Swirlydoos Scrapbook Kit Club: April "Purple Haze" Guest Designer Reveal by Peggy Giovanetti

It's been such an honor to have had one of my layouts chosen as the Swirlydoos Layout of the Year and even more of an honor to be invited to be April's Guest Designer!

And what a gorgeous kit I've been given to use - Purple Haze, full of Blue Fern Studios papers and flowers and embellishments from Kaisercraft, Prima and Tim Holtz, and oh! that embroidery hoop! To top it all off, I've been using all of the add-ons: coordinating cardstock, extra pattern paper, gorgeous flowers, even more embellishments, fun mediums and best of all, brand-new air dry paper clay and those amazing silicone moulds from IOD!

For my first layout, I not only used the Blue Fern Studios chipboard that came in the Embellishment add-on, but I took out an old BFS stamp and lightly applied it to a bit of the packaging that I tore here and there. The chipboard was painted with the Prima Metallique acrylic that came with the Tech add-on and the fun Kaisercraft wood embellishments were colored with the Ken Oliver Liquid Metals from the Mediums kit.

Me and the sibs a few years ago. Somehow, we never think about a group shot when we're together. My niece decided that it was past time that we did and took this wonderful picture of us all.

The Lane Street Sign chipboard from Blue Fern Studios and the Tim Holtz embellishments that came in my shipment put me in mind of this photo of Small Town America - the 1938 Apple Blossom Festival Parade going up Main Street in Le Roy in western New York State. I kept it all pretty simple, with some layering under the image and a selection of the gorgeous flowers from this and the February kit.

The pastel colors, the gorgeous images of flowers and butterflies - not suitable for a boy page, right? Wrong!!!! The pop of red from Kaisercraft sheet that Krissy included with the pattern paper changed the tone completely!!! I've kept it all pretty simple, with distressed layers, those fun Tim Holtz hearts from the Embellishment add-on and the Prima vine from the March Flower kit.

The embellishment on the side of the photo was made with the Tech add-on, colored with Fired Brick Distress Ink and toned down with Prima Artisan Powder.

I discovered this photo last week while looking for something else. That's me and the grandsons two years ago; how they've changed!!!!

Again, I've kept it simple - a couple of doilies from M's, a couple of die cuts using the aptly named Sophia's Heart die from Cheery Lynn, flowers from the gorgeous add-on, the resin birdbath from the main kit and the last of my RAK from Angelica's Little Scrap Shop. Oh, and lots of splatters using inks and Cindy's water + gesso recipe. Last (but not least), I colored one of the wood butterflies with a bit of the Shimmerz Aqua Huez and added a bit of the Darice pearl trim from the main kit.

This is my example for Angelica's All That Flutters Challenge http://www.swirlydoos.com/forums/topic/all-that-flutters-purple-haze/

Sophia out back among the forsythias, wearing her Easter dress. This layout worked better with a close-up; I've put a few more detailed images aside for "later".

My take on this month's sketch by the remarkable Beggahuna takes full advantage of the blend of purple and blue in this sheet of pattern paper. I've done a bit of stenciling and I've used one of my Cherry Lynn dies - Fanciful Flourish.. I've also dug very deeply into my stash for the Basic Grey chipboard alphas of my title.

A bit of explanation, if I may... Hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy and a few extreme Nor'easters have cut down a lot of the trees in my complex. To me, the saddest losses of all have been the Dogwoods. I've always looked forward to the many trees in full bloom at the beginning of Spring. The groundskeepers have put in some heroic efforts to save what they can, but I was surprised that this one was merely cut back to the center trunk instead of cut down entirely. Last year, it was totally bare and by all appearances unable to last through another bad storm. Well, the groundskeepers were right - I took these photos of this amazing survivor last month!

Here is the sketch

And here is my layout

When I opened my kit and started the ritual petting and planning, the embroidery hoop that Krissy sent us immediately caught my eye. One quick look at the IOD Moulds that were included in the Project add-on and this idea began to form. As soon as I finished sorting all of the papers and embellies, I took out the air-dry clay and the Baroque 6 Mould and went to work, never considering a tutorial.

By the time Kim and I started discussing what I'd be doing, this wall hanging was complete. I've posted a step-by-step set of instructions in the Swirlydoos forums http://www.swirlydoos.com/forums/topic/embroidery-hoop-wall-hanging/ and on my blog http://www.scrappymusings.com/ (yes, my blog - still a bit bare bones, but it's a start).

I want to thank Krissy and her entire Design Team not only for this incredible honor, but for the many years of instruction and inspiration!!!

4 comments:

Merrihew said...: LOVE everything, Peggy! I especially love how the LO with the red accents looks and how all the splotches and drips look on the LO of your dgd!; April 29, 2016 at 9:22 AM
Unknown said...: Yay Peggy!!! Fabulous designs. Love your hoop wall hanging, its so pretty how you have created it! Favourite Lo has to be the 'red' one. That beautiful vine goes beautifully with the pop of red in the LO. I'd better go check your blog out !!! :); April 29, 2016 at 3:20 PM
Stephanie said...: All of your projects are amazing Peggy. Being this months guest designer is well deserved, congratulations!; April 30, 2016 at 12:19 AM
Rae said...: These projects are so amazing! You did a stunning job with the kit!; May 20, 2016 at 12:46 PM