My Favorite Flower

Hello and thanks to all my scrapping girls who have signed up to be "followers".  I am enjoying myself so far and I hope you are too...

I wanted to post one of my favorite layouts featuring one of my favorite embellishments.

I have learned over the years (and after lots of $ at the photo counter) to print only the photos I love.  Then I edit.  I mostly print pictures in black and white or sepia.  Aesthetically, I find them less busy, and a bonus is that you can use any kind of scrapbook paper with them---no matching your paper to the photo.  It all started with a picture I love:  My daughter in the sandbox.  You can't see her face, but I believe you can see how intently she is focusing on what she is doing. 

I had seen this technique in a magazine, and having some new punches under my belt, decided to try it!

It was soooo easy and I loved the look of the monochromatic layers.  However, my favorite accent on this page is the flower I made.

If you know me personally, you know that my obsession with making flowers has been going on for about six months or so (lots longer than my obsession with exercise which lasted for three days).  But I digress---

I needed the perfect flower for this page and could not locate it in my stash, so I set out to make it.  Here it is.

It has four layers---a scalloped burlap  circle (I LOVE LOVE LOVE burlap---I throw it on lots of projects) that I cut out on the bottom.  Then I took about 6 inches of some lace I had

and ran a loose stitch along its plain side.  I gathered it, tied a knot, and there you have it!  The next layer up, which is hard to see, is a simple small circle of gold tulle.  I had some gold seed beads, and I put the teenyist-tinyist bit of glue on them and glued them to the tulle.  The top is a bit of orange ribbon that I had used for practice when I was learning how to make this rose flower.  I glue dotted it on, and completed my favorite flower...so far, that is.

I learned how to make the orange top part of the flower on you tube.  I was on the computer the other night and my husband said, WITH TONE, WHAT are you doing?  And my six year old piped up, "She's watching a flower tutorial on youtube, Dad!"  Ouch.  That kinda hurt...maybe I spend too much time doing this?  Anyway, here is the link to the most excellent tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NriXH3qMuqk

When you first start making them, they look really BAD.  Like maybe I should quit scrapbooking bad.  But if you watch the tutorial several times, and if you keep practicing, they really do get better.  I make them a lot now!  They seem to find their way into a lot of my projects. 

In any case, there is my favorite flower.  I am sure this is a topic that I will revise often.