Old, New, Borrowed, Blue Finale!

June is quickly coming to an end and the Fourth of July is only a week away!!! Slow down and enjoy the creations the Dream Team has for you in this final week of June. At Dreamweaver Stencils, we love to make our monthly challenges something for everyone, and not so strict that no one wants to play along. This month our challenge is, "Old, New, Borrowed, Blue", with the obvious thought being a wedding theme...but not necessarily. Add an old embellishment or picture. Use a new stencil design or technique. Borrow, or CASE (copy and say everything) another designers project, and obviously, blue...is blue. Where will YOUR creative process take you for this month? We'd love to see! And remember, linking your creations with the Inklinkz tool at the end of the team posts, provides you with the opportunity to win the stencil of your choice!
Here's my creation this week:

LL447 Lg Fleur de lis with LJ841 Fleur de lis in the background

This fits the "old" and "blue" categories nicely I think! The stencils, LL447 Lg Fleur de lis and LJ841 Fleur de lis,  were both originally released in 2003, so they are "older" stencils, and the technique I used gives it an "old fashioned feel". It is so pretty in person, pictures never really do justice to touching and feeling!
Here's how to do it:

• Tape the background stencil (LJ841) to a piece of black cardstock with removable tape
• Use a sponge applicator (the ones from IMAGINE Crafts work great) to apply a coat of VersaMark (also from IMAGINE Crafts) over the entire stencil, making sure to get in the thin grid lines
• Remove the stencil and place in water for cleaning
• Sprinkle the image with Clear Embossing Powder (not the SuperFine, just regular), tap off the excess and heat emboss
• Do the same thing with the Lg Fleur de lis
• Choose a couple of colors of acrylic paints (I used Distress Paints weathered wood and broken china), place a small puddle of the lighter color on your craft mat and pick it up with a foam applicator to apply in all over the embossed image (be generous, you want a nice layer of paint), then blend in some of the darker color
• Do that to both embossed pieces
• Let them dry until they are almost completely dry, use a slightly damp cloth or paper towel to GENTLY remove some of the paint off of the embossed areas, be patient!
• Let them dry thoroughly
• It's hard to see in the picture, but I used Tim Holtz's edge distressing tool to rough up the edges of both painted layers, it exposes the black edge of the paper and really adds to the aged feeling
• The background layer was added to the front of a black base card, and the Lg Fleur de lis was added with foam mounting tape
• Some beautiful ribbons from May Arts always give a great finishing touch

The "B" team has more great creations for you on their blogs too!

Dream It Up!

Lyn Bernatovich

Louise Healy

Alison Heikkila

Kristine Reynolds

Pam Hornschu

Gill Wilson

Happy Creating,
Louise

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