Go native - go wild!

I'm embarrassed to say that for the majority of my life spent gardening I did not focus on what I was putting in my garden or as to how it effected the environment. I am guilty of buying hybrid-plants, using pesticides and avoiding just about all insects as much as humanly possible. In the last 5 years I have begun buying and planting native plants as much as possible and I stopped using pesticides. Having a pollinator garden may not be as showy as a cultivated garden but I have learned to appreciate the sound of the bees, to pull weeds by hand and to proudly explain to every person who strolls by my garden the names of all the native plants and hopefully make a convert along the way.

***full confession...I'm still not fond of bugs, but I don't kill them any more, unless they are in the house and then all bets are off...just saying, I'm far from perfect! lol ***

One way as artists to recycle is by taking our art supplies and looking way outside the box to find other ways to use something that you might not normally think of. The flowers and the bees all came from a rather Christmas theme die but you wouldn't know it if I didn't tell you! The flowers, stems and circle shapes are easy to pick out of the set but can you 

guess what the bees are made from? 

(the pine for the body, circle for the head and the wings are the tips of the flower stems)

supplies:
Arnold Grummer medium pour hand mold 
Arnold Grummer Design it Yourself Spiral notebook 
Stampendous Build a Wreath Cutting Die Set
Stampendous mica
Rubbermoon stamps
StencilGirl Tea Cup stencil

Check out what YOU might win!

***GIVEAWAY***
One lucky winner will receive a 
Arnold Grummer's PAPERMILL 
Complete Papermaking Kit

How can you get a chance to win?

Enter to win by leaving a comment below.
Then be sure to visit the other blogs in the hop and comment to win.
The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to WIN!
One winner will be chosen at random from all blog comments!
(One comment per blog please.)

You have until Tuesday, April 30th at 11:59PM Central Time to leave your comments.
Winner will be announced on the
Arnold Grummer Facebook page on Wednesday May 1st

We can’t wait for you to see what these amazing designers have created!

Enjoy the hop, and thanks for joining us!

Michelle Emerson-Roberts

Nancy Nickel

Anne Marie Fowler

Becky Conley

Steph Ackerman

Sandee Setliff 👈You are here!

Arnold Grummer blog

If you don't already, we would LOVE if you would 

 join us on Facebook, Arnold Grummer Paperchat, Instagram, Pinterest

 for more inspiration! 

For the love of paper!

Howdy everyone out there in blogger land, hope you are doing well and staying cool! I've been absent for awhile but oh so busy arting and one of the things I have been up to is making paper by hand. I'm back on the Arnold Grummer design team so be ready to be submersed in some awesome papermaking.

Out in the garage...errr...."Paper Studio" with Stefanie - Oakmother's Handmade Paper 

Technique to try out:

watermarking

"The origin of the water part of a watermark can be found back when a watermark was something that only existed in paper, at that time the watermark was created by changing the thickness of the paper and thereby creating a shadow/lightness in the watermarked paper. This was done while the paper was still wet/watery and therefore the mark created by this process is called a watermark."

Stefanie uses a dip method creating paper with her handmade deckles, which means she dips her deckle into a vat of paper pulp.

 We both watched the Arnold Grummer video before joining up to make paper so we each had an idea of what we wanted to try out. Stefannie had a plethora of ideas to experiment with.

She used a hot glue gun to create one of her signature Oak leaves with. 

It did pretty well but she said the glue lifted a little after being in the water . 

Next she tried the wire method of twisting wire together to form a shape and the sewing it to the screen. 

In hindsight she noticed that the "stem" to the leaf was too thick and that she wished she had clipped off one of the wires instead of twisting them together.

However, a little patting down while the pulp was still wet and the problem was fixed.

Now I only played with the plastic lettering and mine is much more G rated, lol but please do visit the Arnold Grummer blog to see what I created.

I love stamping to pieces!

I love this Grumplings stamped image, I think her expression looks like mine when placed in a bathing suit, although she is too cute to be so grumpy! Everything but the base card is made from my stash of handmade paper that I made using my Arnold Grummer hand mold, I love the texture and feel of it. 

I'm entering this little darling in

Simon Says: STAMPtember® Stamp It

Life Lessons

I figured this would make a great little gift for the tween in your life. Swing by the Arnold Grummer blog to check out the inside to the booklet.

****UPDATE****

BOTH pieces, "in the hills of North Carolina" and "Metallic Swamp" made it pass the jury and will be in the show! Entering 2 pieces was a first for me, usually I am too chicken and only enter one. 

And...

I'll be out at Jongo Java today hoping for some people to sit down and join me in making some mail art today...if anyone shows up I'll share some pictures of it tomorrow.

I'll have this up on the table as a display.

Also made this flyer that they can take home with them.

And of course this one explaining the show itself.

Now let's see if anyone dares approach the table, lol

Now I know how it feels!

I am so excited! Not only did I receive my first piece of art mail, which is so CUTE but I also got a personal watercolor card designed just for me! My friend painted my little guinea pig Daisy Mae and she just made me smile from ear to ear!! It really does make your heart go pitter patter from the moment you get your mail out of the box and thumb through the bills to see something like this! Snail mail art really does make you feel special!

This is the card I am pulling out of my stash to create an envelope for today. I love that I used my hand made paper to stamp the sun, tree and bird on, it's a wonderful texture. I love making my own handmade paper with my Arnold Grummer Paper Making kits. The stamps are by Susan K. Weckesser and so is the background paper.

Here they are together as a set, hope it makes someone smile like I did today when I got my card from Jean!

Don't forget to send in your snail mail art for the show.

Do you want to add botanicals to your paper?

If you do then make sure to check out my design team post today over on the Arnold Grummer blog. I created a collection of bookmarks all with one template...would love for you to hop on over and check them all out.

I'm entering this bookmark in the {Itty Bitty} Challenge! July 15- July 21 over on the Unity { show and tell } FB page.

itty bitty stamp - struggle is part of it

Published!

I love being published, I really do. There is nothing better than seeing your name and what you created being deemed worthy enough to print. I began back in 2010 and have been published 31 times. I have saved each issue too, and when I am old and grey...wait, I'm already old and grey....OK, when I am put away in a nursing home I will bring all the magazines with me...they might as well plan on burying them with me too!

I also love making paper and pressing leaves and flowers. This card uses paper I made from my Arnold Grummer Papermill kit and a Maple leaf I dried in my Arnold Grummer Microfluer press.

If you get the Cardmaker magazine I hope you check out my card on p. 87, but you can always find me on the Arnold Grummer Facebook page along with the other members of our creative design team.

Letting go

I'm one of those people that hang on to important papers, tax records, car records, heck...just about everything because I'm always afraid I will need it...just in case...

In this case, it was time I could let go of my divorce papers from the 80's. I think everything is finally decided upon by now, lol It's not that I wanted to record the heartache but I wanted to establish that I have healed from it.

Join me over on the Arnold Grummer blog to see how I used the divorce papers to make some pretty art from it.

"Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it."
―Ann Landers

a different gift tag

...well, different for me anyway...it's like a paper tag, I mean I stamped on it and added embellishments to it like I would if it was a paper tag, and in a way it is like paper cause it's made out of Creative Paper Clay!

Inspired by the colors over on the Unity Stamp blog {be inspired} challenge

Also entering this in {my sweet earth} Christmas Love Campaign

Susan K. Weckesser stamp - The Garden Whatnot Collection

You can visit the Arnold Grummer blog to see a short video of me making the tag itself out of Creative Paper Clay if you would like :)

No designer paper you say?

Well, that is super easy for me since I rarely use pre-made paper and prefer to make my own. It's not hard to do and actually quite fun! Currently I am making some fall paper using dried leaves as inclusions and it is so pretty, but for this challenge I am using some paper that I made previously.

On this paper I used the Metallic Dust sets ( gold in this paper ) that you can purchase from the Arnold Grummer Paper Making store. I then hand-stitched a geometric design with my floss and used a Happy Birthday stamp along the bottom edge. I think the gold metallic kinda goes with the birthday celebration them of the card.

I am entering my card in the Simon Says - No Designer paper challenge

Die Crazy....hmmmm

Sounds like the next sequel to the Die Hard movies...or maybe it's what my future holds in store for me? lol Not sure, but I do love my dies, and especially my newest ones I purchased from the Simon Says store.

Tim Holtz Bird Crazy

Simon Says - Die Crazy

Of course I had to use my handmade paper for this little card, and I love that the dies cut handmade paper so well too! Seriously, I cannot get enough of Arnold Grummer paper making, it's addicting!

Eco-printing

Is the bomb.....

or least it looks like a bomb went off in my kitchen!

lol

However, I love the technique despite the mess, but I am still learning tons of things!

My first attempt, using vinegar in the water as I steamed the paper. You can see the lightly defined leaf prints. I loved it so much I've already drawn on the paper. The paper comes from a Arnold Grummer Tall Zig Zag book. The drawing was done with my Stabillo pastel pencils, I must say the paper held up VERY well considering it was steamed and then rubbed a lot with my finger during the pastel part 

I need to break down and order alum and some proper kitchen tools like a steamer.

 But this is my third attempt using Miracle grow brushed onto the paper, then steamed with botanicals layered between the sheets of paper. This is still wet, but I couldn't wait to take a picture of it and it will be a good way to compare the prints once the paper has dried for how it fades. It's going to become the cover of my my book for the above picture. I'll show another picture once it's completed.

CardMaker Magazine p. 20

I had gotten away from submitting cards for publication when Cricut and Paper Crafts magazine went to ezines...I prefer to have a magazine that I can hold in my hands...prefer my books that way too.

Just my opinion.

So, anyway....here I am, again, now submitting to the CardMaker.

 Featuring my Design Teams

Arnold Grummer Paper Making

Helmar Worldwide Adhesives

Susan K. Weckesser stamps

My paper is blossoming

I've been experimenting obsessing with pressing flowers this summer. 

So far, I've used them in my handmade papers as I did here with Sea Foam flowers...you know those weird dry papery like flowers that florist use as fillers in bouquets. They have to be, hands down, the easiest flower to dry.

Alone on a card a flower is a beautiful thing... on handmade paper of course...

My next step is using them as clothing, lol I would love for you to check out my Flower Fairy today over on the Arnold Grummer blog to see exactly what I mean.

There are always flowers for those who want to see them.  Henri Matisse

Nature themed cards

Do you know what the purple papery flower is that they use in floral arrangements? Cand you guess what I re-cycled to make my paper with? If you need the answers to these questions then please visit with me today over on the Arnold Grummer blog!

I have discovered that making paper that has multi colors in it sure does make great leaves...and I have one up on the Sin City Stamp blog today if you would like to see it.

This is a short post today 'cause my friend Jamie is here in town and we are heading out to go do some watercolor sketching. I really do appreciate each and every one of you that leaves me a comment whether it is here on my blog on on a design team blog. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to do that for me!!

Dazzling birthday wishes

I love playing with the Dazzling Diamond sheets from The Buckle Boutique store because they are so versatile. Today I used some to embellish a card with.

I used the Clear Black Zebra Stripe to adorn my card. I think it's kinda classy looking.

Not only are they super easy to cut with your scissors, but because they are on grids, they are also super easy to cut straight lines and counts the squares, so you don't need a ruler or have to measure anything to get the same sizes.

 I am also digging the contrast between the handmade paper and the bling!

Handmade paper - Made with my Arnold Grummer Paper Mill kit

Unity stamp -Marlow

Inktense pencils

Helmar Acid free glue

I love puns!

entering my card in

Word Art Wednesday - #177 - A Family Friendly Challenge

It has been such a joy to find an art form that has brought me so much happiness. Being on the Arnold Grummer paper making team has done that. I simply love making paper and finding new ways to create something, is exciting. I'll have to do a DT post on this soon because by using the deckle division method when making paper you can create fun backgrounds to design your card on. The sun, the grass and the sky are all created using that method. The cows are a stamp that I cut out and adhered to the card along with the sentiment that I printed off my computer. A little bit of hand sewing and outlining the card with a pen finish it off.

Three Cute Cows stamp by Great Impressions

Making paper art - Pulp painting

Today is my first post with the Arnold Grummer paper making kit team. I have to admit I was a little nervous about making my own paper ( I haven't made paper this since I was a kid ). So I watched tons of Arnold Grummer videos and was very intrigued by paper pulp painting so I began my new adventure by first making jars of paper pulp. 

This is a video of Arnold Grummer's version of paper pulp painting :

Which just fascinated me so I created my version using his technique. Here is a sneak peak of my "Butterflies are Free" canvas. I would love for you to stop by the Arnold Grummer blog and leave me some love! 

Thank you!

Ready to join me for some paper making fun?
You can use the discount Jan20 and order your own papermaking supplies from the fabulous Arnold Grummer store!

You're Wonderful...yes, I am talking to you!

I am trying to be more organized and one of the things I am constantly dealing with are business cards. Sometimes they have notes written on them for me to contact that person about something, but if they get tossed on the counter or put in the junk drawer ( where they will be forever lost! ) doesn't help me out. So I made this cute little heart pocket using Arnold Grummer's Paper Making kit and the folding heart card template along with a stamp from Unity called Wonderful Owl.

I love that I can hang it up over the month and be able to remind myself what I need to do. Every little bit helps, right?

entering my heart pocket in:

Simon Says Wednesday challenge - Anything Goes ( 3rd entry )

Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes #164

Thank you card

This winter I won't mind staying indoors because I will have my Arnold Grummer's Paper Making Kit to play with. You may think it sounds a bit crazy, but trust me on this one....recycling paper is addicting! On this card I used some scraps of metallic wrapping paper, and all I can say is.....oooooooh...aaaaaaaahhhhh....lol

seriously

All my paper ( except for the base card stock ) was hand made and oh does it sparkle! I just love the teeny tiny gold flecks and the feel of the paper.

house stamp - Susan K. Weckesser Tumbleweed Houses

( all other stamps are old and discontinued )

entering my Thank you card in

Simon Wednesday challenge - Winter Inspiration