Challenge Spark (punch art---tulips) (tutorial)

 

Tara from Country Girl {Creates} challenged Jane from The White Orchid and me to our weekly Challenge Spark. She chose "Punch Art" as the topic of choice. Sometimes I study my punches to see what all they can do for me. Of course, they have their patented use, but like these tulips which were created using the Owl Builder Punch, they often have other very amazing abilities. 

I'm giving you a picture tutorial on these tulips since I can't find the original one anymore. 

I make these every spring. And I'm sooooo longing for spring that these beautiful blooms help un-drab-ify winter for me for a moment!

 

It takes two "owls" for each tulip flower. So punch two out of whatever color you like. I used Pink Pirouette for some of mine and for some I used So Saffron and Wisteria Wonder.

 Cut off the owl's feet! (Poor guy, but he won't mind; he's turning into a flower after all!) You can see that I drew the lines where I cut the second owl. I don't bother to draw those in usually and it's not an exact art; you can't make a mistake! Just fly with whatever way your scissors cuts!

Using a darker ink, sponge the edges of your flower and the extra petals.

Ugh, that's fuzzy! But you can see how I adhered the two petals together. They overlap on the bottom...

...until you snip off those extra points. 

Adhere the petals to the main flower body. And now your tulip is ready to bloom on a beautiful card! 

See how you can make use of them, below, or come up with your own gorgeous creations!

I'm convinced every tulip needs a rhinestone dew-drop. Once when I was teaching school we cut snips from different parts of the tulip, the stem, leaves, and whatever we could use. We placed the pieces under a microscope and WHAT A GORGEOUS whole 'nother world appeared before our eyes. So now when my spring gardens are alive with these flowers, I know that hidden inside them are rainbows and raindrops like you've never seen in your life before. Try it! They're hidden in there! And so, that's why I can't make these without a hint of the water droplets they hide inside their hearts! Hence, the rhinestones!

Love that cloud embossing folder. So sad it's not around anymore!

This is morning! In late April! It rained at night, so the tulip on the right is pouring her blessings out over the fence, which incidentally was made with the Bouquet Bigz L Die. It's the cutting-section designed to make Mum-type flowers, but I always see a picket fence when I look at it! My trusty ol' fringe scissors made those grasses in front of the fence. All stems and leaves were just freehand scissored.

And below is a small bouquet for you, my friend!