Thursday, December 27, 2012

Frosty Fun

We've had a lot of fun with this month's Frosty Fun challenge and I hope you've been able to play along.  There's still a few days left, so if you've got some time this week, join us!

This week's project from the archives is a salute to the annual New Years Eve fireworks display in San Francisco.  It's a crowded event – necessary in order to stay warm – and a lot of cool and frosty fun.  This card was super easy to make.  Begin by paste embossing the Fireworks (LJ886) stencil with Translucent embossing paste and a paste spreader (LM2010).   Wash the stencil and set aside to dry.  Sprinkle gold and silver glitter over the fireworks while the paste it still wet and set that aside to dry.  Stamp an image or sentiment of your choice and mat it with coordinating paper.  When the paste has dried, add ribbon or other embellishment and stamped image and you're done.  This makes a great invitation for a New Years Eve party or, with a different stamped image, a Happy New Year card if you didn't get all the Christmas cards out in time!

There's still a few days left, so I hope you'll find some time to play along.  You can get all the details about this month's challenge and the great prize package here.  And for more ideas and inspiration, check out the rest of the Dream Team blogs beginning with Dreamweaver Stencil's blog, Dream it Up!

Liz Martin (you're here)

 

Wishing you all a happy holiday season and warmest wishes for the new year.   See you next week.

Happy crafting,
Liz 


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Fun and Frosty outside . . .

 . . . warm and toasty inside, which is perfect for the season and a good reason to spend time in the craft room.   I like the idea of ice skating (does anyone remember The Skater's Waltz?) but am not very good at it (my one and only experience ended badly).   These lucky skates, however, are pure joy!
The background is the snowflake stencil (LJ819) paste embossed with translucent embossing paste.  After removing and washing the stencil, I sprinkled clear glitter over the paste while it was still wet.  After it was completely dry, I brushed off the excess glitter with a soft brush.

For the skates (LL3016), I dry embossed the metal first by running it through a personal die cutting machine and then, with the stencil still in place, went over the fine details with the small end of a stylus to give more definition.  Then, I turned the embossed metal over and applied regular embossing paste to the back to keep the details crisp and dent-free.  When dry, I cut it out and attached it to the snowflake panel. 

I know this is a very busy time of year, but there's still time to play along with this month's Fun and Frosty challenge.  You can find more information about it here.   For ideas and inspiration, be sure to check out the fabulous projects created by the Dream Team, beginning with the Dreamweaver Stencil blog, Dream it Up!

Liz Martin (you're here)

 

Wishing you all a happy holiday season and warmest wishes for the new year.   See you next week.

Happy crafting,
Liz 


Thursday, December 13, 2012

Fun and Frosty

We've got some very cold, near freezing temperatures headed our way the next few nights and, of course, you need warm wooly mittens to keep your hands warm.  Here they are . . .

I've had a lot of fun using the Mittens (LJ923) stencil and this time I paired it with Christmas Borders (LJ922) for the lovely pattern.  Here's what to do:

Place the Christmas Borders stencil on card stock and tape two corners to hold it in place.  Then, place the Mittens stencil on top and tape the two opposite corners.  With a foam applicator, apply Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Broken China in a pouncing motion over the borders stencil.   To give the mittens a bit more definition, I replaced the cleaned mitten stencil over the inked image and traced the outline with a Micron 05 pen.  Cut out the mittens, adhere them to matching card stock and hand cut a mat.  Adhere mittens to card base.   Attach ribbon and tuck ends into mitten cuff and you're done! Couldn't be easier.

I know this is a very busy time of year, but I hope you'll find some time to play along with this month's Fun and Frosty challenge.  You can find more information about it here.   For ideas and inspiration, be sure to check out the fabulous projects created by the Dream Team, beginning with the Dreamweaver Stencil blog, Dream it Up!
Liz Martin (you're here)

See you next week.

Happy crafting,
Liz 






Thursday, December 6, 2012

Frosty Fun

CONGRATULATIONS to November's  Holidays CAS Challenge winners

Yogi
for the best interpretation of the challenge
and
Sheila Lile
for best use of Dreamweaver products

 We look forward to seeing more of your work in the coming months.

 Now, on to December's challenge.  This month we are challenging you to design a wintery delight. It can be something other than paper, but again we will have two winners: "Best interpretation of the challenge" and "best usage of Dreamweaver products". This last month of the year we will award each of these winners a brand new stencil design we are releasing at CHA. (It's a secret until the very end of the month!)

The first thing that comes to mind is the song . . . "The weather outside is frightful," ta-da-da-da, ta-da-da-da, ta-da-da-da (humming along because I can't remember the words, but I do remember this part) "Let is snow, let it snow, let it snow."   Well, every time I've worked with this stencil, I just have to sing along. 
Here's what you'll need to make the card:
Clear glitter

The details:
Attach stencil to card stock and tape all sides with repositionable tape.  Apply metallic paste with paste spreader.  Remove, wash and dry the stencil; set image aside to dry.

Dry emboss ice skates on to aluminum using personal die cut machine, remembering to position stencil on the base plate and to use new cutting plates dedicated to dry embossing.  Remove stencil and carefully cut around image.

Adhere pasted image to card base and attach ice skates to card front with strong, double-sided tape.

We have a whole month ahead of fun and frosty inspiration, perfect for the winter months, when it's too cold to go outside.   Check out the rest of the design team blogs to see what they've been up to.  Then, sneak in some time to get crafty and post your project on the Dream it Up! blog using Mr. Linky.   There will be prizes for two lucky winners of this month's Frosty Fun challenge. 

Liz Martin (you're here)

Happy crafting,
Liz 








Thursday, November 29, 2012

Clean and Simple Christmas

Whew!  November was a long month with five Thursdays – just right for our Christmas Clean and Simple challenge and for making all the cards I'll need to mail in the next few weeks!  Here's the last of the cards I've been working on. 
This is the Ornate Christmas Tree (LX7003) and if it looks familiar, it should . . . it's the same exquisite borders you'll find on Christmas Borders (LJ922).  These have been my "go to" stencils this holiday season.

The technique is simple:  After taping all sides of the stencil to card stock, apply Metallic Copper (DCP) paste with the paste spreader (LM2010).   Remove the stencil, wash it and set the image aside to dry.   The design is so intricate it really doesn't need much embellishing, but I couldn't pass up double faced satin ribbon.  And you're done!

Now time is short, but you still have today and tomorrow to post a project for this month's challenge.  You will find all the details for the November challenge and the mr. linky link to post your project HERE on the Dreamweaver blog, Dream it Up!

 For more ideas and inspiration from some very crafty team members, check out their blogs and be sure to leave a note letting them know you've stopped by.  We love hearing from you!

Liz Martin (you're here)

Happy crafting,
Liz 








Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving to all

I have many things to be thankful for and one of them is spending time with family.  We'll gather at my cousin's house tomorrow for a day of talking, laughing, catching up on what's been going on in each others' lives, and dinner, where everyone brings a special dish.   I wouldn't miss it!

But, it is Thursday, and the November challenge of Holidays, Clean and Simple, has two more weeks to go (which is really good, 'cause it gives me a chance to make more Christmas cards).   For today's post, it's still clean and simple, but I'm posting a set of Holiday Bags and Tags, which I made for a class I'll be teaching at Memories Live On in Cupertino on December 8.  So if you're in the area and would like to take the class, call the store at 408-446-9901.

The stencils used are Holiday Greetings  (LJ917) and Candy Cane (LL55) and there's lots of bling in the form of red and green glossy paste, glitter, glitter dots and gold paint.

There's more crafty goodness to be found on each team member's blog, so check them out, starting with Dreamweaver's blog, Dream it Up!

Liz Martin (you're here)

Want to play along with us?  There's still time to join November's  Holidays Clean and Simple (CAS)
challenge Click here for more information.

Happy Crafting,
Liz

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Clean and Simple Christmas

SPOILER ALERT – if you have a cat and are on my Christmas card list, quickly scroll down to the list of team blogs, click on a name and leave them some love.  You'll see this card soon enough!
I know.  I know.  Whenever I see "spoiler alert" I can't stop  – like a moth attracted to a light.  My apologies for spoiling the surprise.

Before we get to today's project, CONGRATULATIONS! to the winner of Week #4 Festively Distressed cross-promotion with the Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Powders

 Denise Bryant
 randomly chosen from team member Kristi Van Doren's blog

Denise, if you haven't already done so, send Lynell (lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com) your snail mail address so she can send you your prize package.

Thanks to everyone who played along with us and to Ranger Ink and Tim Holtz for a great product.

So here we go . . .


For a cat person, this stencil is purr-fect (couldn't resist that one).   Here's what you'll need:

Dreamweaver Products
Retro Sitting Cat (LL3020)
Kitty Words (LG741)
Glossy Black Embossing Paste (DGKP)
Palette Knife (DPK)
Stencil Brush (BHB/GHB)

Other
Pigment ink
Embellishments

Position Retro Sitting Cat stencil on card stock and tape all sides.  Apply glossy black embossing paste.  Remove pasted image and set aside to dry.  Wash and dry stencil and palette knife.
Position Kitty Words stencil on card stock and tape corners to hold it in place.  Using a stencil brush, apply pigment ink.
Cut patterned paper and mats to size; cut out Sitting Cat.  Assemble the pieces, add the embellishments and you're done!

There's more crafty goodness to be found on each team member's blog, so check them out, starting with Dreamweaver's blog, Dream it Up!

Liz Martin (you're here)

Want to play along with us?  There's still time to join November's  Holidays Clean and Simple (CAS)
challenge Click here for more information.

Happy Crafting,
Liz






Thursday, November 8, 2012

A Festively Distressed Christmas, Part II


We've now had four weeks of festively distressed fun playing with the Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Powders along with our wonderful line of Dreamweaver Stencils and products. Huge thanks to Tim Holtz and the fab people at Ranger for sharing these four collaborative weeks with us, and providing the yummy shades of Distress Powders for us to create with. We've been inspired by the process, and we hope you have, too! 
If you haven't won one of the prize packages yet, you still have one more opportunity this week as the set below is up for grabs to a random commenter on one of the Dream Team blogs.
If you've been following along each week, you've seen some gorgeous creations with these stencils and powders, so you should be all fired up to get distressed! If you've missed the first three weeks, check them out once you've made the rounds today:

 
In keeping with November's Festively Distressed Clean and Simple Christmas theme, my  project for this week is:  TAGS



Materials:
Dreamweaver Stencils Joy (LL511) and Noel (LL510)
Dreamweaver Matte Black Embossing Paste
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Antique Linen
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder in Fired Brick, Shabby Shutters and Faded Jeans
Ranger 
Inkssentials #8 tags
Coordinating ribbon

The Process:
Ink the edge of each tag with the Antique Linen Distress Ink using a foam applicator. 
Position the stencil on the tag and tape all edges.
Working with one stencil at a time, spread the matte black embossing paste with a palette knife.  
Remove the stencil and place in a pan of water.
Sprinkle the Shabby Shutters embossing powder on the ornament in the Joy stencil and and Fired Brick on the letters.  Set aside to dry.
Apply matte black embossing paste to the Noel stencil.  Remove stencil and place in a pan of water.
Sprinkle Faded Jeans embossing powder on the snowflake.  I liked the contrast of the black paste against the pale blue color of the distress embossing powder and decided not to add another color of embossing powder to the letters.  
Set the tag aside to dry; wash and dry the stencils and palette knife.

As the paste dries,  the embossing powder will stick to the paste, eliminating the need to heat set the powder as you would in the double embossing powder technique.

Add coordinating ribbons and you're done!

Don't forget to leave me some love before hopping to the rest of the Dream Team blogs:

Please remember to continue to follow the team through the Dream It Up! blog as we bravely go where no stenciler has gone before, to like us on our Facebook page, and to learn from our fabulous weekly Thursday Tutorials on Paper Craft Planet as well.

We've been having a lot of fun these past four weeks playing with the Ranger/Tim Holtz Embossing Powders.  Keep following along to see where they'll turn up next!

Happy crafting,
Liz

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Festively Distressed Christmas

Congratulations! to last month's winners 
Charmaine S
Best Interpretation of the Challenge
Jill
Best Use of Dreamweaver Products
and
Debby
winner of the Dreamweaver/Ranger Festively Distressed Collaboration

We're so happy to have you playing along with us and we look forward to seeing more of your work.




Still feeling festive? We hope so! Dreamweaver and Ranger still have two weeks left of our Festively Distressed collaboration, and we are full of distressing ideas...Tim Holtz' Distress Powder ideas, that is. Mixed with our fabulous line of stencil designs and exciting products, your creativity will know no bounds! If you missed the first two weeks, start HERE and HERE!

For our postings this week and next, we are offering you the opportunity to win one of two prize packages, perfectly coordinated for your holiday crafting. Simply leave a comment on each of our Dream Team's posts, and YOU could be one of two randomly selected winners!


The Dream Team have been challenged for the month of November to create something CAS (clean and simple) for the holidays. The extra challenge is mixing the Distress Powders in for the collaboration with Ranger. Think that it's possible?  Well...let's see...

Here's what I came up with:



I know it's not a card, but it is clean and simple and festive and it couldn't be easier.  If you've been following along, you're familiar with the technique, so here we go.
The Materials
Double sided mounting paper (MPDS)
Star stencil (LS79)
Clear glass ornament
Ribbon
The Process
Begin by tracing as many stars as you need on to the double sided mounting paper (this is a good way to use up those scraps and bits and pieces left over from other projects).  Peel off one side of the protective covering and adhere randomly on the clean glass ornament.  When all stars are in place, remove the remaining piece of protective paper and sprinkle on the embossing powder.  You can leave the ornament as is or you can heat the embossing powder with a heat tool.  The glass will be hot, so set it aside to cool before attaching the ribbon and any other embellishment that suits your fancy.  

There you have it – couldn't be easier.  These ornaments would make great place cards for your holiday table or gifts for teachers or the holiday party hostess.


So tell me what you think in your comment below before heading over to the rest of the Dream Team posts:
The Ranger blog is offering another amazing prize opportunity, just for playing along with the Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Powders and Dreamweaver Stencils and linking your creation on the Ranger blog. You can find more details HERE.

We hope that you have been inspired by our creations, and will continue to follow the Dream Team through the Dream It Up! blog as well as to like us on our Facebook page. We really encourage you to play along with our monthly challenges for more prize opportunities and creative fun!
Happy crafting,
Liz

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Dreamweaver/Ranger: Festively Distressed


Welcome back to week two of our amazing collaboration between Ranger's Tim Holtz line of Distress Powders, and our beautiful Dreamweaver Stencils and Products! If you missed last week's event, start HERE.

Last week, we were totally blown away by the awesome response we received from those of you who hopped over from Tim Holtz's blog and the Ranger blog to check us out! We've been doing the "happy dance" ever since! Hopefully, you will continue to check us out, especially over the next few weeks as we continue our play-time in Tim's sandbox. (It is rather an appropriate metaphor considering the cool texture of his Distress Powders.)

Apparently, Tim and the wonderful people at Ranger were also excited by the response, and they've decided to "up the ante" in the form of an additional prize package(s) which will include TWELVE Distress Powders each, and a handful of Dreamweaver Stencils to go with! Wow! Just one teeny-tiny detail...to win one of these packages from their blog, you need to create something with Tim Holtz's Distress Powders and Dreamweaver Stencils and attach it to the inlinkz on the Ranger blog. Winners will be selected randomly. For more details, head over to the Ranger blog.

Once again, this week we are offering another fall prize package as shown here. Just leave us all some love as you visit, for an opportunity to be the one random winner we select. Curious as to who won from last week? It could be YOU! Visit the Dream It Up! blog for the announcement of the lucky commenter.



Here's what I created for this week:


Materials:
Dreamweaver Stencils Wrought Iron (LG684) and Long Pumpkins (LL514)
Dreamweaver Matte Black Embossing Paste (DMBP)
Dreamweaver Double-Sided Mounting Paper (MPDS)
Dreamweaver Handmade Coconut Soap (DHHS)
Inkssentials Emboss It embossing ink
Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powders in Black Soot, Walnut Stain, Mustard Seed, Pine Needles,     and Shabby Shutters
Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Walnut Stain
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Wild Honey
Tim Holtz Core'dinations Distress Collection paper in Walnut Stain and Spiced Marmalade
Tools:  Paste Spreader (LM2010), Palette Knife (WDPK), Inkssentials blending tool, sanding block,   and removable tape            

The Process:

Apply Wild Honey Distress Ink to card stock with applicator tool and foam pad.
Tape Wrought Iron stencil (LG684) to card stock with removable tape and apply matte black embossing paste with paste spreader.  Remove stencil and set pasted image aside to dry.  Wash and dry stencil and paste spreader.  
Reposition clean stencil over dry image and apply Embossing Ink to open areas of stencil with dauber.  Remove stencil and sprinkle Black Soot Distress Embossing Powder over image.  Heat with heat tool to set powder.  Applying embossing powder over the embossing paste gives more dimension and textue to the image.

Cut  2" by 2-1/2" pieces of card stock and double-sided mounting paper.  Remove one side of protective paper from the double-sided mounting paper and adhere to card stock.  Set aside until ready to use.

Rub Handmade Coconut Soap on the back of the Long Pumpkin stencil (you'll only be using the three pumpkins on the right-hand side of the stencil, so no need to coat the entire stencil with soap).   With a small brush, remove the soap "crumbs" from the stencil.  Peel off the protective paper and position your stencil over the sticky paper.  Apply Distress Embossing powders.  Separate the stencil from the paper by placing the stencil on a flat surface, paper side up.  While "walking" your fingers over the stencil, gentle peel back the sticky paper.  Cover the remaining sticky surface with embossing powder, tap off excess and heat with heat tool.   
Use the distress marker to give definition to the ridges in the pumpkins.
Trim, if necessary, and adhere to open area of wrought iron sign post.  

Cut mats to size and distress edges with sanding block.  Adhere to card stock.  Stamp sentiment above sign post, if desired, and adhere to card front.  Add buttons or other embellishments, if desired.


Aren't you excited to see what's next? Check out the Dream Team players for today:


You already know where to find Ranger's/Tim Holtz' products, but if you are having difficulty finding Dreamweaver, encourage your local stamp/paper-craft store to carry the line of fabulous stencil designs, pastes, and other products to mix with all of your stash of Tim's crafty goodness. You can also purchase our products on-line at Stencil with Style.

We'd love to see you come back regularly and play along with our monthly challenges (and more opportunities to win stencils) by linking your creations to mr. linky on the Dream It Up! blog, or emailing pics of your creations to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com
. Since you're on the computer already, head on over and like us on Facebook as well. Just another location for dreamy and distressed inspiration!

See you next week,
Liz





 

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Dreamweaver and Ranger Collaboration

 

The Dream Team are so excited to have the opportunity to play along with some unique Ranger Products in the Tim Holtz line...specifically, the Distressed Embossing Powders! Our own Louise Healy demonstrated how fabulous these are with the Dreamweaver Stencils when she created this card for a fun class at CHA Summer 2012:



Apparently, Tim Holtz agreed with all of us on this unique use of his product, so he very generously had Ranger (thanks, Patti!) send the team some samples to play and blog with. So...here we go!

Here's my post for today:


Materials:
Ranger Distress Embossing Powders in Mustard Seed, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo and Faded Jeans
Tim Holtz idea-ology Kraft Glassine Sheets
Distress Ink in Faded Jeans and Antique Linen
Dreamweaver Stencil  Daisies LL548
Dreamweaver Double Sided Mounting Paper  MPDS
Handmade Coconut Soap DHHS

If you've been following along with our monthly challenges, you'll remember the double glitter projects from June.  This technique is much the same except that we're using Ranger's Distress Embossing Powders instead of glitter.  How great is that?  But, if you're new to our Thursday postings, here's what to do:


Adhere one side of the double-sided mounting paper (MPDS) to card stock, leaving the protective covering on the top side until you are ready to position your stencil.   Rub the back side of the stencil with Handmade Hawaiian Coconut Soap (DHHS), making sure to cover the entire stencil.  This will keep the stencil from making a tight bond with the adhesive.  Carefully brush the soap "crumbs" from the stencil openings, making sure not to bend the stencil.  Remove the protective paper from the double sided mounting paper and position your stencil, soap side down.

Using  a small scoop (a straw with one end cut at an angle works well for this), sprinkle the embossing powder on the open areas of the stencil.  Tap off the excess and repeat with the other colors.  When all the areas are filled in, place stencil, face down, on a flat surface and begin removing the card stock.  Be sure to keep the stencil flat against your work surface, moving or "walking" your fingers along the stencil as you peel back the card stock so that the stencil always remains flat and does not bend.  Apply your background color to the exposed areas and tap off the excess.  Heat the embossing powders with a heat tool.  

Begin layering your background papers on to your card stock.  I began by applying Antique Linen Distress Ink to the edges of the card stock with a finger dauber.  Then, I crumbled a piece of white paper, flattened it out and pounced the Faded Jeans ink pad in random fashion until all the raised areas were covered.  The next layer was a piece of Tim Holtz idea-ology Kraft Glassine paper with the edges torn.  The last layer was the embossed daisies with a pleated ribbon trim.

For the next four weeks, on our regular Thursday posts, we will be featuring the wonderful things that you can do with Tim's Distress Powders and Dreamweaver Stencils.  Leave comments on each of the team blog posts for opportunities to win one prize package for each of the four weeks.

The prize:



The blogs:

In addition, don't forget to play along with the Dream Team's monthly challenges for more opportunities to win some great stencil designs!  October's challenge is Festively Fall, and November is CAS (clean and simple) Christmas! Link your creations on the Dream It Up! blog, or email pics to   lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com.   Join us on Facebook as well! Lots of inspiration, and lots of fun!

Happy crafting,
Liz