Thursday, July 29, 2010

JaC Paper Technique


This peacock was done with the glitter technique that was showcased earlier.
Deborah March used several different colors of glitter and used the waterfall
technique to keep the glitter under control. "Stunning" pretty much says it all.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Mirror Mirror...


I absolutely had to share this creation with you. Designer Laura Drahozal found a blank framed mirror and took the opportunity to stencil stencil stencil. The bear and moose are paste embossed and then flocked! The birds are pasted and stenciled as well as the trees. Also she created a rock for the bear to stand on by using embossing paste and then added more texture with the crackle paste. Every time I look there is another detail to wonder about.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Daisies


Louise...this lovely card exemplifies your work. She even stenciled a daisy on an envelope and one inside the card. After dry embossing she embellished the centers with a bit of glue and added tea and tied the bright ribbon. What a happy card!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

New Design by Georgia Sommers


Well this week I fly to teach at three stores in Michigan before I head on to CHA. The Craft and Hobby Association has it's annual trade show in Chicago each summer and for three days we live, drink, eat, sleep crafting. Before I leave I am going to quickly put up some beeeaaauutiful samples that the design team sent with their recent challenge. They were given two stencils so for the next few days I will only post those two. I was amazed at how different they all were! This card by Georgia was paste embossed with the Matte Yellow Embossing Paste. I love stenciling on the yellow paste when I do flowers, because you can mix greens and blues on the leaves and the yellow coming through those colors creates great highlights. Don't you love the speckles that she added at the end with the tip of a black marker?

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

She's Called Nova Scotia


If you go to Deborah March's blog ....on the right hand side as you scroll downward is an opportunity to look at a video of Nova Scotia and Rita MacNeil's song "Shes Called Nova Scotia", plays as you watch the beauty of the country pass before you. If you don't have money to go abroad to see Europe, Ireland, the UK etc., maybe a trip to the Northeast would fulfill your desire to travel. This is a wonderful teaser to travel to Canada. Now if I could just work more time into my life we would be there in a jiffy! Thank you for such a beautiful opportunity to visit your country in pictures, Deborah. Many of you already know Deborah's work, she has had her work published more than 400 times. Also she has written many articles about stamping, stenciling, and many many variations on those themes. Take time to visit her blog. The card I have posted here is an invitation to go there and browse.

Now that you have met our inaugural design team please don't hesitate to visit their blogs, and at the bottom of each of the card samples is an opportunity for you to "comment". They love your encouragement. Many of these designers are also teacher's so don't hesitate to find out where they teach and support the craft. Today I am off to Michigan to do just that. If you are interested in a class I will be teaching at My Craft Room in Troy, MI on the 22nd, Stampeddler Plus in Northville on the 23rd, and Scrap Tales in Brighton MI on the 24th. Feel free to call these stores or email them to find out the details. While I am there I hope to have time to visit card artist Laura Drahozal too, it's a small small world.

Use the Stencil to add Color



In the past few years people have used their stencils to create a raised impression on paper. This technique is referred to as "dry embossing". Lately people are even using small embossing machines to create this raised effect. Embossing paste can also be spread across the stencil to create texture. But the Dream Team member I am introducing you to today, Kim Parkinson from Massachusetts, has used our new peacock stencil (LG730) as you would expect a New Englander to do. She "stenciled" the bird with rubber stamp inks. Over the years of teaching embossing and stenciling across the country I have discovered that people confuse the term stenciling with the term embossing. However, New England is where the traditional art of putting color through the holes of a stencil began, here in Colonial America anyway. The art of bronzing and theorem painting are very sophisticated forms of New England stenciling, but any beginner can stencil if you just learn a few tips from Kim. Use small stencil brushes and rubber stamp ink to stencil the color into the holes of the stencil. There are basically two different techniques...both are beautiful but give you a different look. You can apply it by either stippling, which is an up and down tapping application which almost looks like sponging or you can also "rouge" the color on like Kim did by using a circular motion against the stencil, almost like applying cosmetic rouge to your cheeks.

Major tip: If you are working with a brand new or very wet ink pad you need to "off-load" the excess paint into a paper towel. This technique is called "dry brushing". Notice how in the picture the brush has been repeatedly pushed into the paper towel until only pale color is left in the brush.

Kim teaches at more than one store in the Boston area, so go to her blog to find out more about where, when and what she teaches.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

She's from the "Show Me State"


I have discovered that I am a visual learner, so when I teach I always tell my students, "I should have been born in the state of Missouri, because the motto on their license plate is "The Show Me State". Well, Kristi Van Doren is from Missouri and she can show you oodles of Crafty things. She is a crafter as well as a card artist and scrapbooker. Although she loves paper arts, she also has an affinity for jewelry making, beading, and other crafty endeavors.

Kristi paste embossed the mask stencil (LL538) with Glossy Black Embossing Paste onto the agate pendant. Next she used a waterfall method to apply the glitter. This means she held the pendant at more than a 45 degree angle and applied one color of glitter, starting from the bottom and going up so that the colors are kept separated. Each time she changed to the next color of glitter she would place a clean piece of paper under her work area to catch the excess glitter that fell off, so it would stay uncontaminated and could be reused. Once the piece was dry Kristi finished off this beautiful pendant by attaching the wire work with her jewelry making skills.

Come back and see Kristi's other projects or visit her blog too. Besides her many crafty interests she also writes a regular column for the Scrap & Stamp Arts magazine called, "Ask Kristi". Lots of good tips there.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Hawaiian Thank You...Mahalo


Georgia Sommers from the bay area of San Francisco sent me this beautiful card for our recent challenge. She is very busy teaching stamping and stenciling in the area stores and does beautiful stencil samples and sends them my way occasionally. Welcome to the design team Georgia!

I love the bright colors she used on the hibiscus background stencil (LJ827)...it must have taken awhile to do that, but using a stencil shield like our Picasso stencil (LL332) makes coloring with stencils much easier. It has curves and angles that you can use to shield color from going onto an area that you want to stencil another contrasting color. You can visit www.stencilwithstyle.com to purchase this helpful tool. And the book "Artful Cards Embossing and Stenciling with Metal Stencils" will give you other ideas how to make use of this unique tool. Once the flowers were stenciled she paste embossed the hula dancer with Dreamweaver Matte Black Embossing Paste.

You can probably tell from my designs that I have a love affair with Hawaii. Thank you Georgia for designing this beautiful card. (If you are interested in learning more on the embossing paste techniques purchase the book, "New Dimensions in Cardmaking Using Embossing Pastes with Metal Stencils".)

Friday, July 16, 2010

Delightful Details


Dream Team member, Wendy Jordan, places a little sticker on the back of all of her cards that says, "Made in Montana". If you follow the path to her blog you will see this little Montana emblem on her site. And you will see a lot of other things too. Like many of you, she is a very prolific artisan and she obviously loves the visual.

Wendy made this elegant card by very simply paste embossing this ornate stencil (LJ859) with one of the Dreamweaver Embossing Pastes and after removing the stencil to clean it, she immediately sprinkled the wet paste with silver glitter. If you are a beginner it is one of the easiest yet most elegant techniques. Then she embellished, using one of the Spellbinder's die cut frames that she had stamped and heat embossed with a Waltzing Mouse rubber stamp. To finish she added silver ribbon underneath the sentiment. All of these details came together to create a card that can be used for many different occasions.






Tuesday, July 6, 2010

DREAM it UP!


I have been fascinated with paper arts since the early 80's, when I was introduced to the magic of paper marbling. As time went on, my interest slowly evolved into a love affair with all types of paper art. I was really drawn to a particular technique in 1986, however, when a friend introduced me to the art of stenciling. Since then, I have explored the endless creative possibilities this medium affords.

The friends I have met along the way who share a stenciling passion have enriched my life. I am always amazed at the creative energy that occurs when two or more of us gather and a new concept evolves. More often than not, these wonderful creative moments happen when I'm teaching in a rubber stamp or scrapbooking store.

Over the next few weeks I will be introducing you to the first designers who have answered the challenge of being Dreamweaver Stencils inaugural "Dream Team". We will also introduce you to my design friends who have kept me inspired since my beginnings. Please stay in touch as we go blogging along, this is a new venture for me, so thank you in advance for supporting me.

Hopefully you will find these instructional blogs fun as well as informative. If you see a sample on our website, feel free to email me and we will try to answer your technique questions. Don't forget my favorite saying, "no idea is immaculately conceived". Take what you learn here and "Dream it Up!"