Thursday, May 26, 2011

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Free Challenge this Week!


Louise Healy of the Chicago area


I am doing something a bit different for my post this week. We have had a couple of lovely weeks of cool weather here in Southern California and have even had to break out the umbrellas. So this week I am going to post umbrella card designs from some of the design team and other teachers who work so hard to promote my stencils. I won't give a lot of detail on how they are done, but if you have a question ...just "ask away" in the comments section and they will come to my blog to answer your questions in the comments section. Or if you are more comfortable asking via email, just email me at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, and I will pass the questions on for them to answer in my blog comments. I just wanted you to have the opportunity to see all these wonderful rainy day creations in one fell swoop. Aren't they gorgeous? If you would like to play along feel free to do so..it doesn't have to be a rainy day theme, you could maybe try one of their techniques. For more details on these newer stencils go to www.stencilwithstyle.com


Terrece Siddoway from Western Wyoming
Pam Hornschu from Southern California
Liz Martin from the Bay Area of San Francisco


Wendy Jordan from Western Montana

Laura Drahozal from Michigan


Showers of Blessings by Marj Marion from Illinois




Georgia Sommers from the Bay area of SF
Elaine Benedict from the Chicago area


Friday, May 20, 2011

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Sketch #6

This week our sketch #6 comes to us from our Canadian Dream Schemer, Deborah March of Nova Scotia. I interpreted it very traditionally as a cathedral arch and I think it is going to be a lot of fun to see what everyone else has done with it on the Dream Team. Just follow the names on the sidebar to the right to see their creations.

I started by dry embossing the cathedral window stencil (LG639) on an off-white cardstock by putting it through the Big Shot machine. If you want my instructions on how to do that without bending the stencil just email me and I will send you the step-by-step process. Then I took a sharp craft knife and cut out the outer shape and the windows so just the frame was left. The background paper was a piece of suminagashi marbled paper that my friend Diane Maurer showed me how to do. She is a marbler and artisan who has written several books on paper crafts. Two of her books, Decorative Paper and The Ultimate Marbling Handbook give instructions for this particular paper craft. They are both out of print, but if you are interested I think I can find some for you. She has done one other book called Marbling that has been out of print for several years and I have seen it sell for as much as 4x the original price. She has a web-site www.dianemaurer.com where you can view her creations. She also sells marbling tools and inks, books and collage pieces she has created with her papers. She still travels occasionally to give workshops too. 


After I mounted the paper in the window, I mounted the entire window on a piece of iridescent periwinkle colored paper that I had paste-embossed the "comfort" words (LG696) onto using the glossy green embossing paste (DGGP). While this paste was still wet I sprinkled it with a teal green microfine glitter from Art Institute Glitter. Then I cut another piece of off-white cardstock, the shape of the entire sketch, and mounted my window onto half of it to complete the card. Feel free to email me for the embossing machine instructions at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com


I have been struggling a bit with blogger the last couple of days, so if you have already been here to leave a comment I apologize, but am hoping you'll take time this week to join the team and make a creation for others to enjoy. Also if you get time be sure to visit and see the other creations, please leave them some creative love in the form of an encouraging comment. Thanks for stopping by to browse! Oops almost forgot to tell you our DVDs are now available at a store near you, if not you can find them at: www.stencilwithstyle.com

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Free Challenge this Week!

This Thursday since it is a free week I am taking a little extra time to showcase some class projects for some upcoming workshops that I'm teaching in Sacramento at The Stamp ARt Shoppe Inc. Roseville Calif. on Memorial Day Weekend.


FLOCKING AND GLITTER TECHNIQUES:

Design team member Louise Healy gave me permission to use this lovely card as one of the projects. So if you are in the area stop by the store to see the sample boards. This This one is a unique embossing paste and glitter technique.

PLAIDMAKING TECHNIQUES:

Design team member Pam Hornschu did this wonderful card using the LG735 tie stencil and I really think the plaid that she achieved using the embossing machine with stencil LX7002 and then stenciled with chalk inks looks like a fabric called "seersucker".  We will also show how to mix pastes and do paste-embossing on acetate. Then also we will work with the Memories Mists to also create plaids with the stripe stencil. Pam will be traveling with me to Sacramento and assisting in the classes. I am looking forward to the "ROAD TRIP" with a design team member.


DOUBLE GLITTER PLUS+++:


This fun technique has been shown on the team's blogs several times. We will be taking it a step further and doing some work with foils as well. But here is the LG733 birds stencil done up with transparent glitters form Art Institute's glitters and then stenciled with pigment ink for added detail work. At CHA Julie Makela, my distributor from Australia used the foils on the JAC paper (also known as sticky mounting paper), so I am looking forward to sharing this new technique.

There are two other classes I will be teaching ...one has to do with hand embossing and machine embossing on metal with the stencils, how to do it and how to color the metal. The other class is called "Full Circle" and shows a new technique with a material that has been around for a long time. If I don't see you in Sacramento (Roseville) on Memorial Day weekend stay tuned on how to do some of these new techniques. To find out more about the classes, dates and times go to The Stamp Art Shoppe's web site and click on events.

Hope you have time to see what the design team has done this week. My challenge to you is to leave a comment on their blogs...some of them do this work for the love of sharing their creations and it is nice to have your encouragement. Also if you have time play along ...Mr. Linky is below for just that reason.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Colorway Challenge of Blue and Orange for Thursday's Dream Schemes

What a special week for a challenge! Mom's day is coming and our challenge is to use Georgia's colorway challenge of orange and blue. There are so many varieties of this complementary color scheme, but for Dreamweaver's Dream Schemes I chose a very literal translation. Yes...ORANGE AND BLUE...I told my husband it looks like a card that maybe a Denver Broncos fan would send to their mother for this special weekend. But, I don't really care because this is one of my favorite color combos. (And besides I do like the Denver Broncos too). 

I chose these stencils for the simple reason that my Mother is one of the biggest influences in my life and she is a crafter, artisan and businesswoman extra-ordinaire. From early on I remember her crochéting, knitting, sewing and later she began a business in her home doing ceramics. Which grew and grew and later became too big to "house" in our house. They moved the business twice and it supported them (my father later joined the business as well) for many years and gave me a job as a pre-teen, teen and college student. Today Mom also does wonderful glass fusion and stained glass and recently purchased a sewing machine that does beautiful embroidery. It would be great to live close enough to do some of these things together on a regular basis. Now, although she is retired she still influences my life and has even created her own web site www.stencilwithstyle.com and sells our stencils to people who do not have the luxury of living near a brick and mortar papercrafting store. Thanks Mom, for all that you have inspired me to do...I think the biggest thing that you have done is to raise me to believe in myself and my abilities to follow my dreams. I am sure that many of you have had this same experience with your mothers too. 

This card that I made to honor my Mom's quilting passion is made with the re-released stencil called Cathedral Windows (LJ808). I merely stenciled it in a blue from the Banner Brilliance tri-color ink pad by Tsukineko. Then I dry embossed the quilt design stencil (LL457) using my Big Shot embossing machine. I repositioned the stencil back onto the embossed design with removable tape (RMT) and added the color by stenciling it with the same blue ink as the background and the flower portion was stenciled with orange iridescent Paintstik and shaded with a tiny bit of red ink at the tips of the flowers. The background paper was sprayed with orange and hot pink Vivid Sprays by Stewart Superior and I paste-embossed the "It's Your Day" stencil (LG704) with Glossy Blue Embossing Paste (DGBP) onto this brightly colored background. A small window was cut out in the Cathedral Window background to expose the sentiment and it is ready to send off to MOM!

Enjoy the rest of the week ....don't forget to hug a MOM and if you are a mom, Happy Mom's Day this Sunday! Feel free to join our colorway challenge and don't forget to visit each member of the design team's take on Georgia Sommer's beautiful blue and orange theme. Their names are on the sidebar at the right. And if you do make a card this week share it with us...it doesn't have to be blue and orange...we just love to see what you are up to!