Strike a Pose

I did another lo of my grandparents! Used the latest Swirlydoos kit for this one, too.

Inked and distressed the edges on everthing, added some GM. Used another old stamp that I haven't played with in awhile. Made some more carnations using the Stampin' Up scallop punch then added some Prima leaves and hydrangeas. Added some bling. Small mulberry buds, silver buttons, and silver jewelry to fill in the spaces.

Family Portrait

Here's another page using the Antebellum Beauty kit from Swirlydoos. An old family portrait that I received from my mom. The papers are all from the kit. I added my own Prima hydrangeas, leaves, bling, Dusty Attic cb, and Smooch Spritz.

The three large flowers were made using the Stamping Up scallop punch. Here's the tutorial. Super easy to make so I am sure I will be making more of them really soon! An Artisan Elements frame by Pink Paislee was spritzed and inked then placed under the flower cluster. I used TH alcohol ink to change the color of the crystal haning from the chandelier. I used an old stamp that used to be a fave. You know-you love it so you use it all the time. Then you realize you use it all the time so you stop. And, then you just forget you even have it. Well, I am trying to use some of those "loved but forgotten" tools and techniques.

Highly Respected Citizen Dies of Strychnine Poisoning

Did I get your attention? Here's the newspaper article that explains:

September 5, 1901

Mr. John M. Lemasters, an aged and highly respected citizen living 3 miles north of Middletown, the edge of Pike County, died at 9 o'clock last Friday morning, from the effects of a dose of strychnine. Whether the drug was taken with suicidal intent or was the work of some other persons is not known and perhaps never will be.

It had been Mr. Lemasters' custom to keep whiskey in the house, and to take a dram each morning before breakfast. This custom was inaugurated as a cure for a stomach trouble, and his liquor was bought in the gallon quantities, put up in quart bottles. On last Friday morning he took his usual dram, but remarked after swallowing it, that the whiskey was as bitter as quinine. He took his seat on the front porch to await breakfast, and started to read a paper. A few minutes afterwards, however, he was seen to fall forward in a convulsion, and these continued from that time until his death some two or three hours afterward. Doctor's Hollingsworth and Regg were both summoned, and at the suggestion that he be given whiskey, he said not to get it out of the old bottle, as he was poisoned from that bottle. That was near as he ever came to whether it had been taken on purpose or otherwise, and it is to be regretted that he failed to leave no doubt about it.

After his death his 'old' whiskey bottle - the one from which he did not wish to drink - was found, empty, but with many grains of undissolved strychnine sticking to the sides of the bottle, from the very bottom there of to the mouth.

John is the older gentleman seated in the front row with his wife to the right. He is surrounded by his children. This picture was taken in 1900 which is the year prior to his death.

I used the current Swirlydoos kit to complete this lo. The circle in the background is the one I made to demonstrate how to use your edge punches around a circle. All the flowers are from the current kit except the hand-made tissue flower. The bling, tag, and cb numbers are from my stash.

Love is...

Well, these are all starting to look the same to me! I used one of the sketches from TCR for this one. Another pic of my grandparents. This one just reminds me of mobster days--I guess it is the car in the background and how Grandpa is dressed. lol! He definitely was not in the mob.

I added some Prima flowers from my stash. All the pp and the rub on are from this month's kit. The Prima pearls are from a past kit (I think), the stick pin is from my stash, and I added another tissue flower. They just go so well with these papers and pictures! tfl!

A new way to use your edge punches

Wanna use your edge punches to create a border around a circle or oval like this?

Well, here's a trick I learned at the 2010 CKC. It works best with the punches that have a lot of paper "missing." I have found the best punch is the Apron Lace punch by Fiskars. The Threading Water by Fiskars works almost as well. Martha Stewart's Double Ring punch works great, too. You need an edge punch that allows for some overlap when placing it on your desired shape. So, let's get started!

Gather up your desired papers for the edge punching and your shape, adhesive, scissors, inks, and distressing tools (if desired).

First, cut your strips of paper that you will be using to edge the shape. I cut my strips 7/8 inch wide and needed three 12 inch strips to complete the edge around this 9 inch circle. Then, edge punch your strips.

Now, ink the punched edges if you like. Ink the edges of the circle.

I ran my circle through the Zutter after I inked it. I think it makes the whole process a lot more forgiving. No one will notice if you were off a little here or there because the edges are all distressed and uneven to begin with. kwim?

Now, here's the secret. Are you ready for this? If you have ever sewn you will be kicking yourself for not thinking of this sooner! You need to use your scissors to snip up to the edge of the punched design in between the scallops.

Do this for all of your strips so they look like this.

Now, run your adhesive along the back of your circle right along the very edge of the paper.

Now, you can begin attaching the punched strip of paper to the circle. The snipped paper allows you to overlap the cut edges in the back so the strip will fit around your desired shape (just like when you are sewing). It should look like this on the back.

Just keeping going with it.

Just add on another strip and keep going. Here's the finished product.

Hope you enjoyed my first tutorial! Show me what you come up with! Thanks for stopping by!

The "Cut it Out" Challenge

It's off to church we go but right now I am waiting on the kids to get ready. So, here's another lo with the June Swirlydoos kit. For this challenge you had to cut something out and use it on the page. I cut out the huge swirly thingy to add to the layers of distressed paper on this one.

This is my grandma and Darlene Bowers at Seyfried's house. They were wearing matching outfits and my grandma had titled this "Twins" in her scrapbook so I kept the same title here. Not much to this one: just added a doily, some Prima flowers and pearls, a little lace and some punched paper. The "friendship" paper stamp has rock candy added to it. The cb letters are Basic Grey. The vintage book page is from Glitz.

Wanna Ride Bikes?

Ok, here's my butterfly page. Punched some butterflies from the June pp. I used Mandy's sketch for this one. tfs, Mandy! Another picture of my grandmother while she stayed with family in Denver. She and Richard "Dickie" Bowers are on Uncle Frank Bowers farm here. As I was working on this lo I started laughing when I thought of the title. This is for all of us ADD Swirly sisters! You know what I mean!

I used my Fiskars "threading water" punch to add a border around the circle, another tissue flower, used Robin's water distressing technique and lifted the idea from her to use the bicycle pendant as an embellie.

My goofy Grandpa

Another lo using the latest kit. Love it! I used Robin's distress technique and one of Robin S.'s older sketches. I added some flowers from past kits as well as some MM quotes. This is a picture of my Grandpa acting goofy! From this picture I can see that he didn't change as he got older either! My great-grandmother, his mom, is trying to get him to stand up straight.

Grandpa Art loved to tease little Marilyn Driskell. His mom, Lurena Allison, is trying to get him to behave. You would think she would know better by now! Evelyn Driskell and my Grandpa Art's father, Earl, are in the back row. My Grandma is holding my mom. Isn't she a cutie?

Time for another June vintage lo

This is an old photo that was published in the local newspaper after the county fair. This picture of the Samuel Calvin Bishop family was taken at the Montgomery County Fair in 1898. His family won the prize for having the most sons-nine to be exact. Most of the sons had a middle name in honor of an outstanding person. Harry Stanley got his name from Stanley of the David Livingston story. Howell was named for a lawyer family friend. Samuel is seated with his wife, Alice Hayden Bishop.

I used the June kit for this one. I added some Prima flowers and leaves from my stash. The big rose is a grungepaper flower made following TH's tutorial. I added a Fancy Pants rub on and used SCAL and my Cricut to cut the title. This lo is also based on this month's sketch.

I used my Fiskars "apron lace" edge punch to created the edge around the circle. I have used this for several of my lo's now and love the look.

As promised...

here's another lo with the June Swirlydoo's kit. This kit is perfect for all the old photos I scanned from my grandmother's scrapbooks. So, I scrapped this cute picture of relatives, Graham Bishop (on trike) and Gary Frost (in car).

All the pp is from the current kit. Some of the flowers are from the current kit while the rest are from a past kit or my stash. The Prima leaves, small clothespins, and cb letters are also from my stash. This lo is based on a sketch by Robin S. You can check her out here.

More June Swirlydoos

Here's another lo created with the June Swirlydoos kit. I think this is my favorite kit so far! This one was for a challenge over at Swirlydoos called "Buttons, Ribbons, and Stamps (oh my!)". This meant at least 5 buttons, one stamped image, and 3 ribbons had to be used on the lo. I used some more pictures from my Grandma's scrapbooks. These pictures are so cute!

All papers are from the current kit. The ribbons are from current and past kits while the flowers are from a past kit, my stash, and hand made.

I will post more tomorrow because I have already finished 8 lo's with this kit and am working on another one right now for the butterfly challenge.

Round Robin #5- June

It's time for Round Robin again! Here is my lo for the challenge. I had four layouts for the challenge and couldn't decide which one to use so I asked my dd and my scrappin' sis. Both of them voted for this one.

This is another picture of my grandmother. I scanned a copy from her scrapbook. The pp and blue flowers are from the June Swirlydoos kit. I made the postcard with the TA stamps from the May kit. The Prima hydrangeas and leaves are from my stash while the Prima pearls are from a past kit. The doilie was added to the lo because I like the colors. I had been using the doilie as a mask on other lo's so it was covered in various TH inks. I added some GM and then just scrunched it up on the page and covered portions of it with gesso. Some TH crackle paint was added for some texture.  The big flower was made from the tissue paper of an old pattern I had in my sewing box. I got the idea for this from the Let's Get Shabby blog.

Vintage lo

Vintage! lol! My dad may not appreciate my choice of words here!

This is a new lo I did this past weekend. It is a picture of my dad and Lloyd Hartman, his cousin (many moons ago!). See, he doesn't follow my blog so I should be safe! heehee.

I used papers from the latest Swirlydoos kit and an old Beggahuna sketch. The diecut was distressed with the Zutter then covered with TH rock candy paint. The clock parts were also included in my Swirlydoos this month. The swirly is cut from the velvet paper included in the kit. I added some flowers from my stash and cut up the Prima felt diecut from an old kit to disperse throughout the flowers.

Originally, this was made for the Round Robin Challenge that starts again this week. But, I made some other lo's after this and had a family vote. This one did not make it to the finale. (oops, AI is over isn't it.)