Woodware UK: The Earth Laughs in Flowers!

Our Woodware UK team guru, Dorothy Adam, sometimes has just a little too much fun coming up with our weekly challenges. On the face of it, "Earth" doesn't seem like it should be a problem, but I was a bit confused as to her original intention. Considering Dorothy's quirky sense of humor, it was entirely possible that she could been begging for aliens landing on earth, so I thought that I'd better ask first. Her reply? Earth colors! Yep. Just that simple. Of course, she's pretty exhausted as she and three others of the Woodware UK group  completed the "Moonwalk", of over 26 miles all through the night in "support" of breast cancer warriors, survivors, and researchers. How awe-inspiring!

Back to earth...I thought that I'd post this card that I created a couple of years ago for the Stampendous catalog. Ralph Waldo Emerson once remarked that "The earth laughs in flowers", and I think that is fitting for this challenge...and it's in earth colors!

The focal stamp is from the Perfectly Clear Daisy Thanks set, which includes the daisies, the swirl image, the butterfly, and the "thanks a bunch" sentiment that I repeated across the bottom using colors from the Stampendous Coastal Express Embossing Powder Kit. I used markers for all of my color and shading on the flowers, added some ink-distressing around all of the edges, and then for a bit of glitz and glam...I covered the focal panel with Versamark ink, and embossed the entire panel with Stampendous Crystal Embossing Powder. You can still see clearly all the gorgeous color and detail of the design, with the addition of clear shine and transparent sparkle. Yum!

Remember that the entire Woodware UK team are posting with their "earthy" creations this week, so check back daily for more inspiration!

Dreamweaver Stencils: A Cameo Appearance!

This week I'm multi-tasking once again, and mixing both my Dream Team challenge (Tiny Treats) with my tutorial on Paper Craft Planet. I'm not going to provide many details in this post, because I really want you to go over to the Planet Blog and check out the tutorial. Bonus...those that go over there have the opportunity to win a Dreamweaver stencil just by following the directions on that post. Of course, those of you that play with the Dreamweaver monthly challenge and link their own creations on the Dream It Up! blog, or email pics of their "Tiny Treats" to lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, have yet another opportunity to win, as well as be featured on the Dream It Up! blog and the Dreamweaver Stencils Facebook Page!

Below this post is a picture of all the supplies used for this project, which looks like quite a lot, but seriously...you probably have most of these items in your craft bins now, and if you haven't, I highly recommend that you purchase them all. These are all products that I personally use all the time and LOVE!

Obviously, I've used the Dreamweaver Cameo stencil, and the Damask stencil as well. I've also used some tiny charm size images from Stampendous, luscious ribbon from May Arts, some Mercart colored aluminum and tools, and lots and lots of products from Beacon Adhesives!

What qualifies this project as a "Tiny Treat", is that the focal point is actually a brooch that can be removed from the card and worn, or even turned into an ornament for the holiday season.

Hop around and check out Dream Team "A" for some amazingly bright and fabulous ideas, play along with us this month, oh...and don't forget to check out my tutorial for this project on the Paper Craft Planet!

Dream It Up!
Laura Drahozal
Lyn Bernatovich
Pam Hornschu
Heidi Erickson
Louise Healy
Cyndi Bundy
Jessica Griffin

 

Woodware UK: It's OMBRÉ, Hombre! For the Tough Guy!

This is a great time of year to have a stash of masculine cards on hand...for graduations, birthdays, and in the USA, Father's Day in June. This is a great card for each of those occasions, and demonstrates a very trendy look...ombré. The definition of ombré in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is, "Having colors or tones that shade into each other —used especially of fabrics in which the color is graduated from light to dark".

I was able to achieve the look in the background by first using Dreamweaver's Glossy White Paste with the Houndstooth stencil over a black panel, and setting aside to dry. I also used the same paste with the Men's Tie stencil, and set that aside to dry as well.

Now's the time that I broke out my Dreamweaver Color Solutions Alcohol Inks, the blending solution, and the clever applicator that has a dual purpose of storing the felt discs. Each end of the applicator has a hook fastener to apply the disc to. On one end I placed a few drops of Lemoncello with a few drops of the blending solution. Then I tapped this color over the houndstooth panel on the top to the bottom, covering all the white areas. I flipped the applicator over, and added a few drops of Paprika red with some blending solution, and tapped this over the panel from the bottom and up about halfway. Flipped again, and blended slightly between the colors to create the graduated color effect.

On the tie panel, I taped the Stripes/ Plaid stencil over the tie, and applied the same inks through the stencil one way with the Lemoncello, the other way with the Paprika, and a slight shift of the stencil to tap what's left. Each panel was matted with a contrasting cardstock, two brad fasteners were added for the buttoned down collar, a fun "tie tac" brad sentiment finished it off. This is a fun technique, turns out unique each time, and a simple way to produce cards quickly. No more excuses to not have a masculine card on hand when you need it. Oh, and just a hint...you could easily apply this technique to a feminine card as well!

Be sure to check out the rest of the Woodware team this week as they inspire you with some great masculine ideas. Leave them some love as you go! Here's the link to the Woodware UK blog.