Handmade Grunge/Vintage Flower Tutorial by Mirella DK

Morning everyone!

Hi! 

As you may know if you have seen any of my cards, I love embellishments, the more the merrier!. And of course, my favourite embellishments are flowers! A while ago, I decided that I wanted to try to make a Grunge style card. But when the time to put some nice embellishments came, I realised that all my flowers were too pretty and “clean” looking for that card!

So looking around on the amazing world of the internet, I got inspired to make my own grunge/shabby/vintage flower. Since then, I've adapted the process to my own liking and way of working.

You will need :

I use watercolour paper as it tends to be stronger when wet.

You will need to die cut 16 single leaves for one flower. You can always put less leaves if you like flatter flowers.

(If you don't have a leaf die, you can free cut the leaves yourself)

Soak the leaves in water. I usually leave a few soaking for a few minutes at a time.

Then, roll the wet leaves. After rolling, I twist and crunch them as I want them to have a lot of creases when they dry.

                                                                              

                             

Once they dry up (after a few hours should be OK, but just make sure they are totally dry as they might break if still damp), start unrolling them, but still leaving the creases on, don't flatten them completely.

Some of the leaves will be flatter or less creased than others... don't worry, you can always crease them a bit with your hands... I also put the flatter leaves as a first layer for the flower, to make a base for the rest of the layers.

At this point, I use my distress inks to ink the creases and edges of the leaves.

Now, it's time to start building the flower.

I place a bit of double sided tape, with one side peeled, and place the first layer of leaves/petals. The thinner part of the leaf should go to the inside of the flower.

Afterwards, using glue, I'll keep on building the layers.

After placing the last layer, I will use the top side of a paint brush to push the petals all together and to shape the flower at the same time... the glue won't be dry yet, so you can slightly move the petals to get them in the right place.

Once the glue is dry, you can add a rhinestone (it should be a bit big to cover the middle of the flower).

You can also use shop-bought stamens, for a more realistic look.

As a last touch, I use the distress ink again, to give the flower a bit of colour depth. Sometimes I use a different ink colour, for a bit of contrast, like I've done in the flower at the bottom.

I really hope you have enjoyed my first ever tutorial and that it has inspired you to try to make your own flowers! You can always adapt this tutorial to your own taste and technique.

Thank you! Until next time!