More Flowers

Well, I'm just getting over some sort of bug - me, not the computer *lol* - and after being laid up for twenty-four hours, I'm sat back in the dining room crafting again. I'm making another birdcage that basically has a back to it, is reinforced with semi-circles inside, and will be used on my next layout with a butterfly tucked inside (I hope!).

Now for the flowers:
I made these using tissue paper I had leftover from a shoe delivery (wedding shoes...yay!!! No, not MY wedding, but my middle daughters' wedding day *lol*). I don't know what it is about tissue paper, exactly... but I love it – crinkly soft and waiting to be moulded into anything my imagination comes up with – well, that's if Hubby doesn't get hold of it first for model aeroplane wings or just the bin. Anyways... I started off punching several layers of the tissue paper with an old punch I have that's just about ready for the scrapheap (1) – and I mean the rubbish bin by that phrase, not anything to do with scrapbooking :). Several times the punch just jammed, and I had to stand on the darn thing just to punch a few circles! It doesn't really matter if the edges are a bit rough though – and hand cutting them would have probably been a lot easier (and quicker too)! After cutting/punching out the circles, I laid them out one layer deep on a silicon baking mat, allowing five circles for each flower and a couple extra just in case of mistakes. I spritzed the circles with water – please don't be silly and forget that you're working near a computer when spraying water around willy-nilly (just like I did). Next is the fun part... protect the work surface around the area you're working on – this could get seriously messy! I splattered and daubed, misted and spritzed, sprayed and covered each circle with anything I thought would look pretty – Glimmer Mist, MoonGlow, Shimmer Spritz – and then set Razzer onto them. Razzer is my heat gun (2). You only need to dry them to the point where the inks are looking dry – hopefully the actual tissue will still be a little damp, if not then spray them lightly with water.. Pick up a damp circle and fold it in half – inky patterned side outward facing. Fold in half again so you have a quarter-circle 'pie-piece'. Take the curved outer edge and fold it up – just crease it together so as you're making a petal shape, and then hold this part with tweezers and dry each petal with a Razzer (or any other heat tool of any particular name you have handy). The petals needed to be damp because as they are quickly dried with the heat gun, the paper becomes a little brittle, and will hold the shape really well when it's dry (3). Put the finished petals to one side and punch out small shapes – either circles or flower shapes are best – to glue your petals onto (4). I've tried using a large flower shape to give an extra dimension to the finished bloom, but it just doesn't look right if you're using a lot of glimmer sort of inks – it does look good if you're using plainer papers though, and if you are using large flower shapes for a base, it's best to use double-sided papers that are very thin. Back to the petals and punched out shape for the base... I used a Glimmer Mist on the punched flower bases, but it's not really necessary. Glue five petals onto the base shape in a flower shape (obviously!) and allow to dry (5). Pierce through the centre with a piercing tool, and push through a brad for the flower centre. I then push the finished flower into the palm of my hand or onto my foam mat, so that it has a little curve to it – a nice shape. This is why, when using a large flower shaped base, it's best to use double sided papers, as the bottom will show a little – especially if you curl up the edges a bit which looks nice. I have found that these flowers are quite robust – they hold their shape well, and aren't flimsy at all.

Well, that's it... Now I guess I should try and think up a layout on which I can use the birdcage and flowers – It could be a long day *lol*

Happy Crafting!

By the way, if you hadn't guessed by now, I am totally fed up with Blogger and the new way to compose posts - HTML phobics like myself can't compose a post properly with pictures any longer. Bah!