Berry Blossom Tutorial

"Grow" is the theme this month at Once Upon A Sketch,  and what better way to show growth than with the beauty of new blossoms on the trees, like the ones I captured here, while on a walk around my neighborhood a few Springs ago.

I was instantly inspired by this sketch and will probably use it again.

This also my entry for the Photo Inspiration Challenge at BOAF. I have so many paint swatches and used strips of them behind the photo. The red rose below the journaling and the circles in the centers of the larger pink flowers are rub-ons that I've had for years, making this my entry for the Four Categories Challenge. I started this page by masking the doily on the upper left, and using the actual mask as a stamp for the doily on the bottom right.

I used a real doily which I inked, cut a circle from the center with scallop scissors, and then cut it in half. The largest flower was stamped, embossed, inked, and fussy cut from white cardstock.

I used a light pink vellum to print my journaling on, and glued it behind this scallop wood veneer, which like the rest, were sprayed with Lindy Stamp Gang mist. The doily behind that was stamped just like the one in the upper right corner, but with different colored inks.

Now to make the Berry Blossoms! I used my Cricut (Serenade cartridge) to cut my flowers from white cardstock. Cut 2 flower 5's at 2" and 2 plant 3's at 1 1/2".

I used Distress Ink (picked raspberry) and my blending tool to color the flowers pink.

Then I dipped my flower into water and starting in the center I folded and crumbled it. I opened it up and while it was still wet I used my Distress Ink (aged mahogany) to go over the edges and the lines that I just made by crumbling it.

Once it's dry, layer your 2 flowers together with some glue. I use Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue.

To make the centers, use Distress Ink (seedless preserves) and your blending tool to color the tips leaving the middle white.

Now curl your tips up and over using the end of a paintbrush or some tool to help curl your petals.I used a rub-on tool.

Then glue your centers together like this.

For the center I used this circle rub-on that I've had forever, but you could use bling, buttons, brads, or whatever you'd like.

For my smaller blossoms I used pink puffy paint for the centers. Here's a close-up of them both finished on my page.

Thanks for looking!