Today was a good day (exhausting, but good). I got up early to drive out of town to attend a CTMH consultant team meeting most of the day at my 3rd upline Cindy Baker's house in Menifee (about a 2 hour drive for me). The "creative" theme for the day was learning how to make all the different kinds of paper flowers that are so popular right now! Several different consultants shared and taught us how to make different varieties of flowers. It was so fun and I learned a whole lot!! You can bet I'll be sharing more flower ideas with you in future blog postings, but I learned way too much to share it all at once. The 4x4 criss-card (shown above) is the little project that I provided and taught everyone how to make! The "crescent moon paper flower" I taught is created with our NEW 1.25" circle punch that I have enjoyed using so much recently! These flowers are much simpler to make than they appear (I'm all about faster, simpler, and easier lately!!) Please enjoy this photo tutorial on how to make them!
Using Splendor B&T paper that is pre-cut to 2.75" x 4.25", punch out 6-1.25" circles. Because the backside of the Topiary leaf B&T paper I used is Goldrush, you can use both sides of the B&T paper and you will be able to use your scraps that you punch from each circle as the leaves (how economical of me, lol)!
Punch a "leaf shape" into each circle (I like to stack them and punch three circles at a time so it only takes me two separate punches). It also helps to insert your circle just far enough into the punch that none of it is visible sticking out on the outer-side of the punch. This will just help you in measuring and keeping each of your punched pieces approximately the same size.
Next you will use a sponge dauber with Chocolate ink to sponge the edges of all 6 of the crescent moon shapes and 3 of your leaf scraps. You will also want to punch another circle from Goldrush cardstock to use as the base for your flower.
Now use the handle of your piercing tool to wrap the cresent moon petals around and curl them to give them a little bit of shape. As you adhere the petals to your base, it is okay if they flatten a little, you can just plump them back up with your fingers again when your flower is finished. Cover your Goldrush cardstock circle with tombow adhesive and adhere two of your curled petals just as shown.
Next you will adhere two more petals going the opposite direction so that you will see a little square or rectangle of Goldrush cardstock peeking out in the middle.
Finally adhere your last two petals diagonally from the other four petals, covering the Goldrush cardstock that was peeking out in the middle. Now you can adhere your three leaves to the back side of the flower as well.
Now you can reward yourself with a pretty brad or button in the center of your flower. I used one of our new Z1317 Splendor Designer Brads (below). You can use any brad or button that you want, but I really LOVE how much fancier it looks with the designer brads!
If you enjoy making these paper flowers and have any success using them on your artwork, please feel free to let me know, as I would love to see what you've created!!
