Think Spring and a Daffodil Tutorial

Hello Bloggers!

Hope everyone is well!  It was starting to look like spring in these parts of the globe, but this past weekend brought a tremendous amount of snow so now it feels a bit more like Christmas.  To keep that spring feeling alive, I have a spring inspired card to share, as well as a tutorial for making your own daffodils.  Here is my card:

The stamps are all masked together and I love how this little scene turned out.  Daffodils and little baby kittens always make me think of spring!

The flowers are all hand made - my attempt at daffodils, tulips and simple poppies.  I like how they turned out, but next time I would change the tulips just a bit.  I'll do a tutorial on the tulips and poppies in another post later on to keep the size of this one down:).  Scroll down to the end of the post for the daffodil tutorial.

Supplies:

Paper -  Bazzil and Stampin' Up card, 300g hot pressed water colour paper, My Mind's Eye miss caroline papers

Stamps - all Magnolia (spring fence, cat and Tilda with cat)

Ink - Image stamped with black stazon, coloured with Distress inks - antique linen, frayed burlap, scattered straw, black soot, weathered wood, milled lavender, vintage photo, tattered rose, bundled sage and tumbled glass.  Papers inked with milled lavender and weathered wood, flowers and die cuts coloured with scattered straw, wild honey, weathered wood and milled lavender.

Dies & Cricut cut shapes - flowers started out as cuts from cricut Straight from the Nest and Forever Young cartridges, image mat is from Elegant Edges cricut cartridge, all die cuts are from Cheery Lynn - Italian Flourish Doily, Fanciful Flourish and small Exotic Butterflies

Other - sunshine yellow flower soft, Tim Holtz sheer ribbon layered under the scalloped strip of MME paper (I don't think it shows up too much in the photo)

This card is for the following challenges:

Magnolia-licious Highlights - Feb DT blog hop 'Spring is Right Around the Corner.'  This is where I got the inspiration to make my own daffodils - Patti Jo used punches to make her own and they are gorgeous!  You can check them out here.

Magnolia-licious challenge - Think Spring with photo inspiration; I used the fence and flowers, though mine aren't pink - hope that's alright :o)

Simon Says Stamp -Three different papers

Just Magnolia - Romantic doily

Stamptacular Sunday - Photo inspiration

The Sketchy Challenges - sketch

Cheery Lynn Designs - Lots of layers + a DT call!!! (I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed for this one!  They have such beautiful dies, if you haven't checked them out, pop by their blog)

Now for those crafty folks who love to make your own flowers as much as I do, here is how I arrived at my daffodils:

I started with a star shaped flower - this one is on the Straight from the nest cricut cartridge.  I cut an extra one as these particular flowers only have 5 petals and daffodils have 6, so I needed to borrow an extra petal.  This also makes for a flower with fuller petals.

Mark the centre of each flower with a small dot and cut the petals deeper toward the centre as shown.  Cut all the way down to the centre line with one of you cuts only - this is where you will sneak in that extra petal.  On the spare flower, completely remove one petal.

I coloured my daffodils with Distress scattered straw.  Obviously skip this step if your paper is already the colour you want it.

Gently mist the flowers with water from a spray bottle.  They should be damp, but not saturated.  Carefully fold each petal accordian style, but don't try to be too perfect.  Gently unfold, leaving substantial creasing.  Twist petals slightly as desired.  Allow to dry (should not take very long, but you can use a heat tool if you like).  Once dry, glue the extra petal at the centre of the flower.  It should look like the one pictured below.

Next cut a small strip of paper to create the centre.  Don't worry too much about getting the size perfect right away; it can be trimmed as you go.  I used Fiskars ripple scissors along the top edge for a ripply effect.  Pinking scissors would work as well or you can leave it straight. 

Colour and gently mist with water as in steps  above.  This next part is very tricky - Carefully roll the top edge back and curl the length into a cylinder.  This will have to be done gradually in alternating steps to avoid tearing the paper.  Once you are satisfied, trim the length and/or width as needed.  I made my centres long enough to slightly overlap when rolled around the end of a pencil, but larger flowers will need larger centres.  When trimming the height, leave them slightly longer than needed to allow the bottom to be folded in and glued.  Cut small strips as shown for easier folding.

Apply glue to one edge.  Wrap around a circular object of appropriate size and glue edges together.  Apply glue to flaps on bottom and fold in.  Allow to set until glue starts to 'grab' and remove from your 'mold.'  

Adhere centre to base of flower.  Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping in!  I hope you have enjoyed my card and tutorial.  If you have questions, please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail.  I would love to see your daffodil creations, so please leave me a link to your projects.  And finally, thanks for taking the time to leave a comment - I appreciate each one of them and love to visit you back!  Enjoy the rest of your week!

Hugs,

Dawn