Accordian Flower Tutorial, Q and A and a tiny slider

A few of you have requested a tutorial on making accordian flowers, so here it is! It is pretty easy once you get the hang of it.


Step 1: Before beginning, decide how wide you would like your accordian to be. If you want it to span 2 inches, then cut your paper 1 inch. If you would like it 3 inches, cut your paper 1 1/2 inches. Does that make sense? For this particular flower, I wanted it to span 3 inches, so I cut my thin DSP 12 inches by 1 1/2 inches. I would recommend 12 inches, no matter how wide the other measurement is.
Step 2: Score the paper at 1/4 inch intervals the entire length of the paper.

Step 3:
Prepare the button, embellishment or charm you will be adding to the center. I normally just use buttons or some kind of circular image, but today you can see that I am using a cut stamped image. Get your glue dots ready as well as a glue line if you have one. If not, get a piece of sticky strip. If you are using sticky strip, you could always get it adhered and leave the red sticky backing in place until it is time to secure it.
Put a glue dot on the back of your center embellishment and have it ready.

Step 4: Fan fold at each score mark.



Step 5: Attach glue line or sticky strip unless you already did like I mentioned before. Glue it end to end.

Step 6. Lay the flower out. Bring the center in tightly...tighter than what it shows in my photo. I couldn't photograph and hold it at the same time! LOL!

ETA: I no longer use glue dots to assemble my accordion flowers! I use hot glue. You will need to punch out a 1 inch circle for each accordion you will be making. Once you get to this step, apply hot glue to the back of your accordion flower, quickly press the punched circle onto the back and hold in place for 10 seconds or so. Once that is done, you can turn it over and add your embellishments.

Quickly adhere your pre-glue dotted embellishment to the center. Add a couple of glue dots to the back and adhere it to your project. If you don't know where it will be placed on your project, simply leave it on the waxy backing that the glue dots come on.

You are done! You have now completed your beautiful flower!



I decided to make a fun little project in addition to the tutorial. This is a little slider, similar to the one I did the tutorial for the other day. It is tiny. It measures 4 inches by 2 1/2. I thought it would be perfect to hold a gift card or a bit of candy.


Yesterday's WT challenge was to make an ATC, which I did, but didn't post here or on SCS. I made tiny ATC's for my son's BB coaches and attached them as tags to goody baskets I made for them. So...I decided that this could work as my ATC. Even though it is a box, it is *almost* the right measurement.





Also....here is the Q&A portion of this post! I have had a few of you ask me how I combine pattern papers. I will give you a few pointers that seem to produce nice results.

#1 If possible, work in the same *collection*. Most pattern papers come in a collection which means they are all meant to go with each other. SU! makes paper packs that all go together as well.

#2 Many of the prints are large and are made for scrapbook pages and not cards. If you must use one of these large prints, use it on the largest section of your project. Many manufacturers are making *card * size prints which is especially helpful. It is the same design as would come on a 12 by 12 sheet, but it is scaled down for the card maker.

#3 Try using 2 or more prints on your project. I like picking a large print, medium and small. The large print could be a floral, the medium polka dot or another floral or even plaid, the small print could be a swiss dot or polka dot. It is important to keep the colors and patterns balanced. A good rule of thumb is this...if you have 2 sided paper, the one on the back is a guaranteed match!

As you can see from my little box I made today...the largest print which is the stripe is the biggest piece. The next biggest print is on the background and the tiniest print is on the sentiment banner. They include a strip, a floral or more of a damask and a dotted floral.

#4 It may take time, but the most important thing to learn is balance. You want to keep colors and sizes so that your project feels balanced.

These are some tips that I have learned along the way that have helped me! I hope that you find them helpful! Thanks for fluttering by!

Supplies: Simple Friendship Stamp Set
Ink: Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Bordering Blue, Basic Gray
Paper: Almost Amethyst (woops) next time I will use Bordering Blue, Bella Bird DSP, Whisper White
Accessories: Liquid Glue, Martha Stewart Coarse Crystal Glitter, Ribbon by Club Wed, Button from my stash, sponge.