Fold your paper in half and make sure the bottom of the die (the thinnest part) is lying a little beyond the fold, so when it’s die cut, it will cut two petals with a connected piece of paper. You’ll need to cut each die four times. The dies we used were a Sizzix Dies, David Tutera Framelits Large Peony. link https://tinyurl.com/y5b7to5o
When you see these dies, there’s one die that looks like five fingers….we did not use that die when making our peony. When I die cut them, I made a mistake when die cutting one of the largest petals, and had two pieces instead of one. I simply glued each half down in the center like the other pieces.
After die cutting four of each die, you’ll want to open them and scrunch them in your hand to make them fuller and have more dimension. If you pinch the middle section between each petal before hot gluing it, you’ll get even more dimension in the center. Sometimes Barb would lay petals upside down to get more dimension, too.

To create the peony, open your first largest petal so you have both petals lying on the table, and put hot glue in the center section…then take the next set of large petals and lay them across the first petals, then your next set, lay diagonally to the second set, and lay your fourth set diagonal from the one before. Then you’ll take the next smaller petals and lay the first set in the center diagonally from the last set and use your stylus to push down the center and hot glue them in place…do this with each of the sets of petals and then you’ll get to the ones that are shaped like an “X” and place the center of the “X” into the middle of the flower and hot glue it in place, and repeat this process, making each layer diagonal from the last until all petals are placed. You can pull the edges toward the center to make the peony more ball shaped.

The additional tools used to make this large peony were:
hot glue gun
ball stylus set: link https://tinyurl.com/yxqdf3ks
die cutting machine…I use a Vagabond II

I enjoyed my time with Barb and learned so much. Here are links to Barb’s social media.
Barb’s blog: Barb’s Cards, My Way
Link: https://barbscardsmyway.blogspot.com

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