Featured Artist Friday: Fancy Flowers by Jessica S.

Happy Friday! I hope you have having a happy day wherever you are! Today I am sharing a fabulously talented artist and scrapbooker named Jessica. She is sharing a very easy to follow and beautiful flower tutorial. This will spark your inspiration for creating your own floral embellishments if you are not already creating them yourself ;) . Jessica not only scrapbooks but she owns a kit club with lots of fun stuff to purchase. Take a peek at her store! You can also see some beautiful scrapbook projects on Jessica's blog! Let's get to know her better ...

Hi! I'm Jessica, a full time working mom of two kiddos - Andrew (11) and Sophia (7). I met my husband, Michael, when I was just 14 and I spent the summer visiting my aunt's family in a small town in Colorado. We'll celebrate our 12 year anniversary in March - after all this time he's still my best friend. In addition to working full time, I own Lucky Girl Crafts, an on-line kit store that specializes in affordable kits and providing project inspiration to crafters of all levels.

I've been scrapping since 1996, but really developed my craft after the birth of my son. So much has changed in that time! No matter what products I use, the pictures are always the star. To me, scrapbooking is not just a great way to preserve your cherished memories, but allows you to tell your story in your own, special way. I don't scrap in any particular order - so even though I have more than 10 full albums, none of them are complete (or necessarily chronological...)   

Fancy Flower Tutorial by Jessica

I'm definitely more of a traditional scrapper, mostly because I love the tactile joy I get from creating different textures and dimensions from my scrap products. Some of my favorite embellies are flowers - the fancier, the better! It seems like my fanciest flowers always go first, so I came up with a great way to add more personality to the single blossoms in my stash. Not only do they look fabulous, but it's also an inexpensive way to personalize and dress up your projects since most of the items you need you likely already have. Beware, these are really addicting!

Fancy Flowers tool kit:
* A variety of flat flowers in several sizes (fabric, organza, paper or flowers created with die cutting materials are all fantastic!)
* A variety of buttons in different colors & sizes 
* Brads (bling, epoxy, glittered, patterned or plain)
OPTIONAL:
* Precision (stick) file tools (like Close To My Heart or Basic Grey's precision file sets) - these are perfect for widening the button holes if the brad is too large
* Glue Dots
* Needle nose pliers (though I usually make do without these)

Start by sorting your blossoms, buttons and brads into groups that compliment your project.

 Once you've got that done, take your brad and open the prongs fully. 

Insert your brad through your button holes.

Once your brad is through the button, close the prongs of the brad to allow it to poke through your flowers easily.

 

Layer your flowers as desired.

Set the brad - either on your project or just set your brad and toss it into your flower stash to be used later. (Like I said, these are addicting!)

You can also layer several buttons for more height and visual interest. For this, most brads will only fit through the two buttons, but (usually) no further.

Insert your brad through the smaller of the two buttons, then the second one. Set your brad by opening the prongs.

Using a Glue Dot, add this to the back of your button, then on each of your layered flowers to create your fanciflower.

This type of flower turns out just as fun as the single button blooms!

Lastly, if you have a brad that is too large for the button holes, you can use precision files to widen the holes.

Carefully twist your file back and forth to enlarge the button hole.

Tada! About a minute later you'll have button holes that fit your larger brad quite nicely!

These flowers are so easy to make - before you know it you'll have your own little, unique flowers ready to go on your favorite projects.

Here's a few of my favorite fancy flowers in action:

Thanks so much for allowing me the opportunity to show you something new! I hope you enjoy creating your own fantastic, fancy flowers!


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Thank you so much, Jessica, for sharing such a great tutorial on creating such beautiful flowers!!