Susan's Garden Violet Tutorial

 I could sit all day and create pretty flowers with the new Susan's Gardens new flower dies by Sizzix.  Today I created a card with the pretty little "Violets" dies.  You also get the dies for creating a pansy in this set.  Below I have a tutorial to show you how easy it is to create these little flowers, but first I will tell you about this card.

I used the Marianne Design DS0916 embossing folder for the background.  It was lined with purple card stock then placed on a piece of white card stock embossed with the Crafter's Companion "Dots" embossing folder.  The base card is purple.  The Violets were created with the Susan's Gardens "Pansy/Violet" dies.  The violets were arranged over the Memory Box "Amira Flourish" die.  The sentiment is from the new JustRite "Grand Sentiments" stamp set.  A purple silk bow was created with the "Bow Easy".

Tutorial for creating Violets with the Susan Tierney-Cockburn dies and tool kit.

I found you can use two sheets of card stock (60#) at one time to die cut the pieces for these flowers.  

To give the petals a realistic look, I drew some lines up from the bottom end of each petal with a fine point marker then sponged on "Seedless Preserves" Distress Ink over the lines.  All the flower petals were shaped with the largest "loop" tool in the new  Sizzix Flower  Tool Kit.  I placed it on one end, not holding the petal with my fingers, and just pulled it along the length of the petal which caused it to curl, on the shaping mat which is included in the kit. You only need to to this once on the smallest petals, but I did do it twice on the largest petal to get a good shape.

Once all the petals are shaped, glue them to the (5-point) base.  As I have stated before, all the pieces you need to complete the flowers are included the each package of dies.  My favorite glue is the "Crafter's Pick" white glue because it dries quickly.  When I press the end of the petal onto the base, I like to take the end of a small stylus and press it down into the the base point and hold it a couple of seconds.  It stays secure that way.  I also want to mention that the piece of Teflon Craft sheet is included with the Tool Kit.

One of the things we haven't had with the old Tool Kit is great tools for working on the leaves.  The new Tool Kit has a special pad and the tool you can see in this picture, for drawing lines on your petals.  You draw the line down the center (length) of the leaf, then turn it over and draw the little veins out from the center.  You can shape the leaf on the embossing mat before drawing your lines.   Use the tweezers to slightly curl the edges of the leaves to give it them a realistic shape.  

Products used:

Susan's Gardens "Pansy/Violet" dies (658419)

Sizzix Flower Tool Kit by Susan Tierney

Marianne Design Embossing Folder (DS0916)

Crafter's Companion "Dots" Embossing Folder"

JustRite "Grand Sentiments" stamp set (CR-03885)

Memory Box "Amira Flourish" 98183

Silk Ribbon

Bow Easy

Crafter's Pick white glue

Viva Green Paper Pen #703

Seedless Preserves Distress Ink

Dusty Concord Distress Marker

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