Loaded with Gardenias!! + A Tutorial..

Hello!!!

This is Varshitha here.. Hope you all had a great weekend.. Mine was fantastic! I am super excited about the current Lulupu Challenge - #17, Load it Up!!! I love to load up my cards with lots of layers and flowers and still make them CAS cards too.. :P

When coming to floral projects I love handmade flowers and my love for handmade flowers was by seeing Rajni ji's and Erum's work. I am always stunned seeing their work. :) Seeing this inspiring world of crafting I decided to make these awesome Gardenis.I am so very excited to show them here... Being a lazy crafter its one of the easy way to make flowers, instead of pinching and molding each petal, these beauties can be done very easily.. Yes I'm showing you a small tutorial on how to make these Gardenias...

Now about my card ..... I have made a typical floral card. A Floral card is what I always prefer for loved ones, making my own flowers and gifting it as a card gives soo much happiness to me.

Here it is..

This challenge demands minum 3 layers and 3 embellishments and here's what I have done.

The base is an inked layer, the 2nd layer of white CS is also inked. 3rd The layer is of embossed card stock and I have inked it using Distress Inks giving a double shaded look. I don't know if someone has done it, this idea just came to my mind when inking the embossed CS. I used two colors to give a gradient  shade look, where these two colors where the ones I used in the flowers. (Dried Marigold and Spun Sugar) and the last layer is the decorative diecut with the sentiment saying "Let your dreams take Flight". I used this sentiment having in mind my close friend who got engaged last week. Wish I could send this to her all the way in India. 

Here are the embellishments I have used..

1. Handmade gardenias and some daisies

2. Distress glittered swirls

3. Prima gem flourishes 

4. Enamel dots, pearls 

5. Seam binding ribbon shaded with same two distress inks as final touch. 

Hope you like my card for today. 

I have also made a video tutorial on making easy paper Gardenias. Before watching the video, I would suggest you to read the supplies needed section below. 

Here you go

Supplies Needed and Tips on choosing supplies for making this Gardenia Flower

Cardstock 

Thickness of 95 - 100 gsm (Apx 65 lbs) should be perfect. Do check the flexibility and smoothness of a small piece of card stock by folding it twice or thrice and dipping in water and squeezing out the excess water. The CS should be perfect for crushing and tweaking, if it seems to be too mushy, it means it is too thin. If it is stiff and does not merge well, it is either thick or the CS is not absorbent so its not a right one. So always die cut or punch out from two or three different CS and try it to find the best for any florals. 

Punch/Dies/Die Cuts

Pick out floral punch or dies with similar shapes which ll be apt for this particular Gardenia. Make sure it is 4 or 6 petaled one, which ll be easy for this folding method. Mine is a Digital die cut which i made according to the size I wanted. The big one (pink gold glittered) is 2.2" and the small one is 1.45" (Yellow orange gardenia). I made the hole in the centre in the die itself because piercing after the flower is made is so tough for me. For all lazy crafters like me the tip is to punch a center hole after you die cut or punch out which ll make things easy. 

If you use a digital cutting machine and you want this same die cut design. Please comment and ask me the file, i can email you the .svg file. This is the design i picked from my softwares library uploaded by some anonymous user. 

Ink / Inkpads / Coloring Medium

Take any sprays, ink pad or re-inkers which reacts with water. Distress Inkpad, Colorbox Pigment ink pad, Dylusion sprays worked out good for me. Do try out others too. Tell me what worked out best for you. 

Embellishment

Typical centre embellishment I prefer for gardenia are Pollens/Stamens, you can also try DIY glittered stamens,  flocking powder, Beads, Micro beads, etc. 

Liquid Paper Crafting Glue 

Like TomBow, Glossy Accent, Glue Gun or try any glue which your confident about.

A Used toddler or infant toothbrush OR Black Gen pen (Optional)

For adding black dots to your Gardenia

Quilling Needle Tool (Optional)

4mm Stylus for molding (Optional)

Right Angle Tweezer

Cup of water

Kitchen Towel Or Good Absorbent Cloth

Heat Gun

Craft Mat

Having my little one around I was not able to complete and upload the video with the post. 

Finally here i am with the Video.. This is my first video and i am super excited. I really thank lulupu and team, who is soo encouraging. 

Thank you, 

Love

Varshitha.

Supplies Used - 

Inkssentials Glossy Accents Precision Tip Martha Stewart Tools Scoring Board SureCut Deluxe Paper Trimmer 12" VersaMark Watermark Ink Stamp Pad Large Dazzle Frost Distress Inkpad Dried Marigold Spun sugar Distress Ink worn lipstick Peacock Feathers Distress Inkpad Distress Inkpad Evergreen Bough 3-D Foam Tabs Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue Carded Inkessentials ink blending tool Black Super Fine Embossing Powder 1 Ounce Ranger Inkessential Craft Sheet Glue Dots Ranger Inkssentials� Heat It� Craft Tool 2 Mini Misters Set Quilled creation needle tool 3" By 4" Acrylic Block Tweezer Sizzix Big shot Teal

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