Water Color Paper Flowers Take Two

Good evening fellow scrappers! I'm back from a one week vacation to the Caribbean. I'm rested & ready to get my life back on track--but do I really want to do that!? No, actually I do not...but I don't have a choice. Sigh...so it's back to work tomorrow. Cue very long sigh...but, before I go back I figured I'd post this small tutorial on a second set of flowers I made prior to me leaving for vacation. These are also made out of water color paper. You can see my first water color paper flowers here.

For these flowers I used the Spellbinders Donna Salazar dies titled Rose Creations. I used the second to large flower for the bottom layer, a medium flower & small flower for the other two layers. You can make these flowers in any size you desire. Just remember to use a different size rose per layer. So let's get started!

Step 1: As mentioned in my first Water Paper Flower tutorial--water paper is excellent for absorbing pigment powders such as Perfect Pearls. Therefore you can color your flowers in a variety of shimmers & colors. I used Perfect Pearls in my first tutorial. For this tutorial I used Magicals by Lindy's Stamp Gang. They are similar to Perfect Pearls but I found them to be just a bit more vibrant. I used Cattail Copper & Tibetan Poppy Teal Magicals for this flower. These come together as part of thier Autumn Leaves Magicals pack.

You'll also need a watercolor pen for coloring in your flowers. You can find this pen at your local Michaels or any arts & crafts store.

Step 2: Take your water color pen--squeeze a few drops of water & then dip the wet brush into the Magicals. The powder will simply stick to the tip of your brush. Then simply mix the powder with the water. If you like a vibrant color use less water. If you like a softer color use more water to dilute the powder

Step 3: Color in your flowers with the first color you choose. Once done coloring dry them with your heat gun. The water color paper will simply absorb the water & color as you heat set them

Step 4: Once dry, apply your second color. Just rinse your brush to clean it before applying the second coat of color. Randomly color in your flowers with the second color. You don't want to completely cover the first color. Once done applying the second color--heat dry the flowers again. As you can see in my picture, the Cattail Copper still peeks out from underneath the Teal Magicals

Step 5: For these flowers I decided to add even more shimmer to them. I inked the edges of the petals with embossing ink. I then sprinkled Kaleidoscope Transparent embossing powder by Stampendous & heat embossed the petals. TIP: Ensure your flowers are completely dry prior to doing this step or else the embossing powder will stick to your entire flower instead of just the petal edges

Step 6: This picture shows how the embossing powder is 'sticking' to only the edges of my petals

Step 7: Now to shape the flower. First bend all the petals upward as shown in the photo

Step 8: With a pencil or tip of a thin paint brush curl your petals downward as shown here.

Step 9: Once again with a pencil or flower shaping tool push down into the center of each flower in order to bring the petals up & form a 'cup' shaped flower. This step can be optional--it's only to add more dimension to the flowers. If you decide to do this step make sure you cup the flowers on something soft like a mouse pad or foam piercing pad. I used the 'In Stitchz' piercing foam pad by Bazzill

Step 10: Finally, insert stamens or sprays into the center of the top two layers of your flower & put your flower together. Remember to offset each layer of your flower. If you don't have stamens or sprays you can use anything for the center such as brads, rhinestones, crystals etc...I chose to use stamens. For the bottom layer I used a 3-D glue dot by Zots. This is once again, in order to give my flower more dimension--this part is optional. You can adhere each layer with plain glue if you like

Thanks to all of you who stop by for a visit. Hope you will give water color paper a try for your next flower experiment.

My Sweet Little Boy Layout

Good evening fellow scrappers! Today's page is one based on my little Toby. He's my very first dog & he never ceases to amaze me. It's like he's a 2 year old little boy trapped in a furry body. You can always tell what he's feeling or trying to convey with his facial expressions. He understands everything you tell him & he even seems to be bilingual since my husband always speaks to him in English & both my mom & I speak to him in Spanish. Regardless, he understands what we're telling him! To me, he's my sweet little boy & always will be.

This is a DT project for Stamp Enjoy. Once again the entire background is stamped/misted or inked.

Here's a close up of one of the 2 large flowers seen on this page. I have a brief tutorial here on how to make these flowers if interested. They're very simple, but add a nice touch.

This page is also for the "Stick With Helmar September Challenge". My friend Natasha gave me the heads up about this site & I went simply to be nosy! :-) However, when I saw this sketch I absolutely LOVED it & found that these pictures of me & Toby that I've been wanting to scrap for a while were just right for this sketch. I was lucky enough to have a bottle of Helmar's 450 Quick Dry adhesive in my stash (sometimes it pays to just buy everything in sight) & decided to give this sketch challenge a try.

I used safety pins as embellies. I have tons of safety pins that I bought ages ago & never figured out how to incorporate them into my pages. Well, this is a very simple way to add a couple to a page. So I used about 8 pins out of my 800...it's a start! :-)

A close up of one of the stamps by Stamp Enjoy. This one is called Petit Rond 1. All of the splashes & splats seen in the background are made with stamps. I used a combination of Vintage Photo distress ink & Anchor's Away Coloringz by Shimmerz for my stamping.

The largest circle was cut out of corrugated cardboard. I spread some Midnight Blue Stickles all over it with my finger.

A close up of the 'Puppy Love' tag.

This large circle is a stamp by Stamp Enjoy. It's called Bordure Rond 3. TIP: I wanted this stamp to be in a very specific spot. So instead of stressing myself out on the exact placement of the stamp--I stamped it onto a transparency with black Staz On & cut the image out. This way I was able to position the image exactly where I wanted.

A close up of the title. The chippie is from A2Z Scraplets. I kept the texture of the title simple. I painted it with navy blue acrylic paint--once dry I inked it with embossing powder & heat embossed it with Kaleidoscope transparent embossing powder by Stampendous. In person the title has an amazing shimmer.

Thanks to all of you who take the time to drop by...

Water Color Paper Flowers

Good evening once again fellow scrappers! It's a Sunday evening & I'm clinging to it for dear life. I REALLY don't want to go back to work tomorrow...but what can you do? Just keep playing the lotto & hope that Lady Luck will one day pay me a visit...

I thought I'd share a brief tutorial on how I went about making these flowers. They're made out of water color paper. Water color paper is excellent for creating flowers or any kind of embellishment where you wish to use pigment powders such as Perfect Pearls for applying color & shimmer. For this particular flower I used Mandarin Perfect Pearls with a hint of Copper. Besides any kind of pigment powders & water color paper (I found water color paper at my local Michaels; this should be available in any arts & crafts store) you'll also need a water color pen which can also be found at your local Michaels or arts & crafts store. So let's get started!

Step 1: For the main flower I used Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals die. I used 3 of the long petal flowers cut from water color paper. For the center I used the retro flower punch (I used the smallest punch). You'll need 6 retro flowers

Step 2: Take your water color pen & squeeze a drop of water from it. Once the tip of the pen is wet dip it into the pigment powder. The pigment powder will stick to the wet brush. Mix it up with your water color pen until you get the consistency you want. I tend to go for a thick consistency. Paint your flowers as desired with your water color pen

Step 3: Once done coloring your flowers--heat set them with a heat embossing tool. That's the other good thing about water color paper--it dries quickly

Ste4: Now to shape your flower. Bend all the petals up at the base

Step 5: Next curl each petal down with the end of a pencil or thin paint brush

Step 6: Finally adhere all three layers by off-setting the petals. You'll end up with a little cup in the middle which is where the center flower will go

Step 7: To make the center flower--first ink the edges to define them more. I used Sienna chalk ink pad by Color Box.

Step 8: Take 4 of the 6 flowers & bend the petals upward at the base as shown

Step 9: Take the two remaining flowers & pinch each petal in half. (This picture also made me realize that I'm in bad need of a manicure!)

Step 10: Take one of the pinched flowers, fold it up & pinch the entire flower

Step 11: Roll it back & forth between your fingers to get it as tight as possible. Add drops of glue inside in order to glue it together--you'll end up with a small bud

Step 12: Take the bud & glue it into the center of the second pinched petal flower. Wrap the second flower around the bud & pinch this as well. You'll end up with a thicker bud

Step 13: Take the bud & adhere it to the center of one of the other flowers. Keep layering your flower in this manner & remember to off set the petals of each layer. This is what your flower should look like when done. TIP: These would make cute little flowers by themselves too. Just shape it a bit more by squeezing all the petals up which is what we're doing in the next step

Step 14: Take the entire flower & squeeze all the petals up. Shape it as desired & then adhere to the center of your larger flower

Step 15: Here's your finished flower! I further decorated my flower by adding drops of Gold Stickles to the center bud

Enjoy--and thanks to all who stop by.

Ur Eyes (Say All) Layout

Good evening fellow scrappers! Today's page is one that I had absolutely no design mapped out in my head for--all I knew was that I wanted to scrap these two pictures of my husband. I just grabbed my stamps & stamped away & this was the end result.

This is a DT project for Stamp Enjoy.

My husband has these deep blue eyes. The complete opposite from my dark brown. At times, especially in the morning--they are crystal blue. I took these pics during one of these mornings. I told him to give me one of his 'sexy' poses. Well...this is a sexy as he gets folks! :-)

As mentioned, I did a lot of stamping & misting on this one. Just about the entire background is stamped. I used stamps from Stampin' Up, Tim Holtz & Stamp Enjoy.

In this close up you can see a combination of 3 stamps. Both round stamps are from Stamp Enjoy. They are Petit Rond 1 & Bordure Rond 3. The script stamp is by Tim Holtz.

Another close up of the same two stamps by Stamp Enjoy. The birds in flight stamp is by Tim Holtz. In the corners I punched multiple times with McGill hand punches of various round sizes. I think inked over the punched holes with yellow ink. Finally I filled the holes with Black Diamond Stickles.

A close up of the large chippie. This chipboard is by Dusty Attic. I painted the chippie with yellow acrylic paint. Once dry I dabbed embossing ink on it & then heat embossed it with Star Dust transparent embossing powder by Stampendous. This technique gives the chippie an amazing shimmer that is appreciated better in real life.

The metal flowers are by Prima.

This vintage car stamp is also by Stamp Enjoy called Voiture Ancienne. The stamp of the city skyline is by Tim Holtz.

Finally a close up of the 'bead stitching' I did. Basically these are just very large stitches & I thread multi-colored beads onto every other stitch.

Thanks to all of you who stop by--the visit is always very much appreciated.