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

Holiday Celebrations Week 1!

Ready to be festively distressed once again? The Dream Team have been playing with Ranger's Distress Paints, and are ready to inspire you to be distressed as well...paint distressed that is! Dreamweaver Stencils are the perfect choice to mix with all things festively distressed, as nothing shows off color and texture better than great designs. By following our hop and leaving love along the way, you have the opportunity to win a great prize package including five Ranger Distress Paints and five Dreamweaver Stencils! Here's the lineup for today, including our November Guest Designer:

Dream It Up!

Linda Neff (GD)

Cyndi Bundy

Lyn Bernatovich

Terrece Siddoway

Wendy Jordan

Heidi Erickson

Cherylynn Moser

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy (you're here)

Stacey Rumsby
Pam Hornschu

Lea Kimmel

This is also our first posting day featuring our new monthly challenge, "Holiday Celebrations", and for the entire month we will be demonstrating ways to use Beacon Adhesives' entire line of products with Dreamweaver to create special projects in home decor and gifts of love. Here's mine:

To create this Holiday decoration I started with a 4" x 4" x 1" canvas, Distress Paints, and Dreamweaver's  Holly Swirls stencil (LJ891). 

I held the stencil in place on each side and used a foam applicator pad to apply a combination of iced spruce, bundled sage, and peeled paint Distress Paint, heat setting each side as I went.

I used the same combination of colors to stencil the front of the canvas, then heat set it.

Next I add several colors of Distress Inks over the entire piece. (wild honey, festive berries, vintage photo, walnut stain) I misted the whole thing with a little water and dried it with a heat tool. The paint resists the inks so it looks like it is sitting on top of the colors. 

In order to paste emboss the Skates stencil (LL3016), I put a small stack of paper squares in the center opening on the back of the canvas, this kept the center from pushing in while I applied the paste.  I taped the Skates stencil to the front of the canvas at an angle and applied Metallic Silver Embossing Paste using a palette knife, removed the stencil and carefully sprinkled just the shoe part of the skates with Crystal glitter, and set it aside to dry.

While the skates were drying, I stenciled the holly leaves and berries from the To:From holly stencil (LS64) with a 1/4" stencil brush and Distress Ink pine needles five times, cut them out, and edged them with vintage photo ink.

Once the silver paste was dry, I used Beacon Adhesives Zip Dry to apply the holly leave clusters where I wanted them. It dries pretty quickly so I was able to add the ribbon all the way around the canvas using Beacon Adhesives FABRI-TAC. I gave that a few minutes to dry before adding three antique buttons to each side using Beacon Adhesives GEM-TAC.

Here's how it looks from the side:

To finish off near the top so the ribbon wouldn't pull apart, I added some of Tim Holtz's Tinsel twine that I first pounced with Adirondack Mushroom Alcohol Ink and heat a little (it makes it look a little more antiquey...yes that IS a word!)

Next I wanted to finish off the back of the canvas, so I cut a square of Manila cardstock to fit it, stenciled the Holly swirls(LJ 891) with Distress Paint pine needles using a foam applicator and heat set it. I applied Distress Ink over the  paint in the same colors as the front, misted it, and dried it with the heat tool.  The Skate stencil (LL3016)  was placed on at the same angle as the front image, but this time I used Distress Ink festive berries on a foam applicator to color the image. I just love how the Distress Paint comes thru the ink so it ends up looking like the skates were put on first and then the holly.  I distressed the edges with vintage photo and walnut stain inks, and adhered it to the back of the canvas with Zip Dry from Beacon.

Back side of the ornament

Last, but not least, I added a little Distress Paint pine needles along the edges and wiped it with a soft cloth while it was still wet to soften it a little, then added Distress Stickles fired brick to the berries of the holly

Ranger products used:
Distress Paints, Distress Inks, Distress Stickles,
Adirondack Alcohol Ink, Foam Applicators, Felt Applicator

Dreamweaver Stencils products used:
LJ891, LL3016, LS64
Metallic Silver Embossing Paste, Stencil brush

Beacon Adhesives products used:
Zip Dry, FABRI-TAC, Gem-Tac

Leave me a comment for a chance to win a prize, then hop on over to the other designers' blogs to see what great projects they've created for you!

Happy Creating,

Louise

Creative Chemistry Day 4!

Another fun day at Creative Chemistry 102 with Tim Holtz! Today was all about alcohol inks, which I absolutely LOVE working with on projects!
If you are looking for my weekly Dreamweaver Stencil post, click here.

Here are tags for Day 4:

Creative Chemistry 102 - Day 4 Tags

Faux Patina

Tinted Tinsel

Ombre

Monoprint

Faded Layers

Happy Creating,
Louise

Glitter, glitter and more glitter!

 

The Dream Team has a big day today! Not only are we into week three of our Pinterest Inspired challenge, we are also playing with Ranger's Stickles Dry Glitter in the mix! We've had so much fun playing with jars of sparkly goodness, that we want to share the fun with two lucky crafters! 

 

  

Just visit everyone on the list below, and leave comments for everyone. Two winners* will be randomly selected and announced Thursday, July 4th...what a great day for a celebration! Each prize package includes a mix of five Ranger Stickles Dry Glitter, a mix of sixDreamweaver Stencils, and jar of Dreamweaver Translucent Paste, and a Palette Knife for spreading. If you want to add to the fun, play along with our Pinterest challenge and link your own creation to the linkytool on the Dream It Up! blog before July 1st for a chance to win this month's stencil prize. 

This weekend my Granddaughter had her first trip to the beach and loved it! It brought back so many wonderful memories of the weeks we spent at the Outer Banks of North Carolina years ago. We used to go for two weeks every summer with some dear friends of ours. But, alas, as happens, our kids grew up and went to college and spent all our money! Someday soon we'll have to restart those wonderful vacations. So needless to say, my inspiration this week has a beach theme (again!). Here's the link to my "At the beach" board on Pinterest, guess which picture inspired me this week! Now here's what I created using the wonderful Dreamweaver products and Ranger Stickles Dry Glitter.

LL329 - Beach chair

I used the double glitter technique. Here's how it was done:

• Cut a piece of Dreamweaver's Double sided Mounting Paper the same size as the stencil
• Cut a red cardstock mat 1/4" larger each direction
• Remove the release paper from one side of the double sided mounting paper and adhere it to the red mat
• Apply Dreamweaver's Hawaiian Soap to the back side of the Beach chair stencil (LL329), using a large stencil brush to brush away any crumbs of soap from the openings
• Remove the other piece of release paper and place the stencil soap side down on the sticky surface, making sure all the small bridges of the stencils are pressed down
• Apply Stickles Dry Fine Glitter to the umbrella and chair. I used Christmas Red in the umbrella, Cinnamon in the umbrella pole, True Blue on the chair, tapping off between each color
• Use a large stencil brush to gently brush away any glitter clinging to the stencil
• Place the image glittered side down on the table and carefully peel the paper off the stencil, be sure to hold the stencil down with your other hand so it does not bend
• Sprinkle the bottom area of the chair with Platinum stickles and the rest of the background with Distress Stickles dry glitter clear rock candy
• Apply a piece of double sided mounting paper near the bottom of a piece of white cardstock
• With the release paper still on, use the Picasso (LL332) stencil, and 1/2" brush and some blue ink to create clouds in the sky area of the card
• Remove the release paper and apply Platinum stickles across the "sand" area
• Use foam tape to mount the beach chair to the lower right corner.
• Perfect for a summer birthday, or fourth of July card!

Here's the list of sparkly-Pinteresting players:

Dream It Up!

Cherylynn Moser

Leadonna Kimmel

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy (you're here)

Jessica Griffin

Caroline Duncan 

Stacey Rumsby

Pam Hornschu

Heidi Erickson

Cyndi Bundy

Terrece Siddoway

Lyn Bernatovich 

Jennifer Dove

The Ranger Blog

Happy Creating,

Louise

Inspired by a Pin!

This month the design team at Dreamweaver Stencils has been given a fun challenge, we are to base our creations on something we've been inspired by on Pinterest. You can search for virtually anything on Pinterest and it will bring back hundreds (or more!) of ideas and images. One of my favorite flowers is the Bird of Paradise, so I decided to see what was out out there. Oh my! There was everything from garden ideas to shoes, fabric, tattoos, botanical prints, photos, watercolors, quilling, and LOTS more. I found some incredible vintage prints, and this amazing quilt in my search. So while no one image was my inspiration this week, I definitely was inspired to create a card using Dreamweaver's beautiful Long bird o'paradise stencil (LL454) and the Jungle leaves (LJ825) stencil for the background. Here's how it came out:

LL454 Long bird o'paradise
Glossy Green Embossing Paste under Crackle Embossing Paste
LJ825 Jungle leaves
Dry embossed with the Strié technique applied

I love the combination of bold color (orange) and soft (green) background, and the Crackle Embossing Paste was the perfect touch to give it a lot more texture. Here are the steps:

• Tape your stencil to smooth cream cardstock with removable tape
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply a coat of Glossy Green Embossing Paste
• Remove and clean the stencil, let the paste dry completely (about 50 minutes)
• Tape the stencil back over the dry paste and apply a coat of Crackle Embossing Paste
• Remove and clean the stencil, let the paste dry completely
• In the meantime, dry emboss the Jungle leaves stencil on white cardstock with a die cut machine and rubber embossing mat
• Remove the stencil, place the leaves raised side up on a piece of copy paper and use a 1/2" or 3/4" in brush to sweep color in from the edge towards the center all along one side, turn the image and do the next side, repeat until all four sides have been colored. I used Distress Inks Peeled Paint and Forest Moss.
• Mount the leaves on orange cardstock
• Add two small strips of orange near the bottom
• To color the flower, place your clean stencil back over the dry crackle paste and use 1/4" stencil brushes to add color. Use a Picasso (LL332) stencil to help shield areas from other colors.
• On the flowers I used Distress Inks Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Faded Jeans and Dusty Concord. Yes, I really did! One the leaves I used Peeled Paint and Forest Moss.
• Use the larger green brush from the background leaves to add color around the edge of the flowers
• Mount the flower on a blue or purple mat to pick up the little part of the flower with blue on it
• Use foam tape to add the flower to the front of the card

For more Pinterest inspired creations, hop on over to the rest of the team blogs. Don't forget, you are always welcome to join our challenge. Just link your creation on the DREAM it UP! blog, or send Lynell a photo and description and she will post it for you. Of course, the possibility of winning a new stencil is always good motivation, so get creating!

Dream It Up!

Jennifer Dove 
Laura Drahozal
Lyn Bernatovich
Pam Hornschu
Heidi Erickson
Louise Healy (you're here!)
Jessica Griffin
Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,

Louise

Pintrest Inspiration

Welcome back to week two of our Dreamweaver Stencils June challenge. This month we are creating projects based on things that inspire us on Pinterest. There are so many wonderful ideas that people are willing to share, it is easy to spend hours looking at all the pretty pictures and forget to actually create something yourself! This week I was inspired by a beautiful creation I found by Lynette Carroll Designs. Unfortunately, her website is not functioning right now, but you can still enjoy this link to the picture
http://pinterest.com/pin/166492517447323672/

I just loved the muted tones and how everything went together so beautifully. Mine is not shabby chic like hers, but it uses the same principles of soft tones, and each image following a theme. This project will also act as my "final design" for the Dreamweaver Stencils Teacher Certification class that I took last month from Lynell. This technique was one of my favorite that week. It is very easy, but very stunning I think.  I'm hoping to get it in a black frame and photograph it again before this posts, but there is a huge storm passing over our area right now, so I'm not sure that is going to happen! If not, you can still enjoy this much of it!

"At the shore"

LM181 - Seahorse

LM106 - Scallop

LM209 - Starfish

LM104 - Nautilus

LM290 - Par escargot

LM179 - Sea turtle

LL3033 - Sand castle

LM267 - Lg conch

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the finished size is 12" x 12". Each of the images is done with the same way:

• Place the paper to be pasted on a craft mat or scrap piece of paper and tape the stencil in place using removable tape
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply Dreamweaver Matte Black Embossing Paste
• With the stencil still on, sprinkle the whole image with Ranger Distress Embossing Powder, I used a combination of Antique Linen (2+ parts), Fired Brick (1 part), and Peeled Paint (1 part) to create a "sandy" color
• Lift the whole craft sheet or scrap paper up to tap off excess powder while the stencil is still on the paste
• Set it back down and carefully remove three sides of the tape, leaving your hinge tape in place
• Gently lift the stencil off the paste trying not to let any more powder fall through the openings
• Heat set the embossing powder
• I used Coordinations Iced Cocoa paper to paste and as the background, and matted each image with a cream colored cardstock
• Stencils used: LL3033, LM104, LM106, LM209, LM181, LM179, LM267, LM290, the seahorse was pasted first one direction, cleaned and then pasted the other direction
• I also lightly sanded the paper to give it a more weathered look

Here's the finished project on my fireplace. It fits in perfect with my shell filled lanterns and our conch shells.

Don't forget to click over to the other team members blogs to see what they've been inspired by this week over at Pinterest! We are so happy to have Jennifer Dove joining our challenge this month as a guest designer.

Dream It Up!

Jennifer Dove 

Lea Kimmel 

Stacey Rumsby

Terrece Siddoway 

Caroline Duncan 

Pam Hornschu 

Cherylynn Moser 

Cyndi Bundy

 Jessica Griffin  

Happy Creating,
Louise

A Fresh Start Week 3

CHA is over and fresh ideas are swarming around in my head! It is always so inspirational to walk the aisles and see new products and ideas everywhere. Exhausting, but exhilarating at the same time. We met a lot of new contacts to work with this next year to bring you "fresh"  ways to use your Dreamweaver Stencils with other great products on the market! Here are a few pictures from the show.

Louise & Pam, Pam & Georgia
Rebekka, Jennifer

One piece I did for CHA was using the beautiful canvas pieces from Canvas Corp LLC. Here's what I came up with using Dreamweaver's fabulous new Leafless tree stencil (LX7020) and canvases from Canvas Corp. They worked perfectly together.

LX7020 - Matte Black Embossing Paste
with Distress Embossing Powders

Here's how to do it:

• Use a foam brush to apply a coat of claudine hellmuth Studio gesso from Ranger to the 10" x 10" canvas
• Let dry
• Tape the Tree stencil to the upper left corner of the canvas with removable tape
• Use a large stencil brush to apply brown ink over the image
• Use a smaller stencil brush to apply some black ink over the brown
• Move the stencil to the lower right corner and repeat the inking steps
• Rouge the edges of the canvas with the ink remaining in the brown brush, you may need to add more ink
• Set aside to dry
• Apply Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber Pebble to a 6" x 6" canvas, not completely covering the surface
• Dry gently with a heat gun or let air dry
• Tape the Leafless Tree stencil (LX7020) to the painted canvas with removable tape
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader (LM2010) to apply Dreamweaver Matte Black Embossing Paste (DMBP) across the stencil
• Remove the stencil and lightly sprinkle the wet paste with a mix of Distress Embossing Powders Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain
• Heat gently to set the powder, then let dry completely
• Wrap black twine from May Arts at angles around the larger canvas attaching in the back
• Attach the tree canvas to the larger canvas with Tacky Glue

Please take some time to enjoy more fresh ideas from our other team members.

Dream It Up!

Kristi Van Doren

Lee Kellogg

Georgia Sommers

Terrece Siddoway

Pam Hornschu

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Cherylynn Moser

Laura Drahozal

Wendy Jordan

Happy Creating,
Louise