December 2, 2015

POINSETTIA OBSESSION

OK. I admit it. I'm obsessed. Again. 

When I first laid eyes on the Festive Flower Builder Punch on page 31 of the Holiday Catalog, my thought was, "Eh. Too much putzy work." And continued on my way through the catalog.

But then, a few weeks later, there the punch was again -- as part of the Weekly Deals! The fact that I could get it on sale coerced me into looking at the punch once again. And I surrendered and ordered it. When it arrived at my house, I looked at it, and thought, "Huh? How do I do this?" 

If you've ever browsed through one of the Stampin' Up! catalogs, you've probably noticed the little video symbol alongside some products, which means there is a video made specifically for that product. Well, I immediately went to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTRP5cvrgrg&list=PLCgx4panAESg9INlEO8qGMY4mmePik0R2&index=5 and was treated to a personal tutorial on how to build the poinsettias given by the ever-smiley Katie Adams (the owner of the blog, The Crafty Blog Stalker, for which I did this GUEST POST. Katie works for Stampin' Up!). With Katie's fine instructions fresh in my mind, I headed back down to my Creation Station, and started in a whirlwind of F.U.N.!

Pictured in the two photos below are the five poinsettias I have made thus far.



A couple close-ups of the poinsettias:



The first one I attempted to make is the one below. Pretty basic. To add a little more depth, I sponged the edges of the petals and the leaves. I also did some sponging on the yellow pieces in the center -- because, in my opinion, without the sponging, the yellow center looked much too stark.


My second attempt was a little more lively in its looks. That is because I used a very hot red, the retired Poppy Parade. To add extra zing, I sponged the edges of these flowers in Rich Razzleberry. As I also did for the yellow center. I was pretty happy with the looks of this flower.


After creating these two poppies, I hung up my flower-making for the evening. 

A few days later, I was thinking about poinsettias once again. I thought about those real ones that are not one color, but more of a marbling/splotching of a few related colors. Huh! I could do that with some STAMPING! Imagine that original idea!

So, I ran down to the Creation Station when I finally had time, and made three more poinsettias -- splotchy ones. To make the splotches, I grabbed the thicker splotch stamp from Gorgeous Grunge (page 123 in the big catalog). 

For my first experiment, I chose some Pink Pirouette cardstock and splotched away with retired Regal Rose ink. Because Pink Pirouette is such a soft color, and Regal Rose is fairly powerful, I stamped off first before I did each petal. You can tell that, on a couple of petals, I sort of forgot to stamp off first, giving the petals a darker splotch. But, that's OK. That's kind of how the real poinsettias look too.

To make the leaves look a little more lifelike, I used my fingers to kind of crimp and work with each leaf. I love the dimension this little bit of effort adds to the overall effect.

I just was not happy with how those centers were looking. When I look at the center of a real poinsettia, the centers are far from perfect. But they are definitely more interesting than what I'd been getting. Hmmm. What to do . . .

After some deep thinking, finally, I grabbed my Basic Pearls and one of the few Blendabilities pens I have and COLORED THOSE PEARLS to match my center! Woo hoo! Brilliant, if I may say so myself! 

So, this was my first attempt. I don't like the placement of the pearls -- it looks like 3:00. But, it is getting closer to my vision of how I wanted the centers to look.


Next, I grabbed a darker retired cardstock for my second splotching attempt. This time, since the ink was not far from the color of the cardstock, I did not stamp off before stamping. I like the effect. More subtle, but nice. I added one more colored pearl to this center.


OK. It looks less like a clock face than the first one.


My final attempt at a splotchy poinsettia is shown below. This is the same color ink, stamped off first, on Naturals Ivory cardstock. My leaves turned out really well on this flower, as did the petals. For the pearls, I still stuck with the four, one large and three medium. 


Hey! If you're interested in making one of these splotchy poinsettias, come to  my December 14 Stamp-In Workshop, and you can make one with my girls and me!

Have any of you tried to create poinsettias with the Festive Flower Builder Punch yet? Do any of you flower makers first stamp with the Reason for the Season (page 31 of the Holiday Catalog) stamps before putting your flowers together? I don't own that set, so I have to make my own sponged edges and splotches. 

OK. Now, after having relived all the fun of making these Festive Flowers by telling you about it, I think I have planted some Paper Seedlings in my own brain. See you later! I'll be down at my Creation Station -- MAKING POINSETTIAS!

Obsessed
Smiles.

19 comments:

  1. Your Poinsettia's are beautiful made of paper. I think I could even tackle them.
    Thanks for sharing on http://ohmyheartsiegirl.com/heartsie-girls-wordless-wednesday-43/

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  2. I love your poinsettias. They look so real. Wish I could be at your stamp-in.

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  3. I can't get over how pretty these are. I think they'd be really cute magnets, too. New follower! Come say hi sometime! www.facebook.com/thehappyidiot

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  4. These are lovely! My mom uses poinsettias to decorate her tree and these would be beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

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  5. Perfect for the Christmas season. You've inspired a new craft idea that I can try with my daughter. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Absolutely gorgeous Linda! I love the splotchy one! Thanks for sharing at Five Star Frou-Frou! Love Mimi xxx

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  6. The Pointsettias are so beautiful and well crafted. You can add them to so many things!

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  7. Beautiful! I like all of them! Blessings, Janet

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  8. These are beautiful! Happy Holiday Season Linda. Pinned & shared. Thanks for joining the Inspiration Spotlight party. See you again soon.

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  9. These are very pretty!! Like the splotches on them!

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  10. So very pretty! Poinsettia's are my favorite too! Thanks for sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday! Hope to see you again this week...(with no issues lol!) Pinned!

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  11. Those are beautiful!! I'm pinning this to try with my Cricut! :)

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  12. These are so gorgeous!! I'm very impressed. :) Thanks for sharing at Friday Frivolity!!

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  13. you made such pretty paper flowers!
    Thanks for sharing this at Cooking and Crafting with J&J.

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  14. Oh my gosh...these turned out so pretty!

    Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!

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  15. I love this! A bunch strung together would make a lovely garland for a Christmas tree. :) Thanks for sharing!

    Whitney @beneaththebuckeyetree.com

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  16. These are absolutely gorgeous!! Much better than the real thing which I can't have in my home because of kitties.

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