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

Inspired by Pinterest!

Hello everyone and welcome to the Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday challenge. This week we are looking for inspiration on the very popular Pinterest site. Our challenge is to find an idea on Pinterest that appeals to us and apply it to Dreamweaver products. If you've never seen or heard of Pinterest trust me when I say it can be addicting (but so much fun!).
The inspiration for my design this week came from a posting from Tammy Tutterow, an amazingly talented artist whose work I love. Click on the link to see her original creation
http://tammytutterow.com/2013/03/tuesday-tutorial-bee-happy-die-cut-shadowbox-frame/

Here's my version of it using Dreamweaver products:

Steps:

• Paste emboss the Hexagons (LJ806) stencil on brown paper using the Matte Yellow Embossing Paste
• Remove and clean the stencil, let paste dry
• Place the stencil back over the dry paste and use a 3/4" stencil brush to add Distress Inks Wild Honey and Vintage Photo over the whole background
• Paste emboss the Bee (LS76) stencil on yellow paper using the Regular Embossing Paste (matte white)
• Remove stencil and use a cut straw to carefully add Crystal glitter to the wings of the bee
• Clean and dry the stencil, let paste dry
• Return the stencil back over the dry paste and use a 1/8" stencil brush to add Memento Tuxedo Black ink to the body of the bee
• Cut out the bee and brush Vintage Photo ink around the edges
• Using just the leaves from the Flower and Leaves (LG625) stencil, use a small stencil brush to add a darker green over light green paper (I used Distress Inks Peeled Paint)
• Use the Picasso (LL332) to add some veins to the leaves
• Cut out the leaves, and edge them with Distress Inks Vintage Photo
• I used some beautiful dark pink May Arts ribbon to create a twisted ribbon flower and bud, and another May Arts ribbon to make a small bow
• The base card was a piece of cream cardstock that I brushed Wild Honey and Vintage Photo on to give it the same "distressed" look as the rest of the piece
• Assemble all the layers, use foam tape under the bee and large flower

I hope you've enjoyed today's post and that it has inspired you to check out more great ideas from the rest of the team. We are delighted to welcome Jennifer Dove as our guest designer for the month of June and look forward to seeing her creations!  

Dream It Up!

Jennifer Dove 

Laura Drahozal 

Lyn Bernatovich 

Pam Hornschu 

Heidi Erickson 

Louise Healy 

Jessica Griffin 

Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,

Louise