Vintage Tattered Florals Corsage

When Tim Holtz announced his Tattered Florals Challenge my brain kicked into gear and I got a little nutty.  I Tweeted Tim to be sure we could enter more than one project- he said "yes"- and I got down to business.  

For those of you who have never seen the die, I wanted to show you what exactly it is.  At left you see the shapes that come from the Tattered Florals die and the die is laid out as you see it.  If you cover the die entirely with 1 layer of whatever material you want to cut, you will get 1 of each petal shape.  Because it is a steel rule die, you can cut multiple layers of fabric and cardstock at once.  To get only 1 or 2 of the petal shapes you simply cover that portion of the die.   Steel rule dies cut a variety of materials- cardstock, chipboard/mat board, Grunge (paper and board), fabric, craft metal, craft plastic, felt, flexible magnet, poly foam, Shrink Plastic, vellum and vinyl making them so versatile.  

Ok, so back to the challenge.  The first project I submitted is an older project- from June- but I LOVE  the way it looks and I really want to share it again.  The project was made during the Compendium of Curiosity Vol. 2 Challenge as part of the Tissue Wrap week.  I made package embellishments from the "daisy" petals of the Tattered Florals die and Tissue Wrap.  The Tissue Wrap makes for such a full and textured flower and I added a big Jolee bling to the center of each flower…easy and effective.   You can read more about it here.

The second project I submitted was the bunny card with the chiffon flowers that I posted yesterday. 

Each flower was made using several of the same petals and adding a Swarovski crystal or two to the center with hot glue.  

That brings us to today…this vintage corsage I made for my 96-year-old grandmother.

The fabrics are vintage…lucky me I get a box every month from the wonderfully talented Gilded Girls Stash Society full of yummy vintage fabric, trims, jewels, and embellishments. The Mother (Debbie) and Daughter (Shea) duo behind the Gilded Life are uber talented and have such a flair for feminine and vintage it boggles the mind.  Check them out if you haven't heard of them- you won't regret it and don't be surprised if you find yourself lost for hours inside their world.  Their blog is What Happens Next.  If you want to read posting about the Stash Society click here, or to see the unbelievable clothing that Debbie makes for Shea's daughter Stella, check out What Stella Wore…I promise you will be stunned in the best way possible and oh so inspired.

As I was saying before I got all lost among the Gilded Girls…the corsage fabrics are vintage: a tan linen and a rich, buttery-soft, brown velvet.  I added a little gold tulle that I had from who-knows-where because it needed the texture and sparkle.  The stamens are just cheapies from Michaels that I dyed with alcohol ink like my friend Paula Cheney does.  I just LOVE what the ink does to the stamens.  I used a combination of colors- Gold, Butterscotch and Cranberry Adirondack to color them.

For this project the flowers are made suing a combination of petal shapes.  I played around with layering the linen and the velvet in contrasting shapes so that the velvet petals are much smaller than the linen petals.

The ribbon is NOT vintage but it sure looks like it doesn't it?  I cannot remember what colors I used but I misted the white Seam Binding with water until it was quite wet and then added a few Distress Stains in brown colors- I think I used Pumice Stone, Tea Dye and Old Paper…but I'm not so sure.  Play around with Distress Stain colors- it always looks amazing.

I cut small holes in the center of the flowers and stuck the wire from the stamens through, added a length of 22 gauge wire and floral tape- in reality I just used a very simple but traditional technique for making a corsage. The wires were then floral taped together as I built the corsage from the top down to the ribbon bow.  I cannot wait to give it to my grandma.   She's been ill this week- ill enough to be admitted to the hospital for a few days so hopefully this will bring some cheer to her day.

Laters Baby….
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