Scrapbook & Cards Today Blog: Design team Wednesday with Emily Pitts!

Hello again to all you lovely SCT friends! I'm doing the last post in my series that I started earlier this year (see this post) based on a question our Social Media coordinator and Director of Customer Happiness, Jen Walker, posted to our Facebook page!

"I would like to learn how to ___________."

Today's post focuses on flowers. Someone said they'd like to know how to add more flowers to their creating. Well, flowers aren't an embellishment I gravitate toward, but I have used them a lot and have some ideas for you today!

My first example combines the DIY flowers plus some of the pre-made variety. Maya Road makes the best selection, with a number of different styles and sizes. This layout features a number of their flowers, plus a few of my own creations.

These flowers didn't start out like you see them. I used Maya Mist to color the yellow ones (they were cream) and the magenta ones (they were white). That's my first suggestion, change ready made flowers to fit your bill. Mists and paints are a great way to do that.

My second suggestion: alter a punched shape and make your own dimensional flowers. This layout also has some orange paper flowers. I punched them out of patterned paper, then I pressed each of the petals around a marble, to create a rounded, dimensional flower. I love adding texture this way.

My next example, you may have seen in on the blog a few years back, October, 2012 to be exact. Catherine asked us to create a project using an inspiration piece. I created this card of book paper rolled roses, each row sprayed a different intensity of orange. Rolled roses are very easy and really fun to make, here's a great tutorial if you've not yet tried them. This is my third suggestion: go to Pinterest and search for flower tutorials. There are SO many options out there, trying all the tutorials could keep you busy for months!

An assignment I had for the Spring 2014 issue probably pushed my flower creating prowess to a new level. I was totally out of my comfort zone, but ended up getting to create this beautiful wreath:

I used a number of diecuts from Sizzix.com, some rolled, some stacked. Some of the flowers have chalked centers to add dimension. I embellished with pins, beads and buttons as well. If you need to make a lot of flowers, I have another suggestion: use die cuts! There are so many different options out there, you'll be able to find just the style you need!

Another way I've created flowers is by using the following technique: hand cut a circle, scrunch it up to get a wrinkled look, and then stitch in the center, like the cluster of simple flowers on the top row, column three of my project. This technique is very basic, but in the right setting, it adds a nice touch.

Flowers don't have to be large. I like to use french knots! They make the cutest little flowers when clustered on a tiny wreath.

I also like to fussy cut flowers from patterned paper, my final suggestion.

For this card, I cut out hibiscus from a sheet of paper and used a dimensional adhesive to stack them. I also stamped a few smaller flowers (the ones in green) to add to the movement of the card.

There are so many ways to use flowers on layouts, cards, and projects, I hope you'll try a few of my suggestions!

~ Emily Pitts