HERE COMES SPRING!

I've had this thing for punched flowers lately.  They are so cool, but a little time consuming to make.  I'm not sure if it's because I'm still learning.  Maybe it will go quicker as I get a little more comfortable making them.  Who knows!  I showed Cami, from Our Craft Lounge, this project yesterday and she told me she hated me.  LOL!  She's never been interested in punched flowers like this before...but she might have to make a few now.  Teeheehee!

After this project was completed, I decided it would make a very nice Mother's Day gift...just ditch the jelly beans and use chocolate or whatever candy mom likes. 

Michelle recently got in a bunch of these test tubes at Memories of Time (MOT).  I couldn't wait to make a project with one, but I knew it would need a box to keep it stable.  I got out my ruler and started figuring out what size it needed to be (I already had a general idea for the shape).  A bunch of little pieces were cut and taped together and eventually, I made a template!  Woot!

A cover was made for the cap then the full-sized rose was glued on top.  To make the rose, I followed the directions in The Paper Garden, by Susan Tierney Cockburn.  I punched about 25 medium Punch Bunch pears then lightly sponged the edges before setting to work shaping and gluing the petals.  I love the results!  It's a very realistic looking rose!

The rosebuds were made the same way with 5-6 pear punches each.

Daisies accompany the roses.  I didn't have the same punch Susan suggested for the centers so I improvised and use the mini sun instead. Two different sized daisy punches were used and each daisy was punched twice; the small daisy only has one sun for the center where the larger daisies have two.

Copic coloring:

Butterfly:  RV14, RV13, RV11  Outline:  110

The current challenge over at The Lounge is to use bling.  I opted to use rhinestones on the butterfly's bodies and a few on the designer paper.

This project includes the following challenges:

The Lounge ~ Use Bling
Delightful Challenges ~ Butterflies
Flutterby Wednesday ~ Photo Inspiration
My Time To Craft Challenge ~ Jewels
Paper Crafting Journey ~ Things With Wings
Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog ~ Flowers
Southern Girls Challenge ~ Flowers
Stampin' B's Design Team ~ Use Bling
Stampin' For The Weekend ~ Springtime
The Three Muses Challenge ~ Spring

Thanks for stopping by!

SUPPLIES
STAMPS:  OCL's Nature's Notes
PAPER:  Bazzill ; SU Garden Green; Imaginisce Flower Power DP
INK:  Memento Tuxedo Black; SU Rose Red
ACCESSORIES:  Copic markers; paper snips; Kaiserkraft Basics rhinestones; The Paper Garden; Punch Bunch Small Circle, Medium Pear, Medium Birch Leaf, Small and Medium Daisy, Mini sun, 3D Punch Craft Tool Kit, Magnum Power Punch;
SIZE OF FINISHED PROJECT:  2" square x 8ish" tall (including flower)