Hey everyone!!  Welcome to class :)

Today we are going to work on the techniques that we will be using in this mini book and tommorrow’s post will work on the assembly & completion of the project.  This is a LONG post with lots of images.  But if you’ve got any questions or I confused you, please shoot me an e-mail at gigikennedy@yahoo.com & I will try to help you out.  Also, don’t forget your homework at the end of this post!!!  You want to be an A+ student don’t you???

O.K….let’s get started!!

In this book I used LOTS of handmade paper flowers, I just love them.  I chose handmade flowers for lots of reasons:  they provide a simple & consistent embellishement throughout the book;   they are versitle & simple to create; they are economical because scraps & bits from your crafting stash are used to create them; they can be created in a million and one ways so the book will have a great bit of interest without being super labor intensive; and they add TONS of texture to your project especially when you add techniques such as inking, distressing and stitching to your flowers.  Can you see why I love them now?  :)

In this book, I used 3 different kinds of handmade paper flowers.  Today I’m going to share with you how to create each one.  Tomorrow we will create them & be adding them to our book pages.

Flower #1:  Strip-y Flower

Cut a strip of patterned paper @ 2″ wide x 12″ long.  Distress one of the 12″ sides

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Using your scissors snip across the paper leaving about 1/4-1/2″.  This will create your flower “petals”.  When making these flowers for our project, vary the width of your snip cuts (see the example above, some are narrow strips, others are a bit wider).  Distress edges of your cuts and rub distress ink lightly on edges (I used Ranger’s Distress Ink in Antique Linen)

Start “folding” in the strips (your “petals”) in the center, pleating them.  Keep going around in a circle & you will be creating a circular flower shape.

Keep going around, folding until you have the shape of flower you want.  My flowers usually use about 9″ of the 12″ length, they start to get too thick if you go further.  Snip off the rest of the 12″ length of paper and staple the center to keep all of your “petals” together.  Don’t worry about making the staples look pretty, you are going to cover them up.  Just get that flower together.  If you haven’t made your flower too thick, you can use a tapestry needle & embroidery thread & sew a button on the middle to keep it all together (I’ve done this with the small gray polka dot flower in the image above.  I used about a 1 3/4″ strip of paper and only @ 7″ of the 12″ strip.)

Now “fluff up” your “petals” by scrunching them a bit & then pretty up your flower’s center with punched circles, brads, the chipboard buttons from your Cosmo Cricket sheet, gems, buttons, the Jenni Bowlin Chipboard Buttons, embroidery thread, butcher’s twine…have fun using up what you have available & trying to layer different elements.  (I used tacky glue and sticky strip to adhere my embellishments in the center.)  By using an assortment of different flower “centers” you’ll create lots of great texture & interest on your project.

Now for Flower #2:  Scallop-y Stitched Flower

This one is much simpler to create, but it still packs a punch :)

Punch a scallop circle (or use scallop scissors on a punched circle if you don’t have a scallop punch).  Distress the edges of your flower just a bit.  Sew with your machine (or you could use embroidery thread & the backstitch or the chain stitch, french knots look great in the center too)

These flowers will look great in a bunch or mixed in with some of your other handmade layered flowers as shown in the example above.

Now our Flower #3:  The Lollipop Flower

Another simple flower that really will shine on your project.  Create these flowers in a bunch of different circle sizes for maximum impact.

For this example I used the lens cap of my camera for the shape.  You can use your punches or your coffee mug or whatever size you want.

Take your circle & stitch a few times around the perimeter.  Both straight & zig zag stitches look great for this.  Distress the edges & pop your choice of embellishment in the center.  For this project, I embellished the centers of these flowers with the buttons from the Cosmo Cricket chipboard sheet and buttons from my stash.

Now for the stems & leaves for our flowers:

I used the flip side of the Sassafrass Lass patterned paper, it is a great shade of green.  Just cut a strip for your stem & hand cut some leaves in different sizes.  If you wish you can run them through your sewing machine to make them snazzy (Be warned, the leaves are a pain!  Maybe try to sew a leaf shape first & cut second?).  You can also just use a pen too…looks great that way too & gives just the right bit of definition.  Don’t forget to distress the edges a bit too.  For these I used sandpaper with great results.

Now, so that you will be set to assemble your book tomorrow, let’s take care of a few things that will need some drying time:

Take the 3 Chipboard pieces of your Mixed Media Book and paint 1 of them red on both sides (I used Making Memories Red Wagon Acrylic paint)…For the other 2 pieces, paint ONE side a cream color (I used Folk Art’s Buttermilk Acrylic Paint).  For my book, each side took about 3 coats. Set aside to dry.

Now let’s make the tag that will go on the cover of your book:

Let’s start…Find a shipping tag and trace it’s shape on your choice of patterned paper.  I chose October Afternoon’s Tea Towel…the Fancy Pants Bracket Trees diecut paper (the middle part with the kraft & the polka dots) would look great for this too.

Cut out the tag.  Ink your “you have this” stamp and stamp on the top portion of your tag.

If you wish, using the zig zag stitch on your machine, stitch around the perimeter of your tag

Cut or punch a circle of about 1/2″ diameter out of patterned paper (I used the red part of the Cosmo Cricket Cheerful Charlie patterned paper)…Adhere to top of tag

Punch hole through the middle of your circle & tie a length of the stripe ribbon

Distress & ink the edges of your tag.  Now take Glossy Accents (or similar product) and go over the black stamping on your tag.  This will highlight your image & make it stand out on your book’s cover.  Set aside on a flat surface to dry.

Whew!  a lot of images in this post!

Now for your Homework tonight:  Take a photo of yourself for page one of your book.  See the “bingo” card page above?  That is going to be our page 1 and your smiling face needs to be on it. :)  So do your hair a bit, pop on some lip gloss & smile.  YOU need to be a part of this :)  Also, start making your “happy list”.  See that red page above with the Lollipop flower?  It is going to be filled on both sides with a huge list of people/places/things that make you smile.  So start thinking about it today so you’ll be set to take pen in hand & write away tomorrow.

See you tomorrow for the creation and assembly of our book!

Have a happy Wednesday!

xoxo

gi

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 10:23 am by gigi and is filed under creative team, kit, project tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.