Good Wednesday morning and welcome to the CLASSroom. Did you enjoy yesterday’s release hop and seeing all of projects made using Julie’s new stamps and die? I was so enthralled with all the wonderful creativity. I especially love Julie’s Pine and Poinsettia set and wanted to share some step by step pictures of how I create a floral spray using several pieces in the set. The pine and mistletoe pieces are very natural looking and allow for a realistic arrangement.
Cut several pieces of pine, mistletoe, holly and poinsettias. I usually have no idea of how many pieces I will need when I start so I cut plenty and save any unused for a later project.
Lay a few pine branches on the versa pad and lightly touch the branch in a few places to gather a small amount of versa.
Dip the pine branch in gold embossing powder and shake off any loose powder and heat with the heat gun.
Note that gold is mainly on the branch tips and not totally covering the branch. I wanted to use a few of these embossed branches in the arrangement to add just a touch of gold without overshadowing the rest of the design. There are several pine branches that were left plain.
Paint the berries of the mistletoe with gesso and allow to dry. I dried mine with my heat gun. I’m not a patient person. LOL!
Apply versa with a marker over the gesso, dip then in white embossing powder and then heat. Hint: The layer of white gesso under the white embossing powder created a brighter white covering. I tried one berry with only versa and embossing powder but it didn’t look nearly as bright.
Form all the pieces of flowers and foliage using the stylus and molding pad to create more natural looking pieces.
I used the largest poinsettia flower from the Impression Obsession Large Poinsettia set to create a foliage base for Julie’s beautiful poinsettia.
Apply thin strips of mounting tape to the back of the frame and attach it to the corrugated card base.
Attach three pieces of plain pine to the card base with glossy accents and hold in place with your paper piercer until secure.
Attach one poinsettia flower to the green poinsettia floral base and then attach them over top of the pine with glossy accents. Hold in place until secure.
Lift the leaves of the poinsettia and tuck the mistletoe pieces in under and attach with glossy accents. I cut a portion off the stems of each piece to make them short enough to fit in the arrangement.
I attached another of Julie’s poinsettia over top of the first and then filled in the center with two of the smallest poinsettias from the Impression Obsession Small Poinsettia set.
I finished by filling in the arrangement by tucking in the three pieces of gold embossed pine and four of the holly leaves.
I filled in the flower center by applying a tiny drop of glossy accents right in the center and dropped in a little bit of ultrafine sage flower soft. It’s really hard to see in the photos but it does complete the flower.
I love making free style floral designs on my card fronts. Yes they are more difficult to mail but I think it is worth the effort when sending greetings to my close family and friends. Check out my Packaging and Mailing tutorial on my blog to see how I package my cards to mail. My favorite way is using the Crystal Clear boxes found here. Insert your card in the box, tie a pretty ribbon around the box as seen in my picture below and then place in a padded envelope for mailing. Cards arrive in perfect condition and the recipient feels like they have received an extra special greeting.
I hope you have enjoyed my poinsettia floral spray tutorial and that you will give it a try.
