8)We now want to cut out several of the large shamrock leaves and the small green hearts
gently crease each heart and shamrock leaf down the center so each has an upward curve, in the picture above I have exaggerated the curve on the green hearts so it is more obvious than it should be for the sake of the photo only, yours should be much more curved and gentle, but the green hearts should be made to have a deeper curve than the shamrock leaves. You can create this curve in your finger tips or by rolling /bending pattern piece around your quilling tool or a cocktail stick. Or paint brush handle.
9) Although not very obvious from pictures we have coated the green side of the shamrock leaf in white glue using a paint brush while the glue is still tacky we have added a green heart to the center of each shamrock leaf section. Also not obvious (it just looks like my table top is in need of some polish) but its not that I am working on a sheet of grease proof paper, your little glued pieces are far less likely to stick to the wrong surface if you work them on grease proof and move them round two or three times until dry.
10) make up two or three shamrock leaves with the decorative green hearts on each or put little green hearts on all the leaves its entirely up to you ,if you don't want to do the quilling aspect of the card then jump straight to 18
11) We are going to use two quilling shapes to decorate our card the open heart shape that you learned in the valentine card tutorial and the teardrop quilling shape
We can use either quilling shape or a combination of both shapes, to decorate the card for mine I chose a combination, purely because with the open heart you only need make 3 shapes for each leaf where as with the tear drop you must quill 6 pieces for each shamrock leaf. I know how to quill these shapes you on the other hand may not so you need the practice for this new shape so should reverse my choice if I were you.
12) I cut my quilling strips 3mm wide ,from some scraps of green paper the size of regular post it note squares 6.25 cm wide ,so my strips ended up being 3mm wide by 6.25 long. 6.25 cm is is about the width of the narrowest purchased quilling strips .To see how to make your own quilling strips refer back to the valentine tutorial. While you are there refresh or read for the first time how an open heart is made, make several from similar sized strips as mentioned above. When you have created several open hearts all glued together as described in the Valentine Card Tutorial , you are then ready to learn the teardrop shape.
13) We start off as almost always with a basic tight coil we then allow it to relax either in your hand after removing it from the quilling tool or place it in your quilling board if using one.
14)Holding the relaxed coil open end facing towards the palm of your hand gently pinch the nearest end of the coil.
15) Glue down the loose end of quilling strip pinching the coil into the tear shape just until the glue becomes attached only a few seconds. Make several of these teardrop shapes 6 per shamrock leaf. Gluing pairs together to form each leaf lobe.
16) Now is the time to embellish your large shamrock leaves that you previously curled , on my shamrock bouquet I chose to decorate two with green hearts and one with the open heart motif but you may decide for yourself.
17) Brush on with a small paint brush to what is going to be the underside of your heart leaf decoration ,also coating the top side of the shamrock leaf in a thin coat of white glue. Place your chosen heart decoration onto however many shamrock leaves you have decided on. The white Glue on both surfaces allows for some positioning if necessary; do not try to do this with your finger tips use the point of your quilling tool to align decorative pieces into their correct position
18) when leaves are dry (no longer tacky) position them where you would like them to be on top of your leaf bouquet , I always take care that in positioning these single leaves that I cover any remaining visible white background that still shows.
19) Remove the positioned leaves one at a time and dabbing the the base image with a little white glue from a brush and then replace the removed leaf firmly but gently back into position taking care that the leaf still retains its upwardly curved shape.
20) This section after the addition of a little bow to the stem section should now be complete. I f you are having difficulty tying the bow to itself ,tie it around you quilling tool slide the bow off the end of tool ,retighten it and fix it to graphic
