I got to stamp too!

Michael and I have begun our Total Money Makeover. Dave Ramsey is our hero. If you are not familiar with Dave or his program, I highly encourage you to check out his website, radio show, and/or books. We have a completely new outlook on life thanks to the common sense he got us to listen to.

Anyway, we've been trying to pass our newly discovered good habits on to our kids, and one suggestion he makes is to put their money in a jar so that they can see it adding up as they save to buy something. So we've been meaning to get jars for them, and of course a plain old jar just would NOT do.
For DJ's this was the first time I had used my Scallop Square bigz die, my So Many Stars builder wheel, or the star stamp that coordinates with our Extra-Large Star Punch (although the stamp set is retired), so I got to play with some new toys.

For AJ's I had the Whisper White oval frame already cut out, so I added the Rich Razzleberry center. Then over on Splitcoaststampers, today's Technique Lover's Challenge was to make a flower embellishment (Paper Posies was the title). I viewed several tutorials before settling on this flower to make.

It is super simple. You take the Scallop Circle punch and punch out 8 scalloped circles. If you desire, sponge your edges [it is important to do this step NOW...ask me how I know]. Then you crumple each one up individually. If you use DSP, then your fine; however, if you're making your flower with cardstock, spritz it with water before crumpling so that it is easier to work with. Next you uncrumple your circles, and stack them all together. Use the paper piercer to punch a hole through all 8 layers and attach with a small brad. Then starting with the top flower, scrunch it together around the brad, continue scrunching each layer until they are all scrunched together in the center. Finally fluff the layers out to your desired shape. Voila! A gorgeous handmade paper flower. (If you still have questions, leave me a comment, and I'll find a video tutorial to link.)

I actually started my paper flower making today with a new daisy for AJ's headband. A red, white, and blue daisy simply would not go with her pink gingham top. I used two of each size flower for this one. More petals and a sturdier embellishment to work with.

I actually stamped a card for my grandmother's birthday too, but I'll save that for another day.

Sweet wishes!