Thursday's Dream Schemes/Sketch by Deborah

Sketch by Deborah March

Two days ago the hot weather finally broke and I felt that perhaps Fall was on it's way. With this positive thought I am going forward with a more seasonal attitude to my card making and blogging. I do love this time of year, even though Southern California is usually somewhat behind the rest of the country with it's Autumnal weather. 

Our challenge today is a sketch by our own fearless leader Deborah March. I am presenting a card done on metal and colorized with new alcohol inks that will soon be on the market called "Color Solution". These artist grade alcohol inks are highly saturated and stay wet just a bit longer, giving you more time to work with the colors.  

First I paste embossed the spider stencil (LS28) onto a piece of acetate using Pearlescent Embossing Paste (DPP) with the Goldfinch Metallic F/X mixed into it for a golden coloration. I set this aside to dry and then moved on to embossing the spider's web. I started by putting the spider web stencil (LJ816) through my embossing machine with a piece of aluminum. 

The method I used to stack the plates:

1.  A thick white plate or "platen" first

2. The stencil face down

3. Next the piece of metal to be embossed

4. Thick rubber mat (REM)

5.  And finish with the two acrylic plates ...(if you are using the Cuttlebug then use 2 "B" plates).

...I also can't stress enough that for this step #5 if you usually use one of these acrylic plates for die cutting it could be warped and it could warp your stencil, don't put a warped acrylic plate close to the stencil or rubber mat. 

Just FYI...I show how to do this stacking method in my new DVD Tips and Tools.

Once this was finished, I placed the embossed aluminum face up on my work mat, then I dripped several Color Solutions on the metal directly...Darkest Brown, Thistle, Citron and Gourd Green and then once it started drying I applied several drops of Gourd Green and Iceberg onto a piece of felt with just a few drops of thinning or blending solution and daubed it on top of the other already drying inks. This method of working a wet mixture of ink and thinner on top of the dry alcohol inks creates the puddling of color that you see in the finished "web" (LJ816). 

A few minutes later when it was completely dry I sanded the embossed spider web with a fine grit sanding block so the web would stand out. I then cut the web into four rectangles and mounted the spider I had previously pasted onto acetate directly in the middle of the web.

Celebrate the F/X of Autumn!

Hi, Pam here once again. Lynell should be travelling back from Hawaii today, and therefore was unable to write the blog post for this week. Since it was a free week again, she suggested that I post this gorgeous card from our terrific sales rep in Illinois, Elaine Benedict. You've seen some other fabulous creations by Elaine on the Dream It Up! blog. Personally, I think we need to add Elaine to our Dream Team! What do you think? I love how she very softly stenciled the large LJ916 Butterfly stencil in the background of this card. I'm not precisely sure whether she used the Paintstiks or one of the Splendor Ink Pads with the stencil brushes, but either would achieve this effect. Then she went on to paste-emboss in Glossy Black the LJ906 Maple Branch before setting aside to dry. When paste-embossing a larger stencil like this one, we recommend using the new Paste Spreader. It works sort of like a "squeegee" to spread the paste evenly and helps to remove evenly as well. Once the paste was dry (approximately 45 minutes, or 20-30 minutes if placed on a low-heat electric pancake griddle, or the top of your toaster oven), she applied various shades of the Metallic F/X Powders. These leave a wonderful shimmer of autumn colors. One of my favorite parts of this card, is how even through the paste and powders, you still see the great textural lines of the cardstock base...and of course those beautiful butterflies! Now is your opportunity to see what the Dream Team has been up to for this free week. Please take advantage of the free week, to create your own piece of artwork and link at the bottom for us to see as well!

Dreaming in Lime and Gray

Hi, there, it's Pam here once again. Lynell is off to Hawaii to teach some wonderful Dreamweaver Stencils' classes. Poor thing! Don't you feel sorry for her? Lol. So I'm here with the honor of creating two items with Lee Kellogg's colorway challenge of LIME and GRAY! Yes, two, as I needed one for this blog and one for my own. Really unique color combo, but actually fun to work with. I kept the techniques simple on this card. Mostly using my embossing machine to add texture to all the elements. The card base was created from Core-dinations cardstock, and was run through the machine with the Herringbone stencil, and the embossed areas were sanded to highlight the pattern. The bamboo panel was created with the ink transfer method of inking the Bamboo stencil itself, running it through the machine with a strip of watercolor cardstock spritzed with rubbing alcohol. The spritzing helps to break up the ink a bit, creating an almost pointilism look, as well as enhancing the embossing. The final addition was the squares of Mercart aluminum run through the machine with the small Dragonfly stencil, off the edge for added interest. The Dream sentiment was simply ink-stenciled directly on the card. I love the contrast pop of the shades of lime green against the foggy gray color. If you have any questions regarding this card, or any of the Dreamweaver Stencils' line of products, please leave your question in the comment section, or email us at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com. Now do the hopping thing around to the Dream Team blogs and see what creative processes have been at work with them as well. Don't forget to create your own version of this week's colorway challenge, and use the Mr. Linky tool at the bottom of this post. We can hardly wait to see what YOU come up with!

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Glass Fusion

Several days ago when we began our blog hop I posted a piece of glass fusion by Shirley Parlin. We were showing how you can do so many different home decor projects with stencils. Several years ago Shirley got interested in doing stained glass and as her glass art evolved she began doing glass fusion. Here is her explanation of how it works...in a nutshell:


"Fusing glass is just what it says, fusing two or more pieces together. For glass you need a lot of heat and this can be accomplished with a kiln that is especially made for glass firing (which is easier to operate) or you can use a regular ceramic kiln, which requires more "watching" or monitoring. Also, you must be sure that the pieces of glass are compatible, but using the stencils is somewhat simplified because you are using a glass powder referred to as "frit".


To do the background I started with a round piece of clear stained glass for the base, cut another piece of compatible glass just a bit larger of the blue and layered it on top of the clear. Then I used the geese stencil (LG687) for the design. I positioned the stencil where I wanted it, stenciled some white glue to the area and finished it with a sifting of black glass powder, the material known as "frit". We moved the stencil for each placement and proceeded with the same application of the black "frit". Then it was fired in our kiln and violá!"


Here are a couple of smaller pieces that I made with Shirley and use as coasters, the tulips stencil (LL444) and the wave crest stencil (LL477):

HOP ACROSS THE POND AND BACK/DAY FIVE

Quilt Block by Barbara Alama from Honolulu, HI

We have a winner!!! I used random.org to choose a winner for this posting. 


The winner is #8 of 8 Janine and her comment was: "very elegant". 


So, Janine, you can email  me your snail mail address to: lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and I will send your your blog winnings.

We are continuing our blog hop with our friends from the UK. This year Woodware Craft Collection, Dreamweaver's exclusive UK distributor, has begun a blog and design team. Don't hesitate to visit their blog to ask questions and get information by communicating with their talented designers. They are great sources for technique and can even give guidance on where they may be teaching or where you can find Dreamweaver Stencils or Woodware's other great products.

In just a few days I will be flying to Honolulu, Hawaii  to do a consumer show at the Neal Blaisdell Center. Joining me will be long time friend, quilter and Hawaii resident Barbara Alama. She stenciled this beautiful quilt block with an oil based paint and for a finishing touch she glued a myriad of gold, pearl and silver beads for some added bling. Barbara teaches quilting at one of the local stores in Honolulu and her students also enjoy stenciling as well. 

To achieve the intensity and shading that you see here she started by placing the kimono stencil (LG634) in the center of a piece of muslin and taped out the edges to keep the fabric clean.

To keep the fabric from moving and shifting as she stenciled, she placed a piece of fine grit sandpaper underneath the fabric. 

There are several fabric inks and paints out there that can be used, but Barbara often stencils with oil based Paintstiks. People often see the large crayon looking Painstiks and think that you use them directly on the stencil. But after peeling back the dry paint skin you actually stroke the creamy paint onto a palette and next pick up this color with a stencil brush to apply it to the stencil. The base color she chose for this kimono was Prussian Blue (a well known pigment that is favored by many artists in their palettes). Using a 3/4"stencil brush she started at the outer edge and repeatedly layered the color on the kimono stencil. Remember that if you are stenciling a wall hanging and it isn't going to be laundered it is OK to stencil with any pigment based ink that you would use on your paper creations.

Next she layered the cherry blossoms stencil (LG644) on top of the kimono stencil. Leaving the kimono stencil in place keeps the area beyond the kimono design clean. This time she didn't shade from light to dark, she just stenciled the blossoms quite heavily with an Alizarin Crimson Paintstik (another favorite artists' pigment) and then used a brown color for the stems. Whether you are creating on a box, a frame, a piece of furniture or working on a piece of fabric like Barbara's creation you can use stencils in a hundred different ways. So enjoy and when before this HOP is over be sure to sign up as a follower to keep up with the latest stenciling trends.

For the next "HOP" on this magnificent blogging tour, visit the blog of Pam Hornschu:http//1pamperedstamper.blogspot.com Remember to leave comments on every blog. This will give you more of a chance to win goodies in the form of Dreamweaver Stencils.