Thursday Dream Schemes--The England Cards

For those who don't know, I had the wonderful opportunity to represent Dreamweaver Stencils at the Stitches Show in the United Kingdom. (Think CHA of the United Kingdom). I had an absolutely fantastic time demonstrating to the retailers across the Atlantic. I showed several different techniques, and used the products of those demonstrations to create some cards for Woodware, the United Kingdom distributor. Three of the cards that I made wound up with the British version of QVC. I will never see them, and no one will hear my name, but it was thrilling nonetheless. Five others were just left with the wonderful Woodware women, and I never got photos of those. These five were finished just a little later, and I was able to take these (not fantastic) photos of them on my bed before I mailed them off on my last day. You will notice my souvenir scarf laying behind them. Now, I had random items with me, so go easy on me this week. (In fact, I would have more, but my cuticle scissors gave up on me.)


A version of this bird card was one of my make and takes during the show. It was created with the Woodware Microfine Glitter (I liked it so much that I "pinched" the remainder when I left), and Stampendous Fun Flock. First, I soaped the back of the birds on a branch stencil (to allow it to be easily removed). Then, I attached the stencil to the double sided adhesive paper, soap side down. I used a Big Shot to dry emboss the birds on a branch stencil, and then loosely cut out the birds. This way, I created a mask, to individually color the birds. I covered the stencil with the mask, lining up the birds. I put glitter into each of the holes seperately, pushing the glitter onto the adhesive backed paper. I also pushed glitter into the saying. I brushed the excess glitter off. Then, I removed the mask. I put alot of flocking on the branched and pressed it in HARD with my finger. It is the only way to make your flocking feel plush. Then, I rubbed and brushed the excess off completely. I removed the stencils, and flooded the remaining area with white glitter and added a ribbon.





The rest all used this same "double glitter" technique. Some used additional techniques. The Thistle, for example, used flock and glitter in the blue (I didn't have purple) thistle flower. The glitter is shaded because I used two different colors. Both the Thistle and the Blue Knot also use the "plaid maker"--which is the stripe stencil held one way and stencilled, then turned and stencilled at 90 degrees. The knot also had a machine embossed raindrop background.


This owl card has a double glitter raindrop pattern, but also includes a simple machine emobssing on the owl. It was embossed with a slightly thicker copper. Then, I just sanded lightly over the top to add to the dimension.



So, those were my quickly assembled "demonstration" cards.




Did I have fun in England? ABSOLUTELY! I am including a few photos here.





The picture on the left is Windsor Castle. This is the largest currently inhabited castle in the world. I was able to tour around, but not go into the state rooms, as the Queen actually followed me there. The other picture is me at the St. George's Chapel on the castle grounds. This "chapel" is larger than almost any church I have seen in the U.S. It was fantastic. It survived a shelling in World War II, and still has the hole to prove it!



You should recognize the photo on the left. The right is the front gates of Buckingham palace. It is the crest of the royal family. Below, there is a picture of Westminster Abbey side entrance and a crocus that was beginning to bloom in the gardens by Buckingham Palace.



The next picture is of the White Tower in the Tower of London. The Tower has an intriguing history, and this building is the oldest, from 1024.
This is Trafalgar Square, as seen from the front steps of the National Gallery.



I will finish with my favorite new dinner finisher--Sticky Toffee Pudding. It is like a chocolate sponge cake infused with toffee, served with vanilla ice cream and a little chocolatey/toffee sauce. So delicious, and COMPLETELY WORTH all the calories. Yum! I only wish I could get it here......