I didn't have enough time to go into detail about the flower I posted with the Free Shipping Special on Friday, but I have a few minutes now, before I have to start preparations for our barbecue picnic today.. we had a slight change in plans-originally our picnic was planned for tomorrow on Memorial Day, but my mom who is 84 requested that we have it today. She is 50 minutes away and would rather not travel home later on Memorial Day when the roads are more crowded. What a gorgeous day it looks like it will be-such a blue sky, a calm breeze and temps are expected to be in the 70's!
By now you've probably surmised that I am totally infatuated with the Dahlia Fold Flower...I think it's so pretty and it's impressive to others who think it's got to be very difficult to make-but it isn't! Just a bit time-consuming if you decide to make 10 or more at the same time, like I did!
I had wanted to make this flower using the scallop punch but kept forgetting to-and ended up making it quite by accident. Instead of grabbing my 1 3/8" circle punch to make the 8 circles for the Dahlia Fold Flower, I absentmindedly picked up my scallop punch! I didn't realize it until after I punched out 8 circles when I started to fold the first one...then it dawned on me that I've seen the flowers made from the scallop punch and they are beautiful! So I was glad I picked up the scallop punch instead! I wondered how the flower would look if it had a patriotic theme so I went to my Stampin' U! Designer Series papers and selected the polka dots and striped pattern in Rose Red and Brilliant Blue! I think the two patterns in two alternating colors look pretty dramatic together. What do you think?
It was a bit challenging to fold because the scallops don't match up evenly, but I eventually figured it out and they look ok when all the circles are together. I would have liked the edges to come together more closely when I assembled the flower, but I used SNAIL to adhere the pieces and couldn't take it apart and try again. ( I forgot to use my Dotto which is more forgiving than the SNAIL if you have to move things around!)
I love the look of the Pretties Kit flowers as an embellishment for the the center of the Dahlia Flower. I squeezed a few drops of Rose Red ink refill in the center of a medium sized floral, then used the Aqua Painter to pull the color out to the tips of each petal. After this dried, I inserted the larger Rhinestone Brad in the center, then attached it to a bigger white flower for contrast. I poked a hole in the center of the Dahlia Flower with the paper piercer from the Crafter's Tool Kit and attached the embellishment.
So here is the flower again-now what shall I do with it?
Created by Debbie Van Gieson Images © Stampin' Up! 1990-2008
I decided to use the same Rose Red polka Dot patterned paper as a background and cut it to 4" x 5 1/4". I'll be attaching this to a folded white card that will be 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" (but am not attaching it to the main cardstock just yet); I cut the paper to 4" x 5 1/4". To add a contract to the Dahlia Flower and make it really stand out, I used the Coluzzle to make a circle with Whisper White cardstock, then layered the Dahlia Flower on that, and then again onto the polka dot background. I used the large Oval Punch and centered this under the Dahlia Flower. Then I attached this to the white folded cardstock.
I chose a simple "thank you" from believe it or not, the All Holidays stamp set! It's nice for this card because it fits perfectly on white cardstock punched with the small Oval Punch! I then used the large Oval Punch with brilliant blue cardstock to layer the saying onto, then attached this slightly to the right over the white oval punched area of the polka dot paper. This sets the saying off and really makes it stand out! This is what the final card looks like: