Lynell and me at CHA

Well, CHA was very interesting. (I got a little hung up on that Teresa Collins Stampmaker.) I was even more excited, of course, that some of MY work was hanging in the Dreamweaver Stencils Booth! You can see my summer card (previously posted) behind Lynell and me in the picture, but several other pieces were there as well. I was so excited that I am afraid I made a total geek of myself. Fellow Dream-teamer Louise was running a Make-N-Take using one of Lynell's latest Christmas stamps and an absolutely gorgeous technique of painting with pigment ink on transparent Art Institute Glitter. Unbelievable!

Also, I had completely forgotten that I had not yet posted the two CHA stencilled cards yet. Here I was, thrilled to get the fantastic new Christmas stencils, and I hadn't shared the Peacock or the Black Eyed Susan (I call it a Daisy) cards--so here they are.

The daisy was stencilled with the original paste, which I was thrilled to find takes about any additional techniques with no problems at all. I used a Versamark pen over the vines and heat embossed them with American Crafts Zing! in metallic green. Then, I flocked the centers in gold and added Art Institute Opaque glitter in Martini to some of the petals, using Zig glue. I pasted the word summer in glossy white, echo cut around it and popped it up. The papers are by Bo Bunny.

The peacock, quite honestly, was alot of work. The bird was pasted several times with glossy blue paste on white cardstock. Then, it was mounted on chipboard, cut out and layered. The edges of the board were distressed with ink, and the layers were assembled. Then, I used Zig glue to select areas to add the Navajo Sky Mica Powders and to add Goldfinch Mica Powder to the beak and opaque black Art Institute Glitter to the eye. The gems were from Little Yellow Bicycle Lucky Me collection. With the peacock done, I moved to the background. It was pasted with the original paste on a white background. While the paste was still wet, I used the peacock to flatten the area I would glue it to, and added Art Institute Glitter in Polar Bear to the vines. I then used the dream stencil with blue paste and Art Institute Glitter in a color that I have since forgotten the name of. Finally, I assembled all of it. It took a very long time, but I was extremely pleased with it.

Well, I am off to work on some projects for Scrap Academy at the store, my fall Dreamweaver classes and, of course, my Dreamweaver sample with the beautiful new Christmas stencils.

This Week's Challenge

This week's Scrap Wars challenge was to create a two page layout that included a baby picture, high school picture and current picture of yourself. It also had to include journalling. I have never scrapped a page all about me before, and I found the idea intimidating. Of course, once I got into it, I just couldn't stop. This Bo Bunny Mamarazzi collection was absolutely perfect! The colors were great, and even the stickers and embellishments seemed created for a layout about oneself! I made it look like an old fashioned scrapbook, by laying the elements in a more haphazard manner. Yes, the woman in the current picture with me is Lynell from Dreamweaver Stencils. If you are in the area, stop by Scrap Tales and vote for me.

I just got back from CHA where I saw ideas galore, met up with Lynell from Dreamweaver, and got my picture in the booth with some of my cards. It was SO exciting, but more on that in a future post.

I right now, I want to share the thing I wanted to post just before I left. I entered the Bo Bunny Design Team Challenge, and one of the entries has a story. I made this mini album of a trip to the zoo with my friends and their children. I used the seriously cute Peacock Lane line and the some really adorable pictures of Jessie. I knew I wanted to enter it in the challenge, but I also figured that it would be a good gift for my friends. I worked and worked on it until I had it just right--and I also fell in love with it. I asked Steve if he thought that I really HAD to give it away. He said probably not, but I know I can't keep it. I never made it for myself, and Jessie isn't my child, so, in the words of the Bo Bunny slogan, I guess it will be "a gift of love".

Give Thanks Dreamweaver Card

Okay, everyone. I am down to the last Dreamweaver card that I can show before the big CHA reveal of the newest stencils. I know that this one is more "fall-ish", but we can use a break from thinking about all that warm weather. The words were from a large "Give Thanks/Cornucopia" stencil. They are stencilled in gold on some Bo Bunny paper. The Wheat Stencil was used on watercolor paper with a Soft Wheat Dye ink and then Versamark and Clear Embossing Powder initially to create a resist to watercolor paint a blue background over. In an interesting turn of events, the watercolor paper wasn't quite strong enough for everything I was doing to it, and the practice painting went horribly awry. The soft embossed wheat looked fine as it was anyway, so I used that. I also used the stencil on linen (which, ironically IS plenty stong enough) with yellow embossing paste that I then enhanced with various colors of Distress Inks. Then, is was just a matter of assembly and raffia. This one was nice and easy, so I am thinking of including it in my fall Dreamweaver class.

Another Dreamweaver Sample

Hello, folks! I am posting another one of the samples that I sent to Dreamweaver Stencils last week. This one was so easy, that I almost felt guilty sending it in. I was just so pleased with it, that I didn't want to leave it out.

The brown paper is Basic Grey and the blue is cardstock. The light blue is Coordinations, all roughed up. I used the Pearlescent paste on the words. I am really liking that paste. It goes on easy, but looks really special, as if I have done something difficult with it. The willows were made by stenciling black ink first, then covering it with the Crackle paste. Once the paste was dry, I covered it with Adirondack ink in Mushroom color. The cracks show the black through nicely, making it really look like bark. Then, I used Zig Squeeze N Roll glue to adhere the white flock to the pussy willow ends. The brown showing through the ends really adds dimension and realism to the look. I ripped the edges of the Coordinations and the vellum and then layered the whole thing. SUPER EASY!

First Dreamweaver Project

Well, I finally finished my first Dreamweaver Project. It took me quite awhile. At first, I was so nervous that I wouldn't be good enough to keep up with the talented pack of design team members. I froze for a little while. Then, once I decided to just be me, the ideas started coming fast and furiously. I had SUCH a blast this past week! We were supposed to turn in at least three cards, and I finished five, but was still working on three more when I got a grip on myself and just mailed what I had. (Of course, I will finish those other three at a later date.)

Enough about me, though. This blog is about the work. I can't show anyone the two cards that I made with the BRAND NEW stencils that will be released at CHA until August--so I will just start with one. In honor of summer, I will post the summer themed card. Here it is:

The background is a Dreamweaver stencil on TPC Studios paper that I pasted with the Pearlescent paste and added Dreamweaver Metallic FX mica powders to. The paste is a beautiful shimmery white color. The powders are Navaho Blue, which is a bright, pure blue, and Goldfinch, which I think is my favorite. It makes an intense gold color that looks almost like leafing, but is shimmering across the whole area.

Next, I pasted the Summer stencil with the Glossy White paste on that coordinating TPC Studios paper. I mounted it with a thin white cardstock border and the whole thing on a piece of chipboard.

The dangles may look like regular charms, but I made them with shrink plastic, Dreamweaver Stencils of a scallop, seahorse, and starfish, Distress Inks and Prismacolor Pencils. The trick is to get the matte white shrink plastic and sand it before putting the stencils on. When you have finished coloring the stencil designs, cut them out and punch them to create the hole. Then, you just pop them in the oven.

I stitched around the mounted square with raffia and also used it to attach the charms I made. The whole thing was put on the background with EKSuccess foam squares.

I was pretty proud of this card, and really glad that I made myself a copy of each with the "seconds" that I pasted and cooked!

Exciting Dreamweaver News

More exciting Dreamweaver stuff. They have set up a group for the design team members to contact each other. Therefore, I have added my team mates' blog links to the Blogs that I Like portion--check them out!

Also, I had a call from a Scrap Tales owner and found out that Lynell herself will be coming to teach a class at the store. I am very excited to meet her again and see what she is up to now. Also, I am randomly wondering.....how does that impact my summer Dreamweaver stencil card class? Should I still plan to teach one? hmmmmmm