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!

Dream it Up!

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg  

Liz Martin (you're here)

 Cyndi Bundy

Happy crafting,
Liz 

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!

Dream It Up!  

Laura Drahozal
Cherylynn Moser 

Louise Healy  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg  

Liz Martin (you're here)

 Cyndi Bundy

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

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!

Dream It Up!  

Laura Drahozal
Cherylynn Moser 

Louise Healy  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg  

Liz Martin (you're here)

 Cyndi Bundy

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

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:

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

 

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:

The Ranger Blog

Dream It Up!

Kristi Van Doren

Lee Kellogg

Georgia Sommers

Terrece Siddoway

Wendy Jordan

Pam Hornschu

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Cherylynn Moser

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy

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

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)

Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder in Fired Brick

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:

Dream It Up!

Ranger Ink Blog

Cyndi Bundy

Pam Hornschu

Louise Healy

Kristi Van Doren

Laura Drahozal

Terrece Siddoway

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Cherylynn Moser

Wendy Jordan

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