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

Christmas in August Week 3

The days are definitely getting shorter here in northern Illinois, and the nights have been a little cooler too. Before we know it the holidays will be upon us again, so it's  not a bad idea to start putting some thought into holiday card making in August!
This week I want to share another card using the same two stencils I showed you at the beginning of the month. Here's the first card again, just to remind you:

LG731 Holly Flourish
LL3009 Christmas script

Now here's another design featuring the same two stencils.

LG731 Holly Flourish
LL3009 Christmas script

I know! Can you believe how different they look. Even though each uses the Glossy Green Embossing Paste on the Christmas stencil, by using different finishing techniques you get a completely new look.
For the second card:

• Use a small stencil brush and Brilliance Ivy to color the Holly Flourish design on white or cream cardstock, moving the stencil around to fill the background layer
• Let dry or heat set
• Rouge Distress Inks around the background with a sponge of foam pad(Fired Brick and Mustard Seed)
• Tape down the Christmas stencil on white or cream cardstock with removable tape
• Apply Glossy Green Embossing Paste with the paste spreader
• Remove and clean the stencil, let paste dry thoroughly
• Rouge Distress Inks over the pasted image with a sponge of foam pad(Fired Brick and Mustard Seed)
• Edge both layers with the Ivy ink
• Add a beautiful ribbon around the background layer and mount it on the front of the card
• Add the Christmas layer with foam tape

Next week we will begin our week long blog hop with our friends in the UK, you won't want to miss it! We'll be highlighting the beautiful new Christmas/Winter designs just released at CHA AND you might win some great stencils!

So be sure to join us starting on Monday for more Christmas in August.
Now check out the other great designs our team has come up with for this week.

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu
Laura Drahozal
Cherylynn Moser
Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway

Kristi Van Doren

Georgia Sommers

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,
Louise

Christmas in August

The Dreamweaver Stencils design team has a real treat for you this month...Christmas in August! We'll start by featuring some of our favorite designs from Christmas' past, and lead into a wonderful week long blog hop during the week of August 20th thru the 25th that will feature the newest designs just released at Summer CHA. You won't want to miss any of the fun!

For this first week, I chose a simple but elegant combination of stencils and techniques to share with you. Here it is:

LG731 Holly Flourish
LL3009 Christmas script

The beautiful Holly Flourish (LG731) stencil was emboss on Natural linen cardstock, deckled along the bottom edge, and Gold Krylon Pen was used to edge all the way around that layer before attaching it to the front of a dark green card.

The Christmas script stencil (LL3009) was paste embossed using the Glossy Green Embossing Paste on Natural Linen cardstock. When the paste was dry, the stencil was put back over the pasted image and a finger dauber was used to apply Palette Stamp and Stick glue over the green paste. The stencil was removed and a heat gun was used to gently heat the glue to make it tacky. Once the glue was ready, I layed a sheet of Green Leaf over the image and used a 1/2" stencil brush to tap the leafing in place and brush away the excess.  Use Gold Krylon around the edges and mount on to a strip of dark green cardstock then to the front of your card.  

Want to get into the holiday spirit a little early? Link your own Christmas in August creations to the Dream It Up! blog mr. linky, or email pics of your creations to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, for an opportunity to win this wonderful newly released Heart Ornaments:

Don't you just love this new design? There are several newly released stencils and products from CHA last month, which you can view for yourself HERE. During the week of August 20th - 25th, the Dream Team will be posting all week with a hop on Saturday to top it all...featuring all of these new fabulous designs...in collaboration with the Woodware UK team. Just a little hint...you may want to buy all of these new designs now, so you are ready and waiting for the inspiration that will come your way that week! Meanwhile, check out what the rest of the team has been creating this week:

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu

Laura Drahozal
Cherylynn Moser

Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway

Kristi Van Doren

Georgia Sommers

Lee Kellogg
Jessie Hurley

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,
Louise

"Thursday's Dream Schemes"

Welcome to "Thursday's Dream Schemes"! This week the Dream Team was given a sketch challenge to use for inspiration. For those who aren't familiar with a sketch challenge, it means we are given the basic layout for the card and are free to use any colors, papers, images we want to create a card in the format provided. Here is this week's sketch


As you can see, it just provides the basics for you to use as inspiration for your design. I'm still trying to design my Christmas card so I chose a simple Christmas design for this week.


I started with Bo-Bunny's beautiful Noel Holly paper for my background. The reverse side of the holly paper is just as gorgeous, so I used that to paste emboss the Dreamweaver Stencils Holly Flourish (LG731) with Glossy Red Embossing Paste and set that aside to dry. The reverse side has some areas with pine boughs which worked perfectly to use for the Season's Greetings (LS91) sentiment also done in Glossy Red Embossing Paste. When both pieces were dry, I put the clean stencil back over the red paste and used a sponge dauber to apply Palette Stamp and Stick to the surface of the paste. I then used a small paint brush to apply Dreamweaver's Metallic F/X Rose Berry (F/X 08) over the image. This helped to take away some of the brightness of the red paste so the image matched the Holly Paper better. Next time, I think I will put the powder in the paste before I apply it, so I can control the color even more. The dark green layer is also from Bo-Bunny, it is Noel Stripe using the reverse side. Use the Tonic Dual Corner Punch to punch the ticket corners on all the layers. I don't like white edges of paper showing, so I used a COPIC marker to edge all my layers (G29 Pine Tree Green). Adhere the Holly Swirl to the dark green layer, then to the background holly paper. Add a ribbon down the right side and adhere to the front of your card. Use foam mounting tape to apply the sentiment to the left side of the card front. Very simple, but elegant.
Don't forget to visit the other Dream Team members today to see all the beautiful projects. Just click on their names on the left side of the blog. And don't forget to stop by every Thursday for more great ideas from the Dream Team.
Happy Creating,
Louise