GIVEAWAY TIME!

IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER DREAMWEAVER GIVEAWAY!!!

Each week for the entire month of April, I will feature one or two of my favorite projects created with Dreamweaver stencils and giveaway one of the stencils used! Since I am stepping away from the Dreamweaver Design Team because of other commitments, this is just my way of trying to encourage more of you to get behind the versatility and creativity of Dreamweaver stencils! Remember to check out the Dreamweaver Design Team blogs for additional inspiration as well as the Dreamweaver Facebook page for exciting news and more giveaways!

This week I'm feeling a bit nostalgic so I thought I'd share a couple of cards I designed using the LL 3032 Large Cherries stencil. 

The first card uses the stencil and the rouging (circular) technique for applying pigment ink:

And this second version uses the same stencil on aluminum and colored with Dreamweaver's ColorSolutions alcohol ink:

Do you have a favorite? I can't decide. Leave me a comment below before midnight, Monday, April 21 and you could be the lucky random winner to win this stencil:

AND NOW FOR THIS WEEK'S WINNER!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO LUCKY NUMBER 4: 

LINSEY!

Linsey, send me your snail mail address by email to: 2nd-childhood@comcast.net and the Sandcastle stencil featured last week will be on its way to you!

Again, thanks for all your comments last week and be sure to leave a comment on this post to be entered in next week's random giveaway drawing! 

Hugs,
Cherylynn

April Inspirations

Welcome to the first of two Dreamweaver challenges I will have this month. This month the Dream Team has a spectacular month planned for you including the "April Inspirations" challenge that will run for the entire month. Each team member will post what inspires them in their creative life...maybe a Pinterest pic, a magazine pic, a quote, a book, a place, an artist, a crafter friend...along with their creation. We are hoping that you will feel inspired as well, and link your projects (and inspiration) to the inlinkz tool on the Dream It Up! blog.

For my inspiration piece, I picked a cardigan that I bought to cheer me up on rainy April days:

which inspired me to create this card using the LX 7021 Corner Flowers stencil using the rouging technique  with Gelatos and my Picasso stencil. For those of you unfamiliar with what the rouging technique,  it basically refers to loading a stencil brush with color, such as pigment ink, acrylic paint, paintstiks, gelato, pan pastels...,offloading the color onto a paper towel or scrap piece to work the color into the brush and remove any excess color. Then using a circular motion, "rouge" the color over the design. The best way to do this is to start on the stencil and then work over the cut out areas to avoid any piling of the paint.

I liked how this turned out. Nice, bright and cheery!

Now please go check out what the Guest Designer and the "B" team has been inspired by for this week...

Janelle Stollfus

Dream It Up!
Lea Kimmel
Louise Healy

Pam Hornschu

I'll be back next Tuesday with a new Giveway! Hope to see you then.

Cherylynn

Dreamweaver Giveaway Week 2

Thanks for all the wonderful comments (and emails)! I always wonder if anybody ever really reads this blog and your comments helped affirm that I am not alone in this wonderful universe!

As I mentioned last week, due to so many other commitments in my life right now, I am stepping down from the Dreamweaver design team effective the end of this month. I still hope to be blogging and participating in the monthly Dreamweaver challenges, I just will be doing it a little more sporadically. 

And to honor and thank Dreamweaver for allowing me to be a part of their design team for the past 2+ years, I am giving away a Dreamweaver stencil each week this month.

Each week for the entire month of April, I will feature one or two of my favorite projects created with Dreamweaver stencils and giveaway one of the stencils used!

This week, since it feels like summer here in the Pacific Northwest, I am featuring the somewhat new LL 3033 Sand Castle stencil shown here:

Here is a card I designed for a class I taught last spring that featured not only this fun stencil but also Ranger Distress Embossing Powder and Dreamweaver's Double-sided Mounting Paper:

This card also uses Dreamweaver's LJ 901 Mosaic Swirls stencil that was machine embossed and colored using Ranger Distress Ink.

Like what you see here and want to win the sandcastle stencil? Well, that's so easy to do! Just leave me a comment on how you like to use Dreamweaver stencils. Is there a technique you favor? A product?...anything as long as it somehow relates to Dreamweaver or stencils. I will draw one name at random from all the comments posted before midnight, Monday, April 14.

The winner will be announced next Tuesday, April 15 along with the next giveaway! 

This is just my way of trying to encourage more of you to get behind the versatility and creativity of Dreamweaver stencils! Remember to check out the Dreamweaver Design Team blogs for additional inspiration as well as the Dreamweaver Facebook page for exciting news and more giveaways!

AND NOW FOR THIS WEEK'S WINNER!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO LUCKY NUMBER 6: 

JANEEN!

Janeen, send me your snail mail address by email to: 2nd-childhood@comcast.net and the Umbrella stencil featured last week will be on its way to you!

Again, thanks for all your comments and be sure to leave a comment on this post to be entered in next week's random giveaway drawing! 

I'll be participating in the Dreamweaver April Inspires challenge this Thursday. I hope you'll stop on by and say hi.

Hugs,
Cherylynn

Dreamweaver April Challenge

Even though I will be retiring from Dreamweaver Dream Team, I will be posting through the end of this month. (See official retirement notice and "giveway" post here.)

And this month the Dream Team has a spectacular month planned for you...filled with exciting news and inspiration for all of your crafting dreams! The exciting news will be announced in the Dream It Up! post on April 17th, but the "April Inspirations" challenge will run for the entire month. Each team member will post what inspires them in their creative life...maybe a Pinterest pic, a magazine pic, a quote, a book, a place, an artist, a crafter friend...along with their creation. We are hoping that you will feel inspired as well, and link your projects (and inspiration) to the inlinkz tool on the Dream It Up! blog. Check out what the Guest Designer and the "A" team has been inspired by for this week...

Janelle Stollfus (GD)

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

The Pampered Stamper

I'll be back next Tuesday with a new Giveway and next Thursday with a Dreamweaver challenge post! Hope to see you then.

Cherylynn

A Dreamweaver Giveaway!

Welcome to April. This is a very sad post to write as of the end of this month, I will not be "officially" on the Dreamweaver Design Team. Don't misunderstand me, I am still totally in love with Dreamweaver products. However, because of all that is going on with my life right now (school, work, grandkids...), I wasn't feeling like I was able to devote the time I wanted to and that Dreamweaver deserved. It has been an incredible 2+ years and I will forever be grateful to Lynell and Pam for all their encouragement and inspiration. (And who knows, nothing is forever so maybe I'll be back!)

There's a silver lining to this news. Now that I'll have a little more time to just create for fun and not for design team deadlines, I'll hopefully be able to post a little often, including throwing in some stamping and other crafty stuff. And that definitely means more Dreamweaver posts, including taking part in the monthly challenges. I LOVE ME DREAMWEAVER PRODUCT!!!

And now for the Giveaway part!

Each week for the entire month of April, I will feature one or two of my favorite projects created with Dreamweaver stencils and giveaway one of the stencils used!

For this week, since it is April 1, I thought I'd share a couple of cards that use the LG 737 Umbrella stencil.




Paste-embossed on acetate with the original Dreamweaver embossing paste and then colored with pigment inks. Raindrops were silver-paste embossed and sprinkled with glitter.



Silver paste-embossed and colored with Dreamweaver alcohol inks

The umbrella stencil is an incredibly versatile stencil and works great for those who like to zentangle or "stentangle" as I like to refer to it!

Want to win the Umbrella stencil? Well, that's so easy to do! Just leave me a comment on what Dreamweaver product you love the most, a technique you would love to try, how you would use the stencil...anything as long as it somehow relates to Dreamweaver or stencils. I will draw one name at random from all the comments posted before midnight, Monday, April 7.

The winner will be announced next Tuesday, April 8 along with the next giveaway!

Think of this as my way of trying to encourage more of you to get behind the versatility and creativity of Dreamweaver stencils! Remember to check out the Dreamweaver Design Team blogs for additional inspiration as well as the Dreamweaver Facebook page for exciting news and more giveaways!

Thanks for supporting me these past 2+ years. I hope you'll continue to stop by and say hi!

Hugs,
Cherylynn

Mad for Dreamweavers and Gelli!

This month's Dreamwaver challenge to honor March Madness is to go MAD. Anything goes, and the more outside-of-the-box, the better. This year, Dreamweaver is aiming to play with non-traditional challenges whenever possible. A chance to break out all of our I-never-quite-knew-what-to-do-with-these-products stash, and to look at Dreamweaver stencils in a whole new creative light!

So what does going MAD mean for me? Well, it means playing product "I just had to have" several months ago that still sits in the bag it came home in! (I bet you have a few things like this!). For me, it is my Gelli Plate.

I pulled prints from my Gelli plate 3 times each time varying the pink, yellow and orange colors along with the stencils. The stencils I used are:

• LX 7002 Plaid
• LX 7011 Big Dots
• LG 713 Amsterdam Flourish
• LJ 902 Black Eyed Susan and 
• LJ 916 Butterfly

Remember, these stencils and all Dreamweaver products can always be bought at Stencil with Style if you don't have a local store or they don't carry Dreamweaver product (and first you should tell them then need to!)

 After I had several backgrounds that l liked. I chose one and created this calendar base. I kept the design very simple and didn't add a lot of embellishments because the background paper was so beautiful and had such interest that I didn't want to detract from it.

I started out by first wrapping the print around a piece of heavy chipboard and then paste embossing the LL548 Daisies stencil over the print. This is what it looked like before adding color to the paste embossing. (If you look closely at the upper right corner, you should be able to see a faint print of the butterfly stencil). 

Part of me likes the Daisies unpainted, much more contrast. What do you think?

Once the paste was dry, I repositioned the stencil and colored the daisy with my acrylic paints. I then punched corner slots (using another unused product--an old Fiskars slot punch!) in the black mat and adhered that to the printed board with foam tape. After inserting the calender it was done. And the best part is that next month, I can change the calendar. Now I just need to start working on one for the fall and winter months! (I'm thinking of starting with the LJ 849 Bare Trees and LX 7020 Leafless Tree stencils)

Now please hop on over to the other Dreamers and leave them some love. Hopefully their madness will inspire you to step outside of your comfort zone and go a little mad!

Georgia Sommers Guest Artist

Lea Kimmel
Louise Healy
Terrece Siddoway
Wendy Jordan
Pam Hornschu

Thanks for stopping by. I'll hope you'll come back next Tuesday (April 1) when I'll have a giveaway to go with a little announcement and at least a new creation to share.

Appreciating life

Hello all,

I know I've been a bit MIA lately. I over-committed myself these past few months and was working full-time, going to school full-time, and pathetically trying to stay active on the Dreamweaver Dream Team. I must admit that I pretty much failed in that last area.  I'm glad to report that the winter term is over and I survived! One of my classes was a painting class and here is one of my paintings from that class. (Be nice, I'm a very beginning painter!)

 

I painted this as part of my final project where we had to paint two related paintings. The other is the same image just painted on a lighter background and the sunflower has more orange in it. I definitely liked the contrast on this better than the lighter background. I'm not completely happy with this, the arrangement of the some of the petals could be reworked but....

I chose to paint a sunflower because at the end of the term I was pretty burnt out and was looking forward to a relaxing week of spring break. This was my foray to getting my mind clear and ready for that.

Now that I am somewhat recovered, I'll be posting a bit more frequently. In fact on this Thursday as part of the Dreamweaver March Madness challenge! Thanks for checking in and please stop by on Thursday. I've gone outside of my comfort zone and created something not typical for me.

Until we meet again, may all your days be filled with sunflowers!

Welcome to the last week of Dreamweaver's "February Flutters" challenge! If you've been playing along, there was a slight glitch in linking up your post. However, that's been fixed so there's still time to link up and WIN the stencil of your choice!!! Deadline is end of day tomorrow, Friday, February 28.

And "flutters" means anything that flutters. Heart flutters, wings that flutter, breezes, curtains, sails, etc.

Since we're closing out on February and about to enter the Ides of March, I thought I'd go with a "green theme" today and share a card I made using an older Dreamweaver stencil and its NEW coordinating die. (Yes, you read that right, Dreamweaver is now coming out with dies to coordinate with some of their stencils! How cool is that!!!)

With Spring just around the corner (okay, I know it doesn't seem like it to some of you) I thought I'd go for a nice leafy all occasion card to add to my emergency stash:

• I began by first sponging green ink over the LG 642 Leaf stencil with two different colors of green chalk ink. 
• After inking I cut the stenciled image into 4 segments and adhered them to a green card base.
• Next I cut out two matching green leaves using the NEW DD03 Leafy Branch die DD).
• Using some gorgeous emerald green ribbon from May Arts I created a ribbon rose on a larger Gluber dot.
• Since the ribbon was too wide for my liking, I folded it in half and secured it with a Gluber strip.

 This was a pretty straightforward card but I really like how it turned out. I loved being having the ability to coordinate the stencil and the die!

Remember, if you don't have a local store that carries Dreamweaver product, you can always find the entire product line online at Stencil with Style. And speaking of Dreamweaver product, have you checked out the other Dream Team blog posts for today? If not, here's a list of who's participating in this last week of February Flutters:

Dream It Up! 

Lea Kimmel 
Louise Healy 
Stacey Rumsby 
Terrece Siddoway 
Wendy Jordan 
Pam Hornschu 

February Flutters

The Dreamweaver challenge for the month of February is "February Flutters" meaning anything that flutters. Heart flutters, wings that flutter, breezes, curtains, sails, etc.? 

I hope you will  come along for the ride and link your own "flutterings" to the Dream It Up! blog for a chance to win the stencil of your choice.

Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I thought I'd go with the heart flutters theme:

The flower background stencil is Dreamweaver Flower Lace LJ820. I absolutely love using this stencil with the double glitter technique because it is so dramatic. I also used this same stencil to emboss the red aluminum which I then sanded to highlight the embossed flowers and cut into a heart with my Spellbinders heart die.

The Happy Valentine's stencil LM241 is a classic and must-have in my book! I used the white glossy paste for contrast and then covered the wet paste with red microfine glitter.

I love the dramatic romantic feel of this card, don't you?

Speaking of challenges, check out the rest of the AMAZING Dream Team's blogs to see what they came up with this week:

Dream It Up! 

Lea Kimmel 
Louise Healy 
Stacey Rumsby 
Terrece Siddoway 
Wendy Jordan 
Pam Hornschu 
Cherylynn Moser

Still trying to lose weight

Okay, so I thought last week was the last week I would be posting for the Dreamweaver Losing Weight (aka clean and simple) challenge but then I realized there were FIVE Thursdays this month! Yay, that gives me another chance to share with you a CAS card that I created with two of the stencils Dreamweaver debuted at CHA this month.

For this card I used LX 7025 Crusade Background and LG 756 Open Elephant, both shown here:

Although many people will use the Open Elephant stencil for Stentangling (Dreamweaver's word for Zentangling with Dreamweaver Stencils), I thought it was a perfect for masculine and all-occasion cards.

Here is what I created using the two stencils:

The background was black paste-embossed on kraft cardstock and the elephant was dry embossed in my Big Shot, colored with an Irridescent Grey Painstik and then fussy cut-out.

Want some more "weight-loss" ideas? Check out these other Dreamers who are participating in today's hop:

Dream It Up!
Louise Healy

Cyndi Bundy

Terrece Siddoway
Cherylynn Moser
Lyn Bernatovich
Pam Hornschu
Lea Kimmel

Until next month, have a super crafty life!

Saying goodbye to losing weight!

This month, the Dreamweaver challenge has been challenged to lose some weight by creating Clean and Simple cards. Usually all of my cards and clean and simple. That's just who I am. I like symmetry, clean lines, color definition and contrast.

A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you this simple Embossed Strie card that uses the new Dreamweaver LJ 927 Floral Dots stencil:

And so today for my last post for this Clean and Simple challenge,  I thought I'd share a card featuring the same stencil, just created using stencil paste and then colored with paintstiks once the crackle paste was dry. This cards is somewhat unfinished intentionally so that a sentiment can be added at the last minute for one of those I need a card NOW moments.

One of the things I love most about Dreamweaver stencils is their versatility. By just changing up the colors and/or technique, the stencil takes on a whole new look and feel.

I can't believe we're approaching the end of January. Where did this month ago? If someone has any tricks on how to slow down the hands of time, please share them with me. I certainly could use some tips!

Want some more Dreamweaver "diet" inspiration? Then check out these incredibly uber-talented Design  Team members:

Dream It Up! 

Lea Kimmel 
Louise Healy 
Stacey Rumsby 
Terrece Siddoway 
Wendy Jordan 
Pam Hornschu 
Cherylynn Moser

CHA Clean and Simple

Welcome to Dreamweaver's CHA Release Week! This week and next the Dream Teams will be posting sneak peeks of our newest designs...STENCILS AND DIES! The teams have had so much fun stretching their creativity to show you the most inspiring ways to use these new products. If you just can't stand to wait until your local stores get these in, you can order online from Stencil with Style!

Today I thought I'd share a FIVE different cards I created using the new stencils. All are done with the Embossed Strie technique and literally take minutes to complete. I had a lot of fun making these cards because since I've started taking art classes I am really having a lot of fun just playing with color. And the Strie technique is perfect for that!

LJ 927 Floral with Dots

LJ 929 Pop Rectangles

LL 3037 Zen Butterfly and LX 7025 Crusade Background

LX 7024 Zen Flower

LJ 928 Swirly Hearts

Do you have a favorite one? Why? I'd love to know.

And after you leave me some love (or suggestions), please head on over to the other Dream Team blogs to see what other inspirations await you!

Participating this week are:

Dream It Up!
Lea Kimmel
Louise Healy
Stacey Rumsby
Terrece Siddoway
Wendy Jordan 
Pam Hornschu
Cherylynn Moser 

Heidi Erickson

Happy Birthday Lynell!!!

Did you know that we're celebrating the Queen's birthday this week? Well...the Queen of Stencils, Lynell Harlow, that is. Actually, her birthday is on Saturday, but we're surprising her by posting birthday cards in her honor today. Nothing like making you feel OLD sooner than necessary, right Lynell? You'll even see a few familiar names in our lineup, as some of the teaching team are whooping it up for her as well.

In addition to our birthday party, we are also beginning a new year and a new monthly challenge. In honor of all those resolutions we hope to achieve, our challenge is "Losing the Weight...AKA Clean and Simple (CAS)". If we all try really hard to simplify our design-work without losing our creativity, we can all say at the end of the month that we've lost some weight! Maybe not off of our waistlines, but at least off of our cards! Gotta start somewhere!

For this week's CAS card, and to honor Lynell, I thought I'd so a simple card using the Strie technique. I don't do this technique very often, I find myself naturally using the "rouging" technique for applying color so this was fun to make.

Stencils used:
LX 7014 Daisy Background and LG 704 Birthday Words

If you haven't already done so, please head on over the to the other Dream Team and Dream Teaching Team blogs, especially the Dream It Up! blog and leave Lynell some birthday wishes. She's a very sweet lady and I am sure she will be touched by all the kinds words.

Dream It Up!
Laura Drahozal
Lyn Bernatovich 

Pam Hornschu
Heidi Erickson
Louise Healy
Cyndi Bundy

Lee Kellogg
Liz Martin
Terrece Siddoway
Lea Kimmel

Kristi Parker Van Doren

I'll be back next week with CAS part 2! Until then, I hope your new year is starting our fabulously!