Messy! Making Flowers...

I have had such fun, making a whole lot of mess *lol* It started with this layout I've been planning (I'll be posting that later tomorrow) - I guess I was just being fussy with the flowers I wanted to use. I like to make my own flowers - I know it takes time and effort, but I feel like a layout is REALLY mine if I tried to craft as much of what's included on the layout as I possibly can. Anyways... the colour palette was purple - dark, aubergine purple. These flowers also had to be antique looking, sort of dusty and old, and I knew I had nothing with that sort of colour in my scraps bag that I could use to make paper flowers, but I did have some bridal rose petals that I had bought for 99p a while ago (one of those "I might use this one day" purchases). They were a good base colour - browns and creams - and with a little bit of pizzazz, I knew they'd be perfect. At a craft fair I had attented, I had bought a Shimmerz Spritz in 'Purple Passion' that I thought would make the petals into what I needed them to be. The colour was too weak, but I then had a sudden brainwave (those don't happen too often - the shock nearly floored me!) and remembered that I had some Moon Glow's Starburst Stains left over from my card making days. No purples, but two parts 'Frosted Purple Iris' (which is actually bright blue) to one part 'Poinsettia Red Gold' gave me a gorgeous colour! Two days later, and my fingers are still purple from the inks - but part of crafting is making messes and having fun with it all (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!). After a quick drying with the heat gun, the petals were almost perfect - but not quite. More purple! Felt tips seemed a pretty good idea - well, felt tips scribbled onto the petals and then sloshed a bit with a water pen to blend it all a bit. Still, my trusty pink silicone baking mat (Poundland - bargain!) stood up to the ink better than my fingers and nails (will they ever recover?!) and another blast from the heat gun and I was really happy with the result. I decided that sewing the petals together would be best as hot glue can sometimes become a bit bulky. I pleated each petal, stitched once to hold the pleat in place and then added another petal - keeping the same needle and thread, and sewing a pleat first before sewing the petal with one stitch into place. Using five or six petals, I got a nice effect - and then I used a hot glue gun to stick each petal next to it's neighbouring one to make a nice shape. I chose grey accents (half pearls, 5p for about a hundred) as I thought this might keep the 'antiqued' feel going.

Stash diving (my favourite pasttime!) found some little purple paper roses that sat perfectly in the centre of some of the flowers and these, as well as the half pearls, were stuck on with the hot glue gun. I'm really happy with the results - and I can't wait to blog the layout I used them in as it's one of my favourites so far!