Design Team Member Blog Assignment - Flower Tutorial

 Welcome back, Michelle, from our Scrapbooking Design team! She has graciously offered to show us three different ways to create the flowers on her blog assignment shared with us last week.

As promised here are the tutorials to make the three flowers on my Tim Holtz printer tray project. 


Let’s start with the simplest one, the scallop ribbon flower.

For this flower all you need is the scallop ribbon, a 2” gluber and scissors.

Trim one Gluber from the sheet of four that it comes on and remove the top protective sheet.  Take your ribbon with the scallops facing out and starting from the outside of the Gluber work the ribbon around the circle, pinching and sticking to the Gluber as you go. 

Continue this technique around and gradually work your way in to the middle of the flower. 

Once you have reached the center simply trim the excess ribbon. 

You can use the flower as is or you can add a brad or bling to the center as well. 

I added leaves to this flower on the project.  For this I just used some of the extra zipper and cut two angled pieces.  Because I used a Gluber the bottom of the flower already has adhesive and is ready to stick where you want it.  I stuck the two zipper pieces to the bottom of the Gluber and adhered the flower to my project.

Next up is the zipper flower.

To make this flower you will need a zipper, scissors, adhesive, a needle and thread in a color that matches the zipper.

First step is to unzip the zipper and cut off the end piece with the zipper pull attached. 

Next cut 6 pieces of zipper about 2 1/2” long.  (I used 2” pieces and thought they could be a little longer). 

Thread your needle and make a running stitch down the side opposite the teeth for each of the 6 petal pieces.

Once you’ve finished stitching hold the zipper and pull the thread to gather the zipper.  The zipper will naturally curl inward.

Once it is curled in stitch the ends together and secure your stitches.  That’s it for the petals.

For the center of the flower take a long piece of zipper and again use a running stitch up the side of the zipper opposite the teeth.  Start gathering as you go, it’s easier than trying to gather it all at the end. 

Keep going until you’ve reached the size coil you want, I eyeball it but it’s usually a good size when you have two coils.  Then stitch the bottom to the rest of the zipper to hold the coil in place. 

To put it all together, cut out a circle from a piece of scrap paper.  It doesn’t have to be a perfect circle just something that can help guide you and give you something to adhere the petals to.

 
Using Beacon’s 3-IN-1, glue down each petal to the circle.

Then glue your center coil in the center of the petals.

Once the glue has dried a little use a paper piercer to make a whole in the paper circle for your brad to go through.

Then just add your brad and secure the back.

And finally here’s how to make the muslin coil flower.

Start by trimming a 1” wide strip of muslin. 

On one end tie a knot, this will be the center of your flower.  Trim off any excess fabric on the short end, but leave enough so the knot stays intact.

We are going to use a Gluber for this flower as well, but this time we are going to start in the middle.  Start by placing the knot in the middle of the Gluber. 

Then moving clockwise, bring the fabric around the middle in a circle and twist the fabric as you go, and making sure to push down to attach to the Gluber.

Continue this technique until you’ve reached the outside of the Gluber and cannot adhere anymore fabric to it.  Peel back a small portion of the protective cover on the bottom side of the adhesive and secure the end of the flower.  Trim any excess fabric.

To finish the flower I used a little of the paint provided and sponged some on the top of the flower to add a bit of color.  Let dry and that’s it.

Now you have all the details to create your own printer tray complete with handmade flowers.  Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. 

Thanks ~ Michelle ~

Visit Michelle's design team page on our website, here,to see more of her work!