Wednesday 2 July 2014

Less is More - recycling

The current challenge over at Less is More is to recycle something - which was the perfect opportunity to try out something new, making flowers using the plastic packaging from a set of Spellbinders dies. I just know I've seen these on blogs I follow, and haven't been able to fully track where I saw them. Also, there are tutorials on the web showing how to make the flowers, either using proper heatable acetate or packaging, I just looked at a few and then cobbled my own version together :)

 I used:

- 7" x 5" white tent style card blank

- SU 'Tempting Turquoise' card stock plus another piece of white card stock

- the flower was such fun to make! Just trimmed the edges off the Spellbinders clear plastic packaging and, using Tim Holtz's 'Tattered Florals' die, die cut four flowers. My guess is that you really do need to use one of the thick and sturdy Sizzix dies for the cutting process. Folk had used alcohol ink refills in the tutorials I'd looked at but there aren't any of those here so out came the Pro Markers. Found that by using just a couple of Pro Markers in the same colour family to colour the plastic flowers I could still get a nice mottled effect as the ink sort of 'pooled'

- next, after letting the ink dry for a short time, poked a hole in the centre of each flower ready for a brad and, using long handled tweezers and the heat gun on low just heated the flower layers one by one. The plastic softens really quickly and you can tease it to curl which way you want very easily - if it misbehaves you can just gently soften it again

- once all four layers were shaped, just assembled them with a clear glass domed brad then attached the flower to the card with hot glue

- the 'swirl' is from SU's 'Everything Eleanor' set - stamped using Memento 'Teal Zeal'

- the sentiment is from Winnie and Walter's 'The Big, the bold and the Happy' stamp set (really like how you get three huge words and lots of small ones to mix and match) - again stamped using Memento 'Teal Zeal'

And I made a spare flower at the same time:
Just love how they look like delicate glass!

And, Happy Birthday Darnell, mwah! I was one of the fortunate winners in Darnell's recent NBUS draw - as per usual I'm dithering, between online classes or more goodies.

Di
x

41 comments:

  1. Hi Di! Thanks for sharing this. These flowers are so beautiful. I don't think I've seen this technique before. Mmm... not got any flower dies that are in different sizes, maybe I should invest one now!! ^_^

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  2. Stunning card Di, LOVE these flowers. They look amazing and great idea to do another flower in pretty purples, Cathy x

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  3. WOW!! These are gorgeous flowers, and I never would have imagined they were made from recycled materials! Incredible card/flowers!

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  4. wow.. what great flower Di thanks for sharing such fab technique would not cut up my spellbinders but being a hoarder have some of the thick acetate here saved... mm wonder what die would work TFS, Shaz in oz.x

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  5. Hi Di,

    The flowers are amazing. I'm glad you gave us pointers in how to make them. Your card came together looking wonderful.

    Hugs,
    Kay

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  6. Wowzers - this is gorgeous! I'll have to try that one day!

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  7. What a fabulous idea for recycled transparent flowers.. The card looks superb too !

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  8. "cobbled" or not - your flrowers and card look fab, Di

    Kathyk

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  9. These are fab Di, what a brilliant thing to do with plastic packaging!! xx

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  10. Oh my! How beautiful!

    They do look like mottled glass...so beautiful!

    You have made such a nice card with your flower and look forward to seeing the other one soon too!

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  11. FANTASTIC card and thanks for sharing how you made the beautiful bloom.

    Hugs, Sarn xxx

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  12. Fabulous card. Love the stamping and your flower is amazing (I tried to cut some similar packaging with my Grand Calibur and a Marianne die but it wouldn't cut so I guess you do need the thick dies) xx

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  13. These are gorgeous Honey. Now why am I not surprised you made a pink one?
    Stop dithering!
    Hugs
    xx

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  14. Gorgeous card, gorgeous design and gorgeous flowers....wowzer.xx
    ♥aNNie
    The Journey is the Start

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  15. Your recycled flower is gorgeous. Well done, and thanks for another new technique to try. Kate x

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  16. These are gorgeous Di! I KNEW I saved all that silly plastic packaging for a reason ... This is going on my "Gotta Try This" list!

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  17. Di, these are absolutely FANTABULOUS. Such a wonderful and inspiring recycle technique.
    Thanks so much for sharing it and taking part in the challenge
    Sarah
    Less is More
    xx

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  18. Fabulous card Di, the flower is gorgeous, I love the colours.
    Jean x

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  19. Lovely, lovely, lovely ... Di, this is such a pretty card and the flower is superb - you'd never guess it was recycled/upcycled. Love the sentiment too. Hugs, Elizabeth xx

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  20. Oh Di, these are just stunning, love them to bits, the colours are fabulous and a really brilliant card.
    Glad you got the reference to the 'lazy' comment on my post.

    Kath x

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  21. 10 out of 10 for this Miss!! Love it. x

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  22. Really love these flowers Di. Not tried this technique before. Am learning so much visiting everyone's blogs. Stef

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  23. Maybe you should 'cobble' a few more things together Di... these flowers are stunning and a great example of creative recycling!
    Fabulous!
    Thanks so much
    Chrissie
    "Less is More"

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  24. Stunningly beautiful Di .. .. love the flower very much and the gorgeous card you have made with it!

    You may have to buy more spellbinder dies to get more packaging LOL!!!

    Have a great day.

    Love Jules xx

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  25. This is a show stopper... or a hop stopper heehee WOW! I have never seen this technique! I can't wait to give it a try. Thanks a bunch for your wonderful explanation!

    Patti

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  26. Lovely card. That flourish was just the right design to top with the beautiful flower. Your Promarkers did a fab job, just as pretty as the alcohol inks would have done. WTGo. It's beautiful. TFS & Hugs

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  27. Absolutely gorgeous Di really loving this!!! huggles Sue xx

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  28. Well cobbled!!! This is just fantastic. I am definitely going to have to try this technique. Darnell is going to love this card. Oh I wish I could see her face when she lays eyes on this! Stunning card. Glad you were able to join the party too. Bev

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  29. Wow! These flowers are gorgeous!!! They look like glass flowers! I love your flourish too-a beautiful card, a stunning flower. I will have to try this out. Hugs, Brenda

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  30. Now why didn't I think of this! I have tons of Spellbinder cases and a friend had me watch the video! Well done you, this is GORGEOUS!!!

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  31. WOW! These flowers are gorgeous, Di! And I love how you've place it on the blue flourish! Beautiful!

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  32. Wow Di this is just brilliant - love it, super recycling creation
    Thanks for joining the Less is More Challenge this week
    Anne
    LIM Designer

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  33. I have seen these and tutorials for making them too but I still have so many embellishments to use up that I've not tried them yet. They are really beautiful and do look like stained glass. I especially love the blue card - the mottled ink makes it look like alcohol inks have been used on these Karen xx

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  34. Aaaargh! All those Spellbinders plastic packs I've thrown away (sob)
    These are gorgeous! I will have to buy more dies just so I can use the packaging lol! Hmmm....what other hard plastic do I have lurking.........
    Hugs
    Debs x

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  35. Thanks for how you did yours, Di! I love this and have bought the Tim Holtz 'stuff' to do it too! Beautiful card!

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  36. Wow, Di, these recycled blooms are sensational! So festive!! You are a true crafter to create them and your CASlicious LIM card is sure to be a winner!!

    Thank you very much for the birthday wishes! It was a good'n! Between that and our 4th of July celebrations, it's been one party after tother! Hic. Oh, pardon me.

    I hope you are enjoying your weekend there. Hmm, what am I saying? About now you are tucked up reviewing and writing the next Snippets, so I won't keep you! Mwah! Darnell

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  37. PS, Thank you for joining your brilliant card to the surprise linky party, Di! I'm making my way through over there, but I happen to and see you just to see you before I even noticed that you had linked at Ardyth's! It is cool to have you in the gallery there and means a lot to me!! Mwah! Darnell

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  38. Congrats on your LIM win, Di - that is so well deserved!

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  39. Yay, Di, I'm so glad that the ladies at LIM agreed with me about this card being a winner!! It was a truly outstanding recycled creation!! Congratulations!! Hugs, Darnell

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  40. This really is a beauty! I love how your flowers turned out! :)

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  41. AMAZING!! LOVE how this flower is so translucent but with vibrant colours. Great job with shaping the leaves. How brave ... I would have to use a 10 foot pole in order to not burn myself. :) I will have to give this a try. Very cool technique. Gorgeous card Di! xx

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This is a public blog. Those leaving a comment on any post on this blog or entering a piece of artwork into a linky do so in the knowledge that their name and blog link are visible to all who visit this blog and in so doing have published their own personal details and consented to my use of that personal information should they be selected as a winner or to accredit work.