Flower Tutorial...A Lesson in 'Stack 'n Tuck'

Welcome friends! I've had a couple of comments/requests for a flower accent tutorial and I wanted to just show you how I 'build' my flower embellishments. It's no secret that I use them on most of my cards, mostly because I love the soft, feminine look of a cluster of flowers, with swirls and flourishes emanating out of them. Here is a step by step of my process:

First...here's the end result:

And second, just a little background as to how I store my accents to make color choices.

I have all of my flowers arranged by color in these organizers I purchased from Home Depot:

I chose flowers that would compliment my design...based on the papers I was using...which was easy this time as I used Confetti White (off white) and kraft:

Then I chose white flowers to accent the darker brown/tan flowers I had selected:

 Here is my canvas. I took a panel of Confetti White paper and sent it through my Big Shot while it was in a ink-smeared Square Lattice embossing folder:

I got most of my supplies ready ahead of time, though, including in this tutorial, I grab stuff after I start creating and I'll mention what I added that was extra. But for now, there is a half doily, organza ribbon, tulle accents (from A.C. Moore's wedding dept.), a strip of burlap (with some of the threads pulled out), a glittered chipboard flower, pieces of a flower cluster (from Michael's wedding dept.), fabric flowers (colored with a Copic), various paper flowers and two Elegant Scrollwork die cuts:

First I lay down my larger accents. Not much of the doily will end up showing, but I don't want it to overwhelm the design anyway:

The strip of burlap and a length of ribbon goes next, again, only a bit of it will show after I add the other pieces. It is necessary to start off with large details as most of them will get covered anyway. If I placed a small doily down, but the time I get to the end it would be engulfed:

Next is the die cuts. I added the glittered flower and paper flower and then this is where I started to tuck. Up until now it was just layering. It's hard to judge how much of the design will show if you place the scroll die on the project too soon:  

Since there were so many neutrals, I decided at this point that it would be a good idea to add a bit of a burst of color...represented by the green silk leaf. And then I started to add the small paper flowers at this point, too:

I like to have varying sizes of flowers, and sometimes you just don't have flowers that are small enough...easy fix:

I just peel of a couple of layers to make the flower smaller:

Here's another instance where I felt the design needed some more 'points'. I like to add a nice mix of round objects (flowers) and spiky or pointed objects (raffia, tulle, leaves). So I added a small raffia bow, tucked under the larger flower and accented with a small paper flower:

More spiky accents...here is where I tucked the black tulle accents into the small open spaces between the flowers. I also started to add the medium sized fabric flowers here, too:

These flowers were purchased in a large group. I separated the individual groupings and pulled out the little stamen pieces. I then added them to my design, tucking them strategically into more open spaces:

Here's the finished accent:

Lastly, I added my sentiment panel and mounted this panel onto the card base:

 And the final product, again:

ETA: I had a few questions about the adhesive I use...it's a combination of glue dots and Art Glitter clear adhesive.

Thanks for joining me for such a long post...I hope it was informative for you!

Stamps: Celebration of Thanks (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Confetti White, Crumb Cake, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Quinn Flourish die (Memory Box), burlap, doily, Daisy die (Heartfelt Creations), Platinum Glitter (Martha Stewart), fabric & paper flowers, leaves, raffia, stamens, tulle accents, Square Lattice embossing folder (SU!), Satin trim organdy ribbon (Morex)
Size: 4 1/4" X 5 1/2"
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