Splitcoaststampers.com - the world's #1 papercrafting community
You're currently viewing Splitcoaststampers as a GUEST. We pride ourselves on being great hosts, but guests have limited access to some of our incredible artwork, our lively forums and other super cool features of the site! You can join our incredible papercrafting community at NO COST. So what are you waiting for?
My challenge for you today is to use things found in nature!
You can use leaves, flowers, weeds; anything you would find outside and use it to press and transfer an impression onto your card.
For my card I used some geraniums from my garden and pressed them onto watercolor paper by running them through my Cuttlebug. I was left with a lovely impression.
Helpful hints: if your impression is too wet, dry with your heat gun a bit and press again.
If your natural element won't press because it's too dry, give it a light spray of water to help transfer the color.
*If you don't own a die-cutting machine, try placing the natural piece under a piece of paper and hit it with a hammer to transfer the image onto your paper.*
LOL, there is not much in my garden just now other then nasturtiums which, I discovered recently are way, way too wet. I'll see what I can gather on the way home; worst case, I can sprinkle marigold petals, I think there are still some of those that I haven't yet dead-headed.
Your challenge certainly enticed me to create a card, Karen. Fun to see what works....and what doesn't work. I had no luck "smashing" my ferns, but stamping worked beautifully. Thanks for the inspiration, mf
People have dried things for centuries! How old is the oldest die cut kit? I automatically pick up natural items and have siince I could walk. At first Mother dried them, then taught me to. You open many books in my house to find a dried iterm.
Thank you for acknowledging that it can be done that way!
Here's mine! I realised that the nasturtium flowers wouldn't be anything like as juicy as the leaves. Man, you should have seen the mess after those, they oozed right out the sides of the plate and onto the floor and the whole house smelled of them - but luckily I keep the BG on a plastic mat.
Love - LOVE today's challenge - Since I STILL don't have a Big Shot or cuttlebug ( on my christmas wish list) I transfer my flowers to cardstock the old-fashioned way - By WHACKING the heck out of them with a Hammer!! Here's today's card using a Stargazer lily I received from a friend last week - TFL - Stargazer Thoughts by bubblestx4 - Cards and Paper Crafts at Splitcoaststampers
__________________ Linda aka Bubbles
I'm not a Hoarder . . . I'm the Curator of an extensive collection of embellishments!!
Proud Fan Club Member Guest Designer Color Challenge July 2017 Favorites Notification Team
A tip for those of you using a machine to press your flowers and ending up with alot of green slime on your plates ( Sabrina & Calex) Try putting a layer or two of paper towel over your "natural" and then your top plate. It should help to absorb the liquid released by pressing - this works well for me with the hammer method and worth a try with the machines!
__________________ Linda aka Bubbles
I'm not a Hoarder . . . I'm the Curator of an extensive collection of embellishments!!
Proud Fan Club Member Guest Designer Color Challenge July 2017 Favorites Notification Team
I should have known that pigment from a leaf, which had already turned for fall, wouldn't transfer. At least, there's natural stuff in the handmade paper, and a shadow of a leaf imprint.
My choice of nature today was a sunflower and butterfly. Great challenge!
TLC601 Sunflower
__________________ Jan 'Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ'. Philippians 1:6
A tip for those of you using a machine to press your flowers and ending up with alot of green slime on your plates ( Sabrina & Calex) Try putting a layer or two of paper towel over your "natural" and then your top plate. It should help to absorb the liquid released by pressing - this works well for me with the hammer method and worth a try with the machines!
Grins - that's exactly what I did today, after my experience a couple of weeks back with the nasturtium leaves. I used thinnish card today, so I was able to have two sheets with the petals sandwiched between them (so I have another sheet waiting to use), and have kitchen towel on both sides of that and still run it through the Big Shot with no mess.
OK, HELP! I'm not sure just how I'm supposed to do this. I used watercolor paper and sprayed it with water before putting the flowers on it. When I ran it through my big shot I mostly had an oozy mess. Some of the flowers and leaves I tried worked a little better than others, but I'm not very excited about any of my results. I couldn't find a tutorial on this technique, unless I wasn't searching correctly. Should I be using watercolor or regular cardstock? Should I not wet the paper first?
OK, HELP! I'm not sure just how I'm supposed to do this. I used watercolor paper and sprayed it with water before putting the flowers on it. When I ran it through my big shot I mostly had an oozy mess. Some of the flowers and leaves I tried worked a little better than others, but I'm not very excited about any of my results. I couldn't find a tutorial on this technique, unless I wasn't searching correctly. Should I be using watercolor or regular cardstock? Should I not wet the paper first?
I don't think you need the added water...most flowers have plenty of moisture. If you put a paper towel below your paper when you run it through the die-cutting machine, it should absorb a lot of the moisture and give you a better impression. Because of the moisture, it's probably best to use water-color paper.
__________________ Susan (John 14:6) SCS Fan Club Member My Blog
OK, HELP! I'm not sure just how I'm supposed to do this. I used watercolor paper and sprayed it with water before putting the flowers on it. When I ran it through my big shot I mostly had an oozy mess. Some of the flowers and leaves I tried worked a little better than others, but I'm not very excited about any of my results. I couldn't find a tutorial on this technique, unless I wasn't searching correctly. Should I be using watercolor or regular cardstock? Should I not wet the paper first?
yes, most plants are wet enough already.....try it with no water and you will most likely get a better impression.
Maria - I only use regualr cardstock & get good results altho I use a hammer to pound mine instead of the machine. Several people said they got an OOzy mess with the Big Shot but try putting a layer of paper towel over your leaves in your "sandwich" - that should help absorb the extra moisture.
__________________ Linda aka Bubbles
I'm not a Hoarder . . . I'm the Curator of an extensive collection of embellishments!!
Proud Fan Club Member Guest Designer Color Challenge July 2017 Favorites Notification Team