Flower Power

I'm here today to announce, with great pleasure, that I've had my first layout published!  Of course, I can't post the layout here, but if you subscribe to Scrap-n-Art Magazine, look for my layout in the "Reader Submissions" article.

The May issue of Scrap-n-Art is devoted to flowers.  You will find in its pages all kinds of layouts, cards, mixed media art, wearable art, and home decor projects--all embellished with flowers.  Some of these projects are embellished with pre-made flowers, but many are embellished with handmade flowers.

Supplies: card base (Yours Truly for Archivers), cardstock (Wausau Paper), patterned paper (October Afternoon), punch (All Night Media), thread (DMC), chalk (Stampin' Up), pens (Zig), rick rack (Wrights), ink (Stewart Superior).

I love making flowers of all kinds.  Since I can't post my layout here at the moment, I thought I'd share with you a different flower-related project, the card that you see pictured above.  I created this card last summer, and although I've posted it in my Flickr photostream, I've never posted it on my blog...until today!

The inspiration for this card comes from my collection of Russian dolls.  I made my own paper-piecing pattern by studying my dolls, especially their facial features.

To make the flower on the doll's tummy, I punched eight hearts from patterned paper.  I inked the edges of all the hearts with a pen, then I arranged four of the hearts in a circle, with their points touching in the center.  I used embroidery floss to sew the hearts down.  Then, I filled in the rest of the flower by gluing the remaining four hearts behind the sewn hearts.  To top it all off, I fluffed up the sewn hearts gently with my fingers, then I glued a Petaloo rhinestone in the center of the flower.

This kind of Russian doll is called матрёшка, which means "little mommy."  Since we are celebrating Mother's Day today in the USA, I thought this would be a good day to share this card.

For more ideas on making and/or embellishing your own flowers, I invite you to check out the other projects on my blog that are labeled "flower*power."  Thanks for looking!