Summertime, Sparklers, S'More!

Welcome back to our Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday challenge. This month our theme is "Summertime, Sparklers, S'More!", which leaves a lot to the imagination. We hope you will join our challenge and create your own fun summertime card. You can either link it on the DREAM it UP! blog through the linking tool, or email a photo and description to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and she will post it for you (well, probably, Pam will post it for you!). We also have a guest designer this month, Wendy Price. She is very talented and we have enjoyed seeing her creations.
Lynell and her team are leaving for Las Vegas and the summer retailers show, so that means NEW RELEASES! We are so excited to about the new designs and several designs that have been re-released due to popular demand! The design I'm showing this week is one that has been re-released in a different size. To me it just "crows" hot summer morning! Don't you agree.

LG753 - Lg Crowing Rooster

This is the Lg Crowing Rooster (LG753). He just seems so happy and proud of himself, it makes me smile! This would be a great design to Zentangle too. Mmmm....maybe coming soon to a blog near you!
Here's how it's done:

• Tape the stencil to white cardstock with removable tape
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply Matte Yellow embossing paste 
• Remove the stencil and place in water for cleaning
• Let the paste dry thoroughly (about 20 minutes, but I wait 30)
• Place the clean, dry stencil over the dry paste and tape in place
• Use 1/4" stencil brushes and inks to apply color to the design (I used Splendor Ink pads in Circus and Magic for this, these are great because you get lots of colors in each set)
• Remove the stencil and let the inks dry a little while you prepare the card
• I trimmed the rooster image a little, mounted it on a black mat, then a slightly larger yellow mat
• The background paper is from Graphic45 (gotta love their papers!)
• The base card is yellow cardstock, matching the layer behind the rooster
• Use foam tape to apply the matted rooster to the front of the card
• I think this would be cute to send to someone who just got promoted or graduated and say "now that's something to crow about!" or "crowing with delight at your good news", you get the picture

More great summer ideas are waiting for you at the team blogs. Leave me a comment then head on over to seen their creations this week!

Dream It Up! 

Wendy Price

Laura Drahozal

Lyn Bernatovich

Pam Hornschu

Heidi Erickson

Louise Healy (that's me)

Jessica Griffin

Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,

Louise

Summertime, Sparklers and S'More!

*correction to instructions add 6:00 pm, sorry!

Welcome back to the Dreamweaver Stencils July challenge. The rain has finally stopped here in northern Illinois and it is now our normal hot and muggy summertime, which fits our challenge perfectly! Congratulations to our winners from the Dreamweaver/Ranger blog hop! Don't forget to contact Lynell for your prize.
I'm continuing my beach theme this week with a card that just screams "hot summer day at the beach!". Of course, a hot summer day at the beach is fine with me, I wish we were there!

LR502-Sun and LL3033-Sandcastle

This is the same technique I used on my home decor piece on June 13th, if you missed it click here to check it out. It's a fun technique that shows a lot of dimension.

• Tape the Sun (LR502) stencil to yellow cardstock with removable tape onto a piece of copy paper
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply Matte Black Embossing Paste over the Sun
• With the stencil still in place, carefully sprinkle some Distress Embossing Powder in Mustard Seed and Spiced marmalade over the wet paste, tap it gently in place
• Lift the whole copy paper and turn it over to tap off any extra powder (be careful!)
• Gently remove the stencil from the image trying not to let any move powder fall through the openings (the goal is to keep the edges black)
• Place the stencil in water for cleaning
• Heat set the emossing powder, set aside to let the paste dry completely
• Repeat the process with the Sandcastle (LL3033) stencil but using blue cardstock, and a mixture of Distress Embossing Powders Antique Linen, Peeled Paint, and Fired brick
• Heat set the embossing powders and let it dry thoroughly
• Cut out the Sun leaving a small yellow edge all the way around
• Use the Picasso (LL332) stencil to put some clouds in the sky above the sandcastle. When you do this on blue paper, you first use a 3/4" stencil brush and white ink to make some areas white (I like Brilliance Moonlight White), then use the edge of the Picasso and a 1/2" brush with a light blue ink to create the "cloud" at the edge of the white areas
• Use a 1/2" brush to add some brown ink at the bottom of the sandcastle
• Use foam tape to apply the sun to the sky

I hope you are enjoying your summer and the summertime creations the team has been showing. Be sure to check out what they've created this week for you!

Dream It Up! 

Wendy Price

Lea Kimmel 

Louise Healy (me!)

Stacey Rumsby 

Terrece Siddoway 

Caroline Duncan 

Pam Hornschu 

Cherylynn Moser

Happy Creating,

Louise

Summertime, Sparklers, and S'More!

Happy 4th of July! Welcome to the new Dreamweaver Stencils challenge for July. Our new theme for this month is Summertime, Sparklers, and S'More! Sounds like a lot of fun and sparkle to me! We are also welcoming a guest designer for July, Wendy Price, and can hardly wait to see what she created this week!
Thank you for all your wonderful comments from last week's Dreamweaver and Ranger hop, it's always so inspiring to read them. You'll want to check out the DREAM it UP! blog to see if you were the winner of one of those great prizes!
I have spent the last week in Cincinnati visiting my beautiful little granddaughter. She keeps me hopping, so I don't have a lot of time for other things while I'm here, but I wanted to share a fun, summertime card that I recently posted on my Pinterest board. It fits our summer theme perfectly.

Faux Tile - LG609 and LM163

This was done in the Faux Tile technique. If you've never done this, be sure to give it a try, it's easy!

• Dry emboss the Tiles stencil (LG609) with a light box and stylus, or through a die cut machine
• Leave the tile stencil in place and put the Lighthouse over the tile stencil and tape in place with removable tape
• Use small stencil brushes to add color
• Remove the stencils, wipe off the tile stencil with a soft rag and re-position it over the image
• Use a finger dabber to dab VersaMark (clear embossing ink) over the whole image
• Remove the stencil and sprinkle with Clear Embossing Powder, tap off extra
• Heat set the embossing powder and cool
• Return the tile stencil over the image and apply another coat of VersaMark and powder
• Heat again to create a smoother finish to your tiles
• Mount on summer paper and embellish as desired!

Here are some more wonderful designers bringing you great summertime creations.

Dream It Up!

Wendy Price

Laura Drahozal

Lyn Bernatovich

Pam Hornschu

Heidi Erickson

Louise Healy (that's me)

Jessica Griffin

Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,

Louise

Glitter, glitter and more glitter!

 

The Dream Team has a big day today! Not only are we into week three of our Pinterest Inspired challenge, we are also playing with Ranger's Stickles Dry Glitter in the mix! We've had so much fun playing with jars of sparkly goodness, that we want to share the fun with two lucky crafters! 

 

  

Just visit everyone on the list below, and leave comments for everyone. Two winners* will be randomly selected and announced Thursday, July 4th...what a great day for a celebration! Each prize package includes a mix of five Ranger Stickles Dry Glitter, a mix of sixDreamweaver Stencils, and jar of Dreamweaver Translucent Paste, and a Palette Knife for spreading. If you want to add to the fun, play along with our Pinterest challenge and link your own creation to the linkytool on the Dream It Up! blog before July 1st for a chance to win this month's stencil prize. 

This weekend my Granddaughter had her first trip to the beach and loved it! It brought back so many wonderful memories of the weeks we spent at the Outer Banks of North Carolina years ago. We used to go for two weeks every summer with some dear friends of ours. But, alas, as happens, our kids grew up and went to college and spent all our money! Someday soon we'll have to restart those wonderful vacations. So needless to say, my inspiration this week has a beach theme (again!). Here's the link to my "At the beach" board on Pinterest, guess which picture inspired me this week! Now here's what I created using the wonderful Dreamweaver products and Ranger Stickles Dry Glitter.

LL329 - Beach chair

I used the double glitter technique. Here's how it was done:

• Cut a piece of Dreamweaver's Double sided Mounting Paper the same size as the stencil
• Cut a red cardstock mat 1/4" larger each direction
• Remove the release paper from one side of the double sided mounting paper and adhere it to the red mat
• Apply Dreamweaver's Hawaiian Soap to the back side of the Beach chair stencil (LL329), using a large stencil brush to brush away any crumbs of soap from the openings
• Remove the other piece of release paper and place the stencil soap side down on the sticky surface, making sure all the small bridges of the stencils are pressed down
• Apply Stickles Dry Fine Glitter to the umbrella and chair. I used Christmas Red in the umbrella, Cinnamon in the umbrella pole, True Blue on the chair, tapping off between each color
• Use a large stencil brush to gently brush away any glitter clinging to the stencil
• Place the image glittered side down on the table and carefully peel the paper off the stencil, be sure to hold the stencil down with your other hand so it does not bend
• Sprinkle the bottom area of the chair with Platinum stickles and the rest of the background with Distress Stickles dry glitter clear rock candy
• Apply a piece of double sided mounting paper near the bottom of a piece of white cardstock
• With the release paper still on, use the Picasso (LL332) stencil, and 1/2" brush and some blue ink to create clouds in the sky area of the card
• Remove the release paper and apply Platinum stickles across the "sand" area
• Use foam tape to mount the beach chair to the lower right corner.
• Perfect for a summer birthday, or fourth of July card!

Here's the list of sparkly-Pinteresting players:

Dream It Up!

Cherylynn Moser

Leadonna Kimmel

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy (you're here)

Jessica Griffin

Caroline Duncan 

Stacey Rumsby

Pam Hornschu

Heidi Erickson

Cyndi Bundy

Terrece Siddoway

Lyn Bernatovich 

Jennifer Dove

The Ranger Blog

Happy Creating,

Louise

Inspired by a Pin!

This month the design team at Dreamweaver Stencils has been given a fun challenge, we are to base our creations on something we've been inspired by on Pinterest. You can search for virtually anything on Pinterest and it will bring back hundreds (or more!) of ideas and images. One of my favorite flowers is the Bird of Paradise, so I decided to see what was out out there. Oh my! There was everything from garden ideas to shoes, fabric, tattoos, botanical prints, photos, watercolors, quilling, and LOTS more. I found some incredible vintage prints, and this amazing quilt in my search. So while no one image was my inspiration this week, I definitely was inspired to create a card using Dreamweaver's beautiful Long bird o'paradise stencil (LL454) and the Jungle leaves (LJ825) stencil for the background. Here's how it came out:

LL454 Long bird o'paradise
Glossy Green Embossing Paste under Crackle Embossing Paste
LJ825 Jungle leaves
Dry embossed with the Strié technique applied

I love the combination of bold color (orange) and soft (green) background, and the Crackle Embossing Paste was the perfect touch to give it a lot more texture. Here are the steps:

• Tape your stencil to smooth cream cardstock with removable tape
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply a coat of Glossy Green Embossing Paste
• Remove and clean the stencil, let the paste dry completely (about 50 minutes)
• Tape the stencil back over the dry paste and apply a coat of Crackle Embossing Paste
• Remove and clean the stencil, let the paste dry completely
• In the meantime, dry emboss the Jungle leaves stencil on white cardstock with a die cut machine and rubber embossing mat
• Remove the stencil, place the leaves raised side up on a piece of copy paper and use a 1/2" or 3/4" in brush to sweep color in from the edge towards the center all along one side, turn the image and do the next side, repeat until all four sides have been colored. I used Distress Inks Peeled Paint and Forest Moss.
• Mount the leaves on orange cardstock
• Add two small strips of orange near the bottom
• To color the flower, place your clean stencil back over the dry crackle paste and use 1/4" stencil brushes to add color. Use a Picasso (LL332) stencil to help shield areas from other colors.
• On the flowers I used Distress Inks Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick, Faded Jeans and Dusty Concord. Yes, I really did! One the leaves I used Peeled Paint and Forest Moss.
• Use the larger green brush from the background leaves to add color around the edge of the flowers
• Mount the flower on a blue or purple mat to pick up the little part of the flower with blue on it
• Use foam tape to add the flower to the front of the card

For more Pinterest inspired creations, hop on over to the rest of the team blogs. Don't forget, you are always welcome to join our challenge. Just link your creation on the DREAM it UP! blog, or send Lynell a photo and description and she will post it for you. Of course, the possibility of winning a new stencil is always good motivation, so get creating!

Dream It Up!

Jennifer Dove 
Laura Drahozal
Lyn Bernatovich
Pam Hornschu
Heidi Erickson
Louise Healy (you're here!)
Jessica Griffin
Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,

Louise

Pintrest Inspiration

Welcome back to week two of our Dreamweaver Stencils June challenge. This month we are creating projects based on things that inspire us on Pinterest. There are so many wonderful ideas that people are willing to share, it is easy to spend hours looking at all the pretty pictures and forget to actually create something yourself! This week I was inspired by a beautiful creation I found by Lynette Carroll Designs. Unfortunately, her website is not functioning right now, but you can still enjoy this link to the picture
http://pinterest.com/pin/166492517447323672/

I just loved the muted tones and how everything went together so beautifully. Mine is not shabby chic like hers, but it uses the same principles of soft tones, and each image following a theme. This project will also act as my "final design" for the Dreamweaver Stencils Teacher Certification class that I took last month from Lynell. This technique was one of my favorite that week. It is very easy, but very stunning I think.  I'm hoping to get it in a black frame and photograph it again before this posts, but there is a huge storm passing over our area right now, so I'm not sure that is going to happen! If not, you can still enjoy this much of it!

"At the shore"

LM181 - Seahorse

LM106 - Scallop

LM209 - Starfish

LM104 - Nautilus

LM290 - Par escargot

LM179 - Sea turtle

LL3033 - Sand castle

LM267 - Lg conch

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the finished size is 12" x 12". Each of the images is done with the same way:

• Place the paper to be pasted on a craft mat or scrap piece of paper and tape the stencil in place using removable tape
• Use a palette knife and paste spreader to apply Dreamweaver Matte Black Embossing Paste
• With the stencil still on, sprinkle the whole image with Ranger Distress Embossing Powder, I used a combination of Antique Linen (2+ parts), Fired Brick (1 part), and Peeled Paint (1 part) to create a "sandy" color
• Lift the whole craft sheet or scrap paper up to tap off excess powder while the stencil is still on the paste
• Set it back down and carefully remove three sides of the tape, leaving your hinge tape in place
• Gently lift the stencil off the paste trying not to let any more powder fall through the openings
• Heat set the embossing powder
• I used Coordinations Iced Cocoa paper to paste and as the background, and matted each image with a cream colored cardstock
• Stencils used: LL3033, LM104, LM106, LM209, LM181, LM179, LM267, LM290, the seahorse was pasted first one direction, cleaned and then pasted the other direction
• I also lightly sanded the paper to give it a more weathered look

Here's the finished project on my fireplace. It fits in perfect with my shell filled lanterns and our conch shells.

Don't forget to click over to the other team members blogs to see what they've been inspired by this week over at Pinterest! We are so happy to have Jennifer Dove joining our challenge this month as a guest designer.

Dream It Up!

Jennifer Dove 

Lea Kimmel 

Stacey Rumsby

Terrece Siddoway 

Caroline Duncan 

Pam Hornschu 

Cherylynn Moser 

Cyndi Bundy

 Jessica Griffin  

Happy Creating,
Louise

Inspired by Pinterest!

Hello everyone and welcome to the Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday challenge. This week we are looking for inspiration on the very popular Pinterest site. Our challenge is to find an idea on Pinterest that appeals to us and apply it to Dreamweaver products. If you've never seen or heard of Pinterest trust me when I say it can be addicting (but so much fun!).
The inspiration for my design this week came from a posting from Tammy Tutterow, an amazingly talented artist whose work I love. Click on the link to see her original creation
http://tammytutterow.com/2013/03/tuesday-tutorial-bee-happy-die-cut-shadowbox-frame/

Here's my version of it using Dreamweaver products:

Steps:

• Paste emboss the Hexagons (LJ806) stencil on brown paper using the Matte Yellow Embossing Paste
• Remove and clean the stencil, let paste dry
• Place the stencil back over the dry paste and use a 3/4" stencil brush to add Distress Inks Wild Honey and Vintage Photo over the whole background
• Paste emboss the Bee (LS76) stencil on yellow paper using the Regular Embossing Paste (matte white)
• Remove stencil and use a cut straw to carefully add Crystal glitter to the wings of the bee
• Clean and dry the stencil, let paste dry
• Return the stencil back over the dry paste and use a 1/8" stencil brush to add Memento Tuxedo Black ink to the body of the bee
• Cut out the bee and brush Vintage Photo ink around the edges
• Using just the leaves from the Flower and Leaves (LG625) stencil, use a small stencil brush to add a darker green over light green paper (I used Distress Inks Peeled Paint)
• Use the Picasso (LL332) to add some veins to the leaves
• Cut out the leaves, and edge them with Distress Inks Vintage Photo
• I used some beautiful dark pink May Arts ribbon to create a twisted ribbon flower and bud, and another May Arts ribbon to make a small bow
• The base card was a piece of cream cardstock that I brushed Wild Honey and Vintage Photo on to give it the same "distressed" look as the rest of the piece
• Assemble all the layers, use foam tape under the bee and large flower

I hope you've enjoyed today's post and that it has inspired you to check out more great ideas from the rest of the team. We are delighted to welcome Jennifer Dove as our guest designer for the month of June and look forward to seeing her creations!  

Dream It Up!

Jennifer Dove 

Laura Drahozal 

Lyn Bernatovich 

Pam Hornschu 

Heidi Erickson 

Louise Healy 

Jessica Griffin 

Cyndi Bundy

Happy Creating,

Louise