Flower challenge

The first flower has been made by using a double sided sticky sheet to put fabric onto thin card before being die cut. By putting the fabric onto thin card it gives it some rigidity but still allows you to bend the petals into shape. The button centre is stuck on but marked with black permanent marker to give the illusion of stitching.
This could be very useful when colour co-ordinating wedding favours, cards, decorations. If you can use fabric from the wedding dresses you will get a perfect match!

The second flower is made using Walnut Hollow Creative Metal and tools. This idea is taken from a wonderful tutorial I found on yoursartfully.blogspot.com The flowers are die cut from metal then using the tools they are decorated with pattern. Once the tool work is complete you can then colour them with alcohol inks. This is my first effort at this as you can probably tell but I shall do more as this technique can give great results and it's quite therapeutic too.

This little fellow is made using my favourite technique from Sue Wilson at Creative Expressions. If you look further back in my blog history you will find a link to her worksheet. This flower is also die cut, using four identical flowers that are coloured and trimmed then assembled to make this lovely rose.


All these flowers have been made using one die plate - Tattered Florals from Tim Holtz at Sizzix but they can also be made using any other die cut flower shape. The rose requires a six petal flower but can be made with a five petal with a few adjustments. Marianne Creatables have a die set with several sizes of six petal flower which makes amazing little roses in small to tiny. Spellbinders also have some beautiful flower dies. It's a case of experimenting with what you have to see what you can make. If you don't have a die cutter don't worry, several companies produce gorgeous flower stamps that can be cut out by hand and made into roses etc.

If this rain keeps on then settle down and create some flowers.

Blooming Fuchsia

This card was made using the 'Fuchsia' stamp plate from Creative Expressions and a gorgeous sheet of fuchsia coloured metal from Walnut Hollow. I was lucky enough to find a sheet of mirri board the same colour as the metal which really helped frame it.
The metal was coloured with alcohol inks, Purple Twilight, Raspberry and Pesto. I stamped the swirl in black Archival ink on the front of the metal and very gentley traced over it, then I turned it over and traced the lines a bit harder on the back to get the raised swirls on the front.
The flowers were stamped on the back of the metal and worked with the texture tool to produce a raised image on the front. I felt black lines on the swirls made it a stronger looking branch, no black lines on the flowers a softer image.
To stop all your hard work being squashed pack the back of the raised areas with filler, I use 'Sand Less Filler' from B&Q (500ml pot will last you months). It dries very quickly and is so smooth you really do sand less! No idea what it's like on a wall...it's for crafting!!!
To remove the colour on the flowers I used Blending solution. The coloured metals from WH are coated aluminium (except copper and brass) so the top colour can be sanded off or wiped off with the blending solution. I felt this made the flowers stand out more.
Well it's onto christmas designs now so I'll post one I'm working on at the moment when it's finished. Happy crafting!

Sample Board

This is the sample board I made to take to Jarrolds on saturday, I would like to say thankyou to Lisa, Amanda and the other ladies at the store for being so welcoming.

The board shows many of the different coloured metals Walnut Hollow make, as well as several patterns from their 'Design Sheets' (firm plastic moulds to push the metal into) and patterns made using the 'Roller Points' from the beginners kit. I also used Spellbinders Impressabilities and Dies as well as a selection of stamps from Creative Expressions.

In the following few weeks I will post some of the cards made using WH metal and show you how to preserve you hard work from being squashed! The metal is a very tactile medium and everyone was drawn to touch the artwork.

I've enjoyed using the metal and now plan to make my dad's birthday card with it, after all if he doesn't like it at least it has scrap value!!!