I live on the East Coast of the United States, and it is finally consistently feeling like Spring here. It’s hard to believe that it was just a little over a month ago that there was a snowstorm here! I think my favorite thing about Spring is feeling like everything has moved from neutral colors to bright colors. We go from snow white and gray slush and bare brown branches to blue skies and green grass and flowers of many colors. It’s those flowers that inspired my project for today.
Supplies for today’s project:
- Gel Press® Petites B set
- White cardstock
- Acrylic paint in purple, magenta, dark red, and yellow
- Brayer
- “Leafy” stencil by Dina Wakley
- Small bubble wrap or other texture
- Straws or coffee stirrers
- Flower pot (real or craft)
- Tissue paper
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Tape
I used the oval plate from my Gel Press Petites B set to make a bunch of purple ovals on a piece of white cardstock. You can use some texture on these if you want a different look. I chose to keep them solid, knowing I was going to add another color with a stencil.
Don’t you just love that stencil?? I brayered magenta paint on to my oval plate, and then stamped with it through the stencil onto the ovals I had made before. There was still a lot of paint left on the plate, so I stamped with it over a different oval, giving me two different looks for my flower petals.
I decided to make my flower centers with the hexagon plate – it’s part of the same Gel Press Petites set as the oval, so I only had to get one set of plates out. You can certainly use the circle from the other Petites set, though, or any of the round Gel Press plates – I’d love to see a flower with a center made from the 8″ round plate! 😀
I made the flower centers similarly to how I made the petals – a solid yellow base print, with a textured different color print layered on top. In this case, I used bubble wrap with very small bubbles. I pressed the bubble wrap into the red paint on the hexagon plate, then printed on to the hexagon on the left. I took the bubble wrap itself and printed onto the hexagon on the right.
I cut out all my flower petals and both hexagons, then put together the flowers in two layers of three petals.
I really like how these turned out! I also considered gluing the petals and centers back to back to make one two-sided flower, but decided to save that for a future project.
If you’ve seen my projects before, you just know there has to be an upcycled/repurposed element! The stems for this flowers were just drinking straws that I got from a local convenience store. One of them may have had a previous use in an iced coffee 😉 but I cleaned it afterward. For smaller flowers, you could use green coffee stirrers – I save those whenever I get one and have discovered all kinds of craft uses for them from stirring paint to scooping small quantities of gel medium.
I just used clear tape to attach the straw to the back of the flower. You can use whatever you have on hand that would work.
The finished project!
I decided to add the finished flowers to a chipboard flower pot I had on hand, and put in some green tissue paper. I think this would make a great gift box for Mother’s Day, a spring birthday, or a friend who likes gardening. You could even use a real flower pot – a chance for someone to “plus one” your project!
I hope the weather is sunny and nice where you are, and that this inspired you to make your own flowers. If you’re seeking more inspiration, please join our Facebook group, and check out Gel Press on Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube!
Create Every Day,
Jen Kitchen
