vintage birthday and flower tutorial

I created this card for the last Papertrey Ink release, but I haven't shared it yet because I wanted to type up a quick tutorial with how to create the flower embellishments.  They are really simple to create, but I will get to that in a minute.

For my card, I wanted to create a vintage inspired card.  The Green Tea Leaves patterned paper is one of my favorite patterned paper lines from Papertrey Ink.  I love how it can be modern and also easily vintage with just a little distressing.  I cut my patterned pieces to fit my card.  Then, I sponged dark chocolate ink along the edges and lightly sponged the top of the patterned paper.  I made it darker in some spots than others.  I think this helped it look like old, dirty wallpaper or fabric.  Then, I distressed the edges with an edge distressor.  I stitched my patterned papers and twill (which I had also dirtied up by sponging it with dark chocolate ink) directly to my card base and stamped my sentiment in the lower corner with true black ink.  Last, I created my flower embellishments.

Here's a close up of my custom flowers.  I love the look of text printed papers and embellishments!  I attached my flower embellishments to my card using foam adhesive.  I thought I would share a quick tutorial so you can easily create your own text style flowers.  They are so easy to create and I love how they look!

Flower Tutorial

All the supplies are pictured here except the dark chocolate ink and sponge.  Start by stamping a sheet of vintage cream cardstock with the Background Basics: Text Style stamp set and dark chocolate ink.  (I used part of my stamped paper on this card.)  You can click on any of the photos to see a larger version.

Use a flower punch to cut your text patterned flower.  (I used the Marvy Extra Jumbo flower punch.)

Use a 3/4" circle punch to punch a pure poppy circle.

Sponge the edges of the flower with dark chocolate ink.

To help the sponged ink look more gradual, I lightly sponge the entire flower with dark chocolate ink.  Remember to dab your sponge on scrap paper first to get rid of some of the ink.  You can always add more ink, but you can't take it away.

Sponge the edge of the pure poppy circle with dark chocolate ink.

Layer your flower, pure poppy circle, and aqua mist button and punch holes through the button holes with a paper piercer.  This will make it easy to stitch the layers together with embroidery floss.

Stitch the layers together and tie a knot in the embroidery floss on the back of the flower to hold it all together.

And here is your completed, custom flower embellishment.  They are so easy to create and definitely cheaper than buying a similar product at a scrapbook store.  We all know times are tight right now for many people (my family included) so it's always great to have another way to use your stamps to save a little money.  I attach them to my card with foam adhesive for extra dimension.

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial.  Have a great day!

Niki

Recipe
Stamps: Background Basics: Text Style, Damask Designs (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: vintage cream, kraft, pure poppy (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: Green Tea Leaves (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: dark chocolate, true black (Papertrey Ink)
Accents: aqua mist vintage buttons (Papertrey Ink), twill
Tools: sewing machine, edge distressor, sponge, extra jumbo flower punch (Marvy Uchida)