I'm hosting a Paper Party at my house this Friday night. I set out my tools and supplies and allow people to make whatever they want to for a while. People really love coming, and I really love getting things together for the party. This is one of the ideas I was playing with as a little inclusion in the gift baggie everyone will get. It turned out so cute, I had to share it on here.
Making your own embellishments not only saves you money and time (YES, time, because you're not going to the store and you're not shopping for hours and agonizing over which embellishments to buy because you have to stay within your budget and you can't get them all!) in your own paper crafting, it can help you in giving gifts to your good friends who are also paper crafters. I love to give my handmade embellishments as presents, knowing that it's something my friends will USE. And since paper crafters often give their own creations away, your present is like a double present--one for your friend, and one for whoever gets it placed on a gift from your friend. Awesome!
Anyway, in making these, and getting ready to post, I was reminded of what my students often ask. How do I pick colors? Well, I'm not a genius, I can tell you that. But I am aware. I look through things I LOVE and when I do love them, I take time to pick apart the colors that are present in what I love, and then I use those combinations in my work. For instance, color inspiration (dark blue, orange, red, and white) for this little project came from BasicGrey's Marrakech collection. To view this and other completely awesome collections from BasicGrey, go to www.basicgrey.com.
To do this same embellishment, you need the things pictured below.
Two paper punches, one larger and one smaller (or just use two punches that are the same size... really, play with what you have!)
VersaMagic DewDrops in Night Sky and Pumpkin Spice (I believe they come together in a set)
Sakura Glaze Pens, dark blue and orange (they came in a set together)
Red Marker
Flashy Floral Clear Stamp set from Inkadinkadoo! (My favorite set right now!)
White cardstock
Glue
Center embellishment: I'm using a dark blue button from a bag of tiny buttons I bought at JoAnn. (The last time I shopped for buttons there, I was pleasantly surprised at all of the new, cute colors I saw in the cheap bags of buttons. They used to only have a few, and now there are a lot more!)
1/16" thick dimensional adhesive... this is to keep the bulk of your embellishment down, and also because every store-made layered embellishment I've seen uses 1/16" and NOT 1/8". You need to look and make sure that it's thinner, or make sure the package says that it's 1/16", because most of the foam adhesive out there is 1/8". If you can't find tiny circles of it, just cut the pieces until they're small enough to fit under your chosen punch.
1. Punch your pieces out of white cardstock, or whichever color you choose.
2. On a piece of scrap paper, trace around the outside of the punched pieces with your marker. This will leave an inked edge look. Don't worry about it being perfect. I obviously didn't. (Look at the large flower.) It will blend in later. (This is the super awesome way of doing this that I stumbled upon just for making this embellishment, and I seriously cannot hide my excitement over the fact that I now have a superbly easy way for making the inked edge look on my punched and cut pieces!!!!!!)
3. Using Night Sky ink and the Pineapple stamp from the Flashy Floral set, stamp the larger flower. Ink a smaller portion of the stamp and stamp again to get any areas left white during your first pass. Clean the stamp (I use baby wipes) and let it dry. Ink a small portion of the stamp (enough to cover the smaller flower--you don't need to ink the whole stamp every time!) and stamp over the smaller flower. Clean the stamp and let it dry before you put it away.
4. Go through with your glaze pens and draw in some of the patterns left by the stamp. Use dark blue on the dark blue and orange on the orange. This is not an exact science--aim to color about 50% of the outer petals. If using the Sakura glaze pens, make sure you don't put ink in the middle of either flower (it will get covered up anyway, but could also interfere with some adhesives). I love the Sakura pens because they leave a slightly raised sheen that makes these embellishments look less handmade. You could skip this step entirely if you want to.
5. Using your Sakura pen, or another similar sized gel pen, shape the petals of your flowers. Place the pen in the center of a petal and curl the petal around the shaft of the pen. Repeat for all petals. On the smaller flower, do this same thing, but you may want to squeeze the petals slightly when you finish to give it more of a defined look. Just don't squeeze hard enough to leave a big crease.
6. Attach the top piece to the bottom using the 1/16" dimensional adhesive. You can eyeball it, but to dramatically increase your chances of doing this well the first time, use this little trick: peel only one side of the foam adhesive away and stick it to the back of the TOP piece. With the bottom part of the adhesive still covered, center the top piece where you would like it to be on the bottom piece. Look at it. Pick up the smaller piece and peel the adhesive cover away, THEN carefully place the top piece onto the bottom piece. I don't know why it works, but this is what I show my students, and every single one of them has more success when they do it this way. It's like your brain remembers where it's supposed to be and puts it there. Pretty neat!
7. Glue or attach your chosen embellishment to the middle. I thought this look just begged for a button instead of a jewel, so I used a tiny button that I bought at JoAnn.
All of the supplies for this project can be purchased at JoAnn except for the smaller flower punch. Hey, I don't get any commission off of my sales (I WISH I did, because I'd make some serious cash that way), I just say what I love, and I shop there all the time because I teach there. Hope this was helpful! Remember, check out colors around you and remember what you love, then include it in your projects.OH, YES! To give these as gifts, I like to place small photo squares on the backs (if the punch is large enough). I just don't peel the adhesive cover off. When the lucky recipient of my embellishments receives them, they can the peel the cover and use the embellishment just like a sticker. If your embellishment won't work for this, just let the person know they can use a good paper glue like my fave, Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive which is not just my fave because it glues really well and REALLY fast (the bond is almost instant between two pieces of paper), but the cap is made so that you can store the glue upside down. LOVE it!
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