Linnie Blooms Week at Stampendous!

If you've been following along with the Stampendous team this week, then you know we've been having a great time playing with Linnie Blooms, a new product line introduced at CHA in January. So many fun products to decorate and to decorate with. Mixed with Stampendous and Dreamweaver products, the sky is the limit...or at least the canvas.

Plus there are prizes!! Three lucky winners will each win a set of Linnie Blooms Fabric Mini File Folders just like they provide for our team. Plus, you'll receive a Dreamweaver Stencil background, and our Vintage Press Perfectly Clear Stamps™ Set. You'll be creating Mixed Media fabric accents in no time! These winners have to have a U.S. mailing address, but Aussie Fans - good news! The Stencil Specialists are sponsoring one Australian prize for this collaboration! You could win a Stampendous stamp, an LL sized Dreamweaver Stencil of your choice, a silicone buttons mold, and a Stampendous Embossing Powder (your color choice)... Wow!! Be sure to let us know you're from Australia in your comments!!

Wait! There’s more! Linnie Blooms will be giving away a FREE All New DIY Home Decor Kit! Make sure to comment on their blog and designer blogs posting in our hop this week!

Here's what I've created for this fun hop:

Front cover

Inside and pages

Back cover

These little canvas file folders are great to create a fun mixed media project! These came three to a pack so I have two more to play with soon! I'm going to keep mine next to me as I work and use it to jot down project and card ideas I get while I'm working. Hmmm...I'll probably have to keep it next to my bed too because sometimes the best ideas come while you're finally relaxing!

Materials used:

Linnie Blooms -mini file folders

Stampendous Products:
- CRR105 Cling Dream Text
- CRS5066 Cling Jumbo Lovely Garden
- DCS5006 Lovely Garden Die Cut Set
- Micro glitter - Pink, Lime, Gold
- Jeweled Gold Embossing Powder (back cover)
- rose gold embossing enamel (back cover)
- shabby green embossing enamel (back cover)

Dreamweaver Products:
- LJ902 Black eyed Susan (back cover)
- LJ899 Petals Background (inside covers and back)
- Regular Embossing Paste (back cover)

Other Products:
- Gesso, white
- Neon Inks in Electric Yellow, Electric Pink, Electric Green (by ImagineCrafts)
- Archival Inks - French Ultramarine, Jet Black
- Sakura Black Micron pen (to add antennae)
- Distress ink vintage photo
- Brilliance inks - Pearlescent Coral, Rocket Red
-  Quickie Glue Pen
- COPIC Sketch markers - YG03, Y13, R81
- Heat tool
- Ink blushers from Imagine Crafts
- May Arts ribbon
- Japanese screw punch
- Label maker and staples

Here's the list of participating designers!

Stampendous Blog

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Louise Healy

Janelle Stollfus

Wendy Price

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

Laura Drahozal

Kristine Reynolds

Tenia Nelson

Lyn Bernatovich

Pam Bray

Lea Kimmel

Linnie Blooms Blog

If you don’t see the Blog Hop post as soon as you click the link, you may need to click on the header or home button of the blog and scroll a bit to find the post. Some bloggers post for more than one thing each day. If you have trouble commenting on a blog, please let us know at submissions@stampendous.com. Thanks for your patience, designers across several time zones mean every post may not be active immediately.

Happy Creating,
Louise

Pop-Ups and Puppies Dreamweaver Style!

The Stampendous Design team has been having fun all week with TWO great challenges: Pop Ups and Puppies for our weekly Stampendous theme, and a blog hop with Linnie Blooms design team (be sure to go to the Stampendous blog to check out the details...there are prizes involved!) If that wasn't enough to keep us busy, we can't forget our Dreamweaver Thursdays!
Today I am combining Dreamweaver Thursday and the Pop Ups and Puppies theme in this fun Graduation card. Yes, it's that time of year when we all need a few of these cards around.

The front of the card, featuring LL3003 Hot Air Balloon, Regular Embossing Paste, inks,
and the "It's your day!" from Soaring Sentiments SSC1170

Another balloon floating in a sky of fluffy clouds created with the Picasso tool LL332,
another saying from Soaring Sentiments, and Congratulations from the Say It Today set SSC1190,
but the main character is the darling Dreamweaver Dog stencil LL3029, paste embossed with Matte Black,
sprinkled with Stampendous aged ochre embossing enamel while the paste was wet, heated when dry,
a little Gold Micro glitter on his collar, a cute graduation hat and gold tassel finish it all off!

A closer look at our graduate

A simple little square to pop him up!

With three different challenges today, there will be a lot of variety so be sure to stop over at these designers blogs for more fun inspiration:

Stampendous Blog

Kristine Reynolds

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Wendy Price

Pam Hornschu

Laura Drahozal

Alison Heikkila

Tenia Nelson

Linnie Blooms Blog

If you don’t see the Blog Hop post as soon as you click the link, you may need to click on the header or home button of the blog and scroll a bit to find the post. Some bloggers post for more than one thing each day. If you have trouble commenting on a blog, please let us know at submissions@stampendous.com. Thanks for your patience, designers across several time zones mean every post may not be active immediately.

Happy Creating,
Louise

More Picnic Fun!

Today wraps up our Stampendous Picnic Fun weekly theme. If you missed some of the fun, you can check over on the Stampendous Blog for this week's links. There have been so many wonderful ideas!

I love going on picnics with family and friends, so my card today shares that sentiment. These two little owl friends are having a picnic on a beautiful summer day in the shade of their favorite tree!

"Picnic buddies"

Can't you just feel the warm summer breeze...I wish I could, it's very cold here again and we would love our warmer days back. Oh well, soon enough.

To create this little "picnic" really didn't take very long because I keep a stash of images that I've made in the past and didn't use right away. So I looked, and found that I had paste embossed the Owl Pair stencil (LL3013) on tan paper  with Translucent Embossing Paste tinted brown with Metallic FX Cocoa. They were perfect for my picnic. I cut them out and set them aside while I created their background.

I placed the Leafless Tree stencil (LX7020) near the left side of a 4 3/4" x 6 3/4" piece of white cardstock and taped it down. Using a 1/2" stencil brush and Memento Rich Cocoa ink, I stenciled the tree. I also added a little Memento Tuxedo Black for some depth. The "leaves" were created using a 1/2" stencil brush and Memento New Sprout and Bamboo Leaves, keeping each color concentrated in little circular areas.  The "grass" was done with Bamboo Leaves and the "shade" under the tree with Memento Cottage Ivy.

Of course, the perfect image of a summer day is a sky filled with fluffy white clouds, so I used the Picasso tool (LL332), 1/2" brush and Memento Bahama Blue to add a few clouds.  The little saying is from Stampendous SSC1213 Life Words set and was a perfect sentiment for the feeling I was trying to express.

The red and white gingham ribbon from May Arts made a great tablecloth, but what would they eat at their picnic? I didn't think it would be very cute to have dead mice on the tablecloth, so I created some nice healthy little apples for them instead using the Lg Cherries stencil (LL3032), a 1/4" stencil brush, Brilliance Rocket Red ink, and a little Bamboo Leaves.  I made two "apples", cut them out, pressed them in VersaMark, sprinkled with clear embossing powder and heat set them.

I'm on vacation this week (at the happiest place on earth, you know, WDW!) with my family, so I'm just going to send you to the Stampendous blog for the list of wonderful links today!

Stampendous Blog

Happy Creating,
Louise

Dreamweaver Thursday

Happy Thursday and welcome Dreamweaver at Stampendous day! This week our overall theme has been "Picnic Fun". While my card today isn't all that "pic-nicky", it does remind me of beautiful summer gardens filled with colorful blossoms. (That's my take, and I'm stickin' to it!). Just pretend you're having your afternoon tea in a lovely, peaceful garden...aahhh, sounds perfect! Tea in a garden would be a wonderful picnic.

"Summer Garden"

How to do the Faux Cross-stitch Technique:

• Dry emboss the Shasta Flower Trio stencil (LL3031) on white cardstock (either by hand, or through a machine)
• Leave the stencil over the embossed image and use small stencil brushes to brush a LIGHT coat of color into the design (let me repeat that in case you didn't catch that...A LIGHT COAT!)
• Lay a piece of screen over the stencil and tape down at the top
• Continue adding more color to the different areas making sure to hold the screen tight against the surface. You can lift the edge of the screen to see where you may need more color
• Don't forget to use your Picasso toolhttp://www.stampendous.com/products-page/tools-dreamweaver-stencils/dreamweaver-stencil-picasso/ if you need it to help keep colors where they belong
• Remove the screen, shade at edges a little more if you want, then remove the stencil

Don't miss the rest of the team posts for today. Here's a link to Pam's blog where you can find the whole list!

Pam Hornschu

Happy Creating,
Louise

Picnic Fun!

Welcome to the Stampendous weekly theme hop! This week the team is working with the theme "Picnic Fun". Who doesn't love going on picnics...the sun, good company, tasty food, which includes a Cherry Pie of course! That's what this wonderful Lg Cherry stencil (LL3032) from Dreamweaver reminds me of, Cherry Pie....mmmmm good!

Sending "cherry" thoughts your way!

This was stenciled with 1/4" stencil brushes and inks, clean the stencil, line it back over the design and paste with Translucent Embossing Paste. It's a picnic to do this!

I'm on vacation this week, so stop over at the Stampendous blog to get a full list of Design Team members who are sharing more great picnic ideas!

Stampendous Blog

Happy Creating,
Louise

Dreamweaver Thursday at Stampendous

Continuing our tradition of posting Dreamweaver Stencil ideas every Thursday, I 'm sharing a card we did recently in a class I taught. It uses the beautiful Bearded Iris stencil (LL516) from Dreamweaver at Stampendous, and the Letterpress technique.

Bearded Iris stencil (LL516) and the Cling Filigree stamp set (CRS5073)

Letterpress Technique:

• Place the stencil face down on a clean paper towel
• Pat an ink pad all over the stencil (I used Brilliance Orchid on this) until you have a nice coat of ink
• Carefully place the stencil ink side up on the large platform of your die cut machine
• Place your cardstock over the inked stencil, then a Rubber Embossing Mat, and two cutting plates
• Run through the machine to press the ink off the stencil and onto the cardstock and emboss your image at the same time
• Stamp the filigree design on the edges of the card and place the Iris in the center
• You can do this with ink sprays too, just be sure to use a spray box to contain the mist

It just so happens that the beautiful Cling Filigree Stamp Set I used on the edges is part of the prize package for this week's Stampendous - Clear Scraps Blog Hop. 

This week we are playing with some fantastic products from our friends at Clear Scraps and excited to share our finished projects. You can image how much fun it is to have a clean canvas to start with but when you use Clear Scraps it’s a see-through canvas!

Our friends at Clear Scraps take pride in new product inventions with the best interactive albums and the best innovative designs.  In addition to their own fantastic and innovative products, Clear Scraps sells a huge selection of Stampendous products as they travel the nation visiting various consumer shows like Scrapbook Expos and others.

Clearly we have prizes!!! We have three prize packages up for grabs each will include our Cling Jumbo Filigree Stamp Set, a Jumbo Perfectly Clear Acrylic Handle, PLUS a Clear Scraps Mixable Album and some extra acrylic accents! Comment on our blog and each designer’s blog of the day throughout this week of our hop and the winners will be announced Monday, May 18th. Official Rules apply for Stampendous prizes. Please let us know where you live. As you know, prize winners have to be US residents EXCEPT….

Aussie Fans – Look HERE!An exciting treat for our fans “down under”!!
The Stencil Specialists , one of our Australian Wholesale Distributors, is going to offer a prize to one Australian fan every time we have a giveaway for US fans!!
How completely exciting and generous! Plus, they’re stocking way more than stencils from Stampendous now!

For the Clear Scraps Blog Hop week, The Stencil Specialists are offering:
A Stampendous Stamp, A Dreamweaver Stencil (LL size customer choice), A Silicone Mould,  A Tub of White Ultra Light Paper Clay and 3 packs of Adhesive Gems.  WOW… Now there’s a prize package! Comment each day on the Stampendous and participating designer blogs and be sure to include in your comment which area of Australia you live in! We’ll announce the winner the following week!

Enjoy more great creations over at these team member blogs:

Dreamweaver Thursday:

Stampendous Blog

Louise Healy

Pam Hornschu 

Laura Drahozal

Lyn Bernatovich
Jamie Martin
Alison Heikkila

Kristine Reynolds

Stampendous - Clear Scraps:

Stampendous Blog

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Lea Kimmel

Tenia Nelson

Clear Scraps Blog

Happy Creating,
Louise

Celebrate Freedom!

Welcome to the Stampendous - Dreamweaver Design Team final day of our theme "Patriotic Panache".  Yesterday, I shared a Red, White and Blue design featuring Dreamweaver products. Today I'm combining two great Dreamweaver stencils along with some of the fabulous Stampendous embossing powders in the Double Glitter technique (you can see a great video of this technique at the Dreamweaver Stencils by Stampendous youtube channel).

Here's what I created:

"Freedom, something to celebrate!"

There's nothing that says Patriotic like fireworks! I just love them, the closer the better! Here are some basic steps for this:

• Soap the back of the Fireworks stencil (LJ886) 
• Use a 1/2" or 3/4" stencil brush to brush away any extra flakes out the the openings and off the stencil
• Place a piece of Double-sided mounting paper (the same size as the stencil) on a cardstock mat that is slightly larger than the mounting paper, burnish it well
• Remove the release paper and place the stencil, soap side down, on the sticky paper
• Use a piece of the release paper to press the stencil firmly to the adhesive
• Starting with the largest firework in the upper left, I carefully sprinkled it with Stampendous Ruby Red embossing powder and tapped off the extra, making sure to tap off away from the other openings
• Next I added Silver Tinsel embossing powder to the stars and tapped off extra
• Then, Sky Blue embossing powder in the the next, Jeweled Gold embossing powder in the bottom left and more Ruby Red in the lower right
• Gently brush away any powders still clinging to the stencil
• Place the image face down on a clean paper towel or piece of paper and carefully lift the paper off the stencil, being sure to keep your stencil flat on the table
• Heat set all the powders
• Sprinkle the background with crystal glitter
• The Celebrate stencil (LS90) was paste embossed on dark blue paper with Glossy White Embossing Paste, stencil removed, then the wet paste sprinkled with crystal glitter
• The little bits of ribbon are from May Arts 

If you don't have the Fireworks stencil or embossing folder, look through your stencils and see what might work instead. Here's how I created fireworks before I had this wonderful stencil!

LJ892 Spider mums stencil

LJ892 Spider mums

I taped off the stems, paste embossed and added glitter while the paste was wet and let it dry. Then I reversed the stencil to add one more "firework"! Think outside the box, see how creative YOU can get with the stencils you have!

See more great Patriotic designs from these team members:

Stampendous Blog
Pam Hornschu
Louise Healy (that's me!)
Wendy Price
Lea Kimmel

Happy Creating,

Louise

Red, White & Blue!

Welcome to my first official post as a member of the Stampendous - Dreamweaver Design Team! I am so thrilled to be a part of this great, creative group.

Our theme this week is "Patriotic Panache".  What's more patriotic than the colors red, white, and blue. Pair those with the great Apron stencil and matching die from Dreamweaver to create a beautiful patriotic card. Perfect for a Memorial Day celebration invite, or summer BBQ!
Here's what I created:

LG736 Apron Stencil and DG736 Apron die

LG736 Apron Stencil and DG736 Apron die

The great thing about this technique is that it's a "two-fer"! You know, when you die cut two different patterned papers to create the apron, you get two great cards with the papers in opposite places.
Both aprons were first dry embossed on white cardstock. The patterned papers were backed with double sided adhesive before die cutting so the pieces would be ready to place. After the apron was cut, I outlined the red and white pieces with a red marker and the blue with a blue marker. I think it helps the pieces really stand out more by edging them with a marker (and I hate white edges on colored papers). I wanted them to be a little different, so I cut out one of the aprons and popped it up with foam tape. The little embellishments are bits of May Arts red twine held in place with silver star brads. I think they definitely give a "Patriotic Panache" feel!

For more Patriotic and Dreamweaver inspiration, check out these blogs:

Stampendous Blog

Pam Hornschu 

Louise Healy

Alison Heikkila
Amy Hurley-Purdie

Laura Drahozal

Lyn Bernatovich

Happy Creating,
Louise

Patriotic Panache Day 3!

The Stampendous Design Team's challenge this week is Patriotic Panache!  Check out these post today:

Stampendous Blog
Kristine Reynolds
Jamie Martin

Then check back each day for more links. I'll be posting on Thursday and Friday.

Happy Creating,
Louise

Patriotic Panache Day 2!

The Stampendous Design Team's challenge this week is Patriotic Panache!  Check out these post today:

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Janelle Stollfus

Then check back each day for more links. I'll be posting on Thursday and Friday.

Happy Creating,
Louise

Patriotic Panache!

The Stampendous Design Team's challenge this week is Patriotic Panache!  Check out these post today:

Pam Hornschu

Kristine Reynolds

Then check back each day for more links. I'll be posting on Thursday and Friday.

Happy Creating,
Louise