Day 5 of the HOP!

WE HAVE A WINNER FOR TODAY's POST!! it is SherylH  AGAIN!! who wrote:
SherylH said...

I enjoyed all three of your projects but the framed picture is gorgeous. The use of the Jungle leaves and flourish make a fantastic mat for the eye-popping lotus.
September 2, 2011 2:27 PM
Thanks Sheryl for your kind words, I gave the framed art to my son and his wife this weekend and they just loved it!!
Email Lynell  your snail mail address to: lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and she will send your your blog winnings.

Boy this week is flying by. Hope you've enjoyed our first Dreamweaver Stencils/Woodware Craft combination blog hop. We have had a wonderful time sharing our ideas for additional ways to create with your stencils. But we're not finished yet! Keep hopping today and tomorrow for even more creative ideas to add to your list! Today's hop started with Francoise at: http://www.francoisecollection.blogspot.com/  If you missed her's, hop back there so you don't miss any of the fun!

When I teach a Dreamweaver class, I usually use one stencil and teach three different techniques to use with that stencil. It helps to see a stencil used several ways so you don't get in a rut and keep using it the same way all the time.  So I thought I would use the same approach for today's post. The focal point of my three designs uses LG720 - Lotus flower.

First as a piece of jewelry:

                                                                                                                                                        

 

This was so much fun. I used Grungepaper and put a light coat of white acrylic paint on it. Then I stained it with Distress Stains Spun Sugar and Fired Brick and let it dry. Place the stencil on the colored surface and use a Black Micron pen to outline the petals. I did five different sizes. The largest layer uses all the petals except the very outside row, I thought it might seem too big if I started with that row. The next layer starts one row in from the previous size, then two rows in,then one, and the smallest layer is the center.  Cut them all out, ink the edges a little and assemble using hot glue. I used my finger to wipe on some Worn Lipstick Distress Stickles on the outside layer and a little in the middle, just to give it a little sparkle.  The leaves are from LG625 - Flower and leaves stencil and are also on grungepaper that I stained with Peeled Paint Distress Stain.. They are attached with hot glue.  Add a pin back, and voila a beautiful pin to adorn a blouse, scarf or purse (or really anything!).

Second as a piece of art:

Here's how I did it. Tape the stencil to a square of white cardstock and apply Matte Yellow Embossing Paste, remove and clean the stencil and let the paste dry.  Place the clean, dry stencil back over the dry yellow paste and use small stencil brushes to apply inks (I used Brilliance Orange and Rocket Red). Remove the stencil and sprinkle with clear embossing powder, tap off all excess powder and heat set. Return the stencil to the design and apply a second coat of ink on top of the first. Remove stencil, and sprinkle with embossing powder again and heat set.  The mat came with the frame and had a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" opening. I stenciled LJ825 - Jungle leaves all around the edge using a 1/2" brush and Brilliance Thyme ink, but I kept it on the light side. After that I decided the the corner swirls we've been seeing all week are so beautiful that I would add one as an accent in one corner, so I chose LJ896 - Flourish and embossed it with Matte Black Embossing Paste.  I trimmed the Lotus flower layer to 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" and mounted it onto a 5" x 5" square of black cardstock, this gave me some "wiggle" room when I centered it in the opening of the decorated mat. I think the black frame really sets off the design and now I have a beautiful piece of art hanging in my craft room!

Last but not least, the third design is a greeting card, because that is what we "normally" do with our stencils right?

For this I used 1/2" stencil brushes, this not only puts the color down a little faster when you don't have to be really precise, it also keeps the color a little lighter. I stenciled on the front of a 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" square card using Brilliance Sunflower Yellow, Coral, and Lime. You can see I only used the Lime to add a few "leaves" here and there. I put the stencil and a square of white cardstock through my Big Shot to emboss the image.  Leaving the stencil over the image, I used the large stencil brush to add color to the flower. After removing the stencil, I brushed a little color in along each edge, sweeping in from the edge to the center. That was adhered to a 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" piece of lime green cardstock, and then mounted with foam mounting tape to the front of the card.

Well now you have it, three very different ways to use one stencil. Hope you've enjoyed today's post. I had so much fun creating these projects for this hop.  Leave me a comment for a chance to win a stencil then hop on over to the next stop
Lynell's blog at DREAM it UP! to continue your Hop Across the Pond!
Happy Creating,
Louise

Day 4 of Dreamweaver Stencils Hop Across the Pond!

WE HAVE A WINNER FOR TODAY's POST!! it is SherylH who wrote:

SherylH said...

Very nice -- love all the new background stencils.
September 1, 2011 7:13 PM

Thanks Sheryl for your kind words, it is always fun and rewarding to receive all the comments about our work!
Email Lynell your snail mail address to: lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and she will send your your blog winnings.

Woodware Craft Collection design team to bring you innovative ways to use our wonderful Dreamweaver stencils and supplies all week long! Woodware is Dreamweaver Stencils' exclusive distributor in the UK. By the end of the week, you'll have seen stencils used in inspirational ways you just couldn't have imagined, and you'll see that, although our stencils are wonderful for paper crafting, they have SO MANY other uses too! We'll have several posts a day for you, from Monday August 29th to Saturday September 3rd. At the end of our celebration, each designer will randomly select a winner from all blog comments to receive a free Dreamweaver stencil. We are looking forward to sweet comments from you and we will send blog candy your direction. We look forward to you partying along with us! Go to the DREAM it UP! blog if you get lost, the whole schedule is listed there.

You should have hopped here from Laura at: http://www.rememberinglifesmoments.blogspot.com/, if not, "hop" back over there for more inspiration.
Today's project was inspired by all the new background stencils that Dreamweaver recently released at Summer 2011 CHA. I fell in love with them all, so how could I choose just one to work with!! I wanted to come up with a project that would show off several of the new designs, plus incorporate some embossed metal to promote the MercArt Metal that Dreamweaver now supplies. Here's what I did:

Though it is a little time consuming, it's really the original concept that takes the time, once you know what you want to do it comes together pretty fast.  Here are some close ups of the squares and embellishments:

The basic steps are:

• Emboss each of the four background stencils on a piece of white cardstock (emboss 2 of each design in order to get the 8 squares of each that you need)
• Use a 1/2" or 3/4" stencil brush to color each pattern whatever colors you want, any inks will work, I used Ranger Distress Inks . By using a larger brush the color goes on pretty fast. Remember to start off the edge and sweep the color in towards the center
• Trim around the edge of the design, then cut four 1 1/2" squares out of each piece of colored paper
• Adhere the embossed patterns to piece of 1 1/2" chipboard, then use a piece of foam to add more color around the edges
• You should have 8 squares of each pattern with each pattern being a different color
• Adhere them to a 10" x 10" black mirror (I got it at IKEA) in a pretty pattern.  The black between the squares really makes them stand out
• The butterflies were done with Dreamweaver stencils Heliconia Butterfly stencil (LM257) and small piece of colored aluminum. I used a Big Shot to run the metal and stencil through to emboss it, sanded the raised aluminum then colored them with alcohol inks.
• The butterflies were cut out then mounted using foam mounting tape
• The Tall Vase stencil (LM196) was first paste embossed with Glossy Blue Embossing Paste
• After the blue paste was dry, I put the stencil back over the paste and applied Dreamweaver's Crackle Embossing Paste
• If you've never used the Crackle Paste, you are in for a treat. It crackles on its own as it dries and is white so any color you want can be applied with stencil brushes after it dries.  Sometimes I hurry the process a little by heating towards the end, but you won't get as small of cracks if you do that
• I cut out the crackled and colored vase, adhered it to black cardstock and cut that out leaving a small black edge around the whole vase
• Use a guillotine cutter to cut some black strips and tape some to the back of the vase
• Mount the vase onto the squares at the lower left using foam mounting tape

These make great gifts for any occasion and you can customize the colors and embellishments to your own home decor. I'll be teaching this in a class at The Cottage Stamper in St. Charles IL on September 27th, and at Checkered Cottage in Kirkwood MO on October 22nd.  Call either store to sign up.
Here's a list of the supplies used:
Stencils:
LJ912 - Triangle Weave
LJ913 - Houndstooth
LJ914 - Herringbone
LJ915 - Opto Checkerboard
LM257 - Heliconia Butterfly
LM196 - Tall Vase
Embossing Paste:
Glossy Blue - DGBP
Crackle - CEP
Tools:
1/2" natural handle brush - NHB-1/2"
Palette Knife - DPK
Wide Palette Knife - WDPK

All this, and LOTS more can be found HERE and in the UK HERE.

Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a free stencil. Then hop on over to the final stop of the day at Wendy's blog. Just click on the link below:
                Wendy at: http://www.papertherapy-wendy.blogspot.com/

Thanks for hopping with us today, I hope you've enjoyed everything so far, but don't forget we have two more days to go full of great ideas and prizes!
Happy Creating,
Louise

Dreamweaver and Woodware Craft Blog Hop!!

Don't miss the great HOP that started today over at the DREAM it UP! blog! Great ideas and lots of opportunity to win prizes! Click on the link above to hop over to Lynell's blog to start your journey of inspiration!
Happy Creating,
Louise

Thursday Dream Scheme

Another week has flown by, my daughter is finishing up her first week of college! When did this happen!! But, she is happy and excited so I guess I can handle it!
This week at the Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday Dream Scheme we have a free week. These are great because we create so many things that we don't always get the chance to share if we have a specific challenge.  Here are a couple of  cards using new stencils that were released at CHA this summer:

This card couldn't be easier. Tape the new Silhouette stencil (LL3017) to navy blue cardstock, apply Pearlescent Embossing Paste, let it dry, and mount it on coordinating  papers to create a wonderful card.
Here's a bonus for the week. It's not to early to be working on Christmas cards and Dreamweaver released some beautiful new designs, this is one of them:

This was done using the new Holiday Greeting stencil (LJ917) and the cloisonne technique. Tape the stencil to white cardstock and apply Matte Yellow Embossing Paste. Let the paste dry, then place the clean dry stencil back over the paste and use small stencil brushes to apply pigment inks to the paste. Remove the stencil and sprinkle with clear embossing powder, heat to set. If you would like the color to be deeper, put the stencil back over the design, add more color, and repeat the steps to emboss.
Hope you've enjoyed these ideas, don't forget to check out the DREAM it UP! blog and the other designer's blogs too!
Happy Creating,
Louise

Thursday Dream Scheme

This week's Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday Dream Scheme challenge is a colorway given to us by fellow team member Wendy Jordan. The challenge was to use red, ivory, and kraft together in our creations. This turned out to be very challenging to me today, you know how some days nothing you create really gets you excited, but then when you look at them a little while later they don't look so bad after all! After I finished the challenge for today, I realized that I used the same stencil as last week, I guess that means I really like it!  Here's my card for the challenge:

Very simple. Pearlescent paste on kraft cardstock, sprinkled with Fauna Ultrafine glitter. Layer it up, and you're finished. I love easy cards.
Be sure to stop by the DREAM it UP! blog and the other team members for more creative ideas.
Happy Creating,
Louise

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