Christmas in August

Well, our last post for Christmas in August already! Where has the month gone??? I know one thing that made August 29th a day our family will never forget...we welcomed our beautiful new granddaughter, Elinor Jane, into our family. She is just adorable and I can hardly wait to hold her on Friday! Here she is:

Puts everything in perspective doesn't it. We worry about things we think are important, and then we meet something that actually IS important!

It's pretty hot here again in IL, so keeping to the Christmas theme this week was OK by me! Here's three cards using the Antler snowflake stencil (LL399) for my upcoming class at Hannah's Home Accents in Antioch, IL on October 13th.

We'll also be doing a Zentangle class that day featuring the Umbrella (LG737) stencil. If you're in the area, give them a call to register for both classes!  Hope to see you there.

Umbrella - LG737
Rain - LJ905

Check out the rest of team for even more great Christmas ideas:

Dream It Up! blogPam Hornschu
Laura Drahozal
Cherylynn Moser
Wendy Jordan

Terrece Siddoway

Kristi Van Doren

Georgia Sommers

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,
Louise

Day 6 Christmas in August Hop!

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams have been celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond".

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

For my final posting of the week I wanted to show you a couple of more ways to use the new mittens stencil:

LJ923 Mittens overlayed with
LX7002 Plaid

Dry emboss the mittens on white cardstock. With the stencil over the embossed image, brush a little color over the image. Place the Plaid maker stencil over the mittens at an angle and brush on the first color. Remove and clean the plaid maker and put it back over the mittens the other direction and brush on a complimentary color. Layer on coordinating cardstocks.

LJ923 Mittens with tree from
LX7016 Season of Joy
LM2013 forever friends


Dry emboss the mittens. With the stencil still over the mittens, brush red ink around the edges and cuffs. On the Season of Joy stencil use removable tape to mask off everything but one of the smaller trees. Center the tree on the mitten and brush in green ink. Repeat on the other mitten. Remove the tree stencil and brush just a little green into the background of the mittens. Remove the mitten stencil and brush more red ink around the mittens. Mount mittens on a dark green mat. Stencil forever friends on the bottom of a kraft color card with the same green ink as the treen. Add the mittens over the saying.

I hope you've enjoyed all the creations the teams have posted this week, I know we have had a lot fun sharing them with you!

Don't forget to leave me some holiday cheer as you move on to the other players for todaySaturday, August 25th HOP DAY!Woodware UK

Dream It Up!

Lee Kellogg

Cherylynn Moser

Dorothy Adam

Louise Healy

Debs Frost 

Laura Drahozal 

Terrece Siddoway

Cyndi Bundy

Wendy Jordan

Francoise Read

Liz Martin

Georgia Sommers

Siobhan Fyffe 

Pam Hornschu
Kristi VanDoren
 

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.

Happy Creating,
Louise

Day 5 Christmas in August Hop!

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams are celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond".

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

 

 

For day 5 of the hop, I have chosen the beautiful Star Dream Xmas tree (LG746) that was released recently. We keep mentioning how some cards just don't need further embellishments, well this card was like that, I loved it just how it is:

 

LG746 - Star Dream Xmas tree
Silver Paste with Crystal Glitter

 The great thing about this card is that it is easy, easy, easy. But even though it is easy, by adding some glitter it is full of sparkly fun too! The tree was paste embossed on White shimmer cardstock with Metallic Silver Embossing Paste. After the stencil was removed, the wet paste was immediately sprinkled with Crystal glitter, tap off the extra and let the paste dry. It was mounted on Silver shimmer and then another layer of white shimmer to finish it off.  Like I said....easy, easy, easy (always nice at the holidays to have easy but beautiful designs!)

 

Don't forget to leave me some holiday cheer as you move on to the other players for today Friday, August 24th:

Dream It Up!
Woodware UK
Louise Healy
Debs Frost  Lee Kellogg Terrece Siddoway Georgia Sommers  Pam Hornschu Cyndi Bundy

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

 

*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.

Happy Creating,
Louise



Day 4 Christmas in August Blog Hop!

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams are celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond".
Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

 

Today is our "normal" posting day for Dreamweaver so I want to share a collection of cards that I will be teaching at Stamp 'N Hand in LaCrosse, WI on September 22nd. As I mentioned Tuesday, this is one of my favorite of the new stencils (LJ921) and is so much fun to design with! Here are the three cards we'll be creating that day:

The inspiration for this came from Pam Hornschu's
beautiful creation I saw at CHA!

Molten Magic

Glitter and leafing on Gold paste

If you're in the LaCrosse area, give Margie a call ((608) 784-1234 at 200 4th St S, La Crosse, WI) to sign up for class, you'll get the stencil as part of the class! If you're not in the LaCrosse area, come for a mini vaction, it is a beautiful area!

Don't forget to leave me some holiday cheer as you move on to the other players for today Thursday, August 23rd:
 

Dream It Up!
Woodware UK
Louise Healy (you're here) 
Laura Drahozal
Lee Kellogg
Terrece Siddoway
Cyndi Bundy
 Pam Hornschu
 Liz Martin
Kristi Van Doren
Cherylynn Moser

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.
 

Happy Creating,

Louise

Day 3 Christmas in August Blog Hop!

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams are celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond".

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

Here's another wonderful new stencil that we've been having fun creating with this week, the darling new Mittens stencil (LJ923). It is so versatile and looks great in a wide variety of techniques. This one couldn't be easier, paper piecing.

LJ923 Mittens
Dry embossed with paper piecing over

First dry emboss the mittens on green cardstock (either with a stylus or thru a machine), sand the design lightly to enhance the outline. Lay the stencil over some decorative paper and use a black Micron pen to outline the hands of the mittens. Cut out the paper close to the black line, but do not cut off the black line. Adhere to the embossed image with a light coat of liquid glue. Trace the cuffs on white felt (I used adhesive backed felt so I traced it on the back of the felt, remember to turn your stencil to the back too), cut out the felt and adhere them to the cuff area of the mittens. A little green and white bakers twine completed the picture!

Don't forget to leave me some holiday cheer as you move on to the other players for today Wednesday, August 22nd:

  

Woodware UK
Dream It Up!
 Louise Healy (you're here!) 
Lee Kellogg
Jane Gill
Terrece Siddoway
Wendy Jordan
Pam Hornschu
Liz Martin

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

 *Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.
Happy Creating,
Louise

Day 2 Christmas in August Blog Hop!

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams are celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond".

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

For Day 2 of the hop I'm sharing one of my favorite new stencils, Heart Ornaments (LJ921). Of course, I love all the new stencils, but this one has really captured my heart (I know, corny pun!). Laura's beautiful metal work always inspires me to dig my metal out again, and I have to say, I was pretty pleased with how this turned out!

LJ921 on Red metal
with LJ922 in background

For this card, I ran red metal thru my Vagabond with the stencil flat against the platform, metal red side down, rubber embossing mat, and two clear cutting plates (never been cut on). After removing the metal from the stencil, I placed it red side up over the new Christmas borders stencil (LJ922) and used a paper stump to rub the design into the background (this design is de-bossed). Sand the whole thing, use the stump to flatten the background back down, use a teflon tip stylus to sharpen the hearts and branch from both the front and back. At that point I turned it to the back and filled the hearts with MercArt backing paste and let it dry. Turn the design back over and apply Color Solutions Pine Bough on the branch and background with an applicator and felt. The hearts were first brushed with Gold Star, then Winter Red was dropped on them and brushed around. Just a little Darkest Brown brushed on the branch for contrast.

Don't forget to leave me some holiday cheer as you move on to the other players for today, Tuesday, August 21st:

Woodware UK
 Dream It Up!
 Louise Healy (you're here) 
Lee Kellogg
 Francoise Read
 Pam Hornschu
 Liz Martin
Terrece Siddoway
Cherylynn Moser

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.
 *Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.
Happy Creating,
Louise

Christmas in August Hop!

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams are celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond".
 Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

For my first post this week I chose the new Season of Joy stencil (LX7016). It has such a peaceful feel to it, the perfect message for the holidays!

This was created by first swiping Color Solutions Iceberg and Blue Velvet on glossy cardstock. Let that dry a little while then paste emboss the stencil with Glossy White Embossing Paste. When the paste is dry, use a clean qtip and some of the Thinner to soften the color in the "snow" area. Let that dry a minute or two, then use a paint brush or felt nibs to apply Color Solutions Noble Fir and Pine Bough on the trees,  and Darkest Brown (toned down with Thinner) on the animals and mountains. A touch of glue on the star sprinkled with Crystal glitter was the finishing touch.

Don't forget to leave me some holiday cheer as you move on to the other players for today, Monday, August 20th:

Woodware UK
 Dream It Up!
 Laura Drahozal
 Lee Kellogg
 Pam Hornschu
 Dorothy Adam
  Terrece Siddoway
 Wendy Jordan
Louise Healy (you're here!)

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.

Happy Creating,
Louise

Christmas in August Week 3

The days are definitely getting shorter here in northern Illinois, and the nights have been a little cooler too. Before we know it the holidays will be upon us again, so it's  not a bad idea to start putting some thought into holiday card making in August!
This week I want to share another card using the same two stencils I showed you at the beginning of the month. Here's the first card again, just to remind you:

LG731 Holly Flourish
LL3009 Christmas script

Now here's another design featuring the same two stencils.

LG731 Holly Flourish
LL3009 Christmas script

I know! Can you believe how different they look. Even though each uses the Glossy Green Embossing Paste on the Christmas stencil, by using different finishing techniques you get a completely new look.
For the second card:

• Use a small stencil brush and Brilliance Ivy to color the Holly Flourish design on white or cream cardstock, moving the stencil around to fill the background layer
• Let dry or heat set
• Rouge Distress Inks around the background with a sponge of foam pad(Fired Brick and Mustard Seed)
• Tape down the Christmas stencil on white or cream cardstock with removable tape
• Apply Glossy Green Embossing Paste with the paste spreader
• Remove and clean the stencil, let paste dry thoroughly
• Rouge Distress Inks over the pasted image with a sponge of foam pad(Fired Brick and Mustard Seed)
• Edge both layers with the Ivy ink
• Add a beautiful ribbon around the background layer and mount it on the front of the card
• Add the Christmas layer with foam tape

Next week we will begin our week long blog hop with our friends in the UK, you won't want to miss it! We'll be highlighting the beautiful new Christmas/Winter designs just released at CHA AND you might win some great stencils!

So be sure to join us starting on Monday for more Christmas in August.
Now check out the other great designs our team has come up with for this week.

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu
Laura Drahozal
Cherylynn Moser
Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway

Kristi Van Doren

Georgia Sommers

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,
Louise

Christmas in August

Welcome back to week two of the Dreamweaver Stencils Christmas in August challenge. It's never too early to design your Christmas or Holiday cards, of course, no matter how early I design mine, it seems I'm always making them in December! This week I created a card using the paper piecing technique, but by using decorative paper it was very quick and easy to make!

LG674 Oval Ornament - Paper piecing

• Start by choosing a decorative paper with a nice Christmas design that fits well in the Oval Ornament stencil (LG674). I used a piece of Authentique Paper from the Wonder collection. The sweet little poinsettia design is on one side, and the beautiful stripes are on the other side, so they match perfectly.
• Lay the ornament stencil over the part of the paper you want inside your ornament and trace around the inside edge of the stencil with a Black Micron Pen (I used an 02)
• Cut out the ornament from the decorative paper staying as close to the black line as possible without cutting away the black line
• Emboss the ornament stencil on cream or natural cardstock
• Leave the stencil in place and add color to the ornament cap and hook area by using a small stencil brush and gold or silver ink (I used Brilliance Galaxy Gold)
• Round the corners with a corner rounder
• Glue the decorative paper ornament over the embossed ornament
• Cut out another flower and layer it on the first to give it more dimension
• Mount ornament on a dark green layer, then the stripe paper, then another dark green
• Embellish with a bow at the top of the ornament and a gem in the center of the flower

Want to get into the holiday spirit a little early? Link your own Christmas in August creations to the Dream It Up! blog mr. linky, or email pics of your creations to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, for an opportunity to win this wonderful newly released Heart Ornaments:

 Don't you just love this new design? There are several newly released stencils and products from CHA last month, which you can view for yourself HERE. During the week of August 20th - 25th, the Dream Team will be posting all week with a hop on Saturday to top it all...featuring all of these new fabulous designs...in collaboration with the Woodware UK team. Just a little hint...you may want to buy all of these new designs now, so you are ready and waiting for the inspiration that will come your way that week! Meanwhile, check out what the rest of the team has been creating this week:

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu
 Laura Drahozal
Cherylynn Moser
Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway

Kristi Van Doren

Georgia Sommers

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,
Louise

Christmas in August

The Dreamweaver Stencils design team has a real treat for you this month...Christmas in August! We'll start by featuring some of our favorite designs from Christmas' past, and lead into a wonderful week long blog hop during the week of August 20th thru the 25th that will feature the newest designs just released at Summer CHA. You won't want to miss any of the fun!

For this first week, I chose a simple but elegant combination of stencils and techniques to share with you. Here it is:

LG731 Holly Flourish
LL3009 Christmas script

The beautiful Holly Flourish (LG731) stencil was emboss on Natural linen cardstock, deckled along the bottom edge, and Gold Krylon Pen was used to edge all the way around that layer before attaching it to the front of a dark green card.

The Christmas script stencil (LL3009) was paste embossed using the Glossy Green Embossing Paste on Natural Linen cardstock. When the paste was dry, the stencil was put back over the pasted image and a finger dauber was used to apply Palette Stamp and Stick glue over the green paste. The stencil was removed and a heat gun was used to gently heat the glue to make it tacky. Once the glue was ready, I layed a sheet of Green Leaf over the image and used a 1/2" stencil brush to tap the leafing in place and brush away the excess.  Use Gold Krylon around the edges and mount on to a strip of dark green cardstock then to the front of your card.  

Want to get into the holiday spirit a little early? Link your own Christmas in August creations to the Dream It Up! blog mr. linky, or email pics of your creations to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, for an opportunity to win this wonderful newly released Heart Ornaments:

Don't you just love this new design? There are several newly released stencils and products from CHA last month, which you can view for yourself HERE. During the week of August 20th - 25th, the Dream Team will be posting all week with a hop on Saturday to top it all...featuring all of these new fabulous designs...in collaboration with the Woodware UK team. Just a little hint...you may want to buy all of these new designs now, so you are ready and waiting for the inspiration that will come your way that week! Meanwhile, check out what the rest of the team has been creating this week:

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu

Laura Drahozal
Cherylynn Moser

Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway

Kristi Van Doren

Georgia Sommers

Lee Kellogg
Jessie Hurley

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,
Louise