Valentine's Swap - Flowers

The second swap for this month was a Valentine's flower theme. Anything we liked, though the request was for three different smaller flowers this time.

Here are the fours sets of flowers I made for the participants in the swap. In addition to the flowers for the swap (and I made four for each person), I also made a small box for each set of flowers and decorated it with more flowers.

The box was my own design and is 2" wide, 3" long and 1" high and was made out of a single piece of paper 7" x 7". I used paper from my lovely 8" x 8" stack of patterned paper from my stash which I used for my nephew's birthday cards the other day.

I designed my box, cut it out and scored all the lines then folded it to create the box. I used my Teresa Collins Mega Runner by Xyron to adhere the sides together to keep the box still a box, even when the ribbon ties are undone.

I finished the box with a ribbon tie which wraps around the box entirely in both directions like a parcel and then added three small roll up flowers cut from cardstock. One set of yellow flowers was inked with Ranger Distress Inks - Worn Lipstick so they ended up looking a mix of the yellow and orangey colours of the other flowers. These were die-cut using the Die-namics Rolled Flower die from My Favourite Things.

Close-up of the inside of the box with the flowers inside. (The ribbons are just tucked in the sides to keep the box lid up so you could see inside without my fingers holding up the lid and being in the picture.)

These flowers were crocheted in a red and pink blended thread to a pattern I have made up myself.  As it's only done with chain stitches, even the most inexperienced crocheter, like myself, can cope with these. To finish them off (and so I didn't need to worry about making sure the end of my thread were tucked in nicely) I threaded the loose ends through the holes of a button and tied the button in place.
I really like the messy (Medusa-like) flower petals.

These are mini rolled roses, similar to the flowers I had previously made and given a tutorial on here. Instead of fabric strips, I used ribbon - some that was leftover from my first wedding nearly fifteen years ago. (See I knew that one day these scraps would come in handy!!!) I added self-adhesive flat backed pearls for the centre of the flowers, instead of the beaded centre I used on the Moulin Rouge themed ones.
Despite the marriage ending, I still have fond memories, so it seemed appropriate that remnants of a happy time be used for a Valentine's themed swap.

For my final flowers, my inspiration was one of my favourite movies. It's the romantic comedy "Bed of Roses" starring Christian Slater. In the movie Christian's character, Lewis, gives Lisa (Mary Stuart Masterson) hundreds of roses in a pale lavender/grey colour - Stirling Roses - (he buys out the entire city!!!). The first bouquet arrives with a card that said "Thank you, for a day of too much perfection". {Swoon!!}
I used the Tim Holtz Alterations Die - Tattered Pine Cone. I die cut the pine cone out of grey cardstock then coloured it with Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Milled Lavender while the pine cone die cut was still in the paper remnants. I rolled the pine cone die cut and shaped it curling the (now petals) to look more like a small tea rose. You can see a tutorial from the man himself demonstrating how to make these beautiful roses here on YouTube.
After adhering the end of the rolled rose in place I curled the petals a little more to finish it off, then highlighted the ends of each petal with a little Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Dusty Concord before lightly painting each petal with Kindy Glitz - Crystaline and a blob of Kindy Glitz - Black Opal in the centre.
I really loved the way these turned out, both in terms of their colour and the shape/size of the finished roses. I will definitely be making more of these to go with the paper roses I have bought to sell through my website. If you are looking for flowers for your layouts and off the page projects, be sure to check out my online store for many wonderful products.