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...

1960

This is a Camp Swirlydoos LO. We were all given a whole pack of G45 papers that were absolutely gorgeous!! I had not had the desire to work with the papers before and I learned to loooove them!!. Did some Zutter Distressing on this one. This is another LO using my parents wedding picture. The smaller one in the frame was taken at their engagement the year before. they just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Still so much in love after all these years..Steve and I are half way there!! Just as a side note, I accidentally spilled a half can of Pepsi on half the LO when I went to turn a round to talk to someone...Love you Rae!! lol...oh my, did we all run to the sink to rinse it off...You know what?? It distressed it even more beautifully!! Thank You Rae!! lol..!! I don't recommend Pepsi though!! lol...It was saved!! Funny though, Robin (robinzberdz) had just given us a lesson in distressing paper by running the edges under water...So the running joke was to upstage her with Pepsi...DON'T DO IT!!! lol... Camp in the Rocky Mountains must have made us all a little woozy...But so much fun!!

Do Not Disturb

My Swirlydoos Design Team May Reveals are a little late due to Swirly camp!! But here is the first one from "Le Vie En Rose" May kit..I thought the gorgeous Creative Imaginations Melody papers were perfect for my parents wedding pictures..They were wed on Valentines Day. I am redoing the tag, my marker bled and I am not happy about that... It was the first time using the Zutter Distresser and I am in love!!! The girls made me do it..I was resistant knowing that if I liked it that I would just have to, as Bonnie would say "moost" have it!!!!! Thanks Swirly girlfriends, now I gotta have one too!!! Thanks Rae and Meg for bringing them to camp!!

SERENITY

This LO was done at Swirlydoos Camp...We had a blast in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado!! Everything in this LO is leftover Swirlydoos product from past kits except for the green ribbon I used to weave in the paper. That was courtesy of Swirlydoos Camp supplies!! The LO is for the May Round Robin Challenge at Swirlydoos, I was up first again...Oh the pressure... The twist was to have a handmade embellie..Mine were the flowers and leaves. A tutorial for them will be up on my blog this week. I made my own backround paper with the fabulous Glimmer Screens we received in one of the add on kits at Swirlydoos this month, we also got the matching stamps. TFL...

Swirly Camp Girls!!

Here we are all together on the last day!! Hated to say goodbye!!

Rocky Mountain Snow

The Rocky Mountains graced us with plenty of snow today...it has been 15 years since I have seen the snow...It was beautiful!!

Scrapping Heaven!!!!

Sorry that I have been a bad blogger lately...I am on VACATION!!!!! Not just your ordinary pack your bags and get out of Dodge vacation, but I am in the fabulous Rocky Mountains right outside of Baily, Colorado...Me and 12 other fabulous Swirlydoo Princess's are having a blast!!I bought my trusty assistant along, my fab daughter!! Our plane touched down at Denver International Airport on Wednesday,Krissy picked up Gabbie and I at the airport and took us back to her gorgeous home where we unpacked, got familiar with the family, and we were headed out the door to go to Sams club to shop for the weekend!! After all our wonderful scrap retreat is from Thursday to Sunday.Needless to say we were shopping for about 2 hours and it was fun...Got home, unloaded the truck full of groceries!! I'll tell you the weather was gorgeous...70's..Yesterday morning, Kathi, Kathy, Tina, and Meg arrived..Then we packed up and headed out to the cabin, the higher we got into the mountains, the more it snowed..It was a beautiful sight..What a fabulous place!!! We all settled in and then it was time to go to the airport to pick up Shelly, Rae and Manda!!! Krissy did a lot of driving yesterday..But with her Hummer she could brave every weather condition in the mountains..They finally arrived!! Some of the girls were already up in the scrapping barn, scrapping, while I was making dinner in the Fabulous fully equipped gourmet kitchen!! Love it!!! It was Italian night,spaghetti and meatballs, salad, garlic bread, and nobody had room for dessert...Then off to the scrapping barn where we scrapped till the wee hours of the morning!!! Krissy has got to be the most generous wonderful fearless leader of all!!! She is truly our Swirly Queen...The goodies bags, and what she provided for us as far as scrapping products is a scrappers dream!!! It was one goody after another!!! Let the games begin!!!! So take a look at where we are...More pics to come!!! One more Swirlydoos Princess to arrive today!! Jan!!!! Then we will all be here...

Just Be Me

This LO was done in between my Design Team assignments at Swirlydoos. Although the embellies came from past kits and the gold organza flower is one that I did in a tutorial on my blog for a series of fabric flowers I am doing for Swirlydoos. The leaves are a future tutorial in the works. The elegant scroll frame is from Scrap Girls. I am always collecting digi kits for their elements!! This one is divine...I printed it on a light patterned paper and further enhanced it by painting it with a small paint brush and Glimmer Mist. I used a few different colors then went over it with Perfect Pearls powder to give it shimmer. I painted the chip board letters with Luminart paint...Loooove that paint!! The paper is K and Company new Susan Winget Nature 12x12 Designer Paper Pad. The paper is to die for!! Love it!! The photo is my daughter a couple of summers ago on one of our excursions to downtown Safety Harbor. Just love the charm of that town...