Christmas in August

When the weather's too hot to go outside, think cool thoughts and start working on Christmas cards!

Here's the first of many you'll be seeing during the coming weeks.

 There's not a lot of steps involved for this quick and easy card.  I'm using the Star Dream Christmas Tree (LG746) was released last month and I'm so excited to be able to post it.  Tape the stencil to card stock and apply matte black embossing paste (DMBP).  Set aside to dry.  Reposition the clean stencil over the pasted image and with a dauber, apply Palette Stamp and Stick (GSP) glue to the image.  Here comes the fun part:  apply Metallic FX in the colors of your choice.  For this card, I used Kimono Red for the circles, Gold Dust for the stars and Kiwi and Ivy Garden for the swirls.   

For different look, use regular embossing paste (DEP) instead of black.

And if you really want to get into the Christmas spirit early,  link your own Christmas in August creations to the Dream It Up! blog mr. linky, or email pics of your creations to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, for an opportunity to win this wonderful newly released Heart Ornaments:

Don't you just love this new design? There are several newly released stencils and products from CHA last month, which you can view for yourself HERE. During the week of August 20th - 25th, the Dream Team will be posting all week with a hop on Saturday to top it all...featuring all of these new fabulous designs...in collaboration with the Woodware UK team. Just a little hint...you may want to buy all of these new designs now, so you are ready and waiting for the inspiration that will come your way that week! Meanwhile, check out what the rest of the team has been working on:

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal 
Cherylynn Moser 

Louise Healy
Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 
Jessie Hurley

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy

Happy crafting,

Liz

Summertime Fun

This is the final week of the summertime fun challenge and I'm showing the Stylized Dahlia (LG743) stencil with two techniques that couldn't be easier.

For both cards, begin by taping the stencil to card stock and applying matte black (DMBP) embossing paste to card stock.  Since I wanted to make several cards, I used the power pasting technique demonstrated in the Embossing Paste Techniques for Artful Cardmaking DVD.   Set the cards aside to dry while you clean your stencil and paste spreader. 

For the Metallic F/X dahlia, reposition the stencil over the black matte paste, tape in opposite corners for a bit of stability, and apply Palette Stamp and Stick glue to the open areas of the stencil.  With a paint brush, apply Metallic F/X powders in your choice of colors.  I used Plum Royal, Pink Poppy and Kimono Red for the flower and Kiwi and Ivy Garden for the leaves. 

   






For the crackle dahlia, reposition the stencil over the black    matte paste, tape the edges and apply Crackle Embossing Paste (CEP).  Set aside to dry while you wash your stencil and paste spreader.  When dry, reposition the stencil and apply pigment inks in colors to coordinate with your background papers. 

There you have it!  One stencil, two techniques,  two very different looks. 

For more inspiration and ideas for summertime fun, visit the design team blogs.  There's still time to link your project to the Dreamweaver blog, Dream it Up!   Can't wait to see what you've been working on.

Dream It Up! 
Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy
Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 
Jessie Hurley

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser

 

Happy summer and happy crafting,

Liz

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   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy
Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 
Jessie Hurley

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser

 

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

 

Happy crafting,

Liz

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   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy
Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 
Jessie Hurley

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser

Happy crafting,
Liz

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   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy
Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg
Jessie Hurley

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser

 

Happy Crafting,

Liz 

Last call for glitter . . .

 AND

ARE TEAMING UP THE ENTIRE MONTH OF JUNE TO BRING YOU AN AMAZING CREATIVE COLLABORATION MIXING DREAMWEAVER STENCILS AND ART GLITTER. COME ALONG FOR THE RIDE...WE PROMISE IT WILL BE A SPARKLING ONE!

Visit the Art Glitter blog and the Dream It Up! blog for fabulous inspiration from both talented design teams. We are encouraging all of you to play along with the challenge of creating with Dreamweaver Stencils and Art Glitter*, preferably using the Double-Glitter Technique with a wedding theme. Just link your creation to the Mr. Linky on the Dream It Up! blog, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, for an opportunity to win one of four fabulous glitter and stencil prize packages. One winner will be chosen each week. (US and Canada only, please).

Have you noticed how many cupcake shops are popping up all around?   Within a 10 minute drive, I have my choice of Sprinkles, Kara's Cupcakes, Nothing Bundt Cakes (love this name) and, the latest addition, SusieCakes.  So it was a no-brainer that I chose LL551 Cupcakes for the last double glitter card of the month.

If you've been following along this month, I'm sure you could do this technique in your sleep.  For the newbies, here we go:

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.

Use removable tape or blue painter's tape to mask off all but the chocolate kiss, cherry and candle.   I used Art Glitter's #58 Brown for the chocolate kiss,  #119 Cranberry for the cherry and #93 Lemone and #97 Nirvana for the candle and flame.  Apply glitter using a cut off straw as a scoop and rub in with your finger.  Tap of excess and return to jar.  For the frostings I used  #95 Summer Sea,  #215 Wild Rose and #87 Hot Kiss.    #90 Melone was used for the cupcake bases. 

Place the glittered image, stencil side 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 #86 Angel Dust to the exposed areas and rub in with your finger.  Trim the image, adhere to coordinating solid or patterned paper and you're done!

For more inspiration from the Art Glitter design team, please visit their blog for a complete list of players throughout the month.

For more inspiration from the Dream Team, here's the blog list for this week:

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy
Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg
Jessie Hurley

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

There will be a new challenge for the month of July, so be sure to check back next week.

Have a wonderful 4th of July celebration,
Liz

There's still time for more glitter fun!

 AND

ARE TEAMING UP THE ENTIRE MONTH OF JUNE TO BRING YOU AN AMAZING CREATIVE COLLABORATION MIXING DREAMWEAVER STENCILS AND ART GLITTER. COME ALONG FOR THE RIDE...WE PROMISE IT WILL BE A SPARKLING ONE!

Visit the Art Glitter blog and the Dream It Up! blog for fabulous inspiration from both talented design teams. We are encouraging all of you to play along with the challenge of creating with Dreamweaver Stencils and Art Glitter*, preferably using the Double-Glitter Technique with a wedding theme. Just link your creation to the Mr. Linky on the Dream It Up! blog, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, for an opportunity to win one of four fabulous glitter and stencil prize packages. One winner will be chosen each week. (US and Canada only, please).

Are you ready for more glittery stencil fun? 

We've had a lot of butterflies in the garden lately and there's even more beauties on Pinterest, making my decision on what to glitter very easy.   There are many butterfly designs in the Dreamweaver collection and for today's project I chose LL59, Three Butterflies.   If you've been following along on the double glitter challenge this month, you've probably committed the step to memory, but if this is your first visit, 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.

Use removable tape or painter's tape to mask off the areas where you don't want glitter.   I used Art Glitter's #6 Dubonnet  opaque glitter for the body and outside edge of the butterfly wings (use a cut off straw as a scoop) and rub in with your finger.  Tap of excess and return to jar.  For the rest of the wings, I randomly scattered #196 Lion's Mane and #197 Flax.  For the greenery, I used #109 Calvado.  Place the glittered image, stencil side 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 #86 Angel Dust to the exposed areas and rub in with your finger.  Trim the image, adhere to coordinating solid or patterned paper and you're done!

For more inspiration from the Art Glitter design team, please visit their blog for a complete list of players throughout the month.

For more inspiration from the Dream Team, here's the blog list for this week:

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy
Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg
Jessie Hurley

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

See you next week for more glittering fun!

Liz


*For the month of June Art Glitter is selling 1 oz jars of glitter for $5.98 (regular price $7.32)! Get the deets HERE!