Dusty Attic Moroccan ATC

Here is a little ATC inspired by the Moroccan theme from Dusty Attic this month. Ohhhh this was such a fun one to create! I used three of the newer chipboard styles:

1. ATC frame style #4 DA0876 (3 per pack)

I simply inked this piece, leaving some of the bare chipboard showing.

2. Shield DA0831 (15 per pack - variety of styles)

For perfectly even coverage, I painted this piece with the Raisin acrylic paint DA0909 .

3. Moroccan Design - DA0838 (3 per pack)

I coated this with texture effects paste and then went over it with metallic distress stains.

Now, what can I create to incorporate this little treasure? That is the question :)

Swirlydoos April Blog Hop

Welcome to the Swirlydoos Hello Beautiful

April kit reveal blog hop party!

If you came here from Heidi's blog, then you are on the right track. If not, go back to the Swirlydoos blog and start from there. We have some amazing projects for you to see today and special guest blogs to visit (which means TERRIFIC PRIZES TOO!). Make sure to leave a comment on all of the blogs for a chance to win prizes for participation in this hop. Also, be sure to check out Swirlydoos on Facebook and Like Us too!

Well this kit is called "Hello Beautiful" for a good reason - it is downright GORGEOUS! It really inspired me to think outside my comfort zone of creating layouts. Up first is an altered wooden tissue box cover (from Michael's Crafts) that was inspired by the April Prima PPP colour challenge. I used a few Dusty Attic chipboard pieces from my stash to complement this pretty kit (the Paris post mark and I cut up a corner flourish). BTW - I just LOVED the cream Petaloo trim pack in the main kit and have used it on almost every project!

Click on images for larger views.

Check out the gorgeous Prima flowers this month (both in the main kit and the add-on)

Up next is a card featuring more of the gorgeous embellishments (and a brand new Dusty Attic chipboard piece from my stash - "elegant flourish")

Pretty Petaloo flowers in the add-on kit!

Earlier this month I posted my large shabby rose tutorial and decided to use the finished handmade rose as a topper for this altered jar. I surrounded my rose with a few buds from a past Swirlydoos kit. What's in the jar? Homemade bath salts.

Bath salt recipe (mix together very well):

1 cup epsom salts

1/4 cup coarse salt or sea salt

A few drops of food colouring

A few drops of essential oil (optional - for aromatherapy)

Here is a top view. Gorgeous Prima wooden elements to work with in this kit!

Lastly I altered a few headbands (from my local dollar store) using entirely main kit contents except for the tiny pink roses. This kit is packed with pretty flowers, trims and chipboard/wooden elements.

You have until midnight, eastern time, on Wednesday 4/17 to complete the hop. Winners will be announced on the Swirlydoos Blog on Thursday 4/18. 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, tell us the sentence that was created with all of the special words you collected. Can't wait to hear from you.

Lastly, here is a peek at the Swirlydoos "Hello Beautiful" main kit. To become a subscriber and never miss a gorgeous Swirlydoos kit click here.

My special word is: Thinking

The party continues over at The Swirlydoos Blog.
Have fun!

NOTE: I used a lot of Helmar goodness to stick all of my projects together. It takes some serious sticky stuff for altered projects. Loads of Helmar 450 quick dry on EVERY project, gemstone glue, decoupage paste and premium craft glue were also used to hold everything perfectly into place.

I still have LOTS more of my kit to play with and will be back soon to reveal more projects.

TUTORIAL: Large Shabby Rose

My finished rose is 3 inches wide and 1 inch in height. I used punches that ranged from 1.5 inches to 3.5 inches to achieve this flower.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

*8 punched or die cut flower petals in 4 different sizes and shapes with rounded ends.

*2 gelatos (or watercolor paint)

*water mister

*paintbrush

*thick rounded tip object (I use a sharpie marker)

*white glue - like Helmar Acid-Free

*white gesso or ink of choice

STEP 1: Smear or shave/scrape little chunks of the gelatos into a plate (I shaved the light pink and smeared the dark one) and lay your 8 flowers on a plastic or glass surface. Gelatos wash up easily and do not stain.

STEP 2: Mist the light color with water and apply to all 8 flowers. Here is a picture of my first 4 done.

STEP 3:  Mist the darker color with water and apply to petal tips. Note that colors will blend and get lighter as they dry.

STEP 4: Scrunch up each flower around a rounded object (like a sharpie marker) and roll against it to create a cup shape.

STEP 5: On one of your two smallest flowers, pinch the end to create a bud. Let all 8 of the flowers rest in this shape for a few minutes to dry a little.

STEP 6: Slightly open up the 4 larger flowers and glue together, off setting the petals (largest flowers on the bottom). I put a little dab of glue up the sides too to hold it together and stiffen as it dries.

STEP 7: Once the 4 larger flowers are glued, roll again around the marker to bring back to a cup shape.

STEP 8: Do the same thing with 3 smaller flowers, leaving out the bud. Again, the larger flowers are on the bottom.

STEP 9: Glue everything together and let dry in this shape. Note that the colors will get lighter as they dry.

STEP 10: Once dry, shape a bit more by opening it up and folding back a few petals. Then, I dry brushed a bit of white gesso on the tips for a shabby look and to stiffen so the rose will not easily crush. You could ink the tips instead of gesso for a more traditional look. TIP: Smaller flowers can easily be made by only using 6 flower layers.

Let me know what you think of this flower!
Here is a full view of my card...

Love, Cherish, Adore (Swirlydoos, Dusty Attic, Helmar)

I'm back today to share one last project for this month that I created using the very pretty March Dusty Attic sketch, chipboard and the remainder of my March Swirlydoos "Vintage Chic" kit. This kit has a beautiful mix of Prima and Authentique papers that go so well together. The Prima kit flowers are soooo heavenly too!

I think one of my favourite chipboard items is the skeleton clock face set (DA0430). I have used them on several projects over the past few years and never tire of their classic look. I also used an entire pack of words (DA0025) - these were so fitting for the photo of my grandparents on their wedding day. 

Sometimes almost bare chipboard really fits the look of your project. For the larger clock I simply gave it a grungy look by randomly adding some charcoal chalk ink. For the smaller clock I used the same ink but saturated it to give it more contrast against the clock that I fussy cut from paper - it was a perfect fit! Just looks at the gorgeous Prima flowers from this month's Swirlydoos kit - divine!

As for the words, I used amber Silks paint (from my February Swirlydoos kit) and then once again took the charcoal chalk ink to them to tone down the shimmer. Sometimes simple finishes are all your project demands. I find that ink goes a long way for heritage projects.

Here is the gorgeous Dusty Attic sketch by Mistra Hoolahan this month. Don't forget to enter the DA challenge each month for a chance to win a prize pack. visit the Dusty Attic NING site for more details!

NOTE: I used a lot of Helmar goodness to stick all of my project together. I used the premium craft glue on the paper layers, the 450 quick dry on the flowers, the adhesive runner for the photo and the acid-free for all the chipboard.

March "Industrial" ATC (Dusty Attic, Swirlydoos, Helmar)

This month was a fun challenge for me to step out of my girly comfort zone and create an industrial themed Dusty Attic ATC - which I then turned into a card using my March Swirlydoos "Vintage Chic" kit.

Metal and glass came to mind for this ATC inspired project so I decided to create that look on some leftover chipboard parts (the casings) of the French Garden Border (DA0845) and the Corner Flourish #2 (DA0629), as well as a set of Mini Wings (DA0783). I started by texturizing the flourish piece with texture effects paste, then added several metallic distress stains. I layered 3 little scraps of Prima's Engraver papers from my March Swirlydoos kit and then added the other 2 chipboard pieces and the metal junkyard findings bits.

On the wings, I used gesso, ink and glass bead gel. For the portion of the French Border casing, I painted it with Soot paint (DA0925) and topped it with Clear Crackle Varnish (DA0900).

PLEASE NOTE: Helmar adhesives were used for this project: Helmar Premium Craft glue for the papers layers, Acid-free glue for the chipboard and 450 quick dry glue for the metal.

Inspire Card (Meg's Garden/ Dusty Attic/ Helmar)

The extra strip of paper you receive with each of Meg's Garden papers are the perfect size to be folded in half to a perfect card size. I used the French Bird Cage sheet of paper from the Le Belle Jardin collection. This beautiful floral paper is so delightful and easy to work with. Meg also carries a beautiful selection of lace and flowers in the shop to embellish your projects. In addition, I have added some beautiful Dusty Attic chipboard pieces from my scrap stash and a handmade pink rose to compliment my card.

Click on images to see larger views.

I used the Dusty Attic mini word inspire, a left over piece from the French garden border casing and a butterfly from the newest January 2013 release. I primed the chipboard with gesso and used texture effects paste on the title and border and then glass bead gel and ink on the butterfly.

I also added a large handmade rose (tutorial to follow soon) and surrounded it with a few Dusty attic flowers.

NOTE: I used Helmar adhesives for this project: The Premium Craft glue for the lace, Acid-Free glue for the chipboard and handmade flower as well as 450 Quick Dry glue to adhere all the flowers to the card.

TUTORIAL: Anatomy of a layout (Swirlydoos/ Helmar)

Here is a breakdown of how I created a layout about my husband and I, using the Prima Engraver papers (in my March Swirlydoos "Vintage Chic" kit) and tons of Helmar goodness. I posted this on the Swirlydoos Forum and the Helmar blog but thought I would archive it here on my blog too.

STEP 1: BACKGROUND LAYERS

I cut one inch off the top and the left side of the black paper - leaving me with an 11-inch square (without cutting off the pretty flower print). I distressed it with my electronic Zutter Distrezz-it-all tool. Then, I cut a 3.5-inch wide by 10-inch tall piece of the script paper and distressed that too and glued it down as shown with the Premium Craft glue. NOTE: I never glue all my edges down so that I can add texture, tears or curl the paper edges later on.

click on images for larger views

STEP 2: CREATING A PATTERNED LAYER

Next, I took a Prima stencil and stippled gesso onto the middle of the tan paper (where there was no pattern printed). Then, I cut an 8-inch by 8-inch piece out to use as another layer. TIP: If you choose to use a light colored photo, then black gesso might look better. Since my photo choice was dark, the white makes it stand out better to create the focal point of the page.

STEP 3: FRAMING THE PHOTO

After adding my gesso patterned paper, (without glueing down the bottom third of this paper), I chose to fussy cut a clock out of one of the other Prima papers and add the Prima flower packaging to frame my photo (photo is standard 4x6 inch size). On the clock, I cut apart some Prima bling strips to accent above the numbers. The papers were glued down using Helmar's Premium craft glue and the photo was added using the Adhesive Runner.

STEP 4: ADDING THE FINISHING TOUCHES

To polish things off, I added some Prima bling strips under the photo and tore the gessoed paper up to the bling. I then tucked a scrap of the scrip paper under it the tear. I curled the tear, as well as all 4 of the black paper corners and the top right of the gessoed paper too. Lastly, I took off the bottom layer of one of the Prima flowers and tucked the petals into the top right curl before adding the two large flowers to the corner of my photo. The flowers were added using Helmar 450 quick dry.

That's it, layout complete!

Swirlydoos March Blog Hop

Welcome to Swirlydoos' March Kit Reveal

and Blog Hop Block Party!

If you came here from Heidi's blog, then you are on the right track. If not, go back to the Swirlydoos blog and start from there. We have some amazing projects for you to see today and a special guest designer too - Manda (she won layout of the year 2012 at Swirlydoos!). Make sure to leave a comment on all of the blogs for a chance to win prizes for participation in this hop. also, be sure to check out Swirlydoos on Facebook and Like Us too!

Swirlydoos has a DT call for Educators!

As you know we have a kick-butt Education team and we are looking to add to our family. If you love to create tutorials and share your love of the craft with others, we would love to have you on our team. The deadline is looming! Please click on THIS LINK to learn more!

Now on to the March "Vintage Chic" kit...
This beautiful kit features a lot of Prima goodness from the "Engraver" collection, so I thought it fitting to use the March Prima BAP sketch for a layout. I have been itching to scrap this recent school picture of my daughter in her favourite dress.

Click on images to see larger views.

The main kit and flower add-on features gorgeous flowers! For the title, I simply used pastel chalk on the word laughter in the paper. Suits my daugher perfectly - she is always full of laughter.

Here is a layout of my husband and I that I created ENTIRELY with the main "Vintage Chic" kit contents only. I just used a few tools and gesso from my stash - nothing else. You can find a step-by-step tutorial on the Swirlydoos forum HERE on how to create this layout.

Awesome flowers and fun bling in the main kit!

Here, I simply altered a plain kraft bag and added a handmade flower. I have lots of flower tutorials in the right sidebar of this blog.

I cut apart one of the bling strips to add to the clock.

You have until midnight, eastern time, on Wednesday 3/13 to complete the hop. Winners will be announced on the Swirlydoos Blog on Thursday 3/14. 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, tell us the sentence that was created with all of the special words you collected. Can't wait to hear from you.

Lastly, here is a look at the Swirlydoos main kit. To become a subscriber and never miss a gorgeous Swirlydoos kit click here.

My special words are: all be

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

NOTE: I used a lot of Helmar goodness to stick all of my projects together. I used the premium craft glue on the paper layers, the 450 quick dry on the flowers, the adhesive runner for the photos and Zapdots to add dimension.

March OUAS Reveal (Meg's Garden/ Dusty Attic/ Helmar)

Can you believe it's already March? That means another Once Upon a Sketch reveal and I have used some gorgeous Meg's Garden papers from the new "Ode to a Summer's Day" collection, plus the brand new Dusty Attic chipboard floral corners. All that combined with a doily and a few Green Tara flowers for a shabbylicious finish. These papers have such a beautiful pattern on them that you don't need to do much to achieve a polished layout. I glued everything down using a variety of Helmar adhesives (details at the end of this post).

Click on images for larger views.

The OUAS theme this month is "What does your weekend look like?". For me... when I am not scrapping, I am outdoors with my children. Since the papers are girlie, I decided to focus on my daughter for this layout. The journaling on the back of my layout reads:

"Simple moments playing outside with you is one of the greatest joys of my weekend"

Here is a peek at the OUAS challenge. I hope you can play along this month! Check out the amazing DT reveal this month and the terrific prizes up for grabs! 

Here is a close-up of the DA chipboard. I primed it with gesso and then used Faber-Castell gelatos to achieve a shabby waxy crayon look. Without priming, gelatos offer full coverage - a lot like what inking or painting looks like. I wanted a bit of the white resist look that gesso provides. I also used gelatos (mixed with water) to paint the white flower centers yellow.

This project was made using a lot of Helmar goodness. I used the premium craft glue on the paper layers, the 450 quick dry on the flowers, the adhesive runner for the photo and the acid-free glue for the chipboard.

A few last February shares (Swirlydoos, Dusty Attic, Helmar)

In celebration of LOVE month I have made a few projects using my February Swirlydoos "Upon a Time" kit, which features the fantastic "Place in Time" collection (you get ALL of the 26 papers from the collection in the main kit!).  I added some beautiful Dusty Attic chipboard from my stash to my projects and lots of Hemar goodness to stick it all together.

I have decorated a handmade 4-inch kirigami box folded from the G45 paper in my kit (a tutorial can be found on my blog for the folded kirigami box). I have used Helmar Premium craft glue for the paper layers and acid free glue to adhere the chipboard.

Here is a view of the two portions of the box before assembling. I added some DA chipboard pieces from the lacing tash around the sides of the lid of the box and then created some faux ceramic tiles for the "you" word (a tutorial is below in the next post on how to create these letter tiles). The lacing tash was simply painted with DA Cranberry paint. . 

I also created an ATC with a project in mind this month. I wanted to adhere it to a cinnamon heart filled jar (a recycled Kraft jam jar was the perfect size). I decorated my ATC with a Dusty Attic French Flourish, painted it with black Soot DA paint and then coated it with DA Clear Crackle Varnish. I then added a cute little cupid and title. I simply glued the ATC to my jar for a perfect fit!

Here is a close-up of the ATC and the crackle finish. I just adored this G45 paper in the Swirlydoos kit. I used Helmar Premium craft glue for the layers and Dusty Attic chipboard and then adhered everything to the jar using my favourite glue - the Helmar 450 quick dry. This stuff is so strong I even fixed my mop with it!

This project was inspired by the beautiful Feb. Helmar sketch challenge this month. Be sure to link your project in the Helmar blog sidebar for a chance to win some gluey goodness!

Lastly, here is a look at the Swirlydoos main kit. To become a subscriber and never miss a gorgeous Swirlydoos kit click here.