Welcome, New Team Members

A warm welcome to the newest members of the Dream Team

Heidi Erickson
Lyn Bernatovich
Caroline Duncan
Stacey Rumsby
Lea Kimmel
Jessica Griffin

You'll be working with the very talented and creative returning members Cyndi Bundy, Laura Drahozal, Cherylynn Moser, Louise Healy, Terrece Siddoway and Pam Hornschu.  The year ahead will be a fun-filled, roller coaster ride as you create amazing projects with the best stencils on the market.   

There are so many great floral stencils to work with that this month's challenge gives me a chance to use some of my old favorites.  

  This is a card I made for a friend's birthday last year, though the tulips (LL377) could easily be replaced by any of the other flower stencils:  iris (LL374), rose (LL375), daffodil (LL428), lilly (LL376), and sunflower (LL429). 

Instructions:
Dry-emboss (I used a BigKick) the Long Tulip stencil (LL377) three times.  With the stencil in place, color each image to coordinate with your patterned paper.  After the ink has dried (you could use a heat tool to speed this up), fussy-cut each flower and then cut away the larger leaves from the flowers.  Position the flowers as you would a bouquet and tuck the leaves in the background for depth and balance.  Attach ribbon to hide the stem ends and three pearls or other embellishment of your choice.  And you're done.

Be sure to hop around to the other Dream Team blogs to see what everyone's been up to.  You'll find lots of ideas and inspiration to create your own project to enter into this month's challenge.  You can find out all the details here, along with the mr. linky widget.  Better get started!

Dream it Up!

Pam Hornschu 

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy  

Terrece Siddoway

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg  

Liz Martin (you're here)

Cherylynn Moser

 

Happy crafting,

Liz 

 

Clean and Simple Challenge Week 3

Well . . . this started out clean and simple, but something was missing.  It just didn't look right.  You know how that goes.  You do a little tweaking here and there, try different paper combinations.  You put it aside for a while then come back to it with fresh eyes and tweak some more.   It's a little more than I wanted, but it's "kinda" clean and simple.  What do you think?

To begin, tape the stencil, LL327, Baby Shoes, to card stock using removable tape and emboss with metallic copper embossing paste.  Remove the stencil, clean it, and set the paste image aside to dry.  While that is drying, assemble your patterned paper, coordinating paper for the mat, and simple embellishments, in keeping with the clean and simple theme.  When the paste has dried, assemble your card and you're done!

My fellow Dream Teamers are better at following directions than I am, so don't forget to check out their blogs to see what they've been up to.  Start at the Dreamweaver Stencil's blog, Dream it up! and then follow the links to the rest of the team.  Then get to work on your own project and link it to the Dream it Up! blog using Mr. Linky.  That way we can all see what you've been up to. 

Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin  (you're here)

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

Jessie Hurley

I scream, you scream

. . . you all know how the saying goes.  Summer and ice cream just go together and one of my favorite hostess gifts for summer BBQs is a do-it-yourself ice cream sundae kit.  I put two sundae dishes, an assortment of toppings and a gift certificate from a local ice cream store in a basket, wrap it with cellophane, and add a big bow to make it festive.   Taking my inspiration from Dream Team member Lee Kellogg, the Queen of Tags, and one of my favorite Dreamweaver stencils, here's the finishing touch:

I used the double glitter technique with the Sundae stencil (LL431), and began by adhering double-sided mounting paper to white card stock.  After soaping the back of the stencil with Handmade Hawaiian Coconut Soap, I removed the protective paper from the double-sided mounting paper and placed the stencil on it.  I applied Glitter Ritz Microfine glitter in bronze, regal red, pink, sea foam and stardust to the exposed areas of the stencil and rubbed it in.  Handy tip:  make a glitter scoop by first cutting a straw into 3-4 inch pieces and then cutting one end at a very shallow angle to make the scoop.  It's just the right size for getting into small areas.  I cut the image out and adhered it to white card stock cut with the largest Nestabilities Labels Four die.  Add ribbon and it's ready to be tied to the basket. 

For more fun and inspiration, be sure to stop by the other Dream Team blogs.  It's Designer's Choice this week and there will be a lot of good ideas to get your creative juices flowing, starting with the Dreamweaver Stencil's blog, DREAM it UP!

Happy crafting,
Liz