Puffy 3d Heart Flower in Swirls Decor Pot

Two design files combine for this enchanted flower

in its special hearts and swirls card stock pot.

Puffy 3d flower is a slice form assembly,

with a dozen different shapes that fold at the center,

then attach half-to-half to form the heart.

Insert a painted or wrapped dowel, add two fold-over leaves.

Build the flower pot, then add the decor lower and rim shapes.

Place a small styrofoam (or equivalent) shape inside the pot

so that the flower stem can be inserted.

Paper shreds hide the foundation.

Insert the flower's stem, then place it with your

Valentine or spring-time decor.

ASSEMBLY:

The pot in this pot and flower project is a slightly larger version of the 3d garden pot in the SnapDragon Snippets design archive. 

Please follow this LINK to view the original tutorial for the pot, from start to finish.

In the cutting step, cut all the same shapes indicated, PLUS cut 3 lower heart and swirl overlays, and 6 upper heart panels, as shown in the original cut file.

Once the pot is complete, prepare the lower overlays. NOTE that each overlay section includes TWO segments so that it will wrap around a pot angle as shown.

Fold the overlap at the mid vertical perforation lines, then apply adhesive and position the overlay offset from the side and lower edges, with the center perf line at the corner between the two panels the overlay will attach to.

Repeat for the remaining two panels.

Prepare the 6 upper heart panels by applying adhesive to the backside, then positioning centered over pot rim upper and lower edges. The side edges of overlay panel will nearly reach each side edge of the rim area.

Here is the completed pot with heart and swirl overlays in place.

The puffy heart flower in this project is a slice form heart. Refer to the cut file notations to cut the twelve heart petal slice form shapes.

If you are using two-sided card stock, select the FRONT design as the one that will show when the flower is assembled. (The backside will NOT show.) Cut ONE of each of the 12 shapes shown (some will be duplicates of others, but all the shapes needed are shown in the cut file as it opens.) As the shapes are removed from the cutting mat, keep them in the order shown in the original cut file for easy reference.

Fold all heart shapes on the vertical center perforation lines, then replace the shapes on your work surface.

Begin with shape 1, join the RIGHT half of #1 with the LEFT half of #2. Take care that the perforation fold edges and outer edges all match up exactly  as the shapes are joined. Next, add the RIGHT half of #2 with the LEFT half of #3, and so forth. Build a front half by assembling shapes 1-6, and a back half by assembling shapes 7-12.

To view the slice form assembly process, follow this LINK to view how the globe toe decoration of Mrs. Santa's boot is composed  from multiple circles (steps 2-5). 

Prepare a stem from a painted narrow dowel (approx. diameter 5/32”, cut approx. 9.5” long) or a length of floral heavy gauge or wrapped stem wire.

 

Align and join the front and back halves, while at the same time inserting approx. 1/4" to 1/2" of the stem between the halves so that it is glued in place. This will displace the hearts slightly, but try to get the heart halves to fit back together as well as possible.

Prepare the leaf halves by slightly folding each at the center perforation. Fold/wrap one leaf around the stem approx. 2" below the heart bottom tip. Position the second leaf closely under the first. NOTE that the heart is “wider” than it is “front to back”, so you may wish to try to orient the leaves directly to the right and to the left

. 

To finish the project, cut and shape a small section of green floral styrofoam (or equivalent) to fit and fill the lower 2/3s of the pot box, then cover with paper shreds. Insert the flower's stem at the center and push down fully into the pot (but not all the way through). Glue in place if desired.