The first three pictures are of the punches that I used. First the Fiskars corner punches, "Flowers" and "Leaves". Second a 6 petal 5/16" flower punch OR a 5/16" hole punch and an 1/8" hole punch. Last is the Martha Stewart's Stars Edge Punch, this was a splurge, I had a coupon!
A side note, if you have been reading my blog you will know that I found a great punch site. It's www.franticstamper.com. This site has reasonably priced punches that we can use for making miniature flowers. Go to PUNCH BUNCH when you get to Frantic Stamper. Of course there is Ruth Hanky of Hanky Panky Crafts, she carries all things for making miniature flowers.
Fiskars also has a border punch that has daisies. Punch Bunch has a small inexpensive daisy punch also.
As I said I had a coupon so I splurged on this punch. It has all sizes of stars for calyxes.
The top two punches are for the carnations, you can use the circle OR the flower punch. Whatever you have on hand.
The bottom punch is a 1/8" hole punch I am using for the calyx for the daisy.
For stem wire I am going to use green paddle wire, 26 gauge, if you have 24 gauge wire, use it. These flowers are going into an arrangement, the size of wire won't matter, at least not to me.
For the flowers I am going to use red tissue paper for the carnations and flat coffee filters, (Mr. Coffee) OR copy paper (painted yellow for the yellow daisies and left white for the white daisies).
For the leaves and calyxes I am going to use green copy paper or white copy paper, both get painted green.
Let's start with the carnations.
You can use the 6 petal 5/16" flower punch OR a 5/16" hole punch. Either one makes a fine carnation. For the calyx you can use Martha Stewart's Stars Edger Punch, which has many sizes of calyxes for many types of flowers OR you can use the 1/8" hole punch.
Punch out 8 shapes per flower. If you have trouble punching the tissue, place the tissue between copy paper. I usually punch 6 to 8 layers at a time, as many as I can. Use tweezers to separate. I like my carnations to be vibrant, so I color each punched shape with a water based marker, red. I know this sounds tedious, but it does make a difference in the final flower. You need only to color one side.
****A very pretty carnation can be made by using white tissue and after you've threaded the punched shape onto the wire and before you clip the edges, use a marker to just touch the edge of the tissue all around. Clip the edges and follow the rest of the directions. *****
Use your tweezers and place 8 punched shapes onto craft foam. Use a thick pin to pierce a hole into the center of each shape.
Unroll the paddle wire and straighten. Cut into 2 inch lengths, if you feel you need a longer length, cut it.
I am using paddle wire because I think it's easier and quicker to get. Hanky Panky Crafts has the paper covered wire for making miniature flowers, it's very nice and not at all expensive. But, if you have a hole punch and paddle wire right now, you can make the carnation, right now.
Thread your first shape onto the wire.
Make 10 to 12 snips into the edge of the punched shape.
Place a small amount of tacky glue at the tip of the wire.
Push the shape up to the tip, not off, and gently press the shape into the glue and around the wire. You can gently roll the end between you fingers.
**Tip: When you get the first carnation done and you are pleased with the results, do steps 7 - 9 with the rest of the flowers. If you let the first punched shaped dry on the wire it won't be so easy to push the carnation off the wire as you build it.****
Thread another shape onto the wire, make 10 to 12 snips into the edge. Place a small of tacky glue at the base of the first shape and push the second shape into the glue. Don't push them off. Carnations are compact flowers, so push the shapes close together.
Do this 6 more times. You can vary the size of the bloom by using fewer punched shapes and make a bud by just adding a calyx to the first shape you glued to the wire.
In this picture all eight shapes are on the wire.
For a calyx use a 1/8" hole punch OR Martha Stewart's Stars Edge Punch. This punch has 4 sizes of calyxes, I am going to use the smallest. To do this without wasting paper I cut a strip of paper and feed it into the punch to just cut the calyx I want.
Pierce a hole in the center of the calyx. Slide it onto the wire and glue to the bottom of the carnation.
I didn't spend time on telling you what color of green to paint the paper for the calyx. You can get very specific, I used a "leaf green".
This finishes the carnation. Use a pin or tweezers to ruffle eges of the carnation. Make about 11 more. It's always better to have too many flowers when making an arrangement.
On to part 3. . . . . . . . .
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