Purple UTEE Flower

This is my entry for Tuesday's Color challenge over at The Outlawz. The challenge colors were green, purple and cream...and the twist was to use fibers.

 

All of the card stock used for this card is from Stampin' Up! The flower is designer paper, dipped in UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel). You melt the UTEE in a melting pot by Ranger. I used a punch to cut out a 3-petal flower. I then used purple ink to distress the edges and then it gets dipped into the UTEE. You use tweezers to pull the flower from the pot and drag it across your heat mat to try to get rid of the excess on the bottom. UTEE dries extremely fast, and you will more than likely have marks from your tweezers and other things. That's OK...because you can cut away any excess UTEE around the edges (after it cools a bit, but before it's completely dry) and then use your heat gun to re-melt the UTEE in places that left a mark. At this point, when it starts to cool, you can shape your petals. It is SO much fun to do. Because the clear UTEE turns an amber color after it's been in the pot a while, it will darken your paper, giving you really cool effects. I made two layers and used a glue dot to put the two pieces together. Some people like to use hot glue. I then punched a little flower for the center and dipped it in UTEE as well. Then I just added a purple crystal on top for the center. I used Spellbinder's Labels 25 for the background and sponged it with green ink while it was still in the die. The fancy flourish is from Cheery Lynn Designs. For my fibers, I used green Jute twine and made little loops and added them under the flower. I finished it off with green pearls.