Swirlydoos June Kit Reveal Blog Hop

Welcome to Swirlydoos' Antiquities Kit Reveal
& Blog Hop Block Party!

If you came here from Rae's blog (scrappingfancy.blogspot.ca), then you are on the right track. If not, go back to Swirlydoos' blog (www.swirlydoos.blogspot.ca) and start from there. We have some amazing projects for you to see today and as a bonus we have a very special guest joining in the fun and offering a prize!

Let me start by saying that at first when I saw a dark kit I panicked a wee bit because pastels are my comfort zone... BUT the Bo Bunny (weekend market collection) papers and "Antiquities" kit embellishments are so gorgeous that once I started, I got 3 layouts done in just 4 days!!!

This is my pup (no longer with us now... but still in my heart). I pulled apart a large brown Prima flower to create 2 matching flowers. Only the title is from my stash on this layout.

Here is a close-up of the flowers in the add-on kit.

I used the kit sketch as inspiration for the layout above but it took on a life of its own.

This layout I made 100% with the main kit contents and you will find a step by step tutorial on the Swirlydoos Forum later today. Yes... that is me on my wedding day! The picture was taken on a cruise ship so that's why the "Titanic" backdrop. Had to have a few cheesy cruise pictures, LOL.

A little close up of the bow I made with the main kit ribbon and flower...

I used the June OUAS sketch (without using the birthday theme qualification portion for the challenge). I start my DT term with them in July :)

For this third page I used the Swirlyhues inspiration and sketch which will reveal on June 10th if you'd like to play along with this month's challenge. The photo is my dance instructor (middle) and her assistants. The bling and chipboard title is from my stash - and I altered the flowers.

Close-up of the pretties...

You have until midnight, eastern time, on Sunday, June 10th to complete the hop. Winners will be announced on the Swirlydoos Blog on June 11th. 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 sentence. 

3: Finally, go back to the Swirlydoos blog and leave a comment letting us know how much fun you had AND tell us the sentence that was created with all of the special words you collected.

My special word is : TO

The party continues over at Lisa's blog (what-a-beautiful-mess.blogspot.ca)

Have fun and thanks for participating!


Please note: that I have used Helmar's adhesive runner, acid free glue and 450 quick dry glue to create all of these projects.

New chipboard will be here in 2 weeks!

Jen at Dusty Attic has done it again - a new release! I just received notice that my chipboard shipment is in the mail and will be here in about 2 weeks... so after I unpack it all and load it into my Etsy shop it should be available for purchase around the 23rd or 24th of June (along with a generous re-stock of popular items :) Take a peek at just a few of the pretties coming in my order...

Cards in a Pinch (Meg's Garden/Green Tara/Helmar)

Meg's Garden papers make it so simple to pull together a few cards when you're in a pinch for time. The graphics literally do all the work for you and all you need is a few great embellishments. Here I have used gorgeous trims and flowers from Green Tara. I actually made these from concept to completion in 45 minutes. Since I live 20 minutes from a shopping mall, well... that's 2 cards made in the same time as driving there and back and standing in line to pay for cards. I'm sure the recipients will appreciate handmade cards more than store-bought ones too!

I cut one piece of paper to make these 2 cards. This first one is a more feminine in style, pulling out the cream in the paper and accenting with pearl beads and butterflies to compliment the pretty gardenias, cherry blossoms, cream and olive trim - that matched this paper so perfectly. I LOVE the new Green Tara lattice trims!

For my second card, I played up the black and green in the paper to be able to be able to give this to a man. Men like flowers too (my hubby gardens while I scrap, LOL!). These green cherry blossoms really pop against the vintage inspired paper and work well with the gold tones in the paper (that I also enhanced with some bling). This time I used the lattice trim in black.

This is the lovely sheet from the "Forget me Not" collection that I cut in half and then simply folded to create these 2 cards. This paper has a real hand-stamped look to it without any work or mess.

Meg's Garden has also released a "Forget Me Not 2" collection which is a perfect companion to the first collection released and I am working on a project with it right now.

This is the wonderful Helmar glue that holds all the pretties on the paper - acid free, sets clear and won't yellow!

Green Tara products used:
Cherry Blossoms Peach/Cream 
CODE: FLC22PeC
Cherry Blossoms 2 Tone Sea Green
CODE: FLC22SG
Gardenia Ivory
CODE: FDV054Iv5
20mm Self Adhesive Leaf Garland
CODE: RB796Gr
25mm Lattice 10m roll Black
CODE: RB6735BL
 25mm Lattice 10m roll Ivory
CODE: RB6735Iv

25mm Lattice Ivory
CODE: RB6735Iv

25mm Lattice Black
CODE: RB6735BL

Helmar's June Challenge and USTREAM classes

Look at the beautiful color palette design challenge (designed by Lydell Quin) that Helmar is having for June. Check out the Helmar blog for details and http://www.flickr.com/photos/helmarlive

Also, Helmar is now hosting USTREAM classes starting with...

Lisa Wilkenson Live USTREAM Class 10:30AM EST

Friday June 8th at 10:30am at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/helmar-live

Once Upon a Sketch DT

Wow what an exciting team this is to be on, I am in the company of so many friends and so much talent from around the world (not to mention working with Nadia's gorgeous sketches :)

NEW Design Team:
Jeni O'Connor -Administrator (Australia /Canada)
Georgia Heald - Guest Designer coordinator (Australia)
Patti Hamil - Sponsorship Administrator (USA)
Eila Sandberg (Sweden)
Efi Stamatelli (Greece)
Erin Blegen ( USA)
Romy Veul (The Netherlands)
Kelly Foster (USA)
Jolaine Frias (USA)
Vicky Alberto (Canada)
Luzma Bruna (Chile)
Mona Pendleton (USA)
Solange Marques (Brazil)
Anna Zaprzelska/Brises (Poland)
Evgenia Petzer (South Africa)
Renata Moni (Brazil)
Elena Stefanidou (Greece)
Melenia Agapides (Greece)
Cathy Cafun (Australia)
Tina Walker (USA)
Kim Jeffress (Australia)
Florence Teixeira - France
Helena Virpi (Italy)
Hilde Aaslund (Norway)
Kay Fatula (USA)
Camilla Ekman (Sweden)
Svetlana Austin (South Africa)

Check out the the OUAS blog!

Pion Design Release: Grandma's School Book

Look at what Pion Design JUST released... (and it's in the mail to me :) This beautiful collection is available in 12x12 and 6x6. Beautiful pastels for summer...