"Artichoke" Tutorial

Do any of you get the Martha Stewart Daily Craft email? Dumb question! I am sure some of you do. Well the other day she sent out this craft here. I of course did not read the tutorial, which looking back maybe I should have (I will get to that in a minute). Anywhoooo, I thought to myself how flippin' cool would it be to make those as a sort of topiary for my America the Beautiful crafts using glitter scrapbook paper?!? Sounds fabulous right?? Well, I went and bought the most beautiful glitter scrapbook paper I could find in red, white, and blue (actually there was only one kind). Then I came home all excited and got out my supplies and camera...

My excitement was hard to contain, seriously. I knew

this was going to turn out AMAZING! AND I knew I

was putting a tutorial together for you all. So after I snapped

this photo I started to punch out my circles. Can anyone guess what

happened?? Oh come on, I know some one knows exactly

what happened!
MY CRAFTASTICNESS FAILED IN A HUGE WAY!

WHY, you ask. Paper was too thick! So what did I do?

Sharpened my punch and tried again. NO LUCK!

Then I thought, maybe it is because I am using a cheaper punch. I grabbed my MS flower punch.

NO LUCK!

OMGOODNESS. I almost cried and then I did the unthinkable...

And here is my tutorial-

Supplies Needed:

SCISSORS

Spool of Thread

Sharpies or Pencil

Scrapbook paper in RED, WHITE, and BLUE

Gilda & her babies (Hot Glue Gun & Sticks)

3 Styrofoam Balls (my 13-y-o son giggles like a school girl every time I say that. BOYS!)

3 Dowel Rods (whatever length you want, I just used what I had)

Since I had most of these supplies already on had it cost me $3 to make.

1. Using your HOT glue gun burn a hole into the center of your Styrofoam.

2. Fill hole with glue and insert a dowel. HOLD IT IN PLACE UNTIL DRY!

It should look like this.

3. Now that the easy part is done. Here is the hard part...Take your spool of thread, writing utensil, and the wrong side of your scrapbook paper -trace enough circle to cover the page and then CUT each one individually.



Please note that my index finger is still numb from cutting all the circle out.

4. Take one circle and put a dab of hot glue directly in the center of the wrong side of the paper and stick to the top center. HOLD IN PLACE UNTIL DRY.

4. This is a little difficult to explain in words but for the rest of your circles glue on the wrong side and glitter side of the top 1/4 edges. Like so,

5. Place the circles all around the styrofoam just underneath the previous row of circles. Clear as mud right? Not to worry I have PICTURES!

See? Slip it underneath.

Keep going and going and going...

and going...

and going.

See it is a sticky outy! Not to worry! Just dab some

more glue where it is sticking out too much for your

liking and

hold until dry.

It should look like this when

you are all finished. When I got

to the base by the dowel I had to

"curl" the paper around my finer

and maneuver it into the tight space

and THEN GLUE!

TAAAAAAAAAAAA-

DAAAAAAAAAAAA

All finished and worth all the

cutting, I think!

What do you guys think?

How was the tutorial? Clear? Easy to follow? I am still learning here. If you have suggestions I would LOVE

to hear them!

~HUGS~

Jenni