Mini Wildflowers

Hello! Here's the new Thursday sketch (week of July 28th)  from Pages in Time, designed by Traci Thiel. I really LOVE this sketch, and had a lot of fun using it!

Here's my take. I decided to flip the sketch to suit my photos better.

I made all the flowers myself. The larger flowers were inspired by Lisa Gregory's Peeled Paper Poppies.http://what-a-beautiful-mess.blogspot.com/2011/01/peeled-paper-poppies-tutorial.html I didn't have the punches that she used, so I hand cut all the petals out of cardstock, which was first glimmer misted. I also didn't peel my petals, but chose to make 10 instead of  5 gluing the petals together near the stems. For the centers I used my Cricut (Mother's Day bouquet) and some orange felt flower brads.
To make the mini wildflowers you'll need this Martha Stewart punch. I'm not sure what it's called though. You'll also need some yellow cardstock, glue, Wild Honey Distress Ink, blending tool, a stylus, foam pad or old mouse pad, and a small bead for the center. I used a brown one.

You'll need to punch 2 large flowers and 2 small ones out of yellow cardstock.

Then use your blending tool to ink the edges with your distress ink.

Then with your foam pad underneath, use your stylus on each petal starting from the center and working out. Just keep going back and forth until your petals naturally shape themselves.

Now you can glue your layers together. For the larger flowers I stacked them directly on top of eachother, and for the smaller ones I alternated the petals.

To finish it off just add your bead in the center. Here's a close-up.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!Thanks for visiting!

Beach Babe

I made this for the July 2 page sketch challenge at Scrapbook.com. Here's the sketch from 2 peas in a bucket.

Here's my take.

I made the flowers from fabric which I got from this tutorial.They're very easy and simple to make.
http://pinksuedeshoe.com/2010/06/25/scrap-flower-tutorial/

Dictionary Flowers

I've been playing in the Color Room again! Here's palette #67.

Here's what I did. I edited this photo of my sister in black and white, but left her eye color.

Trust me. The colors look much better in real life! I made all the flowers myself. I thought I'd show you how to make the largest dictionary flower.

Here's what you'll need.
1. Retro flower die ( I used the Mother's Day cartridge for my Cricut).
2. Black soot distress ink
3. Chalks or Glimmer mist
4. Glue
5. Spray bottle with water
6. Pearl or rhinestone for the center

First I cut my flowers with my Cricut using paper I tore from a dictionary.
2 at 2 1/2", 2 at 2", 2 at 1 1/2", and 3 at 1".

Then I inked around them with my black soot distress ink.

Then I applied chalk. I wanted a more subtle look, but this would also look great sprayed with some glimmer mists.

Then spray each flower with your water bottle and shape your flowers to curve up. I like to use my heat gun.

Then just glue all your petals together starting with the largest one on the bottom.

Finally add your pearl.I made the smaller flowers using the same flower die. I just crunched and tightened the middle petals more to form a bud.

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday card!

I hope everyone's having a great weekend! I'm getting ready for a hike at one of my favorite trails, and then off to my brother's house to celebrate his birthday. I'm planning on getting lots of great photos today. The weather should be perfect too. Not too hot, and not too cold. Just the way I like it. Here's the card I made for my brother.

Distress Embossing Flowers

Hello! I finally finished this LO I've been working on for the July Monochrome challenge at Scrapbook.com. We had to use turquoise with silver as a twist. While working on this page I came up with these flowers that I wanted to share with you.

Here's my finished LO. It's a photo of me and my mom on Easter Eve getting things ready for the holiday.

First I want to thank Gabrielle Pollacco for the awesome tutorial on making these faux turquoise stones! I had to throw many stones away before getting the right look, so don't be intimidated to try. Here's a link to her tutorial. http://gabriellepollacco.blogspot.com/2010/01/tutorial-how-to-make-faux-polished.html
Now on to mine. Here's what you'll need to make these distress embossed flowers.
1. White and Black cardstock
2. Distress Embossing Ink
3. Distress Embossing Powder in Broken China
4. Silver Embossing Powder
5. Heat Gun
6.Turquoise Stickles
7. Bling or something for the center.
8. Crochet hook or small paintbrush to help shape the flowers

First cut out your flower dies. I used my Cricut Mother's Day Bouquet to cut these. For the large flower I cut 3 flowers from white cardstock at 3 1/2", 2 1/2", and 1 1/2". From the black cardstock I cut 3 at 1" for the center of my flower.

Then I pressed my white flowers into the Distress embossing ink, and used  Broken China Embossing powder on it. Don't forget to use your heat gun. You can get different looks depending on how heavy you want the embossing. For my large flower I went lightly so you can still see alot of the white cardstock. For the smaller flower I used more embossing powder.

Then shape your flower petals. I used a small paintbrush in the middle of the petals and curled them up. Then I used the crochet hook to curl the edges down. Then you pinch the petal together trying not to crease it. Your flowers should look like this.

I love the way they look just like this, but for my project I wanted alot of shimmer so I added stickles to the edges of the flowers in turquoise.

Now for the centers. Use your silver embossing powder on the black flowers. I used tweezers to hold down the centers while heating it, so it won't fly away.

Curl all your petals and glue together alternating your petals so they're not directly on top of eachother. Then add your bling.

Now glue your white embossed flowers together in the same fashion adding your center. There's so many looks you can get with this technique. I'd love to see your version.

Blog Hop Winners announced

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Pages in Time Interactive Blog Hop! There was alot of good entries, but the winner is Amarilys!!She wins this awesome prize!

And the random winner for commenting and following my blog is Genagirl! Please email me your address so I can send you some of my hand made embellies.

PIT Sketch of the week July 7th-13th

It's Thursday again! That means the new sketch is up at Pages in Time. Here it is.

Here's my take.

Sorry for the bad scan! I tried taking a photo and still couldn't get the colors right. The red felt star border is much brighter in real life. I did a lot of doodled stitches on here, and made the cupcake in a cone for my journaling.
I'll be announcing the winners later on today for the Pages in Time Blog Hop, and for following my blog. There's still time if you want to leave me a comment anywhere on here and follow me.

Playing in the Color Room

I recently discovered the Color Room and decided to play for the first time. Here's the color palette that I worked with.

I was drawn to these soothing colors, but especially the soft terra cotta color. When I saw this photo that my mother-in-law sent me of Morro Bay, I knew it was the perfect photo for this. The colors of the rock, ocean, and sky were already these colors. I used this as an example for the July Landscape challenge that I'm hosting at Pages in Time with masking as the twist. Come join me to play along and for a chance to win some of my hand made embellies.
http://pagesintimestoresite.ning.com/forum/topics/july-landscape-challenge

I made the large light blue flower and green flower. Here's a close-up of the blue one.