Water Distressed Blooms Tutorial

I'm obsessed!! That's right, I'll admit it, I'm addicted!! I just love making handmade blooms! And my latest obsession is making these Water Distress blooms. They are easy-peasy to make and the sky is the limit to the many looks you can get using this fun technique. For the above layout I used the pretty papers from the new Bo Bunny Olivia collection, the blooms were made from the coordinating Bo Bunny cardstock in 'Chiffon Dot' and 'Coral Dot'. Here are some of the products you'll want to gather together to make these blooms.....


*Some Bo Bunny Dot cardstock (you can also experiment with patterned paper)
*Scissors, plain ....decorative edge scissors (optional)
*Flower punches (optional)
*Chalk inks, glitter for decorating
*Buttons & bling for centers
*Spritz bottle filled with water (or glimmer mist)
*Glue

These are the basic things you'll want to pull together before you start. But really the basic's are carstock paper, scissors and water. Here are the steps to make these fun blooms.

Step 1

For the large bloom, I punched 4 medium sized blooms out of the coral dot paper (using the Paper Shapers med. daisy punch), one large bloom from the Chiffon cardstock (using the large daisy punch) and then hand-cut 3 jaggedy edge circles (getting slightly larger than the last circle as you go....the circles do not have to be perfect, in fact imperfect circles will give a more natural look). I used a regular scissor to cut the circles but you can also experiment with decorative edge scissors.
NOTE: If you don't have flower punches you can simply cut more circles in smaller and smaller sizes to create a lovely looking ruffled bloom.


Step 2

To create some petals into the circles shapes, I simply cut a few small 'V' cuts into the edges. I get a more even look to the petals by making one 'V' cut, then making the next one directly across on the other side, then I make the next notch about 1/3 of the way between then and the next 2/3's of the way, then same to the other side.....this will give you 6 petals (at this point you can choose to do a little inking with some chalk inks to your cut pieces on the edges or the center)....


Step 3

Make sure your paper pieces are on plastic or something water resistant (I used the top of one of my tuperware storage boxes). Very lightly spritz both sides or your cutouts with some water. You do not have to soak them, a light hand with the water will do.

Now here is the fun part, just gently bring up the petals from the center and just crush up the paper, wrinkling it every which way, the more wrinkles the more of an embossed petal look you'll get......


When you are done you will have something that looks a little like this.....


Step 4

Gently open up each of the wrinkled balls of paper (only leave one of the smallest pieces in a tight bud for the center) You will have something like this....


Step 5

Let the layers dry. Now simply layer the petals from largest to smallest adding a dab of glue to the center of each layer to keep them together. The large bloom to the left in the photo below is the result of the above steps (I added some Copper Stickles to the edges of my bloom to finish it off) You can also create different looks using buttons, bling & flower stamens.


Variations:

To get a more 'curled' petal look, you can lightly twist the petals of the punched blooms after you've opened them up, as shown here......

You will end up with an even more 'ruffled' look. I used this technique when I made my l/o called 'Daddy' using the Bo Bunny 'Cambridge' collection (I used the Cambridge Post patterned paper to make this bloom)......


For the smaller blooms on my l/o I simply used 2 of the larger punched blooms and one of the smaller punched blooms (quick & easy)......

So there you have it! Start your own obsession by experimenting with different color combinations, patterned papers, inks, spritzes, glitters, buttons and bling! Above all have fun with it! ~ Gabrielle Pollacco

Products used in Gabrielle's l/o:
Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny Olivia 'Nectar' & 'Cashmere'
Olivia Chipboard, Olivia Combo Stickers, Bo Bunny Buttons & Bling, Bo Bunny Candy Brads, Cardstock: Bo Bunny, Chiffon dot and Coral dot.