.

We love decorating for Valentine’s Day and as you may know we might have a few mini trees (is six a few??) decked out here to celebrate love day. Now, we don't expect you to have six trees... three would be fine..but even if you only have one here is a simple how-to project you can do to create this sweet tree topper for your own Valentine’s tree.

Materials
• Paper Mache covered styrofoam heart (we found these at Micheal's for a buck)
• Red and pink craft pain
• Sliver Dresden trim (D Blumchen & Co.)
• 3/8" ribbon coral rose color
• 5/8" ribbon lite pink color
• silver tinsel
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• a bamboo skewer

Step 1.
Take your scissors and make a hole at the bottom of the heart big enough to fit on your tree branch.


Step 2.
Paint. We painted one side bright red and the other side pink, but you can create any color combination you feel fits your ornament color palette. It could be red and gold, silver and purple etc.). Don't worry about the edges where the two colors meet, you'll be covering it with trim.


Step 3.
To make it easier to paint your heart, insert your bamboo skewer.Easier to hold, plus when done you can insert it into a glass to let the paint dry.


Step 4.
Cut two pieces of each of your 3/8 and 5/8 color ribbon 22" inches long (this size could vary depending on the size of your tree. You want the ribbon long enough to be able to drape down your tree) Use a glue gun to glue the ribbon around bottom hole of the heart alternating colors.

Step 5.
Glue the silver Dresden trim around the edges of the heart where the two colors meet. Then glue a piece of tinsel around the base covering the end your ribbon.


There you have it....your Valentine Heart Tree Topper!


Insert your heart onto the top of one of your trees and drape your ribbon down the tree.




The heart can easily be switched around if you want the pink side.

How great does the bright red side workwith our silver tinsel tree? It just makes all the red "pop" on the tree.


The red side also works well with a pale pink tree if you want more of a contrast.


...or switch it around to make the whole tree in tones of pink.

Have fun... be creative... use your own imagination to create your own lovely Valentine heart tree topper!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Check out our Tweet little shadow box

We thought we would share with you a quick little project we did this week for a friends daughters 3rd birthday gift using one of our swirly ornaments.

Our friend really liked our Swirly birds ornament we created for our Spring collection. Unfortunately we sold out of the designs before she could order one. So we told her we would create another one. By the time we got around to creating a new one, her little girls birthday was coming up. Perfect we thought, we can create a cute shadow box so she can hang it in her room all year long. It's very simple and with a few supplies you too can create this tweet little shadow box.


We picked up a simple white shadow box frame at our local craft store along with a piece of scrapbook paper, some paint, embellishments & tissue paper. Take the frame apart and set the glass aside until your done. Use the background cardboard of the frame as a template for your scrapbook paper. We used Mod Podge to glue the paper to the cardboard. Then we dry brushed with white paint over the scrapbook paper to dull down the pattern a little.


We then cut up small rectangle and square shapes out of tissue paper.


Using Mod Podge again, we glued the tissue on the top and bottom of the frame for a punch of color . Then we painted a light green wash around the front and two sides of the frame.


The shadow box came with a thin piece a paper for the frame mat. You can use that paper as a template on a piece of really nice decorative paper. We picked a metallic white glitter cardstock and embellished it with paper flowers.


The creativity is endless when decorating your frame. Just remember you want to make sure the frame compliments your artwork/ornament and not competes with it.


The frame is now complete and all that is left is hot gluing the ornament to the background. Assemble the frame and hang it on your wall!

We hope Catherine will enjoy this for years to come. Happy Birthday!
~Lianne & Paul

Valentine Garland How-to

This project is for personal, non-commercial use.

We thought we would share the love this week and post a sweet little Valentine garland how-to. Try these simple steps so you can create your own festive heart garland to decorate your Valentine's tree, drape over a doorway or string along a bookcase.
Materials
• Color cover stock
• Craft glue
• White string or thin ribbon
• 1/16" circle puncher
• Heart shape puncher
• Paper mini flowers
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors




Step 1.
Choose some nice heavy weight color paper. We went with two different colors (pink & red) for a two tone heart look. With your heart puncher (if you don't have a heart punch you can make a paper template and trace it and cut it out by hand). Punch out a bunch of hearts; you will need the same amount of hearts in each color.


Step 2.
Take one of each color heart and with your scissors cut a slit in the bottom of one heart and a slit in the top of the other heart.


Step 3.
Slide the hearts together




Step 4.
Make as many as you wish.


Step 5.
Use your glue and run a bead of glue down the heart for extra strength.


Step 6.
Once your paper hearts have dried take your 1/16" puncher and make a hole for the string.


Step 7.
Cut a piece of string or ribbon to whatever length you need and make a loop at one end. We made our garland approx 20" long.


Step 8.
String your hearts through the string and loop the other end. Equally space your heart on your string.


Step 9.
Now with your glue gun add a dab of glue on each side of the heart so your hearts won't slide. (we used a glue gun because the glue dries super fast but you could use regular glue if you wish)


Step 10.
Then glue your paper flowers in between the paper hearts.


There you have it.... your Valentine Hearts & Flowers garland.




Have fun... be creative... use your own imagination to create your own lovely Valentine's garland!

Our How-to is also linked up to these creative DIY sites: Whipperberry & The DIY showoff