Dreamweaver Stencils & Woodware UK Christmas In August Blog Hop

Welcome to the annual Dreamweaver and Woodware Christmas in August extravaganza week! Monday through Saturday we will be knocking your Christmas stockings off with fun and inspirational ideas for the upcoming holidays. All that you need to do is hop back and forth across the "pond" on each day, oohing and aaahhhing as you go, and leaving us plenty of holiday love. In return, you'll be entered to randomly win one prize package for a UK commenter, and a second prize package for a US commenter, featuring products distributed in the UK by Woodware...including Dreamweaver and Stampendous!

Prize includes four stencils, one die, and two  stamps, selection may vary.

I love the look of embossed metal and with my card today I wasn't just able to get "the look",  I DID emboss metal with Dreamweaver Stencils and Mercart colored Aluminum.

                                    

Mercart has an extensive line of metal embossing tools, which I used a bit of, but to achieve the look quickly,  a die cutting machine works.  

I used  Dreamweaver Stencils new release, Joyeux Noel (LM2017) and one my favorites, Holly Swirls (LJ891).  I embossed the stencils with Mercart Red Aluminum Sheets and used Mercart Decorative Dash Wheel.  Cinnamon Stickles was used to separate the aluminum from the cardstock embossed background.  

Dreamweaver Stencils has darling Embellishment Pins which come in colors, but I only had the ivory pearl color.  To chance the color, I added Dreamweaver Stencils Color Solutions Ink Noble Fur to the pearls at the end of the pin to chance the color.  The inks are alcohol inks so the few drops I added to the pin covered the pearls and dried very quickly.  Color Solutions Inks are also artist grade colors which are not saturated until you add the Thinner.  The color on my pin is a deep, rich color and not diluted.  The perfect colored embellishment!!!

Now's the time for you to leave a comment and move on to an amazing stencil artists blog, Pam Hornschu.  If you're just joining the hop, please start from the beginning with the list below!!  You will want to check out all of the amazing Dreamweaver Stencil inspiration and comment to increase your chances of winning the prizes.

Dream It Up!

Woodware UK

Cherylynn Moser

Jessica Griffin

Jane Gill

Laura Drahozal

Terrece Siddoway

Dorothy Adam

Heidi Erickson

Louise Healy

Lyn Bernatovich

Lea Kimmel

Stacey Rumsby

Deb Frost

Wendy Jordan

Pam Hornschu

Cyndi Bundy

Thank you for joining us this week!!  I hope you've been inspired to get out your stencils or give stencils a try for the first time. 

For more inspiration, subscribe to the Dream It Up blog and join us each Thursday for more inspiring posts from the talented Dreamweaver Stencils Dream Team.

Dreamweaver Stencils is also on Facebook.  Another chance for more inspiration and an occasional giveaway!!!  We'd be honored for you to "like" us.

Dreamweaver Stencils Fresh Start January Challenge

Welcome to Dreamweaver Stencils Fresh Start January Challenge.

This month I have decided to take a different approach to our Dream Team Thursday posts.  I have been using the same stencils all month long, with different techniques.  The first post of the month was a simple dry embossing technique, the second post was adding color to a dry embossed image.  If you're interested in reading the first two posts.  Follow the links below:

January 3nd, 2013

January 10th, 2013

Today I am using the Dreamweaver Bare Trees (LJ849) Stencil and Celebrate Script (LS90) stencil, with Color Solutions Alcohol Inks from Dreamweaver Stencils.  The colors shown are Black Beauty, Iceburg and Color Solutions Thinner/Cleaner.

Start by securing your stencil and glossy card stock to your workspace.   You also see a Mini Mister in this photo.  I am not going to apply ink in the traditional way with a felt applicator.

I place a few drops of Color Solutions Thinner/Cleaner in the Mini Mister and added a few drops of Black Beauty to the mister with the Thinner/Cleaner.  

Color Solutions Inks bright, vibrant "artist grade" color, that can be decreased with with Color Solutions thinner.  

Adding Black Beauty to the thinner, will give me a gray color.  I added a few squirts to my project.  There wasn't very much in the mister, so I just used it all.

I repeated the above steps with Iceburg Color Solutions ink and spritzed the top of the tree's.

I wasn't satisfied with leaving the background with out shimmer.  I applied Pearl White Color Solutions Ink with a felt applicator, while the stencil was still in place.  You can see it here.

I added ink to the Celebrate Script Stencil also with Black Beauty and Pearl White Color Solutions Ink with a felt applicator also.

I love the distressed end result and I hope you like it well enough to get out your stencils and inks and give our January Fresh Start challenge a try.

Please join my Dreamweaver Stencils Design Sisters in out January Challenge.  You can see how they are being challenged today on their blogs...

Cherylynn Moser

Cyndi Bundy

Georgia Sommers

Kristi Van Doren

Laura Drahozal

Lee Kellogg

Liz Martin

Louise Healy

Lynell Harlow-Dream It Up

Pam Hornschu

Terrece Siddoway

Have a great day!