A rose is a rose . . .

Have always liked the cards, journal covers, scrapbook pages, and other projects that Heartfelt Creations creates using their rose and other flowers stamps and die sets. Watched a few videos on how to shape the flowers once they are stamped and die cut to make these realistic flowers... but for a card maker that mails out many cards putting flowers on all my cards would not work for me. . . I had bought a couple of their floral stamp and die sets and decided I could make flowers for tags or gift bags or treat boxes, etc. . .

Went to a stamp show last weekend in Columbia, SC and Heartfelt Creations had a booth there of all their products and project samples:

Had recently seen that Heartfelt had a new stamp and die set for Poppies so I picked that set up while I was at their booth. Lots of shoppers there so while I was waiting in line to check out I was near the demo table and I saw them demo their new flower molds -- these molds do all the molding of the flowers for you so all you have to do is stamp, die cut, and run your floral pieces through your die cutting machine in this new mold and your floral pieces/stems all will have creases and lines for dimension and your flowers can now be assembled. . . .   Sounded too good to be true to me but when I got home I watched this video by Cheryl B on Youtube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaGnB0oCpTM&t=985s

This video not only shows how to use the flower mold but it also shows how she layered and decorated her card front. I watched the video for the molds and came away with lots of tips from Cheryl.  Many times when you shop the vendors at these stamp shows they will give you a coupon for a discount on your next online order from them which Heartfelt did. Once I had seen Cheryl's video I ordered my Rose Mold from Heartfelt. They shipped it the next day and by Thursday I had my new floral mold. They have a couple different flower shaping molds for sale but my first one is for roses since I have the Classic Rose stamp and die set:

Here is their new Rose Shaping Mold:

the back of the packaging shows how this is used:

You stamp, die cut, and colour your flower pieces and leaves/stems and then put them in this mold. Lightly spritz it with water -- put the top on the mold and run this through your machine. There is only one way for the lid to the mold to go on the base so it is very easy to use. Once your pieces have been molded you can set them aside to dry -- does not take long. Then let the layering begin.....

Here is a photo of my first roses I have made using my new Rose Shaping Mold:

With this being my first set of flowers I decided I would use white/GP (Georgia Pacific white card stock sold at Walmart). Was not sure if this card stock would work in the molds with the shaping and such but it worked beautifully with no rips or tears. To make this project I used the egg cartons I bought off the Clearance Rack from Stampin Up and spritzed blue ink onto it using a spritzer filled with rubbing alcohol and re inkers:

Just did a light layer to add colour to the egg carton and set that aside to dry. The paper they use for these egg cartons is very porous and you have to be careful not to get them too wet.  Stamped my flowers using the Stampin Up Bashful Blue ink and cut them out using the matching die. I did this twice so I would have two full sets of flower pieces since I was not sure how many flowers I would be making. Once the flower pieces were stamped and die cut I inked the flowers and edges using the Bashful Blue ink and a sponge. Set those aside. For the leaves I stamped them using Stampin Up Old Olive ink and before I cut them out with the matching die I sponged the stamped images using the Old Olive ink and then die cut them out.

Liked the card Cheryl had made for her video. She used a detailed oval die from Heartfelt Creations for her birthday card but I do not own that die. (How did THAT happen???? haha)  But I liked the lattice work on her card and so I used her ideas for that for my egg carton top. For my lattice piece behind my frame I used the Spellbinders Fancy Lattice die and cut out a piece of white/GP.  I cut out a full piece of this lattice die. For my frame on my box I used a stitched square die for my white frame:

Laid this frame over the die cut lattice piece and using a pencil I traced around the square frame so I would know where to cut my lattice piece for the size I needed -- I trimmed the lattice piece inside the pencil lines so this would not show on the edges of the frame piece. I used thin red sticky tape around the back of the square frame and put this onto my trimmed lattice piece:

With the lattice piece behind the square frame piece I put wider red sticky tape on the back and this will hold this framed piece onto the top of my egg carton:

Peeled off the red strips and put this framed lattice piece onto the egg carton top gently pressing down to get the red sticky tape to stick to the carton top. I laid the two leaf pieces I was using for the carton top  over the framed lattice piece so I would know how much of the framed lattice would show. Using a white Pearls pen I added white pearls to some of the intersections of my lattice piece. Cheryl had used Nuvo drops on her oval framed piece but I like the sparkle and shine of the white Pearls pen on mine.

With all my floral pieces shaped from the mold I began to put them together. I used Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky glue to put my floral pieces together. Decided to make a large rose and two tiny roses for my egg carton top. With those glued and shaped I set them aside to dry.  Using scrap white/GP I stamped "easter greetings" from Reverse Confetti using the Bashful Blue ink. Used a ruler and pencil to make a line above and below my stamped greeting. Trimmed this piece on the pencil lines and used the banner punch from Stampin Up to punch the banner end. Lightly sponged the blue ink on the banner piece and ran this over the bone folder to give the banner a 'wave' look.

With my roses dried from gluing I spritzed them and the leaves pieces using Shimmer Mist Pearls to give them all some sparkle and shine:

With those dried I now could put my pieces onto the top of the egg carton -- I used glue dots to put the leaf pieces on and glue dots to put the flowers on top of the leaf pieces. With those on the egg carton I then tucked the greeting piece under a leaf and put the greeting piece on also using glue dots.

LOVE the flower mold -- can not believe I made a rose!! :0)   The mold is very easy to use -- I have the Stampin Up Big Shot machine and I use the mold with a clear plate under it and a clear plate on top of it and it went through the machine with no problems. Each machine is different and Heartfelt Creations has a list of machines and "sandwich" for using their molds on their website so you can see how to use these molds in your machine. Can not believe how easy and FAST these flowers went together..... now trying to figure out how to put a flower on the birthday card for DH for July.... haha. A BIG thank you to Cheryl B for sharing her video and how-to's for this great new product from Heartfelt Creations...  off to make more flowers in all colours.... ;0)