My Handmade Flower Garden

So while the weather finally warms and nature begins to spring forth a new season, here are some visions of blooming flowers of a different kind

Some of my many handmade flowers - made from handmade papers, decorative papers, fabrics, felt, felted wool, burlap, plastic fun foam, stitched and metal.  All are used for various decorations, cards and wearables.  That is how my garden grows!

Designer Craft Connection - April Showers Bring May Flowers

Spring has "officially" arrived by the calendar, but Mother Nature is being a bit difficult in our area in getting Spring started after a very tough Winter.  Times like this call for one to bring on our own "Spring"!

Last month I missed posting for the DCC blog, though I had a couple of posts up from another blog that I am posting to each month.  It has been fun creating for this months theme.  Once again I went to my favorites!  Out came the Big Shot and those Sizzix dies.  Instead of working with papers I went to my scraps of fabrics and felt and used those to make some "blossoms".

The inspiration for the planter of flowers started with an old wooden cheese box that sits on the mantel and my love of daffodils.  With the changing seasons, this cheese box holds a variety of different things.

Using the largest of Eileen Hull's XL Scoreboard dies, the Box, Square, I made two  boxes, from some chipboard pieces in my stash of stuff, for the base of the planter.  Using a lighter weight chipboard and a Tim Holtz Impression Folder, a wood pattern was created for the outside of the planter.  A variety of Distress Inks and Stains were applied to color the chipboard to look like wood.  The two panels were then adhered to the box base.  Two cubes of foam were cut to place inside each box to hold the finished flowers.  NOTE: Some moss was added to cover the foam.

To make the flowers I first chose a selection of print and solid fabrics that would coordinate.  All the fabrics were fused with an iron-on adhesive.  Each of the fabrics were then die-cut using a variety of Sizzix dies.  Here is a list of the dies that I used for the flowers:  Flower, Petal Power (tulips), Flower Layers #1(blue posies), Flower Layers #4 (white coreopsis), Flowers, 3D (orange roses), Flower Layers #6/ Tattered Florals ( daffodils) and Border & Hydrangeas (violets).  NOTE: Here is were need to look beyond the orginal use of a die. Most can be altered in many ways to create a whole new look.

Beacon Fabri Tac glue was used to form the flowers.  Buttons or beads were used for the centers of the flowers.  The centers all have wire attached to make the stems.  Once all the flowers were made the wire stems were covered with green floral tape.

Leaves were hand-cut and die-cut from six different colors of felt then added to the stems.  I made my own template for the tulip and daffodil leaves and cut them from the felt.  The remaining leaves were die-cut.  Dies used for leaves were: Eileen Hull - Leaves (roses/the smallest leaf), Eileen Hull - Flower, Petal Power (violet/small petal) and  Brenda Pinnick - Flower, Wedding Foliage (coreopsis/ posies).  The leaves were then glued to the stems of the flowers with Fabri Tac glue.

The flowers were then arranged into the planter.  A simple thin skewer became a plant poke. The word "blossoms" is die-cut from colored card stock and placed onto the white pennent, using double-sided Adtech Crafter's Tape.  A bit of fine glitter is added to cover the tape.  The pennent is backed with a dark green card stock and glued onto the skewer.  Add a little raffia bow to finish.

The finished planter has found a spot for Spring on the mantel but it would also make a nice centerpiece on any Spring table by arranging the flowers differently.

A few more blossoms to share with you -

Here is a banner I made a while back once again using  Sizzix dies by Eileen Hull.  The flowers are made with the Flower, Petal Power die and the Bigz Leaves die.  Solid cardstock was die-cut and embossed with large and small dot impression plates.  The petals were shaded with Distress Inks to add some contrast before assembling.  Each center circle spells out "Spring Has Sprung" with alphabet stickers.

If the flowers are not blooming outside, make your own and fill your house!

Now check out all the other ideas this month by continuing through the other blogs - just click the Designer Craft Connection button to the right of this post.

Designer Craft Connection May - Wishes

Let's first say my biggest wish that I always have is to have "time".  I just can't figure out where the time each day goes and why I can't seem to organize my time better!

ANYWAY ... With the month of May bringing warmer weather (finally) and blooms everywhere, plus the special Sunday that we celebrate Mother's day, my project was to create something that would be appropriate for this time.

Here I created two different stick pins using Sizzix flowers dies.  The sunflower was made using one of the new thinlits™sets by Susan Tierney Cockburn.  The lavendar roses used the Sizzix Flowers, 3-D die and fabric paper.

The little green bud vase was recycled and repurposed from and old Clinique make-up bottle.  After washing it out and sanding the print off the bottle, it was painted in a mottled effect with a few layers of Tim Holtz Distress Paint and Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint.  The top of the bottle was covered with a small piece of woven ribbon.  Tie on a tiny Sizzlit Crescent tag with your wish.

The bud vase can be used to hold handmade flowers or any little bloom picked from your Spring garden.

So now I will send "WISHES" to all for sunshine, flowers and good things!

Designer Craft Connection April - Finds Around The House

Spring is slowly beginning here where I live.  There are little signs of green popping through the ground.  The mass of tiny yellow crocus' are opening under the crab apple tree out front.  A mason jar is filled with bright yellow daffodils on the counter.  So why not create a few more blooms out of different materials found around the house.

The flowers that I created are used to decorate a container for gift giving.  An empty corn meal container was decoupaged with cookie recipes torn from an old cook book.  The lid has a extra wooden knob attached to is for opening and trimmed with some natural jute cording.  A strip from a brown bag is used for a paper ribbon around the container.

Three flowers were made for embellishments.  The largest was a crochet loop daisy with a center made from a filter found in some of the K-cups that are used in coffee makers.  The plastic disc was covered by stitching with gold metallic thread and a gem stone addd to the center.  A small posy was die-cut from a "Peace Tea" aluminum can and then shaped and finished with a button center.  The third carnation like flower was made by painting die-cut, dryer fabric sheets and then gathering them up to form the flower.  Just glue them in place and add a little bow and fill the container with some delicious homemade cookies to give away of keep as a cute container in your kitchen.