July is Summer Fun Month!

July is officially Summer Fun Month at Dreamweaver Stencils!  All month, the design team will be posting summery images--and there are plenty of beautiful stencils to choose from.  No special techniques required.  If you would like to win a brand new not yet released stencil, you should make a summer fun project, upload it, and link it to the Dream It Up! Blog.
Here is my post for the week.  I thought I would start with something undeniably summery.                       
I made this card with two stencils:  LM 106 Scallop and LJ 838 Waves.  I used blue coated Mercart aluminum.  I started by running the aluminum through my Cuttlebug with LM 106 and my Stamping Details Rubber Embossing Mat.  The "sandwich" for this was A Plate, stencil face down, metal blue side down, Details Embossing Mat, and two B Plates.  I only use flat plates for this, as curved ones will encourage the stencil to bend.  I then used my Mercart Basic Metals Kit to enhance the image.  I removed the stencil and placed the metal blue side down on a piece of suede.  I used the smallest ball in the tiny areas and the larger ball in the larger areas.  The balls were made to push the metal out and make it more sculptural.  I flipped the metal over and placed it on an acrylic block.  I used my teflon tool to flatten and sharpen the edges.  Do not use any of the metal tipped tools on the blue side of the metal--only the teflon tool or a blending stump.  When the scallop looked the way I liked it, I pasted the back with the Mercart Backing Paste.  I just put the paste in the cavity on the back.  I had to wait for it to dry. 
Once the paste was dry, I placed the metal blue side up on LJ 838 Waves.  I rubbed over the metal with a drawing blending stump.  I occasionally went around the inside of some of the larger open sections with the smaller pointed side of the teflon tool.  This refined the edges and created deeper wells.  Before removing the stencil, I sanded the background metal.  Then, I removed the stencil and sanded the scallop.  The metal portion was completed. 
I did a simple assembly on this card, with just a little "Scrapper's Floss" and a couple of beads knotted in. 
Now, for an exciting sneak peek of a new stencil--the one that YOU could win this month!  Here it is:

Keep in mind, this is only PART of the beautiful stencil that you could win.  So, get to work!  Make a summer fun project, upload it and link it to the Dream It Up! blog this month.  Also, check out the rest of the team (they are listed and linked to the left of this post). Get inspired.  Let's see what you've got!