Swirlydooos January Tech Kit sneak peak

This is sneak of part of the project I did for the Swirlydoos January techniques Kit..It was so much fun to do. Look out next week for a tutorial on how I made the scrabble tiles . I will provide the files for you, you just need chip board or grunge boeard, brown or black ink and a bottle of Glossy Accents. Look out tomorrow for the reveal.

***Fantasy Daisies Tutorial***

Product List: Cardstock Tim Holtz Tattered flowers Die Foam Ink Applicator Quilling tool small daisy punch McGill starburst punch Stylus tool set or small ball stylus chalk or distress ink McGill foam pad or mousepad (not shown) Step 1.) *Die cut 2 of the daisy shaped Tim Holtz flowers *2 of the starburst puches *1 small daisy punch * Cut a 3 inch strip 1/8 inch wide piece of cardstock the same color as the starburst Step 2.) Using your smallest stylus, make ridged lines along the underside, down the length of each petal on the flowers. Be careful not to press very hard as you will tear the paper. 3 lines on each petal is all you need. Step 3.) Using your foam applicator, load a small amount of ink onto the foam and brush the topside middle of the flower extending out slightly towards the petals, but use a very light touch as to only ink the ridges on the petals. Use the same color as the starburst shape you punched out. Step 4.) Layer your 2 daisy flowers together staggering petals. Layer your 2 starburst punches staggering them as well. Use your quilling tool to roll the card stock strip tightly and glue the end. Adhere the rolled up strip to the small daisy punch. Step 5.) Now layer the flower from bottom to top... Large flower on bottom, starburst on top of that and lastly your small daisy with rolled strip on top of starburst layers.

Winter Queen ***Heartfelt Creations***

When you think Florida, you think Palm trees swaying in the balmy breeze right???? Not so the last couple of weeks here on the Suncoast. What happened to my warm Gulf breezes??? one day last week, the weather didn't even reach 50 degrees after a morning of a frosty 34 degree temp...I know, I know...Quit complaining..Some of you are already buried in snow, trying to keep your tootsies warm by the fireplace. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire is only an apparition here on the Suncoast, but I ran to the fresh market for chestnuts...Cause I can do it now!!! So this little scenario brings you to my newest layout...Winter Queen..Yes I was chilled to the bone out there in the 30 degree weather and just had to convey how I felt..More like the Ice Queen, but Winter Queen sounded much nicer...Nothing Icy about me..But boy oh boy it has been cold. so for this weeks reveal at Heartfelt Creations and as an inspiration for a challenge at Swirlydoos to create a White plus 1 LO, I give you Winter Queen. Go to the Heartfelt Creations Blog to see how this LO was done and to see what the other designers have created with the beautiful stamps and dies...And where ever you are, If it's cold, I hope the holidays bring you the warmth of the Season...Happy Holidays!!!

The tiny flowers were created with Heartfelt Creations stamp Regal Poinsettia using the smaller stamp in the beautiful limited edition set. Then they were die cut using Nestabilities Blossom 2 by Spellbinders. The vines can be found at Swirlydoos in all kinds of colors.
The snow flake was created with Heartfelt Creations Snowflake precut set and die cut using Snowflake Wonder Shapabilities by Spellbinders...Used some Stickles for shimmer.

I just adore the little poinsettias...Just a tiny pearl to top it off.
All flowers were hand made. The lilies are a Heartfelt Creations stamp from Lily Petal Precut set. Then die cut with The Perfect Petals Die which was custom made for Heartfelt Creations by Spellbinders. So many of Heartfelt Creations stamps coordinate with Spellbinders. Then head on over to Swirlydoos to see my Swirly DT sister Lisa Valentine demonstrate in her wonderful Distressed Cala Lily tutorial on how to create the lilies. I just added Puffy paint to the edges to give them a snowy look. Did I ever tell you how much I love being on the wonderful Heartfelt Creations Design Team?? Linda and Emma Lou are 2 of the most talented generous people I know. If you are ever at a show, be sure to stop by the Heartfelt Creations Booth to meet them. And look out for some of my work...Nothing like seeing the real thing!!! The team does the most amazing cards. I am inspired.

Fairy Cosmos Flower

This month at Swirlydoos there were 2 Spotlight Kits. One was the beautiful Blossomwood Dreams that I put together, and the other gorgeous kit has all of the Fairy Flora papers from Prima and a ton of beautiful embellies. The paper is so beautiful that it inspired me to do another flower tutorial. Visiting my parents last weekend was so much fun as I got together with my brothers and the families. But the real fun was when I dragged them to AC MOORE..A store that I do not have where I live. I printed out 10 40% off coupons, handed one coupon and money to each of my family members, and one after another we went through the line to make our purchases!!! 6 of us...Me, my husband, my dad, my mom, my brother and future sister in law...I saved a whole lot!!! And they all thought I was nuts!! But I did get some awesome punches for more flower making. So here is the first of many that are Swirlydooing in my head!! I call this one "Fairy Cosmos Flower".

***Product List***
McGill Punch Floriano or a 5 petal flower punch
McGill Starburst punch
McGill Sun Punch
Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers die
Quick dry glue
Glimmer Mist or water mister bottle
Ink
small skewer or thin handles paintbrush
scissors
Cardstock for flower
Cardstock for stamen


Punch out 2 flower pieces. I also punched 2 larger flowers using my Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers punch as I will show a larger flower as well.
Punch out 4 stars and 2 starburst.


Ink each flower and snip the smaller flowers between the petals, but not to the center.
Mist the flowers with Glimmer mist for sparkle or just plain water. Do not soak, just a fine spray to dampen.
Slightly wrinkle each petal and using the thin handle of a paint brush or skewer, curl back parts of the tips of the petals randomly. Air dry or use a heat gun.
Glue both small flowers and large flower layers together staggering petals.

Glue the starburst punch stamen together staggering the pieces. Using the thin handled paintbrush or skewer, scrunch the sun punched pieces around the handle to form tight cup shaped pieces. Cut the bottom from one of star shaped punches,

Stack and glue the cupped sun punches onto one another, and the piece you cut the bottom off of, glue in the middle. Glue the cluster onto the starburst piece. Scrunch the middle slightly to ruffle the pieces.
Stack and glue the smaller flower over the larger one and top with your stamen cluster.

Here is a cluster with the large flower and 2 smaller flowers. Ready to be placed on a LO.
I hope you enjoy making these. I would love to see them when you are done. Link it to your post.

Swirlydoos Winter/Spring 2011 Design Team

Well it was an extremely difficult task to go through the many many submissions from scrappers here and all around the world who applied for the Swirlydoos Winter/Spring 2011 Design Team! I summed it up like this...
Just imagine, you are a mother of 50+ wonderful children...Each child is different but perfect in every way. Now pick the "two" children who will go to Disney World with you for the next 6 months... almost impossible I say!!
I just want to say, it was my pleasure to go through each and every application. Because If I didnt, I wouldnt have realized just how talented everyone really is. I perused their blogs and sometimes got lost for a long time just taking it all in.They were all Design Team Material, and so very happy that I got to know a little about each scrapper.
Krissy and I emailed each other back and forth ,back and forth, Skyped, talked, and more back and forth emails before we came to our decision. We had our work cut out for us.
I would like to say welcome to Camilla Ekman from Sweden

And Lisa Valentine from the USA (photo coming soon)
to the Design Team.

It took me about 4 tries calling Sweden before I got the exit number + area code + phone number before I got Camilla on the line!! She was sooo sweet and gracious accepting the position. And we had a lovely conversation about bringing her awesome talent to the team. And Lisa and I were emailing each other back and forth about something we had been working on and I forgot to email her some info, and Lisa emailed me back about forgetting to attach the info, and I said I forgot because of the excitement. She wanted to know what I was excited about, so I asked her if it was OK to call her at work, and I did, but she had no idea that my excitement was about calling her to give her the news about asking her to be on the Design Team. She was so cute...And I am happy that Angelica is staying on for another term with us. She is gonna keep us busy with that butterfly challenge. And I have to say, Both Angelica and Camilla are on ZVA's Design Team for the new term and that is awesome as well!!
I would also like to say that Tina has been such an inspiration to everyone at Swirlydoos, including me. I have forged a friendship with Tina that started when we met up in Baily,Colorado last year while attending Swirlydoos Camp up in the Rocky Mountains. And now, she is my neighbor here in Florida. So no matter what she does, she will still and always be a Swirly sister. I am almost certain that she isnt going anywhere for the time being. And I am happy about that.
Thank you to everyone that applied. And I cant wait to see ya'll Rock The New Year!!!!!
So stay tuned into Swirlydoos as we welcome the very talented Lisa and Camilla onto the Design Team. We are all in for a wild ride!!! 2011 is going to be Smashing!!!!

Swirlydoos December Divine Noel Reveal

The Noel Divine kit for Swirlydoos December edition is just that. Totally Divine. You can go for the traditional Holiday look to non traditional as I did with this first LO titled Living In The Moment. I feel like I am where I am suppose to be in my life at 49 years old. Very content. Very grateful for everything in my life. Just a few months shy from becoming 50...hhhmmmm....It's just a number to me.

I wove some grosgrain ribbon through a scalloped cut out of cardstock. I shared Butterfly files with you at Swirlydoos, I cut them out, inked and Rock Candy Stickled them.
The Petaloo vine is just beautiful. I stamped the beautiful music stamp that was in the add on kit to the background paper using Chestnut Roan. And punched and Glimmer misted some little Martha Stewart hydrangea flowers, then added a pearl to the middles.
I used Tim Holtz Tattered flowers die to create the large flower, then Glimmer Misted inked and water distressed it.
This was my daughters first Christmas. She was 4 months old and more fascinated with the bear than me trying to get her attention. The paper in this collection is so rich in texture and color.
I stamped the card stock using my Heartfelt Creations Poinsettia stamp using Perfect Medium, then I heat embossed the gold color on to the petals, Die cut them using the coordinating Heartfelt Creations Spellbinders dies a,d fussy cut the middles to create layers. I added pearls to the middles of the smaller flowers. The leaves are a Sizzix die, and I Glimmer Misted the paper for more sparkle then inked for dimension.
I used one of the rub-ons in one of the tags and added a ribbon to the top.
I used the Corner Punch Circle tutorial I created to punch my circle from card stock. And did some machine stitching around the scallop cut paper. I used Crafters Workshop template for my scallops and use a craft knife to cut them out.
More of the smaller flowers close up.
The gorgeous trim in the kit has so much depth and texture. It is really beautiful.
There aren't to many signs in Florida to let you know fall has arrived, but the appearance of Beautyberry is a sure sign winter will soon be here. I find it in the woods behind my home and it really is a lush purple in color, but for purposes of matching my LO. I edited it in Photoshop CS5. Regardless, it is a beautiful weed.
The rosette trim in the kit is beautiful. And I used MS punch around the corner set for the edge border. The corner punch in the same set was used for the circle.
The vines are just divine. I also used the backing for the vine in the LO. It is just to pretty to throw away.
Once again I used the tutorial for the punched Deco Circle. I printed the letters in Microsoft Word, cut them out and matted them with card stock before spraying with Old Lace Glimmer mist.
I created the large flower using my Tim Holtz tattered flowers die. I added some Lumiere gold paint to the leaves. I stamped the smaller flowers with Heartfelt Creations Innoscents stamps.
These are my precious kids when they were little. I use to make matching Christmas outfits for them. This is Nick trying to steal a Christmas kiss from Gabrielle. They are so sweet. Still are.
The title is a rub on and the cute chipboard letters from the kit. I painted them with gold Lumiere paint.
I enhanced the beautiful crystal vine with Heartfelt Creations Innoscents stamps.
Then sprayed with some gold Glimmer Mist to give them sparkle and shine. It leaves an Old World look to them.
I shared some butterflies specifically for this kit. You can get the file over at Swirlydoos. Then enhansed with Rock Candy Stickles and dimentional paint in gold. Did some machine stitching around the die cut paper.

Used the tutorial for the Punched Deco Circle. I see lots of scrappers using this beautiful technique and every corner punch creates a beautiful circle. Each one so different. I added dots of dimensional paint around the circle.
The main kit and all of the add ons are packed with the latest product from around the world. Each kit is designed to work with the other seamlessly. The kits can also be enhanced with product you already have on hand, and even though you can get so many LO's done with just the main kit alone, the add ons stretch it even further. then add your own elements, and you will be amazed at what and how much you can create. We show you all the different ways.
And dont forget to head on over to Swirlydoos Gallery to check out what the rest of the design Team and our subscribers have done with the kit...All I can say is WOW....

25 Tags Of Christmas Blog Contest

25 Tags Of Christmas

Blog Contest

Swirlydoos Kit Club is giving away 25 stunning Prima Keepsake Ornament Boxes in the month of December! Enter for a chance to win yours on our blog (www.swirlydoos.blogspot.com) beginning Dec. 1st and each day after until Dec. 25th! Every day we will post a theme & example for that day's tag. You create a tag based on the theme posted, upload it to your online gallery with the title reading, "Swirlydoos 25 Tags of Christmas - (enter theme) tag". Leave a comment on our blog with a link to your tag and that's it! We will use a random number generator to pick one winner each day all the way up to Christmas!

25 Tags of Christmas - Tag #1

Open interpretation - "The Reason for the Season"
Here is my version of Tag #1

Go check out the blog for more Tag inspiration from the Swirlydoos Design Team and enter to win one of 25 beautiful prizes!!!

Happily Ever After

It is reveal Day at Heartfelt Creations. This is the layout I did, using my Swirlydoos goodies and the new Window Die from Heartfelt Creations. With a lot of the new stamps revealed, you can create a window scene for layouts and cards. I opted to place one of my wedding photo's behind it. Here is how I created the layout.
The green circle behind the book stamp was done by using a Martha Stewart corner punch around a cut out circle, then cutting an inner circle to make a ring.

I used a large template from The Crafters Workshop for the scalloped paper, used a Prima mask around the paper and misted with glimmer Mist repeating the pattern all around the paper. .I then wet distressed the edges and wrinkled the scallops slightly. I then ran a straight stitch around the page twice with my sewing machine. Adhered the scalloped piece to a 12 x 12 brown card stock .

I cut 3 copies of the stamped bible frame cutting the side gradually shorter on the sides and adhered on top of one another as to make it look like multiple pages in a book then topped with smaller bible stamp I sprayed with Glimmer Mist, inked the edges and also touched the edges with gold metallic paint, then curled the corners of the pages. I die cut the window frame and placed it over my wedding photo and secured it to the book.


I die cut the flowers using my Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Flowers die using light pink Bazzil crad stock, a Sizzix die using black card stock, glimmer Misted them in Viva pink and stacked the different layers placing the Sizzix stamen die cut in between the layers. I used brads and pearls for the middles. I inked the Leafy swirls stamped leaves in 2 different green Glimmer Mist colors and painted on a little pink Glimmer Mist to highlight the leaves. I then arranged my flowers on the page and secured.


I printed up the butterflies from my collection, cut them out, covered with Rock Candy Stickles and adhered to the page by the body and lifted the wings for dimension. I added some Glossy Accents to the body to give it dimension.

I printed the journaling on paper using Microsoft Word and the Beyond Wonderland font then die cut it using my Spellbinders die and layered it on a larger die cut from the same set.

I will be doing a video tutorial for creating the flowers and shading the leaf stamps. So stay tuned.