Tattered Florals Spring Zing Wreath! My Tim Holtz Challenge Piece

Hi there, awesome blog friends! I'm happy to report that spring is in the air, and the ever-brilliant and downright mighty Tim Holtz has challenged the crafters of the world to use his Tattered Florals die in a piece of original art! 

You're familiar with the Sizzix Alterations Tattered Florals die, right? It's one of my desert-island crafting tools. It works equally well for beautifully delicate pieces or for a distressed, industrial look. There are four individual shapes on this die, which can be used individually or stacked together for an endless variety of cool looks. Trust me, you need it (and if you don't have it, you can win it here... keep reading!). 

The tutorial below will take you step-by-step through the process of creating a lighted Tattered Florals wreath. In addition to the supplies listed at the end of the post, you'll need:

• A willow branch wreath (about five bucks at the craft store)
• A hot glue gun
• An assortment of silk or natural dried leaves, flowers and other pretty botanicals

This is a fun project that you can bang out in an evening. Just think how lovely your lighted wreath will look hung on your porch this summer!

Thanks to the always-generous Tim Holtz, I have a Tattered Florals die to give away to one of my blog readers! Just leave a comment here between now and March 22 at noon, MST, for a chance to win. Already have the die? Fear not, I'm going to throw in some fun surprises for the winner, so you'll have stuff to play with and a Tattered Florals die to share with a friend! If you do have the die, be sure to play along with the challenge at Tim's blog--  you could win a HUGE prize there if you do!

I hope you enjoy the tutorial, and if you end up making your own wreath, I'd love to see a photo. Have a fabulously crafty week, and thanks for stopping by! 

xoxo,

Linda

Here's how to make your own lighted

Tattered Florals Spring Zing Wreath!

1. Begin with a twisted willow wreath and a short string of clear fairy lights.
Mine has ten bulbs, which is just about right for a standard-size wreath.

2. Wrap your light string around the wreath, keeping all the little bulbs facing up. Don't worry too much about having them perfectly spaced-- we're going for shabby chic, after all! 

Use jute or natural-colored raffia to secure the light string to the wreath. Loop it, tie it, whatever you need to do to get the bulbs where you want them. Set the wreath aside...

 4. Cover a sheet of Grungepaper with a Ranger Foil Tape sheet (they fit perfectly!) 

Do this three times. 

 5. Burnish with a craft scraper or credit card to make sure the tape is well adhered. 

6. We're only using the large and medium rose shapes on the Tattered Florals die, so cut pieces of your foiled Grunge paper to fit these two shapes. You'll need one medium and one large flower for each of your little lights. 

7. Vagabond 'em! (Or, use whatever die-cutting machine you have.)

8. Pretty little shiny flowers!

9. Emboss all the little flowers with the Sizzix Alterations Dot Matrix die. 

 10. Pretty little shiny embossed flowers!

11. Paint your flowers-- all of them!-- with your favorite springtime colors of Distress Paint. Use at least two colors. I used Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade and Wild Honey. 

12. Lightly mist the wet Distress Paint with water.  

13. Gaze in wonder as the Distress Paint blends itself into cool, beautiful patterns. Set your flowers aside to dry. 

14. Fire up the Vagabond again. This time, cut the bird and her wing from the Caged Bird die using Grunge Board, and ten more large and medium Tattered Florals using your favorite Kraft Core paper. I used red tones from the new "Shattered" collection, which is very cool!

15. Paint your little bird with Distress Paint and a small brush. Use a dot of black Enamel Accents for her eye. Set her aside to dry. 

 16. Sand the edges of your Kraft Core flowers. Remember, never ever ever ever sand on a non-stick craft sheet. Use a piece of scrap cardboard. Check to see if your foiled flowers are dry. If not, Go enjoy a beverage or small brick of chocolate. If so, proceed...

 17. Gently sand your embossed, foiled flowers so some of the shiny metal shows through. This will make your fairy lights sparkle, and add lots of cool, shabby effects. Be careful not to sand through to the Grunge Paper!

18, Oh, the grungy goodness of it all!!! 

19. Punch a small hole in the center of each and every flower. If you're as bad as I am at lining things up, you'll want to mark the center with a pen before you punch. 

20. You'll be able to get your petals to roll and bend better if you cut the notches between them a little deeper, so let's do that. Make a cut between each petal, about halfway to the center hole.  

 21. Okay, now, cut all the way through to the center hole in ONE NOTCH on each of your flowers. Just one. Here's why:

22. You're going to layer your flower pieces around the fairy lights on your wreath. Open the notch that you've cut through to the center, and gently wrap it around the base of the light. Stack the pieces like this: One large Kraft Core flower on the bottom, then one large embossed foil flower, then one medium Kraft Core flower, and finally, one medium embossed foil flower on top. Roll and gently fold the petals for a more flower-y look.

23. This is what it will look like. Do this for each of your fairy lights.  

 24. Now, since you're smarter than I am you would have thought of this before you started: If your fairy lights have a white base and you don't like the look, simply paint the base with Distress Paint, which works beautifully on plastic!

 25. Okay, now it's time to go nuts with all those botanicals you have lying around. Use hot glue to attach silk leaves, dried flowers... all kinds of nature-loving goodness to your wreath. Take care to camouflage the light string (or, if you just can't find a way to completely hide it, dab it with a little Walnut Stain Distress Paint, which perfectly matches the willow branches of the wreath).

26. Don't forget to attach your sweet little bird!

26. Voila! You're ready to plug this baby in and take it for a test drive!

Use the code TIMTIME to get 10% off your order at Inspiration Emporium!