Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Single Folded Flowers

Well, it is OFFICIALLY summer around here!! I woke up this morning and got ready to post my Tuesday Tutorial and then I heard my local weatherman say "Happy Hump Day." Hump Day? But hump day is Wednesday! YIKES, I have ALREADY lost track of my days this summer and it is only the first week!!! I've got to admit, it made me smile. I love summer.

I have had lots & lots of questions recently about how I make my folded flowers so I am going to post another "rerun" tutorial. This particular tutorial was my very first tutorial EVER! I love that it mentioned Helen Croft since I now proudly serve on her design team. I KNOW when I originally ran this post that I never dreamed I'd make HER design team!

I have had some questions about my single folded flowers that I am using in lots of my layouts these days. I've seen lots of folded flower tutorials out there in cyberland, Helen Croft has awesome tutorials on flowers! This is a single fold flower similar to Helen's Dahlia but I like this just as well. Plus, it has fewer steps.

Begin by punching 9 circles out of double sided cardstock -it really needs to be pretty on both sides. I used a one inch punch for this tutorial but if you'd like a bigger finished flower, use a bigger base punch. My finished flowers measure about 2 inches across.

Next, begin folding your flower petals. It is just like starting a paper airplane. Fold the two sides to the middle making a point at the end. This is where you need to decide which side of your paper you want for the flaps and which you want for the base of the flower petals. I usually fold it both ways to see which I like best. No stress here, you can change your mind all the way up to the gluing part!

I like to use a grid under my petals while I'm folding so I can easily get them all the same size.

 

I use a bone folder to get my edges nice and crisp. This isn't necessary as we are going to fold them up later but it does help when you are placing the petals on the center circle.

Next, I put LOTS of glue on my last circle.

    Begin placing the petals on the center circle. I place four petals on first in a cross pattern like this:

   Then I fill in with the other four petals. It makes it easier to get them on evenly.

Next you carefully fold up all the edges:

 

Just add some sort of embellishment to the middle and you're finished!

So that's it, my very first tutorial. I have used these flowers in so many layouts since. They really are quick and easy! 

Just last week I posted a layout with one of these flowers:

And last summer I made this layout with a horrible cell phone photo but it really captured "a moment."

And one more version with fewer petals:

For MANY more ideas for making flowers, head over to Helen's site!

Happy Scrapping!

And the WINNER is:

The Let's Scrap Blog Hop is officially over and the winner of my Green & Yellow Challenge is Michelle Barnard!!! Congrats Michelle! Your card is GORGEOUS:

 ~I'll be sending Michelle her prize of this sa-weet little mini-book kit by K&CO~

Thanks to all who played along. I really enjoyed seeing all the fun ways you used Green & Yellow. Your entries were just FANTASTIC! To view them all, visit this album over at Let's Scrap!

Cookin' up some more Cookbookin'

I've been playing with my design team goodies from Cookbookin' and I have come up with some new favorites!!!

I LOVE this. I usually like my creations but I LOVE THIS ONE! It was so much fun to make and it is extra special because the buttons that I used for the flower centers...they belonged to my grandmother.

 I began this flower by inking it until it had that "antiqued" look and then I placed one of Grandma's wooden button in the center.

This is a fun polka dot fabric button from Grandma's stash. It has that perfect country look!

This button is actually affixed to the flower upside down. I used some green Karen Foster floss for the tie and I curled the floss by wrapping it around a pin. Yes, it is that small!
The papers on this project are all from Cookbookin's Sweet Summertime line. This is the line that I named. Makes me love it all the more -as if I needed anything else to make me adore it. The flowers are mostly Prima, including that gorgeous vine there on the left. The pins are Maya Road, milk caps are Jenni Bowlin and the ticket is TIM.

Here is how it looks hanging on my kitchen wall:

 I also made this little counter top menu with Cookbookin' and a little slate that I picked up at a local craft store. ~Starts with an M!

Here's a card using Cookbookin's Modern Market line for this week's card sketch over at Let's Scrap.

 Hard to see in this lousy photo but the fruit squares are all raised and the veggies are lying low...hmmmm. I didn't really mean to do that but now it has me giggling.

Here is Kimmy's sketch that I used for this:

And here is the first of the layouts about the flood. I am sure many more will follow.

This layout shows the empty apple bins at the market just a couple days after the flood. It was frightening how fast Publix ran out of goods. Just yesterday, Mom just got a care package from Publix and her neighborhood HOA. Yes, the flood was at the beginning of May but things here are still a MESS! The Opryland Hotel may not even reopen for Christmas! 

Oh, credits! This layout is based on Julie Bonner's sketch for Magpie Club. Here is Julie's cool sketch:

Happy Scrapping!

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Pinwheels, Part 2!

This is a pinwheel bouquet that I whipped up for my daughters this morning. Pinwheels are so easy to create and make such an impact! For this bouquet I used lots of My Little Shoebox papers, perfect for the girls!
Then again, maybe with some coffee beans instead of buttons this would work in MY KITCHEN!

~OH! If you are looking for the Let's Scrap Blog Hop click here~

Moving right along...
I have ALWAYS loved making pinwheels for my layouts. It was one of the first "advanced" techniques that I mastered. Recently I have receive a few questions on how I make them so I thought I'd post my first "re-run" tutorial. This was one of my very first tutorials and I had so much fun with it. I enlisted my non-scrappy friend Shannon to follow the tutorial...I wanted to make sure it was clear enough. She did great and made a wonderful pinwheel of her own. Not too sure what she did with it though...

So here is the tutorial again:

 

Pinwheels are so much fun and they are super easy to make. This pinwheel is on the " Soup" layout from my last post:

Begin with a perfect square of DOUBLE sided patterned paper. BOTH sides will show so make sure it looks good on both sides. 

I like to use a punch when I am making smaller pinwheels:

Next you can use a ruler and pencil to mark your cut lines. (I used a marker here so it would show up but I NEVER do this when I am making pinwheels for a layout)

I mark my lines just short of the center coming straight in from each corner:

 Then just cut along your lines. Truth be told, I don't actually mark the lines. I just eyeball it and cut.

Almost time to start folding in your flaps. Choose which way looks best to you (which side you want to fold your flaps toward) and then get out your adhesive dots.

 Place a nice sized glue dot right in the center of your square. I use medium Zots. Then fold in your first flap sticking just the tip of the flap onto the adhesive.

 Keep folding in the flaps, adding adhesive if needed.

 Depending on the weight of my paper, sometimes my flaps need extra help to stay put. I use a stapler for these occasions but that is not pictured here. Glue dots usually do the job just fine.

 

Once all my flaps are secured. I usually embellish with a button but you can use flowers, a tiny paper circle, gems, whatever you like.

 

And here is the layout that I used this little cutie on:

 And here is the double page spread that was published in Scrapbooking.com magazine!

Happy Scrapping!

Tuesday's Tips & Techniques: Felt Cozies

Isn't this just too sweet!?! It is a little cozy I made for my kids' GoGurts that they take in their lunches to school. I made them very early one morning after seeing a post from Karen over at Creative Cookbooking. She was making hers for ice pops, a great idea that I will get to later. Hey, speaking of Creative Cookbooking, we are moving! Ning has started charging so we are moving to this new location on Webs. Hope to see you there!

If you are looking for the Let's Scrap BLOG HOP, go here. 

So, these little cozies are so quick and easy to make that I whipped up a quick tutorial to share with you.  I  used my actual Gogurt tube to come up with my own measurements for cutting the two felt pieces. I cut my felt about one inch wider than my Gogurt (on each side). I cut the felt about 2 inches shorter than my Gogurt. No, I did NOT use a ruler. You know how I feel about RULERS!

Then I used my machine to stitch the two pieces together:

I did some backstitching for strength around the top opening of the cozy -on both sides. 

After sewing the cozy I used pinking shears to trim the edges. It was kinda hard to trim through two layers of felt so I tried trimming the layers separately before sewing. Nope, that wasn't much easier, if any. Perhaps I am just pinking shear challenged...

For the girls' cozies, I die cut some flowers and leaves from some of the leftover felt.

Since I didn't think of it before I had sewed all the cozies together I just used some felt glue to adhere them.

I used some Sitckles to add a little sparkle to the centers of the flowers and DONE!

And here is the best part:

I gave the green and yellow (Go Ducks!) cozy to my 13yo son. I explained what it was for and fully expected him to politely bow out from taking it in his lunch to MIDDLE school. Instead, he seemed genuinely excited about it and appreciative. AND he put it right into his lunchbox. So far, the teenage years are FANTASTIC!

Happy Scrapping,