Three Little Flowers

I have been thinking about this for days. Literally days.

I have been spending a lot of time reading people's blogs and looking through galleries in the past few weeks, and I have come to two conclusions: 1) There are so many unbelievably freakin' talented people online! One can't help but be inspired after browsing through Scrap In Style or Two Peas In a Bucket galleries. (Go on - spend 5 minutes over there and then tell me you don't want to get elbows-deep in paper and ink! Try it! I dare you! Don't worry, I'll wait.) And 2) that I cannot watch a scrapbooking tutorial without getting a little voice in the back of my mind compelling me to try out said project. (Impossibly-difficult-to-fold birthday card? Yes, please! Crazy 16-step stamping technique? Don't mind if I do!)

So then, the other night, I was surfing around and I found tutorials for Five Fast and Fun Flowers at Amy's blog Pieces of Me, and I knew I had to get started. But alas, it had to wait, as I was in the middle of exam marking and report-card writing, and so I put it off. That little voice in the back of my head didn't forget, though, and when I stumbled upon Tonya Dirk's Paper Rose Tutorial over on the Bo Bunny blog, I knew I had to try this one out, too. But the clincher was Tresa's organza flower tutorial at her blog, Reese Dixon. OMG. Clearly, there could be no more waiting.

After work today, I hit up Fabricland and Micheal's for supplies, and was thrilled to find organza in the clearance section, and a great selection of tulle in gorgeous colours (and at great price!) Here's what I chose:
As soon as I got home, I dove in.

I started with the organza flowers. I couldn't believe how easy it was to create something so pretty! You essentially cut a few lazy flower shapes out of organza, and then hold them above a candle flame, letting the heat (not the flame!) melt and crinkle the petals. I need to work on my technique a little, but I love my first results:
This picture doesn't capture the colour very well - it's far more turquoise in real life. This flower was so simple, and so forgiving; Tresa's not lying when she says that you don't need a perfect flower shape to begin with! Literally, I just grabbed my scissors and started cutting - no need for a pattern. I love how these flowers are so pretty and soft while still having texture and a lot of dimension. I can't wait to try some more! (Please note: I bought the ivory and houndstooth fabrics, both 100% polyester, thinking that they may work as well, since they are synthetics. I tried out the houndstooth, and no dice. It's not stiff enough to hold over the candle flame without the petals just drooping right over. Also, I tried using my heat gun at the suggestion of a fabulously talented and all-around kick-butt friend, but as it turns out, the gun spends more time blowing the fabric around than melting the edges. The stationary candle heat-source is definitely the way to go for this one.)

Next, I tried the tulle flower. This one would be super-quick, if you were to take your eyelets out of the package before you needed them. Trying to open the little baggie of eyelets that came with your Cropadile while clinging to a stack of tulle that you've arranged just so in your other hand could potentially result in a baggie-of-eyelets explosion. Not that I know that from experience. Just sayin'.

Anyhow, here is my take, with both a top- and side-view. The colour really is white, as in the first image. I think Amy's pictures do the flower better justice, as she used much darker tulle which shows up better on camera.I think I'll make the tulle squares smaller next time - these ones were about 4x4" and not even close to perfectly square. By the way, the pebble in the centre was made from Amy's Custom Pretty Pebbles tutorial. I don't think I'll ever pay for page pebbles again! :)

The final one I tried was definitely the hardest, though certainly it was easier than it looks! I created this paper rose from three 4X4" squares of patterned paper and some glue.

I would recommend using a thinner paper than I used, as the inner layers were tough to fold without tearing the paper. I tried misting them with water, though this still didn't help the rolled tops to curl. Also, I'm going to use double-sided paper for my next one. These flowers have great potential for decor (isn't the wreath in the video beautiful?) and for scrapbooking, if made small enough so that the dimension doesn't harm the other pages in your book!So there you have it: a crafty night that was days in the making. No, I didn't get the laundry done. No, I didn't start packing for the all-weekend crop I'm going to on Friday after work (Yay!). But I did make three little flowers today. And I made that nagging little voice shut up, for the time being. I'd say that's pretty good for a Wednesday. :)