Another week of surprising and stunning layouts – thanks so much to everyone who has contributed. There are masses of ideas to inspire here – although perhaps we should have mentioned that a more specific ‘make your own flower challenge is coming soon!
Anthea Peterson sent in this stunning page and we thought the colour palette was striking. She writes: I love making my own embellishments, especially when it uses up scrap papers LOL
I have made some Rolled Flowers, 'Zig Zag' Flowers (there may be a better name for them LOL) and some Flower Heads from pre-made paper flowers. I have supplied some close up photos too.
To make the rolled paper flowers you need to cut a circle of paper, then cut it into a spiral, start rolling in from the outside to the centre, when you get to the centre adhere the rolled part to the little base that is left.
For the Zig Zag flowers cut a strip of paper, fold it back and forth so it looks like a zig zag, adhere the ends together then flatten it out on a circle of scrap cardstock, use a strong adhesive. Decorate the centre with a sticker, button, brad.....
For the Flower Heads gather 4 pre-made paper flowers, place some string glue in the centre of each. Pinch the first one up, then place it in the centre of a second flower, pinch that up around it, and repeat till you have used up all 4 flowers.
Dale Tiernan sent in this softly feminine page and shares.. I've been teaching myself to make flowers with lace and ribbon. I don't sew very much so it's quite a challenge. I've made quite a lot of the lace flowers. I've made very few of the satin ones. I combined one of each to make the flower featured on this page. Happy with the result in this instance. Will persevere as I think it's worth it (even with the needle pricking that comes along with it).
Perhaps a thimble, Dale?!
Heidi Barclay sent in another striking page and writes: I have made a concertina flower, and then cut a circle out of the flip side of the Echo Park PP, the centre is made from some paper twirling.
I have also added a twilled circle but slightly looser, to incorporate the red from the back of the photo.
The inimitable Leeann Pearce has sent in another pearler this week, and shares her technique. I absolutely LOVE to make embellishments… I always have even when I first started scrapping. I would spend fun minutes whipping something up to place on the pages. I started making these crate paper rosettes over a year ago. And I still love them they are just so quick and easy to make and they look fantastic on the page. Grab yourself a pack of crate paper take it out of the wrapper and leave folder. Just cut a 2 inch strip from it. Now unroll it and us the same technique you do to making a fabric one. Twisting and turning and wrapping as you go. At the end just use some glue. Punch a circle from scraps and adhere that to the bottom. For this shabbier feel, simply unravel it and scrunch. Add some pearls and brads and pebbles to pretty them up. I made a button and two heart pins from fimo plus I hand dyed some doilies. I have used a mixture of punches and scraps of pattern paper to make a paper garland and stitched that to the page.
The skies the limit when it comes to embellishments – I love it!
Many thanks to Lady Grace Belarmino for this pretty page. She writes: I love how my handmade flowers turned out. The first one was made of patterned papers. I simply cut several sizes of petals and glue them together. The second one was made of ribbon adhered over a circle cardstock.
And how’s this wonderful selection of handmade, and crocheted flowers! Livia says I made all the flowers and brads!!
I love this "make it yourself". Thanks for all the inspiration!!!
Marisa Page sent in this innovative layout, writing: I have soaked chipboard flower shapes in water, pulled the layers apart then glues them back together, twisting each layer slightly. I then added glimmer mist.
I dried them with a heat gun which made the petals curl inwards.
Natalie Elphinstone shares this prettiest of pages, with another different flower making technique. She writes: Here's a layout I just put together which features all handmade embellishments. Sometimes the easiest way to get the look you're after is simply to make it yourself! I made these flowers by punching circles and folding them up for some dimension before adding a brad to the centre. The stems were fussy-cut from a pattern on the paper (All these patterned papers are from the new Cosmo Cricket Upcycle collection).
But even when the patterned paper doesn't have designs you can fussy-cut, you can always cut your own simple shapes and piece it together like I did with the clouds, banners and grass. It's an easy way to create a 'scene' page.
And finally, there’s a pretty simplicity to this layout from Sharmaine Kruijver. She writes: For this page I made a layered embellishment using a doily, a punched scalloped circle (using an old atlas page), a punched circle (using a recycled kraft envelope) and topped it with an old covered button that I added stiches to.
I also used some pressed flowers as embellishments. These pressed flowers used to belong to my Grandma-in-law, who loved to make her own cards, so I thought they would be a great sentimental addition to the page.
