Black Cats Studios

Cyndi Bundy

Happy summer and happy crafting,

Liz

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

I love the longer days of summer and even though it's still the same 24 hours, it seems like there's a lot more time to play and try out new things in the craft room. This week I played with Memories Mists. These great mists come in a variety of colors with great names like Strawberry Daiquiri, Green Tea and Mango Lemonade, and one or two sprays gives you a nice textured background.

Begin by selecting your colors. I used Orange Juice, Pale Ale and Fruit Punch for this card. Place a piece of card stock larger than your finished size on the bottom of a box lined with a few sheets of paper towels. Holding the bottle 6-8 inches above the paper, spray once or twice with each color. Remove the card stock from the box and place it on a flat surface. Carefully position your stencil (Flourish, LJ896) on the wet surface. With a clean paper towel, blot the Memories Mists from the open parts of the stencil, wiping away the Memories Mists to reveal the card stock. Remove the stencil and clean it. Set the card aside to dry.

You could mat the image on coordinating card stock and adhere that to your card base to make a lovely note card or add ribbon and a butterfly (LM121, colored with pigment inks, a layer of translucent embossing paste, cut out and attached with a small piece of foam tape).

So get out some of those products you haven't used in a while and have some fun. For more ideas and inspiration, check out the team blogs listed below. Then, play along with us and link your project to Mr. Linky on Dreamweaver's Dream it Up! blog. We'd love to see what you're working on.

Dream It Up!
Pam Hornschu

Cyndi Bundy

Have fun this summer and remember to try something new or revisit a technique you haven't tried for a while.

Happy crafting,

Liz

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Sizzling Summer Fun

We're having a mini-heat wave this week. Not as hot as in some parts of the country, but 90 degree temps with no fog or breeze is not nice. So I dug into the archives for my favorite representation of sizzling summer fun with shades yellows and orange.

The Mosaic Swirls (LJ901) stencil lends itself to a variety of uses, but today the swirls are the bright summer sun and the sizzle is the double glitter technique on the Summer (LM294) stencil. Position the stencil on card stock and adhere around the edges with removable tape. Add color to the spirals using a stencil brush with the darkest color at the center of the spiral and adding lighter colors as you move toward the outer rings. Set the card aside while you wash and dry the stencil. When the card is dry, replace the stencil and tape off all sides. Apply Translucent Embossing Paste (DEPT) with the paste spreader (LM2010). Carefully remove the stencil, wash an dry it, and set the card aside to dry.

If you followed the double glitter challenge last month, you know what to do. If not, you can find the instructions here, here, here and here. To finish it off, I added a bright orange check ribbon from Creative Impressions.

Stay cool and check out the rest of the Dream Team blogs for more ideas and inspiration and then, while it's too hot to go outside, get to your craft area and let us see you summer fun project. Be sure to link it up using Mr. Linky on the Dreamweaver Stencil's Dream it Up! blog so we can all take a look.

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu

Cyndi Bundy

Happy crafting,
Liz

Thursday, July 5, 2012

A winner and a new challenge

I hope everyone had a wonderful time BBQing and watching fireworks yesterday. Before we begin with this month's challenge, congratulations go out to Stacey Rumsby, the winner of June's double glitter challenge. You can see her card here.

Are you ready for some summer fun? That's the theme for July's challenge and there are so many stencils to complement that theme. One of my favorites is the Beach Chair and umbrella (LL329) because there are so many backgrounds you can use with it. I love going to the beach (the closest is 30 minutes away and one of the most beautiful, Pebble Beach, is an easy 90 minute drive) so this was an easy one for me. I applied Color Solutions Alcohol Inks in Darkest Brown and Creme Brulee for the sand and Iceberg for the water/sky

on to gloss paper. (I used a little thinner to help "smush" the colors around). The beach chair was paste embossed on to acetate. I masked off the umbrella pole and added the glossy blue paste and then the matte yellow. I set the image aside to dry while I washed and dried the stencil. To add the umbrella pole, reposition the stencil on the image and, using a black fine-tip pen, add the line. To assemble, position the acetate on the background and adhere the corners. From card stock, cut a frame and attach to the front of the card to hide the glue marks on the acetate.

Won't you come and play with us this month? Here's a sneak peek at the prize . . .

. . . it's a new stencil that will be released this month at Summer CHA.

For more inspiration, see what's going on at the Dream it Up! blog, as well as the rest of the Dream Team

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu

Cyndi Bundy