April Swirlydoos Kit Club reveal!

It has certainly been an exciting April at Swirlydoos!  Our forum was hacked last week but is up and running now!  It's new and improved and hopefully hack proof!  The dock strike and shipping delays caused our April kit to be oh so late and we are so sorry for that but finally here it is!!

 After opening my kit and ooohing and aaahing at all the kit contents, I started  with the sketch.

I cut some dark brown cardboard strips from my stash to embellish the vertical strips.  The green border is cut from the kit papers and I used a border punch on it.  I used some diecut leaves to complete the floral cluster.

The chipboard title and vine (Flourish 15) underneath my flowers are Creative Embellishments from my stash. I used mist from the mediums addon to color the vine. The pretty pale peach flower is from the main kit, the large one is Petaloo from my stash. The hydrangeas are from a prior kit.

 I thought this paper was so pretty and I chose a vintage bride to go with it.  I used a Kaisercraft doily punch to punch 2 doilies from cardstock.  Then I cut a larger circle from some kit paper and used a Martha Stewart corner punch to punch around the circle to create a trio of circles.  I added a bit of masking and a lace strip from my stash. (Thank you Kathi!)  The lace flower is an oldie from a past kit I believe, all the other flowers are from the kit.  The bead studs are also from a prior kit.

I gave the white flowers that came in the flower add on a quick spritz with mists from the mediums add on.  Underneath the floral cluster I have a Creative Embellishments chipboard piece, Flourish 19, that I have finished with Stampendous aged ivory embossing powder.

  I finished off my layout with Angelica's beautiful butterflies from the main kit.

Next up is a layout featuring my husband's parents with their travel trailer.  I just love this photo! I did a little masking with a stencil and paste from my stash.  I used cardstock to border the papers and make them stand out.  I took a Kaisercraft doily sticker and placed it over the kraft doily and placed behind the photo.  Both doilies came in the main  kit.

The two chipboard pieces I've used are Creative Embellishments (Swirly Border and Adventure Word Set) from my stash and I've used Lindy's embossing enamel on both of them in Midnight Gold. Yum what a lucious color!

All the flowers I used are from the flower add on except that one lone carnation which is from my stash.

I had a lot of fun with this last layout.  First I created a tag and then I created the layout around the tag.  The tag itself is made with papers and flowers from the kit and addons.  The gold lace and ribbon is from my stash.   The white seam binding ribbon is from the main kit. The little journal card on the tag is from my stash.  I used a couple of Spellbinders dies to cut layers from the tag.  One thing that came in the kit that I really loved was the wire trellis and you can just see that peeking out of the floral cluster on the tag.

The kit contained a great brown metal fence that I painted white for this layout.  I used the Petaloo flowers from the flower add on and misted them with Lindy's Cape Cod Coral.  All of the flowers on this layout are from the kit and flower add on.

Thanks so much for taking a peek at the Swirlydoos kit and my layouts!  I appreciate it so much.

I've joined Createive Embellishments design team!

I am so excited to tell you that I've joined the wonderful folks at Creative Embellishments!  They have the best laser cut chipboard and wooden products. Thank you Nicolle for inviting me to join your great team!!  I'll be sharing my first project with you on May 1st!

Graphic 45 Round 2 Design Team Audition!

Can you just imagine how excited I was to see my name on the list of semi-finalists?  Oh yeah, I did the happy dance all over the house!  After calming down a bit, I set about making 4 new projects just for Round 2.

Here is my audition video in which I am sharing 4 special projects with you.

 First I created a cookbook using the newly released Graphic 45 Mixed Media album and Home Sweet Home.  It is filled with my favorite recipes and has room to add many more recipes.

I have a video tutorial for the hollyhock flowers you see there on the cover.

My second project is a layout using my very favorite Graphic 45 collection, Raining Cats and Dogs.  I've layered lots of fussy cut elements on this layout.

Here you can see how I've popped up the many fussy cut elements with foam tape.

My third and fourth projects are tags.  I really love to make tags, they are such fun little works of art.  

This tag was done with the Deluxe Collector's Edition of Times Nouveau.

  If you'd like to make this tag, I have a Snapguide tutorial on it.

Check out How to Make a Tag W/ Graphic 45 Times Nouveau Collection by Maggi HARDING on Snapguide.

My tags often have beads on them, I think they are so fun! I used some G45 Washi tape down the center of this tag along with some dots masking on the base layer.

My last project is the tag done with the fabulous Typography collection.  Typography is just the best for tag and card making with its great quotes and images.

You can see how the layers are popped up with foam in this photo.

I made the sunflower vine you see here and below is a video tutorial for making this vine.

Thank you so much for taking the time to view my video and for all the words of encouragement many of you left on my first audition post.  I sincerely appreciate it so much!

Best of luck to the other 24 candidates.  You are all so talented and awe inspiring!  

Fabscraps layout for the Swirlydoos Round Robin!

 This month we have a fun twist on our Round Robin!  We've divided into teams and each team has a photo to scrap.  So my team photo is, what else, but a puppy!  Love this little guy.  I've used Fabscraps Elegant Chic papers from the Swirlydoos Kit Club March kit to scrap this.

The large dark flower is from the flower add on, the others are from my stash.  I used mist from the mediums kit to color some pink flowers from my stash gray to go with the papers.

 The cluster on the top left is a vine I made with the wired leaves and Petaloo minis that came in the flower addon kit. Then I filled in the vine with the large flowers and small roses from my stash. I used the mist that came in the mediums add on to dye the midsize flowers on the page.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work, I really appreciate it!

Heritage layout with G45 Communique

I love G45's Communique collection for vintage masculine layouts.  For me, the papers really lend themselves to this style of scrapping.  This is my husband's father who flew weather reconnaissance flights out of England over Europe during WW II.  I really love this photo, it's such a treasure.  Unfortunately, Warren was killed during the Korean War when my husband was only 4 years old.

The flourish chipboard piece I have used under the photo is from Creative Embellishments, I love this piece!  I've heat embossed it with Stampendous aged gold embossing enamel and added a metal heart with wings in the center.  The two flowers are also metal and I added a little gold embossing powder to those also.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hollyhock video tute and Graphic 45 Home Sweet Home collection.

This is my favorite time of the year and after the long hard winter that the east coast has experienced, I know everyone is ready for spring!  I'm thinking about my garden that I've already started planting.  My sweet husband rototilled the soil,and laid out my rows for me.  I planted potatos a couple of weeks ago and they are just starting to sprout. I had intended to plant lettuce and spinach a week ago but then we had a lot of rain and cold wather again, so, I opted to stay inside! Next week the fun begins with planting green beans followed by southern peas, tomatoes, squash, peppers and cucumbers.  Everything will be planted by the 1st of May.  Then the hard work begins, weeding!!

I've been working with Graphic 45's Home Sweet Home collection which really has me thinking about my garden.  Here I am in my very best garden fashion, LOL.  I really need to alter my hat but check out my boots.  They have the cutest little yellow daisies all over them.  This picture is a couple of years old and those boots are shot so I have a brand new pair for this season.  Stay tuned for a picture of them because they are so shabby chic!!

I made the hollyhocks on this layout to match the papers.  They are easy to make and I did a video tute on how to make these hollyhocks.  Please, check it out and give them a try.

I like to use foam tape to pop up my layers as you can see in this close up.

 On the left is a jar of spiced applesauce and on the right sweet spicy pickles that I made.   I grow lots of cucumbers in my garden for making pickles.  We don't have an apple tree but we make a trip to the NC mountains every fall and buy apples at a great orchard there.   I love to gift my homemade goodies to friends and so I like to keep a few jars around that have been "gussied up".  I just used left over strips Home Sweet Home paper to go around them and cut a circle for the tops.  Then I tied with a bow and tucked in a pocket and tag.  I think they're so cute and yummy looking!

Thank you for stopping by my blog.  I sure hope spring is landing where you live!

My Button Box - Graphic 45 Home Sweet Home

 I call this my button box because I have placed my Graphic 45 pin-on button to the front of it.  (Thank you Krissy and Rae for getting this for me while you were at CHA!)  I really love these buttons that G45 has but rather than just having them hang around, I like to make them a part of a project.

This is a G45 Staples Book box that I've covered using the Home Sweet Home collection.   I seldom work with mixed medias when I'm working with G45 papers as I can't bear to cover the gorgeous images and patterns but today I thought I'd try my hand at it and I actually like the result.  I used a couple of masks and white modeling paste as well as acrylic paints.  After all that was dry I painted the entire box inside and out with matte medium to protect the paper as I do plan to use this box to hold my G45 metal embellishments.

The large G45 button is, of course, the centerpiece of my embellishments!  I fussy cut some flowers and added 3D flowers as well.  When I add fussy cut elements to something like this that is going to be subjected to wear and tear, I coat the pieces with something like Glossy Accents to give the paper strength. There is a G45 Ornate Metal Label  Holder peeking out at the bottom from underneath the red flower.

I stickled up the flowers and foliage and it looks really nice but unfortunately, the camera doesn't  pick that effect up very well.

Inside the box I sprayed some white linen Dylusions in keeping with the shabby messed up look.

I am loving these book boxes, they are just the right size for fun little projects and they are useful too.

This is another G45 button box that I made last year.  This one is a G45 Staples shadow box and has 3 different G45 buttons in it.  It's just a fun piece of decor for my scrap room.

The predominant paper that I used for this was Couture but there are bits and piceces of Curtain Call, Typography, A Proper Gentleman, and Ladies Diary.

Thank you for visiting me today, I appreciate it so much!!