Thursday, January 3, 2013

Procrastinate!

Several months ago I saw a fun and sassy sign in a consignment store that said, “Procrastinate it frees up time to craft!”  I knew then and there that I would be making something using those words!

Procrastinate

I made up several of these for Christmas gifts.  It was perfectly suited for a choice few of my friends.  (wink, wink, I won’t name names!)  It starts with a simple frame (mine were purchased at the Dollar Tree).  I cut scrapbook paper to fit behind the glass and then cut the words from vinyl with my Cricut and rubbed them onto the glass.  The flowers and ribbon were applied using Zots 3D dots. 

The process of creating the flowers was so much fun!  I went on a four day crafting getaway and made these during much of that time.  Addictive?  I should say so!  This is how they came to be:

Step 1.  Lots and lots of flowers were cut from heavy scrapbook paper using my “Tattered Florals” Tim Holtz die and Vagabond cutter.  The finished flowers are layered so it takes 2 or 3 cut flowers to create one finished dimensional flower.

cutthepaperflowers

Step 2.  I rolled the petals around a skewer to shape them.

curlthepetals

Here are several of the die cut flowers shaped and ready to get dipped into the hot UTEE

lotsofcurledpetals

Step 3.  Holding a flower with teezers I dipped it into the melted Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel also known as UTEE.

pinchit

Step 4.  Once the entire front of the flower is coated with UTEE I lift the flower out letting excess drip off.  It may still be a little gloppy but that gets fixed in the next step.

pickitup

Step 5.  I placed the gloppy UTEE coated flower onto a craft sheet and began heating it with a heat tool.  The excess embossing enamel melts away and forms puddles on the sheet.  Using tweezers I moved the flower out of the puddle and continued to heat until all of the petals had a smooth glossy finish.  Lastly, I sprinkled some micro beads onto the flower while the petals were still melty.

heatandbeads 

Here are several of the smaller flowers all beaded up.

 allbeaded

Step 6.  I layers the different shapes and sizes onto one another using Zots 3-D Dots.  Here’s a whole pile of finished flowers ready to go onto the frames.

afullbouquet

I really like how much texture and dimension the micro beaded petals have!  I think choosing a really heavy scrapbook paper that had some printed texture on it really added to the success of this project too.  Let me know if you give it a go!

Hugs and Happy New Year!

Suzanne

beadifulflower