Scrap N Grow

Posts Tagged ‘Cricut Cartridge’

Good evening everyone. Hooray! It is finally Friday! Do you have anything fun planned for the weekend?  We are going to grout our bathroom floor and shower as well as prepare for a very exciting week ahead. Our engineered hardwood floors will be installed, furniture will be delivered, and our fireplace stone surround will be completed. After which, the basement/lower level should really begin to take shape and feel more homey.

Today’s featured hyacinths are part 3 of this month’s Paperie In Bloom, Build A Bulb Garden.  If this is your first time visiting, Paperie In Bloom is a monthly blog feature here at Scrap N Grow. Each month, I select a new flower/bloom to showcase, and then throughout the month, I feature additional inspiring projects that highlight the chosen bloom of the month.  However, this month, I changed things up a bit. This month, Scrap N Grow is showing you how to build your very own spring bulb garden from paper.  In week one, we made crocuses. Click here to view week one’s blog post. Last week, we made tulips. click here to view week two’s blog post. This week, week three, Scrap N Grow will show you how to make hyacinths as pictured below. Ready? Let’s get started.

Paperie In Bloom: March 2013 Build A Bulb Garden, Week 3

Supplies Used:

Card Stock. Hyacinths come in many colors. I chose to blue, purple, and pink hyacinths.

A 6 sided star flower die cut or shape punch.  My flowers measurements are: 1.82 Height and 1.68 Width. I used Flower Shoppe Cricut cartridge to cut mine.  You will need 14 flowers shapes for each hyacinth.

The centers are from an artificial stem that I had in my stash. A great substitute would also be a mini sunburst shape in a contrasting color from your flower.

A coloring medium to add realism to your petals. Examples include: Distress Inks, watercolor pencils, Gelatos, paint, etc.  I used Shaded Lilac and Picked Raspberries Distress Inks for the deep purple and pink hyacinths and Forever Blue Perfect Pearls to enhance my blue hyacinth.

Molding and shaping tools. I prefer to use McGill’s Tool Kit and Molding Mat.

Floral wire and tape for the stems if you do not have access to artificial stems.

Alcohol inks if you are using artificial stems.  I used Purple Twilight and Raspberry.

Crop O Dile or other hole punch.

A container for your bulb garden.  I have a shallow spring basket that I am going to use for mine once all bulbs are created.  For now, I placed my hyacinth in a vintage glass bottle.

Assembly:

Die cut flowers  for the number of desired hyacinth stems.

Next, color the front and back side of each petal shape as desired.

Use a hole punch in the center of each flower.

Then mold each shape. I prefer to use McGill’s tool kit and molding mat. I used their 6mm ball stylus.

Paperie In Bloom: March 2013, Week 3 Close Up of Hyacinth Flower

If using artificial stems- color the artificial centers using Alcohol Ink.

Next, slide 6 sided flower shape over colored center. If using a mini sunburst center- then adhere the sunburst to the center of each flower.

Finally, attach 14 flowers to each central stem. If not using an artificial stem, cut several short lengths of green wire, approximately 1/4″  and secure to larger center stem wrapped with floral tape in a stacked fashion.

Finally, place hyacinths in desired decorative container, arrange and add any filler for accents.

Paperie In Bloom: March 2013 Week 3 Top View of Hyacinths

Thank you so much for stopping by.  Please feel free to leave me a comment or any questions you may have.  If you want to make sure you do not miss a future bloom, I invite you to subscribe on the left hand side bar to receive updates via email. Thank you again, I will be back next week with the completed spring bulb garden basket.  Wanna guess what the last bulb will be?

Michelle

Good evening everyone.  Today’s featured project is a decorated candle that showcases this month’s featured bloom, the aster.

Paperie In Bloom: November 2012 Aster Candle

I paid only one penny for this candle on clearance at Michael’s. The candle features this month’s Paperie In Bloom flower, the aster.  Click here for directions to make the flower.  I adhered the flower to a 2 1/2X12 embossed strip of Ten Seconds Studio metal.  I used Stampin’ up’s Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder to emboss the metal strip and adhered the metal strip to the candle using double sided Scor Pal adhesive tape.  A quick and perfect gift ready to give.

Thank you so much for taking time to stop by. Please stop back again soon as I am busy working on December’s Paperie In Bloom project which will debut on Monday December 3rd. Have a great day!

Michelle

Good morning everyone.  Whew, it is finally Friday!  Today’s featured project is another inspiring creation for this month’s Paperie In Bloom series featuring the sunflower. For those new to my blog.  Last month, I started a new feature called Paperie In Bloom.  Each month I will feature a flower, this month’s flower is the sunflower. Then throughout each month, I will feature additional projects that incorporate and highlight the month’s featured bloom. Today’s featured project is one of those additional projects, a macro sunflower canvas.

Paperie In Bloom: September 2012 Macro Sunflower Canvas

This canvas definitely evolved throughout its creation.  My original idea was to use a solid black canvas for the backdrop to feature a macro view of a sunflower’s flower head.  After laying it out onto a black canvas, I felt it appeared rather bland and disjointed. I felt that it needed a bit of texture and subtle color to provide contrast between the canvas and the flower head. After a bit of brainstorming, I decided to use various shades of black and brown. I felt these colors would remain subtle, but yet provide a bit of interest to highlight the bright yellow of the sunflower ‘s flower center.

After rummaging through my stash of textures, I began to add various textures and subtle shades of black and brown to a 16X16 Deep Edge Gallery Profile canvas from Dick Blick.  To begin, I prepped the canvas using black Gesso.  In the picture below, you will see remnants from a previous painting attempt.  The macro sunflower petals were die cut using my Provocraft Electronic Die Cutting Machine and the Freshly Picked Cricut Art cartridge.  I used 2 shades of Bazzill card stock for the petals and inked the petals edges with Tim Holtz’s Mustard Seed Distress Ink. Afterwards, each petal was molded using a McGill ball stylus and their molding mat. Petals were then adhered to the canvas using Inkessentials Glossy Accents.

After several attempts to re-create/mimic the center of the sunflower, I decided to use actual sunflower seeds. I love the texture and color that the seeds provide.  The seeds were poked into a painted piece of Styrofoam. If you look real close, you will notice that a few seeds are missing. These were lost during the final assembly of the canvas. My initial reaction was of course to re insert them.  Instead, I decided to leave them missing, because if you look at a real sunflower’s center, there are several open holes where the bird’s have eaten the seed from the flower. In the end, I feel that a few missing seeds adds character to the piece. Below I included several steps of the creative process.

Black Gesso Over Repurposed Canvas

Textural Elements Applied to Canvas Background

Stencils and Additional Texture Added to Canvas Background

Close Up of Additional Canvas Background Texture

Close Up of Canvas Additional Background Texture #2

Close Up of Sunflower Center Prior to Placement of Sunflower Seeds

Paperie In Bloom: September 2012.Close Up of Center of Macro Sunflower Canvas Flower

Paperie In Bloom: September 2012 Macro Sunflower Canvas

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope you enjoyed the creative process that went into creating today’s featured Paperie In Bloom canvas.  I would love for you to comment and tell me what you think.  Thank you again and I hope that you will stop by again soon or subscribe to future posts if you were inspired by today’s canvas.  I typically feature 3 projects a week, likely will be more with the upcoming holidays.  Have a great day and a great weekend.

Michelle

Welcome to September’s Paperie In Bloom.  I am so excited! This month’s featured bloom is the sunflower.  I love sunflowers.  They are easy to grow and come in a wide range of colors and sizes.

Paperie In Bloom: September 2012 Bouquet of Sunflowers

Paperie In Bloom: September 2012 Close Up of Sunflower

I included a full list of supplies used below as well as a very detailed step by step tutorial for those of you who desire to create your own bouquet.  If you do create a project that highlights the sunflower, please send me a picture and/or link to your project.  I would love to showcase your interpretation. I will be sure to include a link on my blog to yours.  I am still contemplating using Inlinkz as an option in the future, but have a few questions I would like answered before I sign up for the service.

Supplies Used:

Adhesive: Inkessentials Glossy Accents

Cricut Electronic Die Cut Machine and Provocraft Cricut Cartridges: Creative Memories Traveler Cricut Art cartridge,  Freshly Picked Cricut Art cartridge, and Graphically Speaking Cricut Art cartridge

Ink: Mustard Seed and Peeled Paint Distress Ink by Ranger Ink

Miscellaneous Supplies: Artificial sunflower centers

Paper: Bazzill Sunbeam and Lemonade textured card stock. Coordination Peeled Paint card stock

Tool:  McGill Blossoms Molding Mat and 6mm and 8mm Ball Stylus, Ranger Ink Blending Tool Applicator and Ranger Non-Stick Craft Mat, and Tonic Craft Pick and Tonic Scissors

Die Cuts:

1.  Determine desired size, color, and type of sunflower bloom you wish to create. Pictured above are 6 inches in diameter fully assembled. I chose to recreate the popular yellow sunflower which has 2 rows of outer ray petals and a single inner row of smaller ray petals.

2.  Resize sun image (Creative Memories Traveler Cricut Art Cartridge: top row, 2nd image from right.  Note: hide interior swirl of sun) to reflect desired size of flower and die cut 1 sun for each flower. Pictured above are 4.71 width and 4.50 height.

3.  Resize petal cut (Freshly Picked Cricut Art Cartridge: Button-Layers 2 Shadow, petal image used is 4 across and 3 down) to desired proportions to sun image determined in step 2.  Die cut 32 outer ray petals, 2 rows of 16 petals. Pictured above are 1.08 wide with real dial size off. Note: I die cut 16 of each color of yellow card stock as listed above in supplies.

4.  Resize petal cut (Freshly Picked Cricut Art Cartridge: Button-Layers 2 Shadow, petal image used is 4 across and 3 down) to desired proportions to the outer ray petals determined in step 3. Die cut 16 inner ray petals. Pictured above are .87 wide with real dial size off.

5.  Resize sun image (Graphically Speaking Cricut Art Cartridge: Button-Layer, sun image is top row and 1st image from left. Note: hide all interior cuts leaving only the perimeter shape) to cover the sun rays die cut earlier in step 2. This die cut is green and covers approximately 3/4 of the underside of the fully assembled bloom. Die cut 1 sun for each flower. Pictured above are 4.71 width and 4.50 height.

Color:

1.  On a non stick craft sheet, use an ink blending tool and apply Mustard Seed Distress Ink to both sides of each petal die cut earlier in steps 3 and 4 under die cuts. Also apply ink to sun die cuts earlier from step 2.

2.  On a non stick craft sheet, use an ink blending tool and apply Peeled Paint Distress Ink to both sides of each sun die cut earlier in step 5 under die cuts.

Shape:

1.  Place each colored petal onto a McGill Blossoms Molding Mat and using a 6mm ball stylus, gently mold each petal and afterwards fold slightly which will create a subtle petal vein.

2.  Place each yellow die cut sun onto a McGill Blossoms Molding Mat and using a 6mm ball stylus, gently mold only the interior of the sun. This will provide dimension to your completed blossom.

3.  Place green sun die cut onto a McGill Blossoms Molding Mat and using an 8mm ball stylus, gently mold concentrating primarily on the outermost edges as this die cut’s function is to conceal the underside of the outer petal rays as well as is the flower part that attaches to the flower’s stem.

Assemble:

1.  Adhere 16 outer ray petals to sun image with rays using Inkessentials Glossy Accents.  Note: I grabbed petals randomly from both colors of yellow card stock.

2.  Adhere a second row of 16 outer ray petals in between each petals adhered in step 1 of assembly using Inkessentials Glossy Accents.  Note: I grabbed petals randomly from both colors of yellow card stock.

3.  Poke a hole using a Tonic Craft Pick in the center of your bloom as this is where your stem will later attach.

4.  Adhere innermost row of inner ray petals up to the center hole and offset from the 2nd row of outer ray petals using Inkessentials Glossy Accents. Be careful not to cover your stem hole.

5.  I disassembled store bought artificial sunflowers and used the center part only.  I poked the artificial stem center through the center hole.  I used a small amount of adhesive for added bloom durability.

6.  I then adhered green die cut molded sun to base of flower head using Inkessentials Glossy Accents.

7.  Out of curiosity, lack of available material supply, and an internal what if…..I attached paper bloom to store bought stem.  I was curious if it would be too cheesy looking.  I surprisingly liked it and liked the fact that the stems were pliable and already had proportionately sized foliage.  I thought it was a nice option to showcase especially since I have had several inquiries previously regarding how I construct  my flower stems.

8. Repeat above steps for each bloom.  Note: I made a total of 11 5-6 inch diameter sunflowers.

9.  Attach each paper sunflower bloom to the artificial store bought stems and foliage clumps. I thought this was a great repurpose of something I may have thought to discard.  Once all blooms were attached, I hand shaped each bloom to provide realism and movement to each bloom.

Here is the bouquet once again as well as a close up.

Paperie In Bloom: September 2012 Bouquet of Sunflowers

Paperie In Bloom: September 2012 Close Up of Sunflower

I had an incredible amount of fun putting these together.  I plan on making several more blooms but on a much smaller scale. I have plans to experiment in order to re create the flower center out of paper as well as try a few other art mediums.  I would love for you to comment and tell me your thoughts about this month’s featured Paperie In Bloom.

If you enjoyed my sunflowers, be sure to stay tuned as I have several other projects in the works that will be featured throughout the month of September. To ensure that you do not miss a bloom, subscribe via email or select a social media platform (Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Google +, and Networked Blogs) to be updated as new projects are posted.  Lastly, I created another Paperie In Bloom blog badge that features this month’s sunflower bouquet.  Feel free to copy and paste the code for your blog.  Thank you for stopping by, and I hope that you return again soon.  Have a great and safe Labor Day!

Michelle

Good morning everyone!  I am excited to finally share what I have been up to behind the scenes for the past week, hence the silence and lack of posts. While away, I attended an online summit hosted by Social Media Examiner titled “Blogging for Business Success”.  The summit provided attendees with helpful tools and strategies for businesses to engage and connect with their customers through blogging.   While I took this class to help grow and expand my Tripazon home based business, I felt several of the ideas presented were viable for any blogger.  After all, the goal of any blog is to engage and interact with their readers.

One suggested idea in particular resonated with me while I was performing a brainstorming exercise. The presenter posed the question, “What  is your business’s claim to fame? What is your signature? What is your specialty?” Almost immediately, I answered to myself, my paper blooms.  The presenter elaborated and suggested that the answer ought to be a highlighted advertising and marketing feature for your business blog.

So starting this month and each month moving forward, I am going to advertise inspire you with my paper blooms.  I am going to call this monthly feature, “Paperie In Bloom”. I am so excited about this new feature, so much so, that I created a coordinating blog badge.  My blog badge is free with no strings attached.  Feel free to copy and paste the code below the badge located at the top of the right hand side bar and insert it into your blog’s sidebar.

This month’s “Paperie In Bloom” is a paper bouquet of gorgeous Annabelle hydrangeas.

Paperie In Bloom: Hydrangea

I used my Cricut die cutting machine to die cut approximately 3,000 petals.  I used a star flower shape from the Creative Memories Traveler Cricut Cartridge.  Each petal is 0.65 in height.  I used smooth white Bazzill paper.  After petals were cut, I applied Antique Linen Distress Ink to the edges on both sides.  Next, I used a McGill 6mm ball stylus to mold each petal. Afterwards, I applied a small dot of White Opal Liquid Pearls to the center of each flower and let dry.

Closeup of Hydrangea

Flower Assembly:  The core of each flower head is a painted (Sandal Ranger Paint Dabber) Styrofoam ball.  I used 2 different sizes: 3 inch and 5 inch.  For the stem, I used a thick floral wire and cut the stems at varying lengths.  Afterwards, I wrapped each stem with floral tape, inserted into base of Styrofoam ball and added Glossy Accents for added durability.  Once dry, I proceeded to begin gluing each molded flower petal to the Styrofoam core.  I started at the base and worked my way towards the top. I used  Glossy Accents to adhere flowers.  Approximately 300 petals were used to cover each 3 inch ball and approximately 500 petals were used to cover the 5 inch balls.  The bouquet below features three 3 inch balls and four 5 inch balls. This bouquet was time consuming because of the size balls I chose to use, but it was worth it to me as it will last forever.

This project could be easily translated into many other ideas and on a much smaller scale.  Throughout the month of August, I will showcase other projects with hydrangea as the focal point.  I would love to have you comment below on your thoughts. FYI, I am looking into how to Inlinkz works so that next month, I can have you upload your creations and play along with me.  I will offer some enticing prizes for those who choose to participate.  Until then, for the month of August, I would love to hear your comments regarding my bouquet and/or your thoughts about my new “Paperie In Bloom” feature.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I will be back Thursday with my Compendium of Composites II challenge entry.  Have a great day!

Michelle

Good morning readers.  Today’s post is another bouquet of poppies.

Papaver orientale 'Paperie' Bouquet

Papaver orientale 'Paperie' Bouquet Close Up

Previously, I showcased a bouquet of red poppies. Today’s poppies are a vivid orange-red color. I constructed these poppies in the the same fashion as my red ones.  Click here to see my red poppies post.  The flowers were die cut from the Giant Flower Cricut cartridge.  I do not feel it is necessary for me to repeat myself regarding technique and assembly as I did not do anything different in creating these from my red ones.  Click here for reference and details about how I assembled my poppies.  The only change in supplies used was the color of the card stock and Distress Ink used. For today’s featured poppies, I used a bright orange/red Bazzill card stock and applied Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink to add depth and color variation to each of the flower petals.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope that you stop back again soon for more inspiring ideas. Have a great day!

Michelle

Good afternoon everyone.  I hope your weekend is going well. It is very hot, humid, and rainy here.  Today, I have another bouquet from the Cricut cartridge Giant Flowers, poppies.

I love poppies and they are are currently blooming glory in my gardens.  Poppies come in an assortment of colors.  The one’s featured today are a deep red.  I used my Cricut die cut machine and the Giant Flowers Cricut cartridge. I cut all flower parts at 4 inches.

For the petals: I die cut them using a deep red card stock and afterwards used Fired Brick Distress Ink to add color to both sides of each petal.

For the ring around the center, I die cut the flower part using a deep purple card stock and afterwards used Dusty Concord and Black Soot Distress Ink to produce a deep purple nearly black color.

Lastly, for the center, I tried several different options.  In the end, I harvested poppy centers still attached to their stems from my own gardens that were through blooming.  The die cut part that the cartridge offers is wonky, frustrating to work with, and does not to me resemble a poppy’s center at all.

After I colored all the card stock flower parts, I then used my McGill molding mat and tool kit to mold and shape each part prior to assembly.  My adhesive of choice for this project was Inkessentials Glossy Accents.

As stated earlier, I used real poppy centers attached to their stems and made a hole in the center of each flower and threaded the seed head/stem and applied a bit of adhesive and set aside each flower to dry.

Overall, this bouquet assembled rather quickly.  I found it challenging to arrange the flowers as well as to photograph them. The photos above do not do justice for how the flowers really turned out. They are absolutely stunning in person.

I hope you enjoyed my project for today.  Please feel free to leave me a comment.  Thank you for visiting and I hope you return again soon.

Michelle

Good evening.  Today, I am going to finish sharing my Toy Box Mini Album. I shared part one on Wednesday. Click here to read part one. So let’s return to our Toy Box mini album reveal.

Spread Five.

Spread Five primarily consists of photo mats and has an interactive flap that reveals additional photo mats when opened.

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Five

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Five With Flap Extended

Spread Six.

Spread six features a vintage rocking horse chip board accent from the Crate Paper Toy Box collection along with a Maya Road library pocket and journaling spot.  Opposite page has two bookmarks tucked into a page pocket.

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Six

Toy Box Mini Album Close Up

Toy Box Mini Album Close Up of Pocket Page

Spread Seven.

This was a fun spread and I admittedly went a bit over the top.

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Seven

The left hand side page of the album features a notebook embossed card that has spaces to place photos or journalling inside the card.  I used Tim Holtz’s Notebook Texture Fades embossing folder to emboss the card front and attached a mini journaling card from the Toy Box collection with a mini paper clip.

Close Up of Embossed Notebook Card

The opposite page has a pocket and holds a keepsake Toy Story coloring book.  I made the coloring book using my Your Story Mini machine and Toy Story coloring pages purchased from Target. The color book’s cover focal image is a Toy Story sticker that I purchased at Michael’s.  Inside and alongside the color pages, I added a dimensional Crayola sticker embellishment that I also purchased at Michael’s. See Below for close ups.

Close Up of Keepsake Toy Story Color Book Cover

Close Up of Keepsake Toy Story Color Book Pages

Spread Eight.

This album spread features a dimensional train embellishment from Jolee’s Boutique and car embellishments from the Crate Paper Toy Box collection. I die cut the road using my Cricut machine and the My Community Cricut cartridge.

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Eight

Toy Box Mini Album Close Up

Toy Box Mini Album Close Up

Spread Nine.

This spread features another extended flap page in order to accommodate additional photos.

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Nine

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Nine With Flap Extended

The fire engine is a dimensional Jolee’s Boutique sticker.  The airplane and the John Deere tractor are chipboard embellishments from the Toy Box paper collection. I used a Martha Stewart border grass punch for the grass and found the dump truck embellishment in the patches department at JoAnn’s. I cut the dirt hill by hand.

Spread Ten.

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Ten

The left hand page features a centrally placed photo mat that is surrounded by various sizes of Lego’s that I hand cut from Lego decorative paper that I purchased at Archiver’s.  I used pop dots behind various Lego bricks for added dimension. The right hand page features a complex pop up block element.  I say complex as the block took me several hours to figure out it’s proper assembly.  The block is a Karen Burniston 3D twist cube pop up die. I love how it turned out, but will admit that the process of trying to place the interior rubber band inside the cube totally frustrated me.  This band allows the block to twist and pop up.  Once assembled, I secured the block to the page with a brad which allows the block to spin.  I embellished the sides and the top of the block. I die cut the word PLAY and the star using my Crricut machine and the Mickey Font Cricut cartridge.

Close Up of Pop Up Twist Cube Block

Close Up of Pop Up Twist Cube Block

Spread Eleven.

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Eleven

Both pages feature a corner pocket page design and each pocket contains a removable, interactive A2 flap card.  The cards were die cut using a Sizzix A2 Card w/Flap Die.  The cards provide room for 4 photos. I used a Velcro hook and loop fastener for the flap closure and added a button for added detail. Afterwards, I tucked in a few journal cards from the Toy Box paper collection.

Spread Twelve.

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Twelve

This spread is all about vintage toys.  I had each of these toys in my own toy box as a child. The embellishments are from the paper’s collection with the exception of the moon tickets and and rocket advertisement which came from October Afternoon’s Rocket Age collection. The advertisement is mounted on a mini file that opens to reveal two additional photo mats.

Toy Box Mini Album Close Up

Spread Thirteen.

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Thirteen

This spread features popular games that children play.  The checkerboard paper was purchased at Archiver’s as a single sheet and I apologize that I can not recall the manufacturer.  I embellished the page with a couple of authentic Checker pieces from a well loved game that I purchased at a garage sale. The opposite page features a set of I Spy cards that are held together with a decorative brad.  This page is actually a flap that opens and features two more of my favorite childhood games, Monopoly and Domino’s. The domino’s are purchased embellishments as real Domino’s would have added too much bulk to the album.

Toy Box Mini Album Spread Thirteen With Flap Extended

Inside Back Cover of Toy Box Mini Album.

Toy Box Mini Album Back Cover

The End.  In all, the Toy Box mini album has places for over 50 photos and journaling.  No doubt that this album was labor intensive and expensive to make.  I am almost certain that the intended recipient will cherish this album and that the gift will become a keepsake for her son in the years to come.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and for allowing me to post this jumbo mini sized album into separate blog posts as each post took me several hours to compose and post. I tried real hard to include each page’s details and source’s, but if I forgot something, please do not hesitate to email me or leave a question in the comment section.  Thank you again for visiting and I hope that you come back again soon.

Michelle

Happy Memorial Day. I would first like to thank those of you who are currently serving our beautiful country. I would also like to take a moment to remember those who have fallen in the line of duty.  Words can not merely express my gratitude and thanks for all servicemen and women who are currently serving or have served our country.

Next, I would like to apologize for my absenteeism this past weekend as I had fully intended to post throughout the weekend.  I did enjoy our one nice day on Friday before heavy storms and monsoon like rains drenched our area throughout the entire weekend. Several times our power flickered and internet was intermittent at times.  Storms + complex project + not enough hours in each day = no blog post over the past weekend.  I sincerely apologize and will try and play catch up this week for you.

This afternoon I finally completed my envisioned bouquet of peonies minus the stem’s leaves.  This project was definitely a never ending whirlwind!!! It consumed nearly every free non stormy moment throughout the long holiday weekend. My original vision for this project was to create a bouquet of life like peonies.  Earlier this spring I had purchased several of the McGill paper blossom punches and thought that I would use them to make some peonies.

I started by printing off the peony instructions from McGill’s website.  I then proceeded to select paper and punch the desired number of required shapes.  As I was punching the shapes, I thought to myself that the shapes seem pretty small, but I proceeded anyway and completed the assembly for 7 peonies.  They turned out fine but are indeed very small and lacked a life like sized blossom. I am going to save these for later use on a scrapbook layout, card, or home decor type project.  The completed McGill peonies are pictured below.

Peonies Created Using McGill Paper Blossom Punches

The McGill peonies while nice were not what I had originally envisioned, for I desired big, luscious, full blooms like their live counterparts.  So I instead decided to use my Cricut and the Giant Flowers Cricut Cartridge. A Cricut die cutting machine allows a user to cut my desired shape(s) at any specified size. My luscious, full sized blooms are pictured below.

I elected to cut my flower parts at 3 inches.  The book recommends much larger but with having previous experience using this cartridge, I knew I could successfully cut my shapes much smaller.  I followed the book’s instructions and cut desired shapes in white card stock to assemble a test flower.  I do this typically to figure out the quirks of assembly and for determination of size before using my quality card stock. I am so glad I did as I was very disappointed in the test flower.  In my opinion, the flower was sparse and had a hug hole in the center.  Perhaps, if someone were to use this as a centerpiece or even to place a candle in the center then this would be sufficient but not for a luscious life like blossom that I envisioned. I now knew that I needed to cut mass quantities of each flower part in order to potentially achieve my desired flower.  To do this I  used my Gypsy and placed mass quanities onto a 12X24 mat and cut out shapes once more.

I listed my cuts below:

4 Peony centers (not the recommended 2)

8 peony leaf 1 (not the recommended 6)

8 peony leaf 2 (not the recommended 4)

12 of peony leaf 4 (not the recommended 4).

I also cut 2 of peony layer 4 in lieu of the recommended 1. These are for the center stamens.

I chose 2 different colors of pink card stock  and cut enough parts so that I would be able to make 5 of one color and 4 of the other color. Odd numbers are more visually pleasing to the eye. I will warn you that if you decide to make these yourself, please purchase enough card stock.  After all parts were cut, I used Worn Lipstick Distress ink and my blending tool and inked the edges on both sides of each flower part.  Afterwards, I used my McGill molding mat and accompanying tools to mold the flower parts.  I then used Inkessentials Glossy Accents to glue each flower part prior to the final assembly. This step was labor intensive and downright tedious, but makes a huge difference in the final flower.

Regarding the final assembly, I rolled and offset glued consecutively all 4 peony centers ensuring that I did leave a large enough central opening for my stamens to fit. If you need too, glue these together first, I just estimated.  Next, I adhered 8 peony leaf 1 parts and again offset these with each layer. I adhered these at the height of the score marks on the peony centers.  I continued to adhere the remaining leaf parts offset for each row while I held the flower firmly in my hand upside down the entire time to ensure that the adhesive and flower stayed firmly together.

I would also like to share with you and hope to save you the frustration that I encountered using various adhesives. I started out using Crafter’s Ultimate glue and this did work, but I felt took too long to dry before I could proceed to adhere additional flower parts.  I then tried Inkessentials Glossy Accents. This worked better but still required additional time to dry in between each flower part.  I then decided to try hot glue.  While this seemed to work well intially, I became very frustrated as while I was adhering my final petal layers on my flower, I could see that the hot glue previously used cooled clumpy like and that my flower parts were not adhered well. I could see that large clumps of flower parts were barely adhered and were not intact.  At this point I was very frustrated!  So much so that I had to just walk away and take a break.  The next day, I reassembled the flower and the others using Inkessentials Glossy Accents.  I used 2 sets of locking tweezers to adhere 2 parts at a time and let sit to completely dry each time, typically 3-5 minutes.  This was very time consuming!!!!!!! In order to pass time,  I surfed the internet and chatted on message boards. In all, it took me the better part of late Saturday, Sunday, and a few hours this morning to complete the final assembly of these 9 peonies.

For the stems, I had to think outside the box a bit.  These flower heads have some distinct weight to them. I decided to use double thickness floral wire and wrapped the wire with green floral tape.  I used hot glue successfully to adhere the stems to the flower heads. I still need to cut out leave,s but really wanted to post these for you instead of making you wait yet a few more days.  To help conceal the naked stems, I placed the blossoms inside a cute watering can purse I received awhile back for a gift. I then photographed them for you outside in between the bouts of rain.

All in all, I think this project demanded the most time to complete of the projects I have posted thus far. I am pleased with the results and am eager to cut the leaves out.  What do you think about today’s flowers? Which do you prefer?  I would so love for you to leave me a comment telling me your thoughts or ask any questions.

Thank you for stopping by and for taking the time to read this lengthy blog post.  I am in the process of starting to compose my studio gallery organization and will begin to post about that later this week. I also plan to create the poppy next on the Giant Flowers Cricut cartridge as well as complete my Compendium of Curiosities II challenge yet this week.

Thank you again for stopping by.  Have a great night!

Michelle

Good afternoon! Today a have a couple inspired by baby cards to share with you.  The first card idea was featured in one of the first issues of Cricut magazine.  I just liked the clothesline idea and thought it was a fresh and an original idea.  Below are my interpretations for both baby boys and girls.

Clothesline Baby Cards

The laundry was die cut from the New Arrival Cricut cartridge.  The grass is a Martha Stewart grass punch, The scallops were cut with decorative edge scissors. I used a mini brad for the heart and a Fiskars mini handheld star punch to embellish each onesie.  Lastly, I strung jute for the clothesline and attached the laundry using mini clothespins. Afterwards, I attached this layer to my brown embossed (Swiss Dots, Provocraft) card base before I added a button with more jute to soften the lines between the grass and the scallop border.

The next card was inspired from a past Darkroom Door background stamp release.  I love the look of subway art and hence the past purchase of this stamp along with others. Visit their blog and check out there stamps here.

Bear Baby Girl Card

Bear Baby Boy Card

For this card, I stamped and embossed the background image using Ranger Distress embossing powder.  I then added the big teddy bear after cutting it from the Christmas Solutions Cricut cartridge and added some wiggly eyes for bear’s eyes for added whimsy. Next, I used a scallop corner punch from Creative Memories to accent the layers corner’s.  Afterwards, I inked the edges of each layer using Walnut Stain Distress ink and adhered my card layers together. Once adhered, I used my Crop a Dile to punch a hole and strung  decorative ribbon through hole and added an Ideaology type charm with either a B for boy or G for girl initial.

I made 5 of each of today’s cards so I should have ample supply for friends and families upcoming additions.  Next up, I need to make some graduation and wedding cards.

Thank you as always for stopping by and I hope that you will return again soon.

Michelle