Kimberly's 1 Year Blogaversary!

Welcome to Kimberly’s 1 year Blogaversary! You have reached stop #16 on this great blog hop.

You should have come here from:

Lucy Kelleher - http://love2createitall.blogspot.com

and will continue to www.kadoodlebugdesigns.blogspot.com.

If you have just stopped here and would like to join us, please go to http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.comand join the fun!

Ready to usher in Spring, Kimberly had us do something that reflects birth and renewal in pastel and floral colors!

We have a wonderful group of sponsors that want to have "Spring" too …please take the time to stop and visit each one of the sponsors. They have graciously donated their talent for this hop.

1. 1. Creative Kut ~ $10 gift Certificate (http://www.creativekuts.com/)

2. KaDoodle Bug Designs ~ $20 Gift Certificate (http://www.kadoodlebugdesigns.com/)

3. Mickie Burks Osman ~ a paper pack and some stamping goodies

4. Lucy Kelleher ~ Close To My Heart ~ December Stamp of the Month (http://love2createitall.blogspot.com)

5. Nikki Schiltz Calmes ~ Paper Piecings by Nikki ~ $25 credit to Paper Peicings by Nikki (www.paperpiecingsbyNikki.com)

6. Scraptastical Kreations ~ $20 Gift Certificate (http://scraptasticalkreations.com/)

There are a lot of great gardeners along the path, so this hop is two days, so, so sit back, relax and take your time browsing each garden. To be eligible for the blog candy, you must follow Kimberly’s blog. Other bloggers may have additional requirements if they offer individual blog candy.

Our wonderful line-up is::

 

1. Kimberly Pate ~ http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com

2. Kari Sanchez ~ http://purplefuntastickcreations.blogspot.com

3. Lisa Peters ~ http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com

4. Mickie Osmon ~ www.littlescrapcorner.blogspot.com

5. Audrey Dickinson (Scrappie EMT) ~ http://scrappyemt.blogspot.com

6. Tiffany Grant-Simmons ~ http://angel4ever-thecraftyteacher.blogspot.com

7. Lynne Kirsch - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com

8. Marleen Gallagher - http://www.marleens-crafty-space.blogspot.com

9. Pamela Pattison Lash - http://lovebugcreations3.blogspot.com

10. Tricia Colon ~ http://mycrazybubble.blogspot.com

11. Michele Eickholt ~ http://chelescrafts.blogspot.com

12. Staci McD ~ http://preciousmem.blogspot.com

13. Katie ~ http://www.ktsangels.blogspot.com

14. Lucy Kelleher - http://love2createitall.blogspot.com

15. Lisa Woodward ~ http://mycraftyspaces.blogspot.com

16. Melissa Deuss - www.kadoodlebugdesigns.blogspot.com

17. Elecia Betts - http://creationsby-kahaulani.blogspot.com

18. Leslie Dawn Bigam-Krochta - http://www.lesliekcreations.blogspot.com

19. Mary Finstrom http://www.scrappintoday.blogspot.com

20. Christine Oxner http://christine-tac-angel.blogspot.com

21. Jessica Owens http://toocutebyjessica.blogspot.com

A little inspiration from Kimberly: “I can hardly believe I have been blogging and showcasing my crafts for a year now!!! I've grown just like spring and learned so much as I have traveled the crafting path. I am sure you will be as impressed with the talent from these crafters as I am.”

I won’t even begin to tell you how intimidated I am by pastels, so this was a challenge in two ways for me. My “floral” crafting experience has been strictly focused on French Country and Vintage styles. When confronted with Kimberly’s challenge, I knew I had to think out of the box….WAY out, so far outside of the box that I was thinking in the basket!….nothing says “Spring” to me like freshly blooming flowers, so I decided to send Kimberly a basket of flowers for her celebration!

(Please note, that unless specifically mentioned, my materials come from my own personal stash. If you have a particular question about a particular embellishment, please comment and I will do my best to answer it for you!)

My basket is a 4 inch market basket with a traditional basket weave pattern. I used ½ inch x 12 inch strips of sky patterned paper. ( I started this project “pastel challenged”, so for the majority of my paper, I broke out my Cricut Imagine® cartridges and opened my Printmaster 2011 Platinum digital scrapbooking program to print some.) This is the first time I have done paperweaving to such an extent. I cannot stress enough how crucial exact measurements are when embarking on a project like this. If your paper strips are 1/16^th of an inch off, by the time you get to the top, your basket is ½ inch taller on one side. To make the handle of the basket, I laid 3 strips the long way, and cut smaller strips to weave in. I then folded both sides under and added another strip of paper underneath to reinforce it. If made with thicker cardstock, this would make a great treat basket for baked goods or candies!

Once the basket was completed, I turned my focus to the flowers. Flowers that I needed A LOT of and that I’ve never made before. Easy peasy, right? I’ve just recently begun experimenting with 3-D flower making, so I knew a few tutorials were in order. I knew that roses would fit the bill, and since they come in such a variety of colors, I could certainly find some paper in my obscene number of boxes that would work. I wanted straight edge spiral roses, not scalloped, and cringed at the number of spirals I would be cutting to get the amount of flowers that I would need to fill my basket…never fear….if there’s an easy way, I’ll find it! I recalled one of the tutorials I saw edited a spiral on Accent Essentials cartridge and actually added ovals in Cricut Craft Room to get the scalloped edge…..so, I started…and stopped…with that one lone spiral on Accent Essentials. After all, I wanted straight edge spiral roses. I figured it was worth a try. I cut my first spiral, and wound it around the piercing end of my paper piercing too. With this type of flower, you need a very small tight center, and the paper piercer worked perfectly. I let it unwind slightly, used the rounded end of the spiral as my base and secured with hot glue. At the end of it, I would have thought this spiral was made specifically to these flowers! I also discovered that I could also use the spiral cutout left on the mat. It made a slightly smaller flower, allowing me to have various sizes while also saving materials. When you use the mat leftovers, you’ll need to trim the end a bit, but other than that, they work flawlessly!

Next, I needed a leaf base for the roses. Again, I found my answer on the Accent Essentials cartridge. I used the four pronged star cutout, blacked out, so I got a solid middle. I folded the end of the leaves in the middle and folded them upwards and hotglued to the roses. I rolled the leaves under to give them a more lifelike appearance. I was pleased with the prototype, except dimension and color contrast (….did I mention my fear of pastels? ) so I inked the edges of the cut spirals with varying colors. Some I inked a little darker, like pink on pink, and some, I got experimental with, using blue ink on yellow paper, etc. The results were absolutely beautiful, as you can see. I comingled in a few small daisies with adhesive gemstone centers and some folded roses that I made using the flowers and leaves from Spellbinders® Rose Creations designed by Donna Salazar. Each folded rose consists of 6 layers of the varying sizes using a double fold technique.

Once the flowers were completed, I added floral foam to the inside of the basket and started gluing….and glued, and glued and glued! The basket was coming together! At this point, I was feeling that maybe, just maybe, I had this pastel thing under control!
Despite the intricate weaving and the flowers, the basket looked bare on the outside. Trying to think of what to add, I thought that smaller roses on vines was in order. I trimmed some extra spirals that I had down to make smaller roses, cut vines and flower stems and leaves from the Bloom cartridge and went back to basics for the fence….George Basics and Shapes that is. I used the tag shape and the rectangle shape to create the picket fence in Cricut Craft Room.® The grass I added from the Plantain Schoolbook cartridge. I like dimension, so I folded the leaves and rolled the grass blades. I wove the vines in and out of the fence and attached the flowers, including some smaller daisies for uniformity. I added some swirls of pink and purple paper ribbon that coordinated with the paper ribbon I used for the band around the top of the basket. I am quite pleased with the end result. Lessons have been learned, techniques perfected, and I can proudly say, that thanks to Kimberly’s challenge with pastels, I have the confidence to move forward with the unfamiliar and, as long as I’m not afraid to make it mine, I'll conquer it.

Thank you for stopping by and remember "think spring" and have that "spring fling"!! I hope you have enjoyed seeing my creation for Kimberly’s blogaversary! Don’t forget to “follow” my blog and leave a comment before you spring on!

Your next stop along the way on the garden path is www.kadoodlebugdesigns.blogspot.com.

Happy hopping!

Sunshine, Raindrop, and Rainbows and Flowers

Lisa Woodward