Crative Impressions Blog Hop--A Pumpkin Card

Welcome to another wonderful day with a Blog Hop from Stampendous and Creative Impressions.  It wouldn't be a complete, of course, without PRIZES!

Comment for a chance to win one of these great prize packages! US winners only. See Official Rules for details. Deadline to comment is Sunday, August 7th, midnight PDT. Winners will be announced early next week.

Three prize packages that include:

• An assortment of ribbons and hardware
• PLUS winner’s choice of Create Winter, Create A Poinsettia or Create Fall Stamp Set

So now that you know about the prizes, let me share a card--and a new technique--with you.  While I was trying to spray the back of a stencil to add some color, I became frustrated with the coverage of the color.   That is when I came up with a new technique!  Read about it in steps 8-11.

MATERIALS:

Birthday Assortment Perfectly Clear Stamp Set SSC1115

Long Pumpkins Stencil DWLL514

Wood Background Rubber Stamp RS-R249

Perfectly Clear Acrylic Stamp Handle

Champagne Pearlustre Embossing Powder

White Mixed Media Paper

Versamark Embossing Ink Pad

Embossing Heat Tool

Creative Impressions Pumpkin with Olive Stitched Ribbon

Creative Impressions Brads from the Antique Copper Embellishment Kit

Creative Impressions Antique Copper Frames Set 84502

Memento Ink in Rich Cocoa

Manual Die Cut Machine

Rubber Embossing Mat

Versafine in Vintage Sepia

Tattered Angels in Burlap

My Colors Card Stock in Brown Eyes, Parrot and White

Prismacolor Pencils in Olive Green, Apple Green, Dark Green, Yellowed Orange, Burnt Ochre, Pumpkin Orange, Spanish Orange, Orange, Sepia

Adhesive--I used Zip Dry

Big Bite Tool

INSTRUCTIONS:

1)  Place the wood stamp on the clear acrylic stamp handle.

2)  Stamp on the brown card stock with the Momento Ink.

3)  Place the sentiment on the stamp handle.

4)  Stamp on green card stock with Versamark Ink.

5)  Cover with the Champagne Pearlustre Embossing Powder.

6)  Emboss with the Heat Tool

7)  Cut to fit inside the metal piece.

8)  Ink the back of the pumpkin stencil with the Versafine.

9)  Spray over the Versafine on the back of the stencil with the Tattered Angels.

10)  Place the stencil face down on the bed of the manual die cut machine and cover with the mixed media paper and then the rubber embossing mat and the top mat.

11)  Run the project through the machine.  This technique will give you a mottled background and an embossed image.  Let it dry a little.

12)  Color the embossed image using the Prismacolors.  I used the Sepia pencil to color some shadows under the pumpkins.

13)  Adhere the pumpkin and wood stamped elements to a 4 1/4" by 5 1/2" piece of green card stock.

14)  Use the Big Bite to create holes for the brads on your card.  I (somewhat awkwardly) held the metal piece in place as I used the holes as a guide.

15)  Glue the sentiment into the metal bracket.  (You can see the excess glue in this photo, but I promise it is not this evident in real life).  

16)  Use the brads to adhere the bracket to the card.

17)  Glue one piece of ribbon over the seam (leaving a small section in the center free of adhesive) and around the back of the green card stock.

18)  Slip a piece of the ribbon under the middle section and make a bow.  When you have it right, you can glue the edges down a little to prevent slipping.

19)  Adhere the card front to white 8 1/2" by 5 1/2" card stock folded in half.

Thanks for stopping by.  Don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win!  Also, check out (and comment on) all the other blogs for today to increase your chances.

Stampendous Blog

Kristine Reynolds

Jamie Martin

Louise Healy

Pam Bray

Janelle Stollfus

Tenia Nelson

Laura Drahozal

Dreamweaver By The Sea

We’ve got lots going on this week to keep your Summer Vacation hopping with inspiration. In one event we’re hopping all week with one of our very favorite craft partners. May Arts ribbon is an extremely generous sponsor for us here at Stampendous and our Design Team is absolutely in love with their gorgeous ribbons, cords, strings and specialty items. You’ll find loads of beautiful May Arts on all our samples.

This is also Dreamweaver Thursday and the Stampendous theme for the week is "By the Sea".  I followed all the guidelines with my post for today:

I have posted this once before, but it is one of my favorite and features one of my go-to May Arts ribbons, the 1.5 inch White Net Ribbon.  I used the Jellyfish Stencil through my Cuttlebug with my Stamping Details Rubber Embossing Mat.  The material I embossed was medium blue coated aluminum.  I placed the stencil face down on the A Plate and covered it with the metal, face down, the embossing mat and the two B Plates.  I did the same with the LM 248 Happy Birthday Stencil, except that I placed both the stencil and the metal face up.  In this way, I "debossed" it, sending the metal into the wells of the stencil. You should LEAVE the stencil behind the sentiment until you are done sanding. After the metal was embossed, I colored the backgrounds a little with Color Solutions in Aquarius, Iceberg and Blue Velvet.  I used these colors on the Happy Birthday wish as well.  Then, I lightly sanded the jellyfish and fully sanded the outside of the letters to reveal the silver.  (After this step, you should remove the stencil.) 

 After sanding, I tapped some of the White Pearl Color Solutions over the top of the jellyfish.

Of course, that gorgeous webbing fit right in with the stencil and the undersea theme.  

All week you’ve got a chance to check out our Design Team Inspiration as well as the Ribbonistas over at the May Arts Blog.  Be sure to comment and tell us where you’re from, because our Australian Distributor The Stencil Specialists are sponsoring a prize for one friend “down under” to win a Stampendous Stamp, a Dreamweaver Stencil and a surprise goodie from their terrific stock of Stampendous merchandise!

There are Stampendous prize packages up for grabs. THREE US commenters  will receive a prize of their choice in any one roll of ribbon from May Arts and a $20 reward card. Tell us what state you live in when you comment. Stampendous Official Rules.

Be sure to stop by the May Arts blog each day, because they are having a prize also! How’s that for an amazing week of prizes!

Prize

Three prize packages that will be winner choice – any one roll from May Arts and a $20 reward card from us. Stampendous Official Rules.

Make sure you comment on both this blog and the others listed below for your chance to win!

Stampendous Blog

Amy Hurley-Purdie

Laura Drahozal

Pam Hornschu

Tenia Nelson

Lea Kimmel

May Arts Blog

I also participated in Dreamweaver Thursday posting today.  There were a few others who were not participating with May Arts.  They are listed below:

Dreamweaver Posts

Lyn Bernatovich (DW)

Louise Healy

Alison Heikkila (Also Spellbinders Hop)

Kristine Reynolds

Jamie Martin

Getting Wild

For this week, the Stampendous theme is "Let's Go Wild"!  Today, I am also posting as part of the Dreamweaver Thursday, but, of course, using this theme.  

This card was made using three different stencils: LJ 915 Opto Checkerboard, LM 2004 Lizard and LS 1004 You & Me.  First, I patted the back of the checkerboard stencil with a little Black Soot Distress Ink and then tapped most of it off with a damp cloth.  I embossed white card stock using my Cuttlebug.  I put the stencil, clean side down, on the A Plate and then layered it with the card stock, Stamping Details Rubber Embossing Mat and the two B Plates.  It created a sort of sketchy looking background.  I embossed both of the lizards the same way, except I used color coated aluminum (medium blue and black) instead of the card stock.  Just to make the color differences more dramatic, I "poufed out" the metal by working on the back with the ball tool from the beginners metal tool set, and then the front using the deer foot tool (also from the beginners kit).  This "poufing" was just a little extra on my part, and not entirely necessary.  You could just skip to the next step, which is lightly sanding the tops of the lizards.  Then, I used my fine tipped scissors to cut around the images.  For the saying, I pasted with the Glossy White Embossing Paste on some teal card stock.  While the paste was still wet, I threw a little Crystal Glitter on it.  When everything was completely dry, I assembled the card.

Check out the other responses to the Let's Go Wild Theme:

Stampendous Blog (main blog link)

Pam Hornschu

Kristine Reynolds

Wendy Price

Laura Drahozal

Lyn Bernatovich

Louise Healy

Lea Kimmel

Alison Heikkila

Tenia Nelson

Frilly and Fabulous!

Break out the frou frou! For the month of February, the Dream Team are going Frilly and Fabulous! Vintage, retro, or modern, adding extra charm with fun Fran•tagé products from Stampendous, ribbons and lace from May Arts, buttons, crystals, charms, or even creating your own dimensional decor! A snippet or a pile, whatever your creative heart desires! Remember to link your creations using the Inlinkz tool on the Dream It Up! blog for a chance to win the stencil of your choice! Bonus points for using Dreamweaver and/or Stampendous product in your work of heart.

 

Here's what I've been playing with:

 

 

It isn't frilly per se, however it is VERY flourish-y, which is almost the same idea.  I made this one very simply using my Stamping Details Rubber Embossing Mat and Cuttlebug with the stencils and two B Plates.  I used white card stock with the Damask Stencil LJ 907 and red coated aluminum with the Tole Heart Stencil LL 3010 and, surprisingly, with the bottom of the Ornate Xmas Tree Stencil LX 7003.   Then, I sanded the tops of the metal pieces to reveal the aluminum underneath and cut around the design.  I assembled the card and added the May Arts ribbon through the holes I punched with my Crop A Dile.  That was it!  Pretty easy!  Now, it is your turn.  Visit the other team members, get inspired and make something of your own.  Link it for your chance to win!

 

For more frilly fun, visit the "A" team:

Dream It Up!

Leadonna Kimmel

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Lynn Mercurio

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

An InLinkz Link-up

HallowThanksMas Week 5

We are back to the original theme of the month, HallowThanksMas!  Yes, Halloween, Thanksgiving AND Christmas, but not all together, mind you.  As usual, we'd love for you to play along with the challenge and link your creations to the Inlinkz tool on the Dream It Up! blog. Just in case you are wondering...NO, YOU DO NOT NEED TO POST SOMETHING WITH ALL THREE HOLIDAYS ON IT! However, you get bonus points for actually using Dreamweaver stencils and product on your creations! And bonus points might actually earn you an extra stencil as our monthly winner...just sayin'!
 

Here's my creation for today: 

 

This is another metal creation.  I used both the green coated aluminum and the red coated aluminum.  I cut the ornaments out first using the DG674 Nested Ornaments Die and my Cuttlebug.  I then placed them on the LX7026 Chevron Background and ran it through my Cuttlebug with the stencil face up, the metal face up on the red and face down on the light green, the Rubber Embossing Mat and two B Plates.  I used the same sandwich with the red metal (face up) and the LM 283 Vertical Celebrate Stencil.  I dripped Color Solutions in Mojito into the "wells" on the lighter green ornament.  I sanded all of the metal projects to remove the coating on the raised portions.
 The background was created much the same way, but with paper in the sandwich and both the LX7025 Crusade Background Stencil and the paper face down.  I left the stencil in place as I sprayed it with Memory Mist MM25 Gold. 
The holly ornament was created with the FJ917 Holiday Greetings Embossing Folder. I put a couple of drops of Winter Red Color Solutions into the berry sections.  I then lightly sanded the whole thing.
I attached the two chevron ornaments and the celebrate word with Double Stick Mounting Paper.  Then, I pasted the LL3045 Small Oval Ornament Stencil with Glossy White Embossing Paste and attached the holly ornament while it was wet.

Remember to visit the entire Dream Team for more inspiration:

Dream It Up!

Leadonna Kimmel

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Lynn Mercurio

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

Gill Wilson

Lyn Bernatovich

Alison Heikkila

Kristine Reynolds

Kristi Parker Van Doren 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

More Christmas in September

The kids (and I, the substitute teacher) are back in school, with all the insanity that goes with it, vacations are a not-so-distant memory, and it is once again time to get busy with the important things in life...crafting for the holidays! Yay! All of September the Dream Team will be featuring all the new goodies we have for the "Most wonderful time of the year", the fall and winter holiday season. New stencil designs, new dies, and...(coming soon) brand new embossing folders featuring some of our top-selling designs, all to be found on-line through the Stencil with Style web-site, or your local papercrafting store.

Here's my holiday inspiration for this week:

Once again, I relied heavily on the easy embossing technique of running things through the manual die cut machine.  In this case, it was the Cuttlebug.  First, I used the Small Cathedral Windows Stencil LJ909 and white card stock for the background.  I sprayed the back of the stencil with Memory Mist MM26 Silver.  Then, I placed the stencil face down on my A Plate and covered it with the card stock, Stamping Details Rubber Embossing Mat and two B Plates.  You can see how shimmery it turned out in this picture:

Then, I cut the ornament out of green coated Mercart aluminum with the Nested Ornament Die DG674.  The sandwich was A Plate, die cut, metal, C Plate and B Plate.  I set aside the top and ran the ornament through the Cuttlebug with LX7026 Chevron Background.  I also ran the Happy Holiday Stencil LL3047 through with the green metal.  Both of these were debossed.  That means that I used the sandwich A Plate, stencil face up, metal face up, Rubber Embossing Mat and two B Plates.  I left the stencils under the metal until after sanding in both cases.  The ornament had some extra colors added.  First, I used a Q Tip covered in the Color Solutions Thinner to remove the green from the larger chevrons.  Then, I dripped some Christmas Red Color Solutions in the wells.  I sanded all of the metal pieces and removed the stencils.  Finally, I used a Q Tip to add some Mojito Color Solutions on the raised large chevrons.

To attach the Happy Holidays, I used Double Stick Mounting Paper.  To attach the ornament, I pasted the LG674 Oval Ornament Stencil with White Glossy Embossing Paste (glossy is stickier than the regular, but any color would work). and put the metal on while it was still wet.  You can see a little white peeking around the metal here:

 

Then, it was just simple assembly.

 



Of course, we have our monthly challenge for you to play along, so post your own holiday creations, and use the Inlinkz tool on the Dream It Up! blog (or in my last post), for a chance to win the prize at the end of the month. We also have our fabulous Guest Designer for the month of September, Wendy Price! Here's the list of our "A" Team with their links for the week:

Dream It Up!

Wendy Price (GD)

Leadonna Kimmel

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Lynn Mercurio

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

 

and the link up: 

 Inlinkz

 

Back to August as an Adjective

After all the blog-hopping excitement of last week, we are back to "August as an Adjective".  Yes, that is right, we are using the term august as, "marked by majestic dignity or grandeur", with synonyms such as, "dignified, distinguished, imposing, portly, solemn, staid, and stately". How about trying along with us, and linking YOUR creations to the inlinkz tool on the Dream It Up Blog for a chance to win the wildest stencil design your little heart is screaming for.

Here's my creation for this week:

 

 

All the metal is aluminum with a medium blue coating.  The part that appears black in the picture is actually navy blue suede paper.  I used the Dreamweaver Stencils LX 2001 Damask and LL565 Script Thank You with the Rubber Embossing Mat in my Cuttlebug for super easy embossing.  The background was embossed, with the metal and the stencil face down.  The Thank You was debossed, with the metal and the stencil face up.  Both were sanded.  I attached the Thank You with both Double Sided Mounting Paper and small jeweled brads.  That's it.  Very simple, and, I think, rather august.  Now, check out the other posts for the week and then try your own.
 

Dream It Up!

Leadonna Kimmel

Louise Healy

Laura Drahozal

Lynn Mercurio

Pam Hornschu

Jamie Martin

 Alison Heikkila

   

Christmas in August Blog Hop with Woodware

 

Yes! It's that time of year again! The time when we inspire crafters on both sides of the "pond" with a mix of both Dreamweaver and Woodware UK* products for the holidays! Six days, SIX, of beautiful, elegant, merry, cute, artsy, and craftsy projects to have you heading out to your local stores or internet sites to buy these goodies immediately!

Of course, there will be prizes as well. Three prize packages will be given to three commenters during this week's posts on the team's blogs, including five stencils and one nested die set. You can have an opportunity to win these goodies by leaving some holiday sweetness for each team member posting each day, to be one of the three winners for the week. Here are the team members that are inspiring you today:

Dream It Up!

Woodware UK

Laura Drahozal

Pam Hornschu

Kristi Parker Van Doren

Kristine Reynolds 

Lyn Bernatovich

Louise Healy

Gill Wilson

Lea Kimmel

Crafty Debs

Debs Frost

Alison Heikkila

Here's my creation: (or shall I say creations)

 

 

 

This is one stamp, two stencils, two Memory Mist Sprays, two Archival Inks, Stickles and crayons four ways..........

 

The stamp is from Woodware.

 

The stencils are Dreamweaver LJ 867 and LX 7002. 

 

 The tree is easy to see.  On the first one, I just sprayed through the opening.  On the second and last cards, I sprayed the stencil first and ran it through my die cut machine with the Rubber Embossing Mat.  It worked like a letterpress.  The third card used both of those techniques, first being run through the machine and then being sprayed through the opening.

 You say you can't see where I used the Plaid stencil?  Well, I embossed a piece of white velvet paper through the die cut machine with the stencil and the Rubber Embossing Mat and used it on the second and third cards. Here is a closer look:

 

I used the Memory Mists in Strawberry Daiquiri and Wheatgrass. The Archival Inks are Black and Olive.  I stamped the image first before making the letterpress effect.  The stickles are gold, silver, diamond, eucalyptus and mystery. The crayons added a little extra color here and there. 

 

So there you have it, one card four ways....

*For a stockist near you contact Woodware Craft Collection in the UK and Notions Marketing in the USA.

My First Post on the New Dreamweaver Team!

Welcome to a new year with Dreamweaver Stencils!  I am proud to say that I am carrying over my term as a  Design Team Member for another year.  This year, the commitment requires only alternate week posts, so I may not be posting every week.  Then again, I am used to the old schedule, so I might continue to post weekly......
Anyway, this month our challenge is Mists, Drizzles and Showers.  If you can come up with a project that fits, don't forget to email a picture to Lynell@Dreamweaverstencils.com for your chance to be published on the blog and possibly win a prize!  You don't HAVE to make a card.  As an example, here is my project this week:

I got the sketch from Disneyscrappers.  It was the February challenge, and was created by Susan Stringfellow.

MATERIALS for the whole project:
Dreamweaver Stencil LJ 905 Rain
Dreamweaver Stencil LJ 908 Umbrella Background
Dreamweaver Stencil LG 737 Umbrella
Medium Blue Mercart Metal
Double Sided Mounting Paper
Stamping Details Rubber Embossing Mat
Manual Die Cut Machine (I used the Cuttlebug)
Manual Alphabet Dies (I used Lifestyle Crafts Oatmeal)
Patterned Paper (Mine was from the DCWV Old World Stack)
Card Stock
Vellum
Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Stormy Weather and Salty Ocean
Non Stick Craft Sheet
Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink in Sail Boat Blue and Pebble
Tim Holtz Ink Blender with One Felt and Two Foam Pads
Vellum Writer Pen
Xyron Machine with Permanent Adhesive
Mickey Head Punch
Sandpaper
Scissors
Adhesive

DIRECTIONS for the metal portions only:
I am only including the metal parts in the directions.  You can probably decide how to put together a scrapbook page, based on the photo and materials list.

1)  Use the manual die cut machine to add texture to the metals.  The "sandwich" for the Cuttlebug is A Plate, stencil face down, metal, rubber embossing mat and the two B Plates.  You will need to use the Rain stencil once, with the metal in the sandwich blue side down.  The Umbrella will use the metal blue side up, and the Umbrella Background will be run twice, with the blue side up.  To run the stencil twice, simply run it and scoot the metal down so that the Umbrella Background will be above the previous one.  Just make sure that the rubber embossing mat does not cover the already embossed area.  There will be a slight flat area in between, that is what the pink card stock strip is for......

2)  Cut the Double Sided Mounting Paper into a 1" strip and a 1/4" strip.  Also, use the Mickey punch on the mounting paper.

3)  Use the scissors to cut strips from the rain metal and attach to one side of the mounting paper.

4)  Attach one side of the Mickey head to the back of the rain metal.

5)  Cut the rest of the rain metal in half and attach to the mounting paper, half blue side up, half silver side up.

6)  Attach the umbrella background metal and the umbrella metal to Double Sided Mounting Paper, silver side up.

7)  Put three drops of Sail Boat Blue Alcohol Ink and two drops of Pebble Alcohol Ink on a felt pad and "pounce" the color on the umbrella and umbrella background metals.

8)  Use the scissors to cut scallops on the bottom of the 1" strip.  I cut around the raindrops.

9)  Cut several raindrops out of the extra metal on the adhesive sheets.

10)  Sand all the metal.

Assemble the page.  With the mounting paper on the back, it is easy to adhere the metal to the page!
I hope you feel inspired.  Check out the rest of this week's blogs, including our guest blogger, Alison Heikkila!  You will be glad you did.

Dream It Up!

Alison Heikkila

Laura Drahozal

Lyn Bernatovich

Pam Hornschu

Heidi Erickson

Louise Healy

Jessica Griffin

Cyndi Bundy