What I love most about the February Swirlydoos kit is its versatility.  I've done heritage pages and bright mixed media pages all from the same kit!

This layout shows a picture of my husband's grandfather and what was written on the  back of the photo was a door to the past.  His grandfather was born in NYC and when he was 11 years old he was put on the Orphan Train and traveled to Kansas where he was taken in by a family and then in 1907 he was in Oklahoma when it became a state.  He ended up in Illinois where he married and raised his family.

I read a novel about the Orphan Trains a year or two ago, so I was just fascinated to find that my husband's grandfather was actually part of that history.  The Orphan Trains operated from 1853 through the early 1900's placing homeless and neglected children from the slums of NYC with families to the west where they would be another pair of hands to help with life on the farm.   More information on the Orphan Trains here.

I kept this simple, I wanted to focus on the photo and the writing from the back of the photo.

I used Stampendous aged gold embossing powder of the chipboard title.




Thanks for taking the time to visit the Swirlydoos blog! If you are not a Swirlydoos Kit Club subscriber, please consider it so that you never miss any of our beautifully coordinated kits. Please visit Swirlydoos Kit Club and click on Join Our Club on the left side bar. Be sure to mention my name, Maggi, when you subscribe because you will receive a 10% discount on your first kit AND a coupon for 30% off an entire purchase in the Swirlydoos store. Your Swirlydoos store purchases are always shipped free when shipped along with your monthly kit. Swirlydoos also maintains a Forum where everyone can share their work, tell stories and have a ton of fun! We have monthly challenges and you can use anything in your stash for most of our challenges, so please come and join us!

Hi there!  Join me on my video tutorial and make this deceptively simple flower using Sizzix Alterations Tattered Floral dies, stamen,  some paint, beads, and Diamond Dust.

The November kit has been a favorite for me!  I love the color palette of the featured papers, Kaisercraft's Rustic Harmony.  It appeals to my love of vintage scrapping!

This layout features one of my favorite subjects, sometimes not so sweet Tisha!  Peggy and the girls gave Tisha a nickname when they visited me back in September, Me-Me.  Why Me-Me?  Well 'cause in Tisha's mind, it's all about me.  She insists on being the center of attention and will joyfully push poor Noodle out of the way so that she is getting all the petting and treats!


I wanted to add some sparkle to my layout so I dabbled a bit of paint and Stickles on the Kaiseercraft roses that came in the flower add on and then nestled the flowers in a vine from the Swirlydoos Boutique  to create my floral cluster.  This vines are just leaves and are perfect for creating your own cluster.  There are 5 different but similar vines in the store, you really need some of these!  ;-)


For this layout I used a really vintage photo from my husband's side of the family.  I used some borders from the sticker sheet in the main kit on the edges of my layout and layered some texture from my stash underneath.  I used Art Anthology's Stone Effects in Sandstone to do some stenciling in the background.


The brown flowers are from a previous kit and the others are from my stash.



That's a Creative Embellishments swirl  underneath the photo embossed with Shimmerz EnamelZ Molten Metal embossing powder, both from my stash.

And last, a simple layered card.  I used some Core'dinations cardstock for the card.  Then I layered on the green floral paper that I diecut with a Spellbinder's die, added a tag, a sentiment sticker, a few embellies and all done!


Thanks for taking the time to visit the Swirlydoos blog!  We sincerely appreciate it!   If you are not a Swirlydoos Kit Clubsubscriber, please consider it so that you never miss any of our beautifully coordinated kits. Please visit Swirlydoos Kit Club and click on Join Our Club on the left side bar. Be sure to mention my name, Maggi, when you subscribe because you will receive a 10% discount on your first kit AND a coupon for 30% off an entire purchase in the Swirlydoos store. Your Swirlydoos store purchases are always shipped free when shipped along with your monthly kit. Swirlydoos also maintains a Forum where everyone can share their work, tell stories and have a ton of fun! We have monthly challenges too so please come and join us!

Many of us are busy preparing for the holidays and here in the US we will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday so I want to wish everyone a very safe and happy Thanksgiving.  I hope you get to enjoy the day with loved ones.

This month Linda is hosting a great Christmas card round robin.  WOW, the Swirly savages are putting out some fabulous cards!

Take a look at this one from Manda.  This is so  creative.  I adore the wreath she made for her Christmas door card!



I'm hosting a Tell Me a Story challenge this month but I haven't heard too many stories, LOL!  It's hard to journal that's for sure!

Paula delighted us with her sweet story of how her furbaby, ZuZu came into her life.  What a cutie!

Hi there all you sweet swirly savages!!  It's a beautiful sunny day here in eastern NC and I've been busy getting ready for the coming holidays,  making gifts and such.  I also like to make things for myself, and here's a project that I recently finished that I did just for me!

This is a Prima birdhouse that I altered using the November kit and a few bits and pieces from my stash.  This is the perfect way to preserve a cherished picture and makes a delightful gift!

The challenges in the Swirlydoos forums are in full swing!  As always, creativity is blooming and mojo is working.

Most months we have a Round Robin as we Swirlygals love our RR!!  This month the theme is family and here's a layout from Jan with her family.  I just love the color she's added to this page.

Be sure to stop by the forums to see the other great entries in this challenge AND week 2 pages are posting today, yippee!

I'm hosting a challenge this month, Tell Me a Story.  Oh my, you have to do some journaling for an entry to this challenge.  Hmmm, some of the gals were not so happy about that, were you now Peggy and Kim???

In spite of her moaning and groaning :-), Peggy came up with this delightful treat of a layout.  She has hidden journaling on a tag tucked behind the photo.



Christy shared a fun story on this layout with the fabulous background. Something to do with falling off the donkey.  Visit the forums to "get the rest of the story!"