Woodware: Deb's Challenge...Nature Inspired

Woodware teammate, Deb Frost, has challenged us to be inspired by nature for this week. Love this challenge! The only difficulty is deciding which direction to go with it!

Obviously, I chose the sea for my inspiration. I mixed a bit of Dreamweaver Regular Embossing paste in two small batches...one with a bit of an aqua tint, and one with a terracotta tint, created by mixing in a bit of acrylic paints to the paste to get the shades that I desired.

I used the aqua paste to emboss the Dreamweaver Mosaic Swirls stencil on kraft cardstock, and when I matted in in black, and adhered it to a kraft card.

I dabbed a fairly thick portion of the terracotta paste on a scrap of cardstock, and let it dry. Once dry, the paste has a bit of give to it. This allowed me to place the Dreamweaver Nautilus stencil over the top, and carve away some of the paste using the Woodware Multi-crafting Tool set. The end result looks a bit like a fossil, which being the good geologists' daughter that I am, made me quite happy. I cut around the piece and adhered it to the card as well.

Finally, I ink-stenciled the Dreamweaver Seahorse on a piece of sea glass, and embossed it with Stampendous Sand Embossing Powder, and adhered that as well as a sentiment tag and ribbon to finish off my bit of nature.

Don't forget to check out the other nature inspired creations from the team this week. You can find all of their links on the Woodware Blog!

Texturize It With Stampendous, Dreamweaver, and Woodware UK: Day Three

We have a different sort of collaboration for you!

This week we’re going to celebrate with the awesome Woodware Design Team and the Dreamweaver Stencils Dream Team all of the the great Stampendous and Dreamweaver Stencils products that Woodware makes available to the UK market. This is good news for our crafty friends in the UK because we’ll be offering prizes and our UK friends are eligible to win!! We’ll be offering three prizes in the UK and three in the US. Each prize package will consist of Nathalie Kalbach’s terrific Grunge Mixed Media Cling Rubber Stamp Sets and the beautiful Zen Butterfly Dreamweaver Stencil! Both products are ideal for adding texture and backgrounds to your projects!
Deadline to comment is Sunday, March 29th, Pacific Time. Winners will be picked using random.org and announced Tuesday, March 31st, in the afternoon.
And that’s our theme!! Making Texture. We hope you’ll enjoy the wonderful inspiration that three talented teams will bring you this week! Be sure to visit all the blog links listed and leave your comments! Each comment will count as an entry towards one of the terrific prize packages.

Here's what I've created for today:

Yes, it's another banner today! Following pretty much the same process as the one that I posted on Monday...

The pre-gessoed side of the half sheet of canvas pad was watermark inked through the Dreamweaver Spiral Dots stencil randomly over the surface before being embossed with Stampendous White Embossing Powder. This melted EP acts as a resist against the Clearsnap Mixed Media inks (Vintage, Leather, Barn Door) that were swiped over the surface. Using a palette knife, some Dreamweaver Matte Black Embossing Paste was spread over one section and set aside to dry.

Meanwhile, a strip of Mark Richard's Linen Fabric pad was frayed around the edges, and stamped with the Leather ink and the Stampendous Cling Life is Art image, along with some random distressing.

Once the paste was dry, I swiped a bit of talcum powder over the canvas as an anti-static medium for the next step. I paste-embossed the Dreamweaver Feather stencil in Copper Embossing Paste, and sprinkled liberally with Aged Black and Aged Copper Embossing Enamel. This was heated until bubbly and textured, with lots of shimmer! Now the linen strip could be adhered, along with a couple of bits of Ribbon Tape from Woodware. A wooden dowel and been prepped with black paint, and was attached by wrapping strips of the Ribbon Tape over it and attaching it to the canvas. A bit more of the Aged Black and Copper were sprinkled over the canvas, and heated from underneath for more texture. 

Here's the links to the designers that are playing today:

Stampendous Blog

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Jamie Martin

Asia King

Wendy Price

Woodware Craft Collection Blog

Pam Hornschu

Dreamweaver Stencils Blog

Cindy Groh

Louise Healy

Stampendous: Spellbinder's Quarterly Hop 2015 #1

We’re excited, once again, to be partnering with the folks over at Spellbinders for a Spring mini blog hop! As Spellbinders design partners this year, we’ve been blessed to use many of their exciting products, and we know their design team is enjoying the Stampendous products we sent for their use! Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week our Design Team will be sharing fun projects they’ve made with the Spellbinders products we’ve received.  Wednesday we’ll be a featured company on their blog and two of our designers will be posting tutorials for you focused on the newest Spellbinders products.

PRIZES

Here at Stampendous we’ve got some mystery Spellbinders dies up for grabs along with some fantastic Stampendous cling rubber so be sure to comment on our blog posts and those of our designers for the three days. See our Official Rules for eligibility and more. Comment deadline is Thursday, March 26th, and winners will be announced Friday, March 27, 2015.
Spellbinders has fantastic prize packages from all of their partners to give away each day, so be sure to visit their blog and use their contest entry tool to enter each day (one entry per day, per person). See the Spellbinders Blog for rules and a list Product Partner companies.

Here's something fun from me:

I really wanted to create a jewelry piece for this occasion. Unfortunately, I rejoined the Stampendous team after all the wonderful base pieces from Spellbinder had been passed out to the  team. However, I did receive a handful of fun dies...

Using the "Dragon Delight" set, I die cut three of the dragonflies from chipboard, and adhered them together for more substance. I applied VersaMark ink over the surface with a fingertip dauber, and poured on some Stampendous Aged Teal Embossing Enamel. This was heated until molten, sprinkled with more and heated again...in all three or four layers of the EE. Then I inked the fishnet-patterned background image from Nathalie Kalbach's "Studio Wired" set of grunge stamps with VersaMark, reheated the surface, and pressed the stamp onto the molten surface. This was allowed to cool before removing the stamp, and the result was this awesomely textured surface. The only additions were three small teal crystals pressed into the re-warmed surface, a thin bit of gold wire wrapped around the head to create curled antennae, and a pin-back adhered to the back with Quick Grip by Beacon Adhesives. Now I wanted this to really be the focal piece, so I created a card to display it on.

I created an easel card loosely following team member, Kristine Reynolds, tutorial HERE, using Core'dinations Vintage and Essentials cardstock, both of which were sanded a bit around the edges. The flat panel on the bottom of the card, was paste-embossed with Dreamweaver Gold Embossing Paste with the Chevron stencil. More of the Aged Teal EE was poured over the wet paste, and all of this was heated until bubbly and dry...more great texture and shimmer!

I cut a square of Mark Richard's linen fabric, frayed the edges, and stamped more of Nathalie Kalbach's images with Toffee and Deep Lagoon VersaFine ink by Tsukineko over the square. This was adhered to the card front with 3L Tape Runner (a wet adhesive would just ooze through the fabric and be seen). I cut two banner strips from scrap and stamped them in black with the Stampendous Cling Grunge Happy Birthday, and adhered these to the right side of the card.

Finally, I used the Richard Garay Celebrations "Sweet Treats" Die set from Spellbinder to cut the cool tag which has a notch at the top to wrap around a bow on a package...in this case, the natural burlap ribbon from May Arts. I punched two holes for the pin-back to slip through, and attached my beautiful pin. NOW it gets the recognition that it deserves! You know you've created a successful gift if you'd love to receive it yourself!

Here are today's links for those playing:

Stampendous Blog

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

Spellbinders Blog

Dreamweaver Stencils: Summertime, Sparklers, and S'more!

Happy 4th of July to all of my friends in the USA! What a perfect day to begin our new monthly challenge, "Summertime, Sparklers, and S'more"! That pretty much sizes up all things summer in the USA, and most likely in your neck of the woods as well. Who doesn't love summer vacations, celebrations, and all the yummy treats of summer? Speaking of celebrations...don't forget to check the Dream It Up! blog to find out if YOU were one of the two winners from our hop with Ranger Stickles Dry Glitter last week!

In honor of the 4th, I  created this really simple card using the Open Heart stencil for a template, and of course, the Stars stencil and the Stripes stencil. I created my stripes by using Memories Mists Strawberry Daiquiri (mmm, doesn't that sound dee-lish?) sprayed through the stencil onto white cardstock. The star was done in the opposite way. I sprayed the stencil itself with Blueberry Milkshake MM, and placed a scrap of Bazzill White Dotted Swiss cardstock on top to transfer the ink. I love how the embossed dots broke up the color in the background! I traced the heart stencil over the portions of my sprayed panels and cut out and layer on kraft cardstock, along with scraps of the stripes, and a panel with the sentiment. For an even more celebratory feel, I added a "sparkler" created with a toothpick, shiny pompom, and rhinestones.

Our team "A" will have a summer celebration of their own going on, along with our Guest Designer for the month of July, Wendy Price! Check them all out here:

Dream It Up!

Wendy Price

Laura Drahozal
Lyn Bernatovich
Pam Hornschu
Heidi Erickson
Louise Healy
Jessica Griffin
Cyndi Bundy

 

Dreamweaver Stencils Tiny Treats: A Fun Gift Card Holder for Mum

Yesterday I had this light bulb go on over my head, and not necessarily the earth friendly type, just a cute one flashing pink and lime green and telling me, "It. Could. Work." So I grabbed that light bulb and ran with it.

All of May, the Dream Team are being challenged to create "Tiny Treats" for all the various occasions that come up this time of the year...weddings, showers, graduations, and in the case of this Sunday...Mother's Day. I picked up a Starbucks gift card (because, hey, pretty much everyone loves Starbucks, right?), that could be tucked into a cute gift card holder. This was created with the help of a Sizzix box die that I had bought a couple of years ago and never broke out of the package. How sad is that?

My initial thought was to create the little pouch/box out of cardstock or cute paper, or paper with a stenciled background, or maybe the Mercart colored aluminum, and hey...why not one out of kraft cardstock all distressed and perfect for Father's Day, and...you get the idea. I kind of went wild, and yes, I did all of the above. And then I thought of my stash of crafting felt.

It cut like a dream with my Big Shot Pro, but it needed more substance. So, I ran a second color through to layer with. And then I ran a piece of Dreamweaver Stencils' Double Sided Mounting Paper through, and this became the lining between the two colors. I punched some holes through the scalloped edge to show off the pretty lime green interior, and I die cut a scalloped circle from a scrap of felt and pasted in Glossy White the cute tea pot from the Dreamweaver Tea Set stencil. Once dry, I placed the stencil back on and added the rose and vine with Memento inks. I used these same inks to stencil the tea set on a tri-fold insert for my gift card pouch from Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock. (Love that stuff!) Once I finished gluing the sides with Beacon Fabri-Tac adhesive, and adding Velcro closures, I added the final touch...some beautiful plaid May Arts taffeta ribbon. These little pouches were so simple to cut out and put together, that it is easy to run wild with anything fairly flat that can be run through your die cutting machine, and have so much fun doing it!

Now's your opportunity to visit the "B" team's blogs, and the Dream It Up! blog as well, for more "lightbulb moments", before you head off to create your own "Tiny Treats" for the month of May. Don't forget to link them on the Dream It Up! blog, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, for a chance to win this months prize, and to have your art featured on the blog and/or our Facebook page. Have you "liked" us yet on Facebook? If you haven't, you are missing out on a lot of fun!

Dream It Up!
Lea Kimmel

Louise Healy
Stacey Rumsby
Terrece Siddoway
Caroline Duncan
Pam Hornschu
Cherylynn Moser

A Fresh New Vision

Just returned yesterday from the Craft and Hobby Association international show in Anaheim, California, and I am the most amazing combination of exhausted and creatively stoked! So many wonderful new ideas whirling around in my head. So many cool products to incorporate into my own creations. Since I was at the show for Dreamweaver Stencils, I have to say that we have the most gorgeous stencils out there, with so many wonderful techniques to use with them. I wish that every one of you could have been there to see the Dream Team's booth samples in person. Hopefully, over the next few weeks, you'll have the chance to see them online.

My post today features the new Bride stencil. She is so sweetly elegant, that your mind whirls with all the ways to show her off. I kept mine simple today, using the Ink Transfer technique (or Letterpress). Very similar to the technique from the baby card that I posted last week. For the bride, I spritzed the stencil with Sparkling Silver Memories Mists and placed it face up on the base plate of my embossing machine. Next layer was my cardstock, then the rubber embossing mat, and two clear plates. When this pile is run through the machine, it does two things...it transfers the shimmery ink to the cardstock, and embosses the stencil design into the paper! The small strip on the card base was done with the same technique, but using the Damask stencil. I added a Stampendous stamped sentiment, some pearl swirls, and a few tiny rhinestones. So elegant, and perfect for a wedding card, bridal shower, etc.

If you'd like to see all the new designs, please visit the Stencil with Style site. Any of Dreamweaver products can be purchased there, or at the local stores listed on the Dreamweaver Stencils web site HERE.

For more visual inspiration with Dreamweaver products, follow the Dream It Up! blog, Dreamweaver Tutorial Thursdays on Paper Craft Planet, and like us on Facebook. Now, check out what the rest of our uber-talented team members have been creating this week:

Dream it UP  

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser
Wendy Jordan 

Celebrating a Fresh Start

Welcome to another great year with the Dream Team! Yes, we are still playing with our monthly challenges, but we're planning on throwing some surprises in along the way. Check the Dream It Up! blog for more info on that, and a teaser for those creative dreamers out there. Hmmm, what could that mean? You'll just have to follow along for yourself. 

As for today's post, our challenge for January is "A Fresh Start". With the new year obviously in mind, it is a great time for some big changes, or small changes.  How about something less obvious? My card was created with the Stars stencil and the Birthday Words combo stencil. I machine-embossed the Stars on Core'dinations cardstock and sanded the surface to reveal the design. A few cutout stars, fun paper, a "candle", and the perfect sentiment complete this card. 

I think birthdays are also a great time for a fresh start.This is the perfect time to take the wisdom you've learned along the way (willingly or unwillingly), and look at life with new eyes. Where did you expect to be at this point? Do you still need to be there? Then make a few changes to get there. Remember, it's not the miles. It's the journey! Make it spectacular!

A spectacular journey is precisely my birthday wish for my bestie, Lynell Harlow, the Queen of Stencils! Her birthday is tomorrow, and the Dream Team are partying in her honor today. Want to help us make her day? Create your own version of a "fresh start", and provide the link to your creation on the mr. linky on the Dream It Up! blog, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com. There is an extra special prize waiting for the winner of this month's challenge. Will it be YOU?

 

 

Hop on the party train and make your stops through the Dream Team blogs:

Dream it UP  

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser
Wendy Jordan