Destination Inspiration - Upcycled Tattered Flowers

Hi Everyone, It's Julie from Juliz Design Post here today with my very first Destination Inspiration post. We all love using our Bigz Dies but are you guilty of forgetting all the items they are capable of cutting, I know I am. So I hope to inspire you to think again as you reach for you Bigz dies combining Tim's techniques with items lying around the house begging to be Upcycled.

I used Sizzix Movers and Shapers Mini Tattered Florals throughout this tutorial.

This flower was cut from a Juice Can. I pierced a hole in it big enough to get the point of my scissors in and cut around the can. Please be very careful at this stage as the edges will be sharp. Once you die cut your flowers you will now notice your edges have lost their sharpness. The metal curves around the die whilst cutting, softening the sharp edges.

Using Distress Paint, coat the inside of your embossing folder on the debossed side. Place your die cut flowers inside and emboss through your die cutting machine.

Let your flower layers dry before shaping and adding some Ideaology to the centre. You now have a Painted Industrial look to your flower.

This flower was made from an empty Tomato Purée tube, cut open and washed. The metal is softer to work with which is fab for molding different shapes. I dripped Alcohol inks onto the petals along with some Blending Solution and let the inks run into each other. Using Black Archival ink I then stamped over the petals with a crackle stamp. I now shaped my petals to build up my flower adding the Gumdrop to the centre which was shaded with Alcohol Ink.

An old pair of Jeans for this one. You will see I tattered the edges of my flowers. Next adding some Multi Medium to the reverse side I then scrunched the flowers and let dry on top of lids. This stiffens the fabric. The centre I scrunched to form a bud and secured with a staple. You will see I cut off the point so it would sit flush in the centre of my flower.

The finished result, which I now could add a little Distress Paint on to the edges for definition or leave like this.

Grungepaper flowers. I added a selection of Distress Paints and Sprays to my Grunge Paper and stamped on texture with a Map and Leaf stamp.

Once dry I glued an old music sheet and map to the reverse side.

I distressed the edges of my petals with ink before building them up, here you will see all the different shaped flowers I made.

This is the baby wipes I used when mopping up the paint from my Grungepaper flowers. I scrunched them up and dried over the radiator.

See all the shades you get on the petals once cut out. My bud was held with my croc tool over my heat gun. This shrivels it up. Gluing my next layer on I repeated the process catching the corner of my petals with the heat tool. The other petals were shrunk back on my heat mat then all layered together. The resulting flower has a firm feel to it. 

More lovely shades on these baby wipe petals

I used a large pearl bead and started gluing my layers on.

As you add more layers you will see your flower shape forming.
  

The finished flower has a softer feel to it with not having the heat tool put on it.

I do hope you have enjoyed my post and now feel inspired to make some Upcycled Flowers. I'd love if you left a comment to let me know which one is your favourite.

It would also be great to have you join in our Current Challenge Tic Tac Toe, you will find all the info and inspiration here. Our kind Sponsor Countryview Crafts have donated a £10 shopping spree to the winner, where you will find all my products used at this fabulous online shop.

Happy Crafting,

Julie xx