...a wee flower - tutorial

Well, thank you all for asking for a tutorial - I sometimes put up a tutorial and then think it seems a bit conceited - as if I imagine everyone will want one! I was glad to see that sometimes people do like to know how things are made!!

Anyhow, this wee flower is just the sort of thing I love to come up with - It looks like it takes a lot of time and effort when really it's the easiest wee thing to make.

My tutorial is based on a card I made for my daughter - she likes bright things (sigh).

The card in the tutorial makes a single round of petals - In order to make a card like the one above just draw 2 concentric circles at step 1 and make the cuts around these. Read on and you'll see what I mean.




Step 1
On the wrong side of the card, draw a circle about the size you want the centre of the flower to be. Decide how many petals you want in this round. - I chose 6 for the example so I made 6 equally spaced marks round my circle.

I have a Making Memories slot punch tool that came with a little semicircle tab punch and this is what I used to make the cuts. Each cut was centred on one of the 6 equally spaced marks. - I arranged it so that the little cut bulged out away from the circle - this is vital to making the ribbon sit properly.

If you are making a card with two or three rounds of petals - draw another one or two circles outside this centre circle - make sure they are centred and at least 3/8 of an inch apart. - cut the first row of slits and then cut the next row of slits so that they sit 'between' the first slits. If you look at the photo of the cream flower you will notice how the petals of the second row fall between the petals of the second row.

TIP - I used two different sizes of ribbon - the wider one (2nd row petals) was just over half inch and the smaller one was 3/8 of an inch (1st row petals).
Step 2
Take a length of ribbon about 3 inches long - you can cut it shorter when you've practiced a couple of times. I used 15mm (just over 1/2 inch) wide ribbon for this example.

Fold the ribbon round on itself - see pic 2 - to make a little pointy loop and then flatten the loop between your fingers.

Step 3
Push the ribbon, point first, through the curved slit. Pull it out the other side just far enough to allow the loop through. - If you pull it back a tiny bit, the petal will sit up nicely.

Step 4
Repeat step 2 until all 6 petals are made. Note the position of the ribbon in step 4 - if your petals aren't sitting properly check that your ribbon is the correct way round.

Step 5
When you are happy with the petal arrangement, turn the card over and secure the ribbon to the back of the card, I used an extra strong tape.

Step 6
Turn your card over and admire your work.

For the red flower - I made a centre by stamping a tiny circle with a flower centre from the Boxes Bags and Tags stamp set from PTI . I then stuck a little brown ruched ribbon behind it. I cut up a kraft card die cut snowflake (wizard die) to get the four little stamen thingies - not sure if this is what they are really called.


Anyhow - hope this is ok - I would really love to see if anyone makes these.

I'm heading off on holiday in a few days but I'm gonna try to have a few posts scheduled to go up while I'm away.