Floral Wreath

My favourite project I created for the Die'sire Design Team (Crafter's Companion, UK) was a floral wreath which I have fallen completely in love with and was very reluctant to part with.

I used a very inexpensive polystyrene ring (I think I paid £2.00 for a pack or 2) as the basis of the wreath. I used polystyrene as I wanted something very light as to keep the weight down for hanging purposes.

Using the quilling dies, Blissful flower, Rose small and large and Sunflower small and large I set to the task of making each individual flower. This is an ideal project for all those scraps that we stash away hoping to use one day. Choose your colour palette and just start cutting. Now as I am relatively new to the world of card making I have never used a quilling die, but the lovely Leann Chivers has an amazing tutorial it has a tried and tested, fail safe way of quilling the flowers. Once you have die cut the flowers you can start to shape the petals in various ways - bone folder, embossing tools, spritzing with water to create a tattered shabby look or use fine needle point tweezers to mould the petals into shape.It's up to you to decide, why not try them all. Top Tip Number 1...combine different flowers together e.g. mix the rose with the sunflower and create different layers.

Top Tip Number 2...start making the large flowers first and place them on the polystyrene ring and position with pins, when you are happy with the number and location of the flowers, start gluing them to the ring. Top Tip Number 3...once you have glued the flowers to the ring place the pin through the middle of the flower to anchor them to the ring until the glue dries. Once dried carefully remove the pins. Once you are happy that you have enough of the large flowers start making the smaller flowers. Top Tip Number 4...not all the small flowers (or even the large flowers) need the central spiral quill as most of the small flowers will be used to fill the gaps (plus they look like buds and this speeds up the process). Again as with the large flowers I used the pins to anchor the flowers whilst the glue dries.

Top  Tip Number 5...you don't need to cover the entire ring as a the sides and back of the ring will not be seen. I just concentrated on the areas that you see, plus if you add them to the back it wont hang flush against a wall.

Now that you have added all your quilled flowers comes the best part...decorating the wreath. This is where you can go mad, or as minimal as you like. It's entirely up to you. I sprayed all the flowers with Crafter's Companion Spray and Sparkle Multicolour Glitter. I must let you know that prior to being part of the Die'sire Design Team I was a Spray and Sparkle virgin...but now,I just want to spray everything...it is amazing. Give it a try. Once sprayed leave 30 approximately 30 minutes to dry. Whilst it's drying you can start to think about what you are going to use to decorate your wreath. I used buttons and gems to decorate the centre of the flowers, along with decorative pins. To add dimension (and MORE sparkle) I used sections from a pink garland and glued to the wreath. The hardest part is knowing when to stop, sometime less is more, but sometimes not.

You can leave the wreath blank for if you're making it as a gift personalising the wreath makes it even more special.I used the Die'sire Scalloped Tags Die. I stamped the sentiment 'You Make Me Smile', from Sheena Douglass A Little Bit Sketchy - Only Words - From The Heart', onto Centura Pearl Snow White Silver card and embossed with heat gun. Once dry pass it through your cutting machine, leave the tag in the die and use as a stencil inking around the edges. I used Tim Holtz Victorian Velvet with Cut and Dry Foam. Remove the die, leaving a lovely faded look. Tie a small bow with some ribbon, attach to tag and tag to wreath. I used by Collall silicon glue to attach tag to flowers.

Using a long piece of ribbon (I chose to co ordinate mine with the bow on the tag) tied a bow in the middle of the length. Once you are happy with the bow you now need to attach it to the back of the wreath. Top Tip Number 6...Place the ribbon on a flat surface with the bow in the middle with the side sections hanging down. On the reverse of the wreath I added some red extra strong double sided tape and placed the wreath down onto the ribbon where I wanted it to be. Turn over and trim off any excess ribbon, use some extra strong tape to to ensure ribbon is secured to the back of the wreath. All that is now left to do is hang it up and stand back and admire...

As you can tell from this project I LOVED making the flowers and just to prove how easy they are to make my very un crafty husband even managed to make a flower, and yes I did use it.

I've made lots of more samples using the flower quilling dies for the launch shows on Ideal World and Create and Craft TV along with the new embossing folders and I hope to show you these over the coming days! The quilling dies are already available from Crafter's Companion website...go on you know you want the, and more importantly you NEED them.

Don't forget to tune into the launch show on Ideal World on Wednesday the 20th March at 9 pm and 11 pm and on Thursday the 21st March at 8 am on Create and Craft TV, and then throughout the day on both Ideal World and Create and Craft TV. I will definitely be watching, I hope you will to.