I think this is a chrysanthemum....

 I saw a tutorial for making a rose, involving plain card and lots of water.  I didnt have the punches required and some of the steps were a little obscure so I decided to have a play with a punch I had and amend some of the steps.  I think my finished flower looks a bit like a chrysanthemum, not sure what you think.

This is the large punch I used and I punched out 7 flowers (only because that was how many I could get out of one A4 sheet - no technical reason for this number) using a cream heavy card that would absorb water.

I then coloured the edges of the petals - use a water based ink if you want the colours to run.  Dont bother being neat and tidy with your colouring.

Place the petals on top of each other and fix through the centre with a brad.  Now is the time to move the petals around a bit as you dont want them all lined up.

start pulling the petals (one layer at a time) into the middle of your flower and press them together firmly - again neatness doesnt matter here, it will all add to the character of your finished flower.

continue adding layers until...

your flower looks like this.  Squidge (dont you love my 'technical' terms) the flower hard together - be quite rough and firm here.

now comes the messy bit and you may prefer to do this over the sink.  You will need a water mister and probably an old cloth.  Open your flower out again and starting with the first layer squidged into the middle spray liberally with water (about 3 good squirts should do) continue to press the first layer of petals together moulding them quite tightly shut.

repeat the process as you add each layer of petals and then press the final 'bud' shape together quite hard, this is how your flower should look now.

carefully open your flower out again, getting some space between the petals.  You now decide if you are happy with the colouring or if you want to go further.  For the flower at the beginning of this thread I stopped here with the colouring but if you want then you can .......

spray liberally with Glimmer Mist, make sure you give it a good old spray.

again gather your petals into the centre and leave to start to dry - approx. 15 minutes at this stage.

now comes the fun bit - but be warned if you have sprayed with glimmer mists you will get very messy so may want to put on some rubber gloves.  Open out each layer of petals, bending and shaping the petals as you go - remember no 2 petals ever looks the same so no aiming for perfection here just go with the flow.

gradually open up the layers shaping your flower as you go - you can stop at any point here if you decide you want a half opened flower or a fully opened bloom.  Go back over petals already opened and adjust them to suit but be warned as they are still very wet you can pull a petal off so go carefully.

you should end up with a flower looking something like this.  Put the flower aside now to dry - I left mine on top of the radiator and it dried in about an hour but make sure it is fuly dried before you go on to the next step.

you can leave your finished flower as it is once dried or you can add a little sparkle and glitter to some of the petals if you like.

I now plan on playing with some cutting dies and stamped images and will if any of the work out, add them to the blog.

If you want to make your flower a little stronger once finished then give it a light spray with some clear spray varnish.  I hope you enjoy getting messy and inky and making these flowers.