Thursday, June 5, 2014

Old, New, Borrowed, Blue Challenge Week 1

At Dreamweaver Stencils, we love to make our monthly challenges something for everyone, and not so strict that no one wants to play along. This month our challenge is, "Old, New, Borrowed, Blue", with the obvious thought being a wedding theme...but not necessarily. Add an old embellishment or picture. Use a new stencil design or technique. Borrow, or CASE (copy and say everything) another designers project, and obviously, blue...is blue. Where will YOUR creative process take you for this month? We'd love to see! And remember, linking your creations with the Inklinkz tool at the end of the team posts, provides you with the opportunity to win the stencil of your choice! Here's what I've created for this week...

I used two of the four words in the challenge:  New, because this stencil is fairly new and this is a new variation on technique for me, and Blue, because it is well, blue.  Yes, I just did that!  See how easy it could be for you to do this challenge?
 
MATERIALS:
Dreamweaver Stencil LG 755 Sailboat
Mercart Color Coated Aluminum in AC12 Teal
Stamping Details Rubber Embossing Mat
Color Solutions in Lemoncello, Blue Velvet, Sugar Plum, Darkest Brown, Black Beauty and Paprika Red
Mercart Beginner Metal Working Kit
Mercart Metal Filling Paste
Scissors
Manual Die Cutting Machine (I used a Cuttlebug)
Cotton Swabs
Cotton Balls
A Small Piece of Suede
Sanding Block
Adhesive
Card Stock

DIRECTIONS:
1)  Measure the metal against the stencil and cut the metal with scissors about a half an inch larger all the way around.

 
2)  Decide about where you might want the sun and drip a couple of drops of Color Solutions in Lemoncello in that area.

 
3)  Using a cotton swab, smear the Color Solutions in a circular shape.  It will both lift the teal background color and lay down a nice sunny yellow.

 
4)  Put a few drops of the Color Solution thinner on a cotton swab.

 
5)  Using small circular motions, remove some blue to create clouds.  Be sure to overlap the sun in at least one spot.


6)  Drop Color Solutions in Blue Velvet and a little Sugar Plum on a cotton ball.

 
7)  Tap the color over the metal across the water area of the image.

 
When it is done, the metal should look something like this.

8)  Run the metal through the die cut machine with the rubber mat.  For the Cuttlebug, the sandwich is A Plate, stencil face down, metal face down (be sure to get the colors in the right spots), rubber embossing mat and two B Plates.
 
 
9)  Flip it upside down on the suede and "push out" the areas you want raised with the ball tool (which comes in the beginner kit).

 
10)  When everything seems sufficiently "poufed", flip the project right side up and place it on a smooth hard surface (I used the Cuttlebug A Plate).  Use the Teflon Deer Foot Tool to sharpen the areas around the raised metal. 
The flat side is used in the large, flat area.

 
The pointed side gets into the details.

 
11)  When the project is to your liking, fill the raised areas with Filling Paste and it let dry completely.  This should take at least a couple of hours.

 
12)  After the paste is dry, use the sanding block to remove the color from any raised areas.

 
13)  Use Color Solutions on cotton swabs to paint in areas of color.  I painted the birds, the red stripe on the sail, the boat and the rigging.

 
14)  Assemble the card.

The addition of color before manipulating the metal is the "new" part of the technique for me.  It was pretty fun!  I hope you see that you can interpret the theme in all different ways.  Give it a try!
 
Here's what our "A" team has been working on this week:


Here is where you can link up your creation (or you can go to the Dream It Up blog): 

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11 comments:

  1. My first thought was how dramatic your card is! The metal really makes a statement. Great tips on coloring it first with alcohol inks!

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  2. I love your creation, I love this stencil, what a wonderful job!

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  3. Holy moly...what a wonderful creation Laura. Love the metal embossing and especially loved the tip about removing the color with the color solution. Fantastic!

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  4. Gorgeous card, Laura! Eventually I'm going to get some of the metal tools and alcohol inks! I drool every time I see a card done with them! You seriously rocked it with this one!

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  5. Laura this is a great card. You are so talented my friend.

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  6. Laura this is a great card. You are so talented my friend.

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  7. Despite the sun, I get the feeling of very wild weather on this! Really cool new way to color the metal!

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  8. Awesome card Laura! I agree with Pam, it gives a very blustery feel!

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  9. I really like your tutorials...you are inspiring me to get it together and do something similar for the visual learners out there that I certainly relate with. Beautiful creation Laura...hope all is well, think of you often, in fact at least every week at this time. ; )

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  10. You metal work is amazing and thank you for showing us how to do it.

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