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Monday, October 31, 2011

3D Poppy Tutorial

Recently I designed a paper poppy (you can see samples here & here) & received some lovely comments, as well as requests on how I created it.  So here is a tutorial on how to put it together.

Grab yourself a cuppa, this is a BIG post.  :)

Here are the supplies you need to make the poppy (you can click on any of the photos for a larger view.):-


  • Scraps of cardstock in Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black & a third colour for the stamens (I'm using Basic Gray)
  • Alcohol misting spray
  • Paper towel
  • Dark colour inkpad & sponge (I'm using Basic Gray on this sample)
  • 1" Circle Punch (optional)
  • Boho Blossoms Punch
  • Ornament Punch
  • Owl Punch
  • Piercing Tool & Mat
  • Brad (any colour as it won't be seen)
  • 1 Dimensional
  • Scissors
  • Post It Notes
  • Marker (any colour - it's being used with the lid on for shaping)
  • Gloves (the most important thing & I forgot to put them in the photo!  Doh!!!)
  • Hairdryer for drying (if you can use it on a "no heat" setting)

Firstly, put on your gloves.  I've found the dye in Cherry Cobbler cardstock runs a bit once it's wet & you don't want to end up with stained fingers.  :(

Punch 4 ornaments in Cherry Cobbler, then use a 1" circle punchie as a guide to round off the point of each ornament.  Trim the hanger section of each ornament to create a "tab" as shown in the photo.


(Oops, forgot to trim the point off that last one before I snapped the photo!)

Sponge each petal with Basic Grey in an arc shape, starting from the tab at the base of the petal, with the greatest concentration of colour through the middle section of each petal.  Use your piercing tool to poke a hole through the centre of each tab.


Thread each petal onto your brad, making two pairs of petals.  Mist your flower with alcohol.


To make the lengthways creases in the petals, first fold each individual petal in an accordian style across the petal, then gently scrunch it with you fingers & curl the petal towards the centre of the flower.


Very carefully, unfurl your petals & lightly mould them into shape.  At this point I use a hairdryer to remove the moisture.  Either cup your hand to hold the flower while you dry it or pinch it between your thumb & fingers.


If you don't have a dryer, set it aside on some paper towel to dry naturally.


To make the stamen, punch the 12 point (largest) flower from the Boho Blossoms punch in Basic Grey.  Attach your punchie to the sticky corner of a post it note & place it back in your punch.  Offset the petals by lining up the centres of the paper petals with the dips between the petals on the punch. 


 Punch to create a 24 point flower.


Pierce a hole in the centre of your multi-pointed flower, leaving it on the piercing tool.  Mist with alcohol.


Scrunch the flower over the tool & then remove.  At this point you can even roll it into a ball, then gently unfurl the flower.  Sit the flower on your paper towel &, using the a marker with the cap on (or the other end of your piercing tool), put some pressure on the centre of the flower & curl up the edges around your marker. 


Leave to dry.


Remove the brad from your petals.


Place the dry multi-pointed flower on the brad & then reassemble the petals in pairs.  Close the brad.


If you look at the edges of your multi-pointed flower (stamen) you may see that the cardstock layers have separated.  Using the point of your piercing tool, gently coax the layers of cardstock apart to give you a lovely fuzzy stamen effect.


(Just thought I'd add a little note here - I chose to make the petals & the stamen sections of the poppy in seperate steps to avoid staining the stamen with Cherry Cobbler dye caused by the misting & scrunching.  If you were using black cardstock for both your stamen & centre, you could assemble the petals & multipoint flower (stamen) together, thereby missing a step or two.)

Punch one of the largest circles from the owl punch.  Place on a soft surface (eg., a wad of paper towel), mist with alcohol & then rub your fingernail in a circular motion in the centre of the circle to make a "dished" shape.


When the circle is dry attach it to the centre of your poppy, using a trimmed down dimensional.

Voila!


Here are all three poppies together:-


Hope you enjoyed this tute.  Drop me a line if you have any queries.  :)

I'll be back later in the week with the sunflower tute.

BTW, when I first started thinking about making a poppy, I discovered some interesting facts:-

  • Poppies come in orange, pink, yellow, blue, purple & white, not just the well known red.
  • Poppies have 4 to 6 petals.
  • Some poppies have blue pollen (hence the Not Quite Navy stamen on my first poppy).
Bye  :)

JAI #91 Colour Challenge

Hello, it's the Cup weekend here in Melbourne & I have taken the opportunity to play along in this week's JAI Challenge.  Every week the awesome Design Team come up with a fantastic challenge & beautiful samples to inspire.  It's been sooooo long since I have joined in that I decided to do two entries with these challenge colours:-


Here's my first entry, using white as my neutral:-


This is a "10 minute" card (that blew out to 15 minutes when I decided to add the Cherry mat).  I have stamped with an acrylic block to get the soft pink square.  Then I stamped the butterfly, daisy & sentiment in one hit using Cherry Cobbler.  I used Blushing Bride ink & a blender pen, to add some extra colour to the butterfly & bloom.  Then I border punched each panel, added the ribbon & adhered the completed panel to the card base with dimensionals.  Quick & easy!

For my second entry, I decided to try something very unusual (nobody else has tried it yet), & use BLACK as my neutral:-


Totally different look!  Now there is not even a skerrick of white or vanilla on this card, I even used BB for the sentiment panel.  I inked my embossing folder with BB too, to get the subtle colour variation in the striped panel.  Before removing my pearls from the adhesive liner, I coloured them with a permanent black marker (a CD marker) to keep in with the one colour neutral theme.

Thanks for the inspiration JAI!

If you would like any details on these cards, please drop me an email.  You can find a tutorial on how to create my poppy here.  :)

ETA:  Look what the lovely ladies at JAI have given me:-


Thank you.  :)

Friday, October 28, 2011

Inkspirations Challenge #93 - 3D Sunflower

Welcome to my Inkspirations challenge post.

First of all, I'd like to say thank you to everyone who left lovely comments on my poppy card.  I hope to have a tute up for you during the week.

Now, down to business, this week Keesh has an awesome sketch for everyone to play with:-

I have mirrored & rotated the sketch to come up with this:-


I took inspiration from the lovely & very talented Christine Blain to spritz my seam binding with alcohol & scrunch it up to get a lovely vintage look.

How embarrassing, there's another flower on there, lol!  I'll add details of this little sunflower to the poppy tute - so check back soon.  :)


To play along in the Challenge & to see the amazing projects the Inkspirations Team have created, please check out the links below:-
The Challenge Site


Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée


Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock:  Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Daffodil Delight
DSP:  Yellow Stripe from Brights 12x12 Stack, Other Yellow retired
Inks:  Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight
Stamps:  Happiest Birthday Wishes, Parlour Prints BG
Other:  Vanilla Seam Binding, Lattice Embossing Folder, 5 Petal Flower Punch, Circle Punch, Sponges
Non SU:  Alcohol (for the flower, not me!), Nestabilities

Friday, October 21, 2011

Inkspirations Challenge #92 - 3D Poppy

Hithere!  It's Friday already & time for another Inkspirations challenge.  This week Keesh has provided this awesome colour palette:-


Well, you may have noticed over the past couple of weeks that I have been adding paper flowers to my designs.  There are some folk that are quite amused by this (*hi Lynne*) as, I have to admit, I was never a big fan of them.  Frankly, I have to say I am now slightly "addicted" to flowers & this week I have created a poppy for you:-


I tweaked the size of the frame created with the Tulips Embossing Folder to make it narrower & added the Sahara Sand by way of sponging. Here's a close up of the bloom:-


I was really pleased about how my endeavour turned out.  :)  If anyone is interested in how I made it, let me know & I'll put a tute together.  (ETA:  You can find the tute HERE.)

Now the rest of the Team have some gorgeous creations for you to look at, so go take a peek.  Hope you can join us in the Challenge this week.
The Challenge Site




Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée


Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock:  Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy, Basic Black 
Inks:  Not Quite Navy, Sahara Sand
Stamps:  Word Play
Other: Tulip E/Folder, Sponges, Various Punches, Brad, Dimensionals

Friday, October 14, 2011

Inkspirations Challenge #91 - Me & DSP!!!

Hithere!  Are you ready for another Inkspirations challenge?  This week Keesh has a nifty sketch, with oodles of possibilities:-


I interpreted the large circle as a flower & the small one as a butterfly embellie:-


My fellow teammate, Brandi, inspired me to die-cut this bloom in DSP, something I never would have considered before.  I really struggle with DSP, so pushed myself to use three on this card.  You will note, however, that I chose three monotone prints.  Is that cheating?   lol

To see what the rest of the Team came up with for this super sketch, make sure you visit the links below:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée


Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Poppy Parade 
DSP:  All retired SU in Poppy Parade, Taken with Teal, Summer Sun 
Inks:  Poppy Parade, Tempting Turquoise
Stamps:  Happiest Birthday Wishes
Other: Daisies #2 Die, Turquoise Button, Beautiful Wings Embozzlit, 1" Square Punch, Pearls, Embroidery Thread

Friday, October 7, 2011

Inkspirations Challenge #90 - Birthday Rose

It's time for another challenge from the Team at Inkspirations & we have these yummy colours for you to play with:-


I've gone for a bit of a vintage look & used lots of dry embossing:-



I have inked my Finial Press embossing folder with white craft ink to get more definition on the lower panel.  I've added a rose (the tutorial by Joanne Leddy is here), which  sprayed with frost white "shimmer mist".  It has a lovely, delicate sparkle.

To see what the rest of the Team came up with for these colours, make sure you visit the links below:-

The Challenge Site

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha
Renée


Brandi
Carrie
Helen
Ilina
Lee-Anne
Marisa

Card Components:
Cardstock:  Chocolate Chip, Rich Razzleberry, Pretty In Pink, Whisper White 
Inks:  Chocolate Chip, Craft White
Stamps:  Create A Cupcake
Other:  Finial Press & Tulip Embossing Folders, Choc Chip Satin Ribbon, Pearls, Floral Punches, Leaf Sizzlet, Frost White Paint,
Non SU:  Rubbing Alcohol