And the winner is.....

Congratulations Maggie! You were the lucky random comment on my blog and will win that beautiful Black-eyed Susan stencil, the glossy red paste AND the Pink Poppy Metallic F/X!!!! Just go to the DREAM it UP! site for instructions on how to receive your prize!

Thank you to everyone who left comments for our first ever Dreamweaver Stencils Blog Hop. It was a lot of fun and we really appreciated all of your positive feedback. It inspires us to keep creating with these wonderful products. Congratulations to all the winners!

Maggie said...
Louise, these are just amazing! You make me almost excited that it's fall. The Black-eyed Susans are gorgeous. You do amazing work and I am so happy that I live near you and can take your classes. I like the Black-eyed Susan stencil and the Branch and Berries, glossy red paste, and Pink Poppy metallic F/X. (fingers crossed)
October 2, 2010 5:29 PM

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

Sneak Peek!!!

The Dreamweaver Stencils Blog Hop starts today! Hop on over to DREAM it UP! to get all the details and start hopping! My hop is Saturday, October 2nd and this little sneak peek will have to do until then. But don't miss out on today's participants for four chances to win PRIZES!!!!!!!!!! Check out these DREAM TEAM blogs, but be sure to leave a comment so you are eligible for all the great prizes!!



Friday, October 1, 2010

Deborah

Georgia

Kim

Kristi


Have fun on the hop and Happy Creating,

Louise

Blog Hop Update

Just a little correction to the dates of the Dreamweaver Stencils blog hop. The hop will start on Friday, October 1 at the Dreamweaver Blog and will continue for 3 days. Each day a different group of Dream Team designers will be featured, so be sure to come back all three days to check out all the beautiful ideas! Don't forget to leave a comment on each of the blogs featured each day to be eligible to win PRIZES! There could be some sneak peeks on some of the blogs tomorrow, you never know.
See you at the hop!
Happy Creating,
Louise

Get Ready to HOP!

Do you hop? Blog hop that is. Well, if not, get ready to learn because starting on September 30, 2010 Dreamweaver will be sponsoring a blog hop with lots of beautiful samples, techniques and, best of all, PRIZES!! Stay tuned for more details as we get closer.

In the meantime, to help you get excited here is another Dreamweaver sample that I recently sent to Lynell featuring the new large branch with berries stencil (LJ900).
I started by using Cut 'n' Dry foam to rouge Distress Inks (Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky) onto 90 lb. watercolor paper. Place your stencil at one side and use a small stencil brush to stencil the branch with Distress Ink Chipped Sapphire. Flip the stencil over and do the other edge so you have branches coming in from both sides. Clean your stencil and gently tape it down over the two stenciled images so it overlays each of them a little. Paste with Glossy White Embossing Paste, remove the stencil and immediately sprinkle with Crystal Glitter. When the paste is dry, brush some Chipped Sapphire around all the edges of the image. Layer and embellish with coordinating papers and ribbons. I added one of Dreamweavers new white pins that I colored with COPIC markers to match my color scheme. (B32, B97, B37)
Don't forget to watch for more details about the Dreamweaver Blog Hop coming soon!
Happy Creating,
Louise

Holiday Fun

I'm participating in my first ever blog hop this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show (see the September 8, 2010 posting) and this is my entry. The theme is Holiday Fun and we could do any type of card, page or project for Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas. I love all those holidays, so it was hard for me to decide which to focus on for my project, but Christmas won. I just love doing these mirrors, they look completely different every time you make one. I've made them for the different seasons, for gifts, baby showers, "Up North" themes, the list goes on and on.

Start with a mirror from IKEA (they have great things there!), they come natural, black, or red. I used Wendy Vecchi's background words from her "Art of marking it Merry" set (LCS007) and stamped the words in the top left corner and bottom right corner of the mirror using Archival Ink Jet Black. Let that dry well. Using the flower from the same set, I stamped the flower six times with the Jet Black on Tim's Grungepaper and used Distress Inks to color them (Fired Brick, Aged Mahogany and Walnut Stain). I cut out three whole flowers, and three center flowers, and used Glossy Accents to glue the smaller section in the larger flower. Add a large drop of Glossy Accents to the center of the flower and sprinkle with Gold Glass Beads (do this over a coffee filter or container to catch the extra beads). Set aside to dry. The leave are from Wendy's "Ticket to Art" set (LCS001). Stamp them three times and use Distress Inks to color them (Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Pine Needles). Cut them out and I cut them apart to make them fit in my design better. You can add some Distress Stickles too if you like that (I used Pine Needles).

Next I used Grungeboard and Tim's Elegant Flourish die cut for the branches behind the flowers, and his Caged Bird die to create the wonderful birdcage and bird. Used Distress Inks to color (branches and cage were Rusty Hinge and Walnut Stain with Antique Linen Distress Stickles, bird was Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany with Ruby Slippers Stickles). I cut a piece of holly paper to fit behind the cage so the bird would show better. Hung some embellishments from the bottom with jump rings and added a bow and flower at the top to finish it off.

The scrabble tiles for the Merry Christmas came out of my stash that I have collected over the years. They come in very handy for projects like this!

The wood flourishes with the holly at the top are from KaiserCraft. I used the Distress Inks again, then added Pine Needles Stickles to the holly leaves and Ruby Slipper Stickles to the berries. These were a little thicker so I had to let them dry for quite a while.

So I'm off now to add my link to the "HOP". There have been a lot of great submissions so far, so go check them out!

Stop by the list of submissions from all over the world at the Challenge site and click on the names to see all the beautiful entries!

Happy Creating,

Louise

Holly Craze!

The new Holly stencil from Dreamweaver (LL3005) is so versatile. I don't know which techinique is my favorite with it, so I will show you several that I have created so far.





















The first was done with Blue Glossy Embossing Paste, with Crackle Paste over it after it dried. When the Crackle Paste was dry, I used Brilliance Pearlescent Ivy and Rocket Red to color the image. I just love the nice crackling you get in the open area of the leaves.

This one is the faux Cloisonne technique. Paste the holly with gold embossing paste and let it dry. Place the clean stencil back over the gold paste and use pigment inks to color the image. Remove the stencil and sprinkle UTEE over the design. Tap off the extra embossing powder and heat gently to set the powder. Repeat with another layer of color and UTEE if you want a smoother finish.












The shadow technique does not work well with every stencil, but it is beautiful with this Holly sprig. To get the shadow effect, tape your stencil to your paper and use small stencil brushes to color your image (I used Brilliance Thyme ink on the whole image, including the berries). You want to shadow with a fairly dark color to get the best effect. Clean your stencil and place it back over your colored image, then carefully shift it up and to the right about 1/16" to 1/8". Tape your stencil back down and use the Regular Embossing Paste (white matte) over the image. Remove the stencil and immediately sprinkle the paste with Crystal glitter. Let dry. Place your clean stencil on the dry white paste and carefully color the berries with red ink and use your picasso (LL332) to add some veins on the leaves. The red pin in the ribbon was originally white. I used my COPIC markers to color it to match.

Hope these inspire you to try a technique you haven't done before, or forgot you knew how to do!

Happy Creating,
Louise