Thursday, March 20, 2014

More March Madness

Welcome to the Dreamweaver "March Madness" challenge! Anything goes, and the more outside-of-the-box, the better. So, break out all of your I-never-quite-knew-what-to-do-with-these-products stash, look at your Dreamweaver stencils in a whole new creative light, and get crafting! Oh, and don't forget to link those creations to the linkytool on the Dream It Up! blog for one of THREE chances to win the stencil of your choice!
Here is my Mad Creation:

It is a gift for my friend, Georgia, who is currently playing along with our team. I met her as a Dreamweaver Designer and am so glad that I did!  This is a picture of her on the teacup ride at Disneyland.  What is crazier (or harder to get) than a teacup ride frame?  To quote Alice in Wonderland, "We're all mad here", further adding to the March Madness theme.
This is how I created the Madness:

MATERIALS:
Dreamweaver Stencil LJ896 Large Flourish
Dreamweaver Stencil LS96 Hello
Dreamweaver Stencil LL493 Teacups Vertical
Dreamweaver Stencil LL 550 Party Lanterns
Any Small Print Dreamweaver Stencil
Stencil Brush 
Palette Knife
Removable Tape
Dreamweaver Glossy White Embossing Paste
Color Solutions in Aquarius, Red Pepper, Mojito, Cosmo Pink and Lemoncello
Color Solutions Thinner
Art Glitter Ultrafine Transparent in 85 Crystal
Corron Swabs
Blue Acrylic Paint
White Acrylic Paint
Paintbrush
Plain Wooden Frame

 DIRECTIONS:
1) Paint the frame with your background color.  I used blue.  Let it dry.
2)  Position the Large Flourish Stencil over the corners and paint with the stencil brush.



3)  Position the hello stencil on the bottom of the frame and tape down with the removable tape.
4)  Using the palette knife, spread the glossy paste across the top of the stencil.
5)  Remove the stencil.
6)  For the Hello Stencil, cover with clear glitter immediately.


 7)  Repeat steps 3-5 with the teacups on the sides and the lanterns across the top.  You won't always be able to get the whole stencil on the frame.  When that is the case, you can use your finger to remove any excess embossing paste.

8)  Let dry.


9)  Brush off excess glitter.
10)  You can test the Color Solutions ink colors.  Use cotton swabs to test the colors on plain paper and see which colors you want to use.


11)  Add color to the glossy paste with cotton swabs.  You can use stencils with simple patterns as masks to put on the Color Solutions Ink.



12)  Use a little of the Color Solutions Ink Thinner on a cotton swab to perfect the inks.



 Need some more crazy ideas? Check our "A" team first, and our very special guest designer and Certified Dreamweaver teacher..

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Dreamweaver March Madness Challenge

MAD I tell you! We're all going MAD! That is...MAD for Dreamweaver Stencils! Welcome to our "March Madness" challenge! Anything goes, and the more outside-of-the-box, the better. This year, we're aiming to play with non-traditional challenges whenever possible. So, break out all of your I-never-quite-knew-what-to-do-with-these-products stash, look at your Dreamweaver stencils in a whole new creative light, and get crafting! Oh, and don't forget to link those creations to the linkytool on the Dream It Up! blog for one of THREE chances to win the stencil of your choice! Need some crazy ideas? Check our "A" team first, and our very special guest designer and Certified Dreamweaver teacher...

 
Here's my personal act of madness:

I used two different stencils to create this embellishment:  LJ844 Dragon and LJ 903 Lg Open Fan.  First, I traced the inside of the fan on Double Sided Mounting Paper.  I cut around the image and set it aside. Then, I soaped up the back of the dragon stencil using Handmade Hawaiian Coconut Soap.  I brushed off the excess soap crumbles with a large stencil brush.  I put the stencil soap side down on the fan shaped Double Sided Mounting Paper.  I used Stampee Foil on the dragon copying the colors from the dragon fan in the photo.  I pressed the foil down with my finger and ran an embossing tool around the edges.  After I had the colors the way I wanted them, poured crystal glitter over the top of the dragon.  I brushed off the excess glitter.  Placing the stencil face down on a flat surface, I carefully peeled off the paper and covered it with black glitter.
Then, it was time to soap up the back of the fan stencil.  I placed it, soap side down, on another piece of Double Sided Mounting Paper.  I positioned the dragon fan paper inside the open fan on the stencil.  I covered it with black glitter.  Then, I placed the project stencil side down on a flat surface and carefully peeled the paper off.  I covered the remaining paper with crystal glitter and cut around the shape.  Viola!  I had an embellishment.
I hope you enjoyed the project today.  I just wanted to show how you could use Dreamweaver Stencils to create a unique scrapbook page.  Don't be afraid to break away from the card and see what you can do!