Paper Obsession

Pressing flowers the Cuttlebug way

I recently read about an intriguing technique called 'flower pounding' on the Cuttlebug Challenges blog and knew I just had to try it. Jay from Indigo Inklings described the process in a fantastic tutorial, linked here, which inspired me to have a go this afternoon. It's really simple but great fun. All you do is pick some flowers, place them in a folded piece of watercolour paper or card, then roll it through the Cuttlebug in the following sandwich (bottom to top): A plate, B plate, folder containing flowers, C plate.

The result: the pigment of the flowers is transferred to the paper in a pattern that looks pretty much like a watercolour painting of the flowers themselves! At least that's the idea..

My first attempt, using some flowers from a Hebe bush that my boys kindly picked for me this morning, was actually quite revolting - mainly a horrible brown mess.

Here are the Hebe flowers before the Cuttlebug treatment:

And here they are after squashing (ugh!):

Undeterred, I used Lobelia flowers for my second go and these were much better. They are pretty little flowers in shades of blue, lilac and pink with delicate stems. The pigments transferred to the paper nicely and the squashed flowers came away cleanly.

Here they are in the watercolour paper folder:

Here they are after coming through the Cuttlebug:

And here is the paper folder showing how the image transferred to both sides:

Here is another one made with lobelia flowers:

I think the key to success is using fairly thin delicate flowers in vibrant colours. Experimentation is the way to find out which ones work the best! I'll show what I made with the images in a later post..

Two New Baby Cards

Here are a couple of cards I made today, really quick and simple.

Supplies:
White square card blank
Patterned papers, free with a card-making magazine
Pink/blue card
White card
Giraffe stamp by Imaginisce
Black Versafine ink
Chalks
Nestabilities - Scalloped Circles
Circle punch
Cuttlebug
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder
Sakura souffle pens - pink and blue
Metal 'New Baby' plaques by Card Candy
Adhesives - glue stick, sticky-dots, foam tape

How to make:
1. Stamp giraffe with black ink on to white card.
2. Colour with chalks.
3. Cut out image using a large circle punch (2 inch).
4. Cut a larger scalloped circle from pink/blue card using Nestabilities set and Cuttlebug.
5. Emboss scalloped circle with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.
6. Cut patterned paper to a 10.5cm square and stick centrally to base card.
7. Stick the circle to the scalloped circle using sticky-dots, then stick the scalloped circle to the patterned paper using foam tape. I stuck mine slightly higher than the middle.
8. Stick the metal New Baby plaque under the scalloped circle using foam pads or tape.
9. Draw on 'stitches' with Sakura souffle pen around edge of patterned paper so it looks as if it is sewn on to the card.

I needed the blue card in a hurry and it was very quick to make. I took a little more time over the pink one and chalked around the edges of the circle and the patterned paper to give it more of a distressed look.

A 'green' card for Father's Day

I spotted some lovely little napkins on a recent trip to IKEA which I thought had definite card-making/scrapping potential. The patterns are great and each packet was about 50p!

I decided to try out the napkins by making a Father's Day card. Here's what I did:

I separated the layers and glued the patterned (elephant) layer to some thick kraft paper using Mod Podge. I also glued one of the white patterned napkins to a square white base card. I left them to dry and squashed them under some heavy books to flatten them for a few days.

I then embossed a rectangle scrap of kraft paper with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and stuck it on to the base card.

Next I cut a square out of the elephant piece, to include my favourite of the elephants, and stuck this on foam dots onto the card, partially over the dotted piece of kraft.

To make the DAD letters, I stamped on to a Dulux paint chart using Banana Frog Pharmacy stamps and cut them into small tiles. I stuck these on to the card with more pop dots for a bit more dimension.

And that's it. Dad liked the card, by the way.