Easter Collection Update

Tweet Tweet Tweet!
We're busy little bunnies here at the studio putting the finishing touches for this years spring ornament collection. The date for this years Swirly Spring collection is Monday, April 4th

You'll find a nice collection of bunnies, chicks and flowers this year. We hope that our designs will be a welcome sign of Spring and you'll enjoy them throughout the season!

~Lianne & Paul

So make sure you join our mailing list so you will be notified when the is available online so you won't miss out.


These little bunnies are waiting for their ribbon bows and a brush of glitter before the grace your Easter basket this year.

HOP TO IT!

We are EGG-erly awaiting Spring here at the studio. These last few weeks we have been bouncing around sketching away, and creating some new how-to projects and we've been trying to check out all the new Easter treats that are hitting the stores.

Easter is one of our favorite holidays to celebrate and to design for. We are EGG-cited that it's coming a little later this year, so we will have plenty of time to design a wonderful collection for your Easter/Spring festivities. Last year we missed out on a new collection because Easter came earlier than we expected and didn't plan enough time to create. So to make sure that won't happen to us again we did a little searching to find out when Easter will fall in the next few years and this is what we found:
In 2012 Easter will be on April 8th-Early!
In 2013 Easter will be on March 31st! Very early, ikes! Can you say green bunnies?

We are going have to start planning NOW for those future dates!

But back to 2011. Our new Easter/Spring collection hopefully will be online in early April so make sure you have signed up for our email list so you will be notified when the collection is online.


** Update on our sketches... they are done now on to the clay....





bunnies bunnies and more bunnies.

Just a sneak peek to get you egg-cited!

HOP HOP HOP

Oh how we LOVE gifts!

Happy Friday everyone!
Today we received a package from Martha Stewart.

Why you ask? Well back in February we entered a photo contest that they were running.
Last week we were notified from MarthaStewart.com that our Valentine Garland How-to project was one of the winners of the Martha Stewart Living Handmade Valentine Photo Contest they had on their website. Yeahhhh for us!


Our how-to garland project was created with the Martha Stewart Crafts heart shape punch.


It was so exciting to open the package and see what we won. Inside was a letter on MSLO letterhea, a 12 x 12 pad of spring colors scrapbook paper and one of her Punch around the Page set.

Thanks Martha for our gifts and we look forward to crafting with our new cool products.
Have a crafty weekend everyone!

Behind the design of our Swirly Leprechaun

As we welcome March, we realize that it also happens to be National Craft Month! What a terrific reason to celebrate! Try a new technique or perhaps you can teach someone how to do your favorite craft.

So with St.Patrick's day quickly approaching we thought we would share with everyone how we created this lucky little Leprechaun ornament from this years collection.

After having many requests about making St. Patrick's ornaments we decided to included a few designs with the 2010 Valentine's Day collection launch and the response was very positive. We are happy to say we have included St. Patrick' s Day ornaments to the Swirly family and are excited to share these holiday designs each year that sparkle in tones gold and greens. Perfect for that gold feather tree in the hall. Cheers!


First thing is the sketching. We came up with some iconic images to represent St. Patty's day and hands down we agreed on a lucky little leprechaun. To create this design we decided to create and sculpt a handmade stamp similar to the one we designed for our popular Old St. Nick's designs we had offered last Christmas.


Once we got the look we liked of the Leprechaun, we'll then draw it on trace paper so we can transfer it onto a white eraser. Using a linoleum block cutter tool (which comes with interchanging size blades) we carve away the eraser to create our leprechaun stamp.




So here is the finished stamp it doesn't look like much now.... but just wait.


Now we'll test the stamp in our sketch book to see how it's going to look, making sure the detail is all there before we use it in the clay. We noticed the shamrock needed some adjustments and we were deciding if we should include a rainbow in his hands or not.


Once the clay base is made we will stamp it into a thinner piece of clay, add some details with our stylus, like features and hair and then continue finishing up the ornament. We paint, varnish & glitter and we end up with a glittery dancing lucky leprechaun!



Here is the Old St. Nick stamp and ornament we did for Christmas. We just love the look of this handmade, old wood cut feel these stamps evoke.


There is still time to purchase one of the last of our Swirly Leprechaun or Shamrock ornaments just in time for St. Patrick's Day. Check out the Shop Our Designs page link.


Have a wicked awesome St. Patrick's Day and Happy Crafting!
~Lianne & Paul

All images, text, and content on this site are the sole property of Swirly Designs and may not be used, copied without the express consent by Lianne or Paul