We're having a Blue Christmas in August!

Hey, I see a theme developing! We'll have a blue Christmas without you...which is another way of saying, please play along with us next month as the team goes crazy with INKY IDEAS for Stencils! 

Today is the last day for our Christmas in August and Polly Weed sent me this beautiful card done with two different embossing pastes. Here is how she achieved this wonderful look!

1. First she stenciled the new stardream Christmas tree stencil (LG746) with pastels and then paste-embossed on top of that with the Crackle Embossing Paste (CEP).

2. Once the crackle "did it's crackle thingy" (which means it dried completely to a crackle stage), she then stenciled more pastel blue color on top of the crackle. Then to seal the color and crackle paste she applied a layer of Translucent Embossing Paste (DEPT) on top of the crackle layer.  This second layer of paste made the tree very shiny and bright...great idea Polly!

3. While the translucent paste was still wet she placed the pearls into the wet paste and when dry they are permanent.

This weekend I will post the winners for our Christmas in August challenge. One winner for best interpretation of the challenge and one winner for best use of Dreamweaver products.

Have a nice holiday weekend! And if you haven't yet there is one more day to post your creation to mr. linky below:

Ahhhh....another nice cooool card! Am loving these wintry themes as I turn up the air conditioning in the house. Nothing like a pretty color of blue to cool things off around here when the temperature sky rockets over 100 degrees +. 

This creation comes to us from Tiffany Smith. Thank you for joining us again. Here is how she put it all together:

1. The bare tree background stencil (LJ849) was stenciled with "Tumbled Glass" Distress Ink and she shaded the lower portion of the card slightly darker for more dimension.

2. Then the card was spritzed with "Glacier" Tattered Rose Glimmer mist to give it sparkle.

3. The cardinal is a glitter button with the back thread hole snipped off.

4. The border punch was used on bright red paper to accent the cardinal and pull it all together. 

I love the sentiment by Charles Dickens...if you are reading this Tiffany... would you please write in the comments whose stamp that is or if it is digitally added? Love it!  Again thank you for playing along with our challenge this month.

Next month (September is almost upon us!) our challenge is "GETTING INKY WITH STENCILS"! Loads of creations will apply for this one. Check back next Thursday to see what you might win and to play along! 

Just a day or two left here in August, so to play along just link your creation to mr. linky below. Click HERE to find out what you could win. Also follow the list below of the design team to see what their last Christmas creation is for the last Thursday in August.

Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

 Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser

I NEED a Snowstorm Today!!!

Wow it is steamy hot here in Southern California, so I am very happy to share a little snow with you today. Marilyn Cordell emailed me this lovely card and after the joy of getting it I think we should make "Christmas in August" a blog tradition here at Dreamweaver. LOL!

When I first saw this card I thought she had done the Double Glitter Technique, but when I read her instructions this is how she achieved her look:

#1.   She embossed the snowflakes in the background onto a metallic blue cardstock. I am sure she used an embossing folder, but you can also use your snowflake background stencil ( LJ819) through any embossing machine. Feel free to email me if you want the instructions for the proper stacking method, using this will insure that you don't bend your stencil. lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com

#2.   The black background behind the snowflake is actually glitter paper. She used the Matte Black Embossing Paste (DMBP) and paste-embossed the snowflake (LL399) and after she removed the stencil and while it was still wet she sprinkled it with glitter.

What could be more simple? You too can do this...and you can also email me a card you may want to share for any of our upcoming challenges.

You could win a stencil prize! The entries are judged by artist Wayne Harlow and he chooses one that is best interpretation of the challenge and the second winner is chosen for best use of Dreamweaver products. Just link your creation to  mr. linky below or if you don't have a blog  just email me your creation and I will blog about it for you. lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com

Here is the prize for this month's winners...a new design (LJ921) Heart Ornaments.

BLOG HOP WINNERS FOR WOODWARE:

If you didn't happen to realize that the Woodware winners for the blog hop were posted on the Woodware page here is the list of the winners ...they could be from the USA or Canada, so pay attention. Don't forget to email me your snail mail addy so we can send you some wonderful BLOG CANDY! YUMMY!!!

The winners are:

Clarissa

Jan Benskin

Joy Hauck and...
Sarah Watts for the facebook win!

Blog Hop Winners! For Dreamweaver!

Thank you everyone, for joining our blog hop celebrating the release of our new designs by leaving wonderful comments for my design team!!! And thanks to the Woodware team for joining us in this effort. We have chosen three winners here at Dreamweaver and Dorothy Adam from Woodware will be posting the winners from the UK. There is one more packet of stencils for a winner on facebook, so go there to discover who that winner is.

Here are the winners from this past week:

Lillian Child

Lea Kimmel

Melinda

Don't forget to email your addresses to me at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com

And don't forget to join our monthly challenge...I will be posting some of the beautiful cards that have been emailed to me in a day or two. This month is Christmas in August. Click  HERE to find out more about this month's challenge and the stencil you could win.

Dreamweaver and Woodware Day Six:

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams have been celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond". 

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors  will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

Here's our final creation for this week:

Don't you just love these mittens (LJ923) created by Louise Healy? She dry embossed them first with an embossing machine and while the stencil was still in position she added a touch of red pigment ink to the mittens by stenciling them with a large stencil brush (NHB1/2") and the tie was stenciled an even darker red. Next the new Christmas Borders stencil (LJ922) was layered on top of the mitten stencil and paste embossed with the original Dreamweaver Embossing Paste (DEP... which has a maroon label). Because the mittens stencil is still in place to act as a shield, it is important to hold both of these stencils flat against the surface while paste-embossing with the LM2010 paste spreader. This fun border gives these mittens the wonderful look of a soft Scandinavian wool sweater.  After repositioning the clean border stencil onto the now dry image she daubed the design with Stamp and Stick Glue Pad (GSP) and then stenciled the moist image with several soft colors of the Metallic F/X line using a small 1/4" stencil brush (GHB). The sentiment was paste-embossed with the fun Merry Winter stencil (LM252) and the Dreamweaver Glossy Red Embossing Paste (DGRP). Once the stencil was taken off and while the sentiment was still wet it was sprinkled with white flocking along the upper edge. For a final finishing touch the outer edges of the card were stenciled with a hint of the red pigment ink and a 3/4" stencil brush (NHB3/4"). Love this card Louise! Thanks!

Don't forget to leave some holiday cheer as you move on to all the players for today:

Woodware UK

  Dream It Up!

  Lee Kellogg

 Cherylynn Moser

 Dorothy Adam

 Louise Healy

 Debs Frost 

  Laura Drahozal 

  Terrece Siddoway

 Cyndi Bundy

  Wendy Jordan

  Francoise Read

 Liz Martin

 Georgia Sommers

 Siobhan Fyffe

  Pam Hornschu

  Kristi Van Doren

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.

Dreamweaver and Woodware Day Five:

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams are celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond". 

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors  will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

Here's some inspiration to spur you on to the rest of the teams' players:

This card was sent to me from Cherylynn Moser and is one of those CAS (Clean and Simple) cards that is very elegantly done. To create this card she...

1. Paste embossed the holly background stencil (LJ891) with the Dreamweaver Glossy Green Embossing Paste (DGGP), removed the stencil and while the design was wet, sprinkled it with green flocking. 

2. Once the card was dry she simply embellished it with the happy holidays die cut, a stick pen and red ribbon.

I love this as a Christmas card because you can use our paste spreader which is large and do several cards very quickly. Lovely job Cherylynn!

Don't forget to leave some holiday cheer as you move on to all the players for today:

Woodware UK

Louise Healy

Debs Frost

Lee Kellogg

Terrece Siddoway

Georgia Sommers

Pam Hornschu

Cyndi Bundi

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.
*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.

Dreamweaver and Woodware Day Four: Molten Magic

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams are celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond". 

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors  will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

Check out our creation for today:

Elaine Benedict is showing off her talents again. This time featuring the Star Dream Christmas Tree, and using the Molten Magic technique. This is our latest inspiration, and so much fun to do! Especially if you are the type of crafter who hates to wait for paste to dry. Here's the steps:

1. Paste emboss the tree with a glossy paste (Elaine used the Pearlescent Paste). Need the basic paste info? Click HERE.

2. Sprinkle surface with various colors of Metallic F/X powders.

3. Apply a heat tool over and above surface until puffy and bubbly (keep moving the tool).

4. When cool to the touch, you can press with fingertips for a more textured look.

5. Once it is totally dry (it may take a bit longer to dry than just heating with the tool if you have pasted it thickly) take a Swiffer dusting cloth and remove the excess powders in the background.

Note: On more open designs, you can ink a stamp with Versamark and stamp the design into the surface!

Don't forget to leave some holiday cheer as you move on to all the players for today:

Dream It Up!

  Woodware UK
Louise Healy
Laura Drahozal
Lee Kellogg
Terrece Siddoway
Wendy Jordan
Pam Hornschu
Liz Martin

 Kristi Van Doren

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.

Dreamweaver and Woodware Day Three: Snazzy Mittens!

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams are celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond". 

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors  will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

Check out our creation for today:

How fun is the new Mittens design? The mind just boggles with all the fun techniques that could be used with this stencil...adding any of the fabulous pattern designs in Dreamweaver's repertoire, paper-piecing with all the fun papers that you have tucked away, or as done here, pasted and Zentangled! The mittens were paste-embossed in Glossy White, and the "cuffs" were "sculptured" by swirling a palette knife over the surface of the wet paste to appear fluffy. The new Forever Friends sentiment is the perfect thought for so many occasions.

Don't forget to leave some holiday cheer as you move on to all the players for today:

Woodware UK
Dream It Up! 
 Louise Healy
Lee Kellogg
Jane Gill
Terrece Siddoway
Wendy Jordan
Pam Hornschu
Liz Martin

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.

Dreamweaver and Woodware Day 2: Peace and Zen

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams are celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond". 

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors  will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

Here's some inspiration to spur you on to the rest of the teams' players:

If you haven't broken out your stencils and Micron pens yet, this card should do it for you! Once again, the brand new Peace On Earth design was paste-embossed, this time in gold, and "tangled" by Wayne. This would be gorgeously elegant all on its own in gold, but the patterns take it to another level entirely!

Don't forget to leave some holiday cheer as you move on to all the players for today:

Woodware UK
Dream It Up!  
Louise Healy
Lee Kellogg
Francoise Read
Pam Hornschu
Liz Martin
Terrece Siddoway
Cherylynn Moser 

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.

Dreamweaver and Woodware: A Week Long Celebration

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams are celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond". 

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors  will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

Here's what we have to show you today:

Yes, once again, we are showing off Wayne's mad skills with Zentangle. Like last week's post, Lynell pasted the Heart Ornaments in Copper Paste, and Wayne created these interesting patterns on them. Notice how the patterns make the ornaments appear curved and more dimensional? Very clever! No extra embellishments necessary...simple elegance.

Don't forget to leave some holiday cheer as you move on to the other players for today:

Woodware UK
Dream It Up!
Laura Drahozal
Lee Kellogg
Pam Hornschu
Dorothy Adam 
Terrece Siddoway
Wendy Jordan
Louise Healy 

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.

Dreamweaver's Tree is in a Tangle!

This is Pam once again, and I have the opportunity to share another fabulous Zentangle creation from the creative genius behind Dreamweaver Stencils...Wayne Harlow. Don't get me wrong, Lynell has amazing instincts and talent for great design and art, and no one knows the products and techniques as well as she, but Wayne is the one we all need to thank for physically creating the stencil designs that Dreamweaver is so well know for. For this card, Lynell pasted the Open Christmas Tree with Copper Embossing Paste. When dry, Wayne broke out his fine line pens and went to town creating amazing patterns that take this tree to the next level. Granted, this is not the type of card that you'd want to create fifty of to send to those on your Christmas card list, but for a few special people in your life, who love art and can appreciate the time that goes into it, this is the card that elicits the amazed "WOW!"

It would be a simple process to keep this card more CAS. It could be "tangled" in more random doodles. It could be be sprinkled with a few rhinestones for extra bling. It could be paper-pieced with any of the gorgeous papers to be found in your local craft store. Or, how about adding a stenciled pattern over the surface? This opens up so many new horizons with the open pattern of this stencil design.

Hopefully, the inspiration we've been offering this month has forced you into your creative zone with a need to play along with the team's challenge...Christmas in August. Link your creations to the blog at the bottom, or email your own "WOW" vision to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, for an opportunity to win this newly-released stencil design...Heart Ornaments:

Next week, August 20th - 25th, we will be doing another exciting collaboration with our main distributor in the UK, Woodware Craft Collection, and their amazing team of designers. Each of these days there will be several players for you to be inspired by, all of them featuring the brand new Dreamweaver stencil designs revealed last month at the Craft and Hobby Association Summer show in Chicago. Of course, there are some awesome prize packages to be won as well!

While you wait impatiently for next week's fun, hop around to the Dream Team blogs and see what they have created for your inspiration:

Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal
Cherylynn Moser 

Louise Healy
Wendy Jordan 

Cyndi Bundy  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Cool Off! It's Christmas in August!

Pam here, covering for Lynell as she wings her way across the continent to teach classes on the east coast*. The Dream Team are focusing on Christmas in August for our challenge. With all the fabulous Christmas and holiday designs that Dreamweaver carries, there is no excuse for not playing along with us this month! Lynell would say that in a much more diplomatic way, but not me! Lol.

Today's post features another wonderful card created by our honorary design team member, Elaine Benedict. She creates the most beautiful and elegant samples for us, and this one is no exception. Here's how she did it:

First she machine-embossed the focal panel with the new Heart Ornaments. (Remember the sandwich for this? If not, you'll read about it on my post for today HERE!) Keeping the stencil in place, she used Splendor inks with a good brush to add color to the branch and hearts. While the stencil is still in place, she over-lay it with the newly-released Christmas Borders, and stenciled a portion of the design over the hearts. As a final step, she removed the borders stencil, and added a layer of Translucent Paste over the hearts. A sparkly bow, Dreamweaver 3" Pin and tiny crystals were all the embellishment needed. This sounds like a lot of steps, but in reality each step takes only a minute or two, so would be easily accomplished in multiples.

Be sure to link your own creations to the mr. linky at the bottom of this post, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com for an opportunity to win the Heart Ornament stencil seen above:

The team have been busy in the Christmas mode themselves, so go check out what they've created this week:

Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal 
Cherylynn Moser 

Louise Healy
Wendy Jordan 

Cyndi Bundy  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 

I'm expecting you back, linking your own creations below! Let's give Lynell something to look forward to when she gets back!

*Want to take a class with the reknown Lynell Harlow? Live on the east coast? Here's what's coming up over the next several days:

Ink About It, Westford MA: Friday August 10 , Two Classes, Call the store for specific times, availability and cost. 978-392-0321

Absolutely Everything, Topsfield MA: Saturday August 11, Two Classes, Call the store for specific times, availability and cost. 978-887-6397

Stamp and Scrap Nest, Simsbury CT: Thursday August 16, Two Classes Call the store for specific times, availability and cost. 860-658-9023

Inspirations Arts and Crafts Supplies, Essex Jct. VT: Saturday August 18, Two Classes, Call the store for specific times, availability and cost. 802-876-7005

Beautiful Impressions, Westbrook CT: Sunday August 19, Three Classes, Call the store for specific times availability and cost. 860-399-8855