Black and White and a Peek of New

 I'm doing the happy dance as I post this week. Those of the Dream Team were finally given the go-ahead to share peeks of the brand new designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. All of them have been soooo much fun to work with, really challenging the creative mojo in so many ways.

Since we are working with the May challenge...black and white with a pop and/or graduation, I chose to show off this new fascinatingly elegant design, "Art Nouveau Background", a dramatically art deco feel, with a framed square toward the top of the design. This square provides the perfect opportunity to use the Alphabet Monograms to personalize each card.

The new background was Glossy Black Embossing Pasted on white cardstock. The monogram was Glossy White Embossing Pasted on a black square of cardstock. The pop of color added obviously was red...a mat of thin red cardstock, a beautiful organza bow, and a few rhinestones for sparkle. Leave off the bow and rhinestones, and this could easily go in a masculine direction. I have so many ideas of ways to use this new background...so keep watching for more fun projects.

Speaking of ideas, check what the rest of the Dream Team has been inspired to create for this month's challenge:

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

Jessie Hurley

Remember to play along with us this month for an opportunity to win one of two sets of stencils. Just link your own black and white with a pop and/or graduation creation to the Mr. Linky on the Dream It Up! blog, or email a pic of your creation to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com. We love to post your creations on the blog and/or our Facebook page...so break out those ideas and play along!

The Dream Team is in Full Bloom for April!

Welcome to April, and a new monthly challenge from Dreamweaver Stencils..."Bring May Flowers". Yeah, we're skipping the April showers portion of the rhyme, and jumping to the flowers...'cuz we LOVE flowers! You will, too, when you see what a fabulous selection of flowers that Dreamweaver Stencils has to offer.

My post today features a card that was also featured in today's new Dreamweaver Stencils' Thursday Tutorials at Paper Craft Planet. Being a "Supernova" (oh, yeah, that's right!) at PCP, provided me with the opportunity to share my love of Dreamweaver Stencils with he other team members, as well as the members there.

Each week either a "Supernova" or a "Dream Teamer" will host the tutorial for the week, and each week one lucky commenter will receive their choice of stencil prize. There is a catch, but you'll have to go read about it on the Planet.

The flowers that I chose for this card were the Blossom Shape and the new Cherry Blossom Shape, and the background is the new Quatrefoil design, which is also kind of a floral pattern. Each section was machine embossed on my Big Shot Pro, layered and/or cut out, and adhered to create a striking graphic card that definitely would have qualified for the CAS challenge last month as well!

Play along with the team for an opportunity to win one of two stencil prizes. The prizes for this month's challenge are two sets of the  Flower Heart and the Thank You Script:

For more inspiration, please visit the rest of our "dreamy" paper-crafters, leave them some love along the way, create your own floral extravaganza, and link it to the Dream It Up! blog, or email a pic to Lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com! We are super-excited to see what you do!

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

Jessie Hurley

Goin' Green Again...No Blarney!

We are already into the third week of the Dreamweaver Stencils' Dream Team monthly challenge. The entire month of February, we have been creating with a St. Pat's theme, and/or the color green. I took this challenge literally by featuring the Go Green stencil for my background, and paste-embossed it with Glossy Green on kraft cardstock. When paste-embossing such a large stencil design, I highly recommend that you use the Dreamweaver Stencils' Spreader. This tool makes it so easy to spread the paste quickly and easily over the entire design in one swipe. As the antidote to all the bare trees we've been staring at for a few months now, I chose to also paste emboss the Tree of Life. Matting and layering is an effective way to make a simple design really pop. Speaking of pop...be sure to pop by the rest of the Dream Team to see how green and/or blarney-filled their creations are before leaving some love at each stop:

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

Jessie Hurley

Please play along with us this month, and link your own creation(s) to the Dream It Up! blog Mr. Linky, or email your creation pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, or snail mail them to: 

Dreamweaver Stencils

1335 Cindee Lane

Colton, CA 92324

Be sure to mail or link by February 29th, for an opportunity to win one of two sets of these stencils. (Hint: You'll want these for upcoming challenges...just sayin'.)

Final Sneak Peek Before CHA

Today a few of us from the Dream Team will be helping Lynell and Jennifer set up the Dreamweaver Stencils' booth for CHA. So exciting! I can hardly wait to see what all the attendees think about the new stencil designs, and new products to use with them! I'll try to post pics as the show begins on Sunday. Meanwhile, here's another sneak peek for you, featuring the new Open Butterfly stencil. I machine embossed the design on a panel of black linen cardstock before inking the antennae and thorax of the butterfly with Versamark ink, and embossing in shiny silver embossing powder. I paper-pieced the wings with this subtle gray patterned paper, which I also used in the background of the card. Finally, I paste-embossed in black the Thank You Words stencil. Easy peasy! Now, grab a cup of coffee or tea, and visit the rest of the Dream Team blogs and the Dream It Up! blog for more sneak peeks!

Dreamweaver Stencils' Sneak Peek Day Two

Today's the second day of the Dreamweaver Stencil's Dream Team sneak peek. My card today features the new Cherry Blossom Shape stencil...so gorgeous! The stencil is the shape of the flower, and the center can be embossed to highlight the beautiful design. I machine embossed it off the edge at the bottom of the red panel, which would be stunning all on its own. But I used the flower once again on the black panel. I used double-sided tape to adhere the stencil temporarily to the black panel. Then I used a palette knife to spread the Translucent Embossing Paste onto the stencil and across the center portion. Afterwards, I took a flat brush to brush the paste away and towards the outside edges of the black panel. Once dry, the brush lines mimic the lines of the center of the flower. Pretty cool, huh? I also paste-embossed in black the Hope symbol stencil, matted the panels and adhered the layers along with a simple black satin ribbon.
Remember, the whole Dream Team are posting their sneak peeks this week, so be sure to check out who is playing each day. You can find the list at right.

3D Challenge Tuesday...Stenciling Elegance for the Holidays

Looking for some last minute hand-made gift ideas still? How about a fun treat jar, beautifully stenciled? As my first posting as a Paper Craft Planet Supernova, I thought I'd share a fun stenciling technique with definite WOW appeal!

The supplies needed are shown above and include: metal stencils (Dreamweaver Stencils' Swirl Tree and Antler Snowflake), Translucent Embossing Paste (Dreamweaver Stencils), palette knife/spreader, glitter (Stampendous Multi Crystal), removable tape, and a candy jar (with flat sides).

Step 1: Tape stencil onto flat surface on all four sides using removable tape.

Step 2: Spread Translucent Embossing Paste over surface of stencil with palette knife at slight angle.
Step 3: Holding palette knife at 90 degree angle, scrape off excess paste and return to container.
Step 4: Remove tape from three sides of stencil. Using fourth side as hinge, lift and remove the stencil. Clean stencil and palette knife immediately in warm, soapy water with a soft scrub brush. Dry with soft towel.

Step 5: Pour glitter over surface. Pour off excess and return to container. Set aside jar to dry for 20 minutes.
Step 6: Repeat on other three sides.

Step 7: Follow the same steps to stencil the snowflake on the lid as well.

Since you are probably now thinking, "I'd hardly call this a quick and easy project!", that would probably be the case if you were only creating one. However, if you were to follow the same instructions to create several projects at the same time (gift bags, cards, tags, ornaments, etc.), then you can complete quite a few in the same crafting session. While one is drying and waiting for the next step, you can be working on the next...sort of a round robin of creative fun!
For more creative stenciling ideas, please visit the Dream It Up! blog for Dreamweaver Stencils.

DW Sketch #12-Thinking Upside-Down

Ever looked at something in a different way? Not quite the normal way? This week as I worked on the Dreamweaver Stencils' Dream Team sketch challenge provided by Wendy, I did just that. Her sketch as seen to the left, was straightforward enough, and I quickly had my elements stenciled, cut out, and ready to be assembled. That's when I looked at the gorgeous new Christmas Tree stencil...upside-down! I've loved this stencil since it was released at CHA in July. Fun borders that mimic Icelandic sweater patterns...so fun that I begged Lynell to come out with an entire background of these patterns. (Maybe next year? Please?) I wanted to add just a little interest in the background on my card ('cuz you know I have a hard time with CAS!), and noticed the little wedge next to the angled panel, and got the idea of stenciling the tree upside-down to fit into the space. I flipped it right-side-up on the right side to balance it out. These were simply stenciled with Splendor Magic ink using the larger brush to cover more surface area with ink in a quicker timer period. The sentiment panel also features a portion of the same tree along with the small Happy Holidays. The stockings were from the Stockings by Fireplace and were paper-pieced with cute papers from WeRMemoryKeepers. With the deeper tones and plaid patterns, this card would work well for the men on your Christmas card list and their families as well.  Now it's going to be fun to see what the rest of the team have done with Wendy's sketch. Let's go check them out, along with the Dream It Up! blog as well:

Dream It Up! blog

Kristi

Wendy

Louise

Laura

Liz

Georgia

Lee

Terrece

 Want to show us what you've got? Bring it on! Post your creation to the Mr. Linky on the Dream It Up! blog...then keep on going! We have a design team call out right now until November 30th. You can find all the info HERE. This is a great opportunity to take your creativity to another level!

Quoth the Raven, "Dream Some More"! (Apologies to Edgar Allan Poe)

 For this week's Dream Schemes free theme and feeling in the Halloween mood, I chose to post this slightly creepy raven which I did months ago for the spring release. Actually, this raven/crow is part of THIS stencil design, where he is perched on a weather vane, but for the Halloween version, I masked off that portion of the stencil. My raven was paste-embossed in Matte Black and liberally coated with Ultra-Fine Black Glitter from Stampendous. Two Damask Velvet Leaf Class A' Peel stickers were added for texture, and as a repetitive decoration mimicking the background paper. The sentiment was also paste-embossed using an expression from the Bird Words stencils. Bird-themed designs are so hot right now, and this grouping of words/expressions/sentiments are perfect to work with the look. Dreamweaver Stencils has several stencil designs with various sentiments to choose from on one stencil. Comfort Combo, Birthday Words, Thank You and Rain Words are a few of these. All that is necessary is to mask off the areas that you don't choose to use. More bang for your buck which is always a good thing. Be sure to visit the rest of the team blogs to see what the free theme this week has inspired them to do, as well as the Dream It Up! blog for Lynell's take this week. What are you inspired to create this week? Show us! Link your creation to the Mr. Linky on the Dream It Up! blog. Speaking of blogs and the team, Dreamweaver Stencils will very shortly be putting out a call for new design team members. Have you got what it takes to be a part of the Dream Team? The call will be posted on the Dreamweaver Stencils' blog, the team members blog, as well as various online papercrafting sites. If you are interested in receiving info as soon as it is finalized, please leave your email addy in the comment section on my blog or the Dream It Up! blog.

Happy Fall Y'All!

 Hooray! It's FALL! My favorite time of the year. I love the colors. I love the cool crisp air (or as cool and crisp as we can get in the high desert in California!). I may not get to see colorful maple leaves up here, but I can pretend, can't I? I'm sooooo over summer. This card is the perfect fall card. It uses the great warm colors of autumn, including the Copper Mercart Metal panel embossed with the Maple Branch stencil from Dreamweaver Stencils. This was accomplished by running the stencil through my Big Shot with the Mercart metal available through DW. After this first embossing, I used a couple of the Mercart tools to emphasize the design, and add more ooomph (technical term). A Nestabilities frame was layered, and machine embossed with the Leopard Skin stencil for added texture. I love the woodsy patterned paper in the background. The Thinking of You stencil was ink-stenciled with Versamark ink and embossed with Stampendous Chocolate Embossing Powder.
The finished result is an impressive card, but think how easily this metal panel would translate to the lid of a wood or paper mache box, the outside of a frame, with just a portion of the design...a fabulous jewelry piece! You have to get some of these stencils and the Mercart Metals and tools. So easy to create the unique and wonderful. Speaking of unique and wonderful, be sure to hop around to the rest of the Dream Team for more inspiration during this free week. Create something of your own and link on the Dream It Up! blog.

I'll Have an Old-Fashioned, Please!

If you are here for the Stampendous Saturday post with the opportunity to win blog candy once again, click HERE, or check out my quickie post featuring the just released in July, Cameo stencil from Dreamweaver Stencils. Simply paste-embossed on a Nestie cut panel with regular paste and sprinkled with Pastel Pink UF glitter from Stampendous. Layers of doily punched paper borders, pearls, ribbon bows, and a simple sentiment finish it off. Sweetly sentimental.
Hope you have a fabulous and creative Monday!

Dreamweaver Stencils' Sketch #9-Skating on Thin Paste!

 The Dream Team has a sketch challenge for this week which can be seen at left. My version is featuring the newly released Ice Skates stencil. I paper-pieced the boot portions of the skates using this cute plaid paper, but first I pasted the image on the plaid cardstock with Translucent Paste. This way the boots had a nice shine to them, but still were easy to see when cutting the pieces. I paste embossed them again with Metallic Silver on the blue Nestabilities panel. Following the sketch, I cut a large plaid panel into four and adhered it to the card. I punched slots at top and bottom of the skates panel to add a ribbon bow. The small circle became a jumbo brad fastener with a sentiment rub-on. So now is your opportunity to visit the rest of the team for more inspiration, play along, and post a link to your creation on the Dream It Up! blog. Be sure to come back for more fun with the Dreamweaver Stencils' new release.

 LL3016 Ice Skates
DEPT Translucent Paste
DSP Metallic Silver Paste
Nestabilities Jumbo Scalloped Ovals
Memory Box Valise "Bauble" paper
Bazzill Nautical Blue
ribbon
jumbo brad
TLC Quikwords Rub-ons