This is a unique challenge blog where we are inspired by and focus on the Vintage; shabby; mixed-media; art journaling; industrial, timeworn and steampunk genres and encompass the talent, flair, expertise and ideas of many artists that we are inspired by. We welcome all types of projects - cards, journaling, assemblage, layouts, albums, atcs, altered art in fact whatever you want to share (as long as it is in good taste).

Monday 9 February 2015

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 

31 comments:

  1. Wow! There's no other word for them!! Such inspiration - I shall be up early tomorrow try some of these! Chrisx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely Julie. . A big thumps up for the re cycling and such beautiful flowers ! I loved the tomato puree tube one though all are nice. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a wonderful inspiration post Julie! All of your blooms are lovely - I think I like the jeans and the baby wipe ones best - I really need to take a day off from work to shut myself in my craft room to try making some of these!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brilliant tutorial Julie , thanks for shring such a wonderful things, I would like to try those flowers :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awesome awesome post! I am absolutely guilty of not exploring the full range of my dies beyond paper. I'm inspired!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Excellent tut Julie. You are right when you say we forget how many uses these great dies have. Thanks for reminding us in such a wonderful way.

    Hugs, S@ndy xx

    ReplyDelete
  7. A fantastic tutorial Julie! So many clever ways of creating completely different looking blooms from the same dies - there are definitely a few I haven't yet tried and now need to. Jenny x

    ReplyDelete
  8. A brilliant tutorial Julie, you have produced some gorgeous blooms from so many different media. I don't have many of the Bigz dies, I really must invest in some as I have been wanting to cut some metal embellies since I saw some holly leaves on a blog at Christmas. The baby wipes flowers are really inspired....I really need to have a flower session.Thanks for sharing this xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Brilliant tutorial, I actually have that die, used once, my favourite is the juice can flower but I love the baby wipes flower, great idea instead of just throwing them away jan x

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you so much for these lovely ideas and tutorial!
    Lia xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a great tutorial Julie, so many wonderful techniques and tricks! From industrial look to the soft and feminine, there are ideas here for any type of project and such clear descriptions, thanks for that too! My total favourite is the blue with the bead in the centre, but all of them look amazing and I can't wait to see you use them on your projects! Thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Fabulous Julie - so many wonderful ideas for using what is basically around us all. Great tutorial - my favourite are the baby wipe flowers, such wonderful tones of colour. Great inspiration! Jennie x

    ReplyDelete
  13. Blooming beautiful! Especially love the metalized ones

    Jools x

    ReplyDelete
  14. What fabulous flowers Julie. Great tutorial and TFS. Hugs Rita xxx

    ReplyDelete
  15. a fabulous DI post Julie with wonderful up cycling. I particularly love the florals with the map and music sheet.

    TFS and huge hugs Annie x

    ReplyDelete
  16. Amazing Julie! So many wonderful flower styles and techniques and an amazing recycle / upcycle project idea! I love the metal flower with the embossing, so unique! Thanks for the wonderful ideas! hugs :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. A brilliant tutorial and some great ideas, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Wow Julie, what a great tutorial unlocking some of the amazing possibilities available using Tim's die. Brilliant ideas, off to dig out my tattered florals die!

    ReplyDelete
  19. This is such a brilliant tutorial Julie, great ideas for us to try too. I do love them all but I think my favourite has to be the baby wipe one, it is beautiful, or maybe the grungepaper one for it's shape or possibly the tomato puree one, for it's shape and colour.... actually, they are all fabulous. I am definitely going to have a play....... Hugs, Anne xx

    ReplyDelete
  20. Your family are probably afraid to leave anything in your reach Julie in case you cut it!!! Seriously though, all these flowers look terrific. My favourite is the baby wipe with pearl centre, it hadn't occured to me to start with a pearl and adhere /build layers around it as I would always pop in the 'centre' last. Also, I have steered away from cutting cans as I would be afraid of sharp metal so it was good to learn that when diecut, the edges are not sharp. Well done on your first D.I. Nicola x

    ReplyDelete
  21. Fabulous flowers! Love this brilliant tutorial. Thanks so much for sharing these great ideas. Can't wait to make some.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Fabulous flowers! Love this brilliant tutorial. Thanks so much for sharing these great ideas. Can't wait to make some.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Fantastic revisit!!!! Looooove the "industrial" flower!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thank you for the fabulous tutorial! Love anything on it's second time around! So many beuaties here and all so different--it's hard to pick a favorite, but probably the blue and orange from the map design with the quirky wire center! Then the soda can! I've been giving that one a lot of thought lately. Great job on all of them and thanks for sharing your talents with us!

    ReplyDelete
  25. I have done all the above before, except the pearl one at the end, I love that idea! Thanks for the inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Some fabulous ideas Julie - thank you. I am a lover of left over inky kitchen roll and scrunched up paper but never thought of using my baby wipes! Will definitely be giving this a go. Nikki xx

    ReplyDelete
  27. ~What fabulous flowers! One of my favourite things to do is make my own flowers and you have given us so much inspiration here.

    Hugs
    Lesley Xx

    ReplyDelete
  28. Fabulous tutorial Julie love the denim flowers must try these and I knew I had kept my baby wipes for a reason lol so now I must try these too have made the metal/paint ones sooooooo addictive. Thanks for sharing more inspiration.
    MaggieH

    ReplyDelete
  29. I am sooooo trying this...Thank you sooo much for sharing this tutorial....I LOVE IT....I am open to learning so many new things.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Fantastic tutorial Julie. You've set it out in easy to follow step by step instructions which makes these tutorials easier for someone like me to follow. The images are a big help,

    ReplyDelete
  31. An absolutely fabulous tutorial, Julie - so many brilliant ideas, so clearly explained, and such glorious results too! Sorry to be late catching up... life's been like that lately!
    Alison xx

    ReplyDelete