Spirea Tutorial

Hello Paper Gardeners.  Today I wanted to create an arrangement using Susan's Spirea die set.  I usually am not very happy with my spirea because it appears kind of flat.  I wanted to figure out a way to make a nice full branch.  I have a ton of small styrofoam balls, that I usually use to create berries, and wondered if I could glue them to the spirea stem to help give them fullness.  So I decided to experiment.

First I will tell you about this card.  It is a 6x6 inch card.  I used a piece of design paper from my stash for the background.  For texture, I used the Spellbinders Lisette Oval Shadowbox Frame (S5-391).  I laid all the dies on a piece of dark gray cardstock and ran through my Platinum die cut machine.  The ovals were glued to the center of the card.

Using all Susan's Garden die sets, the rose, daisies, spirea, berry branch, and ferns were die cut.  The pieces were die cut using Susan's Specialty Cardstock, colored, and shaped using Susan's Flower Tool Kit.  Kids Choice Glue was used to assemble.  One of Susan's ladybugs was die cut, colored and added to one of the leaves.  A butterfly from my stash was also added.

SPIREA TUTORIAL

This a picture showing the Spirea branch covered with styrofoam balls, and the branch on the right shows the finished branch.  Susan's Garden Spirea die set was used.

l.  Item needed are some styrofoam balls in a ziplock bag.  I put mine in a small tray to try and catch any that fall out.  You need a thick glue such as Kids Choice Glue, something to help spread the glue on the branch - I am using one of the Silli Pod tools, and two die cut spirea branches that are glued together.  

2.  Spread the glue over all three stems of the spirea, using the tool to be sure the flower portion of the stem is all covered with glue.  

3.  Place the stem inside the bag with the styrofoam balls and press it down so the styrofoam ball adhere to it.  If the glue is thick, when you press the balls down, they will adhere to the glue.  

4.  Lay the stem over, face down,  on your work mat and add glue to the other side of the stem and repeat step 3.  Add glue to the sides with the tool and place styrofoam balls on the sides so the stem is fully covered.  Allow to dry.  Clean up the little styrofoam balls that are floating everywhere.  😁

 

5.  There are two sizes of little flowers for the spirea -- They have been shaped before getting to this point. I have them separated in two separate little trays.  For this step you need a thinner glue such as Bearly Art Glue.  Place a dab on the non-stick mat.  Pick up the little flowers with the tweezers and lightly dip just the center bottom of the little flower in the glue, and place on the stem that is covered with styrofoam balls.  Cover both sides with the little flowers, including the sides, to create a nice full stem.  

 

Again, here is a picture showing the stem covered with styrofoam balls and on the right the finished stem.  Once the stem is dry, I used a light green pen to add a dot in the center of each little flower.

I know this is an extra step adding the styrofoam balls, but I like the results.