Susan's Garden Lily Tutorial

 I had a request to do a tutorial creating Lilies using the Susan's Garden Lily dies. This is a six petal flower with a beautiful stamen.  I suggest you watch Susan Tierney-Cockburn's  Lily video at this link for step-by-step instruction.  Below I have taken pictures for you, as I was working on my flowers.

 Lilies come in many different colors.  For this tutorial I have created pink lilies.

 All the dies, to complete this flower, comes in the Susan's Garden Lily Seed packet.

 I like to die cut most of my flowers using white card stock so I can color them to get pretty, soft colors.  We are told we should use odd numbers when designing and I am able to layer three pieces of #80 card stock over the dies to die cut three sets at one time.

I used the leaf tool in the Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit to create lines on each petal.  There is a long line from top to bottom, which is drawn on the back of the petal, then I turned it over and drew some short lines from the base of the petal, as shown in the picture above.

For this pink lily, I wanted to add some coloring to make it look realistic.  I started by using Susan's Garden, Bright Pink Pastel at the base of each petal.

 I love working with Pan Pastels because they blend together so well for a very realistic look.  This bright pink was a little too bright, so I used the light pink and blended it all over the bright pink to soften it.  The light pink was applied over the entire petal.

 Next I wanted to add just a touch of yellow at the base, so I added the bright yellow, blending it in well.

In this picture you can see the difference it made by adding a little yellow to the base.  I then blended in the yellow better by going over it with the light pink Pan Pastel again.  All this blending created a very realistic looking petal.  (I know, sometimes I take extra steps when working on my flowers, but in the end I think it is well worth it.  It only takes a couple of seconds of extra work to create something very realistic!  Try blending your Pan Pastels, I'm sure you will love the effect.)

 A lot of lilies have "freckles".  I used a magenta fine tip marker to add small freckles at the base of each petal.  The middle row does not have freckles. 

 There are three leaf dies in the package.  Add some character to your leaves, as shown on the left side, by shaping them with the tools in the Flower Tool Kit.  Draw a line down the back side then use the small loop tool to give them some "curl".

 One of the tips Susan gives us, is to shape the calyx (base) with the medium stylus to cup it.  The reason you do this is to have a nice "fluffy"  (dimensional) flower, which looks much better than a flat flower.  She tells us to hold the center of the calyx down with the point of the leaf tool and start adding the flower petals.  You gently wiggle the petal on the point making sure not to press it flat.  This little tip does make a big difference in having a well shaped flower.

 To assemble your flower, first add three petals, then go back and add the other three petals.  The gives more dimension to your flower.

For the stamen, I cut each point in half down to the base, then rolled it.  The tips were dipped in Susan's Garden Pink Pollen.  As soon as the six petals were glued to the calyx, I placed them in the Susan's Garden Flower Trays to dry.  This helps keep the petals pushed up while the flower is drying.  You receive 5 trays, each holding 4 flowers so you can work on a number of flowers at the same time.  If you don't place the wet (glued) flowers in the cups, the petals seems to slowly start falling down, which will leave you with a flatter flower. Once the flowers are dry, add the leaves and you are ready to decorate your card or project.

 I love how realistic Susan's Garden flowers look.

You can create these gorgeous flowers too.   I hope this tutorial gives you inspiration to create your lilies.

You can purchase all your Susan's Garden flower dies and products from Ellen Hutson, LLC.

Here are direct links to products I used:

Susan's Garden, Lily Dies
Susan's Garden, Flower Tool Kit
Susan's Garden, Flower Trays
Susan's Garden, Pan Pastels 
PanPastel Sofft Tools
Susan's Garden, Pollen
Ultimate Glue

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Susan's Garden Lily - My Tutorial

I have wanted to create very realistic lilies and now we can do that with the new Sizzix "Susan's Garden" flower dies.  There are instructions in each package of flower dies by Susan to help you, but I thought I would show you my way of creating these gorgeous lilies.  Before I do that, I will tell you about the products I used on this card:

The background was embossed with the eBosser "Dotted Elegance" embossing folder.  The oval on top was embossed with the Nellie Snellen  "Oval Frame 1" and cut out with scissors.  The sentiments are from the new JustRite "Grand Sentiments" stamp set.  The tiny leaves behind the lilies were die cut using the Impression Obsession leafy branch die.   

When you purchase one of the Susan's Garden flower die sets, you receive all the pieces needed to complete the entire flower.  I used "Dried Marigold" Distress Ink, the Copic "Dark Red" marker, and Russet Red Flower Soft to create the lilies.  The important item in shaping the flowers is the new Sizzix Flower Tool Kit.  I used 60# card stock to create the flowers.

My tutorial for creating the Susan's Garden Lily.

Here is a picture of most the items I used to create two lilies.  

Start by  adding color to the base of each petal, add dots with the Copic marker, then use one of the larger stylus in the Flower tool kit to shape the petals.  Rub the stylus around in circles to loosen the fibers in the card stock and this helps to "cup" the petal for a realistic look.

Next use the self-closing tweezers, that come in the Flower Tool Kit, to pinch the base of each petal.  Place the tweezers right in the center, as shown, then use your fingers to push the edges up to the tweezers.

In this picture, you can see the difference in the petal (on the bottom left) that has not been shaped with the tweezers, and the rest of the petals.  These new tweezers have a very long, fine point and work really great for this step.

To create the stamens, I sponged the Dried Marigold Distress Ink on the bottom of the stamen, then used the Dark Red Copic marker to color the ends of each stamen, on both sides.  Susan doesn't do this in her instructions, but I used the scissors in the Flower Tool Kit and cut down the center of each die cut stamen to create a "thinner" stamen.  I think the stamen looks more realistic and you get double the stamens.  Add a little glue to one end of the stamen, then roll it using the self-closing tweezers.  Hold your fingers on the edge a few seconds to let the glue attach, then pull out the tweezers. Wipe off any glue stuck to the tweezers with a baby wipe.  Susan is coming out with some special Woodland Powders that can be used on stamens, but it will not be out for a while, so I used some Russet Red Flower Soft to create the "fuzzy" ends of each stamen.  Just add a tiny dot of glue to front and back of the tip of each stamen and dip it in the Flower Soft.  The Flower Soft pieces are kind of large, so after the glue was dry, I used the little scissors to snip off some of the extra "fuzz".  Set the stamen aside to dry.

To assemble the flower, use the Teflon Craft Mat that comes in the kit to work on.  Place a small amount of the "Crafter's Pick" glue on one corner, then dip the base of the petal in the glue and attach it to the green (6-point) base.  Glue every other point first, then go back and add the other three petals.  This gives you a nice layered look.  As you glue each petal down, press the end down into the base with the end of the smallest stylus for a couple of second to get it to hold to the base.  This helps prevent those petals from slipping around while working on it.  

This picture shows the flower once all six petals have been attached to the base.

 Once you get all the petals glued to the base, place the flower in the "Plastic Flower Pots" also a Sizzix Accessory created by Susan.  This will help the flowers to stay well shaped (cupped up), until they dry.  Sometimes the flowers tend to flatten out when left to dry without any support.  There are 5 of these trays to a package and are very inexpensive.  Add a lot of glue to the end of the stamen and stick it down in the center of the flower.  You might have to check it a couple of times, while it is drying, to make sure that it stays sitting straight up.  You can pull the stamens further apart (shape them)  once they are dried in the center of the flower.

While the flowers are drying, you can work on the leaves, which are included with this set.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but if you look at the second picture above in the tutorial, you will see the tools from the tool kit.  To shape these leaves, I first used that "loop" tool to draw down the length of the leaf - do not hold the leaf with your fingers. This will shape or slightly cup the leaf. You will do this on the soft shaping mat.  Next place the little green hard mat on the soft mat, then use the tool with the point on it - shown in the above picture.

Working on the backside of the leaf, draw a line down the center of the length of the leaf with the point of this tool facing up, but you are drawing with the very tip.  It leaves a very nice line.  If you were working on leaves that needed veins down the side, you would turn the leaf over and draw those lines on the front coming out from this center line.  The lily leaf does not need the lines on the front.

Once the flower is dry, you can add the leaves to the backside.  In this picture, the Flower Soft has not been trimmed down yet.  

Here is another picture of the finished flowers on the card.

When you have all the needed flower pieces and tools, it is very, very easy to create beautiful flowers.  These flowers are very dimensional and look gorgeous on box tops, frames, and even cards.  You can purchase Plastic Flower Domes, also inspired by Susan Tierney-Cockburn that will cover and protect your shaped flowers.

I hope this tutorial gives you some additional information to help you create your beautiful paper flower garden.  I would love to read your comments to let me know if my tutorials help you.   

Products used:

Susan's Garden "Lily" (658275)

Sizzix, Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit (658437)

60# card stock

Sizzix Plastic Flower Pots, 5 pack (658435)

Crafter's Pick Glue

eBosser "Dotted Elegance" embossing folder

Nellie Snellen "Oval Frame 1" HSF004

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

Dried Marigold Distress Ink

R89 Dark Red Copic Marker

Impression Obsession "Leafy Branch" (DIE-055-N)

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