Welcome to my Garden Party!!!

The Spellbinders Nestabilities Birthday Party Sneak Peeks have been so much fun, don’t you think? Two days left after today, so spread the word. Hopefully you have been making a wish list and are ready to order. I know I wish I had ALL of them! It is so much fun seeing what the different artists have created with the new die. What do you think so far? Are you drooling over the new dies? Do you want them all? Let me tell you I have seen them all and I want them ALL!!

I am SO excited to be sharing one of the NEW Spellbinders die sets that will be released at Summer CHA!! Don’t forget to check out the “official rules” for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek Party Drawing at the end of this post!! Entering all the drawings will make you eligible for the GRAND PRIZE – a new raspberry Wizard and $500 in Spellbinders dies!! WOW what a Fabulous Prize!!!

The die set I am sharing with you is called “Sunflower Garden” (S5- 004 MSRP $19.99). This adds to the collection of Edgeabilities, and I think this is one of my favorite of that line. This die set comes in five pieces, the actual Edgeability ( 4 by 6 inches) that features a sunflower, a sunflower (2 ¼” by 2 ¼”) that is a Shapeability, as are the following dies (meaning that it can be used to cut an opening or a die cut…no other die attached), a bumble bee that is solid and also one that has the wing openings cut out (7/8” by 1 7/8”) and a cute little daisy (1 1/8” by 7/8”) seen from a side perspective. The design of the bee is so cool, as you can make the wings out of a material like vellum, mulberry paper, acetate, etc., giving the bee a realistic look! One thing that is so versatile about this die set is that each piece can be used for so many things. We all love flowers and the Shapeability sunflower that is included can be layered and used in so many ways. The delicate daisy die is so simple and so pretty. I really like the fact that you can turn the Edgeability in any of the four directions as there is no right or wrong way to use it. I have always been a fan of bees, and the wings won me over!

With this set, I think you, like me, will fall in LOVE with EACH die and use them all, all the time!

I decided that since we were celebrating the birthday of Nestabilities, that we needed to have a PARTY!!! And since I was at the cabin while creating these projects and I love to garden there, we are having a GARDEN PARTY with the Sunflower Garden Edgeability! So, grab your sun bonnet and come party with me! Let’s find out how coordinated your fun can be with just ONE die!

I could not decide which neutral to use (white or cream) for our Garden Party, so I decided to do some of each. Hey, more is better, right? Let’s begin with the white ensemble.

If we are going to have a party, we need invitations. I used the Edgeability portion of the Sunflower Garden die to make a pocket card. I used it to also cut the top of the tag that had the invitation on it. Since I was at the cabin without a printer, I did it freehand, using my Copic Markers. The pocket portion of the invitation was sanded to show the white core paper and the beautiful detailed design.

Now we need a centerpiece. I thought of the wine charms that I have seen and thought that the daisy portion of the die would be great. I decided to do something similar and use that daisy to decorate a vase. I cut and embossed three of them and used ribbon in the colors I had chosen. Throw some flowers in a vase and drape the vase with the ribbon embellished with our daisies and we have a centerpiece. I can see this daisy used in jewelry, as a charm or just a pretty embellishment.

To carry over our theme, I made a napkin ring and a nameplate for each guest. With the nameplate, I used a technique I call selective cutting. Just as where the tan polymer is, the embossing will be…..so also, where the spacer plate is, there will be the cutting. I wanted a portion of the sunflower and bee to cut (to stand up above the nameplate) but the rest to just be embossed. For the napkin ring I simply used the sunflower portion of the Edgeability and wrapped it in a circle around the napkin and secured it.

It is always fun to go to a party and receive a party favor, so our party bag contains trail mix to match our colors. Around our closure, however, is a pin that the guests could later wear. I used two colors of fun foam and then hand beaded the “seeds” of the center of the sunflower. I think this would be beautiful made of leather, but I was limited to using items that I had at the cabin or could find nearby. To give the seeded look without hand beading, hole less beads would be great, attached with a circle of red liner tape.

Now, let’s look at our beige background items. Here again, we wanted a centerpiece and we are going with a more casual look. I purchased some clay pots and used fun foam to make a stamp of the sunflower. This is a great way to coordinate some stamping with your die cuts in your projects. I attached the fun foam sunflower to an acrylic block and then stamped the flowers on the larger pot. I cut some of the sunflowers with mulberry paper and used a heat gun to heat the candle. I then added the mulberry flowers one by one, melting it into the candle. This was a lot of fun and it gave me a centerpiece candle that matches the other décor. For the smaller pots, I cut three pieces of tissue paper and one of mulberry for each flower, glued on a button for the center, used floral wire and floral tape to make little flowers. It is easy, with the wire, to bend the flowers as you want them. I forgot to pick up some Styrofoam balls, so I just put a shopping bag down tightly in the small pots to fill them. I then used moss to cover the bag. Moss is readily available at the cabin but you could use purchased dried moss also.
For our napkin holder, I used an envelope, sealed and cut in half. I then ran it through the Wizard with the Edgeability die and colored it with chalk, using the die as a stencil. That gives you a pocket in which to place the napkin and cutlery. Another way to decorate an envelope napkin holder is to use one of the Shapeability die like the sunflower, cut the opening and have the color of your napkin show through. This is a great napkin holder at a wedding reception and you can even personalize the napkin holder by printing the names of the bride and groom on the envelope.
Well, I hope you enjoyed our little garden parties and hopefully you picked up some ideas for things you can do for parties or any occasions using the Sunflower Garden Edgeability die or any of the Spellbinders die. Many people, however, buy these die to use for greeting cards, so let’s look at a couple of those too.

On the first card (5.5” by 7.5”), I used the Edgeability with the sunflower placement on the left hand side of a horizontal card. I used reverse stenciling on the card, meaning that before I ran the die through the Wizard, I applied ink to the cutting side of the die. This shows up the background of the design in brown. I used the die as a stencil to apply ink to the foreground of the design. I applied stickles glitter as my “seeds” of the sunflower and Folk Art Papier over that. I wanted to showcase the entire die, so I included a three dimensional sunflower, made with three layers of die cuts, a bee, which is three dimensional as it has both layers cut, the wings being vellum and last but not least the pretty little daisy. I embellished all of those die cuts with the stickles glitter to add to the richness of the card. For the verse, I used a stamp from Quiet Fire Designs and embossed it on a layer behind the cut out opening which the Edgeability creates. All the layers were secured with eyelets and we have a card ready to mail for any occasion.

Here is another card (5” by 7”) with the sunflower from the Edgeability die used at the bottom of the card. I used the die as a stencil and added color to the sunflower. I decided to use a craft knife to cut some of the petals and tips of the corner leaves, adding to the dimension of the card. Buttons were used as embellishments on this card and I hand wrote “Bee mine” around the perimeter of the card. Same die, but a different look and also proof that the Edgeability Sunflower Garden die can be used in any direction.

One of the greatest things about Spellbinders is their dies are so versatile, with being able to cut, emboss & stencil, the only limit to your creations is your imagination!!

Do you need help with your die cuts or do you have questions on how to layer the mats? Here is a link to some fantastic tutorials on YouTube that show you how to use Spellbinders dies in a variety of die cut machines.

We have two more days of sneak peeks including Donya Schroeder, tomorrow on the twelfth and Trudee Sauer on the thirteenth.

Please leave your comments on this post, I would love to hear what you think of the new dies and the sneak peek projects!

If you have any Questions about the contest, E-mail kim@spellbinders.us for “official” clarifications.

Spellbinders Birthday Celebration
Sneak Peek Party Drawing Information

Spellbinders will randomly pick one entry from each of the 14 Spellbinders Sneak Peek Blog reveals as stated in the “Rules”.

This name will be drawn to receive the die being revealed on said blog. These entries must follow all rules stated below to be valid for the drawing.

Entrants visiting all 14 Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peeks Blog reveals and correctly entering their information into the 14 separate drawings, as described below, will automatically be entered into a GRAND PRIZE give away of a new RASPBERRY WIZARD and a $500 retail value die package!

Rules

Any participant wishing to be included in the daily drawing for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek die give away must adhere to all of the following rules:

1) Participant must click on the provided drawing link on blog to enter each individual drawing on sneak peeks between June 30 and July 13.

2) Participant must type in the subject line the name of the die or dies being revealed.

3) Participant must send their entry for this blog before 12:00 midnight Central Standard Time on July 12.

4) Participant is only allowed to enter each of the 14 Spellbinders sneak peek blog give away drawings one time per sneak peek. Participant must use the same email address daily to be considered for grand prize entry.

5) Spellbinders Design Team members and employees are not eligible for drawing.

Any participant wishing to be automatically entered into the drawing for the Spellbinders Birthday Celebration Sneak Peek Grand Prize drawing, must enter the drawing from all of the 14 blog reveals and follow all the above rules.

Please note:
*Spellbinders will only use email information to contact the winner.
*Spellbinders will not share this email address with any other parties.
*Spellbinders will not use this email information for advertisements or communication other than to contact the winner.
*If you wish to be included in further communications from Spellbinders, please go to their homepage and sign up: http://www.spellbinders.us/
*If you have any questions about the contest, please e-mail kim@spellbinders.us

Click Here to enter Drawing ....Sorry, the deadline for entering from this blog has passed.
(If you use an e-mail client that does not work with this pop-up box, you may copy and paste this address to send your entry to: NewDierelease@spellbinders.us)

Thank you so much for stopping by today & I hope you have enjoyed the Sneak Peek!! Each day, you have until midnight of the second day of the peek to enter for that particular sneak peek.

GOOD LUCK and come again! Happy creating!

Thanks,
Holly Craft

(yes, that really IS my name)