Flirtatious "Bugle" hanging

So, I was perusing my Google Reader and came across this post. Haley's mom had made her the cutest little wall hanging. She called it a wreath but for some reason I believe a wreath has a hole in the middle. :) Anyway it grabbed me so completely I had to make one right that very minute. So I looked into her links and found a little tutorial here that uses the project as a gift card holder. The original post is where I got the idea to call these shapes bugles - don't they kind of look like the little cracker snacks?

Oh... this post is going to be photo heavy, and it's the longest one I've ever written. I'll show you what I did and tell you what I will do differently next time I make one of these cuties. OK. I made mine with Flirtatious Designer Series Paper. I am SO bad at using my stuff. I buy things thinking they are so pretty and I will make this and that and the other thing with my supplies - and then I freak out when I think about actually cutting into a great piece of paper or anything else that is consumable. I've got to get over it! Anyway this appealed to me because it isn't very big - it uses 14, 2.5" square pieces of paper. That's all. I can do that. Here is my finished project, you can see it isn't huge by any means as I am holding it in my hand:

And here is how I made it. First, I cut my 14 squares of designer paper. I determined which papers had 2 sides that I wanted to feature and which I would only use on one side. I think you can see having yellow and orange centers wasn't in the plan! Then, I started rolling. I rolled each piece around my finger to give it a little curl, shaped it into the "bugle", applied Snail adhesive, and stuck it together. Here is what I would NOT do - I flattened the tips of the cones. Leave them the way they are.

After I finished shaping and gluing the cones, I laid them out to find a pattern I liked.

I used the Large Scallop Circle Punch to make the base of this project. I marked the circle so I could ATTEMPT to use it as a guide to place the cones. Note, I said ATTEMPT. It kind of worked but not like I had expected. Anyway, I used my hot glue gun to attach the cones to my circle base in the design pattern I had laid out. (I love this tiny silicone mat - the inevitable glue drips come right off with zero effort. I got it on clearance but I bet you can find one if you look.) 

And that is half of it. I tried to make sure the pieces were snugly settled next to each other but I did end up with tiny gaps, which made the final cone difficult to get into place. It's a little snug. :) Here are all the cones in place - front and back views. I went around the tips a couple of times with my glue gun to make sure they won't go anywhere.

I thought I would continue copying the inspiration piece and use a fan fold medallion as my center. That didn't work so well - first, I used a 2x12" strip, glued the ends, and realized the furthest it would spread was not far enough. It could maybe be a tall doll house lamp shade. I cut off the glued peak, cut and scored another strip, and made a bigger circle. It was way too big. And I hated it. I had my heart set on using the laser cut doily from the DSP but I didn't like it with the medallion, so I will use that for another purpose. FYI - no need to use a perfectly cut circle for the back side of a medallion!!

I was mad. I had been so careful, using the Regal Rose Brights DSP cut so the pattern would flow over the ridges instead of along them, and I had measured... but not taken into account that the whole thing would DOUBLE and I didn't need to add a full quarter inch. Live and learn, and then remember you are blonde and will probably do it again and life will go on. I had to walk away for a bit. I thought about using tissue paper and making a fluffy layer behind the doily. Hated that too. One other option - punched strips of white copy paper with my Scalloped Edge Punch, crimped, spritzed with ink, crumpled and arranged and placed... hated that, too. Sigh. THEN I remembered the doily Sizzlit I had cut a few days before. It was perfect. It fit the "theme" and since it was white, I could spritz it with markers to match the little cones.

Once I had the Pumpkin Pie doily in place, I spritzed again with matching ink. Then I punched 3 Pretty in Pink scalloped circles and stacked them so the doilies would lay into the wreath's shallow center. I stacked 2 dimensionals between each circle.

I ran hot glue around the edges of the bottom circle and set it in place. Love!!

It was so cute! However, it needed a little something - and I knew just what that would be. Butterflies, of course. I cut several using the Beautiful Wings Embosslit and arranged them around the center. I used Dazzling Details to accent the large one.

I love it. I'm going to attach a ribbon loop to the back to hang it in my Create Escape craft room. It makes me so happy! It's so girly! AND it only used a little bit of designer paper, so I didn't sweat too much cutting it up. What do you think? You can totally do this, I know it!

What I learned: don't flatten the tips, make absolutely sure the cones are flush against each other as you glue, and KNOW WHAT YOU ARE PUTTING IN THE MIDDLE! Yes, I'm making more of these. They are just too fun.

A bit of business before I go (thanks for hanging in there!) - Sale-A-Bration starts tomorrow! Get a free item from the exclusive SAB catalog for every $50 you spend, and special bonuses for hostesses - through the end of March.

Becca

Supplies used:
Designer Series Paper: Flirtatious
Card Stock: White, Pretty in Pink, Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder
Ink (markers): Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder, Pumpkin Pie
Big Shot, Paper Doily Sizzlits Die, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Large Scalloped Circle Punch
Snail, Stampin' Dimensionals, Hot Glue Gun