Arnold Grummer's Design Team Blog

Hello Crafters! With my birthday approaching soon, I pondered with thoughtfulness. It's time to start a new journal to hold my muddled thoughts and possibly some doodles. I'm always picking up cheap pre-made journals, so I have a few laying around.  But, for MY journal, the cover art needed to be special. The mesh paper packing material has been waiting a long time for a new life and it finally happened! I love the effect it gave and it was easy to work with. There's a lot going on here, just like inside every crafter's head :o) But the foundation of every great project on this blog is the gorgeous hand-made paper!   Supplies: AG Paper-making Kit AG Paper Additive  AG Cotton Linter AG Mica Journal, Brown stamping ink-ColorBox (Truffle), Map rubber stamp (unknown), Chipboard numbers (Maya Road), Metal sentiment (Life's Journey), Metal gear and key (Bead Landing), Metal Pendant (Olive Moon), Nautical charm (unknown), paper packing webbed material, puzzle pi...

Things are getting hectic as Spring arrives; graduation parties, spring cleaning, outdoor socials and more! This week I was grateful to have a large stash of hand made papers already on hand to make this quick and easy "Congratulations" Card for a graduate. SUPPLIES: AG Papermill Kit AG Additives Corner rounding punch, rhinestone flourish, fern rubber stamp,  Green ink (Bottle-Ranger Ink) 3-d Butterfly sticker, markers, PC to print sentiment INSTRUCTIONS:  1. Select coordinating papers that work well together. 2. Print the sentiment on your PC, or use a rubber stamped sentiment. Trim to size and round the corner and adhere to the background. 3. Stamp ferns onto green paper, accent with light and dark green markers.  Trim the shape and adhere to the background paper. 4. Affix the flourish and butterfly, accent butterfly sticker to "pop" with paint pens or markers. 5. Mount the card front onto blank card form. I hope you had a fabulous Mother's ...

Sharing food and drink is one of the oldest rituals in the world and what better way to celebrate my 60th birthday  than to share a cup of tea with my besties?  I set about making some place cards for my birthday tea celebration over at Southern Cup of Tea   out of the left over Botanical paper I had on hand which I had created with my  Arnold Grummer  Papermaking kit and the Angel Wings: Multi Color Mix . Using my Tea bag stencil template, I traced and cut them out. Tip: Be prepared for beautiful albeit annoying flaws when writing on botanical paper. For numbers 1 and 2 the fix is simple. You just need to cut out extra "tags" to glue on. 1. This beautiful kaleidoscope of flowers would just overwhelm the text. 2. Sometimes a deckled edge just doesn't work, even as much as I love them and in this case it ends up  looking like an corner that got torn off. 3. No going back from this one really when a dark piece lands s...

This project is a small scrapbook page for my travel journal. My trip to Ireland in 2016 was my Trip of a Lifetime! There were definitely many shades of green to take in. My most coveted place to visit was the Blarney Castle, the grounds were breath-taking and yes, I kissed the Blarney Stone :o) This project started with a very large batch of green handmade paper, I have lots of photos to scrapbook into memories. Supplies: Arnold Grummer Paper Making Kit Arnold Grummer Cotton Linter  Foliage background stamp (unknown), Green Ink-Ranger (Bottle), Brown Ink-Close to my Heart (Cocoa), Scrap brown paper, lime colored twine, photo, Computer printed title. 3 different sized circle punches. Instructions: 1. Create your hand-made paper. I used scraps of many dark green card stock, scrap computer paper (white) and cotton linter. Trim background paper to project size (5.5 x 8.5") 2. Using a simple word processing program, create a title and print on to the background paper. ...

Do you like to read about other handmade paper artisans? Recently I read an article from the Monte Crisco Magazine on Master Papermaker Francesco Proietti and one line really caught my attention. "Finally, a rounded stone “polishes” the paper until it is flat and smooth." Now I'm all about learning things the old fashioned way albeit I might not prefer to do it all the time, I do like my modern ways too, just saying. However I enjoy a respite from the modern world every now and then and this technique just called to me to try. So I got out from my stash a sheet of one of my "perfectly imperfect" hand made papers that I created using the medium Dip Handmold . I wanted a rough sheet of paper to see if this would actually work. I planned on doing a bit of stamping on it so I drew out a grid that I intended to polish. I'm glad I chose a small space because it is a little labor intensive although not difficult. By rubbing the stone over the pap...

Arnold Grummer makes creating pretty journals a breeze.  SUPPLIES:  Arnold Grummer's Hand Made Paper Kit Arnold Grummer's pre-shredded Cotton Linter  Arnold Grummer's Paper Additive Arnold Grummer's Angel Wings Botanicals Arnold Grummer's "Make your own book" Duck Tape, Adhesive, Flourish stamp, Clear stamping pigment, gold embossing powder, ribbon, metal word, alcohol ink, metal embellishment, and brad.  INSTRUCTIONS:  1. Make sheets of hand made paper following the instructions in the Hand Made Paper Kit. I always add some additive and cotton linter for stronger sheets. The botanicals are pretty too! 2. Use the duck tape binding method on the "Make your own book" kit instructions.  3. Cut hand made paper to cover the cardstock cover provided in the book kit.  4. Cover seams in different papers with fabric ribbon, which goes all the way around the cover.  5. Stamp flourishes with clear pigment and emboss...

It’s that time of the year when people’s attention is focused on the holiday ritual of gift-giving.  I actually started making my Botanical Sticky Note Books back in July, mainly because my paper making studio  aka my garage is not heated, so all my paper making is done during the summer.  And if you want a great gift to give to someone or even to gift yourself then purchase an  Arnold Grummer  Papermaking kit . I used Arnold Grummer's  Angel Wings: Multi Color Mix  to create my botanical paper for my  Sticky Note books.   I love the bright colors which won't fade and the fact that the Angel Wings tear into long thin strips and will give a mulberry type paper effect. I love the different effects you can achieve by varying the amount of botanicals that you add for each batch of sheets in the blender.  If this was to be used as stationery then I would have used less and blended more but I kn...

SCRAPBOOKING THANKFUL MEMORIES It's the memories we are most thankful for... I've enjoyed scrapbooking for many years. This is a 12x12 scrapbook page of a previous Thanksgiving Dinner. (apologies for the very large candle on the table, made for a bad photo :o) Paper piecing is so fun and it uses up lots of scraps.  Although, when I make a batch of pulp for a specific project, I always have extra to play around with. Many batches offer extra full sheets in addition to casting a few shapes in molds. Make sure you have all the supplies for paper casting to add to pulp to help achieve the best success. Some of my scraps below include additives , botanicals  and metalic elements.  SUPPLIES: Arnold Grummer's Paper Making Kit "Design it Yourself" Spiral Book 11x14 Markers, mold for leaf shapes (Makins Clay) acrylic paint, dye ink pads, 13" ribbon, adhesive, cutting tools, tiny twigs, PC and font.  DIRECTIONS: 1. (This is your 12x1...