Christina's Flower Tutorial

I'm sorry that this didn't get posted yesterday, but I think it's a great way to end the week and an even better way to start the weekend!  You'll definitely want to grab the supplies that Christina listed and make a few of these!

Here we go!  Take a look at what we'll be learning about today!  I just love these flowers!

And here's Christina!

So I'm sure by now you've all seen that there are so many ways to create a huge variety of paper flowers. Below, I will explain how to make my most favorite kind, which I love because it is three-dimensional and has a very real look to it! I called them 3-D Tattered Heart Flowers!

First, you need to cut out a bunch of hearts in 4 sizes. They can be all the same paper or a combination of different ones, but they should be double-sided cardstock to get the best looking results. I used paper from the Authentique "Uncommon" line. I cut 3 small, 4 medium, 5 large, and 6 extra-large hearts for each flower. Of course you can do it with a little less or more, but this amount gives a nice fullness without needing a longer brad which may be difficult to find. For those of you with a cricut, it is probably easy to get these all cut out quickly. I don't have one, but luckily I had an old Sizzix die that had 4 sizes on it.

Next, hole punch them all at the bottom and stack them all in size order, the smallest ones on top. Put a brad through the entire stack, which is pretty thick, so make sure you don't use one of the shorter brads.

Spread out all the hearts like a fan all the way around the brad. At this point, it already looks like a cute flower that can be used on a variety of projects! You can even curl each of the "petals" backwards with a pencil to give it dimension and use it that way. But if you want to create the tattered flowers I made, read on!

Spray the flower with water (a mini-mister is great for this!). This makes the cardstock more pliable and also helps it hold its shape once it dries. Then take each heart and "scrunch" it towards the center. Doing this gives it a distressed look.

Continue to curl up and scrunch each of the petals until it's all done. Continue to spray water on each layer as needed (don't make it dripping wet). Make sure to smush up each petal separately. At the end, don't be afraid to even take the entire thing and crumple it in your hand! The more wrinkles it has in the paper, the more fabulous it looks since you can shape it better.

Lastlly, mold each of the petals just how you want. That's the beauty of these 3-D flowers, you can manipulate the petals in just the right position! Then let them air dry or use a heat gun for quicker results. They are fairly sturdy if you use good cardstock. Add them to any papercrafting project - you can even use them as a broach or on a headband!! I hope you like these flowers as much as I do =)

Thank you so much, Christina!  I'm definitely going to try these this weekend and show you guys what I create next week!  I hope that you have fun giving these a whirl!
 
Have a great weekend and we'll be back next week with Debbie and Michelle's projects!
Andi