Day 4 of Dreamweaver Stencils Hop Across the Pond!

WE HAVE A WINNER FOR TODAY's POST!! it is SherylH who wrote:

SherylH said...

Very nice -- love all the new background stencils.
September 1, 2011 7:13 PM

Thanks Sheryl for your kind words, it is always fun and rewarding to receive all the comments about our work!
Email Lynell your snail mail address to: lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and she will send your your blog winnings.

Woodware Craft Collection design team to bring you innovative ways to use our wonderful Dreamweaver stencils and supplies all week long! Woodware is Dreamweaver Stencils' exclusive distributor in the UK. By the end of the week, you'll have seen stencils used in inspirational ways you just couldn't have imagined, and you'll see that, although our stencils are wonderful for paper crafting, they have SO MANY other uses too! We'll have several posts a day for you, from Monday August 29th to Saturday September 3rd. At the end of our celebration, each designer will randomly select a winner from all blog comments to receive a free Dreamweaver stencil. We are looking forward to sweet comments from you and we will send blog candy your direction. We look forward to you partying along with us! Go to the DREAM it UP! blog if you get lost, the whole schedule is listed there.

You should have hopped here from Laura at: http://www.rememberinglifesmoments.blogspot.com/, if not, "hop" back over there for more inspiration.
Today's project was inspired by all the new background stencils that Dreamweaver recently released at Summer 2011 CHA. I fell in love with them all, so how could I choose just one to work with!! I wanted to come up with a project that would show off several of the new designs, plus incorporate some embossed metal to promote the MercArt Metal that Dreamweaver now supplies. Here's what I did:

Though it is a little time consuming, it's really the original concept that takes the time, once you know what you want to do it comes together pretty fast.  Here are some close ups of the squares and embellishments:

The basic steps are:

• Emboss each of the four background stencils on a piece of white cardstock (emboss 2 of each design in order to get the 8 squares of each that you need)
• Use a 1/2" or 3/4" stencil brush to color each pattern whatever colors you want, any inks will work, I used Ranger Distress Inks . By using a larger brush the color goes on pretty fast. Remember to start off the edge and sweep the color in towards the center
• Trim around the edge of the design, then cut four 1 1/2" squares out of each piece of colored paper
• Adhere the embossed patterns to piece of 1 1/2" chipboard, then use a piece of foam to add more color around the edges
• You should have 8 squares of each pattern with each pattern being a different color
• Adhere them to a 10" x 10" black mirror (I got it at IKEA) in a pretty pattern.  The black between the squares really makes them stand out
• The butterflies were done with Dreamweaver stencils Heliconia Butterfly stencil (LM257) and small piece of colored aluminum. I used a Big Shot to run the metal and stencil through to emboss it, sanded the raised aluminum then colored them with alcohol inks.
• The butterflies were cut out then mounted using foam mounting tape
• The Tall Vase stencil (LM196) was first paste embossed with Glossy Blue Embossing Paste
• After the blue paste was dry, I put the stencil back over the paste and applied Dreamweaver's Crackle Embossing Paste
• If you've never used the Crackle Paste, you are in for a treat. It crackles on its own as it dries and is white so any color you want can be applied with stencil brushes after it dries.  Sometimes I hurry the process a little by heating towards the end, but you won't get as small of cracks if you do that
• I cut out the crackled and colored vase, adhered it to black cardstock and cut that out leaving a small black edge around the whole vase
• Use a guillotine cutter to cut some black strips and tape some to the back of the vase
• Mount the vase onto the squares at the lower left using foam mounting tape

These make great gifts for any occasion and you can customize the colors and embellishments to your own home decor. I'll be teaching this in a class at The Cottage Stamper in St. Charles IL on September 27th, and at Checkered Cottage in Kirkwood MO on October 22nd.  Call either store to sign up.
Here's a list of the supplies used:
Stencils:
LJ912 - Triangle Weave
LJ913 - Houndstooth
LJ914 - Herringbone
LJ915 - Opto Checkerboard
LM257 - Heliconia Butterfly
LM196 - Tall Vase
Embossing Paste:
Glossy Blue - DGBP
Crackle - CEP
Tools:
1/2" natural handle brush - NHB-1/2"
Palette Knife - DPK
Wide Palette Knife - WDPK

All this, and LOTS more can be found HERE and in the UK HERE.

Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a free stencil. Then hop on over to the final stop of the day at Wendy's blog. Just click on the link below:
                Wendy at: http://www.papertherapy-wendy.blogspot.com/

Thanks for hopping with us today, I hope you've enjoyed everything so far, but don't forget we have two more days to go full of great ideas and prizes!
Happy Creating,
Louise