Arnold Grummer's Design Team Blog

Hi everyone! I made another pressed flower card today using my Arnold Grummer Garden Press , now that summer is here and flowers are blooming I can see this hobby as addictive as paper making! Speaking of flowers, I used Sea Lavender flowers in my paper as a surface embedment. You can go here to watch Arnold Grummer himself demonstrate this method in a video. I had to do a little research on what type of flower this was, lol It's called Statice Flowers, common names are  Sea foam, sea lavender, limonium, latifolia, marsh rosemary.  Grown for both its colorful  flowers  and its everlasting calyx (the green leaf that encloses the  flower  bud),  statice  is also considered an herb, referred to as “sea lavender.” Statice  is commonly used in dried  flower  arrangements as well as fresh bouquets.  The base of the paper comes from an old phone book directory that I tore up when I got my new one...who uses phone book...

We're had several 80° days here, so I think it's safe to say that spring is leaving us and summer is here!! Our flowers are just beginning to bloom, and so is the greeting card that I made using my own handmade papers and dried botanicals. The paper was made following the basic instructions for making handmade papers. I used tissue tints  and red angel wing dried botanicals  to achieve the coloring in the pink mat. Before adding the angel wings to the pulp, I crumbled two petals into very fine pieces—almost dust. I dry embossed the paper for added texture. Next, I used a die to cut white blossoms and green stems from scraps of handmade paper that I had left from other projects. I never toss even the tiniest scrap of handmade paper. Even if the piece is too small to use in a project, it can always be recycled into paper pulp. Then, I die cut a flower from a dried leaf to layer on top of paper die cut flower. This is the darker flower. The lighter flowers are dried blosso...

©Michele Emerson-Roberts   2014 (2 projects) Summer is here! It’s a perfect time to start harvesting those wildflowers or blossoms from your garden and pressing them in any of the Arnold Grummer flower presses. The presses are so easy to use and the results are wonderful. The cards created with some handmade paper and pressed flowers are a special way of preserving the memories of summer. “and then the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk to blossom” Supplies: Any of the Arnold Grummer  paper making kits Any of the Arnold Grummer  Flower Presses  (take advantage of the sale this month!) Microwave if using either of the Mirofleur presses Flowers of your choice to press Scraps of off white and dark green paper (think junk mail, etc.) Blender, small strainer, cello sponges and soft towels, paper cutter, scissors, bone folder Deep grape (or color to match your pressed flower) ca...