JULY...a month to DIE for!

Welcome to week two of our Dreamweaver Stencils July Challenge! Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend, I know I did!
All of this month the Dream Team are featuring our newest toys...our DIES! You'd be surprised at how many we have, and what fun things you can do with them...especially when used in conjunction with many of their matching stencils. They are such a simple way to create an effective card.
Here's an example of a quick, yet beautiful card for when you just don't have the time to be too "creative"!

LL516 - Bearded Iris and DD004 Long Nesting Ovals

The steps to this are easy:

• Lay a piece of natural colored cardstock in your spray box
• Lay the Bearded Iris stencil (LL516) face up on the cardstock (you can see Lynell's name when it is face up)
• Use Memories Mist  Plum Sake and Lavender Tea in the flower and but areas, you can use a second piece of paper to help shield the leaves if you want
• Use Memories Mist Wheatgrass and Liquid Pine in the leaves and stem
• Carefully remove the stencil and place in water for cleaning
• Spray a light coat of Pale Ale and Iridescent Memories Mist in the background of the iris
• Remove Iris from the spray box and let it dry
• Take the largest oval from the Long Nesting Ovals (DD004) die set and place it cutting edge down over the Iris image
• Tape in place with removable tape and run through your die cut machine
• Edge the oval with Distress Ink vintage photo
• The background is a piece of vellum with Dreamweaver Color Solutions pounced around the whole piece (Citron, Mojito Green, & Gold Star), let dry
• I used a permanent glue stick over the entire piece of vellum and stuck it to the front of an A2 natural, top fold card, tied a piece of May Arts ribbon around the whole front and made a bow off to the right
• Add the oval iris with foam mounting tape for added dimension
• The A2 card was then adhered to a piece of lavender cardstock to really bring out the purple in the iris

The "B" team has more great creations for you on their blogs too! And don't miss our July Guest Designer, Terri Sproul.

Dream It Up!

Lyn Bernatovich

Louise Healy

Alison Heikkila

Kristine Reynolds

Pam Hornschu
Kristi Parker Van Doren 

and

Terri Sproul (GD)

Happy Creating,

Louise

An InLinkz Link-up

March Madness Final Week!

Well March came in like a lion and it's going out like one too! I thought it was supposed to go out like a lamb, someone forgot to tell Mother Nature! I feel like I WILL go mad if it doesn't warm up soon. Tomorrow is my daughter's first golf match of the spring season...if they can get a tee in the ground!
The project I'm sharing with you this week for the final Dreamweaver Stencils March Madness Anything Goes theme just kind of came to me as I was trying to come up with ideas for samples using the new Dreamweaver Die Cuts.  I had shared my class samples using the new Sailboat stencil (LG755) with you back in February, and I had a couple of extra images left over from the letterpress technique that I had decided not to use for the class, so I decided to use the new Nesting Frames dies (DD001) to create a layered sailboat image and really give it dimension. Here's how it went:

Start with a Letterpress image of the Sailboat stencil . To get that, spray the back of the stencil with Memories Mists inks, I used two shades of blue, and carefully move the stencil to a paper towel on the thick platform of your die cut machine. Place a piece of white paper over the ink, then your rubber embossing mat, and two cutting plates. Run it through the machine and this is what you get!

Place a piece of removable tape face up and line the three smallest frames over the tape, cutting edge up

Carefully pick up the taped dies and place them over the image where you want them, cutting side down, Press the tape

down lightly to prevent the dies from moving during cutting

Sandwich the die and image between two cutting plates, cutting edges up (you won't see the die, just the back of your image) and run it through your die cut machine

Now your layers have been cut into frames

Trim along the edge of the Sailboat design, edge with a dark blue marker, and mount that to a piece of white cardstock that is slightly larger then the trimmed image using double sided adhesive, be sure to put adhesive around the inner edges of the frame openings so this layer stays flat all the way around

Apply one layer of foam tape to the largest frame, two layers to the middle frame, and three layers to the center layer

Go around the edge of each layer with a blue marker, then assemble them back where they belong.  Add them to a matching card embellished with some May Arts white rik rak and you have a beautiful, dimensional card!

I hope you enjoyed being "mad" with me this month, it has been a lot of fun! Thanks to everyone who has been playing along with us over at the DREAM it UP! blog, your creations have been wonderful.

Now check out the rest of the team's craziness....oops, creations!

Dream It Up!

Georgia Sommers (guest designer)
Lea Kimmel
Louise Healy
Cherylynn Moser
Terrece Siddoway

Wendy Jordan
Pam Hornschu

Happy Creating,
Louise

February Flutters Final Edition!

Is it spring yet???? It certainly does not feel like spring. We still have a lot of snow on the ground here and we're supposed to get up to 10" more this weekend! Uncle! Thank goodness the sun is getting stronger each day and hopefully we'll have a beautiful spring soon. Hope springs eternal as the saying goes.

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DREAM TEAM call for new members!!! See the DREAM it UP! blog for details!
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The Dreamweaver challenge for the month of February  is coming to a close, but we're pretty excited to share our final creations of "February Flutters", meaning anything that flutters. Heart flutters, wings that flutter, breezes, sails, etc. So, come along for the ride and link your own "flutterings" to the Dream It Up! blog for a chance to win the stencil of your choice. 

Meanwhile, here's my "fluttering" for the week featuring one of Dreamweaver's beautiful butterfly stencils and one of the die cuts.

LG706 - Monstera shape, LM121 - Butterfly
DD002 - Monstera leaf die cut

The background was created with the wonderful Monstera shape (LG706) stencil and Memories Mists spray on green cardstock. The Butterfly (LM121) stencil was paste embossed with a combination of some left over pastes on yellow cardstock, dried, then fussy cut. The three small Monstera (DD002) leaves were die cut from various shades of green cardstock. It has that warm "jungle" feel that I need right now.

The new die cuts are just wonderful. If you haven't seen them yet, flutter over to Stencil with Style to check them out.

Fly on over to the other team member blogs for their fluttering creations!

Dream It Up! 

Lea Kimmel 

Louise Healy (that's me!) 

Stacey Rumsby 

Terrece Siddoway 

Pam Hornschu 

Cherylynn Moser

Happy Creating,

Louise

Dreamweaver & Quietfire Awesome in Autumn Day 3!

Our amazing week of Awesome in Autumn continues! This week we are playing with the Quietfire Design team, and are so excited to play with their amazing images and sentiments. In their beautiful calligraphic style, their quotes and thoughts are the perfect addition to our Dreamweaver designs. Follow along with us, and leave your comments for an opportunity to win one of two wonderful prize packages:

Here's what I've created for today's post:

Dreamweaver LL517 - Cattails

Quietfire Design Quote Marks Friendship (6222)

I seem to be fixated this week with the Matte Black Embossing Paste, but it is so versatile and looks great with so many techniques that it is easy to make it your go to paste! Here's how I did it:

• Lay the Cattails stencil (LL517) face down in a spray box
• Spray the back of the stencil with a generous coating of Memories Mist Sprays (I used Amaretto and Wheatgrass)
• Carefully remove the stencil (hold it only by the edges) and place it on a clean paper towel, ink side up
• Lay a piece of glossy cardstock over the inked stencil and hold it in place while you gently rub the paper to the entire stencil
• Peel the glossy paper off the stencil at a slight angle to get the best movement of the ink
• Let it dry (the cattail part will be white and the background will have your color)
• Clean and dry the stencil
• Place the clean dry stencil over the white outline on the colored glossy paper and tape in place with removable tape
• Spread Matte Black Embossing Paste over the stencil using a palette knife and paste spreader
• Remove the stencil and let place in water for cleaning
• Let the paste dry
• While the paste is drying, place your clean dry stencil on the inside of the card and use small stencil brushes to stencil color on the image
• Stamp the saying from Quietfire Design next to the stenciled image
• Layer the front of the card, including the dry cattails
• Add some glitter to the "pods" of the cattails for a little sparkle!
• Use glue dots covered with glitter to accent the card

  Check out this week's awesomeness which includes...

Teresa Horner

Terre Fry

Cherylynn Moser

Louise Healy (you are here)

Lyn Bernatovich

Lea Kimmel

Laura Drahozal

Pam Hornschu

Dream It Up! blog

Quietfire Creations Blog

Happy Creating,

Louise

More Summer Fun!

The Summer Fun challenge from Dreamweaver Stencils continues throughout the month of July. You can win a great prize if you join our fun by submitting your creation through Mr. Linky on the DREAM it UP! blog, or by emailing a picture to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com. Don't be shy, the design team loves to see what you have created with these wonderful products!
My creation this week takes me back to when we lived in Colorado. The sun shines every day in CO, yes EVERY day (even if only for a little while), and we would often wake on a Saturday morning to the sounds of the hot air balloons that lifted off from the field in front of our house. The WHOOSH is unmistakable. The balloons are usually so bright and filled with beautiful designs, they are incredible to watch. Dreamweaver has a wonderful Hot Air Balloon stencil (LL3003) that brings back wonderful memories of those mornings in CO.  Here are some ideas for this great stencil:

LL3003 - Hot air balloon
Glossy White Embossing Paste with glitter

This first card was done by pasting the image on acetate with Glossy White Embossing Paste and sprinkling the wet paste with various colors of glitter.  The clouds are created by brushing on Brilliance Moonlight white with a 3/4" stencil brush, leaving them a little wispy. The mountains are torn pieces of cardstock with some of the Moonlight white brushed on the peaks.
This next card uses similar colors but a different technique:

LL3003 - Hot air balloon
Regular Embossing Paste stenciled with color

LL332 - Picasso
Use the edge on the left to create clouds!

This balloon was paste embossed with the Regular white matte embossing paste on a small gingham patterned paper. After the paste was dry, I returned the stencil to the image and used small stencil brushes to add color to the various parts of the balloon (I used a Picasso (LL332) to help keep colors clean). I cut out the balloon and ran a black marker around the edge so it would have more definition when I put it on the background. For the clouds on this card, you use a large stencil brush to add white ink in random clusters around the card, then use the end of the Picasso that looks like a cloud (be sure to tape off the openings at this end) and lay it near the edge of a cluster of white. Use a stencil brush with some light blue ink and starting on the Picasso brush color off the edge in a sweeping motion, and VOILA! clouds!  Add the balloon with some foam mounting tape to give it more dimension.
Now I know some of you are saying, "How many balloon cards do I need!", well here's another idea for this versatile stencil, make it into a vase!

This was done with Memories Mist spray through the stencil, cut out, edged with black, filled with "grass" and mounted on the front of decorative paper. How easy is that!
Be sure to stop at the rest of the design team blogs for more Summer Fun!

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu
Laura Drahozal
Wendy Jordan
Terrece Siddoway
Kristi Van Doren
Georgia Sommers
Lee Kellogg
Jessie Hurley
Liz Martin
Cyndi Bundy
Cherylynn Moser

Happy Creating,
Louise

Dreamweaver Thursday Dream Scheme

February is flying by and we still have had only dustings of snow. Not that I'm complaining, but it makes we wonder what March and April will bring!
Our February challenge for Dreamweaver Stencils continues and we would really love it if you would play along with our Green Theme. Be sure to check out this beautiful design from Sue Petersen that she sent Lynell to post for her, click here to see it. Thanks, Sue, for joining our fun!
My take on the "green" theme this week revolves around another kind of green, a golf green. In two weeks I'll be heading to FL to watch my daughter's college team play in several tournaments over their spring break, so I have golf on the brain right now. This card would be ideal for any golfers in your life, male or female, and is easy to reproduce.

Here are the steps:

• Lay the golf ball stencil (LS35) on white cardstock that is larger than the stencil (I'm sorry to say this stencil is retired, but maybe you can find one)
• Mist with Memories Mist Wheatgrass
• Remove and clean the stencil, let image dry
• Round corners and brush Distress Inks Frayed Burlap around the edges and lightly through the center
• Run the Triangle weave stencil (LJ912) and white cardstock through a die cut machine to emboss the background (I like to think of them as woven tees!)
• Use a foam applicator and Distress Inks Peeled Paint over the embossed image
• Edge with Frayed Burlap and mount to the front of a card
• Run the Houndstooth stencil (LJ913) and white cardstock through a die cut machine to emboss (this reminds me of divot tools)
• Use a foam applicator and Distress Inks Frayed Burlap to color
• Cut a 1" strip of the pattern and edge with more color
• Add small brown brads near the top and bottom of the strip
• Adhere it towards the left side of the card
• Type "fore you!" on the computer and print on white cardstock
• Apply Peeled Paint and Frayed Burlap to match the card
• Use foam tape to add the golf ball and saying to the card

Can you tell I've been around golf courses a lot! This card will be perfect for several golfers I know.
But the fun doesn't stop here, be sure to check out the rest of the team blogs, just click on the names below.

DREAM it UP!

Pam Hornschu
Laura Drahozal
Wendy Jordan
Terrece Siddoway
Kristi Van Doren
Georgia Sommers
Lee Kellogg
Liz Martin
Cyndi Bundy
Cherylynn Moser
Jessie Hurley

Happy Creating,
Louise

Positive-Negative

Welcome to another Thursday's Dream Schemes challenge! This week the Dreamweaver Stencils Dream Team was given another designer's choice, which led to my title of "Positive-Negative". You know the feeling...sometimes what you're creating is "positive" (you love it), but sometimes it can be a "negative" if you don't like what you made! Lucky for you, I can show you how to make even your negatives positive!

This beautiful Pear (LL563 Lg Pear) stencil is perfect for using the Memories Mist sprays that Dreamweaver sells. The process is a little messy, but the results make it well worthwhile. I created a "spray box" by taking a copy paper box and removing one of the long sides creating a three-sided box. Whenever I use the sprays I like to start with a clean piece of white paper in the bottom of the box (usually I cut an 8 1/2" x 11" in half to get two pieces 5 1/2" x 8 1/2"). Then center the paper you are spraying on the white paper, and center the stencil on that. Hold the bottle as upright as possible when you spray (aim towards the back of the box) so that the mist goes straight out them falls gently onto your design. By controlling your aim, you can somewhat control where you spray, but this is by no means an exact process! When you add a second color, try not to overlap your spray areas too much or it can get a little muddy looking. I started with a light coat of Mango Lemonade (yellow), added some Orange Juice and just a hint of Strawberry Daiquiri near the bottom of the pear, then finish off with Wheatgrass near the top of the pear. Now carefully lift your stencil off and behold a beautiful pear!

But we're not done yet! That was the positive image, but look at all that wonderful spray still sitting on the top of your stencil. I can't bear to waste things, so I take another piece of cardstock and carefully press on the ink that collected on the stencil. Lift it off to see the "negative" of what you just created. Two beautiful images every time you spray!

BUT WAIT!! We're still not finished! That piece of paper that you put in the bottom of the box is too beautiful to throw away. It will become the background paper for the front of our card! If you trim it right it will match up with your design perfectly. Cut a little mat for your image to help hide the white area where your sprayed paper sat. I left the background and the pear with just the spray so you could get a clear idea of how it works, but once the sprays are dry (just a couple of minutes) you could stencil another stencil in the background, or an overlay on the pear. Not sure what that means? Just wait...I'll show you another day!

Here's the negative of the spraying. As you can see, it too could be mounted into another beautiful card.

Just a note, the colors in these photos are darker than they actually are on the card. Hope you've enjoyed today's lesson. The possibilities with your stencils are endless!
As always, don't forget to check out the DREAM it UP! blog as well as the other designers blogs.

Happy New Year and Happy Creating,
Louise

Autumn in the AIr!

Day two of the Dreamweaver Stencils blog hop! Hopefully you hopped to the four blogs in yesterday's hop and left your comments for those fabulous creations! Today you should be hopping here from Liz's blog.
Do you recognize the image above from my sneak peek? It is Dreamweaver's beautiful Fall boarders stencil (LJ874) and the new Thanks stencil (LS1006) used to create a simple fall thank you note. The pumpkin corner was pasted with White Matte Embossing Paste. When the paste dries, you place your clean stencil back over the paste and use small stencil brushes to add color on top of the paste. Don't forget to use an edge of your Picasso (LL332) to add the veins on the leaves. Details count! Place the thanks stencil above the pumpkin and use a stencil brush to color that. Cut the edge with a deckle scissors, edge with a brown marker and mount into a great card. Supplies: White Matte Paste, Brilliance Inks - Sunflower Yellow, Pearlescent Orange, Rocket Red, Pearlescent Thyme, Pearlescent Ivy, Pearlescent Chocolate, COPIC Africano (E27), natural linen cardstock, fern green cardstock.

I love how versatile the Dreamweaver Stencils are when you are creating. In my classes we use one stencil and learn three techniques, otherwise we tend to keep using it the same way every time we pull that stencil out. This card highlights the other corner of the Fall boarders stencil, the beautiful oak leaves corner as well as the Autumn stencil (LM295). Again I simply used the white matte paste on the leaves, let it dry and put the stencil back on to color it (same Brilliance inks as on the first card). When coloring the acorns, I used openings in the Picasso to help keep that dark brown ink off the leaves. Don't forget the veins in the leaves too! After I colored the leaves, I used Memories Mists Bright Gold over the paper (even over the colored leaves). It gives a wonderful gold shimmer to the whole background. Stencil the Autumn with the Pearlescent Chocolate, and use that small stencil brush to sweep in some brown on all the edges. Mount that on dark brown cardstock, add a ribbon and one of Dreamweaver's new Embellishment Pins (I used a gold one and colored it to match my design with a COPIC marker, YR07). Mount that onto a burnt orange cardstock for another beautiful fall creation!

Last, but not least, this card uses both corners along with the Autumn stencil to really give that look of Indian Summer! This card is a little more work, but is worth the effort. Paste one of the corners with the white matte embossing paste and let it dry. Then paste the other corner with the white paste. Color with the Brilliance inks and stencil brushes using the Picasso to help with the details. Stencil the word Autumn in a "rainbow" of colors to match the rest of the design. Use a large stencil brush (at least the 3/4" brush) to brush brown in around the edges and into the background. I like to use a really large brush to do this, a No. 12. Most craft stores have these. Mount on brown and rust for another beautiful design.

Three stencils, one paste, endless possibilities! I will be posting some other ideas with these stencils next week so be sure to stop back and see some other techniques using these.

To purchase these wonderful products, you can find a retail store near you by going to Dreamweaver's Where to Buy page.

Don't forget to leave a comment here for another chance for a prize. Just link to the Dreamweaver Stencils site, choose your favorite stencil, paste and F/X powder, and tell me why you chose those. I will be selecting a random winner on Monday, October 4, 2010 from everyone who leaves me a comment. I'm the last hop of the day, but you can start again tomorrow at the DREAM it UP! blog for another inspirational day and more chances to win!

Official Blog Hop Info

We want you to have the chance to win your favorite stencil, embossing paste and Metallic F/X powder. For each comment you post along the hop, you need to choose a stencil, paste and powder you like best, identify it to us, tell us why it's your favorite and how you think you might use it. Be sure to comment on each blog along the hop!

Blog Candy - How to get it!

For each comment on the different blogs, you need to choose a different stencil, paste and Metallic F/X color...in case you win more than once! At the end of the three days, each member of the Dream Team will choose a random entry to win and post it on their blog by midnight of Monday, October 4.

Another Opportunity to win!

In addition to commenting on each designer's blog, you have another opportunity to win by becoming a follower on the DREAM it UP! blog. After you become a follower, leave a comment on that blog saying you have done that. With eleven designers and this, you have TWENTY-TWO chances to WIN!!! All winners will be selected by Random.org and posted on each designer's blog by midnight Monday, October 4.

Blog Hop Schedule

It is not imperative to follow this schedule, but different designers will be posting their creations on different days, so take one last look on Sunday to make sure you've taken advantage of all your opportunities to win blog candy! Here's the schedule

Friday, October 1st

Deborah

Georgia

Kim

Kristi

Saturday, October 2nd

Laura

Lee

Liz

Louise (you're here!)

Sunday, October 3rd

Pam

Terrece

Wendy

Happy Creating,

Louise