What do April Showers Bring?

Happy Thursday! I love spring, I love flowers. The rain, not so much...BUT APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS so...

And that just happens to be what Dreamweaver's April Challenge is. Again, it is so versatile. Do you like the rain? Umbrellas? Or are you more of a flower person? Or both? Whatever you choose, you've got a lot of options in creating your entry for the challenge (and thus, no excuses for not participating!)

I know Alison Heikkila and Joy Hauck are glad they entered the March challenge! Allison won for the Best Interpretation and Joy won for Best Use of a Dreamweaver product. And did you know that the very GENEROUS LYNELL HARLOW, Owner of Dreamweaver Stencils, sent a FREE stencil to everyone who participated?!

So to get you inspired, I thought I'd do both a shower and a flower card, all-in-one!



Dreamweaver stencils: LG737 Umbrella and LJ905 Raindrops;
Silver Embossing Paste: Blue Rain Glitter by Art Glitter;
Stamp is Penny Black and DP is My MInd's Eye

Now why don't you head over to the other Dreamweaver Design Team blogs (links on the right) and see what inspiration they have cooked up for you.

Please come back tomorrow as I have a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT to share with all of you.

A Clean Message

I began the adventure of being on the Dreamweaver Design Team with one goal in mind: to help inspire others to take the plunge and play with Dreamweaver product.

I would never consider myself a great designer or a talented artist. I can live with the fact that I make creations that are pleasing to look at. Nothing more than that.

So this last month of creating CAS (clean and simple) projects for the Dreamweaver Design challenge has been fun and fairly easy for me. I hope in someway I have inspired at least one person to look at their stencils in a different light.

With this all being said, I bring you to my "last" CAS simple card for this month. (Add footnote here, there will be many more CAS cards out of me, this is just my last "formal" one for March.)

Dreamweaver stencils used: LG687 Geese and LG696 Comfort Combo

One of the facts of life I have come to learn is that as we get older, we need less Birthday cards and more not so happy cards. So today I thought I'd share one of my favorite sympathy cards to make. Its fast, its easy and it has a very comforting feel to it.

Both the sentiment and the goose were pasted with Black Matte paste. Notice though that I only pasted 1 goose. The stencil actually has 3. By covering the "unwanted" geese with removable tape (or post-it notes), I was able to only paste one goose onto my card. I think it gives it the solemn feeling I was striving for.

Please take a moment or two and check out the other (way more talented than I) Dreamweaver Design Team members. Their links can be found in the right hand column.

And then get yourself busy and create your own CAS card and get it linked up to the Dreamweaver blog before midnight on March 31. Remember, if you can't link it up to the blog, then just email your image to Lynell and she'll upload it for you!

This month of CAS has been fun for me and I thank you for stopping by and visiting with me in cyberland!

Hugs,
Cherylynn

A "Shaving Cream" Cat

This card is so clean and simple but it was SO FUN to make.

As most of you know, I am a stamper and love techniques. I am not big on collage or a lot of cutting but I really love creating background papers and trying out new techniques.

So when making this card for my weekly Dreamweaver Challenge I was trying to think of some of my favorite stamping techniques that could be incorporated into my stenciling. Then it hit me:

SHAVING CREAM MARBLING!

And so here is my first attempt at the "shaving cream" technique ala Dreamweaver paste. Since it is the first full day of Spring, I went with Spring colors. The marbling doesn't photograph too well but it is really fun in person. I kept the card really very basic and simple because the marbling is so subtle that I didn't want to distract from it. What else would you have done with this image? Here is version 1, very CAS:

Dreamweaver LL3020 Sitting Cat and LG741 Cat Phrases,
White Glossy Paste and Black Matte Paste

And version 2 which just adds a strip from a sheet of Basic Grey Nook & Pantry Cookbook printed paper:

The "shaving cream" technique is very easy. I placed a "glob" (yes, thats the technical term) of white glossy paste on my non-stick craft sheet and then added drops of pigment reinkers. Without swirling it to much, I picked up the paste and spread it over my stencil. The cool part about this is technique is that because I used the Power Pasting technique, I was able to create 6 shaving cream cats before I ran out of paste.

Clean, simple, yes. Really fun to do, YES!

Now head on over to the other Dreamweaver Design Team blogs (links on the right) for more inspiration

Remember, you only have until March 31 to get your own CAS creation either linked and posted or emailed to Lynell. What are YOU waiting for?

Until tomorrow when I face another challenge!

Cherylynn

It's JustRite Clean and Simple!

In keeping with both my Clean and Simple theme and my commitment to participate in challenges, today I bring you a card that does both!

JustRite's blog hosts Friday challenges and this week the challenge is a color challenge to use black and white with only color. Usually I would always run to red for this combination but today, since its the first official day of Spring, I thought I would go with a calming Spring blue/green. And since the color was calming, I thought the entire theme should be calming and comforting as well.

Stamps used: JustRite Thinking of You Set and JustRite Lace Borders Two

Tomorrow will be my weekly Dream Team post, which will also be clean and simple. I hope you'll join me and the other Dreamweaver Designers in this weekly challenge.

Hugs and happy creating,
Cherylynn

Spring is in the Air Challenge

I am going to call this Challenge Week! I am feeling to do some "spring cleaning" of my creativity and there is no better way to refresh and rejuvenate than to challenge yourself. So this week I am going to participate in a different challenge each day.

For this first day of my Challenge Week, I am joining Impression Obsession's Spring is in the Air Challenge.




Impression Obsession stamps used: G5561 Silhouette 11, B8387 Relaxing Day,
CAC027 Flourishes and CAC047 Distressed Corduroy

A clean and simple card. That seems to be my go to style. I think it is because my "day life" is always filled with chaos so when I create, I go to clear my head and my creations reflect that.

Hope you'll join me in participating in challenges this week. They are a lot of fun!

Until tomorrow, hugs and Happy Spring (almost!)

Cherylynn

Strength

Welcome to Dreamweaver Thursday!

Since I love Dreamweaver's March Challenge theme of CAS (Clean And Simple), I am just going to keep going with it!

Today I am sharing a card I made for a special friend who has more to deal with in life than I can comprehend. She has incurable cancer. The good part is that it is very slow growing. The bad part is that she has to live every day knowing that it is growing inside of her and will someday take her life.

If you didn't know her story, you would never know what she is living with. She is such an upbeat positive person, a role model and mentor for me. Her strength is inspiring and so to let her know how much she means to me, I made this card for her.

Dreamweaver LL3024 Cherry Blossom and LS69 Strength Character

Both stencils, LL3024 Cherry Blossom Shape and LS69 Strength character are from Dreamweaver Stencils. The strength character was paste embossed with matte black paste on a white linen cardstock. And the Cherry Blossom shape was done using the double-glitter technique on Dreamweaver's Double-sided Mounting Paper.

(If you haven't tried the double-glitter technique, I highly recommend it. There is something very therapeutic about playing with and rubbing your fingers all through a pile of glitter!)

This card was very quick and easy to make. And since I was making it with someone in mind, it made my heart happy while creating it!

Why don't you take just a few minutes sometime this month and make a CAS card for someone who inspires you? And before you send it off, remember to take a picture so you can enter it in Dreamweaver's Monthly Challenge. Wouldn't that be the ultimate? Creating a card for someone and winning a prize for doing it!

Need some additional inspiration, check out the other Dream Team blogs. You'll be glad you did!!!

Dream It Up! blog

Pam Hornschu

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy

Wendy Jordan

Terrece Siddoway

Kristi Van Doren

Georgia Sommers

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Jessie Hurley

Hugs and happy creating. I hope you'll stop by tomorrow to see what other CAS project I have come up with!

Cherylynn

If friends were flowers...

In keeping with the Dreamweaver CAS challenge month, I used a fun sentiment from Amuse and combined it with one of my all-time favorite stencils from Dreamweaver for a really, really quick and easy card.

It's LL370 Lily O'Valley and its one of my faves because that's the flower for May which just happens to be my Birthday month. (And those of you who know me, know I LOVE MY BIRTHDAY!).

I just stenciled pigment ink over the stencil in a rouging motion with my stencil brushes and then overstamped the sentiment with Versafine Olympia Green.

How much simpler could a card get? I think it took me a whole 10 minutes from start-to-finish! I know everyone is really busy BUT when you can do a card as cute as this in 10 minutes, how can you NOT enter the Dreamweaver Challenge this month? It's really a no-brainer! So skip playing one game of Words with Friends and go create something. You'll feel so good afterwards. I promise you!

I'm off to teach at Stampin Cat tomorrow and Sunday I have my "sleep study"! Should be an interesting weekend. I'll be back on Monday with another CAS creation because all I've got this weekend is 10 minutes!

Hugs,
Cherylynn

A New Month, A New Challenge

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!

I love clean and simple cards because they force me to focus on the focal point and the technique. There is not much room for error or "opportunities for embellishment". Today's card is just that: clean and simple with a focus on the technique.

The LG668 Dogwood stencil was first embossed with the original matte Dreamweaver paste. Once it dried, I painted over the embossed image with Twinkling H2Os (another favorite of mine)! Yes! You read that right, you can watercolor over your embossed imaged. Doesn't that open up even more doors for you and your creativity?!!! And the subtle shimmer from the "twinks" perfectly complements the beautiful stencil image.

Now it's your turn to play! 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 send us an email to Lynell with a picture of your creation for her to show off on the blog. At the end of March, two winners will be selected to each win these stencils:

LJ899-Lrg. Thinking of You

LG742-Pointed Celtic Knot

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

Dream It Up! blog

Pam Hornschu

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy

Wendy Jordan

Terrece Siddoway

Kristi Van Doren

Georgia Sommers

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Jessie Hurley

Curious as to who won 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! And I personally will be sending a prize to Angela V. as well because she responded to my personal request for players!!!

Thanks for playing with us, and we hope to see more from all of our previous players!

Okay now go start doing some CAS creations! You know you can!!! I'll be back tomorrow and I hope you will too!

Cherylynn

Giving it all the Green I've Got!

Today is the last "Green" Challenge for the Dreameaver Design Team so I thought I'd go out with a bang and put as much green as I could onto one little card. Not sure if it all works but at least its green! (I dedicate this card to Kristi, my fellow Dreamer, who does artsy and complex way better than I do!)

The Dreamweaver balloon was first pasted with embossing paste (green, of course) and then colored with Metallic F/X (Ivy Garden and Kiwi, of course). The background paper is Graphic 45.

So...I wasn't really happy with "Take 1" so I did a re-do. As much as I fight it (and for those of you who have known me for a long time, this will come as no surprise), I really am a "clean-and-simple" kinda gal. I dress that way, I cook that way, I basically live that way, except for my hoarding of craft supplies! So...I did a "re-do of this card, much more aligned with my natural CAS style. Is it too simple?

Same paper (Graphic 45) and same stencil (Dreamweaver). Also paste embossed, but this time with original matte paste and then colored with Metallic F/X (Ivy Garden, Kiwi and Gold Dust).
Now before you head off to create your "green creation", go check out the other Dreamweaver Design Team blogs (links on right). Remember, you only have until midnight on the 29th to get your submission in for this month's challenge. And there aren't many entries so you stand a really, really good chance of winning a stencil or two!!!

Stencils, yours for the creating!!!

First things first! How would you like to win these two fabulous Dreamweaver stencils?



Well you can! And it's easy! All you need to do is participate in the Dreamweaver monthly challenge for February! (In fact, last month ALL participants were sent the winning stencils so everyone was a WINNER!!! How cool is that!) You don't even need to post your pictures online, you can either mail the actual card or email a photo of it to Lynell and she'll gladly post it for you!

Check out the Dreamweaver blog for all the details and then head off to your creative space and get working (that is, of course, after you finish checking out all the Dream Team blogs today! All the links are in the right hand column.)

Now, on to my challenge post for today. So...our challenge this month is to create something either for St. Patrick's Day or green (either color or recycled). Last week I went with St. Patrick's Day so this week I've gone green (literally).

Here's a re-do which adds the sentiment. Not sure if I like it or not. Although the font screams Irish, I think its too much for the gorgeous flowers. What do you think?

Can you find the 4 stencils I used in this card? Okay, so maybe 2 of them aren't very visible so I'll go ahead and tell you. First, obviously, is the floral stencil (yes, the same one you can win if you participate in the challenge!!!) and the Thanks sentiment. The other two are on the background. The top of the base layer has the Plaid stencil embossed on it and the bottom 1/4, below the printed paper, has the large dots stencil. Stencils make great background patterns.

Okay, I've blathered on long enough. Now its time to go check out the other Dream Team blogs and then get yourself busy working on your February challenge project. REMEMBER, YOU CAN ENTER AS MANY TIMES AS YOU'D LIKE!!!