Dream Scheme Thursday

Welcome to the  third week of Dreamweaver Stencils February challenge. This month's challenge is anything GREEN (as in the color), "green" (as in reduce, reuse, recycle), or St. Patrick's Day themed. You are encouraged to play along with us throughout the month for the chance to win a wonderful prize from Dreamweaver. Just create something gorgeous (no pressure!), post it on your blog or whatever public forum you use, then go to the DREAM it UP! blog to add a link to your creation using the Mr. Linky tool. If you don't have a blog or a way to link your design, just email it to Lynell at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and she will post it on her blog for you. We would love to see what you have created this month!
Today I am using two of the new stencils released last month at CHA. The Open Butterfly (LG740) and Mushrooms (LL3025). I took a little liberty with the green theme, but as you can see there's still a lot of green!

To create the background

• place the Mushroom stencil in the lower left corner of a piece of white cardstock (3 1/2" x 4 1/2")
• Use painters tape or removable tape to mask off the large mushroom
• Apply Brilliance Thyme ink with a 1/2" stencil brush all over the grass and small mushroom in the left corner only
• Apply a little Brilliance Ivy ink with another 1/2" stencil brush just on the grass (use a Picasso LL332 to shield the small mushroom from the ivy color)
• Use a 1/4" stencil brush to apply Brilliance Coffee Bean ink on the small mushroom cap and stem, but leave a little of the light green showing in the center of the cap
• Move the stencil to the lower right corner of the piece and repeat the steps for the other small mushroom
• Move the stencil back over so the mushroom from the right corner is next to the other mushroom in the left corner that you did first, and add  a third small mushroom as shown
• Remove the stencil and tape, clean and dry the stencil
• Use the 1/2" brush and Thyme ink to sweep some green ink near the bottom of the stenciled mushrooms
• Use another 1/2" brush and Memento Bahama Blue to sweep some color at the top to create the sky
• Adhere to a solid green mat (3 3/4" x 4 3/4") then to the front of a green gingham check card (finished card size is 4 3/4" x 6")

To create the Crackled Butterfly:

• Tape the Open butterfly stencil (LG740) to a piece of green cardstock (I used the same color as my green mat for the background) using removable tape of gentle painters tape
• Apply a layer of Glossy Green Embossing Paste using the Paste spreader tool (LM2010)
• Remove stencil, place in water to clean, making sure to keep your stencil flat while gently brushing with a small fingernail brush
• Place the clean stencil on a piece of soft cloth (I use old t-shirts) and dry thoroughly
• Let the green paste dry naturally (about 40-50 minutes) or place the pasted design on a warming tray set to the low setting (about 20 minutes)
• When the green paste is dry, place the clean, dry stencil back over the green paste and tape all around the design again
• Use the paste spreader to apply a coat of Crackle Embossing Paste over the green layer. You don't want to scrape too hard, or your crackle layer will be too thin
• Remove and clean the stencil
• Set the Crackled image aside to dry. The cracks will begin to appear within 10 minutes, but drying time is about the same as for the green
• When the Crackle paste is dry, return the stencil to the design again and tape all around
• Place a piece of felt on the Color Solutions applicator and apply a variety of colors to the felt (I used Iceberg, Citron, Sugar Plum and Creme Brulee) making sure to keep the drops a little separated from each other
• Use  a pouncing motion to apply the colors over the crackled image
• Reapply more drops as needed trying to keep the colors in their original spot
• Put a drop of Creme Brulee on a craft mat and use a brush pen nib to pick up the ink and apply it to the body of the butterfly
• Remove the stencil (don't clean it yet, I have more to tell you!)
• Let the inks dry for just a minute or two, then cut out the butterfly and adhere just at the body to the mushroom layer (so the wings flap free)

Now what about all that beautiful Color Solutions ink still on the stencil?  Well, I can't stand wasting it so here's what I do:

• Place the butterfly stencil on a clean paper towel (ink side up)
• Use a mini mister or any fine mister bottle to spray the ink with alcohol (not the thinner or blending solution, you are not supposed to spray those!) until it is wet again
• Place a clean piece of white cardstock over the wet inks and use a gentle rubbing motion across the image to transfer the wet ink to the cardstock
• Cut around the image with a deckle scissors
• Use the 1/2" brush and Memento Bahama Blue ink to sweep some color around all the edges
• Mount into another beautiful card!

I know this has been a lot of steps, but none of them really take very long, and the results are definitely worth it. I hope you've enjoyed today's creations and will spend a little more time checking out what the rest of the team has created for you today.

DREAM it UP!

Pam Hornschu
Laura Drahozal
Wendy Jordan
Terrece Siddoway
Kristi Van Doren
Georgia Sommers
Lee Kellogg
Liz Martin
Cyndi Bundy
Cherylynn Moser
Jessie Hurley

Happy Creating,
Louise