Making Your Own Embellishment: Flowers

Flowers are a beautiful way to embellish any scrapbook page or card. They come in a vast array of colors and varieties. With so many choices of floral embellishments, it's easy to find something to coordinate with any style. Flowers are easy to add to a page and provide instant color and texture.

Flowers may be added to a page in a wide variety of ways. Here are ten ways to create a flower from basic scrapbook supplies:

1. Layer paper, felt, silk or plastic flowers to create your own look. In my layout, "All Greek," I layered several different paper flowers to create a unique look for my page.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Cut a flower out of patterned paper. Often patterned papers feature flowers that are large enough to be cut out and used on your scrapbook page or card. In her layout, "Wonderful," Julia Sandvoss hand cut her flowers from a flower patterned paper by Paper Salon.
   
   Wonderful by Julia Sandvoss
   
   
3. Fold paper or ribbon into a flower shape. For extra flair create your own flower by using paper or ribbon. Fold the paper or ribbon in sections and then attach it all together in the center with a staple, brad or glue. For my mini book, "Summer," I folded ribbon in a flower shape, then put a large brad through the middle.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Create a flower with hearts. Heart shapes, arranged in a circle, create a beautiful flower. Use heart chipboard, punches, stamps, etc. to create unique flower designs.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Sew a flower. Flowers can be sewn on a page. Outline the flower shape with a pencil then sew on the lines. The sewing can be done by hand or with a sewing machine.
   
   
6. Draw with a pen. Flowers can be drawn directly on to paper with a pen, either freehand or using a template. For extra fun, outline and/or color the flowers. Julia Sandvoss drew flowers on white paper and cut them out of the paper for her layout, "Lucky."
   
   Lucky by Julia Sandvoss
   
   
7. Digitally add a flower. Photographs, journaling blocks or titles can be embellished with a digital flower. In my daughter's photograph, I added a digital flower for a special look.
   
   
   
   
   
   
8. Create flowers with chipboard. Using chipboard, create your own flowers by drawing them and cutting them out of the paper. Color or embellish them as desired. For an easier way to use chipboard flowers, use pre-made chipboard flowers. In Sheredian's layout, "W and B", she used chipboard flowers by Pressed Petals.
   
   W and B by Sheredian
   
   
9. Stamp a flower from basic shapes. The versatility of stamps is evident when making flower shapes. Using the basics shapes, I created two different flower designs.
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. Use punches. Create flowers, layers of flowers or a collage of flowers by using punches. Nora Null created these cards, embellishing them with flower die cuts by QuicKutz.
    
    Flower Cards by Nora Noll

Next time you have space for an embellishment, consider the flower. There's sure to be a flower design and technique that will be a great addition to your scrapbook page or card.