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

Holiday Celebrations with Distress Paint

Ready to be festively distressed once again? The Dream Team have been playing with Ranger's Distress Paints, and are ready to inspire you to be distressed as well...paint distressed that is!

Dreamweaver Stencils are the perfect choice to mix with all things festively distressed, as nothing shows off color and texture better than great designs. By following our hop and leaving love along the way, you have the opportunity to win a great prize package including five Ranger Distress Paints and five Dreamweaver Stencils! Here's the lineup for today, including our November Guest Designer:

Dream It Up!

Linda Neff (GD)

Cyndi Bundy

Lyn Bernatovich

Terrece Siddoway

Wendy Jordan

Heidi Erickson

Cherylynn Moser

Laura Drahozal

Louise Healy

Stacey Rumsby

Pam Hornschu

Lea Kimmel

This is also our first posting day featuring our new monthly challenge, "Holiday Celebrations", and for the entire month we will be demonstrating ways to use Beacon Adhesives' entire line of products with Dreamweaver to create special projects in home decor and gifts of love.

I had a lot of fun playing with the Distress Paints. They are a lot different than traditional acrylic craft paint because they are so much thinner. For me, that was both a good thing and a bad thing!

Since I am all about quick and easy, especially when it comes to the holidays and gift giving, I created two very easy and VERY inexpensive projects to share with you.

The first one was the most inexpensive. I started out with cheap ceramic tiles from the hardware store. I think they were like 16 cents each! My plan is to make a set of four of these and turn them into coasters tied with a ribbon.

Supplies Used: Dreamweaver LJ 849 Bare Trees Stencil
Ranger Distress Paint: Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, Barn Door and Black Soot
Beacon Fabri-Tac Adhesive

Instructions:

• Sand tile with 240 grit sandpaper and spray with acrylic primer. Let dry.
• Dab Distress Paint onto tile and mist with water to encourage blending/marbling. Heat set to dry.
• Align stencil over dry paint and using a stencil brush, rouge on black soot. Heat set to dry. (HINT: I first sprayed the back of the stencil  with stencil adhesive. This helped it to form a tight seal against the tile and prevented seepage.) 
• Spray deal glossy sealer.
• Glue felt to bottom with Fabri-Tac. (Hint: I first applied Dreamweaver Original Embossing Paste to back of tile to smooth out ridges so that the felt had a smooth, flat surface to adhere to.

What do you think? Kind of fun, kind of artsy..which is.not to be said for  project two!

For project two, I went clean, simple and very, very easy. This one cost a little more. I think $1.50!

Supplies used: Various Dreamweaver Snowflake stencils and Ranger Picket Fence Distress Paint

While perusing the craft store the other day I came across these beautiful blue chargers that were on sale for $1.50. I just couldn't resist buying them (and the black ones as well!). Now what to do with them? They were too pretty just to sit under another plate. And then the light bulb went off. Turn them into cookie platters for holiday gifts! And voila! this is the end result.

Very simple to so. Wash the charger first in warm soapy water and dry well. Then adhere stencils to the platters (again, I sprayed the stencils with spray stencil adhesive). Then using a rouging motion, I gently swirled on the Picket Fence paint. Once it was dry, I again applied a food safe sealer. 

Now won't those look pretty all covered in cookies! Hmmm, now if only I can find the time to bake the cookies!

I hope you've enjoyed these two little treats I've created for you. Hopefully they've inspired you to start working on your holiday and hostess gifts. I have more projects in the works that use Distress Paints and I will share those with you sometime next week!

Until then, finish hopping along this week's blog hop and remember to take some time TODAY to create. It's good for your soul!

Happy Fall to one and all!

Although today is Halloween, instead of creepy and spooky, I have chosen to celebrate the Magic of Autumn Colors for my last Magical and Mysterious post. This is very timely because today in the beautiful Pacific NW, it is rainy, dreary and all the remaining leaves are disappearing from the trees. Soon it will be winter and the magical colors of autumn will be gone for another year.
  So today, before all the leaves are gone, I'd like to wish a Happy Fall to One and All!

 The background was created using Dreamweaver's ColorSolutions Alcohol Ink. I love these inks because the colors are so vivid. And since these are artist grade inks, they stay wet a bit longer than traditional alcohol inks so you have more opportunity for blending. The technique I used was dropping colors (Paprika Red, Gold Star, Aspen Leaf, Pumpkin and Citron) onto my nonstick craft sheet and then swirling and swiping a piece of coated cardstock over the puddled inks.

I then overstenciled  the Leafless tree stencil (LX 7020) onto the sides with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. Once that was heat set, I paste-embossed the Pumpkin stencil (LL 515) with Glossy Black paste and set it aside to dry. Once the paste had dried, I realigned the stencil and dabbed on Stewart Stamp-n-Stick glue, lightly heated it and then brushed on Metallic F/X (Kiwi, Ivy Garden, Forestry, Just Peachy, Amber Glow and Nouveau Orange and Eye of the Tiger).

Remember, the products listed above and all of Dreamweaver products can be ordered through your local stamp store or online at Stencil with Style.

Although the card is very simple (and quite easy to do), I love the warmth of the colors. It definitely is going to be one of those cards that I hang above my work table to help keep me warm as we move through the coming cold winter months.

Today concludes our entire month of Magical and Mysterious, and your final opportunity to link your own creepy creations to the Dream It Up! blog for an opportunity to win the stencil of your choice!

Now please, check out the rest of the team's creations, as well as our wonderful guest designer, Alison Heikkila. AND thanks so much to Alison for joining us for Spooktober!

Dream It Up!

Alison Heikkila

Terrece Siddoway

Pam Hornschu

Lea Kimmel

Lyn Bernatovich

Louise Healy

Think Spring!

Woo Hoo! Spring begins today! Happy is me!!!

For today's celebration creation, I thought I would use Impression Obsessions Dogwood 3 stamp and paint it with Twinkling H2Os. (Ooooh, can you say shimmer!)

The background image is also Impression Obsession. Its one of their Cover-A-Card. I love using those stamps for backgrounds. And the spring sentiment is one of my all-time spring favorites by Amuse and was stamped with Distress Forest Moss.

And the texture on the pink mat is Dreamweaver's Flower Quatrefoil.
'
Both dies are Spellbinders and the punch is EK Success.

Since tomorrow is Thursday I will be featuring my Dreamweaver Bloomin' Spring challenge so I hope you'll pop on over.

Until then, I hope your day is a wonderful one.

A SCS Tribute

It is a sad time here in Oregon for us papercrafters. Within the next couple of months, we will be losing a very cool stamp store, Stampin' Cat Studio, in Salem, Oregon. Lisa Taylor, the proprietress for the past 10 years, has made the difficult decision to close the store in order for her to begin a new wonderful life with her very special man.

All of us here had been hoping a Buyer would step in and save the store. Alas, the economy has worked against us and unless someone comes forward quickly the store will close before the end of March.

So in tribute to Lisa and all she has brought to the Salem area papercrafters, I created a stencil class in her honor. The class, called "COOL CATS" uses Dreamweaver's LL3020 Retro Sitting Cat stencil and LG741 Kitty Words.

Today I am sharing one of those cards and next week when I return from CHA, I'll share one I created specifically with Lisa in mind.

Until we meet again, I hope you are having a healthy and creative life!

A Fresh New Stencil

Since CHA is just a few days away, I thought I'd share a fresh and new stencil that Dreamweaver will be debuting.

(See how I as able to twist the January Fresh Start Challenge to suit my whim!)

Today I am sharing the new LG748 Bold Thank You stencil seen below and available for purchase at either your local stamp store or online. Remember, if you don't have a local store, you can always find the entire Dreamweaver line at Stencil with Style.

I had a lot of fun using its companion stencil, LJ920 Bold Happy Birthday when it came out last year that I couldn't resist doing something fun with the new stencil.

 

So instead of creating a brightly colored Twinkling H2O background like I did before, I went a bit more whimsical and played with the Piggyback Paste Technique to create this:

LG748 Bold Thank You and
LJ804 Big Dots

For the main image I first stenciled Thank You with Dreamweaver's red paste and set it aside to dry. While it was drying, again using the red paste, I embossed the Big Dots onto a piece of black cardstock. After the Thank You was dry, using the Piggyback technique, I overstenciled the big dots over the Thank You using black glossy paste. A fun and whimsical way to say Thank You!

Want to see more fresh new stencils? You can see them all HERE! And for even more inspiration, don't forget to check out the other Dream Team blogs. All of the links can be found in the right hand column.

Okay, I'm off to start packing my bags for CHA. I'll be back next week with the "skinny".

Until then, happy creating!

Happy Birthday Lynell!

Welcome to 2013! And to my first post of the new year.

This post is extra special because not only does it introduce the Dreamweaver challenge for January, it also serves to wish a very special lady a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Tomorrow, January 4 is Dreamweaver's very own Lynell Harlow's birthday! (If you want to send her a birthday wish, her email is lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com).

And since the theme for this month's Dreamweaver challenge is "A Fresh Start". I love the theme because it is very wide open. Do you go with fresh colors, fresh design, fresh new images....so much to choose from. It makes it very easy for everyone to participate in this challenge! (hint hint)

Me, being me, couldn't decide so I went with them all, fresch colors, fresh and c lean design (imagine that!) and fresh new images.

So without further delay, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LYNELL! I hope this year is full of magic and wonder for you!



Dreamweaver stencils:
LX7017 Stars
LS1010 Small Happy Birthday
 

Both of the stencils, LX7017 Stars and LS1010 Small Happy Birthday are new(er) for Dreamweaver. They were both released last year in 2012 (how weird is that to say "last year in 2012!")

The double glitter technique is so fast and fun to do. If you haven't tried it  yet, maybe that can be your New Year's Resolution!

I hope you enjoy this week's take on "A Fresh Start". I hope you'll take the time to leave me some love and also to visit the other Dream Team blogs. You can find all their links in the right-hand column.

Thanks for stopping by. I wish you all a wonderful 2013!

Frosty Fun Finale

Happy Holidays!

Today's post is very short because to be totally honest, I am totally wiped out. Christmas done done me ie! That of course is a good thing because it means I spent time with my adorable, incredible, absolutely fantastic grandchildren!

This actually is an older card I made awhile back before I was on honored to become a part of the Dreamweaver Design Team. You see, I have been in love with Dreamweaver Stencils for quite some time and being on the Dream Team is just icing on the cake for me.

The card is very much me, clean and simple in design. Both the Snowflake ornament and the snowflake background were paste embossed with original Dreamweaver embossing paste and then sprinkled with crystal glitter. Very simple, very easy and very festive!

I hope something in one of the weekly Dreamweaver Dream Team posts has inspired you to participate in this month's Dreamweaver Frosty Fun challenge. The challenge this month is to create a wintery delight. As you've seen from this month's posts, it can be a card, an ornament, a vase....whatever your creative mind desires! There will be two winners, one for "Best Interpretation of the Challenge" and the other for "Best Usage of Dreamweaver products." Each of the winners will receive a brand new stencil design that will be released at CHA next month.

To enter just link up to Mr. Linky or if you don't have an online account, email your creation to Dreamweaver at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com.

Thank you so much for visiting today. I wish you the bestest of new years and a wonderful, happy and healthy 2013.

Until next year when we "meet" again,

Cherylynn

A Frosty Hostess Gift

Every year I vow to make homemade gifts instead of giving store-bought gifts and everyone year I fail at that.

This year I am quite proud of the number of homemade gifts I actually did get made. (Of course, that was at the expense of making any Christmas cards but....)

Most of my gifts are quick and easy to make, and quite inexpensive. And today's post definitely fits that description!

It seems the rage this year seems to be embellished candles. All of the stores are carrying candles covered and decorated with glitter and gem. And they are quite expensive. I love the look but I didn't love the price so instead I made my own.

I've already shared with you embellishing candles with paste embellishments and paste embossing on glass. However I do know that there a one or two of you who are still not paste converts yet so this post is for you!

Using Dreamweaver's double-sided mounting paper and the double glitter technique, I created this with a 99 cent votive holder and a votive candle. Since I already had the stencil, the glitter and the double-sided mounting paper, this gift cost me less than $2 to make!!!

Supplies used:

• Dreamweaver LJ812 Snowflakes stencil
• Dreamweaver double-sided mounting paper
• Dreamweaver Handmade Coconut Soap
• Silver Extra Fine Glitter
• Crystal Extra Fine Glitter



LJ819 Snowflake stencil on double-sided mounting paper
adhered to a votive candle holder

I know from the picture above it doesn't look like much, but look at it all lit up set amongst my Santa hats!

I made several of these and have set them on a silver platter with faux snow and set it on the center of our buffet.

Please take a moment or two and give yourself a holiday gift by visiting all the Dreamweaver blog and all the other Dream Team blogs for some holiday inspiration. Remember you have until December 31 to create your Frosty Fun creation and submit it for this month's challenge!

Since I probably won't be posting again until after Christmas, I'd like to wish you all a wonderful, happy, healthy Christmas filled with lots of love and surrounded by friends and family.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Life!

Holiday CAS Week 3

Happy Holidays!

I know, its not even Thanksgiving yet but if you are a crafter and have any desire to make your Holiday cards this year, its already the holiday season. And that is one of the reasons Dreamweaver is having a Clean and Simple Holiday Challenge this month. Hopefully we'll inspire you with some ideas to create your own cards.

This week I am sharing 3 cards we are making in my Holiday Dreamweaver paste class.

This class features 3 different techniques but none of the cards take all that much time. From left-to-right order, the techniques are: Marbling, Using Paste as an Embellishment and Double Pasting.

Remember to check out the other Dream Team blogs (all the links can be found on the right) this week for additional holiday inspiration.

I'll be back on Monday with some more holiday inspiration. Why don't you set some time aside this weekend to work on your Dreamweaver Holiday challenge? You have nothing to lose and a stencil to win!

Ranger Challenge Week 4

We've now had four weeks of festively distressed fun playing with the Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Powders along with our wonderful line of Dreamweaver Stencils and products. Huge thanks to Tim Holtz and the fab people at Ranger for sharing these four collaborative weeks with us, and providing the yummy shades of Distress Powders for us to create with. We've been inspired by the process, and we hope you have, too!

If you haven't won one of the prize packages yet, you still have one more opportunity this week as the set below is up for grabs to a random commenter on one of the Dream Team blogs.

If you've been following along each week, you've seen some gorgeous creations with these stencils and powders, so you should be all fired up to get distressed! If you've missed the first three weeks, check them out once you've made the rounds today:

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

For this week's Festively Distressed project, I went with the November challenge of Clean and Simple Christmas. This entire card, from start to finish, took me less than 15 minutes to make. What could be faster?

 

I began my rubbing Dreamweaver's Handmade Hawaiian soap (which smells incredible) on the back side of both the LG675 Pine Cones stencil and the LM139 Happy Holidays stencil.

Then I layed soap side down against a piece of double-sided mounting adhesive that was cut just slightly smaller than the stencil. Burnish the stencil well to this adhesive to avoid any air pockets. I removed the second piece of adhesive liner and adhered this piece to layering cardstock. (This gives your adhesive film a piece of stability.)

Then using a straw, I sprinkled on the Distress Embossing Powders one at a time, shaking off the excess as I went. When I had all the colors I wanted on the image, I CAREFULLY removed the stencil and sprinkled the Antique Linen DEP over the exposed adhesive paper. 

Then just using my heat gun, I melted the DEP and layered the card onto coordinating cardstock.

So easy yet the texture of the DEP really adds dimension to the finished project.

Dreamweaver products:

 LG675 Pine Cones

LM139 Happy Holidays

Double-sided Mounting Adhesive

Hawaiian soap

Ranger Distress Embossing Powders:

Distress Embossing Powders in Pine Needles, Vintage Photo, Tea Dye

 and Antique Linen

Don't forget to leave me some love before hopping to the rest of the Dream Team blogs:

The Ranger Blog

Dream It Up!

Kristi Van Doren

Lee Kellogg

Georgia Sommers

Terrece Siddoway

Wendy Jordan

Pam Hornschu

Liz Martin

Cyndi Bundy

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

 Please remember to continue to follow the team through the Dream It Up! blog as we bravely go where no stenciler has gone before, to like us on our Facebook page, and to learn from our fabulous weekly Thursday Tutorials on Paper Craft Planet as well.

A Red and White Christmas

Happy Election Day! Its a great day, regardless of who wins and what your political beliefs because now we can stop be besieged by all the campaign ads and get on with working on solving some of our critical issues here in the U.S. (Please, lets not turn this post into a political commentary forum.)

Now on to another joyful topic: Christmas!

This card is one we will be making in my upcoming Dreamweaver paste classes. This class is slightly more advanced than a basic class and will open up students to seeing their Dreamweaver stencils in a totally different way (or at least I hope!)

I hope you'll stop by again tomorrow when I'll share another card, this one using JustRite stamps. And don't forget to hop on by on Thursday for the final round of Dreamweaver's challenge with Ranger to use Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder.

Hugs and happy day!

A Distressing Christmas

Still feeling festive? We hope so! Dreamweaver and Ranger still have two weeks left of our Festively Distressed collaboration, and we are full of distressing ideas...Tim Holtz' Distress Powder ideas, that is. Mixed with our fabulous line of stencil designs and exciting products, your creativity will know no bounds! If you missed the first two weeks, start HERE and HERE!

For our postings this week and next, we are offering you the opportunity to win one of two prize packages, perfectly coordinated for your holiday crafting. Simply leave a comment on each of our Dream Team's posts, and YOU could be one of two randomly selected winners!

The Dream Team have been challenged for the month of November to create something CAS (clean and simple) for the holidays. The extra challenge is mixing the Distress Powders in for the collaboration with Ranger. Think that it's possible? Well...let's see...

Here's what I came up with:



SUPPLIES:

Dreamweaver Products:

LL570 Pine Trees; LJ878 Snowsplatter; LM203 Happy Christmas

Translucent EmbossingPaste; Black Embossing Paste;

Paste Spreader; Palette Knife

 

Ranger Products:

Distress Ink: Pine Needles, Vintage Photo and Black Soot

Distress EmbossingPowder: Pine Needles, Vintage Photo and Black Soot

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Begin by first stenciling LL570 Pine Trees with Distress Inks onto blue cardstock; heat set.

2.  Using Translucent Paste, paste emboss LJ878 Snowsplatter over dried trees; remove stencl and sprinkle with Crystal glitter; set aside to dry.

3.  Die cut Tim Holtz Alterations Pine Tree and color with Distress Inks; sprinkle with Distress Embossing Powder and heat emboss.

4.  Using Black Embossing Paste, paste emboss LM203 Happy Christmas over snowsplatter; remove stencil and sprinkle with Black Soot Embossing Powder; set aside to dry. When dry, heat emboss to melt powder.

5.  Layer cardstock as shown and embellish with diecut Pine Tree.

Clean and Simple!

So tell me what you think in your comment below before heading over to the rest of the Dream Team posts:

Dream It Up!

Ranger Ink Blog
Pam Hornschu

Louise Healy

Kristi Van Doren

Laura Drahozal

Terrece Siddoway

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Cherylynn Moser

Wendy Jordan

The Ranger blog is offering another amazing prize opportunity, just for playing along with the Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Powders and Dreamweaver Stencils and linking your creation on the Ranger blog. You can find more details HERE.

We hope that you have been inspired by our creations, and will continue to follow the Dream Team through the Dream It Up! blog as well as to like us on our Facebook page. We really encourage you to play along with our monthly challenges for more prize opportunities and creative fun!

A Festively Fall Canvas

Welcome back to week two of our amazing collaboration between Ranger's Tim Holtz line of Distress Powders, and our beautiful Dreamweaver Stencils & Products! If you missed last week's event, start HERE.

Last week, we were totally blown away by the awesome response we received from those of you who hopped over from Tim Holtz's blog and the Ranger blog to check us out! We've been doing the "happy dance" ever since! Hopefully, you will continue to check us out, especially over the next few weeks as we continue our play-time in Tim's sandbox. (It is rather an appropriate metaphor considering the cool texture of his Distress Powders.)

Apparently, Tim and the wonderful people at Ranger were also excited by the response, and they've decided to "up the ante" in the form of an additional prize package(s) which will include TWELVE Distress Powders each, and a handful of Dreamweaver Stencils to go with! Wow! Just one teeny-tiny detail...to win one of these packages from their blog, you need to create something with Tim Holtz's Distress Powders and Dreamweaver Stencils and attach it to the inlinkz on the Ranger blog. Winners will be selected randomly. For more details, head over to the Ranger blog.

Once again, this week we are offering another fall prize package as shown here. Just leave us all some love as you visit, for an opportunity to be the one random winner we select. Curious as to who won from last week? It could be YOU! Visit the Dream It Up! blog for the announcement of the lucky commenter.

For this week's project, I chose to use the LJ832 Cornucopia to create a Thanksgiving canvas which will sit on our Thanksgiving Table as part of the centerpiece.

1. I began first by staining an 8x8 Canvas with Aged Mahogany and Vintage Photo Distress Stain and adorned the corners with Tim Holtz's Ideology Corners.
2. Then using Dreamweaver's Original Paste, I paste embossed the LG832 Cornucopia stencil on a piece of cross-stitch cloth. I originally had tried to use burlap but the weave was a bit too loose for the detail of this stencil. (Tomorrow I will share a card I made this same technique with burlap!).
3. Once the paste was dry, I realigned the stencil and using a sponge dauber, applied Distress Embossing Ink.
4. Then came the fun part! After removing the stencil, using a tiny spoon, I sprinkled Distress Embossing Powders over the wet ink. Using my heat gun, I melted the powder to give it the mottled look.

This was a really fun project which has inspired me to make another one for our  hristmas table. I hope it has inspired you to give it a try. It's inexpensive, easy and a lot of fun!

To recap, here's a list of all the Ranger and Dreamweaver supplies I used:

 

Ranger Distress Embossing Ink

Ranger Aged Mahogany and Vintage Photo Distress Stains

Ranger Distress Embossing Powders: Black Soot, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Orange Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters and Mustard Seed

Dreamweaver LJ832 Cornucopia Stencil

Dreamweaver Original Embossing Paste

Dreamweaver Palette Knife

Dreamweaver Paste Spreader

Aren't you excited to see what's next? Check out the Dream Team players for today:

Ranger Blog

Dream It Up!

Wendy Jordan

Kristi Van Doren

Louise Healy
Lee Kellogg
Georgia Sommers
Liz Martin
Laura Drahozal
Terrece Siddoway
Cherylynn Moser
Pam Hornschu
Cyndi Bundy

You already know where to find Ranger's/Tim Holtz' products, but if you are having difficulty finding Dreamweaver, encourage your local stamp/paper-craft store to carry the line of fabulous stencil designs, pastes, and other products to mix with all of your stash of Tim's crafty goodness. You can also purchase our products on-line at Stencil with Style.

We'd love to see you come back regularly and play along with our monthly challenges (and more opportunities to win stencils) by linking your creations to the mr. linky on the Dream It Up! blog, or emailing pics of your creations to lynell@.... Since you're on the computer already, head on over and like us on Facebook as well. Just another location for dreamy and distressed inspiration!

Playing with Distressed Embossing Powders

The Dream Team are so excited to have the opportunity to play along with some unique Ranger Products in the Tim Holtz line...specifically, the Distressed Embossing Powders! Our own Louise Healy demonstrated how fabulous these are with the Dreamweaver Stencils when she created this card for a fun class at CHA Summer 2012:

Apparently, Tim Holtz agreed with all of us on this unique use of his product, so he very generously had Ranger (thanks, Patti!) send the team some samples to play and blog with. So...here we go!

Here's my post for today::

I know it doesn't exactly fall into the Festively Fall theme but I have a good reason. I have been busy working on a tutorial for the PaperCraft Planet blog for the polymer clay pendant featured last week. (See blog post below for a link to the tutorial.)

Today's card definitely falls into the Clean and Simple, yet Distressed/Grunged category. The supplies used are:

• Dreamweaver Steampunk Clock #LX7018
• Dreamweaver Matte Black Embossing Paste
• Dreamweaver Paste Spreader
• Ranger Embossing Ink
• Ranger Vintage Photo Distress Ink
• Ranger Black Soot Distress Embossing Powder
• Ranger Inkssentials Blending Tool and Foam Pad
• Ranger Heat-it Craft Tool
• Tim Holtz Ideology Watch face, gears, and Brads
• Kraft cardstock
• Black A6 folded card

After securing the stencil with removable tape on the kraft cardstock, apply Embossing Paste using Paste Spreader, remove and clean stencil; set aside to dry. When dry, realign the stencil and apply the Distress Embossing Ink in a pouncing motion with a sponge. Remove stencil and sprinkle on Black Soot EP (remember to shake first). Heat with the Craft Tool. Unlike traditional embossing powders, the Distress Powders don't change appearance all that much when heating, so use your best judgment, lightly testing an area with your finger if you're unsure. Remember, you can always heat again and even apply more ink and powder if you want to, but you can't remove the scorch marks if you burn your cardstock!

Once the Embossing Powder has cooled, rub over it with your finger to remove some of  the powder to give it a distressed look. Option: use a different colored EP, like Vintage Photo or Walnut Stain to have the black paste appear more prominent.

Using your blending tool, edge the embossed cardstock with the Vintage Photo ink and adhere the Watchface and gears where desired. Mount to folded card, sit back and admire your results!

Very easy, very distressed and very much done in classic Tim Holtz style.

For the next four weeks, on our regular Thursday posts, we will be featuring the wonderful things that you can do with Tim's Distress Powders and Dreamweaver Stencils. Leave comments on each of the team blog posts (links below) for an opportunity to win this fabulous prize package compliments of Ranger Ink and Dreamweaver Stencils:

And here are the links to all the blogs.

Ranger Ink Blog

Dream It Up!
Pam Hornschu

Laura Drahozal

Cherylynn Moser 

Louise Healy

Wendy Jordan

Cyndi Bundy

Terrece Siddoway

Kristi Van Doren

Georgia Sommers

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Don't forget to play along with the Dream Team's monthly challenges for more opportunities to win some great stencil designs! October's challenge is Festively Fall, and November is CAS (clean and simple) Christmas! Link your creations on the Dream It Up! blog, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com. Join us on Facebook as well! Lots of inspiration, and lots of fun!

A PCP Giveaway!

So, a couple of weeks I shared with you this stunning pendant that I made using Polymer Clay and Dreamweaver's LJ906 Maple Leaf Branch stencil.

Dreamweaver L906 Maple Leaf Branch
Dreamweaver Metallic F/X
on Polymer Clay

I had so many wonderful emails and comments that I created a tutorial on how it was done and posted it on my PaperCraft Planet's blog.

Leave me some love on the PCP blog and remember to add what stencil you'd like to win if you are the lucky winner of the weekly Dreamweaver stencil Giveaway on PCP!

A Festively Fall Candle

Okay, so we all know how incredible and versatile Dreamweaver stencils are for making cards and scrapbook pages BUT did you know they are also great for home decor projects? WHAT you say? Well, today I will share with you a FAST and very, very EASY project perfect for your fall decorating or even your Thanksgiving table!



LL471 Leaf Icon Stencil
Gold and Copper Embossing Paste

Isn't this candle just beautiful? And to think I just took a cheap pillar candle by using the LL471 Leaf Icon stencil and embossing paste!

To begin, firmly secure a piece of waxed paper or palette paper onto your work surface.Then, just like as if you were using cardstock, tape your LL471 stencil onto the wax paper.

 

 

I pasted it once with gold paste and then a second one with copper paste. Now just set aside to dry. I usually let mine dry overnight because I want it to be completely dry. I don't use my griddle for this because I'm not sure how the waxed paper will react to heat, but if you're feeling brave, give it a try!

  

Now comes the "tricky" part. Once the pasted leaves are completely dry, gently peel them off the waxed paper. I usually use my palette knife to get started and then very gently pull it off the waxed paper with my fingers.

 

To attach to the candle I just gently rub it onto the candle with  my fingers and then give it a quick zap with my heat gun for the wax to soften and incorporate the paste image ever so slightly. You can also use glue or glue dots to adhere it as well.

 

Doesn't this open up a million more stencil possibilities for you? Just think of all you can do for your holiday decorating. Imagine doing this but sprinkling on glitter to the wet paste. Oooooh I can see the sparkle now. Or what about doing it with leaves, the Molten Magic technique and Metallic F/X? Oh the possibilities.

 

Here's a more glitzed up version, where I added glitter to the wet paste and then embellished with pearls for accent.

 

Which one version do you prefer?

 

Just think, you're Dreamweaver stencils have now become a sticker maker! Who woulda thunk it?

 

Just remember, this technique truly works best on solid images. If there are a lot of cutouts or bridges, it will make it just a bit trickier!

 

After leaving me some love, please  head over to the other Dream Team blogs to see what wonderfully fall creations they have in store for you.

 

Until we meet again, hugs and happy creating.