Thursday, December 16, 2010

Thursday Challenge - Blue Paste!

I'm short on time this week but I do have another Dreamweaver card for you today!

This week we were Challenged with using the Blue Glossy Paste and choosing a blue/purple theme for a Holiday card. 

I used the blue glossy paste and chose to paste the ice skaters.  Before I did any pasting, though I colored my paper with blues and purples and then inked up some Stampscapes, CC Crafts and Stampers Anonymous Stamps in purple ink and created a 'scene' for my skaters.

Here's my card for this week - I hope you enjoy!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

It's a Dreamy Thursday!

It's Thursday, so that must mean we have some Dream Schemes over on the Dreamweaver Design Team!  This week, I'm going to follow the sketch from last week and show you another one of the new stencils done in a Christmasy way.

 
Here's the next new Valentine stencil:

 
 
By the way, you can order this stencil and last weeks stencil through your local craft store that carries Dreamweaver products.  Everyone who takes my Friday night class will get one of these for FREE!
 
 
This stencil is called Love Birds and they are supposed to be sitting on a heart shaped wreath.  See it?  Beautiful, huh?!  Well, if you wanted to make these Christmasy....

 
 
Make them into partridges and add little holly berries onto the wreath.  Add some bling and people will overlook the idea that this could actually be for Valentine's Day.  Now, it just looks Christmasy!  Of course, you could play off of the 'two calling birds' idea too!  Those little tendrils of color on the paper, that's from the stencil too!  Just some ink and a stipple brush will get you that look!
 
Oh and I have a secret about this card too.... I actually used YELLOW paste for this stencil.  YUP!  Not white but yellow!  If you look closer, you can see that the birds have a slight bit of yellow on their bodies, that's just the paste!  So, next time you are looking to paste with your stencils and you look at your stash, think OUTSIDE of the box! These stencils are extremely versatile and the pastes, they can be changed to suit your needs too!
 
Here are both cards, ready for Friday night's Dreamweaver Holiday Cards class at the Scrapbook Cupboard:
 
 

Now don't forget to go visit some of the other talented ladies blogs.  We have:


 And of course the Dreamweaver Stencils blog as well:  Dreamweaver Blog.


Thursday, December 2, 2010

Thursday's Dream Schemes!

It's Thursday and for everyone on the Dreamweaver Design Team, that means it's time to post a new photo for the Thursday Dream Schemes!  This week, I'm sharing a new stencil with you!    Dreamweaver is revealing two new stencils this month, LL3010 is a Heart Tole Wreath and LL3011 has Love Birds on a scroll wreath.

Here's the Brand New Stencil that I received from Dreamweaver, LL3010 the Heart Tole Wreath.




Also for the Dream Schemes this week we were given a sketch to follow for our cards.  Here's the sketch:

I love sketches.  They make life a little easier and they can be used in many different ways!  In my card, I chose to round out my corners and forgo the scrolls but I kept the ribbon and even the little bow (but in a different way!).  Oh and did I mention that we are making Holiday cards all month long?  Well, how about this for a Christmas card?



Do you see that Heart Tole Wreath?  Upside down?  Now making a HUGE Christmas tree!  The presents underneath are popped up.  They are just little presents stamped onto papers and cut out.  The star is a little sticker (you know the ones the kids bring home on their homework?) again popped up.   The heart tole wreath was pasted with pearlescent paste and F/X powders were added.   

WOW!  The versatility of these stencils are amazing!  I'm excited to show you what I created for next week!  This week's posting and next Thursday's postings will be the Dreamweaver class at the Scrapbook Cupboard on the 10th. 

Now hop on over to some of the other gals blogs and see what they made for their Dream Schemes!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been really pre-occupied lately with the birth of my new niece, Gabriella.  I was my Sister's coach and helped her bring this sweet little girl into the world on November 18th.

Not only was I Mom's birth coach but I am also her Godmother!  I just love this little girl, she's already got quite a personality.  Gabriella is my third niece, and soon, I'll have a second nephew too!  My other Sister is expecting in January!  Lots of babies around!!

We found out just recently that my Grandmother is doing very well.  Her cancer has subsided and her outlook is extremely good! 

In my professional life, I found out on November 14th that the Scrapbook Cupboard was going to stay open!  She had announced that she was closing and I had already taken an interview and had scheduled another one.  What a stressful experience to go to job interviews.  I hadn't had to do one in years!  5 years actually and I thought I might have been a little rusty.  Well, no matter for now.  Bev has decided to keep  the store open!  Whew!  This will allow me to keep doing the classes I do, plus do all the behind the scenes administrative stuff that I love to do too!

Donna and I will still be working closely together and actually we met with a graphic designer this week.  I won't say more but that we are cooking up some good stuff!

Today we are kicking off a Dreamy Thursday blog event with Dreamweaver Stencils! Every Thursday, the members of the Dreamweaver Dream Team will be showing some samples on their blogs.  I feel like I haven't been home more than an hour in the past two weeks.  So please forgive this week's submission, it's a repeat from one earlier this year.  Tomorrow will be my crafting day but that will be a day late for this.  Perhaps I'll post that tomorrow too!



With some black matte paste, I pasted the sign.  On some wood, I pasted the Season's Greetings and then cut it out to fit it on the sign.  The 'snowy' part on the bottom is just the Dreamweaver paste that's been piled on without any stencil.

Oh boy!  I know that it's not new but thankfully I have something to share today.  Come on back tomorrow, I'll post something then!  And next Thursday, come on back and I will be up to date on my crafting!

There's lots to be Thankful for this year!  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Striking it out - on my own??

Well it has become official.  The store I am currently working with will be closing their doors.  I'm expecting the store to be closed before Thanksgiving.  Bummer, huh!  I've been with Bev and the Scrapbook Cupboard for 5 years!!  Yup!  5!  Seems like a long time but it's been some of the best times of my life.

So, what now?  Well I've got a ton of irons in the fire and hopefully one of them will pop back out at me and let me know it needs some attention. 

No, No, No, I don't really hope to get burned, I'm just so overwhelmed with the thoughts that are going through me.  I *almost* said I was never at the closing of a businesses doors but then I reflected that I used to belong to Corporate America and I was there when Nellie Mae was swallowed by Sallie Mae.  The difference between then and now - other than the awesome stock option package I was given with Sallie Mae?  Well, a lot.  A real lot!

I still have all those people to say good-bye to.  Co-workers, friends, customers... I still have to clean out my desk (cabinet space), I still have to find another job...

I'm very fortunate.  Very, very lucky.  When I was laid off with Nellie Mae, I had another job waiting for me.  I was 6 months pregnant with my first child and that was to be my new job.  It was a wonderful time, not having to worry about money (because I cashed in those stock options of course!) and just spending the time learning how to be a Mom.  Now, well I've got options out there too! 

Donna Maligno and I have teamed up to create KD Craft Concepts.  We will be striking out on our own, at least partially, to bring some of you regulars a taste of Donna and Kim classes and events.  In what capacity?  Unknown at this time.  We're still hashing everything out. I will also mention that, I've gotten a few other offers as well and will be exploring these very soon.  I'm hoping to find a new place to teach on a regular basis, we'll see how it all works out. - That's why the irons are in the fire, I need to get rid of some wrinkles and I need those irons HOT!  :-)

I'm sure you'll be seeing me posting more.  October was a miserable month... I was sick most of it.  And this month, we are awaiting a new arrival to the family!  My Sister will be having a baby girl soon.  So, whether photos of the new baby or photos of new classes and more information about where I will be, I'll be in touch!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Lucky number 16!

Guess what number was chosen through Random.org for my blog hop winner??  Lucky number 16... let's see who is #16.....

It's.....

Anonymous said...

Hey Kim,

Love the lace border! What a versatile stencil. I also love the glowing ghost. Leave it to you to have glow in the dark embossing powder. I also love F/X (all colors)

Diane H

Saturday, October 2, 2010 11:02:00 AM EDT
Diane H, if you are reading this, you've been chosen as my blog hop winner!  You have until Midnight on October 5th to contact Lynell with your mailing address and your choice.  lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com

Congratualtions to all the blog hop winners!!  Lynell will be posting some more winners later tonight.  And a special THANK YOU to all that participated in the blog hope, it was great to have all of you stop by!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Dreamweaver Stencils Blog Hop is here!

Welcome to the first ever Dreamweaver Stencils Dream Team Blog Hop!  Today is day one of this three day long blog hop.  There's lots to view over this weekend, a whole lot of eye candy using these quality metal stencils from Dreamweaver Stencils! Follow along, post a comment and you could be a winner! (details on blog hop are at the bottom of this post.)  Be sure to comment on this post for a chance to win!

All the gals on the Dream Team were given four stencils to work with for the blog hop.  These were mine:
Lets Boogie LM286

Long Stocking LL499



 Village LL459



Well now I'm hoping you are wondering what I did with them.  I used the lace border in a few different ways and coupled that with the the Village and with Let's Boogie.  First up, a little Halloween fun!



One of the coolest parts of this card is that it GLOWS in the DARK!  Well, the ghost, "Boo" and the little corner semi circles do anyhow!  Wanna know how I created it?
First I pasted on the ghost with Pearlescent Paste.  He's part of Let's Boogie and needed to be masked so that all I used on that stencil was the cute ghost. I also masked off parts of Boogie and pasted the word Boo at the bottom of the card. I then made sure the ghost and the word was dry completely.
After the ghost was dry, I fit on the Lace Border Stencil and used the original matte embossing paste.  Let that dry and then used the Picasso stencil to add color to the candy corns, dots and swirls.  In the lace border, there are these 6 pie pieces that make a circle, I left those white.  Well, I added googly eyes but not until after the entire thing was done!
Now, I own this glow in the dark embossing powder and thought it would be a cute touch to add that to the ghost.  Glow in the dark embossing powder works best over a light surface and the ghost was perfect for that!  I re-fit my ghost stencil back in place, used embossing ink and then sprinkled on some of the embossing powder.  I heat it slightly just until melted.  After doing that, this adorable little ghost now glows in the dark!
After the card was completely stenciled and pasted, I added the googly eyes last.

I was able to create something fun and then something elegant out of the same Lace Border stencil.  These stencils are truly versatile!  Use as much or as little of the stencil as you'd like to get the best results for your card or project!

My next card is for the Holidays.



This needed some masking as well.  I masked off one of the houses from the Village and then I used my Pearlescent paste to paste onto a heavy weight vellum paper.  Once the house was dry, I dug out my Pergamano kit and got to work!  I placed the Lace Border stencil strategically so the house fit in the middle and then either pushed the vellum into the stencil, pushed it out of the stencil or I used the pokey tool to poke holes into the vellum.  With the right tools and the right paper, this can easily be completely in about 45 minutes - and that allows drying time for the paste in a humid climate (I live in New England).
Mount the vellum onto a bright blue piece of paper and adorn the card as you'd like.  Easy!  Elegant!  And just shows another option of versatility of these stencils.

My last card today is with the stocking. 



More of a vintage type card.  I used pasted the stencil on red paper.  Again I used Pearlescent - hmmm.... I didn't realize until writing this that I used Pearlescent on everything.  With 15 different knds of pastes, my options are NOT limited so I guess I'm going to have to hide the Pearlescent so I stay away for the next few projects!
After the stocking was dry, I cut out right on the lines (or where the natural contour of the lines would be).  I placed the stencil back on, grabbed some glue and a paint brush and painted the glue onto the top part of the stocking.  I then threw on some flocking.  WHAT?  Flock on your stencil paste?  Yup!  Absolutely, these products are amazing!
I distress the background of the paper, added soem ribbon and old saying I had lying around and the stocking.  Viola - done!

But I'm not going to stop there!  I'm going to tell you about some classes I'm teaching in person and online!  If you want to know more about the amazing versatility of these stencils, you can come on by the Scrapbook Cupboard and take a class from me in person.  My next Dreamweaver Stencil class is on Friday, October 22nd.  We'll be creating two cards using several neat techniques...


What?  You don't live in New England?  Well, many of the other Dream Team members teach in their areas.  Or you can take my online class!


Class just started yesterday and will run for 4 weeks with new lessons posted every week.  You can view the class information here at My Creative Classroom. If you love all those beautiful metal stencil designs out there, you'll love the look of what they can do! Stenciling with Style will walk you through using DreamWeaver's Metal stencils, their pastes, F/X powders and the many different techniques to do with them! This class will is technique based so you will not need to have the same stencils as the instructor but you will be able to complete projects based on the stencils you do have! Class includes video presentations on exactly how to get pasting right every time as well as materials and instructions on basic pasting, dry embossing, theorem stenciling, using the 'picasso' stencil, working with other mediums such as Copic markers, inks and Art Stix, pasting on different mediums, coloring the pastes, adding texture to pastes, sludge pasting and much more!  Class starts on Thursday, September 30th with new material posted every Thursday for 4 weeks. Class cost is $25.


So now more information about the Blog Hop!

BLOG HOP INFO

We want you to have the chance to win YOUR favorite stencil, embossing paste and Metallic F/X color... for each time you post along the hop, you need to leave a comment on the site where the newest creation is offered, then go to the Dreamweaver site here http://www.dreamweaverstencils.com/, choose the stencil you like best, identify it to us, tell us why it's your favorite, and how you think you'd use it. Just be sure you comment on each blog along the hop..make sure your comments count for winning! Information today...then October 1st you hop!

BLOG CANDY... HOW TO GET IT!
For each time you comment on different blogs, you need to choose a different stencil as a favorite, your favorite paste and your favorite Metallic F/X color...just in case you win more than once! At the end of the three days,each member of the Dream Team will choose a random entry to win and post it on their site by midnight of the next day October 4.

ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR CANDY
Hoppers are encouraged to comment once on each designer's blog throughout the blog hop. Each time you do so will give you one opportunity to win what's on offer at that blog. For an additional entry, you're invited to sign up to be followers of the Dream it Up Blog, right here. So, with eleven designers, this gives you the potential of twenty-two chances to win! All winners will be selected by Random.org, and posted on each designer's blog by midnight Monday.

BLOG HOP SCHEDULE
It is not imperative to follow this schedule, but different designers will be posting their creations on different days, so take one last look on Sunday to make sure you've taken advantage for all the opportunities to win blog candy ...now enjoy these designer's "treats", and here is their schedule:

OCT 1ST




OCT 2ND




OCT 3RD



Have fun hopping!


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