Sunday, March 27, 2011

Tutorial: Dahlia paper flowers {video & photo}

Hello everybody!


Its perfect sunny Sunday here in Greece and I decided to work on my projects from my yard, staring at the sea :)
I almost finished my Gatefold mini album and now I am in the process of making embellishments. As mentioned before, Europe is the worst location for finding scrapbook supplies, so, many of my embellishments I am making myself.
One of my favorite paper flowers is Dahlia, so today I am going to do a little photo tutorial how to make these great flowers.
Its really fast & easy, I learned how to make these in my elementary school for some crafty competition.


So here we go:


You will need: 
8 PUNCHED CIRCLES {double sided paper}
1 PUNCHED CARD STOCK CIRCLE { for the base}



STEP 1:


Fold all your circles in half. Do the same with the card stock.



STEP 2:

Fold all your circles again in half. This will give you 4 x 1/4 

STEP 3:
Unfold your circle. 
Fold one side of 1/4. Make sure when you fold one side, that both up and down corner are following the score line (those you made in step 1&2}

STEP 4:

Fold the side of the opposite 1/4.
Also, make sure that both corners are following the scored lines.

STEP 5:
Repeat step 4 for all the other 7 circles.

STEP 6:

Flip over your circle to the other side.

STEP 7:
Fold the one side towards the central line. The side you are folding is the same one you already folded on Step 3 {just on the opposite side}. Make sure that while you are folding, you do not go over the central scored line.

STEP 8:

Fold the other side towards the center, following Step 7 instructions.

STEP 9:
Repeat step 8 for all the other petals.



STEP 10:

Attach the first petal on your card stock. Since you scored your card stock at the beginning, use that score line as a guide to attach the first petal. Make sure that down corner of the petal does not exceed center of your card stock circle.

STEP 11:
Attach the second petal, making sure it is symmetrical with the first one {again following the score line}.

STEP 12:
Attach the 3rd petal on the side {following the horizontal score line you made before}.

STEP 13:
Attach the 4th petal making sure its symmetrical with the 3rd one.

STEP 14:

Attach the last 4 petals on the space left on the card stock.
{please note that I didnt glue petals on the card stock so thats why I have gaps in some places}

STEP 15:
Use some buttons {or whatever you may like} as embellishment.

And there it is! You have beautiful, fast & easy Dahlia flowers to decorate your projects!

I prefer to use double sided papers that are patterned on one and full colored on the other side, as it makes it more effective. Sometimes with double patterned paper when you fold the petals it can look little too messy as you wouldn't be able to see the layers.

So, I hope somebody found this tutorial helpful and will try to make their own Dahlias.

Wish you all nice lazy Sunday.

Stay creative!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Introduction & Corset Scrapbook mini album

Hello everybody!
So here it is, my very own first blog post :)

I decided to start blogging after months and months of delay.
It was always on my “I will do it tomorrow” list. Well, seems that tomorrow definitely had come :)

The reason of starting this blog is to share my scrappy-crafty projects, as well as all the useful tips & tricks I learned over the years.
I’ve been into scrapbooking for a while now, mostly started as a hobby. When I got married and moved to another country, I brought all kind of stuff that were very precious to me, so I had to find the way to store them somewhere and being pushed in the back of the drawers was not it. 


So that is how it all started.

First came simple albums, then came embellishments and before I know it I was spending more time searching for colors and papers then I did for shoes J Some of my girl friends ‘unfriended’ me from shopping therapy as I was hitting the wrong stores :)
During the bla-bla coffees with my friends, I was showing my projects, which basically lead to some ‘custom orders’ and before you knew it, hobby turned into some serious 8 hrs/day work. Needless to say, I got hooked :)

By the time I’ve realized that this turned into full time job, I decided to give up my advertizing career after 10 years and dedicate my full attention to scrapbooking.
I recently opened my Etsy store and been doing a custom work for some local stores & individuals.

As much as I love living in Europe and wouldn’t move anywhere else, I have to say that this is probably the worst place to find scrapbooking supplies. We are talking, not even 1 store in entire country holds scrapbooking materials. Bookstores are loaded with all kind of stuff but hardly any of those can be used for this type of art. As easy as it is now to order everything online, waiting for goodies to arrive from US can take up to 10+ days and it is rather annoying.

So this is the part where tips & tricks come to play :)

Most of the embellishments you see on my projects {especially flowers} are hand made by me. I was lucky enough to get a lot of fabrics, materials and vintage goodies from my mother in law, who had a huge clothing production back in the ‘70’s. She is retired now with a basement loaded of garment ribbons, lace, some seriously amazing vintage buttons and kilometers of  fabrics :)

So that would be all for now regarding introduction. I will share some photos of my latest project called CORSET STYLE SCRAPBOOK MINI, as corseting is one of my all time favorites.

Wish you all a great weekend and stop by sometimes, I will be posting tutorials of  some great hand made flower’s technique that you can find handy.