Happy 4th of JULY!!!

We want to wish you all a happy and safe 4th of July.

There's nothing better then a good BBQ and nice weather for a 4th celebration with family and friends. This year we are hoping to have our 3 year old experience fireworks for the first time. If anything, he will enjoy the staying up late part for sure.

























Here is our Patriotic Topiary ornament we created back in 2003. It was a very popular design for us and we still get requests for a Patriotic line. These ornaments look wonderful on a front door surround by a beautiful 4th of july wreath or hang them on a decorative knob on a cabinet.



























This is one of our favorite ways to display our little pieces of art. A shadow box display. This frame is wide enough to stand on its on so you don't even need to hang it on the wall. You can just stand it on a book case or mantle. See our baby ornament shadow box idea here.

Even if you can't paint, this whole frame was easily created with tissue paper and glue, using a technique called decoupage. Which is really just gluing paper to a surface by layering and then top coating it with varnish or lacquer. If you've never tried decoupage, we recommend trying it, you'll love the results.

Where do you see Swirly?

It's that time a year again where we begin planning our Holiday Craft Schedule and figure out where we want to spend our advertising dollars.

With most of these crafts show you need to start planning the next years enrollment right after you finish a show. We never seem to get it together and do this. With the holiday shows so crazy it's really the last thing on our mind! We learned a hard lesson this year when one of our more successful shows' deadline came and went without us knowing. We never received any application from the organizers and now we might not be able to get in this year. We are still waiting for confirmation.

In that light, we'll keep you updated with all our shows in the coming months that we will be attending this holiday season. Which leads us to ask all of our readers, that live in or near the Boston area, if you know of any holiday craft shows you attend that you think we would be a good fit for Swirly Designs please let us know by emailing or posting a comment.

Advertising

During the months leading up to the holidays, all the major magazines put out a holiday issue or a special holiday issue. These are great for inspiration.

We buy lots of magazines all throughout the holiday season, but rarely get to peruse them until the spring. Not only are looking at new trends in colors and themes, but we're also scoping out which publication would be a great place for Swirly to advertise.

Our first taste of national exposure came in November of 2006 when we we're profiled in Yankee Magazine as one of New England's Finest. The response to that little blurb made us really think hard about print advertising.

After that success, we ran our first national ad in Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion Holiday issue. We were very pleased with the response (even though we weren't too happy with the placement of our ad in the magazine).

This year we are going to advertise in the MEHC Oct/Nov issue (to introduce our new Halloween Collection) and the Dec/Jan issue with our holiday collection. We are also considering Romantic Homes, which seems to be a publication our customers enjoy and read.

We would love to hear from you with any magazines or newspapers that you enjoy reading or use as a Christmas/Holdiay shopping guide.

Keep your eyes peeled, you never know where you'll find Swirly Designs!

How quick they grow

I know all of us here in Boston are trying to beat the heat! Boy is it hot here. While trying to stay cool, we've been planning our son Gryffin's 3rd birthday party, slated for this Thursday 6-12...his actual birthday. It's a dinosaur theme this year. We've posted our invite that we made, which showcases Paul's illustration. You can see more of Paul's work here.

It's been such an adventure watching the little guy grow, it's really amazing. Everyday is different and we learn something new.


Stay Cool,
Lianne

Swirly Designs experiences a little R+R in San Diego, CA

Before we plow head on into our holiday ornament production, we were able to take a little time off for a trip to San Diego with the little guy. Here are a few shots of our fun filled vacation.


First time on the plan and he was a trooper and a natural. Sit back relax and chill.

We're here!! The weather is always nice and sunny in SD...of course the first few days was rainy and cool!

Traveling with a child forces you to appreciate and explore everything over again. We were always searching for fun places to see, the like the beaches, amusement parks even the local library!


Here is Gryffin at the world famous San Diego Zoo.
Our favorite attraction by far were those happy-go-lucky hippos!

A brand new attraction just came to SeaWorld in San Diego: Seame Street Bay of Play section. Gryffin was in heaven!!

And what's a visit to CA without hitting the beach-clothes and all.

We had a wonderful time in CA. Not to sure we would ever
move there. As designers, it would be a bit challenging for us thinking of Christmas in 80 degree weather.

Happy Anniversary Silver Clay

We want to wish Silver Clay a happy 2nd anniversary! We met Marcia, owner of Silver Clay, at our local Polymer Clay group. With Lianne also being a graphic designer by day, Marcia was looking for someone to help her with creating a logo and identity for her new store/studio. The store is full of fun, funky affordable gifts and jewelry. She also offers a variety of Silver clay, Polymer Clay and jewelry classes. If you ever visit Wakefield, Ma., be sure to stop by (located 391 Main Street) and say hi from Swirly Designs. It so nice to support local business.

Baby Ornament Shadow Box

Even though we call our designs ornaments, there are so many other possibilities you can do with our ornaments to enjoy them all year round. In the coming months we will show you fun and easy ways you can decorate and display your Swirly Designs ornaments.

We have recently been creating shadow boxes with our ornaments. The one pictured was created for a school charity auction.
But with these simple steps and materials you can create your own shadow box.

You can pick up a shadow box frame at your local craft store or frame shop. We like to use the natural unfinished wood because we can paint it ourselves.
Other materials you'll need are glue, fabric tac, glitter, stickers, ribbon, rhinestones....really, you can use whatever your want that will coordinate and compliment the ornament colors.

We start by removing the glass and sanding the frame a little,
so the paint adheres. Then, we look at the ornament and choose colors that will compliment.

While the frame is drying, we use a good adhesive and glue the ornament to the frame insert. If you choose you can also paste a decorative piece of paper to the insert first. You can use a solid paper or a print. Nowadays there is such a wonderful array of scrapbook papers to choose from, just remember not to use a paper that is too busy.


We are always picking up fun embellishments and ribbons from the craft store and little shops around town. We collect all that stuff because we never know when we'll will use them. The green felt on the edges is actually felt we found at Paper Source over the holiday.

After we glued the ornament in the frame we added fun
little stickers and glitter to the frame's mat to give it that
sparkle when light hits it.

Here is the final piece!
A wonderful gift for a baby shower or to hang in a nursery.

We'd love to know how you've displayed your Swirly Designs!

The Making of our Springtime collection

Even though Easter has come and gone,
we thought we would like to start the new blog
explaining a little of how these ornaments are created.


We start each design with a sketch. From
there we create each ornament using a mixture
of different white polymer clays.

This one is going to be a St.Patrick's bunny since
Easter was so early this year.

After baking, the next step after sanding the
ornaments is the painting stage.



The painted ornaments are done, waiting to be varnished with a high gloss.


then we add embellishments to our designs– like glitter,
danglers, ribbons etc.

glitter adds a fun sparkle to each ornament.


Here is what the final ornament looks like. This piece had
a paper ribbon embellishment.
If you want to more about our process click here.