Summer Serenity

Well with Swirlydoos getting back on it's feet again, we are all doing just fine. This is another LO I did with Summer Serenity July kit. I have used this photo before, but as a rebirth of the website, I used it again. The flowers were done with the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die. Tutorial to follow this week. The leaves were also cut from the add on cardstock to the kit. The butterflies were from a file I shared, and all the butterfly files will be back in Swirlydoos, it will just take time to reload all of them. The photo mat was stamped with one of my Tim Holtz stamps and distressed with ink. I wove some ribbon through the edge punched card stock, used Scribbles 3D paint for the little pearls and used some of my new Wild Orchids tiny roses. I also made the butterfly trails with the 3D paint onto some transparency and cut them out.



Here are some close ups of the LO...

More Summer Serenity

This LO was completed with Swirlydoos July Summer Serenity kit. I used one of the new Prima Stamps that I won to stamp the backround paper and then sewed around the border.I also used my new Zutter distressing machine to fray the ends. I made my flower using my ribbon flower technique and then wove the rest through the cardstock. The photo is of my mom, 2 of her brothers, her little sister, aunt and nanny and nanny's son. The nanny and my mom's aunt were in charge of taking care of the children while my mom's parents flew to NY from Puerto Rico to set up a home for their new life in the United States. My mom is the one holding her doll. She was always the nurturer. Not surprised that she was a nurse for 40 years before she retired.

Summer Serenity

This LO was totally inspired by Gabriellep...Thanks Gabi!!
This LO was done with the July kit "Summer Serenity". Because Swirlydoos is not back up yet, I will be posting any new information about my tutorials on Swirlydoos Blog and here. The kit is absolutely fabulous this month as always. The papers are Basic Gray Capella line. Such lush beautiful designs on the papers. I did some distressing and sewing on the papers as well as Robins wet paper distress technique. I painted the Thickers letters with puffy paint and then sprinkled it with Diamond Dust. Tutorial to follow this week on a different Letter Technique. The butterflies were from the file I shared for this kit and the tall woody vine was traced from my Dusty Attic Chipboard, cut out of Card Stock and Rock Candy Stickled. I also added some Kaiser Craft Rhinestones. The tiny pink flowers were in the kit, they were Kaiser Craft flowers and I folded them in quarters and scrunched them a little, then added to the Sizzix die cut leaves. The flowers are Prima, and the ribbon is from Offray and woven through the scalloped cut paper. The scallops on the strip were punched from an EK Success new edge punch. The tiny pom pom trim was white and I dyed it with the alcohol ink that came in the add on technique kit this month. I also colored the pearls from ZVA with the alcohol ink and used it for the butterfly trail. The photo is my beautiful daughter Gabrielle. With life going in a million different directions at this time, I tell her to slow down and just Breath...
Here are some closeups and details from the LO...












The backround on my Imagine LO was enhanced by stamping the back round paper with Prima's border frame stamps using Tim Holtz Distress ink in Vintage Photo. The green vine was once again cut out from card stock after tracing the Dusty Attic design. I added the beautiful die cut leaves that were a gift from my friend Faye. Faye and her family own 3 Tails Craft & Cards in Australia. If you love Dusty Attic, you will love 3 tails. I look forward to using more of their laser cut products on my LO's. Faye sent me a generous amount of product to work with. Thank you Faye!! Please check out the site for information. They have an online store as well as a physical store. The tiny red flowers on the vine were made as in the previous post but were colored with Glimmer Mist and a tiny stem added to the base and attached to the vine. The photo was created using Holly Mcaig Border Effects digital Elements and processed in Photoshop CS4. The Photo was enhanced with Florabella Actions. The title was inspired by John Lennons song Imagine, and some of the words are written around the photo mat using a brown Zig pen in 5mm. The photo is my sisters Granddaughter Nikki.Nikki's mom took the Photo on a visit to Bok Tower Gardens in Florida, not far from their home.



The next LO uses the very same flowers I did the tutorial on. Swirly Fiesta Flowers. Used a Martha Stewart punch for the Deco Scallops. The leaves are a Sizzix die and inked and scrunched a bit to give them depth. Butterflies from the files I shared and the trails from the ZVA pearl flourishes in the kit that I took apart.The writing was done with a Uni-Ball Signo Broad White Gel Pen.



I have more LO's to share with you from the kit, but it is past my bedtime and I have to get up before 5am in the morning for work. So good night all ...Sweet dreams...

Swirlydoos has been hacked!!!

Krissy's open letter to Swirlydoos and the loyal members.

Dear Valued Swirlydoos Members, It is with a very heavy heart that I write this letter to you. Over the past 3 days a nasty, vicious *insert really bad expletive here* person hacked into our website and functionally destroyed it. This person got into the system and deleted every single photo, graphic, text, layout, everything. It is all gone. You've no idea how crazy it makes me to have to type that. I put a year and a half of my time, heart and soul into that website and they took it all down in a matter of days. BLAH!!!!!!! Anyway - I'm getting emotional. I apologize. We are going to have to completely re-build swirlydoos.com. We lost all of the forum posts, we lost all of the previous kit photos. But, we did NOT lose our desire to have a tremendously talented and kind online community of the best scrapbookers in the world. We did NOT lose our drive to continually support you in your art while putting out the most gorgeous kits and products we can get our hands on. They may have TRIED to put us out of commission, but they've only hardened our resolve (and made us hurry up and re-design grrrr). By the end of this evening when you go to www.swirlydoos.com you will be automatically redirected to our blog site www.swirlydoos.blogspot.com. This is where we will be putting all updates and Heaven forbid our Kit Reveal for Wednesday. Nothing has changed with the kit shipments, none of YOUR personal information has been compromised. The only changes you will notice right now are that obviously - the site is gone, the gallery is gone and the store is gone. We are working diligently at this very moment to get it all put back "somewhat" the way it was and it is my personal hope that we will have some semblance of our beloved site back up and running on reveal day. I am very sincerely sorry for any trouble this may have caused any of you - trust me if I could get my hands on these people..... If you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to contact me. The most important thing right now is that you all know that NOTHING has changed with the kits and the shipping, and all communications will be via email or our blog for the next few days. Best scrappy wishes to you all, The Swirlydoos Team.

Swirly Fiesta Flower

I have been inspired to create yet another flower...This one was inspired by Prima's Fiesta Flower. I try to do a new flower with each monthly kit that Swirlydoos comes out with. Here is my version.


Product List
1.Book pages or cardstock
2.Glimmer Mist, Shimmerz, alcohol Ink etc...
3.Lumineire or Luminart paint or any iridescent paint
4.Rock Candy Stickles
5.thin paint brush
6.Diamond Dust
7.chalk ink
8. glue or adhesive of your choice
9.Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Florals die



Step 1.
Cut 2 large, 2 smaller and 1 small flower shape. I used Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.



Step 2.

With a lighter color Glimmer Mist, spray the larger flowers. With a darker color spray the smaller flowers and paint the smaller one a solid color.



Step 3.

With your Luminiere Paint, on the back side of the flowers paint just the petals.
Ink the edges of the petals using a soft black chalk ink.
Clip in between the petals of the smaller 2 flowers just a bit.



Step 4.

Using the thin handle on a paint brush, curl the petals of the larger flower in onto the right side of the flower. Curl the petals on one flower tighter than the other as shown in the photo. You should see the side that you painted with the Luminiere on top of the curled petals. Repeat for the smaller flowers. Curl in the petals of the smallest flower also.




Step 5.
Now, Stack the flowers by the largest loosely curled flower on the bottom, followed by the tightly curled large flower, then the loosely curled medium flower, then the tightly curled flower, then last on top is the smallest flower. Use glue, tape runner, glue dots or your favorite adhesive to attach each layer.



Step 6.

Place any kind of middle you would like for the flowers. Buttons, Brads, Small flowers, I chose 3 simple pearls in the one in the photo.



Step 7.

With your Rock Candy Stickles, just touch the edges of the top of the curled petals of the flower.



Step 8.

While the stickles are still wet, dip the flower into the Diamond dust, and shake off slightly.



Your beautiful flowers are done.
You could substitute glitter or stickles for the diamond dust just to give the flower shimmer.
You could use patterned paper or cardstock in a solid color.
I love Prima's Fiesta Flowers, and they gave me the inspiration to create these. Hope you like them!! Link back to me if you make them, I would love to see what you come up with!!

Pocketbook Purse by Zandra!!

I just had to share with you a beautiful piece of art...My blogging friend Zandra makes the most incredible "Pocketbook Purses"...And guess who had the honor to receive one!!! YES!!! Meeeeeeee!!!!!!! I will tell you, this girl is incredibly talented!! Her name is Zandra Cudney, and here is a little trivia about her. She says "I was named after "Zorro". My father liked watching the TV show and hence replaced the "s" with a "z". When I'm asked to spell it I always say "Z" as in zebra. Hmmm, maybe that's why I like zebra print so much?"
Is that not so cute!! And she happens to be a Prima addict just like us Swirly Girls!! You know, she did beautiful pages with Swirlydoos kits! But the albums she creates are gorgeous. You really need to hop on over to her blog and check out her work, and her scraproom is to die for!!! I think she has stock in Prima!!! LOL..Anyway, I was very excited to receive my gift from Zandra, I asked her how she could part with such a beautiful album, she replied that she made an identical one for herself, so it wasn't that hard! Is that so sweet!! She used the new Pink Paislee collection “Queen Bee.” Lots of Prima, and what a surprise to see she included Prima hydrangeas that she used my technique with micro beads and stickles on and added a butterfly from one of my butterfly files I shared!! It tickled my heart!! The little details are incredible, she made a tiny stick pin made with Austrian crystals..They sparkle like diamonds, and the handle has this cute little bear tucked between the lush beads...Super cute!! I tell you the pictures dont do it justice!! I think I am going to try my hand at making one of these, I will have to grab tips from Zandra as she is the expert!! Well dont delay, go check out her Blog Home SCRAPS TO BEAUTY BY ZANDRA..you will be inspired!! Thank you Zandra for the lovely gift, I will treasure it!! And fill it with love!!

Summer Dress

I must admit, little girls in summer dresses makes me happy!! Reminds me of all the sewing of summer dresses I did when Gabbie was a little girl!! The photo in the LO is my sister Laurie's grand daughter Nikki. She just happens to be my sisters first grandbaby, and she is the love of her life!! Nikki's mom and family took a trip to Boc Tower Gardens in Lake Wales Florida where the picture was captured. Somewhere in the beautiful gardens. And if you have never been, you must go visit, it is absolutely captivating!! The LO was done with the Swirlydoos June kit Antebellum Beauty. I just love the papers from Glitz Design and GCD Bella Blue...And the kit is loaded with the most beautiful "accessories"...Like the Glitz Design - Vintage Love Collection - Paper Layers which I used for the backround mat in the photo. They are the sweetest book pages fashioned after antique books. I also used Martha Stewart all around punch for the bigger mat. I painted some chip board letter with Lumiere Paint in Halo Blue Green.It shines like chromalussion paint. Changing color depending on which way you look at it.



The flower is Prima's Grand Dame Fabric Flower. The layer of lace between the floer layers is beautiful. I used my Tim Holtz Bird cage die again, painted it with Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint in Antique Linen, then lightly rubbed some brown chalk ink in it to bring out the cracks. I also wrapped the teeniest rode buds around the cage. They came from Wild Orchids Crafts, an online company in the UK. They have beautiful mulberry flowers. The smaller flowers are Prima and the leaves are from a Petaloo flower that I cut apart to make the perfect leaves.





The butterflies I created started with printing out the file I created for this kit. I then painted them with Rock Candy Stickles and dusted them lightly with Diamond Dust. Then I found the most beautiful chunky Glitter at Michaels and just kissed the edges of the wings in the glitter.The color is called Ice, and gives such an iridescent glow. I finished them by adding some Prima E-line crystals and just touched a few spots with Stickles in "Waterfall".

Panama Hat

This LO was done with the Swirlydoos June "Antebellum Beauty" kit. It was also done for Megs June Round Robin challenge at Swirlydoos. The theme this month was Summer. My summer photo is of my brothers sweet girlfriend Alexsandra. The two are in Puerto Rico right now and are staying in Old San Juan...Which is the heart of Puerto Rico. On one of there adventures in the city, they stopped at a hat store that custom makes hats fit just for you. You can actually watch them weave the hat from plaited leaves of the toquilla straw plant, and making them is an art. So they each had a Panama Hat made. The hats help to keep you cooler during the hot tropical summers. Doesn't Alex look adorable in hers?? She is a beauty IRL...I call her my brothers Island girl. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, but got her higher education here in the states.She is a textile designer , So her sense of style is fabulous.... So you never know that great summer dress you purchased at Macy*s, may be her print design...Any way, summer is not complete in Puerto Rico unless you have a Panama Hat...Oh I realized I forgot to glue the pearls down on the birdcage...Do over tomorrow!! All of the pearls came from my sweet Swirly Sister Tina(TinamarieR) who is now on the design team with us!!

Butterfly Challenge

For those of you who may not know, Angelica Franssen has been appointed a Swirlydoos Design Team position. And if you know Angelica, she loves her butterflies. So as a collaborative effort over at Swirlydoos, Angelica will be holding a Butterfly challenge, and I will be creating the butterfly image files that will coordinate with each monthly Swirlydoos kit. Of course with the growing number of butterfly images I will be adding, be sure to go visit the forums at Swirlydoos to grab a copy of your own. We haven't revealed the July kit yet, you may have already ordered some of the addons, so here are the butterfly images that will coordinate with the kit. I hope to see lots of fluttering on your pages...And don't forget to enter the Butterfly challenge each month at Swirlydoos...

Double left click on the image for a larger file, and download to print...

Just a little TOOT!!

Just got an email from Irene Swain who writes for The Examiner in Tampa Bay...and it was a pleasant surprise!!! Check it out!!! I am proud to design for Swirlydoos, and obviously it shows!!!

Forever

This is a LO I did with the gorgeous "Antebellum Beauty" kit from Swirlydoos. I really love the blues in the papers, and blue and brown is one of my favorite color combo's. Using one of my Crafters Workshop Templates, I cut out the scalloped design of the brown paper. I thin used my Swirly sister Robins technique for the wet paper distressing, wrinkled and crumpled slightly then inked it while it was still a little damp. That helps the ink bleed a little. I like the effect. The ribbon was a bit to wide to thread through the paper so I sewed, gathered and tied to create the scallops, then just glued to the paper using Alene's quick dry glue and placed a Prima pearl between each gather. I used parts of my punched Martha Stewart scallop punch to peak out from behind my ripped paper. I made the distressed blue rose in the corner then I made the green ribbon flowers and placed some Prima flowers on top of them. I will be putting up the tutorial for the ribbon flowers. I placed tiny rose buds in a few places. I found them at a wonderful UK online store Wild Orchid Crafts. I ordered a bunch of flowers...So beautiful!!!! The buds are just so sweet!! The photo is my boss's daughter Crystal at her wedding a couple of months ago. Although I wasn't the official photographer, I did take a lot of photo's. She was just a beautiful bride. Of course I put my Photoshop twist on this one. Love my Swirlydoo kits...They never disappoint!!!

"ANTEBELLUM BEAUTY" SWIRLYDOOS JUNE KIT

This LO was done with the Swirlydoos June "Antebellum Beauty" kit.
Photo is my daughter Gabrielle taken the evening of her 11th grade homecoming. Green Ribbon flowers created with 1/2 inch crinkle ribbon...Tutorial to follow here blog sometime this week. Smaller blue flowers are punched using the Retro punch. Butterflies from file released for this kit also here. I stickled them with Rock Candy. It gives them an antique sparkle. I wove some silky ribbon through the paper and placed Prima E-line rhinestones in between the tufts. Did some border punching, and scrunching of the Sizzix viney leaf branches. I also Randomly placed E-line pearls around the page...



The photo is me and my son back in 1990, sitting under our big Silver Oak tree just soaking up the sunshine...I was barefoot as always. We went to North Carolina and visited friends and our friend Bobby gave us some pictures he had of my little family (pre Gabbie) in our younger days. This was one of them. Nice to have little surprises like this one. The Antebellum Beauty kit is just full of so much beauty. Unfortunately because I was on vacation shortly after the kit arrived, I only got 2 LO's done for reveal day...I couldn't postpone my 25th Wedding Anniversay vacation though. lol..I made the distressed paper rose. Used Tina's kicked up tutorial..Go check it out, she used my basic coffee filter tute and kicked it up a notch!! I used my Sizzix HEARTS die. It is wonderful because it has 4 different sizes. I made 5-6 of each size for the one flower. It comes out nice and full. I love the look. More realistic.I created a butterfly file to match this kit... Well, I am off to create lots more with this wonderful kit!! Wish I had more time to blog!!

Sisters

This is a DT LO for Swirlydoos "Antebellum Beauty". The June kit feature the gorgeous Ella Blue line from GCD Studio's and The Vintage Love line from Glitz...They are beautiful!! The Flowers were given to us by Krissy at Swirlydoos Camp last month. The are from Petaloo. The flowers wre layered Rock Candy Stickled and I put some white stamen in the middles. I then crunched them a little to distress further. The leaved were punched from a Sizzix die and cut apart. The butterflies are from the file I shared for this months kit, I just stickled them also, and when cutting them out, I also cut out antennae in the shape I wanted. The blue cardstock was punched with a Martha Stewart punch. The paper was distressed using Robins water distress technique which Peggy explained nicely here. I found the cute vintage tag at The Graphics Fairy...She has awesome stuff there!! The frame is Dusty Attic chipboard frame. I left it in it's raw form, because it is so beautiful.I lightly inked it, although I could see doing a wonderful painted Patina finish on it. The photo is my sister and I a couple of years ago. We fought like cats and dogs when we were kids, but love each other to death today!! OK, off to create another LO...Lets see what I can get done on my day off!! Probably not a whole lot of housework...ssssshhhhhh....Dont tell!!

Butterfly Images

For those of you who will be receiving the Swirlydoos June kit, these butterflies will go beautifully!! Cant show the kit as it hasn't been revealed yet, but when I tell you it is gorgeous...Believe me!! Enjoy the butterflies. I print them up on a 5 x 7 piece of cream colored cardstock, cut them out, and Stickle them with Rock Candy for old fashioned glitz...Just adding a little bit of diamond dust to the edges gives them an exquisite beauty. Try it, and for more of my images check out Swirlydoos at this link!!

http://www.swirlydoos.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?59411.0

Vacation

Sorry for neglecting my blog...I am on Vacation and will not be back until May 26th...I have lots new ideas and tutorials when I get back!!

50 Years

I thought the papers in the May kit La Vie En Rose from Swirlydoos was perfect for me parents wedding pictures, but also for this LO which has the photo of their 50th wedding anniversary formal portrait. I made the green and red flowers and distressed them with Color Box Merlot chalk ink. A tutorial will follow soon. I made the vines and used Prima flowers and leaves. The music sheet paper is an antique music book that I got on Ebay last year. It is a large sheet book almost 12 x 12. The corner treatment was inspired by my blogger friend, Yuka Hino from Japan.. You need to check out her blog, her work is totally gorgeous!! I just noticed my heart isn't hanging down..oh well..It got stuck sideways!! I used a Tim Holtz book plate and the small journal card came in the kit. I just love the Bo Bunny Chunky Charms. We have gotten them a couple of times before in our kits in different colors!! Love em!! I left this one black and sprayed it with some Shimmerz in Before Dawn also from the La vie en Rose Embellishment Add On. My LO's from the kit were not revealed until after reveal day because we were at Swirly Camp in the Rocky Mountains!! I opted to have my kit for Camp...

Beautiful Melody

This is a Design Team LO for Swirlydoos, using the May kit "Le Vie en Rose". Because of Swirlydoos camp and my work schedule, I wasn't able to make reveal day in time. I opted to take my kit to camp!!. This was also done for Tina's SGC Challenge May ~ Distress and Layers challenge. 5 or more distressed layers and a hand made rose as the twist. Tina used my coffee filter Rose tutorial at Swirlydoos, and perfected a distressed technique in altering the flower even further..more realistic, more beautiful!! The leaves were cut from a Sizzix die and embossed with my Cuttlebug and folder. Then they were inked and rolled for a more realistic look. The book page in my photo mat came from a book that my friend at work found for me on one of her many garage sale haunts...Swiss Family Robinson. The copyright??? 1899...Almost sacrilege to tear out pages, but they are so weathered and beautiful..Thanks Robin, for the wonderful find!!!! Love Martha's Deco Scallop punch!! I used Coordinations cardstock, then embossed and sanded to bring out the red under the black..Love that paper!! Used Gabriellep's scallop edge technique, but Robins run it under the water technique to soften paper. This was a great kit to work with, I have much more to use!!

EXCLUSIVE SWIRLYDOOS WINTER CHA MAKE N TAKE

I did this flower tutorial back in January for Swirlydoos. I have had requests for it on my blog.OK...Since we couldnt go to CHA, and we missed out on all the fun of make n takes..I devised my own version just for us...I cant provide you with the materials, but I can provide you with instructions and a beautiful leaf pattern to down load The flower was inspired by Ilina Crouse who is a creative stamper, cardmaker and scrapbooker. I just added the leaves, which you could just use alone as an embellishment. I used them a lot in my February LO's. So here it is...What do you think!! I love my paper crimper!!


1. 12 x 12 paper..Thinner is best, cardstock is hard to work with for this project
2. 2 inch circle punch (or cut out yourself)
3. 1 sheet of cardstock
4. Decorative edge punch or Deco scissors
5. Paper crimper
6. Double sided tape (I use my ATG gun) Tape runner
7. Flower centers of your choice




Step 1

Cut 2 strips of paper 12 x 1 inch each
Punch or cut out your 2 inch circle
Edge punch or Deco cut one edge of the strips.

Then run the strips through the paper crimper.




With your adhesive tape runner, cover one side of your 2 inch circle.



Starting with one end of the paper strip, start adhering the paper around the circle making little pleats along the way as you wind it around.



It will look like this when you are done with the first layer. You may have to tuck in the end of the strip for neatness.



Starting with the second strip of paper, repeat the step again of winding it around the circle closer to the middle for your second flower layer.



Once again, you may have to tuck under the end of the strip to tie up loose ends. It should look like this.



Add a flower center, buttons, smaller flowers. beads, glittered centers. What ever you want. Make it your own. The rose in the center of flower 2 was made using the tutorial I just finished, that will be in the tutorial section soon. You can ink, stickle glitter, crackle or anything your creative swirly heart desires to make the flower your own...


Just save the leafy vine pictures to your computer, then print them up on 4 x 6 beige cardstock. The 3 colors provided were custom made by me to coordinate with the February papers in the kit. I hand cut them which took a little time, but so well worth the effort. I probably could have made an SVG file and cut it with my Cricut, but I think some of the stems are too fine. You can try though...

I hope you enjoy this mini Swirlydoos Make n Take!!




AND THE LEAVES...Just copy, print, cut out...