Dreamweaver Stencils: Oldie But Goodie for August as an Adjective

If you are here for the Woodware post, please scroll down!

Sometimes when life gets hectic, you feel the need to give yourself a break. My post today is just that. I've pulled out an oldie but goodie from 2011 (which feels like just yesterday), that works with our "August as an Adjective" theme for the Dream Team.

This is a card that works for so many occasions, so is great for creating in multiples...for weddings, Valentines, anniversaries, etc. Start with a black card base. Machine emboss* a pink square with the Dreamweaver Large Damask stencil, as well as a panel of black cardstock. Use a Brilliance pink inkpad to swipe shimmery color over the embossed areas on the black panel. Adhere both panels to the card. Now, ink-stencil the Rose Heart design with Versamark ink, and emboss with Stampendous Crystal Embossing Powder, on a pink panel and a black panel. Cut out, split in half, and adhere to card. Add a sheer ribbon bow, a silver word charm (found in wedding section of craft store), and a string of plastic iridescent beads to finish.  It has quite a bit of "wow" factor, which I think makes this an "august" creation.

What has the "B" team been up to this week? Let's go find out...

Dream It Up!

Lyn Bernatovich

Louise Healy

Alison Heikkila

Kristine Reynolds

Pam Hornschu
Gill Wilson

*As a reminder on the "sandwich" for machine embossing with Dreamweaver Stencils:

1. Base plate to machine (Big Shot, Cuttlebug, Vagabond, etc.)

2. Stencil face down.

3. Cardstock face down.

4. Embossing mat (btw, Dreamweaver has an awesome one!)

5. TWO non-warped clear plates. This will protect your stencil as it goes under the roller.

6. Extra tip...spritz back of your cardstock with either water or isopropyl alcohol for a deeper emboss. 

Woodware UK: Some "Sketching" Up to Do!

Apparently, I had a brain blip at the beginning of the week, and forgot my post! Fortunately, Dorothy came to my rescue and switched days with me. Whew! Thanks, Dorothy!

For the sketch #37 challenge on the Woodware blog, I chose to break up the six squares into tiles from one image, the Stampendous Sweater Square. I stamped this in Versamark ink, and embossed in plain white embossing powder. I quickly cut the panel into six squares and adhered them to my red card, added an appropriate greeting from the Stampendous Perfectly Clear Snowy Short Stack set, and a gingham ribbon bow. The perfect card to do in mass quantities!

If you haven't been checking out the sketch designs from the rest of the team yet, head over to the Woodware UK blog for more inspiration, as well as info on how you can play along with Sketch Challenge 37, for a chance to win!

Dreamweaver: August as an Adjective...and Molten, Too!

Last week was so much fun playing with the Woodware team, but now we need to get back to focusing on being "August in August", which is our team challenge this month, if you remember. It is your challenge as well, since we love to see your creations. So, be sure to link them using the inlinkz tool on the Dream It Up! blog. Meanwhile, here's what I've created in the elegant and distinguished theme.

Using the Dreamweaver Partridge in a Pear Tree stencil, I paste-embossed this in Metallic Gold. While wet, I sprinkled various colors of Dreamweaver Metallic F/X powders over the surface (Ivy Garden, Goldfinch, Glacier, Cocoa, and Kimono Red). I've found that the easiest trick to applying these powders (first of all...don't sneeze), is to use a small clean stencil brush and pick up a small amount of the powder. Tap the handle on your opposite hand while holding the brush over the wet surface. The closer to the surface you are, the more concentrated the color will be. The further you are from the surface, the finer the color will be. Your choice. Wipe your stencil brush on a piece of paper towel between colors. Now you break out your heat tool, and holding it 4-6 inches above the surface, apply heat. The paste will bubble, causing your beautiful powders to bubble along with it, creating this awesome..."Molten Magic". On top of the black cardstock, you have such wonderful contrast of color, and are able to see every bit of texture and detail. Lynell's trick for removing any residual mica powders on the black surface, is to wipe over it with a "Swiffer" cloth. They are like magic for removing the staticky cling type items like mica powders and glitter.

The panel behind was a metallic gold cardstock which I rubbed over the surface with a bit of Versamark ink, and sprinkled with more Metallic F/X powders. I really rubbed these into the surface, and the ink becomes the fixative for these powders. I added the sentiment from a Clear Magic stamp set from Woodware UK called Heartfelt Christmas Wishes.

Now you may head on over to visit the Dream Team members that are posting this week:

Dream It Up!

Leadonna Kimmel

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Lynn Mercurio

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin
Alison Heikkila

An InLinkz Link-up

Woodware UK: Tools of the Trade

The Woodware girls are breaking out the tools this week, so you know we take our crafting seriously! And Woodware has an amazing selection of tools to help anything that you envision become a reality. The tools that I played with this week are the Mercart Metalwork tools, of which there are several.

I created a base card, and added sprinkles of Stampendous Aged Copper Embossing Enamel over the surface, and heated from underneath to melt (using another great tool...a heat tool!). I also used the Dreamweaver Comfort Words stencil to ink-stencil in Versamark the selected word, and embossed that with the same embossing enamel.

Now for the fun...I cut a panel from a sheet of Woodware Copper and placed it over the top of the Dreamweaver Celtic Cross stencil. Then I used my fingertip to push around the design, slightly indenting the design for the next step. I used a Teflon tool to refine the design a bit before using a larger ball tipped stylus to really work the metal, pushing it to puff out a bit. At this point, I could take the Teflon tool once again, turning the panel over and removing the stencil, and trace around the edge of the design to define it some more. You can go back and forth at this stage until your piece is how you want it. I cut it out, and to age it, used a sponge dauber to really push Black StazOn ink into the design. Then I used a sanding block over the surface to remove the ink from just the embossed areas. If you were fortunate enough to have a really puffy design, you can fill it with the Mercart filler from the back. When dry, it will hold it's shape. Or you can just adhere the cross to the card with foam squares as I did here. The end result is a work of art, but the tools simplify the process sooooo much!


Remember, the entire team posts through the week, so check back to the Woodware blog for daily inspiration!

 

Dreamweaver and Woodware: Christmas in August-Day Six

Yes! It's been that time of year again! The time when we inspire crafters on both sides of the "pond" with a mix of both Dreamweaver and Woodware UK* products for the holidays! Six days, SIX, of beautiful, elegant, merry, cute, artsy, and craftsy projects to have you heading out to your local stores or internet sites to buy these goodies immediately!

Of course, there have been prizes as well. Three prize packages will be given to three commenters during this week's posts on the team's blogs, including five stencils and one nested die set. You can have an opportunity to win these goodies by leaving some holiday sweetness for each team member posting each day, to be one of the three winners for the week. Here are the team members that are inspiring you today:

Dream It Up!

Woodware UK

Kristine Reynolds
Jamie Martin
Pam Hornschu
Louise Healy 
Alison Heikkila
Debs Frost 
Lyn Bernatovich
Lynn Mercurio
Lea Kimmel
Gill Wilson
Laura Drahozal 
Dorothy Adam

Here's my creation: 

Feel the need for a cuppa? How about twenty-four? That's what I have for today! I created a Christmas Advent garland using Dreamweaver's newly-released Teacup Nesting Dies. Twenty-four large cups die cut from chipboard, and twenty-four large cups from Cardworks Christmas Post papers, with a few solid colors mixed in. All of the solid colors have been ink-stenciled using Clearsnap Mixed Media ink in Jasmine White with Dreamweaver's Line of Christmas Trees, Village, or Christmas Borders stencils. Some of the patterned cups also were ink-stenciled with green ink. Each paper die cut cup was adhered to a chipboard cup on the edges, with a slight gap to allow for tucking in some little advent treats...tea bags (okay, those of you in the UK...don't judge me on the brand of tea. The packages were the right colors!) and tiny chocolates. Other suggestions could be gift certificates or cards, little notes, lotto tickets, candy canes, the thin packets of flavored coffees, etc. The Advent numbers were die cut with the newly-released Dreamweaver Dual Alphabet/number set, and each of these were adhered to the tiny die cut teacups tied to each larger one with natural hemp cord. All of the cups were then tied onto a length of thick, jute cord, which was also tied to a long bundle of twig/branches that I had saved off of my birch tree in the front yard. Some happy plaid and tartan ribbons added more homey color, and the finished result was a perfect decoration for my mantle in a few months. Each of these teacups would make a wonderful tree ornament, a tag for a gift, or the front of a card for most any occasion, with a gift card tucked inside.
The Advent garland concept could be done just as easily with Dreamweaver's newly-released Nested Stocking and/or Nested Ornaments dies. The possibilities are endless!

*For a stockist near you contact Woodware Craft Collection in the UK and Notions Marketing in the USA.

Stampendous and Authentique...an Authentic Pair!

Welcome to the final day this week of Stampendous featuring Authentique papers! These gorgeous patterned papers for scrapbooking and crafting are just perfect for our October selection of Spring stamp images. But it turns out they’re great for so many of Stampendous' images! We’ll be showcasing the papers Authentique sent us in our October catalog and in a big Blog Hop in October. But we thought we’d give you a sneak peek of this terrific paper, and a chance to win some beautiful sheets of it plus a $20 Stampendous.com reward card this week! (Note: We’re just giving one prize this week.) So, if you haven't been there already, head over to the Stampendous Impressions blog each day this week, and leave comments there as well as those on the link lists each day for a chance to win!

Here's what I've created:

Ever have one of those creative moments where you have an epiphany of what you want to create, with what products, and it all comes together the way you envisioned? This card was one of those moments. I KNEW I was using Authentique papers, 'cuz hey, those are what we are featuring this week! And for good reason. I was flipping through their 6 x 6 "Latest and Greatest" stack of double-sided small patterned papers, and came across this one that looks like white-washed wood! Wouldn't that make a cool fence? Then I looked through my new stash of Stampendous images and found this Christmas Cottage stamp. Perfect! I suddenly loved the thought of creating a hole in the fence where you could see this awesome winter scene...so I went to work, er...play...

The Christmas Cottage was stamped on a white panel and colored with Copics (shown at left). This was cut out loosely and adhered to the front of my green card base. The image was stamped once again on the "fence" paper, and colored as well. I used a craft knife to cut out the "hole" in the fence. I turned it over and applied strips of foam tape for the dimension that I was looking for, and snipped the corners of my "fence" slats. Now I needed snow...

With a palette knife I applied bits of Dreamweaver Regular White Embossing Paste across the top and around the opening, and at the base of the fence. While wet, I poured Stampendous Spoonful of Snow over the surface, pressed it in slightly, and set it aside to dry. Once dry, I adhered the popped up "fence" over the cottage panel on my card, and quickly stamped a sentiment from the the Stampendous Christmas Words set on a scrap from my Authentique stash. Love it!!! May need to make more!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out the other team members posting today that are listed on the Stampendous Impressions blog, and leave some comments for a chance to win a gift card!

Dreamweaver and Woodware: Christmas in August-Day Five

Yes! It's that time of year again! The time when we inspire crafters on both sides of the "pond" with a mix of both Dreamweaver and Woodware UK* products for the holidays! Six days, SIX, of beautiful, elegant, merry, cute, artsy, and craftsy projects to have you heading out to your local stores or internet sites to buy these goodies immediately!

Of course, there will be prizes as well. Three prize packages will be given to three commenters during this week's posts on the team's blogs, including five stencils and one nested die set. You can have an opportunity to win these goodies by leaving some holiday sweetness for each team member posting each day, to be one of the three winners for the week. Here are the team members that are inspiring you today:

Dream It Up!

Woodware UK

Louise Healy

Pam Hornschu
Alison Heikkila
Debs Frost 

Lynn Mercurio
Gill Wilson 
Siobhan the Recovering Stampaholic

Here's my creation: 

I know that it doesn't look like it, but this project came together very fast! Last night I had stamped each of the Patch Robin squares on kraft cardstock, ink-stenciled the Dreamweaver Herringbone in brown over the backgrounds, and paper pieced each with Cardworks Christmas Post papers. Today I ink-stenciled and embossed in Stampendous White the Dreamweaver Christmas Borders on the wood frame. I swiped two shades of Distress Stains over the surface, which stained the wood, but not the embossed areas. I adhered a frame of Mark Richards Fabric Burlap square to the frame with Beacon Adhesives Fast Finish Decoupage medium. This only took a few minutes to dry, and then I was able to brush some off-white acrylic paint around the edges. In a few more minutes, I was able to adhere an ink distressed Holly die cut from Dreamweaver (brand new!!!) and some Mark Richards Crystals.

Obviously, the bag was decorated in much the same way, but without the stains and paints. I did add more holly die cuts, which make the perfect embellishment along with those crystals, and the tartan ribbon bow.

*For a stockist near you contact Woodware Craft Collection in the UK and Notions Marketing in the USA.

 

Dreamweaver and Woodware: Christmas in August-Day Four

Yes! It's that time of year again! The time when we inspire crafters on both sides of the "pond" with a mix of both Dreamweaver and Woodware UK* products for the holidays! Six days, SIX, of beautiful, elegant, merry, cute, artsy, and craftsy projects to have you heading out to your local stores or internet sites to buy these goodies immediately!

Of course, there will be prizes as well. Three prize packages will be given to three commenters during this week's posts on the team's blogs, including five stencils and one nested die set. You can have an opportunity to win these goodies by leaving some holiday sweetness for each team member posting each day, to be one of the three winners for the week. Here are the team members that are inspiring you today:

Dream It Up!

Woodware UK
Laura Drahozal
Pam Hornschu

Kristi Parker Van Doren
Kristine Reynolds 
Lyn Bernatovich
Alison Heikkila
Louise Healy
Gill Wilson
Lea Kimmel
Crafty Debs

Here's my creation: 

Yikes! I'm soooo not used to publishing things on my post on UK time, that I totally forgot to have it up and running (with my project!) twenty minutes ago! So, this will be a quickie post...

My  creation is a card with three folds, that can stand alone for display, but as you can see at left, will fold down flat to be mailed in an ordinary envelope.

It features the Woodware Clear Magic Tall Bare Tree, stamped and embossed in either Stampendous White or Silver embossing powders. To add to the winter wonderland effect, I inked through the Dreamweaver Snow Splatter stencil and the Swirls stencil with white ink and embossed these as well. I love the swirls of snow at the base, don't you?

I used the new Dreamweaver Nested Ovals dies to cut the openings on the folds, as well as the smaller oval to dangle in the windows, attached by what is supposed to be a satin flower trim, but kind of mimics snowflakes. Each oval was ink-embossed with a different Dreamweaver Alphabet Monogram, and embossed in white. Some Mark Richards Crystals adds to the sparkle!

*For a stockist near you contact Woodware Craft Collection in the UK and Notions Marketing in the USA.

Dreamweaver and Woodware: Christmas in August-Day Three

Yes! It's that time of year again! The time when we inspire crafters on both sides of the "pond" with a mix of both Dreamweaver and Woodware UK* products for the holidays! Six days, SIX, of beautiful, elegant, merry, cute, artsy, and craftsy projects to have you heading out to your local stores or internet sites to buy these goodies immediately!

Of course, there will be prizes as well. Three prize packages will be given to three commenters during this week's posts on the team's blogs, including five stencils and one nested die set. You can have an opportunity to win these goodies by leaving some holiday sweetness for each team member posting each day, to be one of the three winners for the week. Here are the team members that are inspiring you today:

Dream It Up!

Woodware UK

Lynn Mercurio

Louise Healy
Debs Frost

Pam Hornschu
Gill Wilson 

Here's my creation: 

Don't you just LOVE this new Folk Art Heart Clear Magic stamp from Woodware, designed by Jane Gill? Sweet, slightly traditional, and so versatile. I can think of soooooo many ways to use this, so expect to see more of it in the not-too-distant future!

For today, I simply stamped and embossed it on kraft cardstock with Stampendous White Embossing Powder, and then added color and shading with markers. I bit of Inkessentials Glossy Accents adds a bit of dimension and shine (but a bit hard to photograph!), and the polka dot bow finished off the focal panel. To coordinate with the dots, I paste-embossed in Dreamweaver Regular paste the Snow Spatter stencil on the card base, and used the same paste for the Season's Greetings sentiment. A left over sentiment tag from the Craftworks Christmas Elements set added a bit of fun and color.

For a list of great things to stamp this on, check out the Woodware UK site HERE!

*For a stockist near you contact Woodware Craft Collection in the UK and Notions Marketing in the USA.

Stampenedous goes Authentique!

Those of you who know me, know that I've worked for Stampendous on and off for many years. I was missing playing with my design team pals, and all of the wonderful stamps, and yummy accessories that Stampendous is known for. So...they decided to let me play for a few months again. Yippee!

My first post with them also features some beautiful papers from Authentique! These gorgeous patterned papers for scrapbooking and crafting are just perfect for our October selection of Spring stamp images. But it turns out they’re great for so many of Stampendous' images! We’ll be showcasing the papers Authentique sent us in our October catalog and in a big Blog Hop in October. But we thought we’d give you a sneak peek of this terrific paper, and a chance to win some beautiful sheets of it plus a $20 Stampendous.com reward card this week! (Note: We’re just giving one prize this week.) So, if you haven't been there already, head over to the Stampendous Impressions blog each day this week, and leave comments there as well as those on the link lists each day for a chance to win!
My multi-layered card (hey, when you have great papers and elements, you have to have layers!), features Authentiques' Harmony line of double-sided patterned papers, specifically "Spirit", "Song", and "Abundance". I used some of my favorite parts, and coordinated them with the Stampendous Blossom Beauty Jumbo stamp and die. Using the subtle red pattern on one side of the papers, I stamped the flower three times, and die cut each nested size. I shaded these with my Copic markers before layering them with foam tape. My jumbo flower was adhered on top of all the layers on my card. I added a small horizontal strip with a tiny sentiment, and a vertical strip stamped with the Cling Songbird and Rose Hips. EVERYTHING  received a liberal dosage of Frant•agé Embossing Enamels and Color Fragments. Wow! Was that fun!!! Of course, I'll be cleaning my workspace for days...or months! Or, I'll just wait until I've finished my play-dates with Stampendous again! Thanks, Laura, Stampendous, and Authentique!