~*~ October Swirlydoos Bliss ~*~

Oh yes it's here and it's gorgeous!! The October Swirlydoos kit called Autumn Splendor. I have made so many layouts and I still have more goodies left. This months colors are all the wonderful colors of fall. Check out some of my latest Swirlydoos creations.

This is my daughter Rylee standing under her bed curtains that she has. I kept this one rather simple because the paper speaks for itself. I did notice after I took the picture that my "t" in true got a little crooked. Sorry about that.

This is Raine when she was about 12 years old. I actually did this for a sketch challenge on sb.com. Loved the design so I had to do it. I added a bit of my own flare though. This is all kit items except for the three flowers I layered.

Here is my gorgeous hubby pondering his next move on the treehouse he is building for my kids. I used all kit items, except for my favorite Maya Road sheer letters that I acohol inked in gold.

My sweet Rylee again in her elf get up. All items are from the kit except for the vine above her photo. Isn't this paper gorgeous!! I actually tilted it sideways!! Look at that flower, LOVE IT!!

Ok here is the Beggahuna sketch challenge of the month layout!! I love how it turned out. All items are from the kit except for the lettering. I put in some hidden journaling with a verse from the bible behind her photo. Another great sketch this month!!

~*~ Harlee Quinnz ~*~

So I am sitting around the house with my kids today. Since we are taking a break from homeschooling I thought I would post a couple more Harlee Quinnz layouts.

This first one is of Brooky dressed up like a little fairy without any wings. That wonderful 2 year old attitude got the best of the wings lol. Anyway I used a couple of papers from their Butterfly Garden line and a couple of stamps from the same line. The flowers are mainly Prima with some added little bunches I stole off a swag in my house. The Prima swirls are cut up and layered throughout the flowers. I love corrugated cardboard, so I wanted to throw some in on this one. I crackle painted, stickled and glitter misted it (as usual).
Thanks to a friend of mine from Scrapbook.com, I was given these photos to create a stogy layout with the Scents I Remember line. This line has some fascinating papers in it that you can do a lot with. The black cigar transparency was also made from a stamp in that same line. Harlee Quinnz also has some cut outs called ephemera which I used on the flower.

First Official Harlee Quinnz Layout

This paper is just gorgeous, I love it. I used a combination of three of the new Harlee Quinnz, Butterfly Garden paper on this layout and three different stamps from the same line. They are a brand new company so they are still building there product lines, so I had to add a lot of additional details. The chipboard flourish is from Maya Road. I inked it then barely smeared some crackle paint over the top. I also used some stickles around the edges of it and on the flower. Look at how cute the crystals are hanging at the bottom of the photo matt.
This is a dragonfly that was printed on glossy photo paper, cut out and stickled for decoration. The pretty bling on this page is Basic Grey.

More Swirlydoos Bejewelled Layouts

Sharing some more goodness from Swirlydoos. I love love loved the September kit they did. I got a sneak peak of the October kit and I CAN'T WAIT to show off the deliciousness that is coming. Gorgeous fall colors that it isn't too late to get in on!! Well in the meantime here are 4 more of my layouts.

This is Tyler looking like a little angel. I actually took the crystals off of the large flower and hung them above her head. I used some of my faux grass as well.

This is Rylee in a photo that was originally a little blurry, but I used the watercolor filter in Photoshop and it turned out so soft and gorgeous. The tulip and stem is hand folded, but it is a bit difficult to show on a tutorial, so sorry about that.

This is Brooklyn in a photo I took of her for a photography challenge that I do every month on sb.com. This photo was taken for the month of August and the challenge was to interpret the word "Encounter". The butterlfy was a cut out that I literally stuck on Brooky's nose for the photo.

This is another one of those photos of my kids that I love. They are all dressed up like little Lord of the Rings characters. So much fun!! This page has a lot of detail on it. The chipboard links are woven with thick black thread. I stickled the title letters. The cardboard was stamped and smooched. I hand liquid pearls all around the circle. The fence was misted with glitter mist as well.

Harvest Time

This lo was an idea I had for the Halloween time of year. I didn't want to do the traditional Halloween lo again so I made one based on Harvest. I chose to share it because I did a few things a little differently. For starters I wanted to have a perfect harvest moon on my page and I found a photo online that I sized, printed on glossy photo paper, and cut out. Next I wanted plain pumpkins and dried corn stalks. So I used natural colored raffia that I cut and pieced then inked lightly over the top. The pumpkins were from a coloring book that I scanned and printed out on orange cardstock. Then I inked and chalked them for more detail. The tree was an image I found online that had a great eerie feel so I printed it and cut it out as well. I love these little fences. You can find them at Michael's in bare wood. I just inked over the top of mine. The grass is green felt and I have a tutorial for realistic grass to the right of my blog. As for the photograph, it's me. It was really washed out so I used a watercolor filter on it for this look. This was a fun layout to make.

Sand Paper Embossing

I normally wouldn't post again so soon, but I wanted to share this cool technique I learned from a fellow sb.com scrapper, hisgirlre. She showed me how you can take a sheet of pattern paper and place it over a slightly raised sticker, then use sandpaper on the pattern paper to get this neat distressed look. Take a look at the two examples below.

You really must try this. It really jazzes up a page without overdoing it. It's very subtle and cool.

Here is the entire finished layout. These were photos I took while on our vacation to Yellowstone National Park. I used this technique and journaled all the way around the edges of the layout. This was made with the My Creative Scrapbook July Kit. I saved it just for these vacation photos.

New Katies Kreations 4U Goodies

Showing off some goodies from Katies Kreations 4U in a layout I did of Rylee dressed up like an elf. Katie puts together really fun little kits with all sorts of great embellishments. On this particular layout I used some gold Stickles on the butterfly diecuts and on the flowers as well. Everything you see on this layout is from her kit with the exception of the paper and the letters.
Another great kit Katie has right now has a Halloween theme. This kit is loaded full of adorable Halloween embellishments. The only thing I added here is my own paper, orange circle, buttons and brads. This kit was a lot of fun to put together.

Rockstar Flowers

Hey Hey I wanna be a RockStar!! In the mood for a little oragami anyone? Check out this super awesome Rockstar Flower I made on my Rock & Roll layout. It looks hard, but my 12 year old daughter made one by herself and she said it was easy. It just might be a tad bit time consuming, but look how darn cool it is!! I set up a tutorial below with pictures to walk you through the steps. I used thin pattern paper, because there is a lot of folding on each piece. The good news is all of the pieces fold exactly the same. To start take a 12x12 piece of pattern paper (does not have to be double sided). Cut the paper into 12 pieces of 3x3" squares.

Now each box below shows you the exact steps you take to achieve a petal. I tried making the pics easy to follow. Now your folds do not have to be perfect but the nicer you fold the better the outcome.

1) The first step is just folding all the corners into the center as shown.

2) The next step, flip over the square so that you do not see the folds, then bend back the edges on each side as shown.

3) Fold up the bottom triangle up as shown.

4) Fold the petal straight down the middle as shown. Make sure you fold the right way.

Do this with all 12 pieces of 3x3" squares. You can always ink or decorate the petals or you can wait until the flower is put together.

Here is how you began to put together your flower. I had my daughter Rylee help me demonstrate so that I could take pictures. See how there are slats on the one side of the petal and points on the other. Take the points of one petal and slide them into the slats on each side. Continue to do this with each petal. It will curve naturally by itself.

You should end up with the following. When you get to the 12th petal you will need to tie it in with the first so that it completes your circle. You will have a hole in the center of your flower as shown.

I threw this RockStar flower together just for the tutorial, but you can decorate the center however you like. My daughter made a tissue rose for the middle of hers and on my above layout you can see that I cut circles to cover the whole and put the skull and cross bones on the top. This one here I just covered with a 3" flower, red star, and a black button.

Just have fun and make it your own!! Thanks a ton for visiting my blog!! For other tutorials, always look to the right of my blog for quick links!!