March Madness Final Week!

Well March came in like a lion and it's going out like one too! I thought it was supposed to go out like a lamb, someone forgot to tell Mother Nature! I feel like I WILL go mad if it doesn't warm up soon. Tomorrow is my daughter's first golf match of the spring season...if they can get a tee in the ground!
The project I'm sharing with you this week for the final Dreamweaver Stencils March Madness Anything Goes theme just kind of came to me as I was trying to come up with ideas for samples using the new Dreamweaver Die Cuts.  I had shared my class samples using the new Sailboat stencil (LG755) with you back in February, and I had a couple of extra images left over from the letterpress technique that I had decided not to use for the class, so I decided to use the new Nesting Frames dies (DD001) to create a layered sailboat image and really give it dimension. Here's how it went:

Start with a Letterpress image of the Sailboat stencil . To get that, spray the back of the stencil with Memories Mists inks, I used two shades of blue, and carefully move the stencil to a paper towel on the thick platform of your die cut machine. Place a piece of white paper over the ink, then your rubber embossing mat, and two cutting plates. Run it through the machine and this is what you get!

Place a piece of removable tape face up and line the three smallest frames over the tape, cutting edge up

Carefully pick up the taped dies and place them over the image where you want them, cutting side down, Press the tape

down lightly to prevent the dies from moving during cutting

Sandwich the die and image between two cutting plates, cutting edges up (you won't see the die, just the back of your image) and run it through your die cut machine

Now your layers have been cut into frames

Trim along the edge of the Sailboat design, edge with a dark blue marker, and mount that to a piece of white cardstock that is slightly larger then the trimmed image using double sided adhesive, be sure to put adhesive around the inner edges of the frame openings so this layer stays flat all the way around

Apply one layer of foam tape to the largest frame, two layers to the middle frame, and three layers to the center layer

Go around the edge of each layer with a blue marker, then assemble them back where they belong.  Add them to a matching card embellished with some May Arts white rik rak and you have a beautiful, dimensional card!

I hope you enjoyed being "mad" with me this month, it has been a lot of fun! Thanks to everyone who has been playing along with us over at the DREAM it UP! blog, your creations have been wonderful.

Now check out the rest of the team's craziness....oops, creations!

Dream It Up!

Georgia Sommers (guest designer)
Lea Kimmel
Louise Healy
Cherylynn Moser
Terrece Siddoway

Wendy Jordan
Pam Hornschu

Happy Creating,
Louise

March Madness Week 3!

MAD I tell you! We're all going MAD! That is...MAD for Dreamweaver Stencils! Lol. Welcome to week 3 of our "March Madness" challenge! Anything goes, and the more outside-of-the-box, the better. This year, we're aiming to play with non-traditional challenges whenever possible. So, break out all of your I-never-quite-knew-what-to-do-with-these-products stash, look at your Dreamweaver stencils in a whole new creative light, and get crafting! Oh, and don't forget to link those creations to the linkytool on the Dream It Up! blog for one of THREE chances to win the stencil of your choice!

PLUS, you won't want to miss your chance to join the Dreamweaver Design Team. Here's the link to find out how you can become a DREAM TEAM member too!

*****************************************************************************
DREAM TEAM call for new members!!! See the DREAM it UP! blog for details!
*****************************************************************************

This week I'm actually working "inside" the box instead of outside-the-box! Inside a shadow box that is! It is an 8" x 8" black shadow box that I created one year for Christmas time when I saw an idea on Pinterest for it. After Christmas was over, I decided it would be nice to change it to Valentine's, then Easter, Spring, Summer, Fall....you get the idea. I decorate a background piece of decorative paper then add little do-dads to match the season, jingle bells, chocolate kisses, wooden eggs...etc. As one season comes out of the box the do-dads go in a baggie in a plastic bin and the background paper is moved behind the next season's background. That explanation was a little mad wasn't it! Here's what it looks like for Easter:

Here's how I did it:

• The words were cut on my Cricut. 
• To create my big eggs I used a piece of white cardstock (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") and laid the Plaid stencil (LX7002) on the cardstock 
• used a 1/2" stencil brush to add the light pink
• Cleaned the stencil, and turned the design so it went the opposite direction and taped it over the pink stripes
• Used a palette knife and paste spreader to apply a coat of Matte Yellow Embossing Paste
• Removed and cleaned the stencil and let the paste dry
• Place the Egg stencil (LG670) over the plaid paper and used a dark pink marker to trace the opening of the egg 
• Cut out the Egg and use the dark pink marker around the edge
• The other beautiful egg is the Easter Egg stencil (LG685), dry embossed on white cardstock
• Used small stencil brushes to add color to the embossed image
• Cut out the egg shape and edged with a blue marker

Here's a close up of the eggs:

Need some more crazy ideas? Check our "A" team, and our very special guest designer and Certified Dreamweaver teacher...

Georgia Sommers

Dream It Up!
Laura Drahozal
Lyn Bernatovich
Pam Hornschu
Heidi Erickson
Louise Healy
Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,

Louise

March Madness Week 2!

MAD I tell you! We're all going MAD! That is...MAD for Dreamweaver Stencils! Lol. Welcome to week 2 of our "March Madness" challenge! Anything goes, and the more outside-of-the-box, the better. This year, we're aiming to play with non-traditional challenges whenever possible. So, break out all of your I-never-quite-knew-what-to-do-with-these-products stash, look at your Dreamweaver stencils in a whole new creative light, and get crafting! Oh, and don't forget to link those creations to the linkytool on the Dream It Up! blog for one of THREE chances to win the stencil of your choice!
PLUS, you won't want to miss your chance to join the Dreamweaver Design Team. Here's the link to find out how you can become a DREAM TEAM member too!

*****************************************************************************
DREAM TEAM call for new members!!! See the DREAM it UP! blog for details!
*****************************************************************************
This week I am in Cincinnati visiting my darling granddaughter and celebrating my son's birthday. It was sunny and warm Tuesday afternoon when I arrived, a welcome change from the winter storm warning I left behind me in Illinois! But unfortunately, I brought the cold weather with me and it has been rainy and cold since Wednesday morning! Oh well, it still feels like spring here.
Today I am sharing a project I created a while back. If some of you have seen, sorry, but it never hurts to see it again! Our challenge is to use our stencils in unusual ways this month, so this project incorporates stencils, distress products, and a plain wooden birdhouse. Here's my personal act of madness:

How to do it:

• Use Distress Stains and inks to add color to a natural wood birdhouse
• Let it dry or use a heat tool to dry it
• Stain 3 6"x6" pieces of Tim Holtz's grungepaper with peeled paint Distress Stain
• Let dry or heat dry
• Place the Leaves stencil (LX7007) on one piece of the green grungepaper and trace all the openings using a Micron 01 Black pen
• Repeat on the remaining two pieces of grungepaper
• Cut the Leaves out, leaving them connected just in the very center
• Stain a small piece of grungepaper with Distress Stain worn lipstick
• Use just the one whole flower from the Dogwood stencil (LG668) and outline the flower 3 times on the pink grungepaper
• Cut out the flowers
• Use hot glue to attach one whole set of leaves over the top of the birdhouse
• Cut the remaining two sets of leaves into 4 fronds each, set two aside
• Glue the individual fronds around the roof of the birdhouse, staggering them in between the leaves on the top
• Place the two fronds you set aside under the perch near the opening of the birdhouse
• Add the three flowers
• Put some Distress Stickles mustard seed in the centers of the three flowers and dry well

That's all there is to it! A great little decoration for those bird lovers you know.

Need some more crazy ideas? Check our "B" team

Dream It Up!
Lea Kimmel
Louise Healy
Stacey Rumsby
Terrece Siddoway

Wendy Jordan
Pam Hornschu

Happy Creating and Happy St. Patrick's Day (a little early)!

LS58 - Clover - Dry embossed and lightly brushed with green ink
LJ909 -Cathedral windows small - overlayed and brushed with more green ink

Louise

March Madness Week 1!

MAD I tell you! We're all going MAD! That is...MAD for Dreamweaver Stencils! Lol. Welcome to our "March Madness" challenge! Anything goes, and the more outside-of-the-box, the better. This year, we're aiming to play with non-traditional challenges whenever possible. So, break out all of your I-never-quite-knew-what-to-do-with-these-products stash, look at your Dreamweaver stencils in a whole new creative light, and get crafting! Oh, and don't forget to link those creations to the linkytool on the Dream It Up! blog for one of THREE chances to win the stencil of your choice!
Ever since its release in January, I have been "mad" for the new Zen Flower stencils (LX7024). It is a very large stencil (6"x6") so using all of it can be a challenge, but it is so beautiful that you want to use it every way you can think of when you're creating! I have been wanting to create a layered version of this flower and just had not found the time, until now. Mirror projects are one of my favorite "non-traditional" go to projects, so this week I created one using this wonderful new stencil and the three new leaf die cuts (DD003 Leafy Branch, DD002 Monstera leaf, and DM2001 Petite fern).

Here's my personal act of madness:

Start by tracing the Zen flower stencil on patterned paper with a Micron pen,
repeat the tracing using less and less of the stencil each time until you have several layers

Cut the layers out and use a coordinating ink to add a deeper color to every other layer

Edge each layer with a black marker and use foam tape between the layers
Make several flowers in various sizes.

Die cut the three different leaves in various shades of green

I painted a square mirror from IKEA with several colors of Distress Paint and let that dry
before adding my layered flowers and the die cut leaves.

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to use a ribbon to hang it with or just the hanger it comes with, so for now it doesn't have either, and is sitting on an easel (that's good too). The photos really can't do it justice. It has such depth and texture in person, you'll just have to take my word for for it! By the way, I was able to create all the flowers for this out of ONE 12" x 12" piece of decorative paper with enough left over to make one more small flower. That's MADNESS! what an easy, fun, beautiful way to use up a piece of left over paper! Oh, I almost forgot, I put it all together with ZipDry from Beacon Adhesives. 

Need some more crazy ideas? Check our "A" team, and our very special guest designer and Certified Dreamweaver teacher...

Georgia Sommers

Dream It Up!
Laura Drahozal
Lyn Bernatovich
Pam Hornschu
Heidi Erickson
Louise Healy 
Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,

Louise