Dreamweaver Stencils: May Challenge...Tiny Treats for Smart Cookies!

Another month, and another challenge for the Dream Team, and all of you who follow along. For the month of May, we are fixated on "Tiny Treats"...party favors, wedding favors, end of school year treats, teacher appreciation gifts, baby shower favors, co-worker treats, in other words...small tokens of appreciation for those you care about.

My "1 Smart Cookie" treat is perfect for teachers, schoolmates, grads, promotions, etc. I chose to feature the wise Open Owl stencil, and paper pieced him with Cosmo Cricket "Earth Love" patterns, except for the open tummy portion. I created a valley fold in the bottom of the Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock panel, die cut a circle through both sides, and inserted a small cello bag with a couple of cookies inside.

As part of our year-long collaboration with May Arts, I added a twisted burlap bow, wrapped with burlap twine for a rustic touch.

The eyes were just punched circles of paper with cute buttons on top. All in all, this could be a fun project to do with the kids. Pretrace the patterned paper for them to cut out and paste to the pre-machine-embossed owl. The fold lines could be pre-scored, and the circles die cut. Just "some assembly required"!

Since both our A and B teams will be sharing their bright ideas for tiny treats all of the month of May, you have no excuse for not providing handmade tiny treats for those May-June events, and don't forget to link them on the Dream It Up! blog for a chance to be this month's prize winner, and be featured on the Dreamweaver Facebook page!

Here's the list of our A team:

Dream It Up!
Laura Drahozal
Lyn Bernatovich
Pam Hornschu
Heidi Erickson
Louise Healy
Cyndi Bundy

 

Woodware UK: ConGRADulations to the Grads!

Nothing makes time seem to by faster than having your child graduate from high school or university. The Woodware UK team has been challenged to post a graduation card this week, and if you hop on board with us, you'll have all of those necessary grad cards ready to go for this month and next.

I obviously went manly, and featured the Stampendous Cling Poised Gent image...stamped twice to layer one on top of the other on a die cut panel. Only a little gray shading was added by marker. This panel was layered over a panel of gray cardstock paste-embossed in Dreamweaver's Matte Black with the Dreamweaver Stencils' Houndstooth pattern. The Art Nouveau Flourish was ink-stenciled using dark gray ink, and highlighted with a Sakura White Gel Pen, on the card base as an additional...well, uh...flourish! A crisp white banner stamped with a sentiment from the Stampendous Perfectly Clear "Time Flies" set is added and the grad card is complete!

This challenge began on Monday, so head back to the Woodware UK blog for previous graduation inspirations.

Looking for the Dreamweaver Post?

If you are here for my Dreamweaver post for this week, please scroll down. Enjoy the view along the way...it also happens to be a Dreamweaver design...only for Woodware UK! Aren't I lucky to be able to play with Dreamweaver for so many great teams? Oh, and you'll notice a large smattering of Stampendous goodies on my WW post as well. Fun, fun, fun!

Woodware UK: White on White on White

 Who knew there could be so many shades of white? The Woodware UK team are playing with the basic challenge of using white! Kind of tricky to do in order to capture all the nuances of your design (a really annoying to photograph!). I added a little pattern in the form of some mostly white papers from the g•c•d studios "Carnival Ride" paper pad, and some dimension by machine embossing the Dreamweaver Tree Line and the Open Owl. Layering the wings, and popping him up helped to define him as well. I added texture with some Stampendous Shaved Ice, Cotton Ball Fun Flock, and Multi Crystal Glitter, as well as a "branch" coated in ink and with a sprinkling of Shabby Blue Embossing Enamel. I did step over the boundary and add some Mark Richards Adhesive Crystals in green for the eyes. The sentiment? A Class A' Peel in white, of course! Don't forget to check out what the rest of the Woodware team are creating for the challenge. Hopefully, you won't go snowblind from all of the white!

Dreamweaver Stencils: Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

I've had a bit of figurative rain in my life over the last week. My uncle passed away, and I'm doing a quick post on this before I fly to Minnesota for the service. After losing my father in a car accident in 1973 (I was fifteen), my uncle Lowell was my last tie to my dad. He'd tell me these great stories of he and my dad growing up together. I'll miss that. On a more positive note, this trip back will provide me with the opportunity to see most of my cousins and their families, old family friends, and hear more of the old stories to tuck away into my heart.

Since I have no extra time now to create something new for this week's post with the challenge, "Mists, Drizzles, and Showers", I'm posting one of my favorite cards that fit the challenge. This is my Rainy Day Door card, and I think it's rather clever. The inside panel was paste-embossed in black and features the Birds on Bare Branches stencil. I used a Spellbinder set of Nestabilities dies to create the window and the additional door decor. Behind the window frame is a panel of acetate that was paste-embossed in Translucent paste and sprinkled with Stampendous Multi Crystal Glitter with the Rain stencil. On the front panel of the door, I inked the Lovebirds Heart stencil with a slightly darker red ink, and ran the panel through my Big Shot Pro to emboss the image. The slightly darker ink provides even more pop, without detracting from the "window". I added a fun Queen & Co. antiqued brad for the doorknob, and a fun ruffle elasticized gingham May Arts ribbon as a curtain. All in all, this card was quite simple to create, and super fun to look at.

The Dreamweaver "B" team are posting this week, along with our April guest designer, Alison Heikkila, so check them out. Then break out your stenciling toys and play along with the challenge. Provide an online link to your creation on the Dream It Up! blog linkytool, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, for an opportunity to win this month's prize, plus have your design  featured on the Dream It Up! blog and the Dreamweaver Facebook page. Didn't know that we had a Facebook page? Yes we do, and we'd love for you to join our Fan Family!

Dream It Up!
Lea Kimmel

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

Woodware UK: Playing With the Crafty Cardmakers

 The Woodware UK team are pleased to be playing along with the Crafty Cardmakers this week, the challenge will be open on their blog for two weeks. If you would like to play along with us please check the Crafty Cardmaker rules then use the link on the Crafty Cardmakers Blog to add your card or if you are not a blogger yet you can e-mail your card to Dorothy as usual Dorothy@woodware.co.uk  and she will post it and add it to the Crafty Cardmakers Blog.

 

My post features the Stampendous Cling Jumbo Tiger Lily stamped over the Woodware Recycled Crafty Bag in dark brown dye ink, and the accompanying flourish image stamped in orange dye ink over scraps of textured and printed paper from Canvas Corp. Tissue paper was stamped to match, and a Super Duper Punched Tag was stamped to match. To jazz the tag up a bit more, a panel of double-sided adhesive was added to the tag, and covered in Stampendous Orange Citrus Fun Flock. The excess was brushed off before stamping the tiger lily once again over the flocked surface. Some Stampendous Dot Sparklers were colored orange to match with Identipen permanent markers for extra bling. This bag and tag fits the Crafty Cardmakers challenge, and you can play along as well for the next two weeks. Just follow the instructions above. Meanwhile, don't forget to check out the gift packaging ideas from the rest of the crafty Woodware UK team through the WW blog.

Dreamweaver Stencils: A Moody Mixed Media Post

This week I literally played with the Dreamweaver monthly challenge of "Mists, Drizzles, and Showers". I hauled out all kinds of goodies...the new Leafless Tree stencil, the Rainy Words, several shades of Metallic F/X and Tsukineko Splendor and Versamark ink pads, Matte Black and Pearlescent Embossing Pastes, stencil brushes, palette knife, spreader and the picture in my head. Scary, huh? I had this idea of trying to recreate the look of a rainy day when the sun just begins to peek through the clouds and creates that gorgeous prismatic rainbow arc. Not the happy-dappy rainbow done by a small child with a box of crayons, but that misty unknown mood...will life get stormy again, or will it be a brighter and shinier, more hopeful vision? Waxing a bit philosophical this week, but life is like that...and sometimes you just have to take a step back and reaccess your life and where it's going. Kwim? To achieve the look I was aiming for, this is what I did:

I coated my white cardstock panel with Versamark ink before using a large stencil brush to swipe Pewter Metallic F/X over the panel, predominantly the upper left side. I also used the cloud-shaped side of the Picasso tool to add to the cloudy/stormy affect. Then I used a couple larger stencil brushes to swipe a rainbow of colors from the Splendor ink pads in an arc from the right, and added a hint of the sun at the top corner. I wanted a bit more shimmer and layer, so I swiped similar rainbow colors of Metallic F/X over the inked areas (the ink acts as a fixative to hold the powders). Using another portion of the Picasso stencil, I ink-stenciled a hint of ground and hills. To emphasize the mood, I stenciled several rain inspired words on the side, before pasting the Leafless Tree in Matte Black. When the panel was dry, I stenciled a bit of silver ink through the Rain stencil, and a bit of Pearlescent paste over the top. I removed the stencil, and with a brush, swiped down through the pasted rain to spread it a bit. Once this was dry, I stenciled a few birds in the tree, and I adhered the panel to the card, added some ink-distressing, and scraped along the edge of the panel for more texture. I strung several buttons with some wonderful burlap twine from May Arts (this is not your average cord... it has just the right amount of rustic charm without being too thick and bristley.

Now is your time to head around to check out the rest of the "A" team's blogs, plus our April guest designer, Alison Heikkila, for more of the misty and mystical. Don't forget to leave some love as you go, and play along with us for a chance to win a fabulous stencil prize. Just link your creation on the Linkytool on the Dream It Up! blog, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com.

Dream It Up!
Alison Heikkila
Laura Drahozal
Lyn Bernatovich
Pam Hornschu
Heidi Erickson
Louise Healy
Jessica Griffin
Cyndi Bundy
Cherylynn Moser

Still need more inspiration? Check out the Dreamweaver Thursday Tutorials on Paper Craft Planet, and like us on Facebook (pssst...more prize opportunities on both!).