The Pampered Stamper: DW/STM day two hop

Get ready to be inked, pasted, encrusted, stenciled and stamped! All of this week the Dreamweaver Stencils' Dream Team and the Stampendous Design Teams will be providing some "Dream-pendous" inspiration for you, with multiple opportunities to win some fabulous prizes from both companies. Each day this week, you will be directed from both the Stampendous Impressions' blog or the Dream It Up! blog to the players du jour for your oohing and aaahing pleasure. Everyone will be playing on Saturday, the 14th with our final hop for the week. This is your opportunity to see how to mix and mingle your creativity...if you are a stenciler, you will be fascinated at combining stamps with your first love. If you are a stamper, you will be wowed at how stencils can add to your impressions.

Ever break an expensive Ming vase? Not a happy accident. But breaking a faux vase...a very happy accident! I had the notion of doing a crackle finish on the Dreamweaver Ginger Jar and stamping this Lone Bird image onto it. My steps went like this:
1. I taped the stencil on all four sides to a black panel with removable tape.
2. I applied Glossy Black Paste with the Spreader over the surface, and "squeegeeing" off the excess to save for another day.
3. I removed the tape from three sides, leaving a hinge piece before removing my pasted panel to dry. I cleaned my stencil and spreader immediately with warm water and a soft brush.
4. I placed my pasted piece on top of my toaster oven with it set on the lowest setting (150 degrees F) until dry, approximately 30 minutes.
5. I replaced the dry stencil over the surface. This time I pasted with the Crackle Embossing Paste, and followed above directions.
6. When dry and crackly, I inked color on to the surface with a stencil brush, and then stamped the image on the surface, and...uh, oh! This was where I found out that I had made a mistake. You see, the Crackle Paste adheres better to a matte paste rather than glossy. The result was that portions were breaking off. At this point, I could have thrown it away, but something in my scary brain went, "hmmm", and I was determined to "Make it work!" as Tim Gunn would say. So here's the rest of the steps:
7) I covered the entire surface with Versamark ink and used Deep Impressions Embossing Enamel over the entire surface...twice. This did two things: One...it provided a shiny ceramic-like look, and two...it ensured that no more pieces would fall out!
8) To finish the card, I machine-embossed the front with the Dreamweaver Stencils' Quatrefoil design, and brushed ink over the surface to highlight. I added a scrap of encyclopedia page (on canaries!), which I stamped with the Cling Vintage Birdcage**, and added the Cling Bird Manor** in the background. A band of crocheted lace from May Arts ties it all together.

Be sure to leave comments as you tour the blogs (with your email addy!) for a chance to win* one of three combined sets of these Dreamweaver and Stampendous goodies: