Flower Tutorial 1

I've been making flowers for wedding cakes, out of sugar paste for alot of years now, so thought I'd try them in paper, after all it's a very similar technique. I had a look on the internet and found a few good tutorials and also found one that used a sizzix die, that I already had, so that was my starting point. One tutorial I came across was by Michelle who makes various paper flowers and they're always so lovely.This is my version of the flowers.1. First of all you'll need to get a few tools together. Here's what I use:-

Thick paper of thin card or patterned paper, glue, scissors, tweezers, ball tool, embossing mat, ink pad if you're going to colour the flower, and flower die or punch. If you don't have a suitable die or punch, you can always make your own template which will work just as well.

2. Cut out4 flower shapes, 2 large and 2 small.

3. Cut down between each petal, but not all the way to the centre. This is get a bit more movement in the flower.

4. Colour your petals if you're using plain coloured card. I use distress ink and Cut n Dry foam, and just distress the edges. You can use anything to colour your petals, try stamping on them too, anything goes!.... lol. You need to colour both sides.

5. Place the side edge of a petal (where you cut) between the tweezers and gently turn inwards, this makes the petal curl. Do this on the right side of each petal, then turn over and do the other side.

6. Place your petals on the embossing mat, with the right side facing and rub the ball tool over the center in a circular movement and give is a press down, this makes the petals turn upwards.

7. Place some glue on the wrong side in the centre, do this on 3 sets of petals, then build up your flower by placing one on top of the other. Once you've got them together, give them a final push down with the ball tool.

Finish off by sticking a gem in the centre. When the glue is dry you can tweek the petals around a bit till you're happy with the final shape. I add some greenery once I've attached the flowers to the card.
There are few variations of this flower which I also use, I'll add the photos soon.
I hope you find this little tutorial helpful and if you make them I'd love to see, so pop and leave a comment so I can go over to your blog and take a lookie.
Have fun!