The simple things are sometimes the best . . .

 . . . and in paper crafting you immediately think of clean and simple.  And it's even better if you can use up paper and embellishments from other projects. 

The patterned paper and orange card stock came from the American Crafts Autumn Crisp 6x6 paper pad left over from a class I taught several weeks ago.  The felt leaf is from Darice and the twine is from the stash.  A seasonal sentiment rounds it out and there you have another card ready to send. 

It's easy to whip up several cards if you put all the coordinating papers and embellishments on a tray and then mix and match to your hearts content.

Have a great weekend and

Happy crafting,
Liz

The seasons change . . .

I'm loving the cool, crisp mornings and warm days of fall.  Don't get me wrong – I'm a summer girl at heart, but I do love that time of year when summer turns to fall.  There's football and baseball (Yes!  The San Francisco Giants are going to the World Series!), leaves are changing colors and if you haven't already started, it's not too late to make a few fall-themed cards.

And what better way to capture the changing colors of fall foliage than by using the Molten Magic technique.  Paste the leaf icon stencil (LL471), with metallic copper paste.  Then lightly sprinkle Kimono Red, Kiwi Green, Eye of the Tiger ........Metallic F/X over the wet paste.  Use a heat tool to warm the paste until bubbly.  And there you have it – crisp, crinkly leaves that you don't have to rake!

There are so many ways to change-up this card.  You could apply gold leaf over the dried metallic copper paste.  Or, instead of the Molten Magic technique, you could apply a layer of Palette Stamp and Stick glue to the image (position a clean stencil over the dried paste first to keep the glue where it belongs). and then paint the leaves with Metallic F/X.  You could change this from a top-fold card to make it a side-fold.  You could also eliminate the patterned paper and replace it with a sentiment of your choice.  Happy birthday, Thanksgiving wishes, or thinking of you are all possibilities.  The Baker's twine could give way to coordinating enamel dots . . . you get the idea.  Dreamweaver Stencils are so versatile, the possibilities are endless.  Give it a try and see what you come up with.

Products used:
Dreamweaver
Leaf Icons stencil, LL471
Metallic Copper Embossing Paste, DCP
Palette Knife, DPK
Paste Spreader, LM2010
Metallic F/X Kimono Red (FX15), Forestry (FX20), Goldfinch (FX05) and Eye of the Tiger (FX06)
Patterned paper, American Crafts Autumn Crisp 6x6 paper pad
Solid card stock, American Crafts Peacock and Squash

Until next time,

Happy crafting,
Liz

A Little Birdie Told Me. . .

 . . .that we're celebrating the Queen's birthday this week.   Well. . .the Queen of Stencils, Lynell Harlow, that is. Actually, her birthday is on Saturday, but we're surprising her by posting birthday cards in her honor today. Nothing like making you feel OLD sooner than necessary, right Lynell? You'll even see a few familiar names in our lineup, as some of us on the teaching team are whooping it up for her as well.

In addition to our birthday party, we are also beginning a new year and a new monthly challenge. In honor of all those resolutions we hope to achieve, our challenge is "Losing the Weight...AKA Clean and Simple (CAS)". If we all try really hard to simplify our design-work without losing our creativity, we can all say at the end of the month that we've lost some weight! Maybe not off of our waistlines, but at least off of our cards! Gotta start somewhere! 

So follow the links below to see what we've created to celebrate Lynell's birthday.

Dream It Up!
Laura Drahozal
Lyn Bernatovich 

Pam Hornschu
Heidi Erickson
Louise Healy 
Cyndi Bundy

Lee Kellogg
Liz Martin
Terrece Siddoway
Lea Kimmel

Cherylynn Moser 

Kristi Parker Van Doren

Happy New Year,

Liz