Thursday's Dream Schemes/Gearing up for Change

Dreamweaver is gearing up for change. We have 16 new designs that we released to the retail market a couple of weeks ago in Chicago. This sampler represents several of the new background designs. I was inspired by a card that design team member Louise Healy did recently. So I CASEd her creation. Take time to visit the design team's creations by following their names on the sidebar to the right of my post. Here is our sketch for today done by Deborah March (I think...if I am not correct someone please correct me in the comment section.)

To give this card a sharp edginess I cut a two and half inch round out of pewter. I am finding that I love to work with the pewter metal ...it is very soft and malleable. I ran the gear stencil (LJ911) through my die cutting machine with a thin rubber mat and two acrylic plates on top of that. Once through I left the stencil in place and used a paper stump to further emboss the back of the metal by rubbing the stump across the metal and pushing it into the stencil. This serves a dual purpose...not only does it push the metal out to round it a bit more but it also helps to release the metal from the stencil. I then removed the metal and tapped the entire embossed side with a Staz-on ink pad by Tsukineko. I let this ink dry for just a few seconds then took a soft rag made of an old t-shirt and gently rubbed off the excess black ink. I repeated the process on a small piece of metal which I had cut one inch square for the lower right gear. 

The background was stenciled in pigment ink colors on a piece of chipboard. The chipboard gives this steampunk creation a recycled appearance. The stencils used were the stripe stencil (LX7002), the houndstooth (LJ913), the small cathedral window (LJ909), and the optical art (LJ915). The gears were mounted with small pieces of foam mounting tape and then all was backed on a piece of glossy black cardstock.

I have alluded to change, so stay tuned for a different schedule in our blogging. Occasionally the team will all be designing with the exact same stencil and since one of the reasons we love to craft and blog is because we are technique junkies, so we will all be presenting the same technique at the same time. We will also be putting out a challenge for those of you who may want to join the design team. Keep tuned to our blogs and gear up for a wonderful Fall season of crafting with Dreamweaver Stencils. Hope you have fun creating this week. If you are interested in seeing what the team has done follow the sidebar at the right to visit their sites. If you decide to follow the challenge just use Mr. Linky below and we will enjoy having you play along. You can also email me a creation and I will post it here for you. My email is: lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com

Thursday's Dream Schemes

It was great fun releasing the new designs at CHA summer last week. They have been presented to your retailers and as we get our act together we will be shipping them out. But our full order won't be here until mid August. Just drop by to see if your favorite retailer has them in stock yet. And in the meantime just sit back and enjoy as the design team starts showing you what can be done with these designs.

This striking card was put together by Marj Marion, a teacher for Art 'N Soul in Olympia, WA. 

It is very easy to make. The "steampunk" or gears stencil (LJ 911) was paste embossed on a piece of silver metallic linen weave cardstock using the Dreamweaver Stencils Glossy Black Embossing Paste (DGKP). When it was dry it was then die cut into the shape you see and double mounted with another glossy black paper that was also die cut into the same shape. The "sprocket" title was then mounted and the metal sprockets were added as an embellishment.

Thanks Marj, for sending me this card and if anyone else wants to see their work posted here I would love to do it for you. You can email it to me at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com or you can link your blog using Mr. Linky below. Follow the team this week as they share their creations. You can easily navigate to their blogs by clicking their names on the sidebar at the right.

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Colorway Challenge -Monochromatic

I love these colorway challenges and this week Louise Healy submitted the challenge. And I CASEd my design from one by Marj Marion that I posted last year. She did a beautiful variation of blues for a card that showcased the sea turtle stencil (LM179).


My take on monochromatic is blue as well...starting with the Glossy White Embossing Paste (DGWP) and then adding the Glossy Blue Embossing Paste (DGBP). A little Glossy Black Embossing Paste (DGKP) mixed into the blue moved the creation into a navy blue realm and the cardstock in the background is navy blue as well. 


I call this technique "freestyle pasting". The background was done by loading the palette knife and moving across the white cardstock three different "swipes" with a different color variation each time. Then while it was still wet I sprinkled thick glitter  from Art Institute Glitter that was somewhat chunky. The name of the glitter was called "Gala Blitz-Blue" and it has small shards of blue glass and silver beads as well as glitter. Then the bear stencil (LL593) was paste-embossed using the "sludge-paste" technique. You can read about this technique in more detail in my book, New Dimensions in Cardmaking Using Embossing Pastes with Metal Stencils (Book-3). I pull several different colors of pastes across the stencil at the same time and try not to mix it too much by swiping it too many times. If you mix it together too much you lose the definition of the colors, but can recapture the look by sculpting just a bit of one paste color back onto the design with the tip of the palette knife.  I also sprinkled silver micro beads onto him before I removed the stencil from the wet paste. It is important to sprinkle these beads on while the stencil is still in place or they will roll into the cracks and you will lose the definition of the design. You will notice that I regained some definition with his ear by drawing blue ink around it once the paste was dry.


Hope you have fun creating this week. If you are interested in seeing what the team has done follow the sidebar at the right to visit their sites. If you decide to follow the challenge just use Mr. Linky below and we will enjoy having you play along. You can also email me a creation and I will post it here for you. My email is: lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Sketch #8

The sketch you are enjoying this Thursday was submitted by team leader Deborah March. And the beautiful creation you see here was rendered by Dream Team member Pam Hornschu. Instead of a greeting card this is a tablet cover. 

Inside is a small white tablet for jotting down a quick message. It is held in place with a black elastic band. Notice the small pencil that is attached by a loop of velvet paper at the bottom of the tablet. The cover was created by dry embossing the damask stencil (LJ907) through an embossing machine onto navy blue velvet paper. It was then wrapped around two pieces of thick chip board and connected with another piece of velvet paper to create the cover. Pam finished off the inside by adhering a plain piece of navy velvet paper with a strong glue, creating a loop for the pencil at the same time. 

On the outside she used a square piece of metallic silver cardstock and mounted another piece of velvet paper on which she had paste-embossed the damask stencil (LJ907) using the Dreamweaver Silver Embossing Paste (DSP). Because the velvet paper is textured the silver paste dries with a texture as well and almost looks molten. More and more I see the Dream Team creating items that can be used for a variety of purposes. In the next few weeks we will be changing things up just a bit to show you that the Dreamweaver Stencils can be used for anything from furniture decoration to collage wall creations. You can work on paper, wood or tiles. The sky is the limit when it comes to creating with stencils. 

Sketch #8 by team leader Deborah March

This week if you would like to create and play along with us use Mr. Linky below to link your creation. Remember you can also email me a card at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and I will put it on my blog. Follow the Dream Team this Thursday by using the sidebar at the right to see what they have been up to and view their interpretation of Deborah's sketch.

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Free Challenge Week

Once again it is free challenge week, which means you can create whatever your heart desires. There are so many wonderful techniques, but this week I am posting a technique from Kim Parkinson. She is a design team member from the Boston area and she sent this creation some time ago that was a totally new technique for me. Kim works quite a bit with metal and alcohol inks, but this time she did a variation on that theme and used alcohol inks on the Dreamweaver Glossy White Embossing Paste. I know that Summer has just arrived and many of us are not yet thinking Fall creations, but for those of you that like to get a head start on seasonal cards this is a perfect technique for Autumn. 

She started her creation by paste embossing the background tree stencil (LJ849) with the Glossy White Embossing Paste (DGWP) onto black cardstock. She removed the stencil and cleaned it while the paste dried (approx. 45 min...faster if you let it dry on a warm skillet or griddle), then repositioned the clean stencil onto the image. Next she squirted random droplets of green colored alcohol ink onto a felt applicator and added droplets of the blending solution onto these green droplets. The next step was to daub the applicator randomly onto the stencil leaving large amounts of white paste showing. This gave her the ability to then use a clean felt applicator loaded with red alcohol ink and blending solution on these open white areas. I think she may have used an orange color as well. You can certainly use several colors, but be sure not to daub the red and green on top of each other unless you are trying to make the color brown. Thanks Kim for sending me this beautiful Fall card which could be used for any occasion.

If you get inspired this week play along by linking to Mr. Linky below. And travel to the Dream Team's blog by clicking on any name on the sidebar at the right.

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Colorway Challenge Purple and Yellow

I have to begin this week by saying that on Saturday several of the team will be involved in a July 2nd blog hop with another team of people. We are giving away a couple of stencils in conjunction with this...so hop along on Saturday and you can go to Pam Hornschu's site to learn all the details and could even start there on Saturday. Lots of other prizes will be given away so follow her name on the sidebar at the right to learn more. I won't be involved here on this site but you can navigate to her site from here if you get lost. Free stencils are always fun!

This week design team member Laura Drahozal has chosen a colorway of purple and yellow. I have taken a few liberties with the color and interpreted yellow as Yellow/Gold. I did this because when I went to my craft cupboard I happened to pull out a jar of Dreamweaver Pearlescent Embossing Paste (DPP) that I had dumped a teaspoon of Goldfinch colored Metallic F/X into a few weeks ago when I was trying to make a yellow iridescent mixture...in fact now that I think about it... I had also mixed in about two tablespoons of Dreamweaver Matte Yellow Embossing Paste (DMYP). When I opened it up, it appeared fairly "yellow" iridescent and then Violá! that was it...a light went on in my brain as I went through this scurry flurry process of trying to find the perfect "yellow" color for this week's colorway. Then I went to my paper closet and started trying to find the right color of purple...well I found a packet of fusible synthetic suede that had been there for eons. It was a rich deep color of purple and I decided that I had obviously been hoarding it for just this occasion. YAY!!! So gold is just another form of yellow...right? Might as well use what you have in stock when time is short. 

Well my second liberty happens to be my choice of a background stencil that I used with that lovely golden "goop".  Yes, the design team is going to be very annoyed with me this week, because I am using a new design that will not be available until August and I usually don't let them tease the customers with things that are not yet available. Sorry to tease you with this, but I just couldn't resist. Technically it is an older design made larger and just slightly different in the design. But this wonderful Optical art design is now the LJ size of stencil. Several years ago I discontinued it in the LG size category and in August look for it at your favorite retailer as Optical/Art (LJ915). I paste-embossed this background onto the purple suede using our new paste spreader tool (LM2010). Then on a piece of navy cardstock I paste-embossed the pear stencil (LL563) using the Dreamweaver Matte Black Embossing Paste (DMBP). Once it was dry (approx. 25 min. later) I repositioned the clean/dry pear stencil onto the pasted pear design and pasted a second layer of paste this time using the Dreamweaver Crackle Embossing Paste (CEP). The reason I pre-pasted with the Matte Black Paste is because it creates stability for the second layer of Crackle Embossing Paste. Otherwise the crackle paste might just crack off the paper. Once this second layer of paste is dry and completely crackled (if I lay it on my pancake griddle on a low setting it only takes 20 minutes) I reposition the pear stencil onto the design and then I stencil it with pigment inks. I started with a base of yellow and then shaded with reds and a variety of greens. Then I cut it out using a craft knife and mounted it onto my background with foam mounting tape. I have always loved this pear stencil design...it is truly a classic and everyone should have it in their bag of stencil goodies. 

This week I have a special post done by a student of Marj Marion. Remember I posted a card design done last week by this wonderful stencil teacher in Lacey, WA. The store where Marj teaches is called Art 'N Soul and her student Peggy has taken many many many of Marj's classes. She paste-embossed this darling snail stencil (LM290) with Dreamweaver Glossy Black Embossing Paste (DGKP) and then once it was dry she daubed it with the Stamp & Stick Glue Pad (GSP) and then stenciled on top of the glue with mica powders. Thank you Peggy for sharing this card design with Marj and thank you Marj for passing it on to me. 


Remember we would love to share your creations on the blog...you can email them to me digitally at my email address: lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com or you can send them to me physically via US postal service. Contact me at my email and I will let you know where to mail it. You can also play along with our colorway challenge this week by linking below to Mr. Linky. If you don't get a chance to play along please take time to follow the Dream Team's creations. Their names are listed at the sidebar on the right. Many of them teach all over the United States and even Nova Scotia and they list their classes on their sites. Enjoy!

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Free Challenge this Week!

This beautiful card was crafted by Marj Marion. She is a teacher in the Pacific Northwest and teaches stamping and stenciling at a store in Lacey, Washington called Art 'n Soul (right next door to Olympia). 


The apron stencil (LG736) was dry embossed on a patterned paper and then stenciled with turquoise/teal ink to highlight the edges of the apron.  


The metal band of turquoise colored aluminum was dry embossed through an embossing machine using a patterned background stencil (LJ899). The stencil was then removed and a metal edging tool was rolled along each edge of the now embossed aluminum strip. The Adirondack alcohol ink (the color is called lettuce) and Pearl Mixatives were daubed onto the metal to create a colorful background for the apron, which has been cut out and mounted onto the metal and decorative paper.


The flowers were created by punching out decorative paper and shading the edges with contrasting inks. The centers are small pearls added for a finishing touch. 


Would love to have you create along with us this week. If you don't have a blog just mail me your creation and I will share it with our readers. Be sure to leave a comment for Marj and it would also be great to have you make the rounds of the design team members as they share their card designs this week. Their names are on the sidebar to the right...just click on one and see what stencil and technique they have used for this week's free challenge.