Quilt Block Flower Fun!

Aloha, all!

     Ah, the first of June and all the Stampin' Up! world is abuzz with everything that's going to be retiring come the first of July.  But we still have a month to go with all the gorgeous papers that are in the current Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog!  So, along with some sneak peeks at what you'll be seeing in the new catalog, I'm going to be spending quite a bit of June time showing off the papers that I've really liked this past year.

     The pattern that I've used in this card – a Tulip Quilt Block – is formed mostly using papers from the Designer Series Paper Set, Blueberry Crisp.  As with the other "quilt" square projects that I've shown off here, the basic block is a 3/4" square.  Tough to use with fabric, but a lot easier to use with paper!  I hope you've noticed that I don't use card stock with these patterns.  There are several reasons for this.  The two primary reasons are (1) that Designer Series Paper seems to look more like fabric, as in the kind of fabric used for fabric quilt blocks; and (2) it's so much easier to work with if the square manages to be just a bit too large.  I find it easy either to trim just a skosh off one edge or corner and/or to allow the edges of two pieces of paper overlap.  If you trim card stock you can really see any variations in the straight line you're trying to cut.  And, if you overlap card stock, you really get a bump in your card.  So Designer Series Paper it is for me!

     As in the other projects that I've completed, I highlighted the cut edges of each piece by tracing along them using a straight edge (a ruler works if it's pretty straight) and a Basic Black Journaler marker.  For this particular project, I carried that black forward (or backward?) a bit, and used a square of Basic Black Card Stock as a mat, along with a layer of Pear Pizzazz (to pick up the green in the "leaves" made with Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper) and Pacific Point (to pick up the little Pacific Point swirls in some of the tulip's squares.  It's all layered up on a 5-1/4" card made of Sahara Sand Card Stock.

    Just below I'm including two sketches. The first sketch is for the quilt block, including measurements.  The second is for the card – there are enough layers that you might want to know what to cut without having to do all that much work (doing the work is the job of a demonstrator so YOU can have fun with this!)  I've also prepared a tutorial sheet to give you the measurements for the various pieces you'll have to cut.

     And I hope you DO have fun with this!  I certainly have had fun making and showing it off.