May Flowers with Eileen Hull Designs

Hi everyone and welcome! This month Eileen Hull's Inspiration Team are celebrating May with projects created using Eileen Hull Designs various floral dies (both Bigz and Thinlits from Sizzix). Well we've all had enough of the rain by now I'm sure so it's about time those flowers started blooming!

Unsure where to go with this theme, I started making flowers before remembering there was a woven twig heart wreath lurking in my stash. Ah ha! An idea was born! It took a little time and some creative input from my team mates but hopefully you'll like the results...

I kept the natural feel to the wreath by wrapping coils of burlap and gauze around it before adding an abundance of flowers and leaves. To keep the heart balanced and hanging straight I added a weight (an old rusty nut) and hid it with the butterfly, and only you know it's there!

Now it's time for the lowdown on how to make those flowers and leaves so you can create your own floral wreath;

Flower/Leaf Tutorial

Cut the large and small versions of the five point flowers from white felt using the Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 13PK - 'Stitchy Flowers & Leaf'. Starting with the larger flowers mix up Colorbox Blends Ink 'Wildberry' with a little water, soak the felt with water and apply the ink to the outer edges, allowing it to bleed gently towards the centre as they dry.

Cut the larger stamens from Paper Leather or strong card from the same die set and apply the 'Wildberry' Ink over them. When the flowers are dry stick them to the stamens and add a bead of 'Ballerina' Liquid Pearls to the centre.

For the smaller white felt flowers again soak them with water before applying a mix of Colorbox Blends Ink 'Melon' to the centre, letting it bleed outwards as it dries. Finish with a bead of 'White Opal' Liquid Pearls in the centre as before.

Using the Sizzix Bigz Die - 'Leaves, Spring' cut leaves from Paper Leather or strong card and colour them with Colorbox Blends Ink 'Frog'. Use a white Gelly Roll pen from Sakura (or similar) to doodle around the leaves (thanks to my team mate Mitsyana Wright for teaching me this) and add dots of Glossy Accents to imitate drops of dew. With the same die cut serrated edge leaves (as shown above) from stiffened crinoline and colour with Colorbox Blends Ink 'Leaf'.

To create the 'fronds' peaking out from behind the flowers cut the floral arch from the Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 4PK - 'Floral Arch & Words' from Paper Leather or strong card. I left these un-inked and just cut them in half.

The layered butterfly was cut using Sizzix Thinlits Die Set 6PK - 'Birds & Butterflies' from Paper Leather and embossed with Letter It™ Embossing Powders 'Bridal Tinsel'. I discovered it layered perfectly over a brass filigree butterfly from The Funkie Junkie Boutique. That led me to add the 'Ballerina' Liquid Pearls to the centre heart shape and include dots of 'Brass' Liquid Pearls over the whole wreath.

The Close Ups

Here are some close ups of the finished wreath so you can see it in more detail;

That's it for now from me, but remember to hop on over to the Eileen Hull Designs website to see what my fellow team mates have created with their May Flowers.

Take care and get creative!
Jenny xxx