Flora Grande Bloom Tutorial

...as promised, here's the tutorial on how to make the mahoosive beautiful bloom from the Heartfelt Creations Flora Grande flower stamp - this method would also apply to any other stamp you have that has more than 6 petals (the usual way to make a big rosey type of flower)   Before I go on though... huge thanks for all your lovely messages and emails about yesterday's shows... they were great weren't they?  The "crow/parrot" will forever make me laugh my socks off... I thought I did quite a good job... alas I didn't get a photo of this rare of endangered breed, so perhaps if Liz is reading this she could take a piccie and send it to me... for posterity and all that.  Anyhow, on with the tutorial... you might want to grab yourself a cuppa and a packet of Hobnobs mind you, it is very photo heavy :O)  *~please also excuse the state of my hands and nails.. these pics were taken after three intensive days sample making and therefore my nails are a tad battered and the hands...well, mucky inky dirty will suffice~*  Here's a pic of the finished bloom:

And here are your ingredients:

Four stamped flowers, pokey tool, Cosmic Glue, paper clips, scissors, paintbrush or similar for curling the petals (+stamp!)

Through the tutorial I will post photo's of each step, plus extra photo's (labelled a or b, which show you how the step should look once completed)

STEP 1
Cut up in between two petals to the middle of the flower.

STEP 2
Where your cut is is where one petal will overlay the next one - you need to cut the top off this petal as when it is glued, it will be double thickness and won't curl as nicely as the other petals. Leave a nice "tab" at the bottom of the petal for gluing.

So your first flower will look like this with 7 petals.

STEP 3
Cut out one petal plus a semi circle from the centre (makes it easier to assemble) and the top off the petal that will be underneath once glued.  KEEP THE SINGLE PETAL.

Your second flower will look like this with 6 petal.

Rusty Hinge makes ones fingers look nicotine stained!

STEP 4
Cut out two petals together - set them aside as you will need them. Cut out another semi circle from the centre as before and also the top off the underneath petal.  

This is how flower number 3 should look when glued - 5 petals.

please excuse the sausage thumb shot!

STEP 5
This should be your fourth stamped flower. Cut out three petals together, repeat the process as before, cut a semi circle from the middle, chop the top off the petal that will sit underneath... KEEP THE THREE PETALS

This is how it should look - 4 petals

yep, another sausage thumb

STEP 6
For this step, you need to use the three petals you cut from the previous flower.  Snip a little way into the petals, this makes them easier to curl once assembled.

Use your paintbrush to gently curl your petals inwards, add glue as shown and stick the edges together where they meet.

It should look like this

STEP 7
This step needs the two petals you cut from flower #3 - again, snip a little way into the petals to help them curl once assembled.

Use your paintbrush to curl the petals inwards, this helps it come together for gluing

And it should look like this - as before, just add glue along one edge and stick where they meet. Use a clip to assist the gluing and freeing up your hands for the next step.

STEP 8 
This is using the single petal you cut from flower # 2. Use your paintbrush to wrap the petal around it, glue at the base and use a clip to hold it in place.

for continuity, Hels kept her hands mucky

You are now ready to assemble your bloom!

STEP 9 
Use a pokey tool (or similar) to curl the edges of your petals.  Pop your finger underneath the point at the base of the flower and push upwards to form a little peak inside the flower. This will be the "nest" your next layers sit around.

Add a generous dollop of Cosmic Glue around the base of the "peak".

STEP 10
Remember the semi circles we cut from the middles of each layer?  This eases assembly!  This photo shows that you can now get your scissor tips into the hole and make it slightly larger so it nests neatly within the base flower.  Repeat this process with each layer.

Place your layer into the base flower - you may need to jiggle it around a little until it sits neatly.

STEP 11
As before, snip around the hole in the bottom of the layer to make it the right size to fit into the layer below... add glue around the edges of the hole and pop into place... 

...like this...

STEP 12
As before, snip down the size as necessary and place into the every growing bloom.

STEP 13
Remember we snipped into the petals in Step 6?  This is why!  It makes life easier to curl the petals when they aren't so snug together.

ewwww, don't look at those manky nails!!!

When popped into place, it should look like this:

STEP 14
And again, snipping down between the petals makes it so much easier to curl these back on the layer that has two petals... curl the petals back and pop glue around the base of the layer.

or those manky nails, no! don't look!

STEP 15
Can you believe I deleted the photo for Step 15??? After all those other ones!!! Eeek!! Anyways, all you needs to do with the single petal is cut it to size and pop it into place with a dob of glue.

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And there you have it!!! Are you still with me or have you nodded off?   I hope that you found this easy to follow and if you are planning on making some beautiful blooms, I would LOVE to see the results! 

I shall away now... as ever, thanks for looking, have a great day all!  TTFN

Hels x