Thursday, March 24, 2011

Sketch Thursday!!

It's Thursday so another day to play over on the Dreamweaver Design Team!  This week we are working with a sketch!  This is the sketch: 

And here's my Springy take on the sketch:


That's the trio tulip stencil number LL 444 in the middle.  I first placed down the stencil and used some inks to color in the areas.  I did have to use the picasso a bit at the top near the actual flower part.  Then I took off my stencil, cleaned it and replaced it exactly back where it was.  I then used Dreamweaver's Translucent paste over the image and let it dry.  While it was drying, I dug out some Springy butterfly and pink paper, orange ink and orange stickles and created the card.  It does open in the middle with the tulips and then inside says, "Happy Spring!"

Once the Tulips were dry, I sponged on some blue and green coloring so that it appeared they were grounded and adhered it to the card.  For some added effect, I also used some of the blue and green on the pink cardstock as well. 

This stencil works perfectly for this type of card but it also is the perfect stencil to use for a nice, bright Spring-time card!  And for us here in Boston, who just got another dusting of snow today.... I'm yearning for my tulips to make their appearance in my yard!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Wanna play?

This Thursday is sketch Thursday with the Dreamweaver Dream Team.  If you are interested in playing along... here's the sketch we will be using....

I'll post Thursday and you can see what I did!

If you wanna play and have a blog, you'll be able to put a link to your blog on the Dreamweaver Blog too!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all!  Whether you've got a lot of Irish in you or none at all, it's still a day to celebrate with a pint of Guinness and to wear some green!

My family (on both sides) comes from New England, generations back we've been here.  One side was here when the Mayflower arrived and the other arrived on the Mayflower, with other branches sprinkled in as well.  I have a miniscule amount of Irish in me.  So little in fact it amounts to... well,  actually, none.  Yes, for a girl born and bred South of Boston, the chance that we have little to no Irish is amazing, considering the Irish population around here.  Even my husband has little Irish in him. 

BUT! 

His NAME is Patrick!  And I count on him to rid my little island (my 1/3 acre of land) of all the garter snakes he (or I) can find!  Couple that with the fact that March 17th is his 1/2 birthday, well.... I guess we'll celebrate!!!  YAH!!

This week the Dreamweaver Design Team has a free week.  No theme, no colors, no sketch, just do what we will and what we want!  So, of course, I chose....  Some Saint Patty's day cheer!


I used several stencils for this design.  First the background is done with the new large plaid making stencil.  One way, it's colored in gold ink and the other is in green ink.  I also did a little bit of gold Dreamweaver paste and then a little bit of the green Dreamweaver paste for the center portion of the plaid design.  **NOTE:  The colors in real life look very similar.  The colors in this picture look way off.  Sorry.**  This technique takes some time to do as you need the first layer (in my case, gold) to dry completely before you can turn your stencil and paste the other side (green).  Today wasn't a great day for that as it's been raining all day.  But once I turned on the stove for dinner, I placed the large pasted piece on the stove and it dried before dinner was done!  (I did NOT put this on the burner!)


While that was drying; I used the stencil LL381, a celtic knot with the Green Dreamweaver Paste. 

Oh, and a  little note about the paste.  When you open the jar... it looks like a light green color.  This is not the final color.  Once dried, it deepens in shade and ends up being quite a different color then you see in the jar. 

Before the paste was dry completely on the celtic knot, I sprinkled just a little bit of clear glitter on to the drying paste.  It's stuck in there now and adds a nice sparkle to the card.  I used the Gold Dreamweaver Paste on the Celtic Heart knot, LM178 and let that dry.  Using some scissors and an exacto knife to cut out the open areas I then adhered it onto the celtic knot.  Pop that up entirely, add a little typed sentiment of "Happy Saint Patrick's Day!" and I'm good to go!

I hope you enjoy and I hope you enjoy something green today!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

15 minute card...

Today's Blog Challenge with Dreamweaver is a color challenge!  Actually, it's my colors that are chosen today.  I chose the colors Brown, Cream and Blue. 

I have a usual routine every week but this week, I'm all outta sorts.  I had been away for the weekend and hubby usually has Thursday's off and this week he doesn't so when I woke this AM, I thought it was Wednesday.  Oops.  So, I thought... well, I'll make this a bigger challenge for myself.  I'll make a card using my colors in just 15 minutes.  I grabbed some cream cardstock, some blue cardstock, and some brown with blue patterned cardstock.  I grabbed my stencils and looked.  My lightbox is on my table since I'm using it for some other projects and I went to work looking for a design I could complete in only 15 minutes.

I dry embossed the running horse (LM 167) and then added some brown ink to his mane and tale, swirling some of the ink over the body of the horse too.  I used Cocoa F/X powder on his mane and tail and then cut him out.  Honestly, cutting him out took the longest part of my 15 minutes!  I tore the patterned papers to look like a scenery, added some stamped words and adhered everything down.

An easy card, finished in 15 minutes and now, let's hope I can remember it's Thursday!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Happy National Craft Month!


March is National Craft Month!  And we are celebrating over at My Creative Classroom!  Interested in taking a class this Spring?  Well, now's a great time to sign up and take any class at My Creative Classroom.  Sign up for a class and receive one class free (you can choose from 4 different classes)!  WOW!  Here's a sampling of the different FREE classes offered....
 


Would you like to know more information? 

The Basics of the Program:


Here is how the program will work.

•Purchase 1-3 classes in March and you get a one free seat. You get to choose the class from a list of 4 possible classes.
•Purchase 4-6 classes in March and you get two free seats. You get to choose the classes from a list of 4 possible classes.
•Purchase 7-9 classes in March and you get three free seats. You get to choose the classes from a list of 4 possible classes.
•Purchase 10+ classes in March and we will automatically enroll you into all four classes.

More details can be found here.  MCC

I hope to see you in the classroom!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Metal and Dreamweaver!

A few weeks ago, Lynell posted a picture of a card Magdelena Muldoon did.  Magdalena owns MercArt.  MercArt provides metal embossing tools and metals.  I have a lot of MercArt's tools in my house, they are very fine quality and work great.  I started my metal embossing 5 years ago with Ten Seconds Studio and discovered MercArt about 3 years ago.  I am certified to teach Ten Seconds Studio metal but I like both companies.  Heck, I've even told people to use an empty ball point pen and a mousepad to emboss their metal!  With what ever tools you use to start metal embossing, you need to try this technique!  There's ONE tool above all else that you absolutely need to purchase when working with embossable metals....



This is a Paper Stump or a Paper Thumb.  Some people call it other names too.  They come in a variety of sizes.  My favorite is size #8.  It's easy to hold and works well for most tight spots.  But I do own a bunch of the other sizes too.  If you own a paper stump (they are also used by charcoal artists for blending), a mousepad and an empty ball point pen... you can metal emboss!  Of course, it's nice to have all the tools and the work is much easier with all the tools but if you aren't sure if you are going to like it, this is an easy, fast and inexpensive way to get started!  Oh and you'll need some metal.  :-)

So, I decided to try my hand at the exact same design that Magdelena did:

Then I went on to do another card....




And this one is on clear acetate and has a nifty technique on the back!  Fill the embossed area with spackle, let dry and then use alcohol inks right over the whole thing!  You'll color your metal AND the spackle, leaving you with this...


Pretty neat, huh?  The spackle is more of a burgandy in person so the effect is stunning.  And a surprise when you open the card!  

I hope you enjoy! 


School's out ...for Summer?

Last night the Governor of Massachusetts cancelled all school until May 4th.  He did this on March 25th.  That is about 6 weeks of no sc...