Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Woodware Sketch is Micey Nice!


The Woodware UK sketch challenge this week was particularly fun for me, as I had the opportunity to play with lots of new toys that I picked up while on my UK trip a couple of weeks ago. Walking through their warehouse full of crafty goodness, I felt like a kid in a candy shop!

My take on the sketch features the Micey Mice Clear Set and the Huge Thanks Clear Single, both designed by Francoise Read. She always has such fun designs, and these are no exception. The Huge Thanks image was paper-pieced with papers from the Daydream Ensemble 8 X 8 pad, with individual letters popped up with foam squares. The cute mouse was colored with markers. For some added bling, I added dots of Lagoon Stickles on the letters and the center of flower.

Come play along with us this month with Sketch challenge #10, and link your creations HERE for an opportunity to win!

Need more inspiration? There is plenty of it all week long! Check out the Woodware UK blog for more, including the post from this month's guest designer, Kim Reygate!

To my friends at Woodware UK, "Micey" thanks to all of you for a fabulous time in the UK!


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Monday, March 5, 2012

Gourmet Rubber Stamps Prescription for Yum!

Since I was in the UK during the Gourmet Rubber Stamps preview for the new Diner's Club set, "Prescription for Spring", I missed my opportunity to play along with the rest of the team with this new set. Doing a catch up now, which was definitely NOT a chore. The GRS sets are always so much fun, so much variety, that so many ideas just flood your head. I really love the new prescription stamp with its vintage look, and then adding the actual prescription to it just makes me laugh! Who wouldn't want a prescription for the items at left? So, I created a little gift set for a friend...a hand-painted mug (no, not by me), some tea bags, a bar of chocolate, a rolled brandy snap (direct from England). All that's needed is the bubble bath, the chick flick, and the nap. Ah, now that's relaxation at its best! Stay tuned for more posts featuring this new set. Can't wait? Then head over to the Gourmet Rubber Stamps site to get your own set. While you're there, check out the gallery for more inspiration!

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Saturday, March 3, 2012

It's Shape-Shifting Month with Stampendous!

We have a brand new challenge with the Stampendous team this month!  Each Saturday this month, we'll be challenging ourselves (and you!) to make a shaped card or project - something other than the traditional square or rectangular card. Doesn't that sound like fun?    

      So, maybe I went a little overboard for the challenge. My excuse is that actually this was a complete project from a year ago that I never had an opportunity to post, and since I didn't have time to create something new for the challenge, this is what you get! This entire party set centers around the Stampendous Cling Cupcake XL image, stamped with Rich Cocoa Memento ink over papers from October Afternoon's "Fly a Kite" series, to create paper-pieced invites, tags, bags, and a banner. Stampendous Dot Sparkler Class A' Peels were the "sprinkles" on the cupcakes (tip: don't have every color of Dot Sparklers available? Color the silver ones with permanent markers!), with Baker's twine, buttons, rick rack, and lace embellies. Each cupcake bottom was cut slightly larger than the stamped image and corrugated for texture and that real cupcake liner look. The invite is a slider card with the info computer generated for a fun "Cuppa-Cake-Date". Who wouldn't love that? The tissue in the gift bag has also been stamped with the cupcake image in various ColorBox Chalk Ink colors.

    




This month promises to be a fun challenge with the variety of shapes that the team will come up with. Why not play along? Need more inspiration?
  
Here is a list of the Stampendous team members playing along today:

    We want YOU to play along with us!  Just add your direct link to your shaped card or project to the linky tool below my signature (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than April 5, 2012 at 11:00 PM EST.  You do not have to use Stampendous products to play along, but we sure love it when you do!  And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person* (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cling Jumbo Hollyhock Stamp Set:





*Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address.  We hope you get a chance to play along with us - happy crafting!




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Thursday, March 1, 2012

Woodware UK...Look What I Did With My Fran'tage Essentials!

Ever heard of the expression, "A neat desk is a sign of a sick mind"? In my case, it's more like, "A messy desk is a sign of a creative mind"! Or, just messy! In the case of today's post for the Woodware UK challenge, to "Fran'tage it up!", it's easy to be messily creative. Playing with all the latest Stampendous Fran'tage Essentials...Color Fragments, Coarse Glass Glitters, Mica Flakes, Aged Embossing Enamels, etc., it is so much fun to make a mess.
     My "creation" began as a clear plastic spice container from Costco (hubby got the spice, I got the container!). I stamped the new Cling Mermaid and Cling Castle Hill on the inside of the lid with Tsukineko Black StazOn ink, and the various Cling seashell images around the outside of the container as well. Then I broke out all my new jars of Stampendous Essentials. Brushing thinned down white glue (Elmers) on the inside of the lid as well as the inside of the container, I then proceeded to cover the areas in the newly released Color Fragments in Taupe (to mimic sand) and the Powder Blue (ocean...duh). The bottom of the container, and the top of the lid, have an additional sprinkle of a mix of all the goodies. (This is why you save all the extra particles that end up all over your desk in a mixed jar.) Once all of this was dry, I applied Tsukineko Versamark ink around the metal rim of the lid, and embossed with the new Aged Gold Embossing Enamel. The end result? A wonderful container to save those beach-combing treasures in!
     I am so excited to "sea" what the rest of the Woodware UK team come up with using these new mess-makers. I've been fortunate to play with them for several months now as I'm also on the Stampendous Design Team, but it's always fun to see what others will come up with. What will YOU do with the new Fran'tage Essentials? For video inspiration from Fran Seiford herself, check out her YouTube videos HERE.





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March Challenge: Spring Clean...and Simple!

   
After the Dreamweaver Stencils' February challenge of St. Pat's or Green, are you a little tired of green? Then this month provides the opportunity of doing any color you wish...including green. However, you have to keep it clean...and simple! Yep. We are challenging you to create with your Dreamweaver products in a CAS style. This is our way of encouraging you to begin your "Spring Cleaning" a little early, and far more fun than sorting cupboards and washing windows!

     My post today features a card that I created for the Design Originals' new Zentangle 6 book, which was a collaboration between DO and Dreamweaver Stencils, a mix of Zentangle with stencils. Several of the Dream Team have projects featured in this magazine, and if you'd like to purchase your own copy, you can find it at most papercrafting stores, or online.

     I used the Open Bird stencil by tracing the inside perimeter of the image with a Sakura Micron .03 black pen. Then I proceeded to mark off areas where I intended to created my patterns. Zentangle can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. My patterns were very simple...checks, dots, stripes, curls, crosses, and pointilism. I let this panel be the main focus of my card, matting it with black on a textured red card, and adding some angled strips as a asymmetrical frame for the design.

     Now you have the opportunity to play along. Create your own Clean and Simple design (preferably with Dreamweaver Stencils' products) and link it to the Dream It Up! blog from your own blog, online gallery, or just sent us an email (lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com) of your creation for us to show off on the blog. At the end of March, we will select two winners to win a set of these stencils each:





     For more inspiration, please visit the Dream Team blogs...and leave comments, we love that!



     Curious as to the winners of last month's challenge? Anne Temple won for the best version of the challenge, and Sue Petersen won for the best use of Dreamweaver Stencils' product for the challenge! Congrats, ladies! Thanks for playing with us, and we hope to see more from all of our previous players!
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Thursday, February 23, 2012

40 Shades of Green? Hmmm...How About Seven?

      The Woodware UK design team was challenged this week to create with "40 Shades of Green". Now, I have a lot of paper, glitter, flock, embossing powders, pastes, inks, etc., but no way do I have forty shades of green. Seven will just have to suffice. Fortunately for me, the Dream Team is also working with green. (*Links for purchasing these products in the USA are listed below the post.)
     For this card, I soaped the back of the Dreamweaver Stencils' Hills design and placed soap-side-down on the double-sided adhesive paper adhered to a panel of cardstock. I "water-falled" five shades of Stampendous glitter (Emerald, Pastel Green, Moss Green, Sea Green, and Mint) in bands across the exposed adhesive, rubbing the glitter in for best coverage. After removing the stencil carefully (hold the stencil down while pulling the paper panel away from the stencil to prevent bending), I filled in the lines with Mahogany glitter. This same glitter covers the Copper Paste-embossed "Friend". For another shade of green, I paste-embossed the "Branch" stencil from Dreamweaver Stencils, and when dry, I replaced the stencil and inked the embossed area with Versamark ink from Tsukineko. This was then embossed with Stampendous Stamp n' Bond before covering with Olive Green Fun Flock from Stampendous. Running these layers through my laminator (place between sheets of copy paper to protect laminator) provided lush coverage of the flock once the excess was brushed away. The seventh shade of green is the green cardstock for the card. Not too bad, eh? All products can be purchased through Woodware UK...just ask your local store to get them in stock!
     For a weeks worth of inspiration, check back daily with the Woodware UK blog and team for their posts with this green challenge. For inspiration from the Dreamweaver Stencils' team, check out our fabulous bunch of ladies:


     Be sure to play along with the Dream Team this month. Create your own St. Patrick's Day and/or green project, email a picture to Lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, or link to your online posting via Mr. Linky on the Dream It Up! blog by the end of February. You could win one of two sets of these stencil designs (USA, APO, FPO addresses only, please):



  Just as a hint...both of these could be useful for upcoming challenges...

*Supplies and Links:
Dreamweaver Stencils-
LG642 Branch
LJ910 Hills
LS1002 Friend
Copper Embossing Paste
DMP Double-sided Mounting Paper
Hawaiian Soap

Stampendous-
Flock
Glitter
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Thursday, February 16, 2012

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:


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'.)




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