Zehra's Mini-Tutorial - Happy Flowers

Hi all!  Happy Sunday!  The sun is finally shining after 3 days of heavy rain and then snow... WOW what an April we are having! 

DT Zehra has made a flower making mini-tutoral using the Happy Flowers Digi Set and also used Ornate Butterflies  and just in time for a "FLOWER PICK ME UP" :)  This brightened my day... Awesome job, Zehra!  Please GO HERE to see the tutorial.

Card by DT Zehra

I'll be back earlier this week with some new cards and some new stencils and stencil freebies!

:)* Fred

Happy Flowers & Sentiments

Hey all!

..new stuff :)

I had a request for Fred's Flowers without black outlines.. I hope this will work :)  I made some Happy Flowers... in happy, bright rainbow colours! .. and some flower pots you can add your flowers to.

... and some digi flowers and pots too :)

... and some Uplifting Sentiments ( 22 in all!)

I am also working on some  digital cutting file stencils & masks.  The chevron pattern on the above card is a stencil I made that was sponged over with distress inks onto CS.  I'll be sharing the stencil soon once I get it converted to the various formats ;)  I kind of went stencil creation happy in anticipation of a Gelli Plate I ordered ( that is backordered at Curry's ack!).  I was excited for it's arrival and when it didn't come, I was sad... so I made my own out of Knox gelatin.  Just google "gelatin plate recipe" and you will find tons of resources :)  Emma and I had a blast playing with our homemade plate and acrylic paints.  They say the gelatin plate might last for a few weeks in the fridge... hopefully my Gelli Plate will arrive before it goes bad.  I'll have to fire up the camera and share some of the crazy prints we made. 

:)*  Fred

One Stop Craft Challenge

Yey!  Fred She Said is sponsoring the One Stop Craft Challenge. It starts today :)

 DT Michelle & I are playing along with their DT.  The theme is "Button It!"

When I think of buttons I think of flowers :).  Still my favourite are  Fred's Foldy Flowers - the first ones I did.  There's nothing like relaxing while colouring ( with whatever! ;) ) and cutting out a sheet of flowers.  I coloured these with watercolor pencils, blending pen, Ranger Inkssentials Black Enamel, and Black Soot Distress Inkpad. I coloured up another Daisies foldy Flower and made a sun out of it. I did something out of the ordinary and assembled and attached the flowers and leaves with a GLUE GUN... fast & fun!.. but a bit stringy LOL!  Cheerful card for a dreary day.  We are in between snow systems and we should get quite the weather today along with 70 km winds... yahoo!

Have a great weekend!

:)*  Fred

Flower card

Playing with my pastels and pencils again :) I added some Tuscan Red pencil to the leaves that I also used on the flower. Flower and leaves from Fred's Flowers v2 Pointy Petals Pack.


:)*
Fred

Emma & the Butterfly

Announcing Emma & the Butterfly digital stamp :) At the STORE.



This is a little older more lady-like Emma. She is growing up too fast before my eyes! She still has the same free spirit and looks ready to twirl or make a get-away just like the butterfly she is admiring LOL!

Card Details:
Emma and the flower/leaves are coloured with pencils and OMS ( actually Emma is coloured with Goo Gone. It has a lemony smell that reminds you to colour in a ventilated place! LOL - yes OMS has nasty fumes... you just can't smell them ;) ). I was miserly and made the blue matte by cutting white CS to size and colouring the edges with the same denim blue pencil I used on the dress sash and blended with Goo Gone, I love the effect. Another miserly trick is that I took the cuttings made from trimming my bow and tucked them behind my flower ;) The background was made by doodling with pastel pencils ( blue, green, yellow) all over white paper then gently smudging with a tissue but trying not to blend the colours together.

Have a great day!

:)*
Fred

Dahlia's and Viney Flourish 1

There are 2 new products at the STORE.

Fred's Flowers v4 - Dahlias - Outline Sheets
&
Viney Flourish 1



This first card uses a mirrored flourish in green. The Dahlia and leaves were coloured in Artweaver using the gradient-fill. The background cuttlebugged paper is so neat... I chalked multiple layers of pinks/yellows then painted random little flowers and leaves with shimmery paint ( sakura pearlescent watercolour pallete) before I embossed with the bug. I pearlized a white brad for the center of the flower. Also used: Martha Stewart punch, and gold peeloffs and plenty of silicone glue LOL.


This card uses a single version of the Viney Flourish and Pointy Petalled Dahlia's outline sheet. I coloured the flower with pencils and OMS. The background paper is various smudged layers of chalk pastels ( purple, pink, green and I think yellow) then I stamped my swirly doodle stamp in a purple ink. I guilded the frame with gold pearlescent watercolour applied carefully with a liner brush. I added some green stickles to the buds on the flourish. Also used: Spellbinders Curved Rectangles, a gold Robin's Nest dew drop :).

Have a gread day!

:)*
Fred

Card & a Digi-Freebie - Simple Striped Papers

I made some nice simple striped papers, 21 of them, to go with the Polka Dotty Flowers pack. Actually they should go with all the flower collections. ... Actually, stripes go with everything and, depending on their angle, they can be slimming LOL! But anything with dots, definitely could use some stripes. ;)

DOWNLOAD HERE ( note, it's 4 shared.com so you will have to wait for the timer thingy).

(Get this, I zipped a 6 mb folder of papers and the file is only 165 kb! Wow, the magic of compression LOL! - stripes ARE slimming! )

The card was made using some of the striped papers and some BIG Dahlias. The swirly doo-hicky is a work-in-progress, but I am really digging it! Have a great day!

:)*
Fred

Big Dahlias.... oh my!

Also up at the store:



BIG DAHLIAS in 18 yummy colours! or some other type of flower that suits your fancy ;)

There are also outline flowers in various assortments nearing completion. They will be available soon. ( sigh, I sound like a broken record... "soon" LOL!)

:)* Fred

Polka Dotty Flower Sheets at the STORE

Hello my friends! I have 2 new products up at the store. I will have quite a few more over the next few weeks :) The second one I will devote to another post.

Here are some Polka Dotty Flowers in 14 flavours... err sheets! Each sheet has 3 different flowers.



I plan to have some coordinating papers soon.

CARD DETAILS:
-Red polka dotty flower with stickles glue on edges, sugar-coated brad, flower and leaves are backed with silicon glue ( it really keeps them puffed up/3d even when you pile a few things on them ;)
-backer - cuttlebugged, ANTIQUED by tapping card with versamark, colouring with flat edge of cream chalk pastel then blending with a cotton ball, then added a bit of shimmery yellow Pebbles Chalk, Martha Stewart lace doily border punch, red satin ribbon and black stitched ribbon.
-background is glossy photo paper brayered with a light blue and sage green whispers ink pads, stamped my own swirly stamp (Stamp Attack Art Stamps doodles sheet by FredSheSaid) with black Staz-on.


:)* Fred

Shabby Chic Wedding Card - with flower

Here is another one of the cards I have made over the past month. This card was for my niece and new nephew-in-law. The leaf on this one was an outline that didn't make it to product, but it is growing on me :)

Details:
-Flower is coloured with pencils and OMS.
-Nestabilities scalloped oval die, Fiskars flower border punch
-green FSS-paper yet to be added to product line-up
-Embossed wedding rings I found at a surplus store for a buck - I have 46 left!
-Lime green Stickles glue in center of flower
-I outlined the oval with gold Niji Watercolour Pearlescent Paint - love these paints... just add a touch of water and they are ready instantly.
-**I experimented on the pink backer... I had made a irridescent red wax rub-on paste with pearl ex and Judikins microglaze and rubbed it over card stock, embossed with cuttlebug, then swirled various pinks from the Pepples Pearlescent Chalks... it stuck to the wax finish.

Have a great day!

Fred's Flower Card

Hi y'all! Just sharing some cards I have been making over the past month or so. There are a few that need to wait until I get some products finished.

This one uses the v1 Fred's Flowers outline sheets. I thought I'd try out a 24 set of watercolor pencils I bought at Staples. They were under 10 dollars CAD. Staedler makes them I think they are intended for children... they still work great. I didn't use water but used OMS and blending stumps. I merely followed the outlines with the pencils to get a strong line of colour then blended. I used a pink for the large flower, a peachy-yellow for the little flower ( just near center of flower then blended out) followed by outlining a ring in the center with pink then blending outward. The leaves I added an olive color just to the center line and veins and a bit to the base then blended, then added a touch of a pine-green to center vein and blended. On the leaves and pink flower, I lightly shaded over the lighter parts with a regular cream coloured pencil ( prismacolor)- this really adds warmth and a vintage feel- no blending required either. I embellished the leaves and pink flower with this wonderful warm beige colour in the Niji Pearlescent watercolour set - I pinstriped the flower and outlined the leaf. The leaves and flowers were propped with generous helpings of silicon glue - I somehow got a messy bit under the leaf ( see sideview) - remind me to rub that off later ;)

The background was done using Whispers Inkpad - Cherry Red and a foam blending tool - I then ran it through the cuttlebug with Floral Fantasy embossing folder - I added a sheen by going over it with pink Pebbles pearlescent chalks. The dewdrops are Oregon rain drops from Pink Hedgehog Crafts - the pink drops were dyed with a touch of red alcohol ink and some blending solution to lighten the colour. The rain drops in the flower centers look really cool - I added yellow stickles to the bottom and do they glimmer!

I am thinking about recreating these flowers and leaves digitally for a future sheet ( in some other hues as well ). Here it is fall, and I have become obsessed with soft pastel hues LOL! Perhaps I am rebelling to the fact that a six month winter season will soon be upon us ROFL.

Have a great day!

Blue Blossoms & Allison's Girls & Blog Candy!

Please make sure you scroll down to the end for info on BLOG CANDY!

Hello Peeps! I have been busy making and painting stuff for y'all to play with :) I made this card from a digital patterned paper and flower kit I will be offering very soon! I am packing them up and hopefully will have them up by the end of the weekend. I coloured the flowers and leaves from the Fred's Flowers v3 - Whirly Flowers outline kit. So far I have 3 flavours of blossoms - Blue, HotPink, and, of course, Purple! I will have previews and info soon. I will be devoting time now to making coloured flowers and designs for my colouring challenged friends ;)

I nabbed this cute girl from Allison and her Girls of the World post. Allison has also posted boys and everyday girls as well to download. She also shows you where she found them, how she made them black and white, and how to get the most wonderful clipart for your projects - link here. These girls have been up for awhile, I have finally got around to playing with them, delightful!

I coloured this cutie with colored pencils and OMS and outlined the dark flowers with blue stardust pen, and little flowers with clear stardust pen, centers are lime-green Stickles glue.

NOW THE BLOG CANDY: 3 of Fred's Flowers Blossom Kits ( digital) - Blue, Pink and Purple. Here is a small preview of what you get ( plus all the flowers and leaves as full size single images ).



Please leave a comment on this post ( Make sure your name or blog link is on it or I can't find you -wink). I will leave this open until Wednesday June 25th. I will have Emma draw out of a hat and announce the winner on Thursday. If the winner has bought these flowers already I will offer a digital gift certificate toward my store for equal value of the purchase price. Good luck!

OH YES, and HAPPY 50,000 HITS to me, yahoo! I saw the ticker turn over today ;)

Fred's Flowers v.3 - Whirly Flowers and a freebie

Fred's Flowers v.3 - Whirly Flowers - outline sheets is now up at the store.

Here are some samples. There is a third flower type on the sheet but I haven't got the card made yet. Put your sunglasses on for the first card LOL! The green cardstock was a piece I used to show the "inlaws" how the cuttlebug worked.... thinking I would never use it... not "me" or so I thought. LOL It went well with these coloured flowers. The greeting I made in PSP to fit the opening of the "stamp" die that came with my cuttlebug. The die is square and 1.5" wide and I didn't have too many greeting stamps that fit this opening, so I made some. If you would like the sheet ( has general greetings - "Happy Birthday!", "Congrats!", "Just Because", "Just for You!", "With Love", "Happy Hello!" & "Best Wishes") you can download it HERE. It is a PDF file so please right-click on the link and save the file or it might open in your browser. The "girth" around each greeting should be sufficient for round/square/rectangular dies around 2 to 3 ". Please leave a comment if you have downloaded it :) I also take requests! ( but they have to be short and sweet to fit) I'll post the new greetings on this blog.



Here is another card. I lost my pastel sugarcoated brads I just bought boohoo!!!!! So I have been adding Stickles glitter glue to my dollar brads ( this one is grey with platinum stickles). I have also been adding some clear glue ( any clear glue/glaze/crystal effects, etc) to the brad and shaking on some "glamour dust" from DecoArt. I dry my brads in the hollow bottoms of my upside-down markers LOL! My 10 yr old son had that bright idea after he saw his mom holding a wet brad in a panic LOL. I guess you could stick them in styrofoam or flower foam as well.



The other flower has 3 petals and you layer & offset the flowers. There is also a sheet of assorted leaves. I'll make samples with the leaves soon. There are so many more things I want to get ready, maybe if I "burn the midnight oil", I can get a few more up :)

Fred's Flowers v2 ( aka Faux Foldy Flowers) -Pointy Petals Pack

Available now at the Fred, She Said Store. I will be adding more throughout the week and I hope to have some coloured flowers ready next week. I also hope to get a third set of Fred's Flowers up tomorrow. I am trying on a name change " Fred's Flowers" as I am seriously finding "Faux Foldy Flowers" a bit of a mouthful LOL!

Sample Cards:

CARD - Faux Foldy Flowers - mach 2!

Here is a faux foldy flower card using a flower from my new " soon to be released" Pointy Petals Pack. Like the name? LOL I am just working on some new foliage and I hope to have it ready for sale tonight or tomorrow :) There will be 7 different flower shapes in varying sizes.

The flower is quite high; I didn't glue the middle down ( which would have made it less puffy) and it is, I am guessing, over 1/2" sticking out.

I used an "orange" General's watercolour pencil to colour and blended with baby oil using tortillons. This time I coloured in a "tear drop" shape on each petal and blended the middle then blended out to the edges of the petal. I did a bit of outlining with my stardust pen.

It is such a bright happy orange... just like an orange creamsicle, if you have ever had one... yum! The brad is a Doodlebug Sugarcoated Brad I bought from the new scrapbooking store we have in our little town... I can walk to it... Happy Dance!!!! OK I will put a "plug" in ... Karen's Creations :) I don't know if she handles international customers; her website looks like it is in the middle of updating.

OK back to work I go.....

Pencil Blending Tutorial with homemade tortillons and baby oil PT 2

This is a continuation of this tutorial. I will be colouring Faux Foldy Flowers and showing you different techniques and ways of colouring them using the pencil blending technique with baby oil and homemade paper tortillons. I am going to assume now that you have your sharpened pencils, primed tortillon, sandpaper and image sitting in front of you ready to colour ;) I also forgot to tell you to scruff up the end of your new tortillon so that it will blend better ( you can still do this even if there is baby oil on it). If you are going to be colouring with multiple colour families, I'd advise making many tortillons and have 4-5 ready and primed with oil/OMS. Then you won't have to scuff the colour off the ends of the tortillons near as much.

EDIT: A primed tortillon - dip just the tip of your tortillon into the oil and blot several times with tissue or paper towel. The tortillon is ready when the marks you make by scribbling with your tortillon on scrap paper are dry. Yes, the tortillon is dry and pushes the pencil color like magic! No need for all this nonsense with gamsol/OMS/Zest-it type solvents- just apply the OMS and go. A wetter tortillon with OMS will give you great effects and will need less blending muscle.

Another tip, if your tortillon doesn't seem to be blending as well, rough it up on the sandpaper occasionally, do this before you think you might need more baby oil. Also lightly mould the roughed up tip back into shape with your fingers.



Here is a "no fail" technique and good to start off with. It will never do you wrong LOL! Just above, I have shown a purple flower ( prismacolor used - violet pc932). I have outlined the edges with a medium color line and I have kept the right petal unblended. Once you have outlined your whole flower, take your "clean" primed tortillon and make tiny circles around the line, working your way along the lines, trying to pull the colour into the white area of the petals. You will notice the tortillon feels scratchy when blending - get used to it ;) Then blend the same way on top of the area you have already blended out to soften the colour and bring the colour faintly into the white areas. A tip - if you are running out of colour; go back to the coloured line and grab a bit of colour from it and continue on with your blending. Notice the petal opposite the unblended one is one that shows the initial blending step. Blending might take some working and reworking, don't be afraid to "work it", you will win! :)


Here is a "no fail" leaf with a bit of an extra twist. Outline the leaf with a dark green ( Olive Green pc911) and then outline that colour with a medium or lighter green ( Chartreuse pc989 ). If the leaf had inked veins, outline those too. Fred's fast and dirty method - blend with a circular motion through the dark and through the light green working your way to the white areas of the leaf. Proper way, blend the light green first then go back blend the dark green out. Notice how crummy my colouring job was - oil/OMS blending is very forgiving LOL!



Here is another leaf technique. I used Olive Green, Chartreuse, and Cream (pc914). Cream is one of those colours I would NOT be without, I use it in almost every project. I usually use it in the "white areas" of a flower because it is just "warmer" then stark white... ok now I found the word, it adds "richness" just like real cream LOL. Work your way from light to dark, then you won't contaminate the light areas.



Here is another leaf showing the difference of adding a light yellow to the white areas before blending. It is much more pronounced in RL than in this scan. This helps add POP when your dark green doesn't have much yellow tones in its pigment. I used apple green (pc912) here and it does have a fair bit of yellow tone.


This flower is on the small side in RL. Notice how I shaded it on the unblended petal. Also after blending was done, I took a pale pink and "scrumbled" a bit of colour in the lighter purple areas ( you can also blend this out but not necessary). Scrumbling ( well for me in this example) is making tiny circles with very light pressure - see the pink "blob" to the right of the flower. Colours used - Violet pc932, Lilac pc956 and Pink pc929.



Here is another technique. Work your tortillon into the pink colour at the base of the petal and then work the tortillon back and forth in a straight line out to the top of the petal, you will get a blended streak/crease. Then continue on "circle blending" from the base and outlines to shade the flower. I am pretty sure I used Pink in this one ;)



Please click to enlarge - a must see up close :)

I don't know what to call this technique, Variegated perhaps? Colour like above ( I used Cream and Mulberry pc995). Blend the cream first to smooth it out. Work your tortillon into the base colour to get as much colour on to the tortillon as you can then do that straight back and forth blending like the pink flower in a straight line, keep adding "streaks" like in the middle flower; you can blend out the top of the streaks to soften. Go back and do circle blending at the base and work up a bit. Isn't that cool!? The smaller flower to the right is done similarly, but you are working down the petal.


Here are some more examples and "teasers"! Have a great day and I hope you enjoyed this tutorial :)



Colours - Carmine Red pc926 & Deco Yellow ( retired )


Colours - True Blue pc903, True Green pc910 & Canary Yellow pc916



Colours - Dark Brown pc946 & Yellow Ochre pc942

Pencil Blending Tutorial with homemade tortillons and baby oil PT 1

I thought I would show you some methods of pencil blending that I use, I have modified this technique so that it uses materials you should have around your house AND less toxic to your lungs LOL! Before I begin, I must admit, I have just spent this week trying out the baby oil ( instead of OMS) to see what the pros and cons were. A big thank you to AmzdByHsGrace and Darsie from the CoC board. Darsie wrote a tutorial on how she used baby oil and Derwent Inktense pencils ( on Fred's wishlist!) on watercolour paper. Well I have bucked the idea of using baby oil on cards as it can leech out of your paper and onto anything near it. BUT, if used sparingly, I think it should be okay for your projects ( please chime in if you agree or disagree :) ). Furthermore, there are a ton of awesome tutorials out there in web land to try. I posted a few links a few blog entries back. Here is another one from Sue Nelson to add to the list - I love her cards! ... and I can't use "love" too strongly here LOL

I will show you what "I do" with the flowers. This Part 1 will deal with your materials and getting you ready.

Pros of Baby Oil/Mineral Oil:
- it is cheap and readily available
- no toxic fumes! ... and smells baby fresh!
- a little goes a LONG way - I applied the oil once to my blending tortillon and I blended a whole sheet of flowers with it and it was still ticking! The oil doesn't evaporate, but it will dry eventually . OMS evaporates fairly quickly and you are usually reapplying it to your stump during a project.
- I got pretty smooth blending results - I think as good as OMS - WITH a paper tortillon. I did not try my regular blending stumps as I only have a few and didn't want to mess them up. I achieved SMOOTHER results with the paper tortillon and oil on copy paper than I did with my OMS and stump. I also got better results with the tortillon and OMS, go figure.
-they work on just about any pencil, waxy colored pencils, watercolour/watersoluble pencils, chalk/pastel pencils... I have tried them all and they work.
-baby oil did not bleed/smear the ink outlines from my printer.

CONS of Baby Oil:
- oil spots on your paper! If you use too much OMS it can make spots on your paper, but it will evaporate and disappear. Not so with oil. This is what I did. I dipped just the tip of the tortillon into the oil then blotted the tip with tissue, I used the tortillon on a scrap piece of paper and checked to see if oil leeched to the back of the paper or made a spot on the front. If not, I was good to go. If still too much oil, reblot with tissue/papertowel or draw with the tortillon on scrap until the marks are "dry".

EDIT: Carolivy gave me a good tip. If you have it, essential oils are good as a blending fluid. She uses Rosewood essential oil for dorsing in parchment craft and says it works great and doesn't leave oily spots. She also thinks Lavender oil would work as well. Oh can you imagine the wonderful smell while you craft.... :)

ON WITH TUTORIAL:

So you need materials:
-baby oil or mineral oil, ..... OMS/Gamsol/Zest-It, etc if you have it.

-tortillons ( stumps if you have them) I will show how to make them yourself!

-tissue or paper towel for blotting

-Sandpaper paddle, sanding block, piece of sand paper, or emery board - to sand off colour on tip of tortillon so you can use it for another colour.

-pencils - wax based Prismacolor is what I am using, watercolor/pastel pencils will work too. I prefer wax based, the colours are brighter, although I think those Inktense pencils would rock!

-a pencil sharpener! I almost forgot that one! LOL

-white CS/watercolor/regular paper, something matte not glossy

-image to colour - be it stamped or printed or hand drawn with a black pigment pen.

HOW TO MAKE A PAPER TORTILLON:

Find some regular weight paper, the more fuzzy/fibrous the better, eg recycled paper, copy paper, try different kinds, see what works best for you ;) ; you will also need some tape and a "pushing tool" (darning needle, skewer, chopstick, thick wire, etc.)
Cut a full sheet into thirds, no real science or measurement, roughly 3.5" by 6-8". The new cut sheets are then cut straight on a diagonal lengthwize starting about 1" from one side to 1" on the other. I used this tutorial ( great diagrams ) to make mine but did a few adjustments, I rolled the paper on the needle of a paperpricking tool or bamboo skewer ( something skinny and you can hold onto easily while rolling). Roll your paper pretty tight. When rolling, roll the flat side so that it is even and when done rolling use your push tool to push the roll out through the flat side until it comes to a sharp point. I used a bamboo skewer or a chopstick to push the paper roll out. Hold onto the tortillon and roll tape around it to secure. Here are some of mine.




I will post PT 2 soon. Here are some flowers I made. I haven't had time to turn them into cards yet. Yes, I am a tease! TaTa for now!

Another Faux Foldy Flower Card - Polka Dots

A birthday card for my niece I made last weekend. The flower was printed on copy paper, colored with a lovely Peacock Blue Prisma pencil and blended with OMS. I drew polka dots with a white glaze pen... I love this pen, it goes on "clear" and as it dries, it goes completely opaque and shiny! I used a paisley cuttlebug folder & dollar store ribbon and brad. If you'll notice, I folded the petals the other way this time.

I hope to have tutorials for colouring methods later this week or next; I have coloured a few flowers with a variegated technique that I will show soon. I am really "stuck" on these flowers LOL! They are quite addictive. I have 2 or 3 more flower shapes in the works. TODAY, I hope to get them completed. LOL.

Card - Vintage Ladies + Freebies

A card I made today. I used the Outlines Faux Foldy Flowers v1 in black and printed on really cheap copy paper, I mean cheap.... and the paper was onion thin :) The flower felt so neat... fluffy & crispy when completed. I thought I'd try out my new Prismacolor pencil sets, Black Raspberry on the flower.... it goes on this really dark brown and the OMS pulls out the lovely reds when blending. The small petals, I used Ginger Root, and I think the leaves are Kelly Green. I outlined and pinstriped with coloured Sakura stardust pens. The background paper was in these 50 packs of 6"X6" patterned paper from the dollar store, yes, for a dollar :)

The ladies were downloaded from art-e-zine.co.uk
There are pages and pages of vintage images to download :)) I won't tell you which page I found these lovely ladies, I thought I'd give you something to do ;) If you haven't been there before, DO check it out.

Well, girls I thought I would have more goodies to play with but the day hit a few snags. I hope to get designs I wanted done and "out the door" tommorow, or Monday at the latest.

In the meantime, here are some freebies from my dusty folders. They are tea bag folded Foldy Flowers I made once during playtime. They don't look like much on paper but when folded and put together, I really LOVE them! I have a few medallions made but not yet on cards, maybe I'll make a sample up to show later tonight.

Faux Foldy Flower Tutorial

The difference between faux and "real" foldy flowers is the the real ones use a tea bag fold assembly. I noticed many were using the foldy flowers for 3D cutting, so I thought why not just make them for 3D anyway? More versatile and less paper :) If you are a die hard fan of the originals, let your voice be known and enough "squeaks" and I will make some more tea bag folding versions.

This is just one way to use them.... I have a friend ( our lovely LILY ) who has used them in parchment craft, printed the flowers on parchment vellum and then moulded the petals with her tools, I will show soon :))

Here is the card; I had a difficult time capturing the iridescent highlights so I have attached 2 versions.


The Flower:
I cut out the flowers from the light purple faux foldy flowers sheet. I went a bit overboard and lightly shaded the tips of the petals with a light pink coloured pencil and darkened the lower parts with a violet pencil, yes I blended the pencil with some OMS... but not necessary. The colours are a bit off, my camera and the fluorescent lighting did not like each other.


I took each flower and scored down the center of each petal, right through the center so a 6 petal flower takes 3 scores.... can also be scored with ruler and scoring tool.


Turn the flower white side up and pinch all the petals.


And viola...



Repeat for however many flower parts you want to use. I used 2 large flowers, 2 medium and 1 small for the purple "carnation".

Put some white tacky glue ( again doesn't matter what type of glue but you will want a really good hold and some "wiggle room" if the petals don't align right initially.) on the wrong side in center of the flower you are going to glue on top. Attach to center of lower flower staggered, you might have to use something pointy and press down on the flower center. Like so....


I then got out some iridescent paints ( Pearl Ex Jewels Watercolor Palette), using a liner or skinny waterbrush, I brushed the tips of purple petals with iridescent red ( a light lovely pink you can only see when the light hits it), iridescent gold on the little pink flowers, gold in all the flower centers, and green-yellow duo I used to line the veins and edges of the leaves. For the leaves, I also shaded the veins with a dark green colored pencil, I used the scor-pal to deboss the center and veins of the leaves then bent and moulded the leaves with my fingers, THEN I painted them with the pearl ex :). The flowers were primped and pinched to increase their "fluffiness".

I used a gate fold for this card and also used the scor-pal to emboss lines around the white diamond backing CS. The purple paper can be found in the Freebie I posted HERE.

The photos of the card just do not do it justice. Anna Griffin... eat your heart out :)

Another thing... these flowers were printed on matte card/coverstock and the flowers are quite stiff and will most likey be hard to mail unless they are put in some padding or a box type envelope a la Maria? You could use regular inkjet/copy paper but they might flatten out if mailed.