Today I'm sharing the last tutorial from my Spring Mantle: the little Flower Balls. Yes, that means they are finally all completed!!
These were the result of a pin (this one), curtesy of the blog The Idea Room. When I finally found a cheap flower punch at Wal-Mart (4$!!), this was the first thing I wanted to make. I totally thought they'd be super easy and fun to make. THOUGHT being the operative word.
I set out to do not 3, not 4, but 5 of them! Since, you know, I had 5 different colored cardstock on hand that would go well for spring.
Tools and materials:
~ 2 1/2 inch styrofoam balls, Dollarama, 1$ for 8
~ cardstock, Dollarama, 2$ for 50 sheets
~ Flower Punch, Wal-Mart, 4$
~ hot glue gun and glue sticks, or pins
~ band-aids (for when you get blisters and want to keep going just to finish the last ball haha!!)
Time: 1h30 to 2 hours PER BALL
It's extremely time consuming. And it hurts (if you didn't get the band-aid joke). One ball takes almost an entire 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet's worth of flower cutouts. That's a LOT of flowers. Sit in front of the TV, take your time, plan that this will take a week to do (or several). Or- hey- just make a couple!!
Alright, now that the warnings are over. Let me show you how I made them. They are still fun to make.
In the original tutorial she used straight pins instead of gluing them. Since I wanted to make 5, I knew it would take way too many straight pins, I couldn't find any that were all white, and I didn't want to spray paint them. So gluing it was!
Step 1: Punch. Punch. Punch punch punch. Punch Punch. Punch. Get it? You need A LOT of these little flowers.
Someone reminded me that this would be a job for the Silhouette, which is totally true! If you got one of those machines, use it, it will save you a lot of trouble!!
This is about half of what you need for 1 ball. Of course, the bigger the punch, the less flowers you need.
Step 2: Glue a first layer onto the ball, gluing the flowers as close to each other as possible. You can also overlap a little.
Step 3: Bend the petals of the flowers, it will give more volume and interest to the flower balls.
Step 4: Glue the bended petals flowers in between the previous layer, hiding the white styrofoam ball. Be aware that it's almost impossible to completely cover the ball, there will be some styrofoam showing, but it's not super jarring. Still, you want to foresee where the other flowers will go around the one you are gluing down, so you might turn it a bit, move it a little more to the left or right.
It's really quite simple isn't it? You may want to punch half the flower for one ball, give your finger a rest, cover with the first layer of flowers, punch the other ones, and fill in the rest. Or whatever works for you.
My tale of woe:
It took me 3 weeks to make them all. I did 3 in 4 days at first. Then it was Easter weekend. The next week, I did the 4th one but my finger was really hurting from the blister I got and the blister got worse. The band aids didn't help much, sadly. I had to finish punching the flowers for that ball with my left hand (I WAS gonna finish that ball that day! And I wanted to take the pictures...). I had to wait a week before my finger felt up to punching for the final flower. And I made it!! I think I got a callus now lol.
All in all, I'm happy they are done! And that I stuck to my original plan of making 5. But I'm ready to move on now that my spring mantle is officially DONE for this year!!
If you haven't seen it yet, you can check it out here (I didn't take new pictures with all the flower balls- horrible weather = bad lighting= horrible pictures). The Bunny Silhouette can be found here, and the Wooden Flowers I blogged about earlier in the week.
PS: Are you new to my blog? Can I interest you in staying a little while longer: check out my most popular posts (right hand sidebar ------->) or my Projects Page . Or you can learn a little more about me here, if you wish. Either way, have a GREAT day!!
I party at these parties. If you would like to invite me to your linky party, please do so on my linkies page, thank you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This post was featured here:
the flower balls are my favorite next to the bunny family portrait..i hope i can host a shower or something soon, cause these little balls would be perfect decoration!
ReplyDeleteLOVE IT!
Wow...despite your war wounds, these turned out adorable. I love them!!!
ReplyDeleteamy @ whilewearingheels.blogspot.com
Beautiful...going to have to try some, well maybe one for now lol.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely adorable.
ReplyDeleteSuper cute balls. I must try this. I followed you over from destinationcraft's link part and am a new follower. Hope you'll visit me as well and follow along if you like what you see. :)
ReplyDelete- Eva -
http://theevasofbellabini.blogspot.com/
I love these balls. They are too pretty!
ReplyDeleteDanielle @ Blissful and Domestic
www.blissfulanddomestic.com
These are so cute! I know they took some hard work! I made a Christmas tree out of these flowers and it took me forever... but loved the way it turned out! I'm your newest fan! Please stop by bellanest.blogspot.com any time.
ReplyDeleteThis looks really beautiful! Great for party decoration! Liz
ReplyDeleteWOW!! These are so pretty!! Looks like it would take a long time, but totally something fun to do in front of the TV :) First time visiting your blog. I have linky party on Tuesdays if you'd like to share :) ~Nancy~
ReplyDeleteThose look so great! I bet they were time consuming, but they turned out so good. I would love for you to share this at my link party
ReplyDeletehttp://thewinthropchronicles.blogspot.com/2012/05/share-it-link-party-9.html
These are adorable! Sounds like a lot of work, but it sure paid off. I think I'll use my Silhouette if I try this and maybe put them on sticks to make topiaries. Thanks for the inspiration! If you'd like another place to share your great tutorial, head on over to Etcetorize (http://etcetorize.blogspot.ca/2012/04/make-it-great-monday_29.html). Hope to see you there~
ReplyDeleteCute! They look like hydrangeas. Hard work, but they look really good.
ReplyDeleteThese are super cute! And so fun for Spring! I would def. not have the patience to do those though! But thankfully you have the stamp puncher!
ReplyDeleteGen, you must be the most patient girl to make these cuties! I would love to see them next year re-used in some kind of topiary, I think they would be perfect :)
ReplyDeleteReally, really cute! Gonna make some.
ReplyDeletethese are so pretty so the work was well worth it! Going to start following you!
ReplyDeletehttp://mommysordinarymagic.blogspot.com
It was worth your time and effort, they are sooo cute. I love how the little petals pop up. Thanks for sharing at Terrific Tuesdays.
ReplyDeleteRachel
adventuresofadiymom.blogspot.com
Hi Gen, I have seen the same pin and was(am) planning to do it this weekend! So thank you for the wonderful tips and they look very cute and very spring :) I have the small punch as well, so I need lots and lots of patience it seems :)My first visit on your blog and it is lovely :) warm regards, Ebru
ReplyDeleteWow! All your time and effort (and injuries) was really worth it. They turned out so cute! And thanks for the ideas on painting my sons stool- I still can't decide between the blue or green either!
ReplyDeleteYour pomanders turned out wonderfully!
ReplyDeleteFor all of your hard work, these turned out BEAUTIFULLY!! And they go perfecting with your bunny art. I love both of these projects!
ReplyDeleteWhen punching lots, if possible use the heel of your hand - it hurts much less!! :)
ReplyDelete