Tutorial Tuesday - Circle Flowers

It's time for Tutorial Tuesday!

Today I am going to show you how to make quick circle flowers that will Wow your friends.

Supplies needed:  1 3/8" circle punch, 1" circle punch, 3 different colors of solid paper or designer (your choice), scissors, glue dots, embellishments

Step 1:  Punch 2 colors of paper with the 1 3/8" punch.  One will be the base the other color will be the 8 petal flower.  Punch 1 color of the 1" punch.  This circle will be your 4 petal flower.

Step 2:  Fold one 1 3/8" and 1" circle into fourths.  Cut one 1 3/8" circle using the template for the 8 petal flower.  Cut the 1" circle using the 4 petal flower template.

Step 3:  Here are all 3 layers before they are assembled.

Step 4:  Assemble layers using glue dots.

Step 5:  Add embellishments and leaves as desired.  Here is an example of a completed flower.

Here is my completed flower on a card I created.

I hope you enjoyed our tutorial.  Stop by and show us your flowers when you get a chance.

There is still time to enter our current challenge, Show Us What You Got!  This would be a perfect time to showcase your new circle flower creations.





Fabric Singed Edge Circle Flower

Today we're making the yellow flower in bottom center of the above photo. 

Supplies:

Man-Made Fabric (here I've used polyester but any fabric such as satin, rayon, nylon, etc. will do)

For this flower, I've also used tulle and burlap

Hole Punch (if using a brad)

Scissors

Circle Templates or Dies (Find templates here)

Candle

Lighter or Matches

Brads or Buttons

Small Hole Punch

Tweezers

Bowl of Water for accidents

STEP 1: First you will cut 1 fabric circle of each size and each fabric except the smallest and  largest circle. Cut only the polyester and burlap out of the smallest circle size. Cut 1 layer of tulle out of the largest circle size. So for this flower, you will have 9 circles. You basically need 4 sizes, each one slightly bigger than the next. Here I’ve used 1 ½ inches, 2 inches,  2 ½ inches & 3 inches. (the tulle is very hard to see in the photo below)

STEP 2: Carefully hold the man-made fabric circles (NOT THE BURLAP - nothing good can come from mixing burlap and fire!!!!) next to the candle one at a time. You can use your fingers or the tweezers. The heat will melt the fabric on the edges. You are not trying to catch the fabric on fire, just melt the edges.  This is where your bowl of water comes in just in case the fabric catches on fire. Also singe the tulle this same way. Be careful when singeing your tulle, it shrinks up quickly. The tulle layers are cut a size bigger to account for this excess shrinkage. 

STEP 3: Next we will slightly distress the burlap. Simply wad it up in a ball, then open it up. Remove any stray strands that are hanging out of the edges.

STEP 4: Now just stack your circles from largest (on the bottom) to smallest. For this flower each layer had Burlap on the bottom, polyester in the middle and tulle on the top.

STEP 5: The final step is to fasten everything together. Here I've sewn a button on. You could also use a hole punch in the middle and stick a brad through all the layers. Then there's always glue. :)

Additional Tips:

• This flower can be made with only 1 fabric per layer for a much simpler, lollipop look. (see the purple and pink flowers in the top photo)
• You can adjust the sizes to fit your needs. The melting gets difficult when using sizes smaller than 1 inch.
• I often make small matching flowers using less layers or smaller sizes of circles.
• The softer, more flexible fabric requires more layers. Stiffer fabric requires fewer.
• Try alternating fabric colors for the layers to match your color scheme.
• These look great with only a layer of tulle added in between. Be careful when singeing your tulle, it shrinks up quickly. You may want to make your tulle layers a little bigger to account for this.
• Use your ink or markers to color white fabric to match your design. Be sure to give the ink time to dry before you singe it though. Some inks (especially alcohol) are highly flammable when still wet.
• Try adding Stickles or glimmer mist for additional accents.
• Try attaching your flowers to hair clips, headbands, barrettes and brooch pins (for clothing or handbags).

Tutorial Tuesday - Singed Edge Fabric Flower

One of the things that I really enjoy is making my own flowers for my cards. Today I would like to show you how to make your own fabric flowers using the singed edge technique.

Supplies:

Man-Made Fabric (here I've used satin but any fabric such as polyester, rayon, nylon, etc. will do)

Hole Punch

Scissors

Circle Templates or Dies

Candle

Lighter or Matches

Brads or Buttons

Small Hole Punch

Tweezers

Bowl of Water for accidents

STEP 1: First you will cut 3 fabric circles of each size. I am making two sizes of flowers here. You basically need a small circle and a larger circle. Here I’ve used 1 ½ inches & 2 ½ inches.

STEP 2:Cut slits in the edges of the circles going all the way around. I usually stack all three circles of the same size and cut all at once. These will be your petals

STEP 3: Carefully hold the circles next to the candle one at a time. You can use your fingers or the tweezers. The heat will melt the fabric on the edges. You are not trying to catch the fabric on fire, just melt the edges.  This is where your bowl of water comes in just in case the fabric catches on fire.

STEP 4: Using your hole punch, place a hole in the center of each fabric circle. I do this with all 3 circles of the same size stacked together.

STEP 5: Stack the 3 smaller circles on top of the 3 larger circles.

STEP 6: Put your brad through all 6 layers.

 

Additional Tips:

• You can adjust the sizes to fit your needs. The melting gets difficult when using sizes smaller than 1 inch.
• I often make small matching flowers using only one size of circles.
• The softer, more flexible fabric requires more layers. Stiffer fabric required fewer.
• Try alternating fabric colors for the layers to match your color scheme.
• These look great with a layer of tulle added in between. Be careful when singeing your tulle, it shrinks up quickly. You may want to make your tulle layers a little bigger to account for this.
• Buttons also make a great center. Simply skip the hole punching step and sew on the button.
• Use your ink or markers to color white fabric to match your design. Be sure to give the ink time to dry before you singe it though. Some inks (especially alcohol) are highly flammable when still wet.
• Try attaching your flowers to hair clips, headbands, barrettes and brooch pins (for clothing or handbags).

Tutorial Tuesday - Homemade Designer Paper Flower

Hello there!  

It's time for another fun Tutorial Tuesday!

Recently I was in need of making a homemade flower but needed it to be certain colors ... remembering a technique I learned over on SCS a very long time ago called Ink, Spray & Smash ... I put my own twist on it and viola! ... perfectly matched flower for my project.  

Let me share with you the finished project, then I'll show you how you can make your very own!  The color combinations are endless!

Items you will need are:

* Reinkers

* Spray bottle of water

* Plastic Page Protector (with the 3-hole punch side cut off so you can open it like a book)

*  One 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of white cardstock cut in half

* Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die (you can use any flower die or punch for this technique)

* Glimmer Mist

* Tweezers

To Make Your Designer Paper:

 Dribble your choice of Reinker colors on the right side of the opened plastic page protector.

 Spray with water till ink starts to bleed.

 Close the plastic page protector and gently rub inks together.  Not too much ... otherwise your colors will turn to MUD.

 Carefully reopen the page protector and with your 2 pieces of paper put together, carefully lay them down on the right side ... close the page protector and gently rub the colors on your paper.

Here is your finished paper ... I hang mine to dry for a few minutes before running it through the die cut machine to make my flowers.

(My flower is a little different color because it was made from a sheet of paper I had already made for another project.)

To make the Flower . . .

 Run your dry sheet of dp through your die cut machine to cut your flowers (or use whatever punches you desire).

 Here's how they look once punched ... now the fun begins!

 While on a protected area, spray your new flower pieces with the Glimmer Mist of your choice.  I have used Tattered Angel Pearl.

 While still wet from the spray, place your tweezers in the center of the petal then curl both sides of the petal up around your tweezers with your fingers.

 This curling methods gives a more natural look to the petals.

 On this flower, I have made a small cut at each segment.  Which will make it easier to curl without tearing.  Of course this too is still wet from the spray making it more pliable.

 With your tweezers held again in the center of the petal, curl it around gently ... hold for a moment then release and go on to the next petal until each one is done.

Here are each of your pieces now that they have been pinched, twisted and shaped.  Next step is to stack them and make your card or project.  You can use anything for the middle embellishment ... a smaller flower, dew drops, pearl, gem ... whatever you desire.  I have used a pale blue pearl in the center of mine.  

 

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and will give it a try.  It looks like a lot of steps but believe me ... it is VERY easy and you will use it over and over again!  The nice part is you make TWO pieces of designer paper in the time it takes to make one!  You can use one now and save one for a later project.   

We would LOVE to see your creation using this technique!!  ENJOY! 

BEFORE I GO ... I quickly (5 minutes tops!) made another flower using the designer paper I made for this posting.  Thought you might like to see it ... here ya go . . .

This is SO MUCH FUN!!  Please give it a try and let me know what you think!!

Tuesday Tutorial - Flowers, Flowers and Felt Flowers

Happy Tuesday!  Thanks so much for joining us this week for the Tuesday Tutorial at Shelly's Images!

After all the April Showers we've had, I sure hope my May Flowers start blooming soon!

Well, today with the inspiration of all the flowers and all things SPRING and WONDERFUL, I wanted to show you how to make these super cute little Felt Flowers I've been creating and using on my cards, scrapbook pages and other projects!

Ready for a felt flower garden of your own?

  

You'll need:

• A Piece of felt - you can get these for 20 cents at Michaels or JoAnn
• A circle/blossom or flower shape nestie (if you don't have nesties, you can use scissors or other diecutting shapes).
• Bling/Button(floss) or Brads - I used my iRock on the pink one and a Button on the Orange one
• Fabric/Craft Glue
• Crop-a-dile or hole punch
• IMAGINATION!!

 So, cut several layers in your felt. Here I used my blossom nesties and cut three layers, each a different size.

 

 Taking your Glue, I put a dab of glue in the center of each layer, except for the very top layer, sticking each piece together as you go.

 Add your bling to the center of your flower -

 and VOILA - Super CUTE, Instant Flower!

If you're using a Brad to connect layers together, PUNCH a hole in the center of your flowers. Attach brad to flower. For Buttons - add your button to the center and get our a needle and thread and sew button through all layers of the flower.

They're fast, simple and SUPER cute!!

I can't wait to see your wonderful Felt Flower Garden! =)

Hugs & Happy Days!