Thursday Dream Scheme

It's Thursday already and time for our Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday Dream Scheme challenge. This week is designer's choice so I'm am sharing a card I made using the new Skates stencil (LL3016) and one of the new background stencils (LJ913). Here it is:

The blue metal from MercArt is just perfect for this. It gives it a silvery, icy look for a beautiful winter card. To start I cut a piece of blue metal so it was larger than my skate stencil. Then I placed the stencil on the blue side of the metal and taped it in place. Turn the whole thing over to the back and use a large paper stump to rub over the design until you can see the image pretty well. I then took a nylon tip embossing tool for metal and refined the design around all the edges. Use the paper stump to smooth out the larger openings. Remove the stencil and place the design blue side up on top of the background stencil. Use the paper stump to rub the metal into the stencil openings creating a debossed image of the background.  Sand the skates and background with a fine sanding block and refining with a fiberglass brush to really clean the blue off the skates. Use the paper stump to smooth the background flat again. Place the image on a piece of suede (blue side down) and roll a decorative embossing wheel around the edges to create a border. Use strong double sided adhesive to mount the metal onto a metallic silver mat, then on blue. Pop onto a card front with foam tape, and embellish with silver brads.

Hope you've enjoyed today's card and are inspired to try some metal embossing of your own. It is fun and beautiful! Here are a couple of other metal projects I've done.

Don't forget to check out the DREAM it UP! blog as well as the other designer's blogs, just click on their names listed down the left side of my blog.
Happy Creating,
Louise

Thursday Dream Scheme

Time for another Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday Dream Scheme. This week we were given a sketch challenge to follow. Here it is:

And here is what I created:
Sorry this sample had to be removed. Watch for great samples of Zentangling with stencils in Design Originals upcoming Zentangle book.

The balloon stencil was outlined with a Micron pen then the Zentangle technique was used to "fill" the balloon. Mount the balloon on a black mat. The background patterns were created by embossing four of the new background stencils on white paper with my Big Shot. I used a large stencil brush to add color to each background and cut them to the needed size and mounted them on a black mat. Use foam mounting tape to add the balloon to the backgrounds.
These new backgrounds are wonderful and so versatile! You'll be seeing a lot of them in the future.
Now check out the other team member blogs and don't miss the DREAM it UP! blog as well.
Happy Creating,
Louise

Thursday Dream Scheme

It's hard to believe that it's the end of July already! My daughter will be leaving for college in less than 3 weeks!! We are squeezing in one more family trip before then. My husbands family celebrates "Christmas in July" up at a lake in northern Minnesota.  We cram all the annual celebrations into one long weekend at the lake. This year we have 3 graduations, a 60th birthday, a 1st birthday, plus Thanksgiving and Christmas to celebrate! It's a wild and crazy weekend, but we wouldn't miss for the world. It is so wonderful to have everyone together and we don't have to worry about blizzards, tornadoes, maybe, but not snow.
This week's Dreamweaver Stencils Dream Scheme Thursday is a designer's choice.  The card I'm sharing shows off two of Lynell's brand new stencils that were just released at CHA Summer last week.  All of the new stencils are wonderful, and I'm sure all the design team will be trying to feature them in the next several weeks. Here's what I came up with for this week:

Isn't that new butterfly stencil (LJ916) INCREDIBLE! And see that fun background behind it (LJ915), that's one of several new background stencils that were also released last week.  I have been having a ball working with all the new patterns and designs.  This one is a little more complex than you might think at first glance. Did you notice the shimmery design on the butterfly?  That is done with Stampee Crafts Transparent Holographic Stampee Foils.  The background stencil was put through my Big Shot with white cardstock, then I used a large stencil brush (1") to brush a little color around the edge and mounted that on decorative cardstock. The butterfly was also embossed through the Big Shot with white cardstock. With the stencil still in place over the embossed design, use small stencil brushes to color the butterfly. I use Brilliance inks, which are pigment inks so they stay wet a little longer than a dye ink, but just to be sure the whole image was still wet I took a finger dabber and tapped VersaMark over the colored image. Remove the stencil and sprinkle with Stuck on You bonding powder from Stampee Craft, tapping off the excess. Heat emboss. Cut a piece of the Holographic Foil big enough to fit over the image and lay it foil side down over the butterfly. Place the butterfly in a paper folder (a piece of printer paper folded in half is perfect) and send it through a laminator (pre-heat it). When it comes out the other side, open the folder, quickly peel the foil off the image and VOILA! the transparent holographic pattern sticks to the embossed areas. Cut out the butterfly, ink the edge with a matching marker or the edge of an ink pad, add some wire antennae, and mount onto the background. It's not hard. You can get an inexpensive laminator at the big warehouse stores for less than $20. 
Hope you've enjoyed today's design. Be sure to check out the DREAM it UP! blog for another fabulous design, and of course, all the other designer's blogs too. 

Happy Creating,
Louise

Thursday Dream Scheme

Welcome to Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday Dream Scheme. This week we were given a colorway challenge submitted by ME! We are doing monochromatic projects. Here's an example of what monochromatic means:

And here's my card:

This very easy to do. Simply lay your stencil on colored cardstock and spray with a coordinating color of Memories Mists sprays. Remove the stencil and let the image dry. Mount onto a mat in a darker hue and adhere to coordinating background paper. Embellish with a ribbon and hat pin colored to match.
Stay tuned next week for a look at some of the new stencil being released this week at CHA. You're going to love them!
Happy Creating,
Louise

Dream Scheme Thursday

Welcome to another Dream Scheme Thursday challenge sponsored by Dreamweaver Stencils. This week the design team was given a sketch challenge. Here's what it looks like:

I used  Dreamweaver's wonderful Bird of Paradise stencil (LR503). This stencil is a nice size to work with and looks great in a variety of techniques. Here's what I came up with today:

Start by taping the stencil to white cardstock, stencil with small brushes and pigment inks (I, of course used Brilliance Inks, they are so beautiful), making your color fairly dark. Remove and clean the stencil. Replace the clean, dry stencil back over the colored image, tape in place and apply Regular Embossing Paste (matte white), remove the stencil and immediately sprinkle with crystal glitter. As the paste dries, it absorbs some of the pigment ink for a beautiful pastel image. Deckle the edge when the paste is dry (about20 minutes) and mount on decorative papers.  I know a lot of people relate orange and black to Halloween, but I just love these two colors together, they are so striking! 
Stop over to the DREAM it UP! blog for another great creation, then on to the rest of the design team blogs for even more inspiration!
Happy Creating,
Louise

Thursday Dream Scheme

Better late than never as the saying goes!! The fourth threw my week off by a day. I was teaching a class today at The Cottage Stamper in St. Charles, IL when one of my students commented how the first thing she does every Thursday is get her cup of coffee and then logon to check out what is new on our Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday Dream Scheme.  She said she just loved my "fireworks"! Well, I was more than a little embarrassed to have to tell her that post was from Saturday and that I had forgotten to do my post for today!  Oh well, that's life.
This week was a free theme so I wanted to share one of the great designs we did at our workshop a couple of weeks ago.  Our focus was working with Mercart metal and Dreamweaver Stencils.  Here's one of the pieces we created at the workshop:

We ran a piece of black metal through a Big Shot using the Bare Trees (LJ849) stencil (be sure the black side is toward the stencil). Turn the metal over and sand the black off the raised tree areas.  Apply a variety of colors of alcohol ink to the exposed silver area of the metal for a beautiful effect. Mount on coordinating papers and embellish. So easy, so pretty!
Hope you've enjoyed today's creation and will give it a try with one of  your stencils. Now check out the DREAM it UP! blog (which happens to be featuring this same stencil) and the other designers as well.
Happy Creating,
Louise

Fourth of July Blog Hop!

Welcome to our Fourth of July Blog Hop. You should have reached me from Kerry's blog, but if you've gotten lost along the way, no problem,  the complete list is below.
Here's what I came up with for you:

I thought for sure that I knew exactly where my Dreamweaver Stencils fireworks stencil (LJ886) was, but alas I could not find it! So I started flipping through my stencils to come up with something that would work and I found my Spider Mum (LJ892) stencil instead! I used painters tape to block off the areas of the stencil that I did not want to use, then positioned the two flowers at an angle on white paper. I carefully pasted one with the Glossy Red Embossing Paste, then the other with Glossy Blue Embossing Paste, removed the stencil and sprinkled red glitter on the red paste and blue glitter on the blue paste.  While those were drying, I cleaned and dried the stencil so it would be ready to use on the third "fireworks".  The background papers are from Rusty Pickle a couple of years ago.
After the paste was dry, I flipped the stencil to the opposite side I used the first time, taped off the areas I didn't need, and positioned just one mum as my other firework, again using Glossy Blue Paste and blue glitter. When that one was dry, I used Distress Inks (Antique Linen, Old Paper, and Fired Brick) to age the white background so it would blend better with my other papers. Put it all together and they really do look like fireworks! (OK, maybe you have to use a little imagination, or squint your eyes a bit, but I think they worked!). Don't forget to leave me a comment for a chance to win a prize. Then hop on over to Liz's blog for another great idea.

Stop by the following blogs for lots of inspiration, ideas, and fun!  Leave a comment on each by 6 pm EST Tuesday, July 5th for a chance to win some great prizes.  Winners will be drawn at random from the various blogs.  Here's the list:
 
Taylor -- http://taylorusry.blogspot.com
Cyndi -- http://scrappychickcyndi.blogspot.com
Alison -- http://alisonsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com
Berenice -- http://karbersweetescape.blogspot.com
Mary -- http://softangelkisses.blogspot.com
Janelle -- http://rainpuddlesdesign.blogspot.com
Erin -- http://stamptillucramp.blogspot.com
Maria -- http://riacreations.blogspot.com
Jennifer -- http://just4funcrafts.blogspot.com
Pam -- http://1pamperedstamper.blogspot.com
Angelique -- http://scrapping-angel.blogspot.com
Sandie -- http://sandieshores.blogspot.com
Wendy P -- http://paperinkandsmiles.blogspot.com
Suzi -- http://mrsweyremaster.blogspot.com
Kathy -- http://pixieduststudio.blogspot.com
Beth -- http://inkyfingersrule.blogspot.com
Wendy J -- http://papertherapy-wendy.blogspot.com
Kimme -- http://kimme-thelifeofaprincess.blogspot.com
Kerry -- http://kerryischilling.blogspot.com
Louise - http://www.artfullyarticulate.blogspot.com/
Liz -- http://www.blackcatsstudios.blogspot.com/
Laura - http://www.rememberinglifesmoments.blogspot.com
Hope you have a great weekend and enjoy the hop!
Happy Creating,
Louise