Thursday, October 25, 2012

Festively Distressed Fall Week 2!


Welcome back to week two of our amazing collaboration between Ranger's Tim Holtz line of Distress Powders, and our beautiful Dreamweaver Stencils & Products! If you missed last week's event, start HERE.

Last week, we were totally blown away by the awesome response we received from those of you who hopped over from Tim Holtz's blog and the Ranger blog to check us out! We've been doing the "happy dance" ever since! Hopefully, you will continue to check us out, especially over the next few weeks as we continue our play-time in Tim's sandbox. (It is rather an appropriate metaphor considering the cool texture of his Distress Powders.)

Apparently, Tim and the wonderful people at Ranger were also excited by the response, and they've decided to "up the ante" in the form of an additional prize package(s) which will include TWELVE Distress Powders each, and a handful of Dreamweaver Stencils to go with! Wow! Just one teeny-tiny detail...to win one of these packages from their blog, you need to create something with Tim Holtz's Distress Powders and Dreamweaver Stencils and attach it to the inlinkz on the Ranger blog. Winners will be selected randomly. For more details, head over to the Ranger blog.

Once again, this week we are offering another fall prize package as shown here. Just leave us all some love as you visit, for an opportunity to be the one random winner we select. Curious as to who won from last week? It could be YOU! Visit the Dream It Up! blog for the announcement of the lucky commenter.

 
Here is what I had fun creating this week:

Use the Dreamweaver Hawaiian soap to soap the back of
LM295 Autumn stencil, use a large stencil brush to brush
away any flakes from the openings or surface of the stencil


Cut a piece of Dreamweaver's double-sided mounting paper
the size of the stencil and attach it to a mat of dark brown cardstock


Remove the top piece of release paper and place the stencil,
soap side down, on the sticky surface. Use the end of the large stencil brush
to tap the stencil firmly onto the sticky surface 

Choose some Distress Embossing powders, I used
fired brick, spiced marmalade, scattered straw, peeled paint, and
a leftover combination of vintage photo and walnut stain from a previous project

Use an angled straw to start layering your rainbow of colors

Here's what it will look like

Gently rub the embossing powders into the sticky paper with your finger

Brush off as much extra powder as you can

Turn the image face down on the table and carefully
peel the paper off the stencil, making sure your stencil stays flat

This now exposes the sticky paper in the background

Sprinkle Distress Embossing powder frayed burlap over the image

Gently rub it in and remove any excess powder

Heat set

Repeat the soaping process on the back of
LJ874 Fall borders stencil

Place the stencil on a piece of double sided mounting paper that was
attached to a brown mat and use a straw to start adding powders where you want them

The straw lets you keep your powders just where you want them

Don't forget to rub the powders down a little each time

I first put two shades of brown on the acorns (walnut stain in the caps
and the mix in the acorn) then sprinkled the leaves with a leftover mix
of fired brick, spiced marmalade and scattered straw that I had from a
class I taught last week (I can never just throw it away, it's still fine!)

Turn it face down on the table

Peel the paper off the stencil

Sprinkle the background with frayed burlap, and heat set

I wanted a little more detail, so I put the stencil back over the image and used
a small stencil brush and Distress Ink walnut stain to add a little shading here and there

Then I used my Micron pen to do a little outlining and add some
veins in the leaves, not a dark solid line, more of a hint of an outline, it really
gave it a lot more dimension

Mount the Fall borders layer on a piece of Rusty Hinge, then use
foam tape to pop the Autumn in the center, and add a small
bow made of twine to complete the Festively Fall look!
Pictures never do justice to our creations. I wish you could see and feel this in person, the frayed burlap in the background is just the perfect color to compliment the other fall colors on the cards. Oh well, you'll have to take my word for it!

Aren't you excited to see what's next? Check out the Dream Team players for today:
 

You already know where to find Ranger's/Tim Holtz' products, but if you are having difficulty finding Dreamweaver, encourage your local stamp/paper-craft store to carry the line of fabulous stencil designs, pastes, and other products to mix with all of your stash of Tim's crafty goodness. You can also purchase our products on-line at Stencil with Style.

We'd love to see you come back regularly and play along with our monthly challenges (and more opportunities to win stencils) by linking your creations to the mr. linky on the Dream It Up! blog, or emailing pics of your creations to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com. Since you're on the computer already, head on over and like us on Facebook as well. Just another location for dreamy and distressed inspiration!
 
Happy Creating,
Louise

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Festively Distressed Fall!


The Dream Team designers are so excited to have the opportunity to play along with some unique Ranger Products in the Tim Holtz line...specifically, the Distressed Embossing Powders! Our own Louise Healy demonstrated how fabulous these are with the Dreamweaver Stencils when she created this card for a fun class at CHA Summer 2012:


Apparently, Tim Holtz agreed with all of us on this unique use of his product, so he very generously had Ranger (thanks, Patti!) send the team some samples to play and blog with. So...here we go!

Here's my post for today:
Start with a natural finish wood mirror, I used
an Ikea 10" square mirror

Use the Ranger Adirondack Snow Cap Dabber to
put a white washed look over the whole mirror.
Let it dry, or use a heat tool.


Apply Distress Stains to create sky and ground areas,
wiping gently between colors with a soft cloth or paper towel.

Dry with a heat tool to make sure the stains are
completely dry before continuing.

Tape LG687 - Geese stencil to the upper right corner.
Use a small stencil brush to apply Distress Ink black soot over the design.

Use foam to apply a layer of Distress embossing Ink over the geese.

Sprinkle with Distress embossing powder black soot,
tap off excess and heat thoroughly. Brush gently with
hand when cool to remove the distress crystals.

Place LL517 - Cattails stencil in lower right corner and
use a small stencil brush to apply Distress Inks vintage photo.

Apply a layer of Distress embossing Ink.
Sprinkle the pods with vintage photo Distress powder, and the
leaves with frayed burlap Distress powder. Tap off excess and heat set.

Repeat the cattails two more times in the left corner.
Add additional inks to create more depth (I added evergreen bough and
broken china to the "water" area using a small stencil brush. I also
added some spice marmalade behind the cattails using Cut 'n Dry foam
then finished the edge with walnut stain Distress Ink on a foam applicator)

Finish it off with some garden twine and a charm, plus a few
of the leaves I had left over from last weeks project! 
If you missed last week's post on how to create pasted embellishments with your stencils, click here.
See that little mirror in the mirror, that is from a CHA class that I took with Tim Holtz one year. It was the first time I had worked with his Distress Embossing Powders and I have been hooked ever since! You really need to give them a try, they give such texture to your projects!

For the next four weeks, on our regular Thursday posts, we will be featuring the wonderful things that you can do with Tim's Distress Powders and Dreamweaver Stencils. Leave comments on each of the team blog posts for opportunities to win one prize package for each of the four weeks:


Don't forget to play along with the Dream Team's monthly challenges for more opportunities to win some great stencil designs! October's challenge is Festively Fall, and November is CAS (clean and simple) Christmas! Link your creations on the Dream It Up! blog, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com. Join us on Facebook as well! Lots of inspiration, and lots of fun!

I didn't even know this was the prize stencil when I created my project this week!
Here are a couple of other cards I have created with the Double-glitter technique substituting Ranger's Distress Embossing Powders for the glitter and then heat setting when finished.
LG745 - Tree line

LG743 - Stylized dahlia

LL379 - Tall palm trees


Happy Creating,
Louise

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Festively Fall Week 2!

Welcome back for week two of our Dreamweaver Stencils challenge to create "Festively Fall" cards or projects. Fall is my favorite time of year so I have been really enjoying this challenge and have a fun technique to share with you today...creating embellishments with stencils and paste! I think you'll like the results! Here's the process:

Place your stencil on the shiny side of
a piece of freezer paper

Tape down the stencil with removable tape

Use the paste spreader to apply
Dreamweaver Matte Yellow Embossing Paste

Remove and clean your stencils,
let the paste dry

Tape your clean, dry stencil back over
the dry paste

Use small stencil brushes and ink pads to add color
use the Picasso (LL332) to create veins

Remove and clean the stencil

Repeat the coloring steps for each design


LS78-Maple leaf, LG728-Blowing leaves
LL3004-Falling leaves, LG616-Leaf texture

Carefully peel your pasted image off the freezer paper


Transfer it where you think you want it


You are still able to move it around at this point to
try it out around your design
Complete your layers and use Tacky Glue
to add your leaf embellishments!

Here's a close up!
The Pumpkins (LL515) were pasted on cardstock with the Matte Yellow paste, dried, then colored with stencil brushes just like the leaves. Extra color was brushed along the edge to create a more distressed, fall look. I used Distress Inks, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Vintage Photo, and Walnut Stain.
Remember, when you pick your stencil design, it has to be a complete image for this technique to work (no bridges, just open area).  I think the Cat watch stencil (LM266) would be awesome done in black paste (matte or glossy) and used as a black cat embellishment on a Halloween card!

Check out more great fall designs the rest of the team has created for you this week, and don't forget, we would really love it if you joined our challenge and linked your creation on the DREAM it UP! blog. You might win! You can also send a picture of your creation to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and she will post it for you. You can't win if you don't play!

One more thing! I've updated my class schedule for the rest of October and November so check for classes in your area!

Happy Creating,
Louise