Simple Flocking

When it's time to make multiple Christmas cards, it is nice to choose something that you can do quickly. Cherylynn Moser from Oregon paste-embossed the holly background stencil (LJ891) with a glossy embossing paste. It really doesn't matter which color of glossy paste you use, because it is then covered with the thick colored flocking. I recommend the glossy pastes, because they have a greater surface area which is ideal for adding glitter, flocking or the Metallic F/X. Next she sprinkled green flocking from Stampendous all over the design and tapped off the excess, like you would when using a glitter.

For a quick-dry, place it on a pancake griddle on the lowest setting. After about 20 minutes take the card off the griddle and give it another hard tap to remove as much flocking as possible and then use a dry "Swiffer" dusting cloth to remove any excess flocking from the card's background. To finish off the card, Cherylynn stamped a sentiment, tied it up with contrasting ribbon and chose a pin with a pin cap to protect the tip. Great card Cherylynn!

Whenever you are paste-embossing a larger background stencil like the one above... I make this recommendation:

For ease of application use two palette knives, a larger spatula (WDPK) and then a smaller one (DPK) that is offset. Dreamweaver sells both of these knives. Begin with the smaller offset knife to remove the paste from the jar, and then spread it onto the larger applicator. With the larger palette knife method, I usually hold the knife at a 35-45 degree angle, then spread the paste across the larger stencil in only one or two passes. Don't be afraid to put plenty of paste on the larger knife, because most of this excess goes back into the jar as you finish paste-embossing. If you don't have this heavier load, you will have vacant empty spaces that you will have to go back over again and fill. The more you "fuss" with the process ...the more likely you are to have the paste seep under the stencil. So more paste is better.

BLACK FRIDAY

On my last post I used black velvet paper and had so much fun with it that I decided to try it again. I paste-embossed the ornament stencil (LG674) with Metallic Copper Embossing Paste, removed the stencil and while the design was still wet I used a waterfall technique to sprinkle the ornament holder with copper glitter. Next I turned the paper the opposite way and with the same waterfall technique applied the aqua glitter. I set it onto my electric pancake griddle with a very low heat setting so it would dry quickly. In about 20 min. I replaced the ornament stencil and paste-embossed the horse/sleigh stencil (LL388) with the Matte Black Embossing Paste. Then I carefully placed the Merry Christmas stencil (LM134) at the bottom and paste-embossed it with a special mixture of 1 Tablespoon of Pearlescent Embossing Paste and 1/4" teaspoon of Navajo Blue Metallic F/X. Because this last stencil has very fine lines it dried in just a few minutes on the warm griddle. The large blue bow made of wired ribbon added the finishing touch for a very "Blue Blue Christmas".

Thursday's Dream Schemes

THURSDAY'S DREAM SCHEMES

Happy Thanksgiving and welcome to the first "Thursday's Dream Schemes" challenge. This Thursday I gave just the design team members the challenge to create Christmas cards with a non-traditional colorway. In this instance that means no Christmas red or green and no maroon or forest green. Should be fun to see what everyone did. The designers have been giving me some teases, so I'm looking forward to hopping from blog to blog to see what their creative little pea brains have been up to (just checking to see if any of the team is following along...hehehe!). So use the side bar where their names are listed and travel along to enjoy. In the future we want you to play along with our challenges and hops so stay in touch and feel free to encourage us with your comments...we love those!

AN UNUSUAL GLITTER TECHNIQUE

I have discovered long ago that I am a true technique junkie and I would like to share with you a very simple technique using the glossy metallic embossing pastes and ultrafine glitters. To begin with I paste-embossed the line of Christmas trees (LL532) with the Metallic Gold Embossing Paste. I used a black velvet paper from SEI. While the paste was still wet I held the cardstock at an angle and waterfalled the glitters one at a time off of each tree. I love the contrast of the black velvet background and the sparkling ultrafine glitters from Stampendous. Since I wanted the paste to be very dry I placed it on a warm electric pancake griddle at a very low setting and then prepared my second card.

This time I paste-embossed the ornaments stencil (LL468) with the Metallic Silver Embossing Paste and added the glitter in the same waterfall method as the first card, tapped off the excess glitter and set this aside to dry on the warm electric pancake griddle.

Once these were both dry I took a craft knife and with the tip I scraped off the detail areas of each tree or ornament, as shown in the picture. On the larger areas I kept the blade of the knife more flat and used the tip for the finer details. I noticed that the ornaments that were basecoated with the silver paste had an almost pastel look to the scraped areas, just slightly lighter tints as if the glitter had stained the paste. So I'd like to challenge you to try some of the other pastes and see what your results might be.

Autumn Splendor

On Thanksgiving Day we will be kicking off our "Thursday's Dream Schemes" with our own Dream Team's Thanksgiving Day Parade of Christmas Cardmaking. Isn't it interesting how we associate different holidays with different colors? Thanksgiving is warm tones and Christmas has variations of reds and greens. St. Patrick's day is green and Valentine's Day is pink and red. July 4th is red/white/ and blue etc.etc.etc...you get the picture. So the "Scheme" for the Design Team this Thursday is a challenge to do a Christmas card in a non-traditional color scheme. I have already been hearing a few tales as to what we can expect and I am getting very curious. As we get going over the next few weeks the team will be posting every Thursday and we will of course include you in some of the challenges.

Today I am sharing a beautiful card from follower Marijane. (Thanks Marijane for all your comments on our blogs.) I received this beautiful card from Marijane after she won the blog hop challenge a few weeks ago. And since this is my "Last Hurrah!" to Autumn, before we begin posting Christmas goodies again, I wanted to share this beautiful creation of hers. She started by basecoating both the wreath stencil (LG719)and the word Autumn (LM295) with the Matte Orange Embossing Paste (DMOP). The advantage to using the matte orange paste first is that you don't have to then basecoat with an orange color when you stencil. When it was dry, she repositioned her stencil with removable tape and stenciled the designs with Autumn colors from Tsukineko's Magic Splendor Pad. This pigment ink was applied with small 1/8" and 1/4" stencil brushes. For the finishing touch she highlighted portions of the wreath with a Krylon metallic gold pen. The beautiful ribbon is from May Arts and she said it is still on the market to purchase. I look forward to seeing more of her work when we start having followers post to our blogs. Thanks again Marijane!

And don't forget everyone, if you are an early riser, pop by to view the team's creations...or if you get tired of cooking for that big meal or get bored watching the Dallas cowboys trying to win another football game stop on by to get inspired.

Thursday's Dream Schemes

On Thanksgiving Day we will be kicking off our "Thursday's Dream Schemes" with our own Dream Team's Thanksgiving Day Parade of Christmas Cardmaking. If you are an early riser, pop by to view the team's creations...or if you get tired of cooking for that big meal or watching Dallas try to win another football game stop on by to get inspired.

To make this card, use the wheat stencil (LL462), and start by dry embossing it through your embossing machine or you can use a stylus and light table instead. Then to do the Strié technique just follow these directions:

First load your 3/4" stencil brush with harvest gold pigment ink by tapping it firmly on the ink pad.

Place the embossed card in front of you on a piece of scrap paper. Begin in the upper left hand corner and make sure the flat bristles of the loaded stencil brush are resting on this scrap. The majority of the color will be off loaded at the edge of the card stock. As you pull the brush in a straight line toward you, lessen the pressure you are applying and sweep the bristles of the brush upward coming off the card right in the center of the paper. (If you don't make this sweeping upward motion, the pigment will stop abruptly and make a smudging coloration right in the middle of the paper.) As much as possible, keep the bristles straight and then repeat this same action moving approximately a brush width at a time, all the way across to the right side of the card. The streaks of pigment hitting the edges of the dry embossed design will accent the upper half of the image. Now you have half of the card done. Turn the card a full 180 degrees and repeat this same action again, moving right to left. The card is now finished, however, if you want a more "linen" look to your card, you can turn the card 90 degrees and repeat the same "strié" technique again. To finish this linen look, turn the card 180 degrees again and finish the last side. Now, all four sides are done and you will have twice as much color on the card.

Double Pasting Technique

I often refer to card artist, Polly Weed, as "pastel Polly". Working with the soft tones of pastels really is her signature medium. Although you often think of this medium as being soft muted tints ...she has combined it here with strong tones and glossy finishes for a full palette of Fall colors using the pumpkin stencil (LL515). By the way, the colorful print she mounted this on is not cardstock, but rather 100% cotton fabric. (A great way to use up scraps from sewing projects.)

To achieve this look, she first paste-embossed with Matte Orange Embossing Paste. Dreamweaver makes this colored paste, but you can also take a couple Tbsp. of the original Embossing Paste and mix it with a small amount of an orange colored tube acrylic (1-2 tsp.) to make your own color. Once the paste was dry, she repositioned the stencil on top of the design and stenciled it with pastels. Some people use sponge applicators for pastels, but Polly uses a small stencil brush with firm yet soft tipped natural bristles. Just a bit of dark brown and green pastels added some shaded highlights. And then to finish it with an Autumn glow she pasted the image again, this time using the Translucent Embossing Paste which dries to a glossy sheen. When you first use this paste you will notice that it has a milky white appearance when first applied, but in 40 minutes or so it dries clear. This clear embossing paste has many uses. You can stencil the cardstock first and then put this paste on top for a clear glossy finish, or even add glitter when you are done. You can also add the new Metallic F/X mica powders into translucent paste for an iridescent sheen.

For an embellishment, Polly just added a handwritten sentiment..."thankful".

On Thanksgiving Day we will be kicking off our "Thursday's Dream Schemes" with our own Dream Team's Thanksgiving Day Parade of Christmas Cardmaking. If you are an early riser, pop by to view the team's creations...or if you get tired of cooking for that big meal or watching Dallas try to win another football game stop on by to get inspired.

Warm Tones for Autumn

Although this beautiful card by Louise Healy is not an Autumn creation per se, it could be. I often connect warm tones like browns, reds, rusts, golds with the season...for good reason. This Fall I have traveled back and forth from Washington to So Cal several times and have really enjoyed the full spectrum of colors. Last weekend we spent a day up in the San Bernardino mountains and just caught the tail end of some color, but mostly things are now a bit brown. This coming weekend they are looking at a snowy forecast.

To create this card, Louise paste embossed the pussy willow stencil (LL3007) with Matte Black Embossing Paste. Whenever you use the crackle paste it is a good idea to basecoat the stencil with any of the other pastes, remove the stencil and let this layer dry. The reason for this is ...that if you don't, the crackle paste could easily crack and crumble off the paper. The basecoat will give your crackled stencil image flexibility. I often use the matte pastes because #1 they dry faster and #2 they have a bit of a "tooth" to them, so the crackle will attach better. Once the matte paste is dry, reposition the stencil and paste-emboss the crackle paste on top. During this process, instead of scraping the crackle paste down to the stencil's surface, I leave just a thin skim of it over the entire stencil design. This will ensure that you don't scrape down to the level of the original matte paste layer. Now just wait and let it do it's crackle thing.

Louise finished the card by stenciling the stem with Chocolate Brilliance ink and then using a slightly larger brush she brushed the same ink off the edges of the card using a circular rouging motion. (Tip: the larger the brush you use for this edging, the softer the look.) She also used the "Picasso" stencil shield as she was stenciling with the brown to protect the white areas. She finished off the card with the dark brown embellishments placed on the diagonal. This card would be great to send to your favorite guy for any special occasion or gal for that matter.

The Santa Ana's are Blowing

It is finally Fall here is Southern Calif. How do I know? The weather has cooled down to a dull roar and the Santa Ana winds are blowing. These beautiful clear warm days of Autumn remind me that this is the reason we stay in this highly populated area.

Marj Marion has again used her technique of using micro beads on the embossing paste. This card's background was created by brushing a warm colored ink on white card stock and then stamping the word "Windy" (Fun Stamps #A2821) randomly using the same color of ink. The Fall leaves (LG728) were then paste embossed onto acetate using Metallic Copper embossing paste. While the stencil was still in place she sprinkled it with the microbeads. The colors she used were highly contrasting--a gold and a dark brown or black, making a point of leaving some of the metallic copper paste exposed. She then dry embossed the Autumn stencil (LM295) on pumpkin colored cardstock that she had stamped with a small leaf stamp. (Marj ...if you're listening and know the maker of that little leaf stamp, just let us know in the comments.) To finish off the sentiment she stenciled the word with a dark brown ink, a lovely accent color.

The end results of her card creation was to make an easel card. This happens to be a card she sent me in the mail and it is so nice to enjoy it by propping it into position and leaving it on my desk. I love getting pretty cards in the mail. Don't forget to actually send your creations to friends and other loved ones. There is nothing like going to the mail box and seeing that hand addressed envelope greeting you.

The Last Hurrah!!!

Thanksgiving is just next week, but for the "Last Hurrah", I would like to post just a few cards that have an Autumn flare. The two cards seen here were created by Oregon teacher, Cherylynn Moser. The falling leaves (LL3004) were stenciled with bright colored pigment inks. Once she finished the stenciling she wiped the ink off of her stencil and taped out all the edges to add Dreamweaver's translucent embossing paste. After removing the stencil, and while the paste was still wet, she sprinkled on a transparent ultrafine glitter. When it is wet the paste is very milky, but once it is dry you can see the colors very clearly through the transparent glitter. The finishing touch on this card was to use a large stencil brush and a gentle pressure to stencil a chocolate brown color onto the edges.

The second card, using the tree background (LJ849), was paste embossed on a dark brown cardstock with the original embossing paste (that's the one with the maroon label). Once it was dry (this dries in half the time of the translucent paste) about 25 minutes, she repositioned the clean stencil onto the design and stenciled it with stencil brushes using Autumn toned pigment inks. I have also seen this tree design paste-embossed on creamy metallic paper with glossy white embossing paste...then glittered. This stencil has been done many different ways and I love every way I have seen it rendered.

Metallic F/X ...a Simple Creation

Cherylynn Moser teaches with Dreamweaver Stencils in the state of Oregon. As I end my theme today with Simple Cards for Christmas I would like to tell you that this card couldn't be simpler. I know it looks elegant, but elegant can be easy to achieve with stencils. She paste embossed the Holly flourishes (LG731) using the Matte Black Embossing Paste. After it dried she repositioned the stencil onto the pasted design and then daubed the pasted holly flourish witha glue from a glue stamp pad. Next she took a small stencil brush and loaded the ends of it with the Ivy Garden green Metallic F/X color. Metallic F/X are the Dreamweaver brand of mica powders. To make sure she didn't have too much on the brush she tapped off the excess into the opened jar lid of her color and then stenciled it onto the holly. She used the Kimono Red color of Metallic F/X to achieve the berries. So that the red color didn't get onto the greenery she used a stencil shield called Picasso (LL332). This is a tool used by stencilers that has curves and holes in it so that you can hold it up to the work that you are stenciling on and put color exactly where you want it. The book "New Dimensions in Cardmaking Using Embossing Pastes with Metal Stencils" shows several different ways to use this clever tool. If you don't own this book it is a great reference book for working with the pastes. It was published a few years ago, but the gallery in the back was recently updated with new card designs.

Elegant, but Still Simple...

Deborah March made this gorgeous card. The details in the card...the bow, the nested gold ovals, the gold embellishment pin, the red crystal berries and the layers of paper may have taken a bit of time to put together, but the holly sprig (stencil LL3005) was merely paste embossed with the metallic gold paste. Very simple yet very elegant as well, Deborah. Recently I had a customer ask about how to tie a nice bow, and several of the design team have chatted back and forth about doing a tutorial. Louise Healy did post a step-by-step on her blog. Deborah mentioned that she uses a plastic template called "Bow Easy" which works well, and uses it all the time for her work. As you can see, here are the results of the "Bow Easy". Hop around on the Dream Team's blogs, because you may see some other recommendations over the next few days for bow tying.

Simply ....Merry Christmas!

Theresa Winters made this technique easy as pie...well as easy as paste embossing the LM250 Merry Christmas and LL532 Line of Christmas trees using the regular embossing paste and while it was still wet she added ultrafine glitter. Whew! But wasn't that easy? I also love the corner punch with the delicate filigree, this added card construction turns "simple to make" into a classy creation!

Could be a Christmas card? ...

...or it could be a special occasion card. This simple yet "effective" card by Louise Healy, was done using the pearlescent embossing paste on the Hallelujah stencil (LM2007). One of the things that adds to the beauty of this card is the use of the beautiful paper from Hanko Designs. The background paper has an almost vintage feel to it. But other than the triple mounting that was done to this creation, the time involved is minimal. Great for some of us who lead very busy lives. You could create three or four of these and have them on hand for celebratory moments, like when a special friend has good medical news or when your daughter hears that she passed her boards or when the hubbie gets a raise at work....well you get the idea. It doesn't have to be a Christmas card, but it could.

Simple for a Beginner...

This card is lovely, but really not that hard for a beginner to do. When I choose stencils for a beginner's Embossing Paste Class... I often choose ones that have small stencil openings. This berry branch design (LJ900) is ideal for a beginner. Design Team member Kim Parkinson paste embossed the design with Dreamweaver Metallic Gold paste and once it was dry, she paste embossed the "Season's Greetings" stencil (LS91) using either the metallic silver or the pearlescent paste (they both appear to be silver on dark cardstock, because the pearlescent is semi-transparent and picks up the dark from the cardstock). Instead of putting the thick chunks of glitter on the wet paste right away, she waited for it to completely dry, (this happens pretty quickly...another good reason for choosing a delicate design...fast dry time!) and then she squirted small daubs of glue on the berries for the chunky glitter to attach to.

Continuing the Theme...

I am continuing my theme for the next few days with Christmas Cards that are extremely simple, but very "effective". LOL!!! My friends in the UK often say that and I think it is so true. The combination of simple and "effective" is just what you want when your life is so busy. Marj Marion did this card by paste embossing the bicycle (LJ895) using the Glossy White Paste on red cardstock then adding glitter onto the wet paste after she removed the stencil. Another variation on this would be to use the regular embossing paste and while it was wet sprinkle it with regular or thick embossing powder, then when the paste was dry you could heat the powder with a heat gun for a glossy effect. Don't you love her little clear plastic embellishment that is tied up with ribbon and says "Santa's Cycle"?

Another Classic

This is another classic Christmas card project from Elaine Benedict. And who would have thought that this corner flourish stencil could double as a Christmas tree (LJ896). She pasted the swirly flourish with a glossy embossing paste, removed the stencil and sprinkled it with green glitter while it was still wet. Then she did the ornament on a different piece of paper with the same technique, using gold and red glitter, and once it was dry she cut it out and mounted it on the first card using foam mounting tape. This ornament was from the JOY stencil (LL510), but you could also use stencil LM297 which is another ornament which is on a small stencil by itself.