Making Hand Cut Paper Flowers

Making hand cut paper flowers isn't new, but I thought I would share with you some of the flowers I have made lately.

I absolutely love how this Sympathy card turned out. The flowers are meant to be Florida Clematis. The flowers were made using good quality copy paper for the petals and printed paper from the retired paper pack Paper Garden.
Check out the video below to see how I made these flowers. For the flower centers please refer to my video tutorial 'Button Carnations' and for the leaves check out my picture tutorial 'Paper Roses'.

Paper sizes for flowers -

Large clematis - 1 - 3" x 3" white copy paper
1 - 1" x 6" designer paper for center

Small clematis - 1 - 2" x 2" white copy paper
1 - 5/8" x 6" designer paper for center



Supplies - All CTMH except where noted - card size is 7" x 5"
Paper - Good quality white copy paper, White Daisy, Ponderosa Pine and Gypsy cardstock, Designer paper - Paper Garden (retired)
Stamps - Card Chatter - Sympathy
Ink - Black, Hydrangea (retired), Grey Wool, Ponderosa Pine, C1 - Copic Marker
Accessories - black brads
Other - Embossing Folder (Provo-Craft), embossing stylus

Here is another 6 petalled flower I made using paper from the paper pack Magnifique

Paper sizes for Magnifique flower -

1 - 2" x 2" multi print
1 - 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" - peacock feather print
1 - 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" - peacock feather print



Eight Petalled Paper Flowers

Below I have another video tutorial for creating 8 petalled hand cut flowers.

Paper Sizes for pink flower -

2 - 2" x 2"
2 - 1 3/4" x 1 3/4"
2 - 1 1/2" x 1 1/2"

Paper sizes for 'Wings' flower -

Large - 1 - 2" x 2" - black print (Wings)
1 - 2" x 2" - pink print (Unforgettable - retired)
1 - 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" - black print (Wings)

Small - 1 - 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" - black print
1 - 1" x 1" - pink print
1 - 1" x 1" - black print

Paper sizes for Black Eyed Susans -

Large - 2 - 3" x 3" - sunflower print - (Magic Moments - retired)
1 - 1" x 9" - cocoa print - (Magic Moments - retired)for center

Small - 2 - 2" x 2" - sunflower print - (Magic Moments - retired)
1 - 5/8" x 6" - cocoa print - (Magic Moments - retired)for center
(can use 3/4" x 6" for center)



I hope you enjoyed these video tutorials. By altering the shape of the petals, the number of layers, the papers for each layer and what you choose for the flower centers you can create an endless variety of flowers. Try glitter, heat embossing etc. for even more variety.

Have fun! I would love to see what you create!

CTMH July Campaign - Bang For Your Buck

We are entering the final month for the current Spring/Summer 2011 Idea Book. Our new Fall/Winter 2011 Idea Book will be available August first. So this is your last chance to order some of your favourite paper packs and accessories. The following Level 2 paper packs will carry forward to the new Idea Book, all other Level 2 paper packs and co-ordinating accessories will retire.

- Sophia
- Mayberry
- Lucky
- Fanfare

When you place your order for your favourite products this month take advantage of our July special

Spend $50 on product from the Spring/Summer 2011 Idea Book and you can purchase one of the following items for only $1

Eligible $1 Bonus Items:
• Creative Basics® Mistletoe Collection (original retail: $9.95)
• Creative Basics® Animal Cookies Collection (original retail: $9.95)
• My Originals® Bits & Pieces Card Kit (original retail: $14.50)
• My Originals® It’s Your Day Card Kit (original retail: $14.50)
• My Originals® Around the Holidays Card Kit (original retail: $16.50)

Click here for more details

Birthday Card - Heart 2 Heart Bingo Challenge

I managed to squeeze in a few hours in my craft room yesterday, the first time in far too long. I created a birthday card for the Heart 2 Heart challenge this week, as well as for the current Clean & Simple sketch using the colours at Color Throwdown.

This weeks Heart to Heart challenge is to create a project using products as outlined in the Bingo card below. Use three items found in a row, I chose Flowers / Border Punch / Buttons. The 8 petalled flowers are hand made using paper from the Wings collection and Unforgettable (retired). No punches were used to make the flowers (one was used for the leaves).

Here is the sketch from Clean & Simple :

and here is the color challenge from Color Throwdown, I used CTMH colours - Baby Pink, Vineyard Berry, Black and Juniper:

Supplies - All CTMH except where noted, card size is 5" x 7"

Paper - Designer Paper - Wings, Cherry-O, Unforgettable, Juniper, Black and Vineyard Berry cardstock
Stamp Set - Birthday Script (B1208)
Ink - Black, Juniper
Accessories - Buttons - Pink Assortment, Opaques - licorice
Other - Leaf punch - Martha Stewart, Border punch - EK Success

Life - "1" Creativity - "0"

Hi everyone, I have had a few people express concerns that I hadn't posted in a while so I thought I should leave a quick note. All is well, however, computer problems, having to be out of town for a while and family obligations have kept me out of my craft room for almost 3 weeks (yikes!). I hope to start creating and posting again soon.

Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weather. Have a great day!

Blog Candy Winner

Congratulations to Sara I. you are the winner of my very first blog candy. Sara, please email me with your mailing address so I that I can send your goodies off to you.

I want to thank everyone that participated and for all of your wonderful comments. I hope you continue to check back with me from time to time to say hello!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Heart 2 Heart - Share a Technique - Button Carnations From Scraps

This week's Heart 2 Heart challenge is to share your favourite technique in a project. If you have been following my blog you know that I am pretty much into flowers of all kinds, so it should come as no surprise that the technique I want to share with you today is a new flower that I have been working on. This flower reminds me of little button carnations and they are so simple to make. Please watch the video below for instructions. (The quality of my video isn't the greatest this time - I don't think my camera liked the grid pattern on my craft mat and was changing focus quite a bit, but you should be able to follow it well enough).

This card is also going into the Play Date Cafe challenge #81 (see below)

Supplies - All supplies are CTMH - card size is 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"
Paper - Hooligans patterned paper, White Daisy, Bamboo, Pear and Hydrangea(retired) cardstock
Stamps - Happy Birthday, Treasure Life
Ink - Bamboo, Pear, Hydrangea (retired)
Accessories - Sweet Leaf 1" ribbon
Other - Border Punch and Leaf Punch (Martha Stewart), Embossing Folder (Provo Craft), Spellbinders Labels Two

BLOG CANDY - after you watch the video be sure to check out my previous post 'Celebration Blog Candy' for your chance to win!

Celebration Blog Candy!

Happy Monday everyone! I reached 100 Followers over the weekend and thought it would be a good time to offer up some blog candy to celebrate. It has been almost 5 months since I started my blog and I have to say that I am enjoying it very much. I love sharing ideas, techniques and my art with you and I especially love to hear from you.

What has kept me somewhat on track this year, was the setting of some scrapbooking goals for myself back in January. I wanted to 1. learn some ribbon flower techniques, 2. work on my colouring with Copics, and 3. play along with the Mojo Monday sketch challenge each week. I have accomplished my first goal, haven't done as much of #2 as I would like and have participated regularly in Mojo Monday (every week was a bit ambitious for me).

Blog Candy - Moon Doggie Level 2 Paper Pack, Dazzling Die Cuts - Spring Harmony, Cherish the Moment (D1421) stamp set, Mix & Mingle Album, Prima flowers, Pearl Opaques and Pebeo Dimensional Paint

So, for a chance to win the products pictured above, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post before midnight EST on Friday May 20th. In your comment let me know what scrapbooking goal you might set for yourself. It could be learning a new technique, completing a certain number of pages etc. etc. You don't have to be a Follower to participate.

I will use a random number generator to select the winner and will post the name on Saturday, May 21st. Good Luck and thanks for stopping by.

(Open to residents of Canada and US only)

First Heart 2 Heart Challenge - All Buttoned Up

I have been meaning to try a Heart 2 Heart challenge for some time now. If you haven't heard of this challenge blog check it out here. This challenge blog is all about Close To My Heart products, even if you don't participate it is a great spot to get ideas for creating wonderful projects with Close To My Heart supplies.

This weeks challenge is to create a project using some of CTMH's great buttons. I decided to go with a simple card today using the paper pack 'Magnifique'. This paper pack will retire at the end of July, so if you haven't ordered it yet, or need more to complete a project be sure to add it to your wish list.

This card was inspired by a sketch by Becky Fleck at Page Maps. Initially I tried cutting out the diamond shapes from a 1" strip of paper and cutting both ends at an angle. This produced diamonds, but not very uniform ones. So I cut out a diamond from one of the papers from the 'Lucky' paper pack and used it to trace a template from cardstock - which seemed to work much better. I drew a line in pencil, 1" from the top of the Colonial White cardstock to help me lay down the first three diamonds correctly. Once those were down, the rest just fit in like puzzle pieces.

Supplies - all products CTMH - Card size is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Paper - Magnifique, Colonial White and Pacifica cardstock
Stamps - Thank You
Ink - Pacifica
Accessories - Buttons - Blue collection, hemp
Other - embossing tool, glue dots

Mojo Monday #189 - Friend Card w Ribbon Flower

Happy Mother's Day to all. I didn't think that I would get a chance to finish and post this card today. I have a very dear friend who is going through a difficult time and I wanted to make a special card for her. I was happy to be able to combine it with this week's Mojo Monday sketch which is also a contest week. The paper I used - 'Wings' - is one of my favourites from Close To My Heart's current catalogue. I have also been playing with different colours of ribbon to make some more multi-petalled ribbon flowers. You can find instructions here on how to make them.

Supplies - All supplies are CTMH except where noted. Card size is 5" x 7"
Paper - Wings, Black and Colonial White cardstock
Stamp - Find Your Style
Ink - Black, Garden Green
Accessories - Cranberry Waxy Flax, Pretty Pins (retired), Pearl Opaques, Designer Shimmer brad, 3/8" black satin ribbon (fabric store, 1" Burgandy satin ribbon (fabric store), black eyelets (unknown)
Other - Martha Stewart border punch, Spellbinders Labels 10, needle, thread, glue gun

National Scrapbooking Month Special Kit

To celebrate National Scrapbooking Month, CTMH has created a beautiful scrapbooking kit that you can purchase with a qualifying order. Place a minimum order of $55 CAN for any Close To My Heart products*, and you can grab an exclusive You & Me scrapbooking kit for just $16.50—that’s more than half off the retail value of the kit! Woo-hoo! The kit features two fully embellished layouts, each with their own unique personality, a D-size stamp set, and an instruction guide to step you through the creation process.

Watch the video below for details on this great kit:




Call or email me before the end of May to place your order.