Tutorial: Paper Teacups Filled with Flowers...Makes a Cute Mother's Day Gift

I wanted to share these really cute 3D teacups filled with rolled paper flowers.  I made these two at a crop this weekend, and think they are going to make awesome Mother's Day gifts!  I made two styles and will be going over the smaller "Demitasse" type cup first.

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 digital
Papers:Glitz: Cashmere Dame Floral & Yours Truly Floral, Dear Lizzy: 5th & Frolic Pretty Parkway
Inks/Glitters/Paints: Qick Quotes Powder Puff Chalk in Biscotti

The Last Christmas gift of the season

To finish off my crafty Christmas /holiday season there is another gift I want to share.  This one is for my friend who introduced me to scrapbooking through the Cricut. 

I used another kit from Pinecone Press.  This one is a perpetual calendar / address book using Graphic 45's "Place In Time" papers.  I have recently started to get into buttons as embellishments, so I added quite a few.  In fact I added so many buttons and embellishments that the book doesnt close flat. Luckily my friend loves a minibook so full it looks like its exploding!

Also the book gives you an option to make photo mats to add your own pictures to the calendar decorations or to just make it decorative and add extra images from the beautiful paper.  I checked and my friend said she would prefer the extra images and embellishments. So that is the version you see in my pictures. Which, by the way I took with my phone, so the quality may be meh.

Front Cover: I choose slightly different images for the cover and added some buttons, pearls, a cameo and Teresa Collins bling.  I also added ribbon and some paper roses to the spiral binding. The kit comes with printed calendar and address book pages that are pre punched for the spiral.
 

January (and following months): The kit has you add the pattern paper across from each months calendar and as a strip at the top with the month.  The background is from the pattern side of the G45 paper and the decorative pieces are from the other side with the images and borders.  The kit has a diagram of where to cut.  On each month I added a button or other embellishment I thought matched the vibe of that month. Like a cameo for February, a star in July or a button that says lucky in November.

 

 

 

The address book portion didn't have any decorations.  If you are interested in getting a kit they are available on the Pinecone Press website.  The additional materials I used were various buttons (I know some were October Afternoon and Teresa Collins), rhinestones, pearls, and other embellishments.  And although the kit does provide you with plenty of ribbon for the whole book, I did use some additional ribbons I liked.

I think this book is a great idea, especially for people who are as forgetful of dates and birthdays as I am.  In fact I bought a second kit I intend to make for myself.  

Tis the Season to Be Jolly....

More Crafty Christmas-ness form me.  This time I wanted to show off my gift tags and wrapping.  When I was in high school and just after my first attempt at college I worked retail. And the thing I took away from working the holidays in a mall (other then feet that still hurt) is wanting to wrap a present so it looks like it's from a TV show or a store display.

This year I had a lot of help from my handy dandy Cricut.  I recently purchased the Creative Memories "Holiday Tags & More" cartridge and the digital 3D bows package for my Craft Room. (Some time I will have to talk about what a great tool Cricut's Craft Room really is.)  And I used these combined with some of this years beautiful holiday pattern paper to finish off my gift wrapping perfectly.

 First off the gift tags.  I picked 3 or 4 of my favorite tags off the "Holiday Tags" cart and set them up to cut out all the layers on different pattern papers I thought co-ordinated. I then glued them together in various combinations.  Since I did a snowflake theme this year I choose tags and paper that reflected that.  Here you can see them on my desk drying after I added some glitter glue in sparkling shades from Viva and Stickles.

For my wrapping paper I found this gorgeous hand printed on recycled cotton  paper at the Container Store. (OMG they always have the best papers!) It has these concentric circles with a glitter circle in the center. I also have some snowflake and Cjhristmas tree prints in golds and blues.I used the 3D bows in my craft room to make theses cute little bows from card stock and pattern paper. There are 4 basic bow shapes, the single bow, the double bow, a long loopy strip bow and the "rosette" type bow that looks sort of like the ones you would buy in a bag with a square of sticky stapled to the bottom. (You will need brads to assemble the last 2 types.) Each type then has some different styles of edges and layers, like scallops or lacy.  I used alot of the single bow with either a single scallop edge or straight.  I thought they looked clean and pretty. Like the cream and gold card stock one above.

Here you can see a few of my wrapped gifts all ready for giving. As you can see I tried all the different bow shapes out.  I try to mix up my wrapping a bit, with some ribbons and traditional bows as well as adding Cricut cut snowflakes.

 

Here is an example of a "rosette" type bow.  I thought they were really cute all tiny like this one on a jewelry box.  But make sure to get a brad with a long "stem" when you assemble it. (And isn't the candy cane pattern on it so sweet?)


I am all excited to start giving out my gifts now that they are wrapped and ready!
Hope your Christmas in Merry and Bright and that your New Year's is Rockin'!!!!!

Decking the halls

Continuing with my Crafty Christmas theme, I have been making some paper flowers and turning them into wreaths and bouquets for decorations and gifts.

I learned how to make the flowers at Perfect Day Scrapbooking's all day black Friday crop from a very nice lady.  This you tube video shows how to make a similar flower.  I used 4 inch squares of paper and instead of folding the two side triangles down with the "back pattern" showing, I just folded it the opposite way.  Also I used a low temp hot glue gun not the tombow multi glue.I also used from heavy to thin weights of paper, a medium weight seems to work best.
  

A bag of folded "petals" ready to be glued together

 

Some of the flowers in bouquets.  I used faux pearls and colored beads in the centers and glitter glue along the edges of the petals.  Ranger's stickles and Viva Decor glitter liner worked best.

 The wreath I made for our apartment. Snowflakes are my decorating theme this year.  The following are wreaths I made as gifts.  I was really happy with how they looked.

I will post later about how I am doing my gift wrapping and cards.  Hope your holidays are merry!

P.S. If you want written directions I have a pdf I can email, just drop me a note at laurel.and.maggie@gmail.com.

The Holidays start with....a Wizard of Oz Mini Album

So I decided that this year is a crafting Christmas.  I have been busy making gifts and decorations.  For my step sister I picked up a Pinecone Press kit to make a mini ablum using the Graphic 45 "Magic of Oz" line.

First of all I love love love this paper.  I know my step sister will too, because she likes vintage and the Wizard of Oz.  I picked up a kit mainly to save time.  But also because I had bought several of the Pinecone Press album bases, like the interactive album in this kit, during Shop Hop and it was nice to learn how to put the pieces together.

I did not follow the instructions to the letter, the measurements left a bit more of the kraft colored chipboard showing than I like.  I think I will use the blank chipboard albums for more projects now that I have put one together.  I recommend the Pinecone kits, they use some pretty cool papers (lots of Graphic 45 yay! among others) and some unusual shapes and sizes for their custom album blanks. Visit their site here.

 

Happy Father's Day!!!! with a card

Today is Father's Day and I thought I would share the card I made my Dad.  As I have said in previous posts, I find making a masculine card a bit harder that one for a girl.  But I do like how this card came out.  I used my Cricut and my new favorite paper stack, K & Co.'s Designer paper.

I started with the Star Card from the Wild Card Cricut Cartridge. I used a rectangle from Craft Room Basics to weld another panel at the bottom of the card that would flip down when the star was opened. I think if you look at the pictures you will see what I mean.  I used the purple polka dot paper for the card base and added the star outline in a teal blue plain card stock.  I then added the "Dear Old Dad" sentiment from the holiday Craft Room digital cartridge Father's Day-Dear Old Dad. I only used the text portion and not the shadow or stars.  I cut it out in a line green and a pattern paper and layered just the "old" portion over the green in the pattern. (I will look up the name of the paper and list at bottom.) I then used my liquid pearls in a teal color to outline the star on top of the border and my Martha Stewart glitter pen in green to highlight the text.

On the panel behind the star I added a background from the Paper Lace cartridge on the lace1 button of "Flower 2"; I re-sized it a little to make sure it fit on the added panel.  I then traced over the swirly bits with a glitter liner in iridescent. (I used the striped white and grey Designer paper for the lace.) On the back of the star I added a couple of different sizes of stars in the green and teal card stock . I used the star from the cards border and deleted one of the cuts in the hide contour feature. I decorated the teal star with an outline of holographic glitter liner and the green one with sunny yellow perfect pearls.

On the inside of the card I added the Happy Father's Day text from the digital Craft Room download " Father;s Day-Dear Old Dad."  This time I did add the shadow and the diamond/star layers. I used the same teal/bright green color combination.  I put a heavy layer of the iridescent glitter on the diamond shapes to really make them sparkle.  I also cut out 2 slightly larger sets of the diamonds and added them in the corners.I put in one more of the stars- a border stlye one to the fold in the card. And I also added a shadow panel of the lace I used on middle of card to the inside of the added panel to have somewhere to write a note to my dad.I decorated this with the teal Liquid Pearls.

Ok so by now you have probably noticed the weird spay marks in the corners.  I kinda screwed up when i was finishing up the card. I had gone out shopping and found a color of Tattered Angel's Glimmer Mist in a limited edition Halloween color I had been dying to try. Its called Afraid of the Dark and its like a purpley color with green glitter. And I thought it would match the card well but I was too excited and didn't test it so i sprayed too much and it came out clumpy looking and warped the paper. If I had taken my time and done it right it would have looked really cool, but I didn't and I am unhappy with how it came out. Oh well, the card as a whole looks cute and I was happy with it. 

So there it is my Dad's card.. I sent him a book and some sugar free chocolate too.  What did you do for Father's Day? Did you make a card or gift, I would love to see your projects too.

XXOO
L

Product List:

• Cricut Cartridges: Craft Room Basics, Craft Room Father's Day-Dear Old Dad, Wild Card and Paper lace
• Paper: K and Company-Primary Designer Paper, sei-Field Notes and Mike's card stock
• Paints/Inks: Ranger Liquid Pearls-Peacock, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist-Afraid of the Dark, Viva Glitter Liner-Iridescent and Viva Pearl Pen - Sunny Yellow