Christmas in August!

Welcome to Christmas in August!  For this new challenge, I am using a brand new stencil.  First released at this Summer CHA, this stencil is bound to become a hit.  Here, I used it with a modified Double Glitter Technique, which I call "Triple Glitter" because it uses different kinds of glitter in the same stencil wells.  Here is a video on the basics of double glitter, by our stencil queen, Lynell.  I soaped up the back of Stencil LJ 921 and Stencil LS 92 Merry Christmas.  I brushed off all the excess soap crumbles.  Then, I placed them soap side down on the Double Sided Adhesive Paper.  For the hearts, I used an Art Glitter Dazzler called D4 Jackpot Funky.  It has a combination of very chunky pieces and ultrafine pieces.  If I had only used this, I would not have super sharp and crispy edges that I wanted. I can get that crispness with Microfine Glitters, so I added #516 Gold Tone Microfine Opaque to the hearts.  I put it on the stencil and pushed it into the wells all around the sides. Since the other openings are so small, I used Microfine on most of the card.  The ornament hangers are #508 Silver Moon Microfine Opaque.  The needles are a combination of #519 Reed Microfine Opaque and #514 Bavarian Forest.  The Bavarian Forest is also used in the words.  I didn't need the branches to be sharp and crispy, so I used Ultrafine Opaque #58 Brown.  Now here is the best tip in this post:  to get the colors of glitter where you want them, put a pinch of glitter on the metal stencil next to the area where you want the color.  Then, gently shove it into place with your finger.  This works especially well with the Microfine glitters, as they need to be "burnished" (rubbed in) anyway.  When the colors are in place, brush the excess off and remove the adhesive paper from the stencil.  The stencil needs to remain flat on a hard surface as you peel the paper off of the it.  After the paper is off, the background adhesive is exposed.  Cover that with a layer of glitter.  I used Ultrafine Transparent Crystal #85.  Then, I just assembled the card.

So, now it is your turn!  Our challenge is Christmas in August, so get a head start on some special cards.  Put them online and link them to the Dreamweaver Blog or just email a picture to Lynell with some brief directions.  Find her email address on the blog.  You could be featured and even win a prize!  Give it a shot.  In the meantime, check out all the blogs (linked on the left) and get inspired with Dreamweaver Stencils.  Merry Christmas in August--see you next week!