Susan's Garden Gazania Flower Dies

I always have so much fun working with my Susan's Garden Flower dies.  I have been busy working on some new tutorials for you. If you are like me, you like to be creative and be able to use your flower dies for more than just one flower.  Today I thought I would show you how to create two totally different looking flowers using the Susan's Garden Gazania Flower Dies.   Would you believe these flowers were created with the same flower die set!  

 I love the way Susan has designed all the necessary pieces, in each Susan's Garden Flower die set, so you have everything needed to complete your flower.  Her dies are so easy to work with and we can not only create the flowers pictured on the package but many other different flower varieties -- sometimes within the same flower die set, or by using pieces from her other flower die sets.  I love to experiment and share my ideas with you.

 The yellow flower on the left was created using the instructions on the Susan's Garden "Gazania"  package.  If you go to this link, you can see the steps, Online, that Susan's uses to create the Gazania.  I created the burgundy flower on the right with the same dies (except the leaves) and came up with a totally different flower.  Below is the tutorial on how I created it.

TUTORIAL FOR A DIFFERENT FLOWER USING SUSAN'S GARDEN GAZANIA DIES

This is a close-up of the finished flower.

 I started out by die cutting eight of the flower petals.  For shaping, I used the largest loop tool in the Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit.  This tool kit was designed by Susan, and is like no other tool kit.  Everything you need to shape the flower petals, stamens and leaves are in this kit.  It is a kit I could never be without when I want to create realistic flowers!   When you want the petals on your flower to curl up, place the edge of the loop tool right on the outside edge of the petal and draw in down to the center.  The further down to the center you go, the tighter the curl will be on the petal. 

 Here are the eight petals all shaped and ready to assemble for my flower.  On the upper left corner I shaped the petals on that layer by shaping them on the back side - I wanted those petals to bend down (under) on the bottom layer.  You can see as you go across, and on the second row, how each set of petals are gradually curled tighter - all these petals were shaped on the top of the petal so they would curl in to create a tight flower.

 Starting from the bottom, glue each layer together, alternating the petals so there will be no gaps between them.  I use Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue. 

 As you glue each layer together, press down with the medium stylus to help adhere it - hold for just a few seconds to let it set.

 Once all the layers were glued together, the flower will look like this. This could be left like this for a pretty mum type flower, but I went a step further to create a flower with stamens.

 To create the stamens, I die cut the stamen pieces in the Gazania die set.  There are two sizes to work with.  I wanted the center (stamen) to be brown, so I used two shades of brown card stock -- two dark brown and two lighter brown of each size.  To get the "frilly" look, I cut each "leg" of the stamen down toward the center 3 times.  That makes them very fine but you could cut down just once or twice.  I like the look by cutting each one three times to make them very thin.

Once they are all "fringed", press down in the center with the smallest stylus in the Flower Tool Kit to "cup" them.

Alternate the colors and start gluing the larger pieces together.  I tried to alternate the "legs" so there were be no gaps.  Next you want to glue in the smaller pieces.  Press down in the center with the small stylus, on the shaping mat, to get them cupped up.

 Pull open the flower and glue in the stamen.  Once the stamen has dried, use the stylus to arrange the stamen to give it a full appearance.  You might ask why I curled all the petals up so tight in the beginning, it is because you can pull them out and shape them better than if you have to try and get the petals to curl up after you put in the stamen.  I'm not sure what kind of flower this is, but it will be beautiful on a place card at Thanksgiving or on a card. 

What do you think - do you like it?  I hope you  will give this a try.  It is so much fun to see plain card stock turn into a beautiful flower.  There is never a right or wrong when you create flowers because they are all slightly different.  I hope some of my tips, along with Susan's instructions, help you create many beautiful flowers.  I love to read your comments.

I will be back tomorrow with some new poinsettias I created and show you how I made a die cut pine branch look more realistic.  Hope you'll be back.

Here are the links at Ellen Hutson, LLC for the products I used:

Susan's Garden, Gazania Flower Dies

Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit

Crafter's Pick Ultimate Glue

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