Die Cutting Fun and Jute Flower Tutorial

Handmade Jute Flowers

         Hi friends ,we have a lot of pen-stands at home and when I am in the mood for a quick craft ,I grab the most mundane looking one and try to give it a crafty makeover!

Plastic Pen-stand

           This sorry looking pen stand holds  plastic embossing tools which I used to use quite a lot for making paper flowers .Now I prefer to use metallic embossing tools for paper flower making since these plastic ones started breaking after a while! I haven't thrown them away since my daughter and I often use them in clay crafts.

Stencilling with Die Cut

           Of late I have become brave enough to play with texturing media but since I dont own a lot of stencils I  have to be creative with what I have! I used a PoppyStamps swirly curl border die cut as a stencil with Whipped Spackle texture medium to create a beautiful floral texture on my penstand!

Whipped Spackle Texture Media

Used the left over Whipped Spackle to create a rim on the pen-stand

Whipped Spackle Texture Media

           Though I do splurge a lot on craft supplies it does feel good to be frugal at times .....meaning I am resisting buying all the gorgeous stencils out there but finding more reasons to justify my cutting die buying addiction!!

Jute Flowers

        Here is how the PoppyStamps swirly curl border die was used to create the stenciled texture + on its own!

Cheery Lynn  butterfly

           As I said I love playing with dies and sometimes its fun to cut up your die cuts and try and create new designs. I snipped off the lower scrolls of this Cheery Lynn  butterfly and stuck it on top to give the butterfly antennae...and lo I have a new butterfly!

Texture Media

Jute Flower making tutorial 

       Most of my readers know I love making flowers using different media including  styrofoam/thermocol, sponge, marzipan, foam ,crystal, sola wood , felt etc. You can see the tutorial links here : Handmade Flower tutorials

Jute Flower Tutorial 

Jute Flower Making -Materials Required

• Jute Sheets - laminated ones are easier to craft with as the cut edges wont fray.Jute is known by different names in different countries .Its also called Hessian or Burlap
• Scissors- featured in the picture is the Fiskars Hobby Snip a sturdy scissors which is a favorite of mine.You can read more about it here : Paper Cutting Tools. The advantage of this scissors for this particular project is its a strong sturdy scissors sharp enough to cut jute and because it has a spring action your hands wont tire even if you are hand-cutting dozens of jute flowers!
• BigZ die - OPTIONAL - If you dont have a die cutting machine you can still easily make jute flowers by roughly drawing designs on the jute sheet and hand-cutting it . But if you are going to be tempted to use a die to cut jute you need to have  a die  which can cut through laminated jute [ its a pretty strong material!] I tried using thin dies from various companies and even the sizzlits but none could give as clean and effortless cutting as the Big Z dies
• Glue Gun- Jute is difficult to stick so unless you want to whip up your needle and thread and do some stitching  a glue gun is indispensable

Jute Flower Tutorial 

         I used the Sizzix Floral leaves flourish BigZ die to cut 2 jute flowers and a lifestyle crafts die to cut a small circle from glitter foam

Jute Flower Tutorial 

I tried layering the 2 flowers on top of each other...they looked flat and insipid so made the flowers dimensional using the easiest 3 D flower making trick...make a cut between 2 flower petals to reach the center.

Jute Flower Tutorial 

Apply hot glue to one petal adjacent to the cut and stick the other petal on top of it !

Jute Flower Tutorial 

Apply a generous blob of hot glue on the flat flower and stick the cupped flower on top .

Jute Flower Tutorial 

 Press on the center of the flower to stick it nicely. Since jute is fairly thick you can actually poke your finger into the cup of the flower and press it onto the blob of hot glue underneath without burning your fingers!

Jute Flower Tutorial 

Stick the foam center and your easy handmade jute flower is ready!

Handmade Jute Flowers

Tips to craft with Jute

• Jute sheets sold for crafting are laminated and don't fray as much as regular burlap but be prepared to have a lot of fabric shreds on your working surface and some frayed edges
• Using a hot glue gun while crafting with jute is great as unlike paper and foam which are thin and  more likely to give you burns jute is fairly thick and its easier to hot glue ! Also the laminated surface literally melts with hot glue and you get a good adhesion

If you would like to try some more jute/burlap crafts be sure to drop in at Gail's blog...she has some amazing inspirational jute crafts! 

Jute Flowers

I dressed up a small clock in the same autumn color theme to give my pen-stand company!

Jute Flowers Set

I hope you enjoyed my altered Autumn Projects.

Supplies :Jute Sheets - Itsy Bitsy, Dies :Marianne Designs Anja Leaf 3, Marianne Designs Anja Leaf 1,Cheery Lynn  tiny things with wings,Cheery Lynn  Butterfly ,Cheery Lynn  flourish leaf strip  ,PoppyStamps swirly curl border , Sizzix Bigz Flower with leaves flourish, Sizzix Bigz Tattered Floral, Heartfelt creations Botanical Wings , Provocraft Leaf die, Memory Box fringe border

Whipped Spackle, Fiskars Hobby Snip Scissors - Crafters Corner
Edited : This project came top 3 at Scrappy Land 25 Yippee!!