Nesting Owl Dies/Paper Piecing on Embossing Paste Second Verse Similar to the First

Today I  am still using the owl dies for my challenge here on the Dreamweaver Stencils home blog. Remember to leave a comment for a chance of being one of two random winners to win the nested owl die (DG751). You can comment once a day until this Thursday when our wonderful design team and guest designer, Terri Sproul will be back on board to show you what they are creating for the Dreamweaver Stencils to die for challenge this month.

I am also teasing you today by showing you one feature of our new dual alphabet die which won't be ready until sometime next month. But I have been having a lot of fun playing with it and this Thursday I will be showing you more. Here is my tutorial on how I created this uber-simple card. If you have been following this week you will realize that this technique was done a couple of days ago...just a different creation. Same bird song...second verse.

Today's Tutorial-Paper Piecing with Stencils and Die-cuts:

These are a few of the materials that I begin with...we are going to mix our own color of paste using re-inkers to add color. Usually I recommend tube acrylics because they are considered heavy body or thick paint and won't add too much moisture to the paste. But today I am using the Wendy Vecchi Archival re-inkers, which just a few drops are added to the paste and won't cause it to be too soupy to use.

I mixed a few drops of Wendy Vecchi's Archival reinker color called Dandelion into the regular Dreamweaver Embossing Paste (DEP). It was perfect for my nest and the color behind the owl. Mix it well...or, if you prefer, you could leave streaks of the Dandelion color for a more distressed look.

Paste-emboss the owl stencil (LL3039) and the nest stencil (LL3041) and set them aside to dry. I keep the excess paste that was mixed in a special jar that seals well so that your mixed paste will last a year or two. Containers that you purchase for food leftovers will only last a couple of months before the paste dries out. Glass containers work well, but the right size is hard to find and if your glass jar is too big you may have the same drying problem.

If you are interested in our containers you can purchase from Wendy Vecchi's distributors or from www.stencilwithstyle.com This is a new item and will be available at a retailer near you very soon.

While the paste-embossed images are drying I worked on the die-cut pieces. I started by removing one side of the release paper from the double sticky paper. Then I attached the sticky side to the back of two or three different decorative papers.

There are many sticky papers on the market. The Dreamweaver double sticky paper (MPDS) has a release paper which cuts when you put it through the machine.

I die cut them out using the paper pieced medium sized owl from the nested Owl die set (DG751). I placed them on a piece of cardstock and tried different combinations until I found the formula I wanted. By now your paste-embossed owl and nest should be dry, so remove the other side of the release paper from the owl pieces you have chosen and stick them on top of the paste-embossed owl design. This is really one of my favorite looks...again we refer to it as paper piecing with dies and stencils.

Our new dual alphabet will be available in August and you can use the framed letter which we used in our NEST card or the letter that is cut out of the framed letter. We made the letters so that each one that punches out of the framed letter is entire. In other words it will come out in one piece and you won't have any letters that come out in two or three pieces. Also I will be showing you another feature of our alphabet on Thursday, so be sure to stop back.