Valentine's Flowers

Do you know how crazy it is to wake up and look at the same old things every morning? Every little thing a familiar blur as you climb out of bed each morning? Nothing having changed in a very long while ...

The winter blues have taken a toll on me suddenly and realizing that Valentines Day { a favorite of mine } is just around the corner, I decided I'd get a jump on some little projects. I've slowly begun collecting things here and there and I found these cute little paper flowers.

Soon, I'll be posting some pictures of the valentines projects I'm working on. But for now, see what you can do with this. Michael's currently has a bunch .... BUNCH .... bunch of Scrapbooking Papers on sale, so I stocked up on a few this afternoon.

But I stumbled into a Valentiney kind of mood and thought I might as well get a move on and do something about it, hmm? Besides, Valentines is one of my favorite days out of the WHOLE year. I've still got a handful of Roses I've collected from the ones my Daddy has given me over the years. I have sooooo many happy memories of Valetines days growing up.

Maybe that's why there's always this sudden excitement when the days start winding down to that one, and the stores are pulling out all the stops. Maybe so.

Enough * Gabbing * for one day ...  P.S. While I'm at it, all the credit for the following tutorial goes to Darn @  Dawn's Stamping Thoughts.

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(1) Cut eight flower shapes from your paper. I did four out
of cardstock and 4 out of a book page. I punched circles
and then scalloped the edges by hand to make the flower shapes.

*  Note * If you are using cardstock, spray it lightly with water so it is more pliable. (You may want to use a paper towel so they color doesn't bleed onto your counter top. Just sayin'.)


(2) Crumple each flower shape, then smooth
it back out ... it will look wrinkled.



(3) Stack each flower onto a brad. Be sure to start with the paper you want
in the middle of the flower. I started with a book page and then alternated
with the red cardstock.

Close the brad and it should now look like this.

Starting with the top layer, squish the paper around the brad in
the center. Continue for each layer until the entire flower 
is scrunched together.

Now flatten the petals back out just slightly until the flower takes the
shape you want it to. If you have used wet cardstock, it will harden
nicely into the shape when it dries.

And there you go! I'm sure you could find a LOT

of ways to use these.