Sunday 29 January 2012

A Poinsettia’s For Life Not Just for Christmas!



Today’s tutorial is on making paper flowers but it’s also about using your dies all year round as well. So, I’m making a paper flower using my spellbinders poinsettia die set, but the finished result can be used on any paper project not just a Christmas one.

These paper flowers come out particularly well if you follow the 3 D’s - Distinction, Dimension & Depth.




Firstly Distinction - well, I took a little alliterative liberty here, as I’m really talking about contrast.  Before I began, I backed an A4 sheet of rich Antique Gold Stardream paper with an offcut of Chiyogami patterned paper and a co-ordinating plain blue.  I find a glue stick is best for this task as it is not too wet but does provide edge-to-edge adhesive, just leave to dry for a couple of hours. Alternatively, use double-sided paper. I then cut the poinsettia bracts in alternating colours, patterned and plain, but making sure I finished on a patterned piece for the top (and I cut 2 of these).  If you don’t have a flower die, then pre-cut flowers such as Petaloo, can also be layered up in this way.



On the plain bracts, I sponged through the die with Brushed Corduroy distress ink using a small piece of Cut & Dry.  My final task to help me achieve Distinction, was to ink the edges of all the die-cut pieces.




Step2 creates Dimension.  Using a bone-tool (or the blunt edge of closed scissors), I shaped and curled the petals.  You can see from the photos how this has started to give the flower layers real “life”.













Next, I layered up the flower – to provide the final D – Depth.  Using a small dot of a wet glue or glue gel, layer the flower bracts on top of each other, offsetting the petals of each layer. 

You may find you need to press the middle of the layers together until the glue “takes”. 









Finally, finish off the centre of your flower with a button, brad, or, in this case, small flat-backed crystals. 








And here you can see that all the effort that you put into achieving the 3Ds results in a lovely 3D embellishment, so much better than the flat version to the left.
Hope you enjoy.


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3 comments:

  1. lovely flower, won't enter competition though because if I win LOL I won't be able to claim the prize in time, away until 10th Jan

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