Tangled Flower Card

Here's a card I made that involved creating flowers I decorated using Zentangle patterns. To learn more about creating these patterns, visit www.Zentangle.com. There are many books and online resources for patterns. Design Originals has a great series of books, which you can see at www.d-originals.com. One of my favorite websites for patterns is tanglepatterns.com.

To get the most mileage from my efforts, I used my computer and printer for several steps. However, you could do everything I've done without a computer. All you need is a pencil, a very fine permanent pen (Micron 01 is ideal) and some card stock or heavy paper. Access to a color copier is recommended if you don't have a scanner / printer.

Additional materials for the finished card: a card blank of your choice (I found this neat shape at WalMart in a Valentine promotional display in the craft department); scrapbook paper; glue stick; X-acto knife; small adhesive dots; small brads; small rubber stamp and ink pad; brown chalk.

1 Create flower shapes on a sheet of card stock. I used white, which would be the most versatile for duplicating, but any color you like would work. I used my computer to draw, size and duplicate the shapes to fill an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet. Then I printed out a copy (still on white card stock) to draw on.

2 Fill in the flower shapes with assorted patterns. See introduction text for links to resources if you need them. I used a Micron 01 pen and a pencil for the initial shading. 

I then shaded all the outer edges with brown. If you do this by hand, use chalk or very light colored pencil -- and don't worry about "staying inside the lines," as you'll be cutting them out later. But since I scanned my patterned sheet and used Photoshop to shade the edges brown, they turned out neat and tidy as shown.

 

3 I strongly suggest you get some color copies made of your work at this point -- or if using a computer, save the image to print out as you like. Don't forget, you can print (or copy) this onto colored heavy paper or card stock. 

4 Cut out the flower shapes (from your copies, not your original, if you took my advice!). Slightly bend the petals up from flower centers for dimensionality. Layer smaller shapes onto larger ones and arrange to get maximum petal exposure. Carefully poke a hole through the centers with an awl or push pin and slip a small brad through all the layers.

5 Assemble the card. I covered my blank front with scrapbook paper adhered with glue stick and trimmed to fit, then chalked the edges. I used a tiny stamp for the reddish image in the upper corner. Then I placed some layered and single flowers to fill the front and attached them to the card with adhesive dots.