Thursday, July 17, 2008

Flower-shaped card tutorial (templates & inspirational links)


The flower template for this card was originally meant for shaped paper napkins (from marthastewart.com here) It's petals were flat on two different sides of the flower, which means you could use it as a sweet little flower pocket in a scrapbook or on a project. I wanted a shaped card template with graduated sizes so I messed around with it (for the better part of a day, LOL.) The original size fits in a 5 and a 1/2 inch envelope, but there are many sizes now (see below for sizes & the link to the templates. :0)


To make a flower-shaped card:





1)Print template on cardstock





2) Round off the two bottom petals (in pencil) I did this for you on the single-flower card template, but you may want to round off the others for layers/mats. :0)








3) Cut the template out








4) Lay it over a folded card








5) Trace in pencil








6) Cut out (& erase pencil)





7) Embellish however you like:


This sparkly bling was a sweet gift from Mary. They're glued on with crystal effects & the button has a circle of paper at the back to make it hang properly. The button in the center of the card also has paper behind it (to look perty.) The white stitching is

The styling of this was inspired by Annapurna (who is like my lovely fairy blog mother lately--teaching me her photoshop tricks, readin' my whole blog (!?), bein' inspirational & all around wonderful.) She let me know that the photo of this card was mysteriously missing from an old post (odd hey?) It reminded me of how fun this paper (Basic Grey Gypsy) is.


Lately, I can't get enough of hand-stitching:


It's easy to sew paper when you pre-pierce. This is red embroidery thread on a layer of Cool Caribbean & naturals white cardstock. (When you stick the sewn piece onto the (Certain Celery) card the sewing mess is all hidden away sneaky-like...In brownies, I learned to sew on paper with a homemade version of this, so I find it a nostalgic thrill.) :0)


Click this link for 3 template PDFs (100%, 110%, & various sized flowers.)


These are the Sizes:

Attachment #1)
(pictured above) 100% (fits in 5.5 x 5.5" envelope)

Attachment #2) 110% (fits in a 6x6" envelope)

Attachment #3) (pictured above) has these various sizes:
  • 90% (fits in 5.5 x 5.5" envelope)
  • 78% (fits in 4 x 4" envelope)
  • 55% (fits in 3 x 3" envelope)
  • 50% measures 2 & 5/8"
  • 30% measures 1 & 6/8"

What I like about different sizes is that you can nest 'em making layered mats, or just make different cards to fit in different envelopes (these should fit in 6x6, 4x4, 3x3)




Want to make a template with resized shapes yourself? Here's how:

1) Print shape in several sizes
using scaled printing (maybe write down sizes so you can label)

2) Cut 'em out with scissors & adhere to one sheet of paper

3) Scan the paper with them all on it

4) Darken if necessary in photo editing software (& print & scan again...it's the hard way...can anyone tell me how to darken a scan? LOL)

5) Use as is, or clean up in Photoshop




Some flower Links:

--> Fluffy flower tutorial by Katja (SO kewl!)

--> Template for flower frame by Creative Mom cafe (HOT for scrapbooking)

--> Cute Daisies From Kids & Art (Their website here)

--> Fun flower templates from teachingseminars.com (Scroll way down & click flowers)

--> Flower wreath with template (from Thrifty Fun)

--> Computer flower tutorial (by Eshark) uses Illustrator (great for templates)

--> Simple flower from Hobby Craft

--> From Creating Keepsakes by C.D. Muckosky

--> Paper flower fanatic (whole blog has links)

--> Quilling flowers with Sandy Watson

--> Michele's Friendlier friendly flower (great punch tricks)

--> And she shares more punch tricks!

--> Flowers by Debbie: Paper Layered, chip board layered

--> Wendy's punched layered flower tutorial

--> Tiffany's flower with circle punches

--> Linda's 3D Three for You punched flowers

-->ETA. Stacey's gorgeous chrysanthimum & her tutorial


Thanks for stoppin' by, you crafty people you! :0)

Mel

P.S. card ingredients at a glance here on SCS

22 comments:

Lisa M. (aka. Lisa @ Farm Fresh) said...

Wow! Thank you soooo much! Your example card is stunning!! I can't wait to try these out!

Joani McDonald said...

Oh Mel - I love it! I'm off to try!
Hugs,
Joani

Anonymous said...

Fantastic. I printed out your butterflies on the back of dp yesterday and now have butterflies for my newest journal. Just printed the mulitple flower template. Thanks so much.

Carol P said...

You can darken your scan by increasing the contrast (makes the dark lines darker and the light places lighter).

I would make various sizes of the template by shrinking or enlarging with my software and then dragging all the different sizes onto one document....None of this scan, print, rescan nonsense. Girl, you gotta learn some Photoshop. XXOO

Carol
Extreme Cards and Papercrafting

Paula's ponderings said...

Who's been a busy bunny then?? lol. Look great Mel and oh so easy to follow!!

Maria said...

I definitely love flower shaped cards! They are so pretty and fun to create! Love this template and your layered flowers look fabulous! I love the stitching too! Thanks for the links too! Your blog is a one stop place to find awesome links and tutorials!! Keep up the great work!

Maria

Jennifer Love said...

Get OUT! That is so super-cute! YIKES!

Deb Neerman said...

Wow! You've done it again, you wild woman!!!

These are wonderful! I can't wait to make a kewl flower card!

~Huglettes! (several smallish hugs)

Annapurna said...

Wow! Not sure how long this post took you to write, but it took me a good 20 mins to go through all the details and links that interested me.
Thanks for putting this all together. Since it might be a little long I will send you email about details on how to darken your templates in photoshop. Cpeep(Carol) is right. Photoshop will make your life a little easy.

Blessings my godchild :-)
I asked deb yesterday what Huglettes were and I guess she answered my question here.

So far you are the second one that I read the whole blog. The other one is Deb. It is like a fast forward way of getting to know someone over the years.

Donna Baker said...

this card is SUUUWEEEET!!

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking you must be a fast typist. As Usual, always amazing. I'll be cutting out flowers tonight, while watching TV with the kids.

Jodi said...

Hi Mel!! Thanks for checking out my blog!! I love this flower card, and how you used your bling!!
I love to cook and bake as well...I will have to try out some of your recipes, they all look delish!! =)

Patty Williams said...

thank you ! you do such a wonderful job at "how to's " !

Carol P said...

Oh good, annapurna, glad you'll write out the directions for her (too much to write here!). We WILL drag Mel out of darkness into light :) whether she wants to or not!

Unknown said...

Wow Mel, love the flower template and the butterfly one is awesome too - can't wait to try them both out! I love your tutorials and am amazed at how many inspirational ideas you have to share!
Also thanks for the lovely comments on my blog:)

Anonymous said...

I just recently found your blog...I have to say WOW! I'm loving it. There is so much information here and ideas that I could just spend all my time here trying out these cool techniques. So is this your full-time job? I wonder where you get the time to do all this? Thanks for sharing the wealth!

Shawn K.

Janine said...

Just fab as usual Mel!! Isnt Anna great!! I hope you have a fun weekend planned. Thanks for all your wonderful comments too..
Would you mind sending my your address! to my e-mail off my blog.
Thanks

Anonymous said...

WOW, I LOVE the colors. It really pops!!! Great looking and awesome tut as always.

Tonniece said...

At Last,,,,,I have been on here trying to leave a comment for days now. You are truley AMAZEING MEL.
I love this

Thanks sooo much for all you share, you are the best.

Crafty Treasures said...

Hi Mel,
Love this card and the template! Check out what I did with it...
http://treasuredcrafts.blogspot.com/2008/07/cardsfinally.html
Thanks for sharing all your great ideas!!

Cathrine StClair said...

Very cute Mel! You are on quite a roll lately. I don't know how you do it all - it takes me forever to write my posts LOL!

Erin said...

I found this template on Split Coast Stampers a long, long time ago before I really knew about the "blogging world". I'm so glad you had your blog address on the template! I posted about the card I made from your template and linked back to you. Thanks so much for the cute template! Oh, and your blog and projects are just awesome!