Make your own Rick Rack Flower!

Hi, Dolores here today to share with you an easy rick rack flower.  You can get rick rack almost anywhere and it comes in so many pretty colors that it is a perfect supply for crafting.  Here is what I am using today to make our flower.

1) Two 26" lengths of Wright's Turquoise rick rack that is 5/8 of an inch wide.
2)  Hot glue gun.  You can certainly substitute you favorite quick drying glue or low heat glue gun.

To get started we are going to twist the two lengths of rick rack together.  You will need to glue the ends of the two separate rick rack lengths together when you start so your twist doesn't come undone.

Keep twisting the two lengths together until the two pieces of rick rack are one twisted length.  Glue the ends together. Your finished twisted length is going to try to untwist and may look a bit odd but don't worry we will straighten out those twists when we create our flower.

To begin our flower we are going to take one end, fold our cut edges inside and glue. Then slightly roll the end into a small bud.  Put a dot of glue to keep your bud secure.

Now start wrapping the rick rack around your bud adding dots of glue along the way.

When placing your glue dots try to keep them on the lower half of the twisted ribbon.  See where my glue gun is pointing in the picture above.

Keep rolling and gluing the rick rack.  Your flower should look something like the picture above.  All our petals are curling in right now.

When you get close to the end pull approximately an inch of the twisted end to the back side of your flower and glue in place.  See how I tried to pull the end to a smooth flat spot.

The top side of your flower should look like this.  When the glue is completely dry, start of the outer most part of the flower and fold the petals back.  Work your way towards the center.  A few rounds of the petals should stay folded inward to make the center of the flower.  Here are some finished examples.

The flower we made today is on the lower left; it is about 2" across.  The width of your rick rack and the length of the strips determine the look and size of your flower.  The wider the rick rack the more width to your petals.  Also pay attention to the bulk of the rick rack.  Wright's rick rack has nice bulk and holds the flower shape well.  Thinner, less bulky rick rack will produce a smaller flower like the pink one above make with 1/2 " rick rack.

Hope you enjoyed today's tutorial.  Thanks for stopping by!

Dress up a Tin Box

Hi there, it's Cathy here with a hybrid project for you today.  What's hybrid? It's the combination of digital and tradition crafting. You may think that it requires an extra step of getting the digital products out of the computer and into your hands, but there are some great benefits to hybrid. The one I like best is that I can re-use digital papers over and over again!

The project I'm sharing today is dressing up a tin box. You could use this for presenting a special gift, or keep some cherished items in.

The digital papers that I used are from the digital Kit "Cherries Jubilee" by Kristin Cronin Barrow.
Here's how I made this box:
1. Select two digital papers to use for flowers and one for leaves.

2. Open digital paper selections in photo editing software and prepare for printing.

  3. Print selected digital papers on inkjet cardstock ( I used Red River Linen 60lb)

4. Use large and medium flower punch (Paper Shapers Retro Flower)to punch required number of petals to create flowers. For the twisted rose, punch three large flowers and one medium flower. For a rose, punch three large flowers. For the open rose, punch one large flower and two medium flowers. For the small rose, punch three medium flowers.

5.Work on a soft surface such as the back of a foam mouse pad. Create two twisted rose flowers. Use three large and one medium punched flower for each of these. Spritz the flowers lightly with water to make them easy to manipulate. Using tweezers, hold the middle of a petal and twist it about 90 percent.

 
6. Push the twisted petal in towards the middle of the flower. Repeat for the remaining petals on all three large punched flowers.

7. Using your fingers, scrunch medium punched flower in to a ball. The image below shows one punched medium flower and one that has been scrunched.

8. Lay one of the large punched twisted flowers on the work surface. Place a drop of liquid adhesive in the center (I used Beacon Adhesives 3-IN-1 Advanced Craft Glue). Layer another large punched twisted flower on top, alternating the petals. Use the handle of a small paint brush to push the center of the flower into the foam work surface to shape and adhere the flower. Repeat with third large punched twisted flower.

9. Add a drop of liquid adhesive in the center. Using tweezers, place the scrunched medium punched flower in the center to complete the twisted rose. Set aside to dry.

 

10. Create three rosettes. Use three medium punched flowers for each. Push the center of one of the flowers into the foam surface using the handle of a small paint brush.

11. Repeat step 10 for the two remaining medium punched flowers, making them each slightly tighter than the previous flower. There will be three shaped flowers pieces of varying openness as shown in the image below.

12. Layer the three shaped flower pieces starting with the most open on the bottom. Add a drop of liquid adhesive in the center and layer the middle open flower piece on top. Add a drop of liquid adhesive to the bottom of the tightest flower piece. Using tweezers, insert it into the middle of the two layered flowers to complete the rosette. Set aside to dry.

13. Create one rose. Use three large punched flowers. Use the handle of a small paint brush or stylus to curl the petals on one punched flower under.

14. Using the handle of a small paint brush, push the center of the remaining two large punched flowers into the foam surface.

 
15. Make one of the flowers tighter by squeezing it against the handle of the paint brush.

16. Layer the three shaped flower pieces using the same technique that was used to layer the rosettes. Start with the most open flower on the bottom and end with the tightest flower on the top. The image below shows the three shaped layers, most open on the right and tightest on the left.

17. This completes the creation of the flowers. See image below to identify each flower type.

 
18. Punch leaves from green digital paper.

19. Prepare the tin by coloring it with inks. Color the outside of the lid and base. Simply place dots of alcohol ink on the tin surface. Use an alcohol ink applicator tool to spread or overlap the inks if desired. Allow the inks to dry. Below is a picture of the tin prior to coloring with the inks. The inked tin is seen below in step 20.

20. Once the ink has dried, spray the lid and base of the tin with Beacon Decoupage Gloss Sealer. This will seal the inks and provide a nice smooth, glossy surface to the tin.

 
21. Wrap ribbon around the lid of the tin using fabric adhesive (I used Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac)

22. Adhere rhinestone sticker to lid.

23. Cut dimensional glue dots in fourths using non stick scissors

 
24. Use the cut glue dots to adhere the flowers and leaves to lid.

Here are some additional photos of the tin.

Altered Photo Frame with Graphic 45

Another great use for your scrapbooking supplies is to make custom picture frames.  Think of it as creating a 3D scrapbook layout.

I created this frame as a birthday present for my husband.  I started out with a picture frame that I picked up at a craft store.  The frame can hold an 8x10 photo. I placed a mat in it that would surround a 5x7 photo.

This photo of us was snapped while we were on vacation in Hawaii, and I just love it.  I printed it out at 5"x7".  The papers that I chose are Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue. I wanted a tropical feel, and the vintage look to these papers really gave the project a lasting, classic look.

I traced the mat onto two of the papers, then cut them. I adhere them to the mat.  I set the photo and mat in the frame under the glass.

I then created all the details for the frame design.  The roses and rosette were made using this tutorial.  I also made the small flowers (I'll need to do a tutorial for those soon!).  The leaves, parrot and small yellow flowers were fussy cut from some of the Graphic 45 papers.

The palm trees were created using coordinating cardstock. I cut the trees using my Silhouette Cameo and then paper pieced them together.

All of these details were adhered on top of the glass. This gave the frame some really great dimension.  Some items are adhered using double sided foam adhesive. Some I even doubled up the foam adhesive to give it extra depth.

You can get a feel for some of the layering looking down into the base of the palm trees in the image above.

Next time you're looking for a way to preserve a special photo, think 3D. Create a one-of-a-kind, personal photo frame.

Felt Flower

Hi everyone, Nancy here today to share with you a flower I made using just a few simple products you probably have in your stash.


First, here is my project...

Sorry about the color/lighting...but it has been raining for a while and I just can't seem to get good photos.

Here is how I made the fun flower.

You will need a fabric glue, a chipboard circle, your felt, a flower center (I used a pin) and four circles of the same size.  I used a die to cut my circles, but you could use scissors as well.

You can see here I have cut four circles of the same size and folded each in half.  Don't worry if they don't stay folded...they will.

 For the first circle, fold in half and place glue only on one quarter.

  Glue to your chipboard circle with the fold in the middle.

 Place glue on the second half circle and place perpendicular to the first, again with the fold in the middle.

Then following the same technique place the third circle

The fourth circle is a little tricky.  You will need to place half of it on top of one quarter of the third circle and the other half under the first circle. (this is a little like how you may fold and seal a box if you don't have tape.)

Finally add your center.

And here is the final flower on my layout.  So fun and such great dimension.

Hugs.

Nancy