I just got back from CHA where I saw ideas galore, met up with Lynell from Dreamweaver, and got my picture in the booth with some of my cards. It was SO exciting, but more on that in a future post.

I right now, I want to share the thing I wanted to post just before I left. I entered the Bo Bunny Design Team Challenge, and one of the entries has a story. I made this mini album of a trip to the zoo with my friends and their children. I used the seriously cute Peacock Lane line and the some really adorable pictures of Jessie. I knew I wanted to enter it in the challenge, but I also figured that it would be a good gift for my friends. I worked and worked on it until I had it just right--and I also fell in love with it. I asked Steve if he thought that I really HAD to give it away. He said probably not, but I know I can't keep it. I never made it for myself, and Jessie isn't my child, so, in the words of the Bo Bunny slogan, I guess it will be "a gift of love".

Give Thanks Dreamweaver Card

Okay, everyone. I am down to the last Dreamweaver card that I can show before the big CHA reveal of the newest stencils. I know that this one is more "fall-ish", but we can use a break from thinking about all that warm weather. The words were from a large "Give Thanks/Cornucopia" stencil. They are stencilled in gold on some Bo Bunny paper. The Wheat Stencil was used on watercolor paper with a Soft Wheat Dye ink and then Versamark and Clear Embossing Powder initially to create a resist to watercolor paint a blue background over. In an interesting turn of events, the watercolor paper wasn't quite strong enough for everything I was doing to it, and the practice painting went horribly awry. The soft embossed wheat looked fine as it was anyway, so I used that. I also used the stencil on linen (which, ironically IS plenty stong enough) with yellow embossing paste that I then enhanced with various colors of Distress Inks. Then, is was just a matter of assembly and raffia. This one was nice and easy, so I am thinking of including it in my fall Dreamweaver class.

Another Dreamweaver Sample

Hello, folks! I am posting another one of the samples that I sent to Dreamweaver Stencils last week. This one was so easy, that I almost felt guilty sending it in. I was just so pleased with it, that I didn't want to leave it out.

The brown paper is Basic Grey and the blue is cardstock. The light blue is Coordinations, all roughed up. I used the Pearlescent paste on the words. I am really liking that paste. It goes on easy, but looks really special, as if I have done something difficult with it. The willows were made by stenciling black ink first, then covering it with the Crackle paste. Once the paste was dry, I covered it with Adirondack ink in Mushroom color. The cracks show the black through nicely, making it really look like bark. Then, I used Zig Squeeze N Roll glue to adhere the white flock to the pussy willow ends. The brown showing through the ends really adds dimension and realism to the look. I ripped the edges of the Coordinations and the vellum and then layered the whole thing. SUPER EASY!