Holiday How-to: A Halloween Treat!

Happy Happy Halloween!
We are so excited to share with you some spooktacular news. A few months ago we were approached by Polyform Products which is the maker of Scupley. That is the clay we have been using for over 10 years to make all our beautiful handmade designs. They asked if we would be interested in creating some seasonal how-to projects to be showcased on their official website.
Let's think for a moment....um, YES!

We felt this was a perfect match for Swirly to be able to share with everyone some really neat how-to projects using the product we loved for years. Sharing some new and different projects with everyone other then our handmade ornaments. It's a win for everyone.

So here it is..... Our first how-to project we created to celebrate the spirit of Halloween is this spooktacular haunted house Halloween Shadowbox. Created using black Premo and Sculpey glow in the dark clay.

How fun it would be to create your own version of our little haunted house and add it to your own Halloween collection. Check out the Polyform website for the complete step by step here.

Leave your comments on our blog or on our facebook page and let us know what you think of this project. Is it something you would try?

Here is a few more close up shots of this project.



Our swirly little bat swirling around the moonlight.


You can make the whole project or just pieces of it. How cool would your table look with a display of mini glow in the dark pumpkins all around.


Adding a battery operated tea light behind your house so you can admire the details during the day....

and watch it glow at night. It's doesn't get any better than that.
~Lianne & Paul

Check out our Tweet little shadow box

We thought we would share with you a quick little project we did this week for a friends daughters 3rd birthday gift using one of our swirly ornaments.

Our friend really liked our Swirly birds ornament we created for our Spring collection. Unfortunately we sold out of the designs before she could order one. So we told her we would create another one. By the time we got around to creating a new one, her little girls birthday was coming up. Perfect we thought, we can create a cute shadow box so she can hang it in her room all year long. It's very simple and with a few supplies you too can create this tweet little shadow box.


We picked up a simple white shadow box frame at our local craft store along with a piece of scrapbook paper, some paint, embellishments & tissue paper. Take the frame apart and set the glass aside until your done. Use the background cardboard of the frame as a template for your scrapbook paper. We used Mod Podge to glue the paper to the cardboard. Then we dry brushed with white paint over the scrapbook paper to dull down the pattern a little.


We then cut up small rectangle and square shapes out of tissue paper.


Using Mod Podge again, we glued the tissue on the top and bottom of the frame for a punch of color . Then we painted a light green wash around the front and two sides of the frame.


The shadow box came with a thin piece a paper for the frame mat. You can use that paper as a template on a piece of really nice decorative paper. We picked a metallic white glitter cardstock and embellished it with paper flowers.


The creativity is endless when decorating your frame. Just remember you want to make sure the frame compliments your artwork/ornament and not competes with it.


The frame is now complete and all that is left is hot gluing the ornament to the background. Assemble the frame and hang it on your wall!

We hope Catherine will enjoy this for years to come. Happy Birthday!
~Lianne & Paul

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.