Fresh Flowers

Daffodils outside my house are blooming and everything is coming to life after a hard winter season.  Isn't it wonderful?  I love seeing what is popping up next.

That's why I've been playing around with making a flowers out of craft supplies that can stick around a little longer than their live counterparts.  Let's start craftin'!

I used a crepe filter paper to cut out flower shapes with the Floral Frames Framelits and Fun Flowers Bigz L die with my Big Shot.  After pulling these apart (because the cutting of the paper tends to smoosh all the edges together), I set to dying my newly cut flowers.

I chose Primrose Petals, Soft Sky, and Daffodil Delight colors for my flowers.  Covering my work surface with paper (I used butchers paper since I have a big roll), I set to spraying the flowers using a mixture of rubbing alcohol and about 10 drops of ink refill in a stampin' spritzer bottle.  Some of the flowers I sprayed twice to get a deeper color, while I was a bit more reserved with my spritzing on others.   Then, I transfered the flowers to clean paper to dry.  

The flowers will curl up a bit as the dry, so after they dried, I ironed the flowers on very low heat. They looked great when I was finished!

Now for assembly.  I pulled out my handy dandy silicone mat and glue gun to create the flowers.  I started by laying out one of the flower pieces on the mat and then added a dab of hot glue to the center. Then, I laid another piece on top, making sure the petal ends were moved over to the gaps in the previous flower's petals.  Stack as many as you wish for your flower (most of mine are about 5 or so petals together).

Now we will employ what I call the Squishing Technique (fancy, huh?).  I picked up the flower and separated the first 3 or so petals from the bottom three.  Then, I pulled them together, essentially squishing the top petals towards each other.  The result is a flower that has a fluffy and life like effect while keeping the few bottom petals stable for a base to your flower.

After squishing all of your flowers, we need to make a center for each.  Yay for the wonderful Sale-a-bration Sweet Sorbet accessory pack and the great twine that came with it.  That made great centers!  

I cut a length of the Summer Starfruit twine and doubled it over, continuing to do so until I had a little stack of twine.  

Then, I cut my stack of twine in half and stuck one end in a pool of hot glue on my silicone mat.  

After this dried and I made sure all the ends were nice and stuck in the glue (basically, I gave it a tug to make sure everything was glued in) I trimmed off the ends with my scissors.  Then, I started to untwist the twine so it would fray.  The result was a convinced little center to each of my flowers!

For the final step, I hot glued each flower center to the middle of my flowers.

Want to see what I made with all my flowers?  Stay tuned for my next blog post!

Feeling Lucky!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!  I also enjoyed sharing a few projects with my colleagues today in this month's Craft and Camaraderie.

We started with making Shamrock pins (so no one would get pinched!)

These were easy to make!  First, I found a template for a shamrock online and copied it three times into a Word document.  Then, I adjusted two of the pictures to be smaller, so I ended up with three different sizes total (think Papa shamrock, Mama shamrock, and baby shamrock!)

I printed out my page and traced each shamrock on the white cardboard piece that comes as the backing to a set of Designer Series paper.  This made a great and sturdy pattern that is easily traceable using a piece that normally would have been thrown away!

I collected several shades of green card stock and green patterned paper (the DSP shown above came from a Christmas patterned set from a year or so ago).  One I traced out my pattern and cut each shamrock out, I adhered them together and fluffed the leaves.  Some dazzling details was smeared on my card stock piece (Old Olive cardstock) for some extra oomph.  A pin back and a little seam binding ribbon glued on the back finished this cute little pin!

We also made bookmarks using scraps I had left over from other projects.  The strips of Designer Series Paper were cut to 4 1/2 by 1 1/2 inches and scored at 3 inches and then the corners of the piece were rounded with a corner rounder.  Two pieces of magnetic strip were pieced on the back of the scored flap and the main piece to allow your bookmark to fold over your book page.

Before finishing up, we used a 1 3/4", 1 1/4" and 7/8" scallop punch to decorate the long end of the bookmark.  Here, we used card stock in coordinating colors ('12-'14 in color collection) and the "A Round Array" stamp set.  Finally, we used a little dazzling details since we already had it out for the shamrocks (and let's face it- what isn't better with a little dazzling details glitter on it, right?) Enjoy!

Creative with Canvas

I've been on a mission to find a way to decorate my guest bathroom.  Here is my shower curtain:

I was looking for a way to compliment the colors of the guest room as well have a little fun with it too!  When I first saw the flower details, I immediately thought of the Regarding Dahlias stamp set as knew I wanted to include those in my artwork!  

I started by recycling two canvases I had from my previous bathroom and painted over them with a khaki color acrylic paint.  Once dried, I drew out some swirls lightly with a pencil, then took the end of a paint brush and dipped into paint to create small circles.  

After finishing the canvases, I took a green sharpie and drew two sayings out on Very Vanilla 8 1/2 x 11 card stock and backed it with ripped Chocolate Chip Core'dinations cardstock.  Finally, I added a border of burlap ribbon!

Decorative Details

I found this cute wooden tray at Goodwill the other week and couldn't wait to transform it.  Etcetera Designer Series Paper can do just that!  I used Antique Modge Podge to adhere all my pieces on the tray.  This specialty type of modge podge dries with a like antique finish, leaving the tray looking beautiful and vintage.

I love each aspect of the paper, and wanted to make sure I included as much as possible (plus, it made my tray a little more funky and one of a kind- which is totally me).  So, I included some extra details like the navy chevron border around the center of the tray as well as a cut out rose and label detail in one of the corners.  In addition, I added some aspects of the ruler printed paper on the outside of each section.

For the sides of the tray with the handles, I traced out the shape of the side first before cutting it out and adhering to the tray. After the modge podge had time to completely dry, I sprayed the entire tray with some craft sealer.  Then after letting the sealer dried (I let it sit overnight), I added scraps of ribbon in to one side of the tray for a finishing touch!

Cute Card Thursday

This card is fun and ready for spring!  

Whisper White, Summer Starfruit, and Calypso Coral card stock

Starburst Sayings stamp set and framelit dies

Happy Watercolor stamp set

Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, and Summer Starfruit ink

Summer Starfruit twine from Sale-a-bration

Blossom Punch

Dimensionals

Two for One Part II

I made a cute banner this weekend for my living room.  This banner is very customizable and easy to use with my favorite craft adhesive- modge podge!

I found thin wood banners at my local craft store, but you can certainly use chipboard or even back the patterned paper with some card stock if the wood banners aren't available to you.  

I started by measuring out paper the size of the banner.  I used Eastern Elegance Designer Series Paper for my pattern.  I'm addicted to the colors in this paper!  After adding a layer of modge podge to my banner base, I adhered the paper and used my palm to smooth out any bubbles.  Then, I trimmed the paper along the base of the banner to cut out the triangle on the bottom.  Set your triangle scraps aside to be used later (hint hint).

Next, I added another layer of modge podge to the top of the banner.  This not only helped to seal the banner, but also created a layer of adhesive for my next step- the floral base for my letters!

I used the Floral Frames collection to cut out my design on Whisper White card stock.  I added these to the center of the banner, smoothed out any bubbles, and added another layer of modge podge.

For the letters, I used Basic Gray card stock and a Cricut machine (using Doodletype letters at 2 inches).  However, the combination of the letter and floral base would work great with My Digital Studio too!  

After letting everything dry, it's ready to string up with some twine.  I also used Natural Chevron ribbon, Smoky Slate Chevron ribbon,  and Coastal Cabana ruffle trim.   

Now, don't forget those scraps of triangle from cutting out the banner; they need a home too!  Utilizing my scraps, I made a cute card!

Half the work was already done with the shapes being cut out (yahoo!).  I simply adhered the triangles to the center of a Coastal Cabana card stock base.  I trimmed the edges of each piece where they overlapped each other to make an even square.  

My sentiment used the You're Lovely stamp set, stamped with Coastal Cabana ink and then filled in with Crushed Curry ink and an aqua painter.  Pearl Basic Jewels were added to the center of each flower and the stems were colored in with an Old Olive Stampin' Write marker.  

Before adhering these to the center of the card with Dimensionals, I created a double bow with white Bakers Twine and used Pool Party seam binding to add a little extra oomph!

Two for One Part I

It's been a long but rewarding week and the way I like to unwind is a little creative release.  I like using every ounce of a project or scrap, and so I dedicate the next two posts to how I used leftovers from one project to make a completely new second project!

First up- I was in the craft store the other day and found some laser cut wood ornaments.  I was in love immediately!  I thought about using these to make a coaster, and what better way to customize these than to use ink refill to dye the wood complementing colors of my living room!

This was super simple.  I used about 10 drops of ink refill, rubbing alcohol, and a stampin' spritzer.  The colors I chose are Pear Pizzazz and Soft Sky.  After spritzing one side of the wood, I blotted off any excess ink and let these dry.  A little craft sealer made these waterproof and ready for use!

What I found when spraying the wood pieces is that they left a beautiful and intricate design on the scrap paper covering my work surface.  Light bulb moment!  I could use the same idea beautiful card.  So, before spraying the wood pieces with my craft sealer, I spritzed the ornaments one more time over a sheet of Very Vanilla card stock.  

The result?  Really cute cards in addition to really cute coasters!

Materials used for these cards:

-Petal Parade, You're Lovely, and Love stamp from the Everyday Occasions kit

-Scallop Tag Topper Punch, Bitty Butterfly, 1 1/4" Scallop and 1 3/4" Scallop punches

-Very Vanilla, Soft Sky, and Crisp Cantaloupe card stock

-Sweet Sorbet and Modern Medley Designer Series Paper

-Large Pearl Basic Jewels

-Linen Thread

-Pear Pizzazz, Crisp Cantaloupe, and Blushing Bride Stampin' Write Markers