Tuesday 23 April 2013

Colourful Card and Tissue Paper Carnations Tutorial

Hey folks, this is a big post with loads of piccies, but I've made the photos small so it shouldn't take too long to download. Anyway, there's a tutorial so it's worth it - woohoo :-)

This week, Simon Says Stamp and Show...colour! Well, I finally bought some pan pastels at the Belfast Craft show last week (had a fabby time meeting up with Lee and spending way too much, but that's another story...). I spent the weekend having a play so thought I'd share my first Pan Pastel card:

"Believe all things are possible"

This has my standard acetate tunnel construction (see project 3 on this post for tutorial). The background has blended pan pastels with stamped flowers and grasses. The clouds are done with splats of picket fence distress stain over the pan pastels. I love the effects from the shadows with this type of construction.

"Tissue paper carnations"

The flowers are all handmade from tissue paper (see later for the tissue paper carnation tutorial). You can just make out some of the background stamping in this photo.

"More flowers"

The tissue paper for these flowers was coloured with pan pastels and a large sponge. The pastels are the best thing I've ever found for colouring tissue paper!!!

"Wire leaf"

I used wire to make all these flowers' stalks, turning the other end up to make a clip to attach all the flowers to the card. Some extra pieces of wire were curled to make leaves.

"Stamped on acetate"

I love this aeroplane and banner stamp from Sam Poole's "Vintage Aviation" set. It is stamped along with the sentiment onto heatproof acetate using black archival ink and embossed in clear, then picket fence distress paint is painted onto the back of the banner with a paintbrush to make the sentiment stand out. It looks as if the plane is really flying!

"View showing construction"

This view shows the construction and different layers better. There are flowers on the background, attached to the acetate, and finally fixed to the front. The cardstock is also decorated with pan pastel flower and grass stamping but it's hard to see in the photo.

Ingredients:
Creative Expressions Sam Poole stamp set: Vintage Aviation
Creative Expressions stamp set: The Village (flower & grass stamps - thanks to my good friend Kathy who so kindly sent me this stamp set!!)
tissue paper flowers with wire stalks
Pan Pastels: Ultramarine Blue Shade, Magenta Extra Dark, Magenta & sofft tools
Versamark ink pad
Archival ink pad: Jet Black
Embossing powder: Clear, detail
Distress paint: Picket Fence
Distress stain: Picket Fence
Distress markers: Spun Sugar, Dusty Concord
cardstock: purple 300gsm, white 160gsm
tissue paper
construction wire
adhesives: PVA, glossy accents

Entered for the following challenge:
Simon Says Stamp and Show... Colour


...and here's the promised tutorial for the tissue paper carnations. For the smaller carnations, I make the stalk from wire, but the larger ones are just as good with cotton bud centres.


1. Everything you need - tissue paper, coloured marker, carnation creations dies & cotton bud

 
 2. Take a full sheet of tissue paper and fold in half


3. Fold in half again (thickness = 4 sheets)


4. Fold in half again (thickness = 8 sheets)


5. Fold in half again (thickness = 16 sheets)


6. Place on die cutting plate and arrange dies


7. Pass through roller-type die-cutting machine a few times, turning the sheet if necessary, until all the layers of tissue paper have cut through.


8. Separate the flowers, but keep the layers of tissue paper in the dies for now.


9. Take one of the flowers and carefully lift out one petal, lifting all the layers of tissue paper together.


10. Now colour the edge of the petal with the marker. You do not need to separate the layers, lifting it out of the die like this will allow all the edges to be coloured without separating them.


11. Work your way around the rest of the petals, replacing each into the die before moving onto the next one. Pop out the centre hole using a pokey tool or similar.


12. Remove the tissue paper from the die, holding all the layers together.


13. Thread a cotton bud through all the layers. You may need to wiggle it slightly to push it through. Be careful not to tear the paper. If it's too tight a squeeze, you can cut the bud from one end and thread it through that way.


14. Carefully separate the top layer of tissue paper and push to the top of the cotton bud.


15. Use the other hand to scrunch the petals up tight around the tip of the cotton bud.


16. Separate the next layer of tissue paper and push it up towards the top of the flower...


17. ...and scrunch it around the previous layer.


18. Continue separating each successive layer...


19...and scrunching the petals around the previous layer.


20. Take care with the layer separation, they can stick together,


21. but you don't need to worry about the scrunching.


22. The more uneven, the better.


23. Real flowers are never perfect!


24. And neither are mine :-)


25. Not quite finished yet, we need some glossy accents.


26. Add a drop to the base of the flower where the bottom petal touches the stalk. This will seal the petals in place and stop them falling down the stalk. Just leave it upside down to dry (I find a plastic glass useful for this). Once dry, you can fluff the flowers out a bit if you want.



I got carried away and made a whole bunch!

27 comments:

  1. WOW!!! Maddy this is superb and what a fantastic tutorial, I really love your carnations (must try that when I run out of my shop bought ones) you make it look so easy and they look so beautiful.
    Hugs Teresa xx

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  2. What a fabulous tutorial...gorgeous flowers.xxx

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  3. Flowers looks gorgeous, great tutorial. xxx

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  4. Maddy...this card and tutorial are amazing! Love them! Where do you get the carnations dies? I absolutely love them! What is the name brand so I can look them up? I hope they are available in the US because I have GOT to try those! :) So cute! I really love your card. You come up with the best card construction! I'll add this one to my list of ones I really want to do. I need to check out your tutorial on the acetate tunnel. You did a fantastic job on this card. The vintage airplane and banner are so cute. They do cast a really cool shadow! Thanks so much for sharing yet another wonderful card and techniques with us at Simon Says Stamp and Show. <3 Candy

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  5. Just lovely, as always, Maddy. Definitely going to have a go at something along those lines myself. Thanks for a great tutorial.

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  6. Maddy...thanks so much for the info on the flowers. I definitely have to get those...and you're right...I can get them here. Yippee!!! <3 Candy

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  7. WOW!!!!!! Totally stunning Maddy. A gorgeous design with beautiful colours and such pretty flowers.
    Your tutorial is brilliant, I will definitely be having a go at making some carnations. Yours look so realistic.

    Thank you Maddy for your very kind comments on my recent cards, I was so touched when I read them.
    Take care
    hugs Sue xx

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  8. Maddy these are stunning and a great tutorial.

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  9. great card and tutorial, Maddy. Fabulous work x

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  10. love the card and fabulous tutorial must give this a go
    Hugs Kate x

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  11. Hi Maddy,

    So pleased you got to meet Ruth and yes, she is a lovely lady.

    And pleased you got your mitts on some PP's at last, you are going to love them.

    Great tutorial, thanks for the inspiration.

    B x

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  12. I just knew that you would do incredible things with those pan pastels. Maddy this is amazing and I love your carnations. Carnations are a big favourite in this house. Mark buys them for me all the time. Yours look so real too. So beautiful. I bet you are loving the Pan Pastels. Lee x

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  13. wow what a super tut ... and just love your flowers ... well done ... you make it look soooo easy lol ... happy crafting and love sandy xx

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  14. Wow, such an amazing project, the flowers are fantastic. Thanks for the tutorial.

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  15. WOWZERS! What a beauty here! The soft colors are wonderful and your scene is delightful! I love the banner on the plane...perfect! Those carnations and your tutorial are great...thank you! Thank you for sharing your true colors with us this week here at Simon Says Stamp & Show!

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  16. Lovely project. The tissue carnations are beautiful.

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  17. Beautiful flowers, thank you for the tutorial. Just hopping by Lizzie

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  18. fab card and great tut thanks for sharing x

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  19. stunning card and tutorial Maddy! Fi x

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  20. Beautiful card....great tutorial....Just hopping by...Julieannex

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  21. Fabulous card and great tutorial thanks for sharing

    Lorna xx

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  22. Fab card and a great tutorial x

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  23. very pretty card & beautiful flowers.thank for tutorial.sue xx

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  24. stunning - must have taken forever - the tutorial is so helpful

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  25. Those tissue paper flowers are so pretty - must have a go at making some!

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  26. Maddy, I already commented on your great tutorial when you first posted it, but am just hopping over on the weekend blog hop, hope you're having a great weekend.

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  27. Beautiful as ever - thanks for the great tutorial - might have a go at these some time
    Linda x

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Thanks for leaving a comment, it's nice to know I'm not just talking to myself :)