Hi everyone!
If you saw my Blog post last week, you will have seen that I used these beautiful Spellbinders Dies...
So this week I decided to make the Peony flower dies using flower forming foam.
Now, just in case you are wondering, this is not the same as Funky Foam.
📝 NOTE - This type of foam can be formed and shaped with heat, or stretched with tools or fingers whereas funky foam cannot.
There are numerous tutorial out there on YouTube to show you how to do this is your first time
Please bare with me today as I'll be showing you lots of ideas.
Step 1
Cut out your flowers, leaves and stamens in your chosen colours.
On my machine, I can cut out 4 layers at once which is a bonus when you need so many, or you're not sure how many you will need when you first start off!
(Please check your machine instructions as they are all different).
Next I took my iron - I have a small one which I use for quilting, and that is ideal!
I set it on 'cotton heat' and used tweezers to hold a flower layer up to the iron for a few seconds (as seen above 📸).
✅ TIP - Be careful not to burn yourself whilst doing this.
Lay on a piece of sponge as seen and push the Ball Tool into the centre and squeeze into the sponge.
✅ TIP - I find a soft washing up sponge works well.
Then put the petals together and twist the tops round in your fingers, or roll them on the Shaping Mat (as seen below 📸). You can see that they are all twisted up.
So next you need to carefully stretch each petal across the middle without tearing it - I’ve tried to show it in a picture.
Step 2
Now the layers are prepared they need sticking together.
Place onto the Shaping Mat and have your Hot Glue Gun ready.
Put a small drop of hot glue in the centre, and place the next layer on pushing the ball tool in each time, but not too hard or your tool will stick.
✅ TIP - Try not to use too much glue either less is more
Keep going until you’re happy with your layer's.
When working with this foam, you don’t always have to heat it - it depends on how you want your flowers to look!
I did not heat any of the white and yellow flowers, or some of the coloured ones, I just rolled them on the shaping mat and stretched the petals out as seen in the pictures above.
Step 3
Finish each flower adding a stamen centre, or use some stamens ready made and glue in with hot glue.
The pink one doesn’t have a centre because I put quite a few layers in so didn't need any.
Now if you want your flowers to have stems, you will need some thin flower wire.
As seen in the picture, use tweezers to roll over the end before pushing the wire through the flower centre.
You might need to make a small hole in it with a pokey tool depending on how thick it is.
Just pull the wire through and then wrap green or brown florist tape around, and then roll the bottom end round so the tape doesn’t come off.
You will see I’ve done some single and double flowers; some created with heat and some without, but they all look pretty and amazingly created with just one set of dies......
To add leaves, just hot glue them to the backs of the flowers unless you want them on the stems.
These flowers are made with pre-coloured sheets, however you can add colour to them.
You can use pastels or inks - I used Simon Hurley's dye ink on one of the centres of the white ones to add a touch of green.
Step 4
Now what to do with them?
So as you can see, you can make some gorgeous spring wedding posies with the addition of pearls in the middles, button holes or even table decorations.
I’ve even seen them added to flower girls headbands so they have a lot of uses at weddings.
They also look lovely in little vases and general home decor, not forgetting a gorgeous boxed luxurious greeting card. I'm sure you are getting the idea :-)
However, today I’m going to make a gift in the style of a basket of flowers.
Step 5
Making the basket.....
For this you will need a piece of 12x12 double sided card - I found this lovely teal piece in my stash.
As seen in the pictures, you need to score 4 inches on each side which should give you 9 squares.
Now score diagonally on the corner squares; place it on your score board and line it up and then score to the corner of that square.
Now do the other three as seen - you might need to zoom in on the picture.
Next, burnish the 9 squares with a Bone Folder and then push and fold the corners in as seen 📸)
and punch a hole in each corner.
Now take a ribbon through each hole and pull together and tie off.
Make a big bow and with hot glue stick onto the top in the middle.
I also stuck the same ribbon around the top of the basket using red liner tape.
That’s the basket made :-)
Step 6
I did make up a few more flowers for this.....
As this is a gift, I wanted to add a couple of bags of chocolates in the bottom.
This also helps with the weight of the basket, but you can put in some hand cream or other gifts you choose - I just put in what I would want if it was given to me lol.
Add your flowers to finish; you can bend the stems in half to fit in the basket and tuck around the bags of chocolate to hide them.
📝 NOTE - They will straighten out if wanted to put in a small vase later
I think this would make a fabulous Mother’s Day gift what do you think?!
It could also be one colour for a new baby and a balloon attached.
A great idea as you can no longer take real flowers into hospitals, so a nice bright alternative!!
I really do hope this has inspired you to have a go at something a little different....
I love to see your ideas and takes on the makes you see so let me know how you get on .....
Share with us on our Facebook Group - Create With Craftmania And Jamie Rodgers.
Take care and happy crafting
Lynn x
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