Or is it pressing?  I had to look it up.  Flower Pounding, generally done with a hammer, causes the juice and pigment from flowers to bleed into the paper or fabric.  Flower Pressing is a method of drying and preserving the actual flowers.  I will be showing you basic Flower Pounding using your Wizard.

I started by scavenging my yard for flower blooms.  Then I searched my craft room for watercolor paper, which I cut to 4 x 6″ pieces.  Fabric such as silk or muslin would work well too.

These are some of the blooms that work nicely:

This English Ivy leaf embossed, and left a tiny bit of green.  Other leaves more or less embossed the paper.  Leaves are difficult, they don’t contain pigment.

To “pound” flowers with the Wizard, you need the White Master Mats and Tan Embossing Pad, which came with your Wizard. The sandwich is the same as the embossing sandwich, just add flowers instead of die templates!

This is how I stacked my sandwich:
White Master Mat
Watercolor paper
Flower, pretty side down
Watercolor Paper (or wax paper, or plastic wrap, or paper towel- try each!)
Tan Embossing Mat
White Master Mat

Feed the sandwich into the Wizard once and your flowers are pounded.  Gently take apart your sandwich and peel off the spent flowers.  If the bloom is still intact you can pound it again, but know the result will be lighter.  You will find some blooms are juicier than others and some colors provide more pigment than others.  Allow the paper to dry and pound more flowers to make a larger design.  Flower pounding is a unique and fun way to capture a bit of nature in your artwork.

For my examples I chose the lobelia, creeping phlox and pansy poundings seen above. I cut/embossed them with Spellbinders Die Templates in the Wizard.  I started with My Minds Eye Penny Lane paper (both sides),  Core’dinations Whitewash cardstock, Creative Impressions ribbon and brads, and some lace from my stash. I used S4-174 Scalloped Edge Border, S4-171 Nested Butterflies, S5-016 Polka Dot Frame (middle piece), and the S5-011 Scalloped Edge Frame (middle piece).

I made 2 cuts into the Nested Butterfly and tied the ribbon through the frame and butterfly.

Design Team Member Karen Hunsaker pounded blooms from her yard to make her See the Flowers Smiling card.  Karen embossed I2-1002 Impressabilities Butterfly and cut/embossed S4-138 Petite Ovals LG, included in her supplies are cardstock from The Paper Company, the Thoughtful stamp set from Hero Arts, and 3D Foam Squares from Scrapbook Adhesives.

I need to send a special Thank You to Design Team Alumnae Jeannette Stumpfel for her wisdom!

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Beth

So, you might have come looking for a Designer Spotlight today but we’ve moved it to make room for another technique day. Tuesday’s project will now be the “rebound” from Savvy Saturday. Learn a technique on Saturday and see another way to use it on Tuesday…cool.

Today, I want to share with you a layout called “Spring Blooms.”

If you missed the first Cut Loose post, be sure to check it out to see how to cut all the S4-191 Dahlia die templates at once.

Once you’re familiar with the technique you are ready to create. Feel free to stick around for instructions…

You’ll need the following Spellbindersâ„¢ Products:

• The Wizardâ„¢ Embossing and Die Cutting System (Remember, if you don’t have a Wizardâ„¢, our die templates are universal so you can use them in your die cutter. Check out these videos or our compitability FAQ’s for some help)
• S4-191 Dahlia
• S5-016 Polka Dot Frame
• S4-167 Victorian

Then get cardstock, two contrasting patterned papers, some adhesive, sandpaper, ribbons and other embellishments.

1. Using the same sandwiches as on Saturday, cut/emboss two sets of each of the patterned papers.
2. Cut/emboss the Polka Dot Frame. Lightly sand the embossed dots to bring out the white core.
3. Round the corners of the center rectangle and use it for a journaling block.
4. Using both patterned papers, cut/emboss the whole set of the Dahlia die template. I chose not to use the smallest flower to give me a larger center.
5. Construct flowers by adding glue to the tips of the petals and layering.
6. To create the top and bottom borders, cut a 1″ strip of patterned paper. Cut using the Flower Bud template. Cutting several times to finish the whole 12″. Repeat with another strip and add the matching pieces to the top and bottom.
7. Assemble the layout. Embellish with fibers, charms, etc.

And that is all there is to it. I hope you can see lots of potential for this die template. It is pure fun to play with!!!

Happy Crafting, Eli

CONGRATULATIONS to

Jennifer Woodward of Rockland, Ontario, Canada

The following die templates will be sent to her door as soon as the product is in the warehouse:

When Spellbindersâ„¢ contacted Jennifer, she had this to say:

I’ve been using Spellbinders products for about two years now. I love them. They are incredibly easy and versatile tools in my crafting supplies that I do not go a day without using. Seriously! WOW! To think I’ll actually be able to pick and choose from all of these fabulous new sets. My mind will truly be boggled but I’ll deal with that, don’t you worry! Again, thank you so much! WOW! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! Jennifer

Well, It’s hard to believe it is over. We had such a blast sharing all the templates with you and now you have seen the whole release.

Just an aside: If you are planning to apply for the Design Team for 2009, your application is due no later than 11:59 Central Standard Time on February 1st. So get it all polished off today and send it in…

Cheers, Eli

It is hard to believe that over the past 2 weeks, we have been here every day sharing with you the profiles of our amazing designers AND the designers have been sharing a new release, every day. The time has flown and we are really working hard to finish up everything for CHA (You know, doin’ laundry, packing, making last minute projects, checking on the baby sitter…shew, makes me tired just mentioning it.) The Die Reveal on Day 14: S5-016 Polka Dot Frameabilities® was shared by Donya Schroeder. Cool. So here is that mound of die templates that our winner will be getting…

After sending our contestant totals over to random.org…

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
205
Timestamp: 2009-01-21 03:42:58 UTC

We counted up to an Australian winner…seriously, we’ve now had winners from Canada, Sweden and Australia…how cool is that? Spellbindersâ„¢ Paper Arts is goin’ global!!!

So congratulations to:

Karen of Queensland, Australia

Who said:

{Karen, do you mind if I hand deliver these? (Eli)}

Just to put it into perspective, as of today, Spellbindersâ„¢ has promised 14 designers a total of 143 die template sets (remember, each set has 5-8 die templates in it) BAM! We sure did kick it up another notch with this season’s hottest party…

Cheers to all, Eli