Swirlydoos "So Chic" Second Reveal

Wow, this kit has been so fun to work with! Here's some more projects that I made with this fantabulous kit:

 "1947" Layout

This layout is actually my take on this month's Swirlyhues challenge. The picture is a wedding photo of my paternal grandparents. The colors fit so perfectly with the "Swirlyhues", I just had to use it!
I cut out the banner from the Melissa Frances paper that came in the kit, and the alphas are from my stash (Making Memories and Recollections). The heart is from the Calligraphy Cricut cartridge. I used the cute little resin charms from the ATC kit to adorn the wood keys. I also used the Distress Markers on them to add some color. The purple crystals and pearls are ZVA- I cut them up to fit the design of the Prima branches that I cut the flowers off off and replaced them with the purple Prima roses from the flower add on.

Shabby Chic Frame

 I pulled out a couple of those Michaels "dollar" frames from my stash, and decided to make a couple to have ready to give as gifts. I started out by using pink Distress Stain on the wood, (I'm going to have a photo tutorial on how to do this tomorrow.), then painted over it with white paint. Then  I wrapped lace around the edges and added some pearls to accent the oval. The frame comes with an oval piece of cardstock that I used to trace on the blue paper. The inner frame is one of the notecards from the main kit that I cut out the center of, then stickled the foliage. The saying is "Your Heart Sings, and My Soul Listens". The branches are from Prima, and I added the white and blue roses from the kit, along with a couple of pink ones of my own.

"Live Laugh Love" Frame

I did the same thing as the first frame with distress stain and paint to get the "weathered" look on this frame. It's pretty simple to do. I cut off the flowers of the Prima vine to add my own that came with the kit. The middle is another notecard from the kit that I distressed, then add my own stuff: the "live" and "laugh" are Dusty Attic Chipboard that I colored with the "Tin Can" chalk ink, and covered with Glossy Accents. The "Love" charm is a trinket from Prima, and the crystals are  Heidi Swapp.

"Duet" Layout

I haven't been on the Dusty Attic site in a long time, but I decided to venture over there and see what's new, and I stumbled across a great sketch, that is for their May challenge, so I decided to go ahead and give that a try. I love the layers of the sketch! I pulled out this picture of my oldest two that I took a few years ago,a couple of pieces of Dusty Attic (music notes and the flourish corner), and what I have left of the "So Chic" kit, and started to play. This is what I came up with. 

I cut up some lace from the kit, and added it to the second layer after "Zuttering" the hell out of all the layers. I colored the music notes with Stazon ink by scraping it against the piece. The corner piece  had "Tin Can" chalk ink on it. I placed roses about the layout from the flower add on and used my own black flourishes (K & Co.) underneath them. The title has white microbeads on it. 

Thanks for looking!

Flourish with a Bling Design Team

A couple of weeks ago I saw that Flourish with a Bling was having a DT call. I considered trying out, but I have never done anything like that before. Then, my Swirly DT Pal Vicky sent me the info, and I decided go ahead and submit the application, and... I made the cut!!!
Take a look at this team:

Natalie Elphinstone – VIC, Australia

Suzette Edmond – United Kingdom

Jenifer Evans – USA

Jennifer Hodge – QLD, Australia

Cathy Lane – South Africa

Kate McCulloch – NSW, Australia

Rae Moses – USA (That's me!!!)

Jeni O’Connor – Canada/Australia

Donna O’Leary – New Zealand

Elena Olinevich – Belarus

Angella Peardon – NSW, Australia

Ro Philippsen – South Brazil

Amanda Reddicliffe – WA, Australia

Candy Rosenberg – USA

Sandi Smith – Canada

Ilene Tell – USA

Sonia Thomason – WA, Australia

Sharryn Thomson – NSW, Australia

Chantal Vandenberg – SA, Australia

Emilia van den Heuvel – the Netherlands

I'm so excited to be designing with these talented ladies! I can't wait to get my box of goodies and start adding them to my projects! Thanks, Maggie, Kate, and Lucy! 

Welcome to Swirlydoos' May Kit Reveal Blog Hop Block Party!!

If you came here from Angelica's blog, then you are on the right track. If not, go back to Swirlydoos' blog and start from there. We have some amazing projects for you to see today and as a bonus we have 4 special guests joining in the fun and offering a prize!!There are 6 prize packs up for grabs so make sure to follow along and have fun!! Also, since May is National Scrapbook month, we are saving some of our projects and will be revealing them all month long. Make sure to come back and check our Design Team's blogs to see their wonderful work!!

This month's "So Chic" kit is just that! So many fun and pretty products to work with! My favorite thing about this kit is the variety of colors! Krissy always does such an awesome job creating the very best kits! Here are the layouts I have completed so far using "So Chic":

"Sweet Pea" Layout

For NSBD (today!), I am hosting a "faux negative space" challenge, and this is my example. Check out the challenge HERE. I'm not good at negative space layouts, but it helps when there is already a design on the paper! :) 

I used the Martha Stewart "Scroll Heart" punch on both sides of a strip of cardstock, then glued some beautiful lace down the middle. I used purple chalk ink on the white circle and "fingernail" distressed it, then used pop dots (or squares) to lift it from the page because that lace with pearls is pretty thick. I did the same with the picture. The gems on the circles are Swarovski crystals from the kit. The chocolate pearls around the picture are Kaisercraft from my stash. I finished off  the layout using some Sizzix branches die cuts, and two pretty little Prima flowers from the flower add-on. I used Making Memories tiny alphas and the new DIY Thickers with white microbeads. 

The picture is of my darling daughter that I shot a few years ago- she was hiding under the table while we were playing "hide-and-seek".

"Together" Layout

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my daughter. I took it using my phone when we were on the "Teacup" ride at Disneyland a couple of years ago. 

I distressed the main paper with the Prima distressing tool, then used my all-time favorite distress ink, Frayed Burlap. I then glued the middle of the paper to dark brown cardstock, and used the new EK Success lace to tuck under the distressed part of the paper. I picked out some papers to layer, and distressed those too. The blue frame is carstock that I punched with the Martha Stewart Vintage Lace punch, and cut out the middle. The flower cluster was made with the flower add on, and the Cheery Lynne flourish die.

"Generations" Layout

This layout is based on the amazing May sketch, created by Beggahuna. The picture is bad, I know, but my dad took it, and it's the last picture taken with my grandma before she died, so it's special to me. Four generations in one picture! 

I busted out my Distrezz-it-All and used it on the mauve paper. Then, I used platinum Liquid Pearls to doodle around the edges. The circles have Dusty Attic chicken wire on the inside, then I used pop dots to adhere them to the page. The photo is matted using three layers of distressed cardstock. I free-cut the blue in a wavy motion to get that look. I used Websters alphas from my stash for the title, then used the Melissa Frances pearls from the bling kit to give it some focus. 

I adhered the blue gems to the EK Success lace with jump rings from a previous kit.

ATC Project Kit

This month, the technique/project kit is centered around ATCs! I had a lot of fun playing with this kit, and can't wait to use it up! Here are some that I have completed so far:

"Dare to Dream"

This one kind of looks like a mini layout! Flowers are from the add-on kit, and the leaves are OLD Jolee's. The lace is EK Success, and the paper and alphas are from Creative Imaginations. I used Diamond Stickles to make dots inside the circle. The edges are distressed and touched with black chalk ink.

 "In everything, love."

I heavily distressed the top layer, then glues it to another ATC with script print. I colored the foliage on the card using Distress Ink markers and a water pen. I love the results! I used black chalk ink on the words, which are from my stash (Cosmo Cricket), and then took the black chalk ik and lightly pressed it on the blank part of the card. I ounched the black heart, then colored it with Diamond Stickles, and topped it off with a keyhole.

"Live"

Again, I distressed the edges of the card, then used the grey chalk ink that came in the kit on the edges. The black dies cuts are from Memory Box. I colored the bottle with a Victorian Velvet Distress Ink marker, then added some diamond Stickles. 

"Soar"

The paper is from the main kit, distressed, inked with grey chalk ink, and adhered to the cardboard ATC from the kit. I used Diamond Stickles on the flowers. The alphas are Kaisercraft, from the kit, along with the little name plaque.

The green rose is from the flower add-on. 

I colored the resin butterfly with Distress Ink markers, and then added a pearl flourish from my stash.

I hope you enjoyed have a "look-see" at my projects! Happy hopping!!!


You have until midnight, eastern time, on Monday, May 7th to complete the hop. Winners will be announced on the Swirlydoos Blog on May 8th. In order to qualify to win here is what you need to do:
1: Visit all of the blogs and leave a comment on each. This way we know you were there. Become a follower if you're not already. Take your time. There are REALLY beautiful things to see along the way.
2: Before you leave each blog, look for the “special” words and write it down.
Once you have visited all the blogs and collected all the special words, they will create a QUESTION.
3: Finally, go back to the Swirlydoos blog and leave a comment letting us know how much fun you had AND tell us the QUESTION that was created with all of the special words you collected AND GIVE US YOUR ANSWERS.

My special word is : us

The party continues over at the ever-so-talented Karola's blog. Have fun!

Swirlydoos Whispers of Spring Second Reveal

Here are the last two projects I did with the fabulous April kit:


"Oh so Lovely" Layout

I started out by tracing an old piece of Making Memories die cut paper from the Noteworthy line on the pink paper, and cut it out, distressed it, then "doodled" an outline using the Liquid Pearls that came in the kit. I added that to the large layers and went from there. The brown frame is cardstock that I hand cut using a wavy motion, the distressed and inked it. I used the Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace punch around the page on the American Crafts glitter paper. The black vines were cut using black velvet paper with "Shadow Flowers" Spellbinders dies. The beautiful butterflies are from Angelica's Etsy shop.


"Mother" card

So, my mom was visiting last week, and I was showing her my Vagabond and dies. She isn't a scrapper, but LOVES to see all my toys! She loved the Cheery Lynne flourish die, so I decided to make her a card using it.

I used mostly scraps from other projects I did with the kit, and tried to keep it a little simple. I started with the pink patterned paper- using distress ink and distressing the edges, then using "Scrapper's Floss" to sew around the edges. The bird stamp in the corner is from the Prima Pixie Glenn line. I cut the flourish die cut so it would all fit on the card.

Thanks for looking!

Swirlydoos Challenges for April

I LOVE challenges, and here are a couple of things I created for the challenges at Swirlydoos this month.

"Smooch" Layout
I made this for the "Round Robin" challenge. I was so honored to be a part of this team- Peggy and Andie both made such works of art, and when it was my turn to "lift", this is what I was able to come up with, and I did it in less than an hour!

And, here's a funny little story: At the top of the layout, I used gesso and a stencil because that was part of the lift. Here's a close up:

And, boy did I screw that up- I put too much gesso or the stencil lifted, I can't tell which, but it totally looked like junk- so blurry. Then, an idea popped into my head as I sat there thinking I was going to have to throw away a beautiful piece of Glitz paper: I could use the Timmy Distress Markers to color it in! Well, that was a good idea, until I actually did it- apparently I suck at coloring too! I was really upset with myself, and then I remembered that the markers are water-based, and used a water pen over the markers, and I saved my page! 

"Love" Card

This month, Linda is holding a "Spring Cleaning" challenge that requires us to pull out a past kit that we are saving or just haven't had a chance to use yet, and USE IT! I chose to open up the Chanteuse spotlight kit and make something, and came up with this card. I have been hoarding this paper for months! I used a Tattered Angels alphabet frame and inked it up with both distress, chalk and Staz-On inks to get it to look like that. The title is Dusty Attic- I used both Shabby Pink and the new Pink Glitz Smooch on it. I painted the butterfly with Shimmerz for a nice sheer look. I love the look of natural wood!

Here is the details of this month's Swirlyhues Challenge:

THE STORYBOARD:

Use these colors to create your layout. Although the colors are taken from the April kit, you DO NOT have to use the kit! You don't even have to be a subscriber to submit a layout! Pull out these colors from your stash and get started! 

AND, here is the OPTIONAL sketch. If it inspires you to get started, GREAT! If not, that's okay too. We just want to see your beautiful creations using these colors!

There are first and second place winners who get to put up a unique blog badge! And, if you are active on the forums, you can put that badge in your signature to remind everyone how awesome you are! LOL!

So, here is a list of the official rules that I snagged from the Swirlydoos blog:

The Rules:


1) Must stick to the hues provided. You may add black or white, but it can NOT be more than 5% of your total page and can NOT be a main element. (But, black is one of the colors this month, so add as much as you like!)
2) SKETCH IS OPTIONAL. You can submit a card if you'd like too. :)
3) Now for the Swirly-fying element – you MUST use one of our tutorials on your page. Here is a LINK to our tutorials. It is really to our forum. Just scroll down. Our tutorials are separated by category. You can choose anything your beautiful, creative heart desires.
4) Create a post on your blog for your SwirlyHues entry.
5) If you have a blog, please use our link in the right hand side bar to upload your challenge entry. (look underneath the SwirlyHues links) to your blog page with this challenge, not just your blog in general. If you DO NOT have a blog, you can still use the link to the right and link us to your online gallery page! OR, you can upload your gorgeous creation to the SwirlyHues album in our gallery no later than midnight eastern time on March 10th. Click HERE to get there. You will need to register to upload photos. It's free! Use the following format to name your item: SH Mar 2012 (insert your project name here). Your photos can be no larger than 600x600. In the description please tell us what tutorial you used. If you don't have a blog, just let us know that.
6) You have until midnight eastern time on May 9th to submit your entry. 2 winners will be chosen; 1st and 2nd place. Each winner will receive one of our highly coveted blog badges (see the right-side bar). Winners will be posted to the Swirlydoos blog on the 13th of the month (unless otherwise noted), as well as our Facebook page. Check back here to see your name and then contact LisaV at Lisa@Swirlydoos.com She will make sure you get your blog badge and then we'll add you to our blog for the month! Superstahhhhhh *strike a pose* 7) The next challenge will be uploaded to our blog on May 10th!

SOOOOOOOOOOOO, here is my layout that I created for this challenge:

The picture is of my beautiful little girl on her 5th birthday. It went so well with the colors this month, I just had to scrap it, AGAIN!

See the black and pink paper on the edges? I took the little strips that you cut off of the bottom of the page, then glued those to a 12X12 piece of cardstock to make it my bottom layer. I LOVE that Prima is following this trend of adding a design to that little strip! Then I cut wavy lines on a black piece of cardstock for the border and glued it to the tan double dot paper that came in the kit, which I then cut, tracing the black cuts. I used my fingernail to quickly distress the edges. A journaling card serves as a partial mat for the photo. I used Liquid Pearls to make black dots around the pic, and used some pink Kaisercraft pearls on the journaling card.

The tan vines/flourishes were cut using my favorite Cheery Lynne die. I cut up and place a SIIC for the bling.

Thanks for having a peek, and I hope you make a fabulous creation to submit to this challenge this month!

Rae

Welcome to Swirlydoos' April Kit Reveal Blog Hop Block Party!!

If you came here from Angelica's blog, then you are on the right track. If not, go back to Swirlydoos' blog and start from there. We have some amazing projects for you to see today and as a bonus we have Petaloo joining in the fun and offering a prize!! There are 2 prize packs up for grabs so make sure to follow along and have fun!!

Here's some projects that I did using the beautiful Whispers of Spring kit:

"Hello Sunshine" Layout

So, this is my take on the sketch. Such a fun sketch! I used the new Prima "Teak" chalk ink that came in the embellishment add-on on the paper to create a distressed outline on the inside edges. I like the effect. The papers I used to mat the photo are actually journaling cards- perfect for layering. I used the pink satin cord to weave into the Almanac black lace, then actually pulled off tying it into a bow. (Left-handed bows don't always look pretty!) I finished of the design by adding some pretty Petaloo butterflies.The picture is of my daughter, Audra, taken a few years ago. It's one of my faves! 

Tech/Project Kit- Journal: "Field Notes"
This project was so much fun to play with, and I have only finished the covers! I can't wait to dive into creating the different pages. I titled this "Field Notes" because I plan on spending a lot of time outdoors with my kids this spring and summer, and I thought this would be a great way to document all the fun we are going to have.

Front Cover:
So I started out using my new Distress Markers using different colors to trace the resist images. I did this by laying my OTT Lite on the table and placed the cover close to it. The results were not as awesome as I had planned, but I still like what it did do- the colors that I chose were green and browns, and it gave the cover somewhat of a dingy look, considering that I used Vintage Pink, Sunkissed Peach, and Crushed Shells Glimmer Mist. I used chalk ink on the edges, then piled on the embellishments! I used the vine that came in the flower kit, but I used the flowers that came in this kit on the back of the ones with the vines.

Inside Front Cover:
I stamped on the background before adding my other embellishments to add some dimension. The burlap is from an old Swirlydoos kit.

Inside Back Cover:

Same idea as the front here. I used Sun Sister Glimmer Mist on this page, along with the colors I already mentioned. 

Back Cover:

I tried to keep this simple because I don't want anything to fall off of the back, but I did use Fabri-Tac on the ribbon, chipboard, and tile, so those babies ain't going anywhere! LOL!

                                                                                                                               

"Big Sister" Layout

This picture is of my daughter and my son the day he came home from the hospital. She's such a great big sister, I wanted to preserve this memory.
Lots of distressing on this one! I started this layout using a Prima mask with the "teak" chalk ink on the top layer of the background. The black circle is just black cardstock that I glued the black eyelash trim to the outside of. I used layers that I cut up from a piece of patterned paper, and a journaling card. Behind the vine are die cuts from the Memory Box branch die.

"I Love Special Moments with You" Layout

I snagged this pic of me and my son using my phone last year. I usually suck at self photos, but I love this one! I immediately thought of this pic when I saw these words on one of the pieces of paper in the kit. I kept this one simple (for me)- it's kind of "palate cleansing" as my friend, MandaK likes to call it! This is one of my 30 minute or less layouts. I used the Martha Stewart Cherish punch on the pink paper, and the Vintage Floral punch on black cardstock to border the long strip. The pearls on the G45 butterfly paper are Kaisercraft from my stash. The butterflies are from Angelica's Etsy shop (Oh so beautiful!) I also used a piece of chipboard from an older kit for the top corner of the pic- I used Lettuce Smooch, and Distress Markers and Stains in various browns to get a wood-like appearance on the frame. 

I hope you enjoyed having a peek at my projects! Hop on!

You have until midnight, eastern time, on April 11th to complete the hop. Winners will be announced on the Swirlydoos Blog on April 12th. In order to qualify to win here is what you need to do:
1: Visit all of the blogs and leave a comment on each. This way we know you were there. Become a follower if you're not already. Take your time. There are beautiful things to see along the way.
2: Before you leave each blog, look for the “special” words and write it down.
Once you have visited all the blogs and collected all the special words, they will create a QUESTION.
3: Finally, go back to the Swirlydoos blog and leave a comment letting us know how much fun you had AND tell us the QUESTION that was created with all of the special words you collected AND GIVE US YOUR ANSWERS.



My special word is : at



The party continues over at Lisa G 's blog. Have fun!