Stampendous September Challenge

So, here is my response to this Stampendous Sketch Challenge. I really wanted to enter it the moment that I saw the sketch. The idea of a charm bracelet of sorts sprung right into my head. My challenge was to find the right stamps. It took me forever. Then, one day, when I was shopping at Stamp Peddler in Northville, MI, I stumbled upon lots of new Stampendous Products. This acrylic set was perfect for the job--it was even called Charm Collection!

Initially, I was using the new and gorgeous Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel, but because the stamps are so detailed and the Enamel so thick, I had to switch to regular silver embossing powder. The paper I used, Lost and Found by My Mind's Eye, was perfect with these stamps for a vintage charm look.

Of course, life got in the way a little this month, so I am really posting this at the last minute. I am thinking since Stampendous is in California I am going with Pacific Time?? Even if that doesn't work for me, I still have a great stamp set and a pretty new card, so that's a good thing.

Thursday Dream Schemes--Sketch Challenge

I followed this week's sketch exactly. I used only one stencil--the beautiful Black Eyed Susan LJ902. Here is my result:

I pasted both the lighter and darker versions on Bo Bunny Paper from an older release. I pasted on the lighter paper with the Original Matte White Paste and the darker paper with the Matte Yellow Paste.

After the paste was dry, I replaced the stencil on the lighter color and used Distress Inks to color it. Those inks do not soak in right away, and leave a lighter, more faded look on the white paste. This was exactly the look I wanted so that the background image would remain subordinate to the foreground.

On the darker paper, I used just a little Distress Ink on the flower. Then, I glued green Fun Flock on the leaves and vines. Finally, I used Art Glitter Glue on the flower center to glue small brown beads in the center as seeds.

I cut the lighter flowers into fourths, aged them with Distress Inks in Denim, rounded the edges and glued them onto the AC cardstock. I then cut a square from the darker flowers, matted it in yellow AC cardstock, roughed up the edges and popped it up on top. Finally, I used a pretty little eyelet and yellow gingham to complete my country look (and inadvertantly honor my team, the Michigan Wolverines with the colors maize and blue).

I had some fun with this one. You should check out the other Dream Team member blogs and give it a try yourself. Then, link your creation to the Dreamweaver Blog, so we can all check it out. Oh yeah, and leave a comment--we all love comments!

If you could do me a giant favor, become a follower here, too. I don't keep track of your email or send anything out, but I am thinking of trying out for another design team (in addition to this one) and they would really like me to have one hundred followers.

In the meantime, have an inspired week, and I will see you back here next Thursday.

Thursday Dream Schemes--Free Week

For this week's free challenge, I decided to use this card that I recently sent to Lynell. We were given these two Kanji character stencils. They are both the same symbols, but in two different sizes. They mean hope. I have used the smaller of the two a couple of weeks ago with the red maple stencil. In this card, I am using both of them, LL3018 and LS1008, the fan LJ903 and the ginger jar, LG 626. I also use a few different techniques. I am going to break them down into steps:
THE GINGER JAR:
1) Use regular paste on black cardstock with ginger jar.
2) When the paste dries, replace the stencil and use a large stencil brush and Weathered Wood Distress Inks to create shading.
3) Place the Large Hope Stencil over the jar and use a stencil brush and Cranberry Adirondack Pigment Inks to stencil.
4) When all is dry, replace the jar stencil and lightly dab with Versamark. Toss clear embossing powder over the top and heat it.
RED FAN:
1) Use red cardstock and a dry embossing stylus to create the outline shape of the fan. Don't worry too much about accuracy on the bottom, as this won't show.
BLACK FAN:
1) Using the Mercart Teflon tool and black covered aluminum, emboss the outline of the fan, including the blades on the bottom. Emboss from the back.
2) Remove the stencil. "Poof" out the fan from the back using the largest Mercart ball tool you have.
3) Place the small Kanji figure on the fan and lightly tape with removable tape. Emboss with the teflon tool from the back.
4) Flip the fan over. Working from the front, place a ruler to attach the blades from the bottom to the raised parts on the top of the fan. Very LIGHTLY draw a line along the ruler. Avoid the section with the raised figure.
5) Use Mercart filler in the back of the fan.
6) When filler is dry, sand on black side of the aluminum. Trim around edge.

I think at this point, that you can assemble the card. I hope I have been able to inspire you to use these stencils or this technique to make a creation of your own. Go check out the blogs of the other Dreamweaver Team members. Leave a comment, get inspired, and link your creations to the Dreamweaver Blog. Come back again next week and check out the sketch challenge. See you then!

Thursday Color Challenge--Lime and Gray (sort of)

Okay, so I guess it is true confessions time: I was really afraid of this week's challenge. Yep, I will boldly jump into multi layered painted boxes, use shrink plastic with abandon, and am not anxious about adding ANYTHING on top of flat white paste--yet, I was so afraid of a color challenge that it took literally all day. I procrastinated and procrastinated. I just had NO idea what I could do with lime green and gray.

Finally, when it became really, really late, I sorted through my stencils to look for something that is supposed to be green. I wound up with a stack of butterflies, a frog, a turtle and some really cute lizards. I decided on the lizard LM 2004. I have always liked this one with a southwest vibe. In fact, it is the one that I used to demonstrate this very technique at The Cottage Stamper in Illinois this past June. I soaped up the back of the stencil, brushed off the crumbs and adhered it to the Double Sided Adhesive Paper. Then, I found a lime(ish) foil from Creative Imaginations and laid it over the top of the stencil. I pressed the foil into the stencil "holes" with the smaller of the embossing tools. I did the eyes the same way with red. Before removing the stencil, I rubbed in some Stampendous Flock in Olive You. I brushed off the excess and carefully removed the paper from the stencil. Then, I poured Crystal Art Glitter over the whole thing. I cut around the shape, adhered it to the green cardstock and cut again. The Friend stencil (which is, apparentl unavailable, but has been replaced by the almost identical Friends stencil LM 210) was done the same way, but I left a border of the adhesive paper around the outside which I covered in the foil as well. I also did not attach the cardstock to it.

The background was done by placing black coated aluminum over the the Mosaic Swirls LJ 901 stencil. I rubbed it all over with a thick drawing blending stump. With the stencil still in place, I sanded lightly over the top of the aluminum, removing the black coating on the raised areas. I am calling this aluminum "gray" for purposes of the challenge. Finally, I attached it all, using a gray patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle and gray and white twine from My Mind's Eye.

Once I decided what to do, this challenge wasn't all that hard. Like everything, I just had to set my mind to it and get started. I hope you feel inspired to get started on some stencilling of your own. Leave a comment, visit the other Dream Teamers, then get to work. Make your own and link it to the Dreamweaver Blog. It'll be fun! Oh, and don't forget to come back next week!

Dream Scheme Thursday--Free Week

After all of the great blog hopping last week, it sure is nice to have a free week now. By the way, if you are Nikkib or Marijane, look at my last post for a way to get in touch. You won the blog candy from my site!

Anyway, back to this week. I chose to do a masculine card.

This card was made using three different stencils: LJ 911 Gears, LJ 912 Triangle Weave and LG 704 Birthday Words. I used textured brown cardstock as the gear base. Before I stencilled it, I roughed it up a little and then rubbed some Distress Ink in Walnut Stain over it. I placed the Gears Stencil on it (which I love, by the way) and used Silver Embossing paste over it. I did the same with a smaller piece and the Triangle Weave Stencil. While the pastings were WET, I sprinkled Distress Embossing Powder in Vintage Photo over parts of the paste. I then heated it with my Heat It tool. You can see what it did. I got a fantastic bubbled look. Also, where it bubbled, it looks shinier. The effect was perfect. Rusty gears. I then pasted some cork paper with Birthday Words in Glossy Black. I stacked it all and used my Big Bite to add holes for brads. I put it all on a black card and viola! Super easy, but it looks hard.
So, if you would like to play along, with ANY stencilled project at all, go to the Dreamweaver Blog and link your project. Otherwise, be sure to check out the list of my Dreamweaver Sisters on the links at the side of my blog. Get inspired and stencil something! Oh, and don't forget to come back next week.

Across the Pond Blog Hop Winners

Well, I went to random.org and generated some winners. For the first post I did on the International Blog Hop, the hair clips, the winner is number 20, or Nikkib. The second post, the celtic treasure chest, random.org generated number 8--Marijane. Congratualtions winners. (Everyone is a winner, of course, but only those two were generated by Random.org.) Nikkib and Marijane should email me at Drahozals@aol.com with their snail mail addresses so that I can make sure you get your stencils. Thanks so much to EVERYONE who commented. Come back again!

Blog Hop--Treasure Box

For some time, I have been thinking about using stencils and metals to make a treasure chest. I only had to decide what theme to use. I have always loved Celtic Knots, so when I realized how many wonderful Celtic Knot stencils Dreamweaver had available, I knew I was on the right track.
I began by purchasing a wooden chest shaped box at my local craft store. It already had brass hardware, which I wasn't crazy about, so I sanded it. I also painted the box green to go with my Irish theme. The first coat was actually black and painted with a foam brush. I then put a few layers on of two different colors of green paint with a sea sponge.
Most of the metal was done with black coated aluminum. The part around the latch was with regular aluminum and alcohol inks because I very much wanted it to blend with the latch. The technique was a lot like the butterfly technique that I used on Monday, except that I pushed on the opposite side of the metal. In this case, I put the stencil face down on my hard surface. Then, I placed the metal on top, black side down. I used the teflon tool from Mercart (also available through Dreamweaver) to push the metal into the holes on the stencil. Then, I removed the stencil. This is a big difference from the previous post. I put the metal black side down on a piece of suede. I then used a "ball" ended tool (also in the beginner set) to push the metal into the suede on the parts that were already indented. When that was done, I flipped the metal over and laid it back on the hard surface. I used the teflon tool to "clean up" the lines. When I was satisfied with the embossing, I filled the back with the Mercart filler (also through Dreamweaver) and let it dry. After it was dry, I sanded it down to the aluminum on the embossed sections and cut around the piece with a regular pair of fine tipped scrapbooking scissors. I attached the pieces to the box with a thick, tacky glue (actually a product here in the States called Tacky Glue). I don't think that the glue is going to hold it in place permanently, so as soon as I can find a very fine hammer, I am planning on nailing them into place with metal tacks.
So, on to those fantastic stencils that I used. The lock was created with LL 540 Heartweave. This one was done on plain aluminum and inked later. The really fun bit on this was when I cut out the insides of the bottom loop to fit it over the latch. I then cut off the loop all together so that I could put it on the bottom of the latch. The emblem on the top is LL 345 Square Knot. Celtic Hexagon LL 381 is on both sides up near the top. I used LL 380 New Age Celtic as a decoration on the back by cutting it in half and putting one half on the lid and one half on the back. I positioned it to slightly overlap the hinges.
Probably my favorite to use on this was the Triangle Knot LM 180. I made four of them. After they were prepared, I merely folded each in half and used them on the corners. I just loved the look that they gave the finished piece.
So, now that you have finished here, don't forget to leave a comment. You will want to win wonderful stencils! (Oh, and you could always sign up as a follower--I love followers!) Then, be sure to hop on over to Louises blog here. She always has great projects. Have a great time hopping, and don't forget to come back again some time!