July 14, 2011

Cheerful Blooms

Hello Everyone.

Penny Black is teaming up with Faber-Castell for two days of colorful projects!  


This is the inspiration I am contributing…..   



If you haven’t worked with Gelatos, you’ll want to give them a try.  They are so much fun and the creamy crayon-like sticks blend beautifully with or without water.

In just a few steps, you can create a flower bouquet in no time at all!




Stamp the flower (Cheerful) with black pigment ink on a heavy-weight cardstock and heat emboss with clear powder.  In this sample, 140 lb. Canson watercolor paper was used.  Regular cardstock can be used as well, but I really like the thickness of this paper and the slight texture it offers.  Apply the Gelatos to the stamped image as shown on the left.  Then blend the colors with your finger as shown on the right.  No water used in this blending, but I did use it occasionally to get different hues and tones on the other flowers.



The same method was used with the leaves using a metallic green Gelato with a bit of yellow.  The metallic adds a pretty sheen.  For each blossom, I used two flowers and varied the number of leaves.



After the flowers and leaves were colored and trimmed, the cut edges and backs were colored with a black PITT Artist Pen and a black Stamper’s Big Brush Pen for a finished appearance.  Both pens have ink that is odorless and will not bleed through paper.  The other big advantage is that they are waterproof!  I used the PITT pen to highlight all the cut edges and the Big Brush pen makes fast work of coloring the back sides.



Make a hole in only the flower base with an Anywhere Hole Punch.  Insert a thick gauge florist wire and curl the tip.  Add a bit of glue under the curled wire, pull tight against the flower and let dry.  Hint:  Small metal clips or paperclips are great for adding pressure under the flower while the glue is drying on the stem. 

If desired, glue leaves to the curled wire letting them extend far enough beyond the flower petals to show.  Add the next flower layer on top.  This will add dimension and hide the wire and the ends of the leaves.


I made stamped impressions of the flower centers and curved them in the palm of my hand using the end of a paintbrush and attached them with dimensional foam.  Then I coated them with Faber-Castell’s Glaze Textural Accents.

My personal preference is to bend and curl the flower petals and leaves before assembling.  Seeing the curled dimension helps me with placement.  Sometimes I twist or offset the flower components to give each flower its own personality.

You can see other great projects today and tomorrow on the Penny Black blog “here. 

I will be attending the CHA Convention in Chicago next week and, with the wonderful technology of blogger, I have scheduled a few projects to post while I am gone.  If you are attending the show, I hope you will stop by the Penny Black booth and say hello.

A bouquet of good wishes to you,

Elizabeth

Supplies:
Penny Black Stamps:  Cheerful 4160K

Faber-Castell Supplies:
   Gelatos – Red, Orange, Pink, Yellow and Metallic Green
   PITT Artist Pen – Black

Other:
Canson: 140 lb. Watercolor Paper
Black Pigment Ink
Clear Embossing Powder
Florist Wire