Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

This Thanksgiving I am taking time to thank several people. I want to THANK (in a very big way) Pam Hornschu for posting for me this past month. I am truly thankful to have such a supportive friend and creative designer as the head of our team. And of course a special thanks to Linda Neff for being our guest designer during our Beacon Adhesive promo this month.

As you can see by the picture above, my main focus has been elsewhere. Our daughter was married November 17 near Zion National Park, Utah and I spent the past month doing creative projects for that occasion. Speaking of Beacon adhesives I highly recommend the Gem Tac glue for gluing acorn caps back onto acorns. Really great glue...I often use it in situations where I need something I can trust! I drilled over two hundred acorns and tied them with ribbon for napkin holders and during the drilling process quite a few of the caps came off...thank goodness for Beacon. A big thanks to their marketing team for sending glues to our team to use in our creations.

I also want to thank all of the people who have been posting to our blog challenge this past year. We have some very dedicated followers over the years and I love seeing what you have have been creating. I consider myself fortunate to have such dedicated followers and team members. Again thanks!


Pam Hornschu offered to do one more post for me, but I thought I could get at least one Dreamweaver creation done this month, but I lied ...just couldn't do it, so I found a card (yes, not even a home decor project) that I posted recently where I used Beacon's Gem Tac glue as an adhesive for "GEMS"....I use this glue all the time for putting gems onto projects. The wonderful thing about this glue is that you can actually use it for a variety of other things as well. It is a white glue but dries clear. So if you have applied excess it will just show clear underneath your gems. 

This creation began with the Dreamweaver Glossy Green Embossing paste (DGGP)...I paste-embossed it onto the vintage decor stencil (LX7022) and then sprinkled it with different colors of microfine Art Institute glitter. Once this was dry I put droplets of the glue onto the dots in the design and attached the gems. But it also came in handy for the next part of this design. I squirted dollops of the Gem Tack glue onto the leaves and used a toothpick to move the glue to within a 1/16th of an inch of the design and then sprinkled on Art Glitter's Nutmeg colored glitter. Then repeated on the central leaves using Art Glitter Chartreuse colored glitter....and finally the flower or pod was done with Pumpkin colored glitter.  Adding this glue and glitter embellishing really added triple dimension to the piece. It did take awhile for the glue to dry...maybe two or three hours because I wanted it to be dimensional, but the results were so smashing that it was worth the wait. I tied up a scrumptious May Arts ribbon for a finishing accent and there it is a new design to share. I will be teaching this card with more of a Christmas flair at Stamping Details in the San Diego area next month, perhaps I will get to meet some of you personally. 

Now don't forget to visit the team this week and see some wonderful creations. And if you would like to join our challenge click HERE to see how it is done. Next month we begin a new challenge and of course we love to have your projects added below. This month's winner will be announced next week but you have a few more days to post.




Thursday, November 21, 2013

Thankful for Holiday Celebrations and YOU!


Pam here again. Just having too much fun to let Lynell take over the reins. Lol. Actually, just trying to help lighten the load for our Stencil Queen.

Today's project once again features the Oak Leaves stencil, and could easily be an addition to the table runner from two weeks ago. Every other flag in the banner has the design ink stenciled on it as well as a portion of music sheet. The others have a portion of some beautiful fall paper. All the flags have a bit of Stampendous Embossing Enamels "Fran•táged" onto the edges and tips, and a textured fringe of burlap adhered with Beacon FabriTac. I had some chipboard letters glittered in gold and copper that spell out "Give Thanks", an expression that is actually perfect every day, but particularly so here in the USA where we are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving Day.


Speaking of thanks, we really want to let you know that we appreciate our followers, and especially those who play along with our monthly challenges. This month is "Holiday Celebrations" with 
emphasis on home decor and gift items. Just link your creations to the linkytool at the bottom. Not sure how? Just follow the info HERE.

Here's the list of this week's Dream Team members that are posting as well as this our wonderful guest designer, Linda Neff. Please show them some love with your comments!

 
 
 


Thursday, November 14, 2013

Dreamweaver, Beacon Adhesives, and the Case of the Sticky Fingers!

Yes, it's Pam again! Lynell is still quite busy in preparations for her daughter's wedding, so I'm taking over the blog once again.

First of all, let's take care of announcing the winner of our hop featuring Ranger Distress Paints last week. If any of you missed it, you can go back in time and review it by clicking HERE. Our big winner is SANDI LOU! Congratulations! Please send an email to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com with your address, and your package of five Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Paints and five Dreamweaver Stencils will be on their way to you!

For the month of November we have two exciting events going on. First, our fabulous Guest Designer for this month is Linda Neff. Secondly, we're featuring Beacon Adhesives all of this month. They've always been so generous in providing product for our team, classes, etc., so we want to give them a huge thanks! They have an amazing line of products which you can find HERE.

Both of these events are perfect considering our challenge this month is Holiday Celebrations...with an emphasis on home decor and gift projects. Here's what I've come up with:

So, you're probably thinking, "Why did Pam create this as a holiday project? It looks Hawaiian!". Well, this is the perfect gift or home decor item to wish anyone a Mele Kalikimaka!

I had purchased this shadow box with the shell inside on clearance at Target. I carefully removed the shell and stenciled the background with the Dreamweaver Hawaiian Islands and Dogwood Pattern using Vintage and Leather Mixed Media inks from Clearsnap and a large stencil brush. I also applied the Dogwood design around the outside of the frame with Rich Cocoa Memento ink from Tsukineko. As for the lei, I stenciled the design from the Season's Aloha Wreath on white tissue paper, adding color with various Memento inks, and outlining with an extra fine brown liner pen. I stenciled the Aloha portion on tissue as well, but left off the "season's" as I wanted this to be an every day decor item. I tore the pieces around the edges, and applied them over the shell using Beacon Fast Finish underneath and over the top. The tissue pretty much disappears, leaving just the colorful design. When all was dry, I attached the shell to the inside with a thick piece of foam and some Beacon FabriTac.

Remember, we really want you to play along with us each month! So link your creations this month using the linkytool at the bottom of this post, following these directions. You could be the randomly selected winner at the end of the month receiving the stencil of your choice!

Meanwhile, for more inspiration, check out the creative genius of our Dream Team and our wonderful Guest Designer:

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Holiday Celebrations and Festive Distressing with Ranger Paints!

Ready to be festively distressed once again? The Dream Team have been playing with Ranger's Distress Paints, and are ready to inspire you to be distressed as well...paint distressed that is! Dreamweaver Stencils are the perfect choice to mix with all things festively distressed, as nothing shows off color and texture better than great designs. By following our hop and leaving love along the way, you have the opportunity to win a great prize package including five Ranger Distress Paints (thank you Patti and Ranger!) and five Dreamweaver Stencils! Here's the lineup for today, including our November Guest Designer:


Before I get into today's post, I'd like to congratulate the winner of our October challenge, KT-FIT KITTY who's card can be viewed HERE. Send me an email with your address and the stencil you'd love to win at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com. We had some wonderful creations linked for our October challenge. Thanks to everyone who participated. If you haven't played with our challenges, you can find the info on how to link HERE.

Today is our first posting day featuring our new monthly challenge, "Holiday Celebrations", and for the entire month we will be demonstrating ways to use Beacon Adhesives' entire line of products with Dreamweaver to create special projects in home decor and gifts of love. Here's what I'm posting via Pam Hornschu:

Pam here! I happened to pick up this runner on clearance for $3 at Marshall's, and knew precisely what I planned to do with it.

Using the new Oak Leaves stencil, I taped it down over the runner, and using stencil brushes, I pounced the Ranger Distress Paint colors over the design. Since the paints come in a dabber bottle, I removed the cap and poured out a small amount of each color (Rusty Hinge, Weathered Wood, Broken China, Frayed Burlap, Gathered Twigs, and Peeled Paint) onto a clear acrylic block as my palette. I repeated the stenciling process several times over the runner. To ensure that the colors stay put, I brushed some Beacon Fast Finish over the stenciled areas, which dries quick and stays flexible.

This project was so simple, it took me only about 30 minutes to complete. I love the colors of Tim Holtz's Distress Line...paints, stains, inks, embossing powders, glitters, etc. More muted and artsy. Now I'd love to buy some napkins and stencil them to match! Got any other bright ideas?