Orchids and a Fuchsia

I have no card to show today - instead I spent a very rewarding and relaxing day at The Glitter Pot making flowers with Jane Gill and a lovely, fun group of ladies. It was a class on Orchids and Fuchsias, and an extra little flower as a bonus for being good! So here they are (click on the picture for a closer look) -

No Tools Lily

This lily, including the leaves, was made using the no tools method. I coloured the petals and leaves with Whispers watercolour markers, using a photo of a lily as a guide. The ends of the stamens have flocking on them.
The backing uses Bazzill card, with the ovals cut using Nestability dies, and the embossing done with a Cuttlebug and the Textile folder. It's ridiculous how long it took me to tie the bow and get something I was prepared to put on a card - now I remember why I don't normally do them!

Be Inspired #15 Card

Beate's Be Inspired Challenge this week was a challenge indeed! There is nothing about the dress that I like, and on my first look I gave up. But then I decided not to wimp out, and went back for a second go.
My first step was to see what card I had that matched the colours - does anyone else sit in front of the computer holding pieces of card up to the monitor? Anyway - I don't have anything approaching the grey in the dress, but did find a piece of bluey/grey that is very similar to one of the dress colours. Then I took the picture into Photoshop so that I could enlarge it and see more of the detail of the main circular design - which is flower-like!
As I don't have any stamps that would fit in with the look, I fished through my punches to see what I had to mimic the overall feel of it. I have one punch that broke recently - a bit of the cutting part snapped off. So it punches a swirl with a fat end. Worked out just fine for my 'flower' medallion! I punched out 12 white swirls and stuck them to a punched sun shape. Then added 12 brown swirls around the outside of that. The centre is made with a larger sun shape punched out of the blue/grey card, with 12 little brown 1/8" spots stuck on the tips. Finished with a 1/2" circle in the middle, and then mounted the whole thing on a green Nestability scalloped circle.
The card base is white linen textured card, and measures 15x10.5cm (4x6" approx). The blue/grey panel on the card is cuttlebugged with Divine Swirls and matted onto brown Bazzill Basics card. The background is Bazzill Bling Sunset. Pebbles Inc Rub-On greeting on a white linen card strip rounded with my corner rounder punch. Brads to finish.

Paper Pieced Flower

The image on this card is done using the paper piecing method as per Beate's Back to Basics tutorial on Splitcoaststampers. The stamp is an old one (ten years+) that I haven't used before. I found it recently on a sort through of an old box of crafting things. I really like the design of the stamp, but it's a swine to use! Needs just the right pressure otherwise you either get an incomplete image or ink where you don't want it. It is a Pergamano stamp PS-6.
I stamped the image first on the white linen textured card, and then the relevant parts of it on the patterned papers. I used black pigment ink, and then embossed with clear embossing powder. Cut out and glued the coloured paper pieces onto the image. Trimmed the image piece square using a Nestability die, and then cut another scalloped square out of the same white card to mount it on. Drew a black line around the plain square with a marker.
The strips of patterned paper were pleated and pinched in, with the pleats held together with a spot of glue. Wrapped around the edges of the pink Bazzill card to mimic ribbons. The Happy Birthday is a Pebbles Inc rub-on.

Little Pot of Violets

This little pot of violets was made using Woodware Leone Em punches. (Country Basket and Iris & Violet Combination.) The flowers and leaves were punched out of white printer paper, and coloured front and back with Whisper watercolour markers. Still need to work on my technique for colouring the violet centres. Once the leaves and flowers were dried and shaped, I stuck them on narrow strips of green paper before arranging and fixing to the back of the pot. The pot was already shaded with grey chalk, and shaped.
I used foam tape behind the pot to fix it to the backing paper, which is by Papermania and called Regal. Matted on to dark green Bazzill. The lilac card is also Bazzill. Finished with cream organza ribbon and Papermania pearl centred brads. I don't have a corner punch for the shape taken out of the patterned paper corners - called ticket punch? - so I used a 1/2" circle punch instead. The card is A6 size (15x10.5cm or very approx. 4x6").

Doodles Sun Flower

The flower on this card is made from eight 4cm x 5cm pieces of a burgundy/red handmade paper. They are folded using Christian's Two For One Fold. I punched little suns out of a yellow version of the same paper, and inserted them in the openings of the inner squash folds. A slightly larger sun for the centre, finished with a flat backed pearl which I coloured with a green permanent marker.

The stalk is a stamp by Tracey Miller from a set called Doodles.

I inked the stamp with a water colour marker, and used an aqua brush to wash some of the colour over the leaves. Two little orange gems in the curls. Finished off with a ribbon, and doodled lines around the edge. Matted onto the same red and yellow handmade paper as used for the flower.

Polka Dot Flower

Trying something a bit different today - nice and bright to counteract the dull, wet bank holiday weather. Maybe a bit too bright!LOL! I used my no tools method to create the main part of the flower from Doodlebug Lilac Swiss Dot paper, and a couple of snowflake punches and a single hole punch for the stamens using orange paper. Freehand cut the leaves and stem from Bazzill Bling Emerald. Cuttlebugged the orange Bazzill Basics card with the Swiss Dots folder, and hand doodling on the Magenta Purple Gingham paper. Three purple buttons to finish. It doesn't seem to matter what I do, but purple always comes out more blue in my pictures. The buttons are a much closer colour match to the flower 'in the flesh'.

Here's how I made the flower:

You may like to refer to these entries if you haven't seen them before -
No Tools Flower and Tool Substitutes
As usual - click on any picture for a larger view.

Cut out 6 fat petal shapes from the Lilac Swiss Dot paper.

Curl with the character shaper tool from the pointed end to the middle on the right side.

Flip the petal over and curl from the fat end to the middle on the wrong side.

This is the side view of the shaped petal when finished. I am holding it by the pointed end. This is also the way that I shaped the two leaves on the finished card.

Punch out two small snowflakes. (I know - the eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted that my shapes are a six petaled flower, but I did them before deciding to use a snowflake for the stamens. It doesn't really matter - six arms is what you're after.) Stick three shaped petals to each as shown. Then glue one assembly on top of the other, alternating the petals. I forgot to photograph this next stage - but after you have glued the two layers together, you need to go around the flower and adjust the petals so that the left side of each petal sits on top of the next one round. You can see what I mean in the finished flower picture at the end.

Punch out two different sized snowflakes and six 1/4" circles - I used a single hole punch of the kind you can buy at a stationers. My small snowflake is an EK success one, and the other is an X-Cut punch.

Stick the six little circles to the tips of the smaller snowflake as shown.

Emboss the circles with a circular movement to curve them up in a saucer shape.

Draw an imaginary circle around the base of the snowflake spokes with the embossing tool to make them all cup upwards.

Glue this cupped shape on top of the larger snowflake, alternating the spokes, and making sure that it is nicely centred.

Glue the stamen assembly into the centre of the flower.

Weekend Sketch Challenge #49

This is my version of Beate's sketch for this weekend's challenge.

The flower is made from linen textured cream card. I used one of my No Tools flower petal shapes as a template, and drew round it on the back of the card as I couldn't fold it to cut them out. Still didn't take too long to do. I left the cream card plain, and just shaped it before sticking the petals on to a snowflake. The centre is a 1" Woodware Blink Blink punch, and a mini Woodware punch which they just call Flower. The leaves were punched with a Leone Em (Woodware) Evergreen Punch. The two plain colours of card used in the backing are Bazzill, and the gorgeous patterned paper is K & Co Smitten Paisley Glittered Paper. Click on the picture above to enlarge it so that you can see the detail and the glitter better.

Two Ways with Funky Pink Hearts

I have used my regular tools for this tutorial. For alternatives see my post on Tool Substitutes.
This flower uses a long heart shape. The punch I used is by X-cut and is called Funky Heart. Woodware do a similar one, EK success also has one called Folk Heart, and I am sure there must be others. You also need something to stick the hearts to. I have used a snowflake punched with an EK Success punch. Any small snowflake shape will do, or a six petaled flower shape. If you don't have either of those, then use a circle as per the No Tools Flower instructions.

Here are the supplies needed:

• Shaping mat
• Scrap of coloured paper
• Pva glue
• Funky Heart punch
• Snowflake punch
• Ink pad
• Embossing ball tool
• Character shaping tool
• Flat backed pearl or other embellishment for the centre

Punch out 12 hearts and two snowflakes.

Swipe the ink pad around the edges of the petals. (This looks nicer than the photo shows!)

Use the character tool (or teaspoon etc - see tool substitutes) as shown in the No Tools Flower tutorial.

The petal will curl up like this.

Glue two petals opposite each other with the tips touching in the centre of the snowflake. Like a strange little bug! Only use a tiny spot of glue on the very tip of the heart.

Continue sticking petals around the snowflake, spacing them evenly for best effect. On the second snowflake, stick the petals slightly further out as shown on the left hand layer in this photo. (Click to see closer.)

Place each layer in turn, right way up on the shaping mat. Using the character tool, draw an imaginary circle around the base of the petals, applying a little pressure as you do so. This will make the flower cup upwards.

Apply a spot of glue in the centre of the layer with the more widely spaced petals, and fix the other layer on top. Align the layers so that the petals of the top one are between those of the bottom layer.

Glue the pearl in the centre to finish.

By doing a different shaping you can get a totally different look. After punching out the shapes, do not curve them, but just stick them to the snowflake. Then turn the assembly upside down on the shaping mat and use the embossing ball tool to shape as per the Nestability Flowers.

Emboss the tips.

Emboss a line down the centre of each petal.

Turn the whole thing back over to the right side, and 'draw circles' around the base of the petals to pop them up.

Stick the two layers together, and then, with the flower on the shaping mat, press with the embossing tool in the centre to 'fluff' the petals up.

Add the pearl.


Two very different looks.

This flower was done with the second method, but using a crinkly thin tissue type paper. I used a Leone Em Stamens punch with Emerald Bazzill Bling for the centre.

Fred She Said Daffodils

This is a 3d design by Tracey Miller. For every download purchased in May she will donate over half the cost to the Canadian Cancer Society. Check her blog Fred She Said for details. This card is for a local charity shop, along with a few others I will be making up.
I printed it onto a linen textured card stock, cut, and assembled with 2mm foam tape/pads. It is easy cutting, and makes up really quickly. I love Tracey's designs - always such bright, clear colours that print out well, and beautifully drawn.

Double Pocket Bag

This is my version of the double pocket bag for the Splitcoaststampers TLC169.
I used one sheet of 12"x12" double sided paper by Crate Paper called Bubblegum. It's quite stiff, so has made a nice sturdy bag that stands up well. I made the first folds so that the reverse of the paper would show along the top of the bag.
I made a 'ribbon' strip to go around the top by cutting strips of Bazzill Bling Emerald and sticking them to white printer paper. Then I trimmed the paper with scalloped scissors along the edge of the Bazzill. I used two more strips to make the handles. Initially because I didn't have the right ribbon, but then decided that I liked it better anyway - easier to attach, and ties in nicely with the fake ribbon strip.
Another no tools flower - with printer paper again - same petal shape as my Be Inspired card, without the tip curled over, and coloured at the edges by swiping after shaping with a Color Box Chalk pad - Orchid Pastel. The centre was punched out of the printer paper with my Woodware Bling Bling punch, and coloured by stamping with the Color Box pad. The green centre is the smallest Woodware Christmas Flower punched from the green Bazzill. Leaves cut freehand with scissors.

Be Inspired Challenge #14

This is my take on Beate's inspiration piece. The card is all Bazzill Bling - Sunset, 24 Karat, and Emerald City. I cut the Sunset curved shapes freehand with scissors, and then sponged both the shapes and the 24 Karat rectangle with ink from Ancient Page pads Sienna and Sunburst. The Sunset is layered onto the 24 Karat, and then both matted onto Emerald City.
The little flowers were punched out of printer paper with a Woodware punch - Multi-Christmas Flower, and the yellow centres drawn in with a marker. The green wavy 'stalk' and the main flower stem and leaves were cut from the green card freehand with scissors.
I used the no tools flower method to cut and shape the petals on the main flower - which was also made from printer paper. The black stamens were punched with a Woodware Blink Blink punch, and the yellow centre is made from the same two flowers as the little white ones.

Sort of a Poppy!

I made this flower using the No Tools method, and changed the shape of the petal to a kind of fat heart shape, but without the dip in the top. I made the outer edges frilly by using some fancy edging scissors, and just nipping tiny bits out of the paper with the very tips of the deckle points. I only made one layer of petals, but put every other one on top to make it look like two layers of three.
The bud is made from one petal which has been rolled into a bud shape, and had the pointy end snipped off. For the green on the bud, I used an X-cut Funky Heart shape cut in two, with a little tiny three tipped tulip shape for the part where it joins the stem. The stems are just strips cut from the paper with scissors. I scored a line down the centre to give a little bit of dimension. The leaves are a Leone Em (Woodware) punch called Ash Branch.
Simply mounted on cream linen finish card, which has had the edges lightly distressed and chalked in green (doesn't show too well in the photo. Used a Woodware corner punch called Squared Corner Cutter. Matted onto the same green paper used for the leaves and stems. Cream linen card base. Woodware Tiny Phrases for the greeting.