Friday 28 March 2014

Flowers in every shape and form

Spring flowers are blooming everywhere. I think this year the daffodils have been so spectacular. I am not sure if it was all the wet weather we had over the winter but there are vasts drifts of these beauties all around where I live.


Flowers have also featured in my silversmithing class. It is the last class of this term next week and I realised I had not shared any of my projects with you for a while. One of our projects from last term was to create a 3D flower from sheet metal. I decided to work in copper as silver is such a price at the moment. I wanted to make a brooch. The project was to make an orchid and our tutor had several varieties for us to choose from ..
I chose the cymbidium.  The instructions were originally for making paper flowers and we were able to adapt the pattern for making them in metal.
First I had to stick the pieces onto my sheet copper. Then I cut out each piece with a hand saw.
The sawing take some time and there were some very fiddly bits to cut round.
Once I had sawn them out I had to file all the edges and then gently bend and form the pieces in a steel domer block.


The next part was the soldering, which was so tricky as it was quite difficult to keep the pieces in line. I soldered the pieces in 2 groups first with easy solder and then finally soldered these together using hard solder.
It was then a slow process of polishing
until I was happy with my finished piece


It is so hard to photograph as the metal reflects so much but it is a very pretty flower brooch.
It was also a very useful exercise in learning how to form metal sheet into 3D objects.

So my card challenge today has to feature flowers doesn't it. I also decided to have a try at making my own handmade paper flowers from dies. I was really thrilled the way they came out and I will be making more. It means I can perfectly match the colours of my card.

My son in laws sister has just got engaged so I made this card for them; nothing says congratulations more than flowers does it?

The lovely vintage flower image is a new one from Nicecrane Designs and is available to buy here . Ignacio has got some lovely new spring images in his store. He has also sent me some wonderful chick ones to play with for Easter which I will be creating some more guest design work for him soon.
Here are a couple of close ups. I think for a first time my handmade roses worked out OK.
 The flowers were made with my Marianne die and the leaves are Cheery Lynn. The lovely engagement and little tag sentiment are both by Lili of the Valley
I distressed the edges of my papers and also used lots of vintage photo distress ink to give a real vintage feel and I also added 2 brass coloured charms from my jewelllery stash.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges;

Country View Crafts Paper chase
We do dobeedoo sweet as honey
The Squirrel and the Fox Inspired by a book my book is The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Cupcake inspirations flowers/garden
Loves rubberstamping ugly papers my green backing paper is in a pad I have had for ages which I almost threw out as by itself it is very uninteresting. However for this card it is perfect in the background. It just shows you should never throw anything out from your paper stash!
Party Time Tuesdays anything goes
Papercrafting Journey anything goes
Deep Ocean For a friend
Stampin for the weekend spring colours
Craftyhands shabby chic
Crafty catz anything goes
Creative corner rainbow I have all the colours of the rainbow on my card
A creative romance spring flowers
4 Crafty Chicks spring


My Hb and I have a final day of this year's annual leave to use up today and we are going to spend it with Daisy and her Mummy and Daddy ;0) I hope you are enjoying the end of the week and looking forward to doing something special at the weekend. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mum's in the UK for Sunday. I hope you all get treated to some flowers in real or card form. If not just savour the floral display that Mother Nature is showing us at the moment.

Back soon,

Bye for now,

Jane x

28 comments:

  1. So many daffodils about these parts too, I think the council have planted bulbs in every available place but they do look wonderful!
    I love your brooch, I can imagine how fiddly it is to cut out!
    Beautiful vintage card too...so many talents. :)
    Happy Mothers Day weekend my friend,
    V xxx

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  2. Gorgeous metal daff Jane. Love your card too.
    Hope you have a fab sunny weekend.
    Hugs
    Caz x

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  3. wonderful metal daffodil and your card is amazing xx

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  4. OMGOsh this is so beautiful, I'm so glad you didn't throw out the green backing, it's perfect. Love the flowers and the fabulous design. Thanks for playing with us over at Loves Rubberstamps!!!

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  5. Hi Jane, Love your copper work. The orchid brooch will be just stunning on a top!! You are so talented and a beautiful card to boot : ) Have fun with Miss Daisy and a happy weekend/Mother's day!
    xoRobin

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  6. Hi Jane, I loved seeing you make that gorgeous copper sculpture! What a treasure you made! Have fun with your Daisy time. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  7. Thanks for sharing your amazing orchid brooch and how you made it, it's gorgeous as is your card. The beautiful flowers and colours are so reminiscent of a wonderfully warm Spring day. Let's hope we start to get more of them now.
    Have a great weekend.
    Hugs Brenda xx

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  8. Beautiful orchid, Jane. Thanks for letting us have a sneak peek at the process. You are so inspiring.
    Lovely engagement card....congrats to the happy couple. (My nephew is engaged, also.)

    Happy Mother's Day to you and all of the Mums in your family!!!
    Anne and all
    PlumCreek Studio

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  9. so many amazing, lovely, beautiful details and colors...love this
    thanks for sharing at cupcake inspirations

    Tina
    sweetie dt

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  10. Gorgeous card and I love the metal flower also. Thanks for joining us this week at Creative Corner Challenges.
    Nancy, DT

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  11. Wow what a beautiful creation, I adore those flowers. Thank you so much for sharing your lovely creation with us at Paper Crafting Journey..

    Hugs
    Cathy DT Member
    xxxxxx

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  12. Wowww Jane,,, waht a incredible metal flowers......anmd they work peerfectly with my Flower sheets,,,,, youre so creative, I am happy to heat yu like a lot,,

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  13. Thank you for sharing this lovely card with us at Craftyhands, good luck! Xx

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  14. Super gorgeous creations! LOVE the pin and that card is amazing! HUGS and happy weekend! :) Mynn xx

    PS: I'm your newest follower! :) I'd love for you to hop over to my blog (On a Stampage)--I've got blog candy up for grabs!!!

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  15. Absolutely beautiful! Love all those flowers! So glad you were inspired by this week's garden challenge at Cupcake Inspirations!
    Hugs, Debbie!

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  16. mmmmmmm the usual lovely photo's love the metal flower love how you are always doing something else and a gorgeous card too
    love my visits over to see you
    Hugs Kate x

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  17. I really enjoy your jewelry lessons. I'm not going to do any of it, but I enjoy seeing how it's done and that makes me appreciate it all the more. Lovely card, and I really like that outfit you got for Daisy. I'm sure she looks adorable in it :)

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  18. Lovely flowers-post, Jane,

    They seem to come in every form: blooming an unique-brooch, card... Love them all!

    We saw the first official green here yesterday :) so spring is definitely in the air here too!

    Happy Mother's Day!

    Yours,
    Mia

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  19. Those flowers are too cool! What a great card! Thanks for playing with us at Loves Rubberstamps!

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  20. Stunning card, your flowers compliment the image beautifully and I love your metalwork flower, stunning. thanks for joining us at Crafty Catz this week, Jac x

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  21. Loving all of the flowers on your card! What an amazing engagement card. Thank you so much for sharing your amazing inspiration with us at 4 Crafty Chicks Spring Challenge.

    Tamie DT

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  22. Hi, Jane! It is lovely to see all the daffodils in bloom - living in Wales, we tend to have a few and I think you're right that they are producing a fabulous show this year!
    Brilliant jewellery making - it's wonderful to see something formed from a flat sheet of metal like that! And I love your vintage seed packet card with your wonderful handmade flowers! Have a great week! Hugs, Lisa x

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  23. Hi Jane, gorgeous card so vibrant and I love all the flowers. Gorgeous metalwork too and those daffodils look beautiful. Thanks for joining us at We Do Doobadoo this time
    Claire xx

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  24. I love your handmade flowers. The result is stunning. Thank you for joining us over at Loves Ribberstamps. Hugs Nina

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  25. Such a lovely card. Thanks for joining us in our Sweet As Honey Challenge at http://wedodoobadoo.blogspot.co.uk/
    Anjie

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  26. Such a lovely card. The spring colours are fab. Thanks for playing along with the current CraftyHands challenge. Sammy-x

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  27. amazing work all round! Many thanks for joining the crafty hands challenge and good luck!!! Melissa (DT)

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  28. Gorgeous - a beautiful vintage card.

    Thanks for joining us at The Squirrel and the Fox.

    Helen x

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