Big Shot Fabric Flowers

One of the projects I learned about at Leadership was these really cute fabric flowers. I've seen some other fabric flowers & we were even shown a different type at Convention last July but these are totally different. I loved the other ones I've seen but don't have the correct die to create those.....until Monday. ;o)

When I got home, I couldn't wait to go shopping for fabric to make these flowers! I bought lots of fabric, rushed home to make the flowers and found that I don't own the die that was used at Leadership! :o( I was bummed but my "punch puppy" card fiasco taught me to get out of the "tunnel" and look for solutions right away! And so I did!

This is what the finished product looks like.


I think it looks a lot like a Posey and it's cute-as-can-be in real life! I used the ugliest fabric I bought for this flower. Yes, I thought it was an ugly design but bought it anyway. Why? Because I thought it would end up making the prettiest flowers.....and so far, I'm right! lol

Let me tell you how I made them.....I used my Circles die and cut out 8 layers of fabric (IMPORTANT side note here - you can cut out 8 layers of fabric when you're using a die that does NOT have score lines but only 3 layers if it does). Also, be sure you use fabric that will melt such as Polyester or nylon. Basically, if it's flammable it's good for these flowers!

See, I told you the fabric design was ugly!

Here are the circles after they've been cut out - I think they look much better here!

I forgot to take a picture of the circles after they were layered onto each other so you'll have to see how cute it looks when you create your flowers. ;o)

Next step is to "tack" the layers together. I did this by sewing the pin back on at the same time so I didn't have to do another step. Some call this lazy, I call this working more productively! LOL!

After you tack the layers together, put a pin back on your flower (if you didn't follow my "working more productively" lead).

Once you have a pin back on your flower, you'll want to put it on a clipboard. I put a "bulldog clip" on the end of a Popsicle stick then slid my flower on it & let the flower slide to the clip. I then put the other end of the Popsicle stick under the clip of a small clipboard. This is to 1) hold the flower still & 2) hold the flower with something other than my fingers!

At this point, you'll want to heat up your heat gun. Once it's sufficiently heated, start from the center of your flower, work toward the outside and "melt" the fabric so that it starts curling up.

After you've melted the front of your flower to your liking, flip it over (holding the Popsicle stick!) and "melt" the back a bit so that it will support itself.

Once you've done this, set it aside so that the metal from the pin can cool off......DON'T touch it before it's totally cooled off! ;o)

So, what do you think? If you make some flowers yourself, be sure to either send me a picture of yours or post a link to it (if you have a blog & add it as an entry on yours)! I would love to hear what you think of my "Posey". I'll be working on the other flowers after I receive my other dies so check back to see those.....I can't wait to get started!!

Leadership & Punch Puppies

I typed up a long post last night right before heading up to bed and as I was about to hit the "Publish Post" button, everything disappeared!! I have no idea what happened but I just couldn't re-type the whole post again. :o( Here is what I was going to post last night - but most likely not the same words I used then. LOL!


This past week I was in Phoenix, AZ for Stampin' Up!'s Leadership conference. I learned LOTS of different things that I couldn't wait to get home to try! I'll be posting those things over the next few days as I try them out so be sure to check back & see what I'm doing!

When we gather together at Stampin' Up! events, there are times when they have "stadium seating". Those would be at the larger events - Convention, Leadership, etc. I love this type of seating because the chairs seem to be more comfortable & you don't have to worry about someones head being in your line of vision or yours keeping someone else from seeing what's going on. I usually go straight to the top row, plop right down and get my camera out to take pictures of the things I want to try as soon as I get home!

One of the things that goes on when you get Demonstrators together is "swapping". After you swap with other Demonstrators, everyone shows off the different swaps they got. This was happening a couple rows below me and as soon as I saw the following swap, I grabbed my camera, zoomed in & snapped a picture. I needed to make a couple Thank You cards for some pet sitters and this was PERFECT!!
The only problem with this is that I had no idea what was used to create the adorable puppy! I knew it had to be punches but when I got home, I realized that our heart punch is too small to create this dog. Unfortunately for me, when I get a project in mind I tend to get "tunnel vision" and can't see other possibilities to complete the project!

I posted a plea to a group of Demonstrators & asked if they could help. One kind Demo actually received the swap above and gave me the creator's name but that's all she could give me as none of the tools used were listed. I found the swap creator and sent her a message. She was sweet enough to reply and let me know that the heart she used to create the dogs head is an old Sizzix die. There went my project....or so I thought.

While I was running errands, I had a "light bulb moment" and realized that even though our heart punch is too small to create the puppy above - it is small enough to create two puppies! What is the significance of that? I needed to create two puppies for the front of my card! I had planned to create two cards & use one of my dogs for the front of one card and the other one for the front of the other card. When I realized that I could put both Lily and Layla on the front of the cards, I couldn't wait to get home & try to figure out the different punches to use to make my cute dogs.

After a while, I got my girls on the front of two cards and couldn't wait to give them to the girls that took care of them while Gary & I were out of town. Here's what I came up with. What do you think?


What did I use to create these cute girls?
Full Heart, Boho Flowers, Trio Heart & Double Circle Punches (the Double Circle punch is retired)
Pewter brads
Linen thread
Sponge daubers
Creamy Caramel Classic ink & Very Vanilla Craft ink
Basic Black marker

The Going Gray background is an embossing folder with "Thanks" & "Thank You" in different languages.

Here are the real-life versions of Lily (the black one) and (the cream one). What do you think - do they look like the punch puppies on the card?