Felt flower Tutorial

It’s my day to post a little bit of fun for Trendy Twine today, and I thought I would share a fun little felt flower tutorial for you.  We have been using a great colour called Lemon Tart, and really, what a better place for it than in the center of a flower This is a great little flower that can be made in many sizes and used on a variety of projects.  I happened to use mine on a headband, but the sky is really the limit.  Click on the picture to access the tutorial.

Now that you know how to make them, there are all sorts of variations you can make.  I used a different coloured twine caller Blue Berry for a more “fuzzy centre” by using the same technique and simply cutting the looped pieces.  Mixing colours could also be fun!

Don’t forget that you still have time to enter the monthly challenge!  This month, it’s all about flowers, stamps and twine, so consider making one of these, use it on a card, layout or canvas and link up!   You could win a gift card to the store!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Free Standing Pop-up Card Tutorial

This is the closed version of the card – it will fit in a standard A2 envelope!

A couple of months ago, I shared a free standing pop-up card on the CropChocolate discussion board.  One of the ladies was really excited by the design, so I promised I would share the tutorial with her!  Now that Spring is here, I thought this fun, interactive card would be a great base for a card all about “things springing up”!  So Blue, this one is for you!

 Materials:  (all papers used for the example project are Echo Park Springtime)

-         Base: one piece of paper cut to 11″ X 4 1/4″

-         Pull Tag: one piece of paper cut to 5″ X 2 1/2″

-         Mat for Pull Tag: one piece of paper cut to 5 ¼” x 2 ¾”

-         Optional – wings: one piece of paper cut to 3” x 7 ½”

-         Fibre/twine for pull tab and embellishment (I used Stella and Rose)

Instructions:

Base:

1. Using the 11″ X 4 1/4″ piece of paper, score at the 1”, 2 ¾”, 3 ¾”, 5 ½”, 7 ¼”, 8 ¼”, and 10”
2. On the middle score line (5 ½”), mark the middle at 2 1/8” and measure out 1 ½” both ways.  You should now have a centered line along the score line that is 3” long.  This will be the slot in which the pull tag sides in and out.
3. Using a craft knife, cut along the 3” line.  Note: depending on the number of layers you plan to include on the pull tab, you may need to make you slit wider.  If so, simply run your craft knife approx. 1/8” beside the line you have already cut.

Pull Tag:

1. Place the paper you cut for your pull tag on the piece cut for the matting.

 Putting the pieces together:

1. With your base card right side up, apply adhesive to the bottom of edge of  one end along the 4 ¼” side.
2. On the other end of the same piece, apply adhesive approximately ¾” from the bottom edge (right below your first score line)
3. Slide the pull tag through the slit in the middle of the base
4. Fold UP the bottom 1” of the base on both ends (the ones that have adhesive), forming a sandwich with the pull tag in between in the center,
5. 

   The “wings” helps to keep this design open and standing.

   Optional – Although your card will now stand on its own when you pull up on the pull tag, I have added “wings” to help keep the card open.   Pull the tag up, so your card is in the open position.  Run adhesive along the back of the pull tag along the edge that meets the base of the card, and approximately 2 ½” up from this edge.  Line up your wing paper along the back of the pull tag, and adhere.  Fold the pieces that stick out over top of the pull tag across the front.  You now have two wings that can be opened when the pull tag is in the upright position. 

6. Embellish the card on any visible section.

Although there isn’t a huge amount of space to write a message, this is a fun greeting that you can share or send to add a bit of whimsy to someone’s desk!  I love the clean lines and spots to add embellishments and fibres that really make this card fun for the recipient!

After all, who wouldn’t want a card like this smiling back at them all day!  Thanks for stopping by!

A Board Book tutorial!

Okay, I am not quite sure how this happened, but I am two months behind cross-posting my CropChocolate tutorials here at Scrappy Canuck Studios.  While you can always find them over on The Crop, I like to have them here as well for all my crafty friends who don’t make it over to CropChocolate.  So, it is time to get the rear in gear and get them posted for you (before the May project is posted and I am three months behind).

First up – A Board Book Tutorial

A top view of the completed book - binding and all!

When Amber posted this month’s challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted to create.  With the Christmas season behind us, and many empty boxes to show for it, I thought it would be great to put all that fantastic chipboard to good use and create a board book for my girls.  I headed straight to Pinterest to check out the board book tutorial I had pinned back in the fall, but was shocked to see that the website that once held the tutorial was now lost in cyberspace somewhere. So, out came the trusty ruler, paper and glue, and after three attempts, here’s what I have to share with you!

Materials:

• Approximately 7 sheets of chipboard cut from old boxes (5 ½” X 5 ½”) – This will depend on the number of pages you would like for your book.  I wanted a total of 5 pages on the inside, so I cut 7 squares for the pages and the cover (front and back)
• 1 piece of chipboard cut at ½” X 5 ½” (this will be the spine of your book)
• 10 pieces of plain coloured cardstock cut to 5 ½” X 5 ½” (to cover each page)
• 4 pieces of patterned paper cut to 3”X 5 ½” – I used my favourite MME collection Fine and Dandy for all patterned paper.
• 1 piece of patterned paper cut to 12” X 6”
• 2 pieces of patterned paper cut to 5 ½” X 7”
• Liquid adhesive (such as Modge Podge)
• Brush to apply adhesive
• Optional – Distress Inks (BrokenChina, Peeled Paint, Worn Lipstick)

Instructions:

1. Cut paper and chipboard to the listed specifications.

To create the pages:

2.  Start by taking your 10 sheets of plain cardstock and apply them onto 5 pieces of cut chipboard – front and back.  Be generous when applying the adhesive, and place under a heavy book to dry flat.  I also added a bit of extra adhesive to the edges of each finished page to ensure that the little finger that will soon love the pages will not be able to peel off the paper from the chipboard.

3.  Take the four pieces of 3”X 5 ½” patterned paper and score them at the 1 ½” mark.  Fold in half.

Steps 4 and 5 - Connecting your pages together

4.  Apply adhesive to the wrong side of one of the four pieces and glue to the inside edge of one of your pages- being careful to line up the fold with the inside edge of your page.  These four pieces of paper will be what binds one page to the next.

5. Once you are confident with the placement of the paper, apply adhesive to the second side of the folded paper and glue this to the next page of your book.  You should now have two pages that are attached to each other on the inside edge.

6. Repeat with the remaining 3 pieces of 3”X 5 ½” patterned cardstock and the 3 pages.

7. Lay everything under a heavy book to dry. The inside pages of your book are now complete.

 To create the cover:

1.  Lay out your piece of 12” X 6” paper with the wrong side facing up.

2. Place your last two pieces of 5 ½” X 5 ½” chipboard on top, evenly spacing with the chipboard spine in between.  Each of your chipboard squares should be lined up with the left and right edge of your paper

Steps 2 and 3 - Creating the cover

3. Before gluing down, fold over your completed pages to make sure the cover is a good fit. Depending on the thickness of your chipboard pages and the number of pages you use, you may need to modify the width of the spine.  This is the time to do it!

4.  Glue all three pieces down onto the patterned paper.

5.  Fold down and glue the top and bottom edges of the paper over the chipboard.

To attach the cover to the pages:

1.  Take a both pieces of your 5 ½” X 7” and score 1 ½” from one edge (on the long side).  Fold.

Step 2 - Connecting the cover to your first page.

2.  Using your liquid adhesive, glue the 5 ½” x 5 ½” square that was created by the fold into the inside cover – there will be a 1 ½” flap not attached to anything.

3.  Take the loose flap and apply adhesive.  Careful line up this flap with the first completed page.  The first page should now be attached to your cover.

4.  Repeat with the final piece of paper and the last page of your book.

Your board book is now ready to decorate and embellish with a story, photos, letters, numbers – whatever you would like to share with the little people in your lives!

Flower tutorial – A Mum for Michele

The other night, fellow CropChocolate design team member Michele was encouraging us to get going on a project for the weekly challenge at CropChocolate. So, I thought I would take this chance to create a flower that was inspired by Michele (classic colours, with a bit of sass and spunk), and put together a tutorial for you!   I have actually seen a number of flowers of a similar shape popping up on Pinterest lately, all of which seem to be made with felt.  But you know how I love my pretty paper, so I thought I would use the paper cone trend to come up with my own version of this ”Mum-like” bloom (and with Mother’s Day around the corner, what better time to make some pretty mums ).

Here’s how you can create one too:

Step 1

Cut 12 – 1 1/2″ square and 11 – 1″ square (this will yield a flower with a 3″ circumference).  You can vary the size if you want a different size bloom, just remember that the smaller you go, the more challenging it is to roll the paper cones.

Step 2

Take each of your paper square and roll them into a paper cone with a point at the back end.  I tried to keep mine fairly uniform, but don’t worry about this too much – remember, flowers in nature are all one of kind!

Step 3

Punch a small 1″ circle (or cut one free-hand – you will not see it once the flower is complete so don’t worry about how it looks), and start gluing down your 1 -1/2″ cones in a circular pattern.  I used my glue gun, but any quick dry adhesive will work.  If you have varied the size of your squares, place them all down first to determine your spacing and to see if you will need more squares to fill in the spaces.

Step 4

Once you have finished all of your large paper cones, start layering the smaller ones on top placing them in the spaces in between the larger cones.  Continue in a circular pattern as you did with the first layer.

Step 5

Take a 1″X6″ strip of paper, fold it in half and fringe cut along the folded edge. This will become the center of your flower.

Step 6

Roll the fringed paper and glue the end.  Use your fingers to spread out the fringe at the top edge.

Step 7

Glue the fringe into the middle of the flower with your glue gun, glue dot, or any other quick drying adhesive.  Voila!  A beautiful bloom ready to adorn a card or even packaging (this would make a beautiful bow).

So there you have it – another paper flower to add to your repertoire! I am off to CropChocolate to post this finished card into the weekly challenge!  I might even pop on over to the DoYouStackUp blog to enter it into their weekly challenge since it is all about stripes!  Thanks for stopping by, and always, I would love to see projects you might create with this tutorial!  Leave me a link below and I will be sure to check it out!!  Have a great week everyone!