Sunday, March 31, 2013

Our Bloomin' Spring Challenge Winner IS....

March challenge winner Jill D. use of LL375 and LJ803
Our random winner for the March Challenge is Jill D. We want to thank all of you for joining us this past month. And Jill... you can email me your favorite stencil request and we will get that out to you ASAP via snail mail! Love how you used the long stemmed rose (LL375) and the checkerboard stencil (LJ803). The way you used black really highlights your design.

I really enjoyed everyone's creations this month. I think we are all more than ready for some warmer weather in April. Even though we've had some very warm weather recently I am sad that my avocado tree froze this winter and I'm afraid my plumeria tree may have bit the big one too. RATS!!!

This next month we will be having a challenge surrounding rains and mists...and that can be literally or...left to your imagination. We still sell Memory Mists sprays...hmmm, well that's just one hint how you could approach this challenge. I am sure Pam Hornschu has some great ideas too...be sure to follow her lead on our Facebook Page. This week will be the first week for our new design team to post ...be sure to check back on Thursday!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Bloomin' Spring

Faux Cloixonné technique by Elaine Benedict

Elaine Benedict is formerly a teacher and sales rep from the Chicago area that has recently retired to North Carolina. Just talked to her this morning and she is still in the stencil teaching mode. Yesterday she taught 10 women in the development where she and husband, Jay, are building their retirement home. Sounds like a lot of fun Elaine!

I am presenting two of her stylized dahlia (LG743) cards and each one is done with a different stenciling technique. 

This first card is a technique called faux cloisonné. One of my favorites, it requires a base of matte embossing paste (usually either white DEP or yellow DMYP). Once it is dry, reposition the stencil and add color by stenciling with pigment inks and next sprinkle (the tip here is to "sprinkle" and not totally coat the ink during this step) this wet ink with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE), heat it with a heat gun and stencil with a darker hue of the same color of pigment ink. This time you can completely coat the darker color with Ultra thick and heat once more. The two colors of pigment ink sandwiched with the Ultra Thick really give some interesting effects. It almost looks crackled doesn't it?




This second card was done on white cardstock. She began by dry embossing the dahlia stencil (LG743) through an embossing machine. Remember to stack the stencil in the middle of the thick white plate, then the paper, then the thick rubber mat (REM), then the two acrylic clear plates. This will protect the stencil from bending.
Next she stenciled the flower petals with a golden yellow pigment ink and the leaves with green pigment ink. Now with the dahlia stencil still in place she layered dots from the picasso stencil shield (LL332) on the upper petals and the Pop Art stencil (LJ915) on the lower petals with black pigment ink. Then she used a darker green pigment ink on the leaves and layered the LJ863 swirls stencil over the top of the dahlia stencil. Layering stencils is a unique way to add interest to your design work.

Thanks Elaine for these beautiful samples.

This is the last week of our challenge and you still have time to post a card to mr. linky below. Click HERE to do so. Or go there to see what everyone else has posted to mr. linky for the monthly challenge. I have been looking at everyone's Spring creations and really enjoying it. Check back on Monday to find out who our random winner is. I would do it sooner, but with Easter weekend ahead I know we will all be busy until the next week. And I will outline our next month's challenge as well.

Now remember to take a minute to visit the blogs of our design team. This will be the last week for a couple of the team members before our new team starts posting in April. Be sure to leave them some love in the form of some heartfelt comments:

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Welcome Our New Additions to the Dream Team



Dreamweaver is so excited to be introducing our new designers for the 2013-14 year. We thought that
you'd enjoy learning a bit about each of them:

Lyn Bernatovich-
"I have been a paper-crafter all of my life, starting with a little desk I had at my grandma's where I would spend hours cutting, pasting, and playing with paper dolls. Little did I know that several decades later, I would go to a home party that featured rubber-stamping! I was absolutely hooked from that day on, and have immersed myself in getting as much paper crafting information and technique knowledge as possible. What inspires me is everything, and if I didn't require sleep, I'd be able to do that much more with this craft. My style leans toward vintage and shabby chic, but I adore cute and whimsical designs as well. My excitement over being on the Dream Team is all about giving their product my paper art style in ways that are even unknown to me, which makes me even more eager to learn all about their products. It is definitely the journey, and I'm all in!"

Bunny Line by Lyn Bernatovich

Caroline Duncan-
"I began stamping in the late 1980’s and then began scrapping in 2000. My husband and I have been married 13 years. We live near Pilot Mountain, NC, just north of Winston-Salem in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We have three fur-babies: 2 short-legged Jack Russells and one cat who are more than spoiled rotten! Besides stamping and scrapping, my other hobbies include a variety of other crafting, kayaking, geocaching, reading, movies, beachcombing, and travel. I obtain lots of inspiration for my crafts from all that I do. I enjoy and embrace a variety of styles from traditional to inky mixed media. I think the variety of crafting keeps my enthusiasm high. Using stencils with my papercrafting is something I absolutely love and I’m thrilled to be designing for Dreamweaver Stencils!!"

Flower Shower by Caroline Duncan

Heidi Erickson-
"My Mom was the one to introduce me to stamping. I have been making cards for about 18 years. My Mom and I opened a Rubber Stamp and Scrapbook store in 1997 and will be celebrating our 16th anniversary in April. I love many different crafts, but cardmaking is my favorite thing to do. I am excited to be a part of the Dreamweaver Design Team. I have been using these stencils for several years now. I love all the fun techniques and elegant designs that Dreamweaver has created and I hope to inspire others to be creative as well."



Butterfly Blossoms by Heidi Erickson

Jessica Griffin-
"I started, actively, paper crafting when I had my first child. It started with scrapbooking, lent itself to stamping, and then card making, now altered art! I love color, bright vivid colors paired with dimension- and I'm in heaven! I find color inspires me the most. I've recently taken to art journaling, and have discovered a love of stencils! I'm so excited to be part of the Dream Team and to have the opportunity to share my love of stencils and dimension!





Lea Kimmel-
"One of the things that excites me about Dreamweavers is the variety of ways to create with the stencils. I love that you can use such a variety of mediums. I can use my Copics, pastes, paints, the list goes on and the possibilities are almost endless. I'm getting a little deeper into mixed media and one of the most popular tools used is stencils. I'm looking forward to having more time to spend on my blog and promoting the various projects I create. Time is too short to spend it creating with products you don't believe in or wholeheartedly love and enjoy using. I'm excited at the possibilities!"


Damask Songbird by Lea Kimmel

Stacey Rumsby-
"I LOVE challenges and look forward to sharing my creations with others who love Dreamweaver Stencils. I look forward to being inspired by the Dream Team Members and creations that Dreamweaver Stencil followers share. The wonderfully designed Dreamweaver stencils allow all of us to take a stencil, create with it using Dreamweaver Pastes and products and a variety of other mediums. The possibilities are virtually endless. When describing my creative "style” I like to think of it as “clean and neat”."



Forest Frolic by Stacey Rumsby


Along with these amazingly talented women, we are depending on a few of our previous extraordinary Dream Team members...Laura Drahozal, Cherylynn Moser, Terrece Siddoway, Louise Healy, Pam Hornschu, and of course, Lynell Harlow!

Our new members won't be posting until April, but you can check out what the Dream Team has been creating for the March challenge:

We have oodles of exciting new events coming up in the very near future, so make sure to sign up for email alerts on posts, like us on facebook, pin us on Pinterest, and check out our weekly tutorials on Paper Craft Planet! Once you've made the rounds, be sure to link your own challenge creation to mr. linky on this blog, or email pics to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Seeing Green this Spring

Created by original design team member Heidi Mellor
We are continuing our Bloomin' Spring theme this month with a four leaf clover creation by one of the young people that originally worked here at Dreamweaver Stencils. Heidi Mellor and my daughter Elizabeth were good buddies in high school and worked every opportunity they could here. Heidi later went on to get her degree in architecture at the University of Calif. Berkeley. and my daughter is now a Physical Therapist. They both still love creating with paper and we have spent many hours making wedding announcements for friends and family. Now we have a wonderful design team carrying on the design duties, but when I decided to do this week's post surrounding St. Patrick's Day I found this card by Heidi in our card archives. 

The center four leaf clover (LS58) was stenciled and then outlined and speckled with a gold metallic pen, then a micron pen was used to create a shadow effect. The two flanking leaves were paste-embossed with the green embossing paste (DGGP) and once dry the clean stencil was repositioned and daubed with a pale green Brilliance ink. The background was randomly stenciled with a pigment ink and the same four leaf clover stencil.

I am feeling a bit nostalgic tonight...yet we are looking forward to revealing the new design team next Thursday. Please stop back to see their work. Remember to join our challenge click HERE and link your work to mr. linky. Our March theme is Bloomin' Spring...it could be Easter, St. Pat's Day or any bloomin' flower or singin' bird. If you don't have a blog then feel free to email me your creation at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and I will post it for you on my site. Our random winner will win a stencil of their choosin'. Don't forget to visit the design team's blogs to see what they are creatin'.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Thursday's Dream Schemes/ A Bloomin' Spring

My favorite time of year is just around the corner! So we hope you'll help us celebrate Sprintime in advance by joining our Bloomin' Spring theme. 

Our challenge for the month of March can of course be interpreted in a variety of ways. This month we have two different holidays to celebrate. Feel free to join our challenge by designing a card for either St. Patrick's Day or Easter and if you are adventuresome why not put in two submissions  and increase your chances of being our random winner. If your name is pulled from the hat you will have an opportunity of choosing your favorite stencil design. 

Also there are all kinds of flowers to create with and if they are not blooming in our flower beds then we might as well make them come alive on our paper creations ....Right? Just link up with mr. linky below and if you don't have a blog please feel free to email me a picture of your creation at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com and I will post your creation here on my site. I have been traveling a bit more than usual lately, so it may not go up right away but I will put forth every effort to get it up this month.

The card I am posting today is one that I showed on the UK Create and Craft TV show while I was there in February. I did a segment on Zentangling with stencils and showcased Suzanne McNeill's book Zentangle 6. This card was a joint effort with my husband Wayne. I paste embossed three different stencils... the happy birthday (LM285)and the tall vase (LM196) were done with metallic gold embossing paste (DGP). Then the serendipity flower design (LG709) was paste-embossed with matte black embossing paste (DMBP). Once these images were completely dried Wayne tangled the pattern on the vase with an amalgamation of Zentangle inspired art patterns using an 01 micron pen by Sakura. Then I used a metallic gold pen and embellished the matte black paste on the flower design. If you are a beginner to using the pens on the metallic pastes it can be a bit challenging. My recommendation is to begin by practicing directly on cardstock. Wayne uses 140# hot press watercolor paper because he often adds shading to his Zentangle tiles. If it seems overwhelming find a store that offers classes. Wayne teaches at a local rubber stamp store in Claremont California called 'Stamp Your Heart Out' and he is a certified Zentangle Teacher. There are many of them out there and they would love to share with you how it's done.

Now take a few minutes to visit the team's blogs and if you happen to be in the Southern California area this weekend I will be demonstrating at the Carson Rubber Stamp Show, March 9 and 10, so perhaps we will see you there.







Sunday, March 3, 2013

Winner of our February Challenge

Love and Friendship February Challenge winner is SuzQ of Tampa
We have a winner! Sorry so late in posting our winner this month...seems as if I have been traveling non-stop in February! But now that I am home for a few days I hope to get down to blog business again. Thanks to everyone who has joined the challenge this month. We have been doing random winners the last two months and for February our winner is SuzQ from Tampa. Click HERE to visit her blog and see her creations! So Suz....remember to choose your favorite stencil and email me at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com so we can mail that to you as soon as possible.

Our challenge for the month of March is: "A Bloomin' Spring!" Please join us this Thursday by linking up to mr. linky...see you soon.