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

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