Hello everyone, welcome to another Tuesday Tutorial. Today I am sharing how I made some cute little posies using a cloud punch. 
I originally created theses flowers and used them on my Admit One photo frame featuring Glitz Design products. Since that time, I have several inquiries and comments about the flowers so I figured it was time to share how to make them.
You will want to use a paper that is very pliable, such as a glassine, book paper, or tissue paper. One of my favorite papers to use is Glitz Designs Paper Layers, which is a light weight paper that is heavier than tissue paper but lighter than regular pattern paper.
The punch I use is the Fiskars XL Cloud Squeeze Punch. The punch comes in several sizes. I find the punched cloud from the XL is the easiest to work with.
Some of the lighter papers like tissue paper or crepe paper may not punch cleanly. If you have a paper that won't punch out all of the way or tears, layer it with a piece of cardstock or patterned paper underneath and punch through them both together. The extra paper will help achieve a much cleaner punch out on the thin paper.
You will need floral wire if you plan to add a stem like I did. You will want a very light weight wire. The wire on the frame above and most of the samples in this post were actually created using the stemmed leaf shown above. I had picked these up in a craft store to have on hand for flor flowers that didn't have leaves. (I have a thing about a flower without a leaf, just like a button without thread, but that is a subject for another day. . . ) For this flower, I ended up using the leaf behind the flower and using it as a base to staple through.
If you use floral wire, you will want to create a loop in the top of the wire so that you will have a wide surface to staple the flower to. It shouldn't be any wider than the top of your staple. Be sure that if you need to cut the wire you use a scissor that is suitable for cutting wire. My Tim Holtz scissors are one of my favorites for wire and tough materials.
To add interest to your clouds, you can add color using all sorts of different colorants. I prefer to use a colorant that I can make the color fade light to dark, so I use Distress Inks on a blending tool, Distress Stains, or color mists. These examples are all punched from the Glitz Design Paper Layers paper.
After adding color to your cloud, allow the color to dry (or dry it with a heat tool). Fan fold the cloud horizontally. Try to keep from pressing the fold, rather keeping them more like waves. The only area you want to fold and pinch is at the bottom. If the paper is moist it will bend and possibly tear so it is important to make sure it is dry before folding.
Here, you can see that the top edge folds are wavy rather than crisp. Keeping them wavey will help the flower look fuller at the end.
After folding, pinch the folds along the bottom between your fingers to flatten them.
Staple the flower to the stem (or the leaf in my case) through the flattened folds.
Depending on the thickness of your wire, you may want to use pliers to flatten the back prongs of the staple a bit tighter to keep the flower securely in place.
The staple is a great way to hold the ripples in place. If you want to hide the staple on your finished project, you can layer other flowers, leaves, or even adhesive gems over it. In the earlier frame example, I used two staples in a criss-cross pattern for a little different look.
Here are the previous punches shown finished. I love how adding color to just the base and center and a bit of Distress Ink on the edges create such great color effects.
These examples were not inked or colored but demonstrate how differently the flower can look with different papers. They are white glassine (salvaged from a sack from a store), crepe paper (Melissa Frances), tissue paper (7gypsies), and Kraft Glassine (Tim Holtz). On the first Kraft Glassine piece is crinkled and worked the punch out a bit to soften it and create lines. On the second, I used it straight with no wrinkling. It developed some lines as I worked with it, but for the most part remained stiff and less full looking. The white glassine was also very stiff. I think it would have benefited from a bit of working and wrinkling.
One last idea to change it up a bit, consider misting your flower after it is assembled. That is what I with the flowers on the original frame. I love the way some of the areas received heavy color and some received none because they were protected from the folds. The mist definitely makes each flower truly unique, just like those in nature.
