It's Friday!!! Plus I have my second tutorial!

I love the weekends this time of year. Well, I love them all the time, but the weekends of Spring and Fall are my FAVES! Fall for Football season!! And Spring for yard work. My family and I moved to a new home last summer and so this is the first chance I have had to really do some work in the yard. I wanted to start a little garden this year, but time got away from me. Guess I'll try again next year. I may still get some fall veggies planted. I really, really love homegrown tomatoes and potatoes. And peas. And squash and zucchini. Oh and onions. Ok, there are a ton of things I would love to grow. Actually there are a lot of things I want to do. Like learn to play the guitar. And actually be able to play it, not just do some chords. I would also love to learn how to restore vintage cars, study interior design, and learn to build cabinetry. But for now, I will just stick with paper crafting. So today, as a nod to Spring and yard work, I have my second tutorial. I had a lot of fun making this flower. When I finished with it, I thought about all of the things I wanted to put them on... frames, altered tins, magnets, clothes pins.... the list is endless. But for this one, I chose to put it on a bag. I am thinking of sending it to a friend packed with some fun gardening tools and maybe some flower seeds. That is if I can part with it. Really the flower was fairly quick and easy to make so I can just make a bunch more! I have another idea using this same pattern but with a twist that I hope to get done today. I will share as soon as I get it done. I am equally excited about it and hope it turns out as neat as I picture it in my head.

So - yes, we are finally getting to the tutorial! I told you I usually go on and on ;) - here's the finished bag:


Isn't it cute? And here's how I made it!

You will need:
The Big Shot and the Scallop Circle Die
Scissors (I like SU's paper snips or CutterBee scissors)
Sponge
Pencil and ruler
Buttons (I used SU's corduroy buttons)
Tool kit (for the anywhere eyelet hole punch and hammer)
And of course, Cardstock and ink (I used Summer Sun CS and More Mustard Ink)


Die cut 3 circles. Then line your ruler up across the center of one of the circles in between scallops and draw a pencil mark from edge to edge. My pencil marks are dark here so you can see them, but I suggest making them lighter.

You will continue to make lines across the circle, like a pie, always going between the scallops.
I used a 1/2" circle punch to punch out a piece of scrap cardstock to place in the center of my flower. You will want to draw a circle (or trace the cs circle) in the center for your cutting guide line. On this flower I drew lines between every scallop. But after you have done this once or twice, you should be able to get away with doing maybe every third scallop. All of these pencil marks will be your cutting guide lines. Mark all three circles. Now you start to cut each petal.

As you can see, I have cut all three of my circles into petals. Cut from the edge just to the center circle line we drew earlier. DO NOT cut all the way to the center or you will have a mess of petals. And now it's time to assemble your flower.

Turn the circles over so your pencil marks are on the back. Then use snail or other double sided adhesive and tape the 3 circles together in the center. I just put a small strip of tape inside the small circle we used as a guide line. The flower will be held together by the button, so this is just to make assembly easier. I curled the petals of each circle just using my fingers and then sort of fluffed the petals up. This will give dimension to your flower.

Using the anywhere hole punch, punch a hole in the very center of your flower. Make sure to go through all three layers. (I know some of the stuff I am telling you seems like common sense, but I have found that too much information is better than not enough. at least in the case of tutorials)

Now we sponge!! Sponge the color all around the edges of the flower. This will add another layer of depth. I sponged the center of the flower a bit heavier than the edges. It helps to sort of anchor the button visually.

Now, just add your button, re-fluff the flower and you are done!! Yea! You made it!

Here's a close up of the flower:

I finished my flower off here by adding a stem, just cut a wavy line from cardstock, and some leaves. For my leaves, I used SU's large oval punch and an embossing tool for the veins. I sort of pinched the ends to give the leaves more dimension. I used a white paper lunch sack for the bag, covered it with turquoise cardstock and punched a handle using SU's Key Tag punch. Super easy and lots of fun? I think so!

As always, I would LOVE to hear what you think! I hope y'all have a Stamptacular Day and a Springy weekend!