The smaller teacup is from the Cricut cartridge "Tags, Bags, Boxes & More 2." I cut it on my (new) Cricut Expression 2 on Craft Room at 7 inches wide. This gave me a nice size for a cappuccino type cup. When cut out the flat pieces look like this.
This will give you a handle, cup and bottom of the cup and 2 circles that are used to make the cup stay round and cover up glued seams. I used the "Floral" pattern from Glitz' "Yours Truly" line for my teacup, I liked the patten and colors for a teacup.
To assemble the cup, glue or tape (I used scor/sookwang tape in 1/4 inch size) the tabs on the edge of the cup and base to round them. I used the tabs as a guide and tried to match the spacing. (Note: the piece I used as the base of the cup could be flipped and used as a saucer.) Depending on the look desired, you cand trim a bit off the base to make it rounder or smaller. After gluing I bent the tabs down on the bottom of cup and base so they looked like above.
I choose not to glue the handle but just to fold it in half and insert it in the slots. I had to gently lengthen on of the slots with a small scissors to get the tabs on the handle in. I then put glue (I used 3in1) on the tabs on the cup and glued the base to the cup. I then inserted the smaller circle into the bottom of the cup and the larger circle into the top of the base and glued them in to cover the tabs and make the cup look rounder and more finished. (you wont actually see these pieces and as you can just see, I glued the one in the bottom of cup in upside down.)
There is a big seam where they meet, I am sure if you are more careful and tidy than me that this seam would be lessened or avoided. I fixed it by gluing a piece of lace trim over the seam. I also cut 2 more circles out of the same pattern, one at 1.125 inches and one at 1.5. I glued the larger one to the bottom of the base to make sure it had a good flat base to sit on. The smaller piece I cut slits around the edge and crated tabs. I then bent the tabs and glued it to the top inside of the teacup to create a base for the flowers to sit on. Again it doesn't have to be super pretty or perfect, it will all be hidden by the adorable rolled flowers. On this cup I inked the edges of the cup with Biscotti color Powdwer Puff chalk because I wanted a antique old world look.
The last step before making the flowers is to add something to give the flowers some body and shape, like a floral "bump it." Here I used a circle that had cut badly that I turned into a cone. I cut 2 slits at the top to flatten the point of the cone. You could also use a half Styrofoam ball, floral foam, tissue or what ever you have on hand that works for the size and shape of your teacup. I added some pop dots under the middle of cone (like 6 or so stacked) to make sure it would hold and stay put.
Now its time for flowers!! This is the fun part to me. I cut various types of rolled flowers from the Flower Shoppe, Artiste and Art Philosophy Cricut cartridges. I used widths from 4 to 2.5 inches to make smaller flowers. Now if you don't have a Cricut many of the die manufacturers like Sizzix and Spellbinders make dies for flowers or there are some precut ones by Imaginisce. Or you cant tear/cut your own spirals to make rolled 3d flowers, I found a bunch of tutorials (like this) when I Googled "spiral flower tutorial."
So I cut out some different sizes and styles of flowers. I used American Crafts' Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic "Pretty Parkway" paper for all the flowers on this teacup. (I rolled some with the blue on the inside and some with the white on inside.) I also choose to chalk the edges of the spirals for the aged look.
If you haven't made rolled flowers before, here is my method. I used a twilling tool or tweezers. (Here I used a locking forceps style tweezers because I forgot my twilling tool when I packed for the crop I was at.) Gripping the small end (outer) end of the spiral in your tool, start winding it or rolling it. On most flowers the color on the INSIDE will show the most. once you have the whole thing rolled around (except base/bottom larger center), take it out of tool and loosed flower to get the look you want. Some people like really tightly wound flowers, I happen to like them a bit looser and unwound. Make what looks good to you.When you get to the end of the spiral you will see there is a large "circle" or other shape that will be the base of the flower. Put some heavy liquid glue or a big glue dot or glubber on it and glue your rolled and shaped bloom to it. You can now shape the petals and flower however you like, I tend to flatten some of the a bit. Voila! A flower. Now make a whole bunch. :)
After you have a bunch of flowers made, it is time to fill your cup. I started with the biggest flowers and put them toward the center. I continued too add the flowers from larger to smaller filling in the holes until you couldn't see the inside of the teacup. To cover the seam I trailed some flowers down the cup like it overflowed. I did not add any more embellishments to this particular style.
I also made a larger variation with a doily type saucer. I used Glitz' Cashmere Dame line in Floral for this teacup. I also embossed the paper to give it a fine bone china look. ( I used Anna Griffin;s Cuttlebug folder in Rosa.) I wanted this teacup &flowers to have more of a English (Victorian?) high tea look.
I did most of the flowers with the same Cricut cuts, but this time made the a bit larger- like up to 5.5 inches. I also used several different paper patterns, including Dear Lizzy and Prima. I did not chalk the edges of the flowers.
For the teacup I used a Sizzix die designed by Brenda Walton with my Big Shot Machine. This cup has a more angled shape with scalloped edges. It gave me almost the same pieces when cut. The circles are smaller, but work basically the same way one one inside and one on bottom of cup. And the tabs on base glued to the side of cup on this version.
The Brenda Walton die has a handle that is made if a strip of paper that is rolled in an "S" Shape and glued to cup. I used the seam of the cup as guide to get the handle straight on cup. (as a bonus it hid the seam a bit.) There is also one additional detail- a teabag label. I used my tiny attacher and stapled it to some matching bakers twine and hung it over edge of cup near the handle. I used a semi blank paper for the tag and wrote my step-mom's initial and my happy mother's day sentiment on it.
After placing the rolled flowers, I filled in the spaces that remained with premade flower from my stash, mostly Prima and Petaloo ones. I especially liked the small flat blooms for the tiny crevices. (The paper I used had a yellow back and made the inside practically glow.) I also inserted some Prima leaves along edge and between some flowers. After I had the flowers how I wanted them, covered the teacup part with a paper towel and sprayed the flowers only with shimmery Goosebumps texturizer. I then sprinkled Fairy Dust glitter in Sugar Shimmer over it. This gave it a sugared flower candy look I really like.
For the saucer I cut out a 4 inch and a 6 - 6.5 inch doily on my Cricut using the Teresa Collins Basics digital cartridge for Craft Room. (For the saucer I used Glitz' Floral from Yours Truly) on the 6 inch one I cut off a "pie piece" from one of the scallops and removed the center circle. I then glued the edged together to make it slightly rounded. I glued the 4 inch doily in the center to cover the hole I had cut and make a flat base. I then glued the teacup in the center. (Ignore the circle under the cup-I originally made a plain circular base ans was scared to detach it.) I added a couple of flowers that I glittered individually to the saucer to cover the seam.
So those are the two styles of posey filled teacups I made over the weekend. I am hoping they make make for a nice Mother's Day gift of flowers that will stick around for a while. What are you doing for Mother's day this year?
Until next time, stay sweet! - L
Materials used:
Dies/Cricut: Sizzix Brenda Walton Teacup die, Cricut Artiste, Art Philosopy, Flower Shoppe, Tags, Bags, Boxes & More 2 and Teresa Collins Basics digitalPapers:Glitz: Cashmere Dame Floral & Yours Truly Floral, Dear Lizzy: 5th & Frolic Pretty Parkway
Inks/Glitters/Paints: Qick Quotes Powder Puff Chalk in Biscotti
