Flower Making Simplified

Hi friends I love making flowers but I was a bit rusty when I embarked on this project since its been ages since I even attempted to make any kind of handmade flowers!! So these flowers are simple and quite easy to make!!
I altered a wooden keyholder which had been languishing in my "to do something with it "stash for  years !

The keyholder was originally a pale brown in color . After gessoing and giving  several coats of white acrylic paint , I decoupaged it partly with Ornate Annie pattern paper from Bob and Betty.

I used a variety of Spellbinders and Heartfelt creations stamps and dies to create the flowers and leaves.

Recently Shalini launched some amazing products specifically to cater to the needs of the flower maker. Making the flowers in this project was a breeze using them!

Easy Filler Flower Tutorial 

First I will share how to make the cute white blooms which are acting as filler flowers in my project.

Materials Used

Dies : Heartfelt creations Berry Blossoms - the tiny 5 petal flowers

Heartfelt creations Delightful daisies

Paper : 285g card stock [Dress my Craft floral exotica]

Embossing Tools : Metallic Golf tools from Dress my Craft

Ink : Ranger Archival Ink Buttercup

Glitter : Sparkling Dust from Dress my Craft

You can use a variety of paper to make flowers but if you use paper as thick as 285 g to make flowers will get nice sturdy flowers which hold their shape well and can take a bit of crushing!But because of the thickness they need to be moistened by either misting or dipping in water to allow you to shape and emboss them easily.

Recently Shalini [under her brand Dress my Craft ] launched 2 gorgeous papers Floral exotica and oriental which are simply fabulous for making flowers!! They absorb water to the right degree, are easy to emboss , ink well and hold their shape beautifully !!

Coming back to the Tutorial : Ink the centers of the die cut /handcut flowers with your choice of color.If you use an Archival ink, it wont bleed when you spritz your flowers with water. Mist both sides of the flower and mop off excess water with a towel.

To shape all the flowers and leaves in this project I  used a set of fabulous embossing tools called golf tools which have nice grooves on the "golf head" end to help give beautiful creases to your flower while you emboss the petals.

The set has tools of different sizes which you can choose depending on the size of the flower petal / leaf you are embossing and the degree of embossing you want.If you want to curl/cup your petals more...use a smaller golf tool!

After cupping the flower, invert and cup the center .

 I have used the round end of the largest golf tool here.

If you want to add pollen/brads etc...use the pointed end of the golf tool and poke a hole. [the 3 smaller golf tools all have nice pointed tips]

The golf tool ends are nicely tapering so you can actually create a small or larger hole by sliding the flower along the tool!

After pulling the pollen through the hole secure in place with a dab of glue.

For the large flowers use a bunch of pollen and use just one pollen for the smaller flowers.

You can quickly further jazz up your flowers by spraying with glue and sprinkling "Sparkling Dust" glitter.

You can also use clear drying liquid adhesive but I found using the spray adhesive super quick especially if you are working assembly line style and spray a huge lot of flowers and glitter them all up in one go!

 Dont the flowers look simply gorgeous even though they were so easy to make!

The leaves were stamped and heat embossed gold using Heartfelt creations stamps and die cut with the matching dies.

I love making Roses and you can see links to Tutorials shared earlier here : Handmade Flower Tutorials 

This particular flower is I guess the easiest rose ever!

Materials:

Die : Spellbinders Rose creations die. You can use any other style of die cut.

Paper : Dress my Craft Oriental Paper : this one does not absorb water as much as the exotica paper and cups more  making it ideal to make this particular flower.

Golf tools

Jazzing up : Liquid pearls Gold and Sparkling Dust Glitter  [from Dress my Craft]

I used 3 of the  largest and 2 of the 2nd largest size die cuts. You can experiment with whatever flower shapes you have.

Inking Tips : 

1. If you are creating 3 dimensional flowers , ink up both sides of the flowers with whatever ink you like.
2. Since you are working with thick card stock you need to moisten the flower shapes to help mould them easily. 
3. Mist both sides with water . 
4. If you are using a water reactive ink like Memento or Distress Inks  ...the color will wash off a bit after spraying and you will also get a nice mottled appearance.
5. If you don't want the color to change use Archival inks.

Mop off excess water using a towel before you emboss

Place the flowers on an embossing pad and run your golf tools over the petals from the edge to the center cupping the petals nicely.

Can you see the lovely lines created so easily with the grooves in the golf tool! This is why I love this tool so much and not only that it is not too heavy to handle either!

If you want deeper cupping in any area switch to a smaller size golf tool and emboss.

Cup the petals of one of the smaller flowers to create the bud

Vary the degree of cupping of all 5 flowers using the embossing tools and cupping/opening with your hands. Optionally ink over the grooves created to enhance the lines even further using a darker shade of ink.

Creating the bud is one of the trickiest parts of making a rose and I find it easiest to use something in the center around which the bud petals can be glued around! You can use a paper ball/ bead/ cotton ball or an earbud like I did. Here is an earlier Tutorial using earbuds to form the center : Easy Rose Tutorial 

Before you assemble your flower optionally ink over the ridges and edge /inside of your flower with a darker shade of ink.

Glue the petals around the earbud/cotton ball etc using hot glue. You can also use any other kind of glue but you need to be more patient!

The trick while using a glue gun to avoid those pesky glue strings is to avoid glue towards the top edge of your petals !

Glue the petals overlapping each other, keeping the shape conical.

 Glue the bud within the other layers of flowers staggering the petals as you keep gluing.

As you move to the outer layers apply glue only on the central areas and less on the petals as such so that you get more of flaring.

Finally add your finishing touches! I used golden liquid pearls over the edges of  the flower .

Once the liquid pearl is dry , paint with liquid glue or spray with spray glue and sprinkle Sparkling dust glitter.

Wasn't that the easiest rose ever!

I hope you liked these easy flower Tutorials.

Supplies : all from Crafters Corner

Dies : Spellbinders  :Spellbinders Rose Creations,Heartfelt Creations :Heartfelt creations Classic Leaf, Heartfelt creations Delightful Daisy Die,Heartfelt creations Berry Blossoms Die

Stamps : Heartfelt Creations Open Leaf Stamp,Heartfelt creations Delightful Daisies Stamp
Inks : Ranger Archival Inks , Distress Inks  

Embellishments & Charms

Heat Embossing Supplies

Pattern Paper : Bob n Betty Ornate Annie

Liquid Pearl Gold

Dress my Craft products: Flower Making Paper : Dress my craft collection exotica and Floral Oriental collection paper

Golf Tools : LARGE, MEDIUM,  SMALL, MINI

Sparkling Dust from Dress my Craft

Misc Tools:Funnel tray

Flowers with DMC groove tools.

Good morning!
Rupa here with my first post for February. It's the month of LOVE and there is nothing like giving handmade gifts to your loved ones. How about making some flowers too to decorate your gifts...won't it make it even more colorful???
DRESS MY CRAFT has all the essential stuff required to make beautiful flowers...the papers as well as the tools! I have used the Oriental collection papers and the groove tools which were recently launched.

 The tools come in 4 sizes, Large, Medium, Small and Mini.. perfect for any size flowers or leaves.

Our DT's have made some amazing flowers with these tools and Heartfelt Creations dies.
I am here to show you my kind of flowers made with all time favorite Tim Holtz tattered florals die and I have used Distress Inks for a change this time.

I love the natural patterns that the ink creates on the petals when water is spritzed! Have a look....
Let's move on to the process ...

 I die cut the flower using Oriental collection paer and have used distress inks to color them. The lighter shade in the center and the darker tone around the edges.

 
I then spritz the petal with water and love to see the reaction! The natural blending and reaction gives a lovely pattern.
 

Now come the tools in action! Depending on the size of the petal, choose which tool fits. I am first using the large one to start with. I start from the outer edge to the center. You can see how it creases the edges of the petals. A very natural look indeed.

 Here I press the center on the flower with the large tool on the correct side. This helps to cup the center and gives dimension to the flower.

 Here you can see the how any ordinary die cut can be transformed into a natural looking 3D flower!

 For the tiny petal in the set, I have used the small and mini tool.

Here you see the layering of the petals . I have made 2 different sizes of flowers.

 Here is my attempt to make another flower with 2 different tones of DI. Once inked, I have spritzed with water and after that have used the groove tools to work on the petals.

 Next, I have stamped some leaves using Archival black and have colored the leaves with Archival inks too. I have used different shades here too.

T then drop the leaf in a cup of water and leave it for a few seconds. Then I place it between a towl to remove the escess water.

 I have shaped the leaves with the small and used the mini tool to draw out the veins too. I love how the leaves curl up and look so natural.

  My flowers have dried too and I fixed the pollens in the center and they look a lovely family with the leaves!

 This is my favorite of the whole lot and I am not sure I will use this on any project!

 Ok, so flowers and leaves done, what else do you think I can do with these awesome papers and groove tools???
How about some BUTTERFLIES...don't we all love them? So here again I stamped and fuzzy cut them...
Next I used the small groove tool and shaped the wings from the outside. It automatically curled up and my butterflies were ready to fly!

Here they are...

I had a great time making these flowers and also had a lovely project in mind to give them their credit. Ofcouse I had to recycle something and so I had this packaging box ready waiting for its turn!

 
I then took out a book page and stamped this Prima Bloom girl with Archival ink and have used Inktense blocks to color her. The flowers were intentionally left uncolored because the rel blooms were going to adorn her! I did a bit of mixed media on the box and some water color effects to alter it.

 Here is the final look of the box!

 I knew this BLOOM GIRL was the perfect choice to show off these hand made beauties. I had no regrets adorning her with these flowers. What do you say????

I have added a mixed media twist to the flowers with some black color splashes. Don't they look beautiful?

That brings us to the end of the post and I would like to take leave with this inspirational quote and the butterfly somehow brings life to it!

So, what are you waiting for! The papers are awesome for stamping and flower making and the groove tools are more than you can imagine! Flowers, leaves, butterflies and you think anything more??? Sure why not...just use your creativity and I am sure you will come up with more uses to these tools. 

Until my next creative journey,

Happy crafting and recycling.

Cheers, 

Rupa