Dogwood Flower Tutorial

Hello again fellow scrappers & bloggers. I have a brief tutorial today that's been hanging around in 'draft' mode in my blog for months. I've known how to make these dogwood flowers for a while now & have never gotten around to posting a tutorial...well, here it is!

They're really easy to do. All you need is a balloon punch (I'm using the balloon punch by Martha Stewart), a marker, a 1/4 inch hole puncher, 1/2 inch glue dots, Stickles, 1/2 inch circle punch, a mouse pad, shaping tool & any kind of sun punch for the center of the flower. I'm using sun punches in 2 different sizes by the Punch Bunch. If you do not have a sun punch you can also use floral sprays/stems if you have them.

Start off by punching 4 balloons. These balloons will be your petals.

With the 1/4 inch hole puncher make a half moon punch in the top center of each petal.

With your marker outline the edges of the half moons for each petal.

Next you're going to shape each petal. Use the bottom side of any mouse pad for support. In a circular motion start moving around the flower with your shaping tool while applying some pressure in order to cup the flower. You can use the eraser side of a pencil for this if you don't have a specific tool for shaping. The tool I'm using came with a paper crafting tool kit made by the Punch Bunch.

Once your petals are shaped, take the 1/2 inch circle & place a glue dot on it. Then start placing your petals on the circle.

Here's your flower with all four petals adhered to the circle. Now to make the center.

You'll be using 4 sun punches in total for the center. Two large & two small suns.

For all 4 suns snip in between one sun ray all the way to the center of the sun.

With a pair of tweezers take one end of the sun & start rolling it towards you. Roll it all around until you reach the other end.

This is what your suns should look like after you've rolled all four.

Proceed to adhere the suns to the center of your flower. If you do not have glue with a fine tip, you can use a toothpick to place a small dot of glue to adhere each layer. I used my tweezers to place each layer since they're very small.

The rest of how you decorate your flower is up to you. I tend to use Star Dust Stickles around the half moons & dots of Lime Green Stickles to further decorate the center of the flower.

You can also add veins to them with an embossing pen--the finishing touches is really up to you.

Here are a variety of dogwood flowers in all colors. You can use solid colors or pattern--it's all up to you. You can also leave the flowers with or without leaves.

Hope you all enjoyed this tutorial.

Till my next post...

Curled Frame Tutorial

I've seen several scrappers do layouts where they roll pieces of paper on thier layouts. I recently tried this technique out myself with my 'My Boys' layout.

This tutorial shows how to make the curled frame I used in this layout. As always, I'm sure this has been done before since there are just so many talented scrappers out there. I'm simply showing my take on this curled frame.

Here are the supplies you'll need. A paper cutter--I use the finger cutter by Fiskars. I've had several paper cutters & this has been the best one for me by far. I use my finger to guide the point of the knife so I have really good control of where I'm cutting. Some cardstock or patterned paper. If using patterned paper--it's most likely best if you use double-sided paper so that when you curl the paper it doesn't display in a plain white color. This of course, is all based on preference. If you want it to be white, then that's alright too! A cutting mat. A ruler, pencil & a paintbrush. I use the handle of the paintbrush to curl my paper--but you can use a pencil too. Ok, let's get started!

I did the curled frame on the 'My Boys' layout with a 5"x5" picture. I liked how the frame looked with a square picture--but you can use this technique with any size--however, make sure you calculate the measurements correctly based on the size you choose. For this example I'm going to make the frame for a 5"x5" picture.

Your frame needs to be at least 1" inch larger than your photo. So this frame is 6"x6". Turn your paper to what will be the back of the frame. Measure 1" inch in from the edge of each border & make a mark with your pencil. I used a black marker in my example so that you can see the marks I make. I make my marks by simply drawing a small line. Then connect all your marks by drawing straight across all 4 sides. In other words, you're creating a 4" square inside your 6" square.

Decide which will be the sides of your frame. With your paper cutter cut along the lines you just made on both sides of your frame. You're cutting into the inner square only--so do not cut all the way to the actual edge of the paper.

Here I'm showing how I cut the sides of the inner square.

Next we need to mark the center of the inner frame. We already know that we have a 4" inch inner frame. So you're going to take your ruler & from the top edge of the inner frame measure 2" inches in since that would be the center of your 4" inch frame.
With your pencil make your mark.

Next you're going to draw a line straight across the center of your inner square based off the mark you made in the previous step.

Now for the slits that you will roll to make your curled frame. In order for the slits to be evenly spaced--starting from one of the sides of the inner frame I measured 1/2 an inch in & made my mark. From that first mark I measured another 1/2 an inch & made a second mark. Keep going until you go all the way across to the other side of the inner square. With this particular frame, you'll end up with 8 strips. The screen shot shows where I've placed my marks & drawn my lines.

Next, you take your paper cutter & you cut along the line marking the center of your inner square & then you cut along the lines for each strip. Whatever you do...do not cut into the top or bottom of the inner frame or else your strips will simply come off! My red arrows in this screen shot is showing what I refer to when I say the 'top' & bottom of the inner frame.

This is what your frame should look like after you're done with all your cutting.

The rest is all about the curling. Turn your frame to the front side & start curling each strip. You decide how much you want to curl each strip based on your picture. If there are areas of your picture that are blocked by the frame...simply cut more into the top of the strip in order to make them longer--therefore allowing you to curl them in more.

As for the outer edge of the frame itself that's also up to you. You can distress & then ink the border of the frame like I did in the 'My Boys' layout or you can add ribbon around, stamp around it...you can add pearls or brads around or simply leave it as is. The choice is yours.

Here's a picture of my finished curled frame.

Hope some of you will find this tutorial useful.

Till my next post...

Outlaw Layout

Hello again fellow bloggers & scrappers! I bring you today my latest layout titled 'Outlaw'. This is a completely 'rugged' masculine layout that I'm actually very proud of!

This is my husband decked out as a cowboy. We did this photo shoot a few years ago where we both dressed up as old western figures. In this picture he's giving us his 'mean' look. That's about as mean as he gets folks! :-) I found this picture while rearranging my photos & felt compelled to scrap it. When I showed it to my husband he was pleased. He said the layout was very 'manly'--just like him. You just gotta love him!

This layout is 99% Tim Holtz. Everything from the paper to all the embellishments is by him. Only the cardboard that's in the background & the stamps which are by Graphic 45 are not by him. I used lots of techniques here--misting, inking, distressing & a technique I called 'burnt edges' where I made the edges of my layout & photo mats look burnt. I have a brief tutorial on this technique found here. I'm sure someone out there has done this already--but the tutorial simply shows how I went about doing it. I was very pleased with the results. I also used several tips & tricks from the man himself throughout the layout.

Here's a closeup of some of the stamping I did & the cardboard. The cardboard I misted in Suede Glimmer Mist & Olive Green Smooch. I pretty much drowned the cardboard in both of these mists & then let it air dry.

I used the clock mask by Tim Holtz to mask the big clock & randomly spread some Th gears & cogs around the clock & behind the photo mats.

The flourish is grungeboard. I first embossed it with Vintage Photo Distress Embossing powder. Then with my fingers I removed a little bit of the embossing powder to reveal the grunge board below. Next I inked it with Vintage Photo distress ink. Finally I spread some Rock Stickles crackle paint on it & this was the end result. In person, it looks as if it's rusted. This technique I got from reading Tim Holtz's blog. It's also in his last book 'A Compendium of Curiosities'.

I used four TH hitch fasteners & a TH ball chain to go around the border of my picture. I just wrapped the ball chain around the fasteners & secured with a connector. I hung the two tokens from a TH Swivel Clasp that is also hanging from one of the fasteners.

The rest of the embellies are also little items from TH. The Bingo card & the calendar I got from TH's Lost & Found Paper Stash.

The title is housed in a TH ornate plate. Talk about over-dosing on TH products?!

The title itself I printed from my computer. I then put some Glossy Accents ontop of the title & let it dry. This gives it a dimensional raised enamel effect.

Well that's it for today...thanks for stopping by & as always comments are very much appreciated!

Till my next post...

Burnt Edges Tutorial

Here I am with the burnt edges tutorial as seen in my layout 'Outlaw'. As already mentioned...this technique has most likely been used before--I'm simply showing how I went about getting this burnt look.

Prepare to get messy with this one. It's all about using your fingers with ink, glimmer mist & water.

Here are your basic supplies. Paper, dark brown glimmer mist. I used Suede Glimmer Mist. Dark brown ink. I'm using chalk ink in a Dark Brown color. I use chalk ink because this ink smears a little with water. You can also use a Walnut Stain Distress ink for this since Distress inks also react well to water. A mini mister or any kind of spray bottle & a Tim Holtz distresser. If you do not have this little gadget, running the edge of a sharp pair of scissors along the border of the paper works good too. Heat gun (not pictured).

First step is to distress the edges of the paper with your distressing tool or scissors. Here I've already done that. As you can see in certain areas I went in a little deeper with the distressing. Do not be afraid to slightly tear the edges while distressing...this adds to the effect!

Here's a closeup of an area where I went in a little deeper with my distress tool.

Next you ink the edges. Just loosely go all around the edges inking as you would any other edge. This is just to give the edges a darker look.

Take your mini mister or spray bottle & lightly spray some water along the edges of your inked distressed edges. How much water you use depends on your paper. Thinner paper will need just one spritz of water while thicker paper may need more. The idea here is to soften the paper so that you can roll, wrinkle & tear it.

Once the edges are moist use your fingers to roll, tear & wrinkle the edges. The paper will be soft so that you can shape the edges any way you want.

Here's a closeup of a corner after I finished shaping it. As you can see in some places I tore into the paper, in others I just wrinkled it & in other areas I just rolled it. Do not be consistent in your technique...use all three techniques & spread them around all edges of your paper.

This is where we get messy! Take your glimmer mist & spray it on your work area. I use a Craft Sheet by Ranger for working. This way I can just wipe the sheet clean when done. Make sure you have a place to do this kind of inking so you don't ruin any table tops or desks! Glimmer mist does stain...

Take your paper & ink the edges into the glimmer mist. Ink it by swirling the edges of the paper around the mist, dabbing the edges into it & by even using your fingers to take some glimmer mist & spreading it on the edges. Just have fun with this part! Get messy & ink those edges! If you run out of glimmer mist...just spray some more! Now, if you're working with thin paper, make sure to ink the edges gently...you don't want your paper to start completely falling apart. As you ink your paper, keep using your fingers to wrinkle, tear & roll the edges even more!

Here's what your paper should look like after playing around in that glimmer mist. Notice how in some areas I inked more than in others. This is fine. Remember you're trying to create a burnt piece of paper. Fire tends to burn in all directions & hardly ever in an even way. So the more uneven you are the better!

Next step is to dry your paper. Take your heat gun & start drying the edges. You'll notice that as you dry, your edges will start to curl. This is good...this is what we want! The closer you are with the heat gun to the paper the more the paper will curl. But be careful! Don't burn yourself or literally burn the paper! We're going for fake fire here...not real! So take caution. If you want to wrinkle a certain edge more. Just turn off your heat gun, wrinkle it with your fingers & keep drying...you'll see how the edges dry wrinkled.

Here you go! One really burnt piece of paper that you can now use on your project.

A closeup of a burnt corner.

Hope you all enjoyed this tutorial & that it'll be useful to some of you.

Till my next post...

Spiral Flower Tutorial

Good evening fellow bloggers! Today I'm going to take a few minutes to post a quick tutorial on how to make spiral flowers. I recently learned how to do this in a class I took at my local scrapbook store. During this class I made my very first canvas! I'll be posting this soon because I'm very proud of how it came out! These spiral flowers were part of the canvas. They're so very simple to make but yet make such a great statement on layouts, canvases, cards etc...In addition, I found that making these flowers is an excellent way to get rid of scraps!

So let's get started.

First your supplies...you'll need scraps of patterned paper in various square sizes. I've cut scraps into 2 1/2" inches x 2 1/2" inches & 4" inches x 4" inches for this tutorial. The bigger the square, the bigger the flower will be. Next you'll need scissors & some glue dots. The rest of the supplies (pencil, glimmer mist & chalk ink) are optional. These extra supplies are simply to add more pizzazz to your spiral flowers if desired. I'll be using all of these for this tutorial.

This step is optional. Spray your paper with glimmer mist. You're not looking for perfection here--so just spritz away! I ended up using some Smooch as well on the yellow patterned cardstock.

Once the paper has dried--cut out circles from the square pieces of carstock. Once again, you're looking for imperfect circles--so don't worry if your circles come out a little lopsided--lopsided circles give the sprial flowers more personality. Here you can also use a pencil to hand draw your circle if you prefer & then proceed to cut out.

Starting from the outside of the circle start cutting in a spiral fashion all around the circle until you get to the center. Do not cut the center of the spiral out--you'll be needing this later in order to glue the flower together. Also, try not to cut the spiral too thin. I learned this the hard way! When you cut the spiral too thin you end up with a very tight coil when you start twirling the flower & then it takes extra work to loosen it.

In the end, this is what you should have. Notice that I did not cut the center of the flower out.

This step is optional. If you want to define your spiral flower some more--ink it's edges with the chalk ink as shown here.

Before beginning to twirl your flower make sure that the pattern you want to be the face of the flower is facing you. With a pair of tweezers take the outer tail of the spiral flower & begin rolling it towards you. This part is the only one that takes a bit of practice because you need to keep your thumb placed at the bottom of the spiral flower so it doesn't spring out of your grasp. Also, try not to coil it too tight or you'll end up with a very tight sprial--& then you'll have to work to un-coil it!

Here's a screen shot of the flower after I've coiled it completely. I also wanted to show how I positioned my thumb in order to keep the flower from uncoiling itself. It helps though that I have very flexible thumbs as you can see here! My mom always makes fun of my twisty thumbs!

Once you have coiled the flower completely, remove the tweezers.

This is what you'll end up with. As you can see, I still have issues with how tight I coil my flowers! They look awfully tight don't they!? :-) No worries though...you just need to take extra steps to loosen the flower up a bit.

First trick is to turn the flowers upside down & then press down on the flowers with the palm of your hand. Don't be afraid to mash them--coiled flowers don't mash--they just loosen up a bit when you do this. If your flowers are still too coiled after this step then go onto the next step...

This step is simply to un-coil the flowers a bit in order to loosen them up. You do this by twirling the flowers in the opposite direction--which would be away from you. Do this with both hands & use mostly your thumbs to uncoil the flower.

Uncoil the flower to your liking. Once you're satisfied with the flower it's time to glue them in place. Take your glue dots & place them at the bottom of the coil which would be the center of your flower as shown in the screen shot. Once the glue dot is in place adhere the center of the flower to the glue dot. No need to glue the outside layers of the flower--all you really need to adhere is the center of the flower--once the center is adhered the rest of the flower will stay in place.

Here you go--two spiral flowers in two different sizes.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I'll be posting my very first canvas soon!

:-)

Till my next post...