Recycled Dryer Sheet Blooms ~ Tutorial!!

I had so much fun making up this layout for a Bo Bunny assignment to Recycle/Re-use.   For my project I decided to make embellishments using recyled dryer sheets!!  They come out looking so sheer and pretty...and the nice part is that you can tint them whatever colors will work well for the papers you want to use.  Here are the 'ingredients' you'll need to make these:
~ used dryer sheets (yes! go ahead and use them for your laundry first!)
~ Glimmer Mist in any shades you'd like your blooms to be
~ Stickles or any type of glitter glue
~ scissors and glue or adhesive tape
~ Gems or Trinkets for the centers (I used Bo Bunny Jewels and Trinkets fromt the Timepiece collection)

Step 1
~ Layer your dryer sheets and cut out circles in varying sizes from large to small.  I made 4 circle, each just a little smaller than the other.   You don't have to be very exacting with cutting your circles, just take a pair of scissors and cut.  The circles do not have to be perfect, in fact I think they come out nicer if they are not perfect.

Step 2
~ Spritz your circles with some Glimmer Mist....you can use Tattered Angels or make up your own, (I've made my own using a small spray bottle filled with a little distilled water, a few drops of alcohol ink and a pinch of Perfect Pearls (or Pearlex) mica powder).   Allow them to dry.  You can speed up this process by just dabbing them with a paper towel to remove excess moisture.

Step 3
~ Rim each circle with some glitter glue.  Allow it to dry before stacking the layers together.  I applied a little bit of two-sided sticky tape between the layers and added the Bo Bunny Jewels and Trinkets to the center.  Here are the finished blooms close-up....

I made up this page using the new Bo Bunny collection called Timpiece! Love this collection...just filled with wonderful vintage elements and lots of flourishes!  I also embellished with the fabulous Dusty Attic Laser cuts....for this page I used the new hinges and one of the ornate corner brackets.  I gave the hing an embossed look by painting some 3D paint (thickly) onto the hinge and then taking a swirly stamp and pushing it into the wet paint....here is a close-up look at the finish....

For the corner bracket I simply rubbed some brown chalk ink onto the design and touched it with some Distress Stickles by Tim Holtz....it gives the piece a kind of 'rusted' look.....

For more recycling product ideas check out the Bo Bunny blog for today and for more Dusty Attic inspiration check out the Dusty Attic Ning site.  Hope you give these fun blooms a try!

I've added another type of flower I made with the dryer sheets .....Here's a pic of them....

The pink blooms I again made from recycled dryer sheets. Again, super easy to do....just put a few drops of alcohol ink (I used Time Holtz Pink Sherbert for these blooms) or some food coloring in a small cup of water. Dunk your used dryer sheets in the mixture and just blot off on a paper towel..


TIP: IF you find the dryer sheet a bit to wrinkled to use nicely for your bloom and don't want to pull out your ironing board and iron a quick way I smooth out my swatches is to us my hair flattening iron. I just give it a quick smooth with the flattening iron and the piece is ready to work with (also helps dry it quicker too)

....so the next step is to cut some strips from the swatch and gather the two long edges using a needle & thread (I use about 2 and a half strips for the large flower). My daughter made me the flower centers using some bling from the Bo Bunny's Buttons & Bling packages and some seed beads.
~Gabrielle xxx