A Mother's Love...

Hello friends and welcome to a brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge! This week, the theme is all about HANDMADE FLOWERS and we challenge you to make some of your own! You can of course do this anyway you choose, maybe you will use die cut flowers, or stamp some of your own, or maybe you have your own ideas! Whatever you make we will be looking forward to seeing your beautiful blooms!

For my project, this challenge couldn't have come at a better time as here in the UK, we will be celebrating Mother's Day on the 26th March. So, with this in mind, I decided to create a special card for my Mum ~ she's highly sensitive to all fresh flowers, so what better than to create some handmade flowers that I know she will love!

 

...it's time for a new challenge!

To begin with I started by making my flowers and for these I used the Jumbo Tattered Florals Die to die cut some lightweight cotton calico fabric. For each flower I cut two of the medium sized six petal flower on the die and three of the smallest flower with five petals. I chose to use my two favourite colours ~ blue and orange and started by spritzing the fabric with a light mist of water. Then for the blue flowers, I used Broken China Distress Spray Stain and spritzed enough die cut petals to create two dimensional flowers. Using a piece of kitchen paper towel, squeeze out any excess colour or water from the fabric and then heat dry the colour stained die cut petals. You will find that you have some stain remaining on your sheet ~ don't waste this, I just spritz it with water and then mop it all up with a piece of card which I will use later on as a matting layer for my finished project. Create the orange flower in exactly the same way, using Spiced Marmalade Distress Spray Stain.

I then laid out all my petals onto a non stick craft sheet and using a paintbrush, I applied a coat of Clear Sculpture Medium over the top of each die cut. Don't oversaturate the material but apply a good even coverage onto the back and the front of the petals. This medium allows me to create dimension to the flower by giving a rigidity to the fabric so that I can sculpt the petals and the flower to create a wonderful 3D bloom ~ it's fabulous!

I then semi dried my coated petals before starting to shape each flower by taking the two large petals and three of the small petals, layering each section over the top of one another and slightly offsetting each of the die cuts. Pinching the middle of the flowers together, scrunch and shape the petals whilst the medium is drying and then set aside to dry completely. I left them overnight.

Once my flowers were holding the shape, I poked a small hole though the centre of all the layers and then added some beautiful pearl stamens. After fixing the stamens into place with some florist wire, my flowers were complete.

The leaves are created in exactly the same way as the flowers, die cut using the Jumbo Tattered Florals die and colouring them with Peeled Paint Distress Spray Stain before adding a coat of the Sculpture Medium, shaping them and allowing them to dry until the material has stiffened and will hold it's shape.

Now that I have my flowers, I moved onto the background and for this I cut a piece of watercolour card, 14cm square and misted the card with water and then, swished it through Antique Linen and Spun Sugar Distress Stain applied to a craft sheet. If you need more colour, just pick up any of the remaining stain on your sheet before heat drying the card.

Once the card was dry, I placed the central section of the card into the Lace Texture Fade, this will emboss the central section but leave a plain edged border top and bottom. Emboss the card through your machine and then using a blending tool, apply some Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Ink over the top of the raised areas and around the edge. Mist the inked card with some more water and allow the ink to do what it does best. Heat dry the card thoroughly before machine stitching around the outside.

Matt the embossed card onto a piece of gold metallic card, followed by the stained card from earlier. Mount these layers onto corrugated card, distressed with a little gesso and then matt onto orange card from the Classic Kraft Paper Stash, as the final layer. Mount all your layers onto a black card blank.

Attach your flowers to the bottom left hand corner and I added some real twigs from my garden ~ it was a lucky find to get that twirly one!

To add the "LOVE" message, I used the Alpha Deco Die (love this die so much) to die cut gold metallic card and also Black Soot Kraft Core cardstock. I then layered each of the gold pieces over the top of the black to create a drop shadow before attaching them to my card.

As a finishing touch I added a metal heart and some gold sequins.

...and that completes this card which I hope has given you some ideas for your Mother's Day cards. Or if you don't want to create cards, then these flowers can also be used on home decor pieces, even hair decorations ~ the choices are endless!

As always, if you do need any further inspiration, then you need look no further than our blog to see all the wonderful creations from all the very talented Design Team members and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for stopping by today and see you again very soon!

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz Sizzix Dies/Texture Fades: Jumbo Tattered Florals, Deco Alpha, Lace Texture Fade

Distress Spray Stain: Spun Sugar, Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade, Broken China, Peeled Paint
Distress Inks: Vintage Photo

Surfaces: Watercolour card, Metallic Kraft Card Stock, Classic Kraft Card Stock

Mediums: Sculpture Medium, Gesso
28 Lilac Lane Sequin Tin ~ Neutrals
Finnabair Tin Hearts

Ranger Craft Sheet

Heat Gun
Twigs, stamens, corrugated card and calico fabric from my own stash