Blooms d' Coors

For those who were unaware, Blogger has been down in "read only" format for nearly two days.  I'm glad they finally fixed it because I was dying to share with you a couple of things this week...and of course my timing was such that I couldn't until now. So now that we are up and running again lets get to it!

Bloom d' Coors

I love metal and when I saw some metal flowers in a craft book I had to try making some.  Because I didn't have the exact punch they used in the book I had to think of something that would work...and a 3" scalloped circle punch worked perfectly!  The circle has 25 scallops, an odd number is what I needed here and the size was easy to handle too.  I love it when things come together easily like this project did.

Flowers in Metal Instrux

Wash out a beverage can and cut away the top and bottom.  Next cut the remaining middle portion into two pieces.  The metal will be a little awkward to handle while cutting so mind the sharp edges.  You can't be in a hurry when working with this stuff or you may risk a nasty gash from those edges.

Find the center of the circle and score a smaller center circle.

25 scallopes cut between every 2 and 3 alternately for petals

My favorite scissors for this are Tonic scissors by Tim Holtz.  They are fabulous for cutting thin metal and stay sharp!

Alcohol ink is applied while the flower is still flat and then the center embellishment

I recommend coloring the front and back of the metal to produce a more finished looking piece and to help hide the beer logo...unless you are into redneck flowers.  ;-)  If you don't want to stain your fingernails where latex gloves for this part.

Yup...its really a beer can.

While its still flat take a push pin and punch the holes for that wire you see there and be sure to have foam beneath it when you punch so the pin goes deep enough to make the hole the right size.

To curl the petals and leaves you just wrap them around a wood dowel or paint brush.

Mind your fingers with the metal edges.

The leaves are made from metal designed for embossing and a texture tool.

 The next step is to roll the metal leaves onto the stem...and yes it really is as easy as it sounds.

Use a dab of glue at the tip where you start rolling to secure them or a glue dot if you like.

Finally to attach the flower to the stick I just used wire laced through the two holes I punched beneath that fancy embellished center and cinched it up tight with a dab of "3 and 1" glue.

There you have it...flowers that will never fade.