Flower Clips

Flower blanks, fresh from cutting with my KNK Digital cutting system, these floral pieces are designed on my computer screen, then sent to the cutter for precision cutting. Notice the different sizes of the same design. This creates a larger variety of the pieces. I can mix up motifs. I cut many, many pieces before I begin the coloring process. There is something satisfying about a whole stack of blanks.

Color brings the petals and leaves to life. This shot shows some experimentation with metallics, particularly the large fern. The colorant is alcohol ink, applied with a dropper, then finished with a brush to make sure the edges are covered. In the far right is a floral element with a little more detail. These dashed lines are cut into the surface in a "pounce" line. Ink settles in, adding detail. Unlike my cherry blossoms, these florals are fantastical. Once my stack is finished, they assemble by what is in front of me in a kind of ordered chaos. I love the little buds you see poking out here and there. Each flower is finished with a clip. Originally designed for hair ornaments, they are being clipped onto clothing, headbands and hats.

Beadwork: Floral Earrings

These earrings feature seed beads in iris finishes and polymer clay flowers. The light orange color on the flowers actually glows in the dark or under a black light. I like the way the beads look crinkly all together. If you look closely, you can see that among the tiniest beads I have thrown in a few of a slightly larger size.

Reds and deep coral combine for an unusual palette against the purples of the seed beads and the iris beads. The tiny floral cups are polymer clay.

The term iris describes the multicolored metallic finish as seen above. It refers to Iris, Greek goddess of the rainbow.

Beadwork: Floral Necklace

This piece features polymer clay blossoms in red metallic, orange, yellow and green with little black speckles. I wrapped the petals around vintage floral stamens.

Beautiful matte seed beads are woven into a lace-like pattern with tiny gold-lined bead points for the necklace itself.

The floral pieces are then embellished on top. Coral lined transparent green seed beads make dewy leaf shapes in which to nestle the blossoms. A couple of cranberry colored beads make for ripe berries.

Floral Necklace: Glass seed beads, polymer clay, floral stamens

This necklace fits as a choker. It has a magnetic clasp, which makes it really easy to put on and off.

The focal beadwork hangs loose from the necklace for some movement in the piece. However, each strand is knotted for security. I singe the thread ends with a lighter so the knots don't unravel.

TODAY'S FIND: Dresdens

Tiny red and pink dresden trim

Matte olive dresden trim

Red dresden, crimped

COLLAGE STUFF

www.collagestuff.com

A wonderful store with unique collage elements. Not only do they ship quickly but your order comes with a little favor pack of collage elements and wrapped in festive paper. It was a joy to open!

What is a Dresden?

A Dresden, or German scrap is a paper foil trim or ornament which is intricately embossed and die cut. Typical designs are stars, borders and flowers. The foil doily used in baking would qualify as a dresden. They are often seen in white, silver and gold. Gold being the most common.

Dresdens are useful to trim ornaments, boxes, cards and in doll house applications. I sought them for trimming my paper doll clothes and my tiny shoes. I was delighted to find paper trim in the scales and designs I wanted. The tiny is really, really tiny. (Yeah!) And the icing on the cake is that Collage Stuff has it in the yummiest colors. I chose pink, purple, matte olive, brown and red.

These beautiful trims are easy to use. They take glue well because of their stout paper stock.

They can be crimped to follow curves simply by pinching with your fingernails. Some larger trims can be cut down to fit the scale of a project.

The examples above are all trims. Individual motifs like birds or keys or moons are also available for a unique embellishment to paper craft.