~ Adorable Dreamer~

August has not been a very good scrapping month so far for me. I've been terribly ill with this awful flu doing the rounds which has completely drained all my energy making it difficult to scrap or even make flowers which has fast become my favourite hobby.

I did however manage to complete 1 LO which I had intended on doing the beginning of the month to use as my "example" LO for the August DIY challenge I host over at sb.com.

The only requirement for the challenge is that you have at least 1 embellishment or piece of bg paper that you have made yourself from scratch. As a bonus I give particpants an oportunity to earn 5 EXTRA votes by providing 3 tutorials each month. You can earn 1 extra vote for each tutorial used on the SAME LO and if you make an embellishment using your OWN tutorial you get 2 extra votes.

WINNER GETS A RAK FROM ME so if you enjoy making your own embellishment then come and join the fun.

I thought I'd try making a LO using ALL 3 tutorials supplied for August just to prove it could be done. I also used most pinks for the monochromatic challenge (week 2 - PINK) The twist option for that challenge was to make your own flower which worked out perfectly.

The first tutorial is by Byondbzr who was July's winner. As the winner you get to have 1 of your own tutorials featured for the following month so Rebecca chose to use her wax paper flowers which are super easy to make and require very little time. Mine don't quite look like Rebeccas but I like them all the same. I painted the wax paper with cerise craft paint then glimmer misted over that and then added some "Angelic" shimmerz paint to add some real sparkle.

To make this adorable pink fabric bloom I followed my very own No Sewing fabric bloom tutorial which I was inspired by the new range of Prima blooms to create. They really are super easy to make and all you need is some fabric and a hot glue gun. I used a prima flower for the center which I inked the very tip of the petals with pink chalk and then I painted over that with some more of the Angelic Shimerz paints to add sparkle.

I used SIMPLY PAPER's (Vicky's) fabulous Elegant Ruffled Flowers
tutorial for these paper flowers which are so gorgeous IRL. Vicky is one of the most talented artist's I know and has some of the most beautiful paper flower tutorials. My flowers didn't come out quite as beautiful as Vicky's but I intend on trying them again until I perfect the technique.

I decided to give the wet distressing technique another try and even though I still have not quite perfected it, I'm certainly doing a lot better than when I first tried it. I must admit that my recent aquisition of a heating gun helped considerably. It's a lot easier to get the creases just right when you have a heating tool to dry the paper immediately. Again, I shall continue to work at perfecting another technique I just LOVE.