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!

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

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! I hope you are able to be with loved ones or dear friends today. I know I am thrilled to have all my family home together counting our blessings.

The Dreamweaver Stencils design team is creating everything but a card this month to show you how truly versatile these beautiful stencils really are. We hope you will be inspired to create something of your own and join our challenge this month. Just link your creation at the DREAM it UP! blog using the linking tool or email a photo and description of your project to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, you may win a prize!

This month we are also using the wonderful adhesives from Beacon Adhesives in our work. It's true, the right tool for the job makes it much easier, and the different products from Beacon allow you to work with virtually any media.
Today I am showing a couple of pieces from the past that you may or may not have seen before. Both projects use the Lotus stencil (LG720) that I featured as part of my decorative mirror last week. Two more great gift ideas for the holidays!

LG720 Lotus and leaves from LG625 Flower and leaves stencil

The pin was made by staining grungepaper with Distress Stain worn lipstick, outlining the Lotus stencil (LG720) with a Micron pen in multiple times to create layers, cut out and glued together with ZipDry by Beacon Adhesives. Stain a small piece of grungepaper with Distress Stain peeled paint and outline the leaves of  the Flowers and leaves stencil  (LG625) cut them out and adhere behind the flower. Use Beacon Adhesive Gem-Tac to attach a small pin back. Decorate a shawl or purse with your beautiful pin!

LG720 Lotus, LJ825 Jungle leaves, LJ896 Large flourish

This wall hanging was so easy!. This is a 10" black frame that came with a white mat that has a 4" opening. I used a large stencil brush and Distress Ink forest moss to stencil the Jungle leaves (LJ825) all over the mat. The beautiful Large flourish stencil (LJ896) was paste embossed with Matte Black Embossing Paste in one corner of the mat. The Lotus was paste embossed with Regular Embossing paste on white paper and left to air dry. After the paste is dry, place the stencil back over the paste and use small stencil brushes to add color (you can match it to any decor), I used Distress Inks broken china and faded jeans. Pounce a layer of Distress embossing ink over the color, remove the stencil and sprinkle with clear embossing powder. Tap off the extra powder and heat emboss. Trim the Lotus to fit on a black mat so that when you put it in the opening a small black mat shows around the flower. I thought all the backgrounds were too white, so I used a larger stencil brush (1/2" or 3/4" work well) and distressed the whole thing with Distress Ink vintage photo. Adhere the flower in the mat opening and place in the frame.
A huge thank you to Linda Neff who has been our guest designer this month. Her creations are inspiring! Here are the other team members creating for you this week:

Dream It Up! 

Linda Neff (GD)

Lea Kimmel 
Louise Healy  
Terrece Siddoway 
Pam Hornschu 
Cherylynn Moser

Happy Creating,
Louise

Holiday Celebrations Week 3!

Welcome to week two of the Dreamweaver Stencils Design Team challenge "Holiday Celebrations!". We are creating everything but a card this month to show you how truly versatile these beautiful stencils really are. We hope you will be inspired to create something of your own and join our challenge this month. Just link your creation at the DREAM it UP! blog using the linking tool or email a photo and description of your project to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, you may win a prize!

This month we are also using the wonderful adhesives from Beacon Adhesives in our work. It's true, the right tool for the job makes it much easier, and the different products from Beacon allow you to work with virtually any media.
This week I've created a Christmas mirror to decorate your home with or to give as a gift to a dear friend at this wonderful time of the year. You are going to think I work for IKEA, but really I just love the clean lines of their various products because they are the perfect base for so many craft projects! Here's my project using a red square mirror from IKEA (only $2.99):

This has a few more steps than some projects might, but they are all easy, and dry fast (an important feature in these busy days leading up to the holidays!).

• Start with a red mirror, or paint a natural mirror red with an acrylic paint
• Tape LG731 Holly flourish stencil along the bottom right corner of the mirror using removable tape
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply Metallic Gold Embossing Paste
• Remove your stencil and place in water for cleaning later
• Use a soft brush to carefully sprinkle Metallic F/X Powder Kiwi on the holly leaves and Kimono Red on the berries
• Heat with an heat tool until the paste is bubbly and dry to the touch
• Clean and dry your stencil
• Repeat these steps with the stencil now in the upper left corner of the mirror
• Tape LL3009 Christmas script stencil in the upper right corner of the mirror with removable tape
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply Metallic Gold Embossing Paste
• Remove your stencil and place in water for cleaning later
• Use a soft brush to carefully sprinkle Metallic F/X Powder Kiwi on the holly leaves and Kimono Red on the berries
• Heat with an heat tool until the paste is bubbly and dry to the touch
• Clean and dry your stencil
• Use a piece of Swiffer cloth (you know, the ones for dusting!) to careful wipe away the excess powders (there might still be a little sheen on the surface of the mirror, it actually looks pretty in the background of the design
• Color a piece of Tim Holtz Grungepaper with Distress Stain peeled paint and dry with a heat tool
• Tape LG700 Lg poinsettia stencil at one corner of the colored Grungepaper with removable tape
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply Pearlescent Embossing Paste
• Remove your stencil and place in water for cleaning later
• Use a soft brush to sprinkle on Metallic F/X Powders - Goldfinch in center, Kiwi on the leaves, and Pixie Dust and Kimono Red on the flower ( you want most of the paste covered, but it doesn't have to all be covered)
• Pick up the piece and tap from underneath to help "jump" the powders around to finish coating the paste
• Flip it over a waste basket to tap of some of the excess powder
• Heat with a heat tool until bubbly all over the image, cool well
• Cut out the image leaving a small green edge all the way around
• Clean and dry your stencil and repeat the steps for a second poinsettia
• Use a Swiffer to wipe away excess powders from the poinsettias
• Tape LG720 Lotus stencil to part of the Grungepaper and use the same steps as for the poinsettia to create two Lotus flowers (except there is now Kiwi powder on these)
• Cut out the images
• Use a Black Micron 02 pen to outline holly leaves from LL3005 Holly and swirls stencil using left over pieces of the green Grungepaper, or you may need to stain some more depending on how you did your flowers
• Cut them out in clusters or as individual leaves 
• Arrange the flowers and holly leaves on the lower left edge of the mirror
• I used Beacon Adhesives 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue to glue everything in place. Notice I did not glue to the edges of the pieces, just in the middles so the edges could lift up and have more dimension
• The mirror comes with two eye screw hooks which I attached on the back near the very top of the mirror, then threaded a beautiful green ribbon from May Arts through them and tied a bow to create a beautiful hanger for my mirror

The other team members have more great ideas for you this week, so leave me a comment then hop on over to check them out!

Dream It Up! 

Linda Neff 

Laura Drahozal 

Stacey Rumsby
Lyn Bernatovich 
Pam Hornschu 
Heidi Erickson 
Louise Healy  
Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,

Louise

Creative Chemistry Day 3

The fun continues in day 3 of Creative Chemistry with Tim Holtz. He is keeping us very busy and I'm loving every minute of it! Today one tag needs drying time, so I will have to share that another day, but I have finished the other techniques!
Day 3 tags
UPDATED with Cracked Glass

Faux Cracked Glass

Day 3 Tags - Creative Chemistry 102

Distress Glittering

Distress Glitter Rock Candy

Brayer technique

Smudge stamping

Smudge stamping - first and second impressions

Happy Creating,
Louise

Creative Chemistry Day 2!

Updated with the rest of the tags!

Today's techniques in Creative Chemistry 102 with Tim Holtz were all about Distress products and stencils. Being on the Dreamweaver Stencils design team, I knew I was going to have a lot of fun today! I always love to learn how to apply other products to our stencils. There are several homework assignments today, so keep checking back for updates as I complete them!
Day 2 Tags:
First tag of Day2:

Mixed Media Layering

Mixed Media Layering 

Mixed Media Layering - the layers up close!

Embossing with Stencils

Embossing through Stencils

Stencil Stamping

 

Stencil Sketching

Ink Monoprint

Paint Monoprint

.

Happy Creating,
Louise

Creative Chemistry 102 Day 1

Creative Chemistry 102 with Tim Holtz began today and let me tell you, he had us working hard! We learned six wonderful techniques for the new Distress Paints. I'm thrilled because I've had them for a while now, and have used them a little, but now feel confident to incorporate them into a lot more projects. That's what it's all about, learn new things and how to apply them. It's what makes our crafting so much fun!
Here are the tags I created today (there is one tag I have not finished because I'm waiting for the UPS truck!).

UPDATED TO ADD FINAL TAG:

Eroded Metallic

Day 1 Techniques (l to r)
Marbling, Colored Crackle, Altered Surface
Stamping Resist, Industrial

Distress Paint Marbling

Colored Crackle

Altered Surface

Stamping Resist

Industrial

 Here are some close ups of Colored Crackle and Altered Surface

Hope you've enjoyed my creations, I know I had fun making them!

Happy Creating,
Louise

Festively Distressed Fall!

The Dream Team designers are so excited to have the opportunity to play along with some unique Ranger Products in the Tim Holtz line...specifically, the Distressed Embossing Powders! Our own Louise Healy demonstrated how fabulous these are with the Dreamweaver Stencils when she created this card for a fun class at CHA Summer 2012:

Apparently, Tim Holtz agreed with all of us on this unique use of his product, so he very generously had Ranger (thanks, Patti!) send the team some samples to play and blog with. So...here we go!

Here's my post for today:

Start with a natural finish wood mirror, I used
an Ikea 10" square mirror

Use the Ranger Adirondack Snow Cap Dabber to
put a white washed look over the whole mirror.
Let it dry, or use a heat tool.



Apply Distress Stains to create sky and ground areas,
wiping gently between colors with a soft cloth or paper towel.

Dry with a heat tool to make sure the stains are
completely dry before continuing.

Tape LG687 - Geese stencil to the upper right corner.
Use a small stencil brush to apply Distress Ink black soot over the design.

Use foam to apply a layer of Distress embossing Ink over the geese.

Sprinkle with Distress embossing powder black soot,
tap off excess and heat thoroughly. Brush gently with
hand when cool to remove the distress crystals.

Place LL517 - Cattails stencil in lower right corner and
use a small stencil brush to apply Distress Inks vintage photo.

Apply a layer of Distress embossing Ink.
Sprinkle the pods with vintage photo Distress powder, and the
leaves with frayed burlap Distress powder. Tap off excess and heat set.

Repeat the cattails two more times in the left corner.
Add additional inks to create more depth (I added evergreen bough and
broken china to the "water" area using a small stencil brush. I also
added some spice marmalade behind the cattails using Cut 'n Dry foam
then finished the edge with walnut stain Distress Ink on a foam applicator)

Finish it off with some garden twine and a charm, plus a few
of the leaves I had left over from last weeks project! 

If you missed last week's post on how to create pasted embellishments with your stencils, click here.
See that little mirror in the mirror, that is from a CHA class that I took with Tim Holtz one year. It was the first time I had worked with his Distress Embossing Powders and I have been hooked ever since! You really need to give them a try, they give such texture to your projects!

For the next four weeks, on our regular Thursday posts, we will be featuring the wonderful things that you can do with Tim's Distress Powders and Dreamweaver Stencils. Leave comments on each of the team blog posts for opportunities to win one prize package for each of the four weeks:

Ranger Ink Blog

Dream It Up!

Wendy Jordan

Liz Martin

Kristi Van Doren

Lee Kellogg

Pam Hornschu

Cherylynn Moser

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Cyndi Bundy

Terrece Siddoway

Georgia Sommers

Don't forget to play along with the Dream Team's monthly challenges for more opportunities to win some great stencil designs! October's challenge is Festively Fall, and November is CAS (clean and simple) Christmas! Link your creations on the Dream It Up! blog, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com. Join us on Facebook as well! Lots of inspiration, and lots of fun!

I didn't even know this was the prize stencil when I created my project this week!
Here are a couple of other cards I have created with the Double-glitter technique substituting Ranger's Distress Embossing Powders for the glitter and then heat setting when finished.

LG745 - Tree line

LG743 - Stylized dahlia

LL379 - Tall palm trees

Happy Creating,
Louise