Thursday Dream Schemes

Another week has flown by again! Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. This week our Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday Dream Scheme Challenge is Designer's Choice  Last week Lynell and Pam both showed a technique called Zentangle that they learned at a recent trade show.  I was so intrigued by their work that I decided to give it a try this week. I started with two small stencils thinking that it would be easier than trying a larger design. It was so much fun that I can hardly wait to try it in a class.
Here's what I've managed to create so far with this fun technique:

Sorry I had to remove the pictures, but watch for them in the upcoming book from Design Originals on Zentangling techniques.

 

Check back this week to see samples of my two upcoming classes, May 10th at The Cottage Stamper in St. Charles, Illinois, and May 14th at Stampology Chicago.  Click on the store names to go to their websites for more class information.
Stop over to the other team member's blogs for more great ideas, and to the DREAM it UP! blog too!
Happy Creating,
Louise

Thursday Dream Scheme

Time for another great Thursday Dream Schemes from Dreamweaver Stencils.  This week we were given a sketch challenge from fellow Dream Team Member Lee Kellogg. Here's her sketch:

And here's my interpretation of the sketch:

This reminds me of that old saying "an apple a day keeps the doctor away".  I hope that's true because I've developed one of those annoying spring colds and I'm hoping it's a quick one! This is an easy card that would be great for a lot of different occasions, but especially good for an end-of-the-year thank you note to those favorite teachers out there! I used LS81, Small Apple, stencil  and Glossy Red Embossing Paste on white cardstock.  With the stencil still in place, I sprinkled some Ivy Garden, FX11, on the leaf and stem, and Kimono Red, FX15, on the apple.  I used a soft brush to GENTLY swipe the powder over the entire image.  Let it dry completely, deckle the edges, then mount on coordinating papers using the sketch challenge as  your guide.  A quick and easy design, but very eye-catching.

Now hop (it is almost Easter after all) on over to the DREAM it UP! blog for another great idea, then on to the design team blogs for even more ideas.  Have a wonderful Easter.

Happy Creating,

Louise



Dream Scheme Thursday

This week's Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday Dream Scheme is designer's choice. These are always fun, but definately challenging to come up with new ideas.  This Flower in bottle (LL566) stencil has always been one of my favorites.

For this card I started by dry embossing the image (use a light box and stylus, or your die cut machine) on white linen cardstock. Leave the stencil in place and use small stencil brushes to add color. With the vase stencil still in place, add the Violets stencil (LS5) over the vase and add color to the violets. Add a little green mear the bottom of the vase to give it a "shadow" . Layer on various shades of green paper and add embellishments.
Don't forget to stop over at the DREAM it UP! blog for another great idea, then over to the rest of the Dream Team blogs.
Happy Creating,
Louise

Butterfly Bookmark

This week's Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday Dream Scheme is a challenge given us by fellow Dream Team member Kristi. It's a colorway challenge using teal and yellow. These two colors really compliment each other and made me think of sunshine, warmer weather, and spring!
This week I chose to use two different butterfly stencils, LL518, Vertical Butterflies, and LM257, Heliconia butterfly , and an initial stencil, LS H, to create a bookmark card for this challenge.

I used stencil brushes and Brilliance Sunflower Yellow and Rust with the Vertical butterfly stencil around the outer edge of the base yellow card, and on a piece of white cardstock. Edge the white cardstock with the Rust ink then layer onto yellow cardstock also edged with Rust.  Stencil the "H" near the bottom with Rust, then coat with a layer of Matte Yellow Embossing Paste.  When the paste dries, dab with Stamp 'n' Stick and coat with Metallic F/X Glacier. Punch a hole near the top and add a ribbon.

The teal layer has a 1" wide slit cut across the center for the bookmark to slip through and is edged with a COPIC marker (BG72).  Use foam tape to raise the teal layer for more dimension.  The Heliconia butterfly was paste embossed on a piece of the teal paper using Matte Yellow Embossing Paste, and Art Glitter Bananan sprinkled on the wet paste.  A little Rust was added on top after the paste dried.  Cut it out leaving a small edge of teal and mount it on the teal layer.

This design can be personalized by changing the initial. The initial stencils are wonderful for creating sets of stationery or notecards for friends and family.

Don't forget to hop over to the DREAM it UP! blog for another great idea, then the other team member blogs listed down the left side of my blog.

Happy Creating,

Louise

Thursday Dream Scheme

Welcome to another Dreamweaver Stencils Thursdays Dream Scheme! This week was a designers choice so I am sharing these ATC's I created for an ATC club that I belong to at The Cottage Stamper in St. Charles, Illinois.  Don't know what an ATC is?  Well you are in for lots of fun and challenges!

ATC stands for Artist Trading Card and can be a way for artists to exchange ideas and information with each other.  Everyone loves to get new ideas right!  ATC's have just one rule, the finished size of the ATC must be 2 1/2" x 3 1/2".  Usually a group chooses a monthly theme, and you meet once a month to exchange the cards with the group. Our group chooses a whole year of themes at a time so you can be creating ahead of schedule (like that ever happens!)  Everyone is free to interpret the theme using whatever products and techniques they choose.  It is a lot of fun to see what you can create in such a small space!  Better yet, they are easy to store using sports card page protectors and a 3-ring binder.

Stencils are great to use on ATCs.  Here are three examples of ATCs I have done using Dreamweaver Stencils:

The Chameleon, LM186, was done for a "Green & Gold" theme.  He was so easy, Metallic Gold Embossing Paste on dark green cardstock, then layered onto a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of brushed metallic gold cardstock.  I thought the little red brad for the eye was a nice finishing touch.

The glittered trees were for a "Winter Wonderland" theme.  I didn't have a stencil small enough, so I used a small part of the Bare Trees, LJ849, stencil.  Pearlescent Paste on white linen cardstock, sprinkled with Crystal glitter while the paste was still wet.  After it dried, I wrapped a 1/4" white sheer ribbon around it and tied a knot, then mounted it on silver mirror paper.

The clover ATC was for a "Clover/Shamrock" theme and is similar to my St. Patrick's Day card but scaled down to sizes appropriate for an ATC.  For the Clover stencil, LS58,  I used Glossy Green Embossing Paste on white cardstock, sprinkled with Rock Moss Microfine Glitter while the paste was still wet.  After it dried, I cut out around the clover leaving about 1/16" of white paper around the image. Color the edge with a green COPIC marker to make the image stand out more. The shamrock vine was a stamp I had and the green gingham is from A Muse Artstamps (sadly, no longer available except through home shows).

We tend to always use a certain stamp or stencil the same way over and over again until we get tired of it and stop using it.  What a waste of all our great products!  Think outside of the box to make other creations besides cards and scrapbook layouts.  It is amazing what you can create in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors. We're hindered only in finding enough time to try it all!

Be sure to check out all the other great ideas this week starting with the DREAM it UP! blog and all the other Dream Team members too.

Happy Creating,

Louise

Thursday Dream Scheme

Here we are at another Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday's Dream Scheme.  This week we have a sketch challenge designed by me. This design challenges you to create a card with a center opening rather than the standard side opening. Here's the sketch I challenged our Dream Team with:

And here's what I created for the challenge:

Can't you just feel that warm summer breeze!  I just love this Flamingo stencil (LM182) from Dreamweaver! First, use stencil brushes and pigment inks to color the design. Clean your stencil, place it back over the design and apply Regular Embossing Paste (Matte White).  Remove the stencil and sprinkle with Crystal Glitter.  Let the paste dry, while it dries it will draw some of the pigment ink into the paste creating a pastel effect.  Place the stencil back over the dry paste and add a little more color if you want the color a little brighter. To create this card I started with white cardstock cut 7" x 10".  Score in 2 1/2" from each side and use a bone folder to crease the flaps really well.  Add decorative paper to each flap. Ticket punch the corners of the flamingo layer and mount on a coordinating piece of cardstock. Adhere the flamingo to the left flap of the card  For the grass at the bottom, I used a QuickKutz Grass die cut. But the fun is just beginning, the inside is just as much fun as the outside! Open the flaps on the front of the card to this:

 

Stencil the "Happy" part of the Happy Birthday stencil (LM150) first, clean the stencil, then stencil the "Birthday" below that. Stencil a Flamingo on each flap of the inside of the card. Your Picasso stencil (LL332) will help you keep your colors where they belong, especially the black for the eye.
Hope you've enjoyed this week's challenge, give it a try. Now check out the DREAM it UP! blog for another great idea along with all the Dream Team blogs, just click on their names down the left side of my blog.
Happy Creating,
Louise

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Welcome to the Dreamweaver Stencils Thursday's Dream Scheme challenge.  This week is a designer's choice, but of course, most of us will use a St. Patrick's Day theme.  I love any excuse to send cards to family and friends, but with a last name of "Healy", I have to send cards for this special day! I don't send out quite as many as I do for other holidays, but it's always fun to come up with a green card.
This year I kept it very simple, using Dreamweaver's Clover (LS58) stencil, green embossing paste, glitter, and a COPIC marker for edging. Here's my card:

I was lucky enough to still have some of Dreamweaver's Green Glossy Paste, but if you don't, you can add a green acrylic paint to the translucent paste for the same affect.  After I took off the stencil, I sprinkled the wet paste with Moss Green Ultrafine Glitter, then let it dry thoroughly. I wanted it to really pop off the white cardstock so I used a lighter green marker to edge around the clover image.  Mount it on green gingham edge with the same marker and use foam tape to pop that off the card.  This is a small card (4bar size) and is stamped on the inside with "have a lucky day" (A Muse Artstamps). The May Arts ribbon was the finishing touch.  Here's a close up of the clover:

Now it's time to leap on over to the DREAM it UP! blog to check out the great design that Lynell came up with for this week's challenge.  To see all the Dream Team samples, click on their names along the left side of my blog.

Hope you have a "lucky" day today too!

Happy Creating,

Louise