August Christmas in August Day 4!

Yes! It's that time of year again! The time when we inspire crafters on both sides of the "pond" with a mix of bothDreamweaver and Woodware UK* products for the holidays! Six days, SIX, of beautiful, elegant, merry, cute, artsy, and craftsy projects to have you heading out to your local stores or internet sites to buy these goodies immediately!

Of course, there will be prizes as well. Three prize packages will be given to three commenters during this week's posts on the team's blogs, including five stencils and one nested die set. You can have an opportunity to win these goodies by leaving some holiday sweetness for each team member posting each day, to be one of the three winners for the week. Here are the team members that are inspiring you today:

Dream It Up!

Woodware UK

Laura Drahozal

Pam Hornschu

Kristi Parker Van Doren

Kristine Reynolds 

Lyn Bernatovich

Louise Healy

Gill Wilson

Lea Kimmel

Crafty Debs
Debs Frost
Alison Heikkila

Thursday is our normal posting day for the weekly Dreamweaver challenge, so I combined our "August as an Adjective" challenge with this week's "Christmas in August" theme for my card today. Here's my creation: 

LG731 Holly flourish and LL3005 Holly and swirls stencils
plus the new matching die DL3005 Holly and swirls!

LL3005 and DL3005 used to create the crackled holly leaves

This beautiful card has a few steps, but no one takes very long, and the results are worth it! 

• Paste emboss the Holly and swirls (LL3005) stencil with Glossy Blue (or black if you don't have blue) Embossing Paste, remove and clean stencil and let paste dry
• Place the clean stencil back over the dry paste and add a coat of Crackle Embossing Paste, remove & clean stencil, let paste dry
• In the meantime, place the Holly flourish stencil (LG731) on a piece of white cardstock and tape in place with removable tape
• Place a drop or two of Wendy Vecchi's Archival Re-inker Red Geranium on a craft sheet or palette and pick it up with a 1/4" stencil brush, be sure to work the ink up into your bristles before stenciling with it
• Use the Picasso tool (LL332) and place one of the small holes over each berry area to stencil on ink with the brush you loaded, wipe off the Picasso with a soft cloth before continuing to the next color
• Place several drops of Wendy Vecchi's Archival Re-inker Fern Green on a craft mat and load a different stencil brush with this, stencil the leaves and swirls with the Fern Green using the Picasso tool as a shield around the berries
• Remove and clean the stencil
• Use a 3/4" brush to pick up some of the Fern Green and brush a light coat around the edges of the entire piece
• Use a heat tool to set the inks
• Place the clean, dry Holly stencil back over the dry Crackle paste and use the Fern Green ink and brush to color the holly leaves
• Gently heat set the ink
• Place the matching Holly die over the crackled image and run through your die cut maching
• Cut the leaves away from the rest of the image and brush a little more green ink along the edges
• Mount everything into an august card embellished with a beautiful ribbon from May Arts

*For a stockist near you contact Woodware Craft Collection in the UK and Notions Marketing in the USA.

Happy Creating,

Louise

An InLinkz Link-up

JULY...a month to DIE for Week 3!

Welcome to week three of our Dreamweaver Stencils July Challenge!  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.

This week my creation incorporates three of our dies and three stencils. Yes, it's a little more work than last week's card, but it is so cute! Here it is...

Dog Days of Summer!

See, it is totally worth it! 
The background was created using 3/4" stencil brushes and Distress Inks (Salty Ocean, Peeled Paint, and Vintage photo). I used the Picasso (LL332) to create some clouds (I told you there were three stencils!).

So what are the three dies? They are DX7020 - Leafless tree, DD003 - Leafy Branch, and DL3029 - Dog. The decorative papers for the Leafy Branch and the Dog had Double-sided mounting paper put on the back before cutting. I did not do that to the tree because I wanted the branches to be flexible. I just used a dot roller on the back of the trunk and some lower branches to adhere the tree. The Leafy branch was cut apart so I could stick the leaves all over the tree limbs.

LL3029 - Dog stencil was paste embossed on light green paper with Matte Black Embossing Paste and set aside to dry. The cut pieces were edged with black marker and stuck on him. This allowed me to keep his eyeball, nose, collar and back spot black for more contrast. I added a little glue and glitter to his collar. 

The Sun stencil (LR502) was paste embossed with Matte Black Embossing Paste, then, before removing the stencil, a combination of Distress Embossing Powders were sprinkled over the wet paste (spiced marmalade, mustard seed, fired brick), the stencil carefully removed, heat set the powders being careful not to let the paste bubble.

I'm sure that our "A" team is just DIE-ing to show you their creations, as well as our Guest Designer for the month of July...

Dream It Up!

Leadonna Kimmel

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Lynn Mercurio

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

and

Terri Sproul (GD)

Happy Creating,
Louise

An InLinkz Link-up

Dreamweaver-Stampendous Blog Hop Day 3!

Welcome to Day 3 of the Dreamweaver Stencils and Stampendous Faces of Art blog hop! The Dream Team always loves incorporating the great products from Stampendous into our creations.

We were challenged to create using Dreamweaver and Stampendous products, and based on the name of the hop, "Faces of Art".   Here's what I created for you today:

 Today's creation has a more modern feel, I think so anyway. It's almost minimalist in that there are only three images used (plus the ric rak), but I really like how it turned out. From a distance, when it's hanging on a wall, it looks like a vase of flowers on a ledge and a couple of flowers have fallen. 

Up close, you see the detail of the Stampendous Blossom Beauty stamp shine through the acetate flowers.  I was going to add a flourish on the edges, but the more I looked at her, the more I liked her just like this!
Here's how I did it:

• Stamp the Blossom Beauty face with black ink on white cardstock
• Color her lips and eyes
• Place the open plastic template the comes with the stamp set over the stamped face and tape down with removable tape
• Use a 3/4" stencil brush and light green ink to stencil a little color over the whole face
• Lay the Fan pattern stencil (LJ813) over the face and tape in place with removable tape
• Use a 3/4" stencil brush to add more of the same color through the Fan stencil, repeat with a slightly darker shade of green
• Remove the fan stencil and wipe off the ink with a soft cloth
• Return the fan stencil over the green then shift it up so the openings are now between the first openings
• Use a clean 3/4" stencil brush to add a pink ink through the stencil
• Remove and clean the stencil and the plastic mask
• Stamp the Blossom image on acetate with Black StazOn ink six times
• Use the three different size dies to cut two flowers of each size
• Use Dreamweaver Color Solutions inks on the back of the acetate ( I used Lemoncello, Paprika Red, and Cosmo Pink), you can use an applicator to apply the ink or I just dropped some color around and let it spread, let them dry well
• Coat a 10" x 10" canvas with white Gesso, let dry
• Ink edges with stencil brush and the same light green ink from the face
• Draw a black line 2" up from the bottom edge of the canvas
• Stencil the fan pattern below the line with the light green color, you will have to move your stencil over, but this is an easy design to line back up
• Add a little of the pink color above the line
• Stencil the fan pattern on a piece of white cardstock that is slightly larger than the face, edge with a black marker
• Layer the face on a black mat, then on the larger stenciled piece and glue to the center of the canvas, lining it up along the black line
• Glue down the flowers (I use a liquid glue that dries clear and brush it all over the acetate, it does not show that way
• Add black ric rak around the edge

NOTE: when cutting the acetate flowers, I put the acetate flower on a piece of cardstock and die cut it, otherwise the acetate is too thin and doesn't cut cleanly. (but that could be my acetate, so you should experiment with yours first)

Be sure to hop over to the other designer's Faces of Art postings:

Stampendous Blog

Dream It Up! 

Jamie Martin

Louise Healy

Lyn Bernatovich 

Tenia Nelson 

Kristi Parker Van Doren

Pam Hornschu

Happy Creating,
Louise

An InLinkz Link-up

April Inspirations Week 2!

The Dream Team has a spectacular month planned for you...filled with exciting news and inspiration for all of your crafting dreams! The exciting news will be announced in the Dream It Up! post on April 17th, but the "April Inspirations" challenge will run for the entire month. Each team member will post what inspires them in their creative life...maybe a Pinterest pic, a magazine pic, a quote, a book, a place, an artist, a crafter friend...along with their creation. We are hoping that you will feel inspired as well, and link your projects (and inspiration) to the inlinkz tool on the Dream It Up! blog. 
One thing that not many people know about me is that I have a BS in Horticulture and taught high school horticulture for a couple of years. I spent many hours traipsing around the woods in MN looking for various plant materials we were required to learn in our MN Plant Life class. We often would see beautiful mushrooms and shelf fungus during our walks. I still look for them where ever I go. This week I found some beautiful pictures on Pinterest as my inspiration to create this for you:

Here's the Pinterest picture it's based on:

Aren't they both fabulous! Mine was pretty easy to create:

• Tape your Mushroom stencil (LL3025) to white cardstock with removable tape
• Apply Dreamweaver Regular Embossing Paste (DEP) to the image
• Before removing the stencil, use the edge of your palette knife to make some ridges in the stem areas
• Remove the stencil and place in water for cleaning
• Let the paste dry thoroughly
• Place the clean, dry stencil back over the dry paste, tape in place
• Use small stencil brushes to apply inks over the image as desired ( I used Memento Inks - Lady Bug and Rhubarb Stalk in the caps, Desert Sand and Rich Cocoa on the stems and grass, and a little Bamboo Leaves on the grass)
• Remove the stencil and sweep some Rich Cocoa around the edges
• Use a paintbrush or toothpick to add some small dots of the paste around the caps
• Let the dots dry 
• Use a large stencil brush and the Rich Cocoa to stencil some mushrooms around the background of a kraft card base
• Add some May Arts netted ribbon across the bottom (I cut it in half so it wasn't so wide)
• Mount the mushrooms on a black mat and use foam tape to add the mushrooms to your card

Be sure to check out what inspired the rest of the team this week:

Janelle Stollfus

Dream It Up!
Lea Kimmel
Louise Healy
Pam Hornschu
Cherylynn Moser

Happy Creating,

Louise

An InLinkz Link-up

Mystical and Magical Week 2!

We hope you enjoyed week one of our spooky, mystical and magical land of Halloween and holidays. This week the Dreamweaver design team has another set of great creations to share with you and we hope you will consider joining our challenge. Just link your creation with the linky tool over at the DREAM it UP! blog or email a photo of your work to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and she will post it for you. You could win a prize! 
The month of October we have as our guest designer, Alison Heikkila. October promises to be a very creative month, you won't want to miss any of it!
Here's my design for this week:

LJ816 - Spider web, LL531 - Jack o lanterns
LS28 - Spider, LG749 - Doggy words

Here's how it's done:

• Paste emboss the Spider web stencil (LJ816) with Glossy White Embossing Paste (angle the stencil across the upper left corner of black cardstock)
• Remove the stencil and place in water for cleaning, immediately sprinkle the wet paste with Crystal glitter
• Let dry
• Paste emboss the Jack o lanterns stencil (LL531) with Matte Yellow Embossing Paste in the lower right corner
• Remove the stencil and place in water for cleaning
• Let dry
• Return the Jack o lanterns stencil over the dry paste and use small stencil brushes to apply ink over the paste (I used Splendor Ink - Circus ink pad)
• Paste emboss the Spider stencil (LS28) on white cardstock with Glossy Black Embossing Paste
• Remove the stencil and place in water for cleaning
• Sprinkle Metallic F/X powder Nouveau Orange randomly over the wet paste
• Let dry
• Cut out the spider as close as possible to all the legs, use a Distress marker in antique linen to color the white edges throughout the design
• Attach to the web with foam tape
• Use the Dog words stencil (LG749), a small stencil brush and Memento Tuxedo Black to stencil the "happy" from the Happy HOWLoween part of the stencil
• Line up the Happy underneath the first one and a little to the left, tape off only the "Ha" and stencil that, use the "pp" upside down to create the two l's (minus the round part of course!), then the "oween" next to that
• Use a deckle scissors to cut around the words, and brush the background with the left over black ink from the brush, mount the words on a small orange mat with a deckled edge
• Use foam tape to add the words to the card

Now check out the rest of the team blogs:

Dream It Up! 

Alison Heikkila (guest designer)
Lea Kimmel 
Louise Healy 
Stacey Rumsby 
Terrece Siddoway 
Wendy Jordan 
Pam Hornschu 
Cherylynn Moser

This week I have been taking Creative Chemistry 102 with Tim Holtz. Scroll down to see what we've been creating!

Happy Creating,
Louise

Dreamweaver & Quietfire Awesome in Autumn! Finale!

Our amazing week of Awesome in Autumn concludes today! This has been a wonderful week playing with the Quietfire Design team, and their amazing images and sentiments. Their beautiful calligraphic style, quotes and thoughts are the perfect addition to our Dreamweaver designs. We hope you have followed along with us, and have left your comments for an opportunity to win one of two wonderful prize packages:

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

Yesterday I showed you one corner of the beautiful Fall borders (LJ874) stencil from Dreamweaver Stencils. Today, I have used the other corner along with the Leaf texture (LG616) stencil (did you notice those two little leaves in the lower corner of yesterday's design?), and the same beautiful saying "Every blade in the field" saying (#5820) from Quietfire Design.

• Tape the pumpkin corner to the corner of Distress Antique Linen cardstock with removable tape
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply Matte Yellow Embossing Paste over the stencil
• Remove the stencil and place in water for cleaning
• Let the paste dry
• Tape the Leaf texture stencil to the shiny side of a piece of freezer paper with removable tape
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply Matte Yellow Embossing Paste over the stencil
• Remove the stencil and place in water for cleaning
• Let the paste dry thoroughly
• Stamp the saying on matching cardstock
• Use a Deckle edge scissors to trim around the saying
• Use Distress ink vintage photo around the edges of the saying, then edge a little darker with Distress ink walnut stain
• Mount on a piece of Distress Frayed Burlap cardstock that has been edged with ink too, set aside
• Place your clean, dry stencils back over the dry yellow paste and tape in place with removable tape
• Use small stencil brushes to add color, I used Distress inks mustard seed, spiced marmalade, forest moss, vintage photo, and walnut stain, as well as just a touch of Brilliance Rocket Red
• After the pumpkin corner is colored, Deckle the edge and ink with vintage photo and walnut stain
• Mount on a frayed burlap card front
• CAREFULLY peel different leaves off the freezer paper and arrange them along the bottom edge
• Once you like the placement, gently lift an edge with a toothpick and add a dab of glue to secure them
• Use foam mounting tape to adhere the saying
• Add a leaf to the saying too

We hope you have enjoyed our designs this week and have been inspired to create your own Autumn Awesomeness!

 Check out today's awesomeness which includes...

Quietfire Design Members...

Sherry Cheever

Holly Eastabrook

Yogi Grunwald

Robyn Josephs

Teresa Horner

Suzanne Cannon

and

Dream Team members...

Jessica Griffin

Cyndi Bundy

Wendy Jordan

Lyn Bernatovich

Louise Healy (you are here)

Terrece Siddoway

Lea Kimmel

Heidi Erickson

Laura Drahozal

Cherylynn Moser
Stacey Rumsby

Pam Hornschu

and the

Dream It Up! blog

and

Quietfire Creations Blog

Happy Creating,

Louise

Dreamweaver Stencils and Woodware Day1

Welcome to the annual Dreamweaver and Woodware Christmas in August extravaganza week! Monday through Saturday we will be knocking your Christmas stockings off with fun and inspirational ideas for the upcoming holidays. All that you need to do is hop back and forth across the "pond" on each day, oohing and aaahhhing as you go, and leaving us plenty of holiday love. In return, you'll be entered to randomly win one prize package for a UK commenter, and a second prize package for a US commenter, featuring products distributed in the UK by Woodware...including Dreamweaver and Stampendous!

Prize includes four stencils, one die, and two stamps, selection may vary.

For this first day, I have used the newly released LL387 Mistletoe stencil (in the UK click here) and the shadow technique.

Here's how it was done:

(products are available through Woodware Crafts in the UK)

• Tape the stencil to cream colored paper with removable tape
• Use a 1/2" Stencil Brush and Distress Inks forest moss to stencil color over the entire design
• Remove the stencil and wipe it off with a soft rag
• Lay the stencil back over the colored image then shift the stencil up and to the right about 1/16"
• Tape in place
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply a coat of Glossy White Embossing Paste over the stencil
• Remove the stencil and place in water for cleaning later
• Use a cut straw to apply Stickles Dry Fine Glitter Christmas Red to the bow, tap off excess carefully
• Apply Art Glitter Rock Moss Microfine Transparent glitter to the leaves and stems, try to avoid the berries
• Tap off excess glitter and let dry thoroughly
• Layer into a beautiful square card, I used Distress cardstock in Old Paper and Peeled Paint, I don't like the white edge you get when you cut paper so I used Distress Markers in Old Paper and Forest Moss to go around the edges of the paper to "finish" them

Now's the time for you to leave a comment and move on to the next designer for today:

Woodware UK

Dream It Up!

Louise Healy (you are here)

Cherylynn Moser

Dorothy Adam

Pam Hornschu

Jessica Griffin

Be sure to stop back tomorrow and the rest of the week for more great holiday ideas!

Happy Creating,

Louise