Count Your Life by Smiles PLUS a Tutorial

This weekend I received some more new products. One of them was a BEAUTIFUL paper pad by Kaiser Craft called "The Lake House".  Oh my gosh -- I love every sheet in this new paper pad.  I wanted to duplicate the little roses and stem in the design paper so created some pink roses that are different from any I have previous made. I love them so much I thought I should do a tutorial on how I created them.  First I want to tell you that I used the beautiful frame from the new Sizzix "Textured Impressions" embossing folder to frame my sentiment.  It was embossed on ivory card stock, cut out with scissors, and lightly sponged with "Tea Dye" Distress Ink.  The butterflies are one of the Cheery Lynn "Mini Butterflies" and matching "Angel Wing"  The butterfly was die cut using ivory card stock and the angle wing was die cut using light pink card stock, then they were glued together.  Before gluing them, I lightly sponged the ivory butterfly with "Tea Dye" Distress Ink.    The sentiment is from the new JustRite "Botanical Medallions and Banners" stamp set.   In case you can't read the sentiment, it says "Count Your Life by Smiles not tears.  Count Your Age by Friends not years".   The green leafy flourish is the Marianne Design "Forest Branch".  A few Kaiser Craft maroon pearls were added to the green branch to match the stems in the design paper and three pearls added under the sentiment.  Below is the tutorial on how I created the roses.

TUTORIAL FOR CREATING SHADED ROSES

I used the Spellbinders "Spiral Blossom One" die for these roses, but you can accomplish the same look using any spiral blossom die.  In the picture above, there are two of these die cuts to show the back and the front after they were sponged.  I used "Spun Sugar" Distress Ink and sponged the first two petals on the top, of both front and back,  because I wanted the center of the rose to be very pink.  I wanted the tips of the rest of the petals to be white so only sponged down along the bottom of each petal on the front only of the rest of the petals.   

Next I used a fine mister to dampen the die cut.  This not only helps spread out the sponged color (so it doesn't look so "sponged on"), but it also softens the card stock so you can add "texture" to the petals.   Let it sit for a couple of minutes then blot off any excess water.  Next "accordion fold" or "scrunch" the petals  from the small end of the petals all the way down to the center.  You don't need to fuss about how it looks because you are just getting a ruffled look.  Once it is all "scrunched" use your heat gun to dry it so it will hold that shape.

Next I used the round nose pliers to start rolling and shaping the rose.  I like using these pliers because they don't create any creases and they are the perfect width for the rolled rose.  You can make it very tight or wind it loosely like I did here for the perfect shaped rose.  When you get it all rolled, cover that round center at the end, which will be the bottom of the rose and hold it all together, with glue.  I like using "Crafter's Pick" glue for this because it is a thick white glue that is very strong.  

Here are the roses I created using the two "Spiral Blossom One" die cuts.  I hope this tutorial gives you some additional ideas on ways to create beautiful roses.

Spellbinders "Spiral Blossom One" S4-351

Sizzix "Textured Impressions" embossing folder (657667)

Kaiser Craft "The Lake House" 6 1/2" paper Pad

Cheery Lynn "Mini Butterflies" (DL 112)

Cheery Lynn Mini Butterflies Angel Wings (DL 112A)

Marianne "Forest Branch" (LR0150)

Distress Ink "Tea Dye" and "Spun Sugar"

Round Nose Pliers

Crafter's Pick "The Ultimate" white glue

Kaiser Craft Pearls

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