Playing with buttons

While surfing the internet yesterday I found a tutorial for a mini vase of flowers using stacked buttons for the vase. I apologize for the poor quality of these photos but you get the general idea. I used a variety of sizes of red buttons glued together with Loctite super glue to make a bowl shaped planter on a pedestal.
The ivy was made with punched paper stars and covered wire. I used an ink pad on one side of the paper to make the top and bottom sides of the leaves a slightly different color.

The rose leaves are hearts punched from two shades of green paper and the rose buds were made from tiny bits of a pink envelope, rolled and glued. I dragged the tips of the flowers over a burgundy stamp pad.

Then I just glued everything in place on top of the button. The vines are glued into the button holes to keep them stable. I filled in all the blank spots with roses and leaves.

New and Improved

I changed the flowers for my African violets and now they look much better. I colored a coffee filter with a dark purple permanent marker. The thinner paper and the richer color look so much more realistic. The violets in the black and red pots will be showing up soon in my zibbet shop. I changed the flowers on the plants I made for me to keep, too. These are really fun to make!

The new and improved version

I used a different technique on these. I used a smaller bead for the base of the flowers - I used glass beads in baby blue or white.
The blossoms are punched out of coffee filters that I first colored with chalk pastels in blue with a bit of pink. I left a bit of the white exposed.
I got a much more realistic color this way. I punched some hearts to make the leaves. Each flower has 1 or 2 leaves attached just under the blossoms and I made a few stems of just leaves to fill out the arrangement. It's all planted in a mini bean pot.

I think these are a huge improvement over the first attempt. What do all of you think?

Experiment number one

First a few more details on the punch. It's a Fiskars brand and is called Daisy Scallop Border punch. The little flowers are about 5 mm across.

I experimented with making hydrangeas. The flower will work - I just need to change the bead I used for the base. I will also shade the flowers a bit next time. The leaves are just filler leaves. I didn't make hydrangea leaves but would do that next time as well.

So I still need a lot of practice but I'm happy with my first try. The hardest part is getting clear photos of the tiny flowers!

Wishing you all a blessed Easter as we celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

I love sales!

DD #2 and I were shopping in the big city today and stopped in at JoAnn Fabrics. It's about 3 times the size of our local JoAnn's and is great fun to explore. Anyway, punches were 40% off. I found this border punch with tiny 5 petal flowers that I think will be very versatile. And there's the added bonus of a cute border when I'm scrapbooking or making cards. :)

Finally!

After multiple attempts I finally got a clear photo of the first carnations I made. The arrangement is currently on the side porch of Johnson's Boarding House.

A New Addiction?

Making mini carnation arrangements is fun. :) This time I used 2 pink and 3 white flowers with 3 stems of leaves. I used an Asian inspired bead as a vase.
They look pretty sitting in the living room of Johnson's Boarding House.
Here's a closer pic -the tacky wax is making the vase sit a bit crooked. I've got to remember to adjust that. ;)

A lot of times you need special punches to make mini flowers. I love that these can be made with just a plain old office hole punch and a 1/8 inch punch for the calyx. I almost always have plain floral wire on hand. I didn't have to purchase anything new and I got some pretty arrangements in the process. It doesn't get much better than that.

I'm dreaming of sunshine and spring...

It's spring but we've been short on the sunshine this month. But April showers bring May flowers, right? In the meantime I made some little flowers of my own following Kris's tutorial for carnations. I made a few changes (because I can't seem to help myself, lol) but it's basically her technique. I'm sorry for the awful photo but don't the flowers look real? The next attempt will be better but I am very happy with these. The flowers were made with coffee filter paper and I edged each paper circle with red Sharpie marker. The leaves were punched from the lining paper from a box of grapefruit. Everything is planted in a wooden finial.

Now I just need to find a small daisy style punch so I can make those, too.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!