Thinking Outside the Box....errr Punch!

It was one of those eureka! moments. You get an idea for a layout, which gets even better when you notice something about the title...then you find a way to use a tool in a bit different way. That is how "Allium" came about...and all cardstock project featuring WorldWin for the Scrapbook Playground. I knew I wanted to create an allium flower on the right side of the page. THEN I noticed the letters of the word...and the flower could represent the letter "i". I cut thin strips of green cardstock for the stem, in proportion with a stem on the photo that just happened to e bleeding off. (I just love it when LOs come together because of happen-stance!)

I was perusing my stamps and my eyes landed upon Brittany's Castle acrylic stamps by Cloud 9 that I had just received from lead Fisk-A-Teer May -they had not even been put away yet. A little starburst-like design instantly caught my eye and reminded me of a little burst of tiny flower that makes up the many on an allium head. I stamped the design in a circular pattern to set a base for my flower-making project. While I was at it, I decided to add some smaller stamped flowers at the lower left of the layout, getting out my cool Sakura glitter pen to make the stem.

I then began searching punches for a little flower. Finding none small enough - I grabbed the smallest snowflake I had, thinking it would suffice. But it did not quite deliver the look I was going for...I usually get a pretty clear vision in my head of how I want something to look...and keep pressing forward until I find a way to make it happen. Disappointed in my little purple snowflake I had a EUREKA moment - and went into my Fiskars border punch case for my floral punches. My very first punch ever purchased, the Flower punch, offered just what I needed.

So as not to waste a lot of cardstock I cut 1/2" strips and fed them into the backside of the punch vertically. (Had I punched straight borders I would probably have about 12-20 12" purple border strips that I did not need.) The flower design found in the center of this particular punch provided just the size I needed to create an allium out of cardstock. Better yet...by punching right side up the petals angle upwards, giving extra dimension to my layout and mimic an actual allium flower. How cool is that?! A touch to the center with my green glitter pen and a very cool page embellishment in born.



Previously when I have used this punch I considered keeping those perfect little flowers that are "waste" from making a border. Considering the number of things I keep for possible scrapping, however, I thought that was taking frugality a bit to the extreme. Instead my five year old loves to have them...and inevitably I end up vacuuming her confetti from the floor. (LOL)

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the creative process of this layout. A tip - you could feed your cardstock strips through a Xyron. I considered this, but actually wanted my flower petals to stick up for dimension. Instead, I took a piece of Xyron tape and just dabbed it onto the stamped area, leaving a thin sticky residue. I used my paper piercer to remove each flower from the punch and applied it to the stamped area.

Embrace those eureka moments along your creative journey and have fun scrappin'!