Five-Petal Punch Chrysanthemum

Hey! Welcome to my blog! This post is getting a LOT of traffic lately, and I just wanted to invite you to check out the rest of my blog (at least be sure to check out my Chrysanthemum card here). If you use this technique, I truly do appreciate that you give credit and link to my main page. Thanks! --Stacey ;-)

The idea for this punch flower (about 3" in diameter!) actually came from the large flower stamp in SU's Fabulous Flowers set. It's a large mum, and all the petals are basically the same shape. I got to looking at it and had one of those eureka moments where I had to run excitedly to my craft table to try it. And it worked! The first one I made is pretty basic, and appears on my 'Sisters' layout, which I will post later for the July 15 Demo Scrapbook Challenge. For this tutorial, I've kicked it up a notch.

Here's what you'll need for one Five-Petal Punch Chrysanthemum:
-Five-Petal Flower punch
-Scrap of SU cardstock (I'm using Pretty in Pink)
-At least one ink pad in a related color (I'm using three: Apricot Appeal, Pretty in Pink and Cameo Coral)
-Quarter or sixth of a stampin' sponge
-Paper snips
-Liquid glue (I prefer Tombow's Aqua to the Multi for this)
-Piercing tool and pad (I use a pushpin and thick piece of fun foam)

And here's what to do:
1. For a flower with three 'layers' (as I am doing), punch FOUR Five-Petal Flowers. For a four 'layer' mum, punch SEVEN.
2. Find the center of each punched flower and pierce a hole. (The white piece is my template that I use over and over.)
3. Sponge some color into the centers of the flowers. As you can see, I used Apricot Appeal on one (for my central layer), Pretty in Pink on one (for layer two), and Cameo Coral on two (for layer three).
4. Set your central layer flower aside for a moment. For the remaining three flowers, snip them into petals by starting in a 'V' between petals and snip to the center hole. So you end up with one unsnipped flower, and all the rest snipped into petals (be sure to keep them separated if you use different colors).
5. Apply a small dot of glue to the inside points of the petals for layer two. Quickly press them ink-side up to the back , so that they are centered between the petals of the unsnipped flower.
6. Continue with a third layer of petals, applying a small dot of glue and adhering petals. If desired, continue with a fourth layer.
7. Here, I've added a Boho Blossoms punch flower in Apricot Appeal and secured it with a small brad from the silver Hodgepodge Hardware.
8. Here, I've added Small-Oval punch leaves (cut to a point with papersnips).

Here's a link to a card I did using a 7-layer version of this flower: