Happy New Year Crafty Friends. I pulled together a little project to get the year rolling. I am calling it my Cuppa Sunshine as it has been pretty dreary weather lately and I wanted a cute pick me up to decorate my studio.
Materials Needed:
- Card stock in three complimentary colours
- Designer Paper (Avonlea from Close To My Heart shown)
- Hot Glue Gun
- Tooth Picks
- Glass or Crystal Beads
- Foam Mat (upside down mouse pad works like a charm)
- Stylus or rounded pen lid
This project uses the retired paper line "Avonlea" from Close To My Heart but if you can't get your hands on that, substitute it with your favourite paper. All of the die cuts are from designs found in the Cricut Artiste Cartridge.
I use a cricut explore so it allowed me to modify some of the cuts. If you are using an expression you may need to do a bit of fussy cutting to get the desired look. Feel free to use my cut files if you are using Cricut Design Space.
Teacup and Saucer
Flowers For Teacup
Teacup Assembly:
I first assemble the teacup (the scalloped piece) try to shape the teacup to be as circular as possible. Next add the handle. I used white daisy card stock but I think I should have chosen a thicker paper to give it the strength to support the cup. Glue the two handle parts together leaving the tabs separate. Glue the tabs on either side of the seam for the cup. Use one of the gear pieces as a bottom for your cup. You can glue the tabs inside for stability or outside and cover it with the design paper. Use the other crescent shaped piece (cut from designer paper) to decorate your cup.
You should only have two pieces left at this point. Take the semi-circle and glue the two edges together to form as doughnut and use the remaining gear to support it. It takes a bit of shaping to make the saucer sit flat. I used a stylus and foam pad on the reverse side of the paper to form a ring around the edge of the saucer and around the circle formed by the gear. TA-DA your cup and saucer should look fabulous at this point.
Do you have a small square of floral foam or even some scavenged play dough? Hot glue it to the inside of your cup to support the flowers we are going to make.
Flower Assembly:
Now for the fun part. Cut our your flowers and foliage. It really does not matter what posies you choose but I find working in three's makes for a nice balanced look. I ink my cut outs at this point. I do this for two reasons, I like the look of inked pieces and also it changes the structure of the paper making it more pliable thus making my shaping easier.
I know at this point you want to get rolling with the flowers but honestly it works out much better if you work on your leaves first. Take each piece of foliage and place it face down on a foam pad. Use a stylus or pen lid (whatever you have) to work the leaves so that they stretch and begin to curve. Turn your leaves over and have a look. If they are not curled enough, turn them over and keep going. Once you have them nicely shaped you will want to lay them over the top of your teacup to get an idea of how they will look. Using your hot glue gun attach the leaves to the foam square. Don't glue it on tight. You just was to have a few contact point to work around.
Take your flowers and repeat the shaping process. You may want to use a pencil to roll the petals back a bit to create a bit of interest. Once they are molded you take the out most edge and hot glue it to a toothpick. I saw this on a
Tim Holtz Video and thought it was brilliant. Slowly roll the flower trying to space the petals so that that they don't all line up. I like to stop about mid curl and put another dot of hot glue. When you come to the end of the curl let it fluff back out a bit before gluing it to its base. Now you should have a perfect flower on a stick. Go ahead and fuss over it. The more you work with it the more realistic it looks. Once the six rolled flowers are done its time to make the petal flowers. I liked mine with just the two layers but feel free to experiment to see what you like. Attach the first layer to the toothpick by gluing the tab to the side of the flower and then poking the stick through while the glue is hot. Be sure to leave some of the stick showing through the top. Add your additional layers. After you are done adding layers finish it off with a pretty glass bead. Be sure that the toothpick stays safely beneath the surface of the bead.
I like to work with one type of flower at a time and I start by placing them in a triangle. Then I work on the next colour of flower creating an additional triangle. Using the remaining petal flowers fill in the spots. Use an extra leaves to fill up the gaps. Make sure that you like the design before you use the hot glue and fasten them in place.
Enjoy!
