Staff Project: Jean's Recycled Flowers

Hello, Memory Bound friends! 

Hold on to your Tacky Tape and splat mats because you are not going to believe your eyes! Would you believe that these beautiful flowers were created from used paper towels? It's true!

Our staff member Jean created these beautiful flowers after attending one of Cheryl Mezzetti's recent altered art classes at Memory Bound. Jean had checked out Cheryl's website before class, and from there she linked to designer Marah Johnson's blog where she happened upon a video explaining how to make recycled paper flowers. Jean was so inspired by the video that she decided to give it a try. So after Cheryl's class when Kellie was tidying up the classroom, Jean wouldn't let Kellie throw away the paper towels she had used to blot her paint brush! "Kellie probably thought I was crazy!" Jean laughed.

Jean had used the paper towels to blot her brush as she worked with Twinkling H2O's, so they needed some drying time. After they were dry, she folded the towels into fourths and cut them into flower shapes using the Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Florals die in her Big Shot machine. She used all of the flower shapes on the die except the large one with the pointed petals.

After cutting the shapes, Jean layered and secured them with a large brad, "scrunching" the layers with her fingers to create fullness. She experimented with different combinations of flower shapes, sometimes using a mini-brad along with the smallest die cut flower to create blooms that resemble rose buds in the center.

I'm completely amazed by Jean's recycled flowers and can't wait to make some myself! Thanks, Jean, for inspiring us to use something that would normally be discarded to create art!

Janet