Sweet William Tutorial

I think most of you enjoy when I show you how I create my flowers so today I am going to show you how I created the large white flower above the Marianne Design "Anji Corner" (LR0200).    The dies I used for the large white flower, is the Cheery Lynn "Sweet Williams" (D 137) dies.

I have been working on creating flowers with this die for several days and took a picture of all the supplies I used.  The paper used is the flower card stock Joan and I like to use for flowers because it is a perfect weight for shaping.  What I found out is that this card stock is thin enough to allow you to use two layers at a time so die cutting can go much quicker.  The other supplies used are a white terry cloth, an extra fine mist "Spritzer".  This one is made by Judi Kins.  The Cheery Lynn Sweet Williams dies, and tools from the Flower Tool Kit along with the black shaping mat.  If you like to create lovely shaped flowers, and don't have the Flower Tool Kit from Joan's Gardens, I highly recommend it. This tool kit has everything you need for shaping your flowers in one little kit.   I use these tools every day. I am also working on the Non-Stick Craft Sheet.

After die cutting a lot of Sweet William flowers, I misted each side to get them a little damp.  This helps to shape the petals easier.  I misted about 10 at a time, otherwise they might dry out before you start working on them.  Use the self-closing tweezers in the kit to "crinkle" each petal.  Place the tweezers right in the center and push the sides in toward the tweezers.  Kind of twist around the tweezers to get a good crease.  Each petal will look slightly different after creasing.  You can see the difference in the petals after creasing in the picture on the right.  This is a quick and easy way to get the dimension you want for a life like flower.  You can stack as many layers as you want, depending on the fullness you want to achieve.  Before stacking, be sure to put each layer on the shaping mat and press down in the center to "cup" it.  The more you press down, the more "cupped" it will become.  For the very center, you can add glue all around the inside (top) of the flower and press it together, holding until dry.  This will create your closed center.  Add glue to the center of your stacked flower and press down the closed center you just created.  I think this flower could look like a mum, a carnation or maybe a bachelor button, depending on the color of card stock you use.  It is so fun to create life like flowers with a few flat petals.  

Now for everything else I used to design this card.  I used the Marianne "Anji Corner" (LR0200) under the flower.  This is a 5.5" square card.  I placed the corner with the wide edge about an inch from the bottom of the card and ran it through the die cutting machine, then ran it through again to emboss it.  I had two pieces of card stock stacked to do this.    The reason was because I wanted to use an embossing folder to emboss the top portion of this card.  I cut off the very bottom of this piece right below the Anji  Corner and used  the Marianne (DS0909) embossing folder on that top portion.  I can use that cut off corner for something else later.  Since I die cut the two pieces together, now I can attach the embossed portion back in perfect position around the die cut "corner".  Where is was cut off does not show, because it is covered with the small flowers.  

Behind the large white flower, I die cut a Marianne (CR1201) doily, then die cut a Spellbinders (purple) Scalloped Circle to place in the center of the doily.  For a "frilly" look, I added the Memory Box "Quinn Flourish" (98267) over the purple circle.  The flower was glued in the center.  Along the bottom I created two shades of roses using the Cheery Lynn "Medium Rose" (B154).  The leaves under these roses were die cut using the smaller Marianne leaves (LR0156).  To add a little fullness, I added some small lavender flowers that were punched with the  Punch Bunch "Super Giant Mega Lilacs/Daphne" punch.  In the center of these little flowers I added lavender "Liquid Pearls" by Ranger. Two lavender Cheery Lynn "Mini Butterflies" (DL112) were added.  A few Kaiser Craft white pearls were added to complete the card. 

Do you enjoy me going through all these detailed instructions to help you learn how to create dimensional flowers?  I hate to bore you with very long blog posts, but if these instructions are helpful to you, I will continue doing these little tutorials. 

Tomorrow I will be back with a card designed with the new Heartfelt Creations Release.

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