Festively Fall!

The air is crisp and cool, the days are shorter, and the trees are turning colors, fall has arrived! So the Dreamweaver Stencils design team has been given the challenge of creating "Festively Fall!" cards during the month of October.
In our area,  fall means lots of outdoor festivals celebrating the season. In Geneva, IL the big event of  the season is called Festival of the Vine. Lots of sidewalk sales, lots of great food, a craft sale showcasing many really talented artists, and, of course, lots of wine tasting! This year the weather was absolutely glorious which made it even better. So what better way to kick off our challenge for the month than to create a card inspired by this great festival. Here's what I came up with this week:

LL519 - Grape Wreath

Doesn't it just make you think of all the grapes being harvested right now for those new batches of wine? I think this would make a great "hostess gift" card to be given with a nice bottle of wine for all the upcoming holiday events (they'll be here before we know it!). It is really a pretty simple card, here's how you do it:

• Tape the Grape wreath stencil to a piece of very light green cardstock with removable tape
• Use small stencil brushes to add color to the design, using the Picasso (LL332) to help keep the color where you want it, I used Distress Dusty Concord & Seedless Preserves on the grapes, Distress Peeled Paint & Forest Moss on the leaves, and Distress Gathered twigs on the vine
• Use an edge of the Picasso and Forest Moss ink to help create the veins in the leaves
• Remove the stencil and brush color along the edges using the ink left in the brushes
• Next stencil the design several times around a larger piece of light green cardstock (I used TH Distress Shabby Shutters by coredinations)
• Brush some color around the edges of a piece of cream cardstock
• Layer the single Grape wreath onto dark purple cardstock and put foam tape on the back, set aside
• Layer the stenciled Shabby Shutters piece on the distressed cream piece
• Add a matching ribbon
• Attach that to a larger piece of Shabby Shutters for the front of the card
• Add the Grape wreath with the foam tape
• I also added a little clear glitter pen to the grapes and leaf veins for just a bit of sparkle

Another great stencil along this same line is LL568 Grape cluster. Here is a picture of a class I did a while back using it:

LL568 Grape cluster
Leafing, Black Matte w/FX, and Translucent w/ acrylic paint

I hope you've enjoyed this week's creation. Don't forget that you can join our challenge by posting a link on the DREAM it UP! blog using the Mr. Linky tool, or by emailing a picture of your creation to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and she will post it for you. Two winners are selected each month and this month, if you win, you get to choose whatever stencil you would like! Be sure to stop over at the rest of team blogs to see what festively fall creations they have come up with 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

Get Inky with Stencils

It's hard to believe that it's the last week of September already! Our month of getting inky with stencils is coming to an end already but, of course, we'll continue having fun with ink and stencils long beyond this month!
I have been spending the week with my daughter-in-law and granddaughter so it has been such a fun week! It is amazing to me that she is already 1 month old! Here's a shot I got yesterday of her while she was napping:

So needless to say I haven't been doing a lot of creating this week. I hope you will enjoy these cards that I recently created for my upcoming class at Memories and Beyond in Downers Grove IL.

We will be getting inky doing the shadow technique on the blue card, the red card features the Molten magic technique, and the third card shows how stunning just plain white glossy paste can be. I'll be teaching this at Memories and Beyond on October 23 at 12:30pm and 6:30pm, hope to see you there.
Be sure to check out the rest of the team blogs for more great inky ideas, just click on their links on the side of my blog.
  Happy Creating, Louise

Get Inky with Stencils!

Welcome to week three of "Get Inky with Stencils". This is our challenge this month for the Dreamweaver Stencils Design Team and it has been a lot of fun!
This week I want to share a card that has been in my photo albums on the right side, but you may have missed the instructions for it.  It is a favorite of mine so I hope you enjoy it!

Here are the simple steps to creating this:

• Use Cut 'n' Dry foam to rouge Distress Inks (Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky) on a piece of 90 lb. watercolor paper (I love the texture of watercolor paper)
• Place the Branch with berries stencil (LJ900) coming in at an angle from one bottom corner, tape in place with removable tape
• Use a small stencil brush to color the berries with Distress Ink Chipped Sapphire.
• Turn the stencil over and bring it in from the other bottom corner, and add color to that side of the card
• Clean and dry the stencil
• Lay the stencil across the center of the colored image and tape in place with removable tape
• Use a paste spreader to apply a coat of Glossy White Embossing Paste across the stencil
• Remove the stencil and immediately sprinkle the wet paste with crystal glitter
• Clean and dry the stencil
• Once the paste is dry, you can add a little Chipped Sapphire around the design
• Use a COPIC marker to color a white 3" embellishment pin (also from Dreamweaver) a matching blue shade
• Mount into a beautiful card! The background paper was just a piece I had in my stash, but it worked perfectly for this card

Be sure to stop over at the other team member blogs, and remember, if you submit your own creation on the DREAM it UP! blog you might win a great prize! If you don't have a way to link your creation, just send a picture of it to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and she will post it for you! Good luck!

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

Get Inky with Stencils

It has been perfect fall weather here for the past week, sunny and warm (not hot) during the day, cool at night, just right for sleeping. Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year!
This month the Dreamweaver Stencils challenge is to "get inky with stencils", which is another of my favorite things so it worked out great! Here's my creation for this week:

These darling little owls are LL3013, Owl pair.  Don't they just make you smile. Don't miss the beautiful Gingko bough stencil (LJ893) in the background too. It's like they were made for each other.Here are the simple steps to create this card:

• Tape the owl stencil to white cardstock with removable tape
• Use small stencil brushes and ink pads to color the image
• Remove and clean the stencil
• Retape the clean stencil over the design and apply Translucent Embossing Paste
• Remove and clean the stencil, let the paste dry
• Use a larger brush or a foam blender to add some color around the edge
• Tape the Gingko bough stencil to the front of your card with removable tape
• Use small stencil brushes to apply color
• Use a larger brush or foam blender to add brown around the edges
• Mount the owls on a small mat of brown cardstock
• Adhere a strip of brown paper along the left side of the card
• Add some green ric rak along the brown strip
• Add the owls using foam mounting tape

There you have it, another inky creation using stencils. I was a little late posting last week, so if you didn't get the chance to see last week's card, be sure to scroll down to check out my first inky creation. And as always, hop on over to the other team members blogs for more great ideas.

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu
Laura Drahozal
Cherylynn Moser
Wendy Jordan
Terrece Siddoway
Kristi Van Doren
Georgia Sommers

Lee KelloggLiz Martin
Cyndi Bundy

Happy creating,
Louise

Get Inky with Stencils!

Sorry for the late posting! I think becoming a Grandma has frazzled my brain!  This month our challenge for the Dreamweaver Stencils design challenge is "Getting Inky with Stencils". Here's what I came up with for this week:

LX7018 -Steampunk clock

I just love this new stencil and this is a pretty easy technique:

• lay the stencil face down on a piece of cardstock
• spray with various Memories Mists spray inks (I used Bright Gold, Copper Shimmer and Amaretto) with a heavy coat of the colors
• carefully lift the stencil, ink side up onto the platform of your die cut machine
• place a clean piece of cardstock over the stencil
• add the rubber embossing mat and two plates and put thru the machine to emboss the image and transfer the ink to the background
• remove the embossed image and let dry a few minutes
• return the cleaned stencil over the embossed image and use a small stencil brush to add black ink to the embossed areas (I used Distress Ink Black Soot).
• Add a spinner for the "clock hand"
• Mount on a small black mat and add a ribbon and gear charm
• Mount on the front of a copper colored card

Inky and fun!
Check out the rest of team blogs by clicking on their names along the side.

Happy Creating,
Louise

Christmas in August

Well, our last post for Christmas in August already! Where has the month gone??? I know one thing that made August 29th a day our family will never forget...we welcomed our beautiful new granddaughter, Elinor Jane, into our family. She is just adorable and I can hardly wait to hold her on Friday! Here she is:

Puts everything in perspective doesn't it. We worry about things we think are important, and then we meet something that actually IS important!

It's pretty hot here again in IL, so keeping to the Christmas theme this week was OK by me! Here's three cards using the Antler snowflake stencil (LL399) for my upcoming class at Hannah's Home Accents in Antioch, IL on October 13th.

We'll also be doing a Zentangle class that day featuring the Umbrella (LG737) stencil. If you're in the area, give them a call to register for both classes!  Hope to see you there.

Umbrella - LG737
Rain - LJ905

Check out the rest of team for even more great Christmas ideas:

Dream It Up! blogPam Hornschu
Laura Drahozal
Cherylynn Moser
Wendy Jordan

Terrece Siddoway

Kristi Van Doren

Georgia Sommers

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,
Louise

Day 6 Christmas in August Hop!

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams have been celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond".

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

For my final posting of the week I wanted to show you a couple of more ways to use the new mittens stencil:

LJ923 Mittens overlayed with
LX7002 Plaid

Dry emboss the mittens on white cardstock. With the stencil over the embossed image, brush a little color over the image. Place the Plaid maker stencil over the mittens at an angle and brush on the first color. Remove and clean the plaid maker and put it back over the mittens the other direction and brush on a complimentary color. Layer on coordinating cardstocks.

LJ923 Mittens with tree from
LX7016 Season of Joy
LM2013 forever friends


Dry emboss the mittens. With the stencil still over the mittens, brush red ink around the edges and cuffs. On the Season of Joy stencil use removable tape to mask off everything but one of the smaller trees. Center the tree on the mitten and brush in green ink. Repeat on the other mitten. Remove the tree stencil and brush just a little green into the background of the mittens. Remove the mitten stencil and brush more red ink around the mittens. Mount mittens on a dark green mat. Stencil forever friends on the bottom of a kraft color card with the same green ink as the treen. Add the mittens over the saying.

I hope you've enjoyed all the creations the teams have posted this week, I know we have had a lot fun sharing them with you!

Don't forget to leave me some holiday cheer as you move on to the other players for todaySaturday, August 25th HOP DAY!Woodware UK

Dream It Up!

Lee Kellogg

Cherylynn Moser

Dorothy Adam

Louise Healy

Debs Frost 

Laura Drahozal 

Terrece Siddoway

Cyndi Bundy

Wendy Jordan

Francoise Read

Liz Martin

Georgia Sommers

Siobhan Fyffe 

Pam Hornschu
Kristi VanDoren
 

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.

Happy Creating,
Louise