Color for Fun and Happiness

CHA Ranger Class

Hi Y'all!

I have been having a great time here in Anaheim at CHA. I took a class sponsored by Ranger Ink that was full of great ideas and new product. All three projects were great! Tim Holtz had us do a fun miniature canvas, Claudine Hellmuth a great painted canvas bag, but it was Dyan Revaveley's altered book that really got me going this year. So, I'll talk about it first, watch for the other two projects in the next couple of days.

 

Dyan is a Brit, with a great wit who loves bright colors. I am in love with her new line of dye sprays and stencils. Check out her blog, it's fun.

Using her spray inks, we spritzed book pages, folded them back, spritzed some more.

 

Then we played with stencils and stamps. Oh and ended up with very inky fingers! But what really good creative project isn't messy?

While it doesn't show up much here, black spray is an important part of all of this. 

Dyan provided us some pre-stamped sticky back canvas and color images to cut out and adhere to the pages. 

So stay tuned, I will be doing some more of these techniques in the weeks to come. 

Have fun and make art today!

Lee

Dreamweaver Stencils Sneak Peek #6

This is the last one! I am at CHA and will be reporting at least once while I am here. 

Yes, a tag!

Ingredients

Dreamweaver Stencils: Bard Branches LJ849, Mushrooms LL3025 and Chickadee LG708

Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo

Foam Ink Applicator

Ranger Emboss It embossing ink

Various colors of embossing ink from StampaMania

Ribbon by May Arts

 

Method

Age the tag using the foam ink applicator and Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Tape down the mushroom stencil, mask around the stencil.

With a clean foam ink applicator pounce on the embossing ink.

Sprinkle on the various colors of embossing powders where you wish them to be. Tap off the excess, brush off any powder clinging to areas you don't want embossed. 

Heat until glossy and dimensional. 

Take the stencil with the chickadee on it, mask off the bird. 

Position the stencil so the bird is landing on top of the mushroom.

Tape down and mask off the rest of the card. 

Pounce on the embossing powder. 

Remove the stencil and sprinkle on a black glittery embossing powder. Heat to melt. With glitter embossing powders I have to watch the glitter change angle as it melts. 

The bard branches stencil is next, to fill in the background. I used Vintage Photo and a foam ink applicator. Pounce in the brown lightly, just enough to give the tag depth.

Off you go to see what everyone else has done, their links are to the right. 
Have fun and make art today!

 

Lee 

Dreamweaver Stencils Sneak Peek #5

Today's main feature is a variation on the technique I did yesterday, only with the Color Solution Alcohol Inks. 

 

 

Ingredients

Dreamweaver Stencils: Retro Standing Cat LL3021 and Kitty Words LG741

Color Solution Alcohol Inks and Blending Solution

Embossing paste in Matt Black and Glossy Blue

Glossy paper

Card stock for layering

Natural Twill Ribbon by May Arts

 

Method

We'll start with the ribbon. Tape off the saying on the stencil that you wish to use on the ribbon. I use blue painter's tape. 

Tape the ribbon down and position the stencil over the ribbon where you want the words. 

Fill in using the embossing paste spreader and the blue stencil paste. 

Remove stencil, clean and set the ribbon aside to dry. 

Next we are going to create the cat layer. 

Lay the stencil wrong side up (No words on this side, words will transfer backwards with this technique).

Add several drops of the various colors of the Color Solution alcohol ink all over the metal stencil. Dilute with the blending solution. I use a piece of the felt for applying alcohol ink to move the inks around to get full coverage on the stencil. 

Now lay the glossy paper down on top of the stencil. Press firmly to transfer the ink to the paper. 

This is what your paper will look like when you lift it off the stencil. Clean the stencil with rubbing alcohol.  

 

Now we are going to reposition the clean stencil over our image. Tape it down and get the black embossing paste. 

Fill in with the paste and set aside to dry. Clean your stencil!

Here's a close-up of the finished pasted cat.

Layer up the cat and add the ribbon to the card. Done and what fun!

Check out the other Design Team member's pages to see what they have made. Leave a note so we know you came by.

 

Have fun and make art today!

Lee

Dreamweaver Stencils Sneak Peek #4

Howdy!

Welcome to day four, only two more to go before CHA!

Today's card is a fairly fast one to make and is what I call a faux letterpress style. 

 

 

 

Ingredients

Dreamweaver Stencils: Thank yous LJ894, Plum Blossom shape LM219, Cherrt Blossom shape LL3024 and Flower Quatrefoil LX7010

Ranger Distress Ink

Ranger Embossing Ink

Red Chile Powder Embossing Powder by StampaMania

White paper stock

Colored paper stock for layering

Mini mister filled with water

Ribbon by May Arts

 

Method

Working on the craft sheet, lay the Cherry Blossom stencil wrong side up (No writing on this side). Using the Distress Ink, tap the ink pad all over the stencil. You want to coat the stencil well. 

Mist the stencil with the mini mister. 

Carefully move the stencil to a clean part of the craft sheet. 

Press the white card stock on top of the stencil. Use your fingers to make sure the whole stencil has made contact with the paper. Rubbing will distort the image, so press. 

Lift up the paper, clean the stencil and craft sheet. Repeat with two other colors moving the card around to position the impressions on the card. 

Tape the Quatrefoil stencil down over the card and apply Mustard Seed ink to the card with a foam ink applicator. Faintly color in the white areas of the card. 

Next use the Plum Blossom Shape stencil, ink it as you did the other shape, mist it and press a smaller white piece of paper on to the stencil. 

Cut out the shape, I left a fine white boarder around the flower to help it stand out from the card. 

Next tape off the Arigato on the Thank yous stencil. This will isolate the word for applying the embossing ink.

Position the word where you want it on the plum blossom shape that you have cut out. 

With a clean foam applicator, pounce on the embossing ink. Remove the stencil.

Sprinkle on the embossing powder, heat until glossy and dimensional. Don't over heat, you can burn the embossing powder. 

Layer the card, add the ribbon to the card and then adhere the plum blossom cut out. 

Done!
Check out the other team member's posting this week and leave us a short note that you stopped by.

Have fun and make art today!

Lee 

 

Dreamweaver Stencils Sneak Peek #3

This just gets more and more fun! I hope you are enjoying these posts and the new stencils. They have been a challenge and exciting to play with. 

Ingredients

Dreamweaver Stencil - Open Butterfly

Dreamweaver white embossing paste and white crackle paste

Ranger Distress inks

Red acrylic paint

Dreamweaver paste spreader and stencil brushes

Card stock

 

Method

Mix red acrylic paint (use a heavy body paint) with a couple of tablespoons of white embossing paste. 

Tape the stencil to the card stock and mask.

Spread the red paste into the stencil. Remove stencil, clean and set aside the butterfly to dry.

Once the embossing paste is dry, replace the stencil over the embossed image.

Spread with crackle paste. Set aside to dry.

Clean the stencil right away.  

While the paste is drying, cut your layers for the final card. 

On the dry image, replace the stencil and using the Ranger Distress Inks, brush on the colors you like for the butterfly. 

And you are done!

Leave a note that you have visited. Check out the other blogs from the Design Team and see what they have been up to. 

Have fun and make art today!

 

Lee

Dreamweaver Stencils Sneak Peek Day 1

Howdy!

Don't know about you but there are no winter blues here. The Dreamweaver Design team has been busy working away at making samples for a whole batch of new images that our fearless leader, Lynell Harlow has produced. 

Check out my postings this week and the rest of the Design Team listed to the right. We all have made scores of cards and other samples to highlight these designs that will be released at the CHA trade show this coming weekend. 

Let me know if there are any of the stencils you desire, I will have them on order. Now sit back and enjoy!

This tag features two of the new releases: Festive Thank you LL3022 and Flower Quatrefoil, LX7010. 

Plus I had some fun with the background. 

 

Ingredients

Dreamweaver Stencils LL3022, Fesitve Thank you and LX7010 Flower Quaterfoil

Dreamweaver White Embossing Paste

Ranger Distress Inks: Aged Mahagony and Rusty Hinge

Ranger Adirondack Inks - various colors

Tag by American Tag

Ribbon by May Arts

Card Stock by Paper Cut

 

Tap down the tag and hinge the stencil on top of it.

 

Flip the stencil back, so it is open. Tap the ink pad all over the inside of the stencil.

This should look good and messy by now. It's a lot of fun too!

Now flip the stencil back over the tag, it should look like the photo above. 

Using a Ranger Foam ink applicator and the Rusty Hinge ink. cover the tag with ink. Use a pouncing motion so you don't shred the foam. Just up and down all over the tag. Fill in the all the white space with the wonderful rust color. 

 

Flip back the hinged stencil and you should see:

 

Now at this point if you feel that some of the red didn't transfer, flip the stencil back on to the tag and rub the stencil where the ink needs to transfer.  

Pretty cool technique isn't it?

This is a close-up of the background.

For the thank-you portion, I used the white embossing paste on kraft paper. Once the stencil paste was dry I replaced the stencil and using stencil brushes colored in various ink colors on the words and designs. Then I coated the ink with clear embossing powder. Heat until the ink areas are glossy. 

Mount on card stock and add to the tag. Add ribbons. 

Done!

Have fun, make art today!

 Leave me a note that you stopped by. 

Thank you

 

Lee

Dreamweaver Sneak Peek #2

Today's preview of the new Dreamweaver Stencils is a fun open butterfly. As you know, I love tags, so of course I have done this on a tag!

Ingredients

Dreamweaver Stencils: LG740 Open Butterfly and LX7009 Paisleys

Tag by American Tag

Ranger Distress Ink: Rusty Hinge and Pumice Stone

Ranger Emboss It ink

Embossing powder - StampaMania's Brass Satin Pearl and Black Diamonds

Ranger Foam Ink Applicator

Stencil Brush

Ribbon by May Arts

 

Method

Using the foam ink applicator, pounce it on the ink pad then rub it on the edge of the tag. Do this all around the edges of the tag. Either set aside to dry for at least a half an hour or use a heat gun to speed the drying of the ink. Distress ink takes a bit to dry, so if we went to the embossing step next the powder would stick to the areas we just added the ink. Which might be ok if you want that look. 

Tape down the stencil where you want the butterfly to be. Using a clean ink applicator pounce on embossing ink. 

Remove the stencil. Working on a scrap piece of paper, sprinkle on your choice of embossing powders. Heat until they melt and are dimensional.

Place the paisley stencil over the tag, tape down in a hinge fashion. Using a stencil brush, brush the pumice stone on covering the background of the card. Lift the stencil to check your progress. Stop when you are happy with the background. 

That's it! Have fun and make art today. 

Now check out the other sneak peeks from the other team members listed to the right. 

Lee

Thursday Dream Schemes Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year is the 23rd and it is the Year of the Dragon. As you may have guessed, I did a dragon!

Ingredients

Dreamweaver Stencils LJ844 Dragon

StampaFe rubber stamp OM0714 Happy New Year in Chinese

StampaMania Red Dragon Embossing Powder

Ranger Black Archival Ink

Ranger Embossing Ink and Foam Ink Applicator

Card Stock: black, red and yellow

 

Method

On black card stock, tape down your stencil on one side in a hinge fashion. Apply the embossing ink using the foam applicator and a pouncing motion. If you try to rub the ink in the stencil will shred the foam. Pounce the applicator on the ink pad then all over the stencil. You might need to check the application by lifting up the stencil and seeing that you have a good layer of ink.

Remove the stencil once the card is well inked and sprinkle the embossing powder all over the card, tapping off the excess. Heat the powder and watch for the glitter to shift. If an area looks dull, it may not be melted. 

Layer the black on the yellow card stock. 

On a piece of red card stock stamp the Happy New Year stamp in black. Cool look! Layer up on the yellow and adhere to the dragon. 

You are done - Happy Chinese New Year!

Leave a note that you stopped by and then check out the other team member's designs for this week. 

Have fun and make art today!
Lee 

Thursday Dreams Schemes -- more Valentine's!

Just about a month to go before Valentine's Day, are you ready?

Here's this week's card: 

 

Yes, I had fun with this one! 

Ingredients

Dreamweaver Stencils: LJ833 Heart Background and LM241 Happy Valentine's Day

Ranger Embossing Ink

Ranger Fired Brick Distress Ink

Red Pearl Embossing Powder by StampaMania

Pewter and Metal Tools by Merc Art 

Ribbon by May Arts

 

Method

Metal:

Using your die cut machine, layer up the pewter and stencil, with the stencil always on your flat base first. Then the metal, then the rubber sheet, then the rest of what ever sandwich layering you have to do for your machine. Run it through the machine. 

Carefully remove the metal from the stencil. Work on the front first and outline the hearts, then flip it over and work on the back pushing out the hearts. Work this way until you like the way the hearts look. 

Trim the metal to fit your card.

Take a herringbone wheel and outline your piece. Using the refiner tool, draw squiggles all over the background. This hides all the little marks and abrasions. 

Using a sheet of red line tape, I taped the metal down to a red card. 

For the Happy Valentine's Day:

Tape the stencil on to the card stock you will be using for the saying.

With a foam ink applicator and the embossing ink, pounce on the ink all over the stencil. I like this method for applying embossing ink, it avoids puddles and build up in odd places.

Sprinkle on your red embossing powder, tap off the excess and heat until smooth and dimensional.

Cut out the words and rub on the Fired Brick Distress Ink around the edges. 

Add ribbon to the front of the card. Again, I use the red line tape or Wonder Tape for this. 

Adhere to the card. 

And you are done!

Leave me a note or questions if you have them. Check out the other design team members blog's. If you wish to enter our January competition visit Lynell's blog. 

Have fun and make art today!

 

Lee

Dreamweaver Stencils Valentines Dreams

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to the first posting of the Dreamweaver Stencils' Dream Team 2012! We're changing things up a bit for this year, and YOU can help. The first Thursday of every month will feature our new challenge and will extend through the entire month. This means that YOU have ALL month to play along with the one challenge, as many times as you want. Sometimes it will be a color challenge, sometimes a theme, and sometimes a technique. We are hoping that an entire month will give you plenty of time to be inspired, create, and link to the Dream It Up! blog . Each month we are offering TWO prizes...one for the most creative version of the challenge (does not have to be Dreamweaver Stencils ' product, but we sure are happy when it is!), and the second for the best use of Dreamweaver Stencils ' product in the challenge. This could be stencils  (of course), Embossing Pastes , Metallic F/X , the new Color Solutions , etc., anything you find on the Dreamweaver Stencils' web site , or in your local store. Don't know where your local store is? The list can be found on the web site . Not near any of the stores listed? Contact me and I can send you anything Dreamweaver and beyond!

For the month of January, we challenge you to create something for Valentine's Day! You have until January 31st, 11:59 PM EST, to post and link your creation(s) to the Dream It Up! Blog Mr. Linky. The winners will be announced February 2nd, along with the February challenge.

While I am still thinking Christmas, I do like Valentine's Day. Here is my first of several Valentine's for this month's challenge:

 

Ingredients

Dreamweaver Stencils: LL427 Die Heart, LG672 Heart Lock, LG708 Chickadees and LM241 Happy Valentine's Day

Postcard Tag by American Tag

Ribbon by May Arts

Distress Ink by Ranger Ink: Aged Mahogany, Vintage Photo and Worn Lipstick

Embossing Powders by StampaMania: Black and Red Satin Pearl

Ranger Emboss It embossing ink - clear

 

Method

Using a Ranger foam ink applicator and Aged Mahogany Distress Ink, buff the sides of the tag to your heart's content to create that aged look. Remember to keep the center lighter than the edges. It makes the eyes and brain happy when you do that! 

Using a fresh foam ink applicator and the Heart Lock stencil, pounce embossing ink on the stencil. I have found that using a foam ink applicator and the pouncing method to be very effective especially with embossing ink. This method keeps the ink where it should be where as a stencil brush will get under the stencil.  Sprinkle on the Red Satin Pearl embossing powder and heat until dimensional and glossy. 

Next use the Chickadee stencil and line up the top bird to be at the top of the red  embossed heart. Again using the pouncing method, apply embossing ink to the tag. Sprinkle with black embossing powder, heat until dimensional and glossy. Try not to heat the heart, it will soften if you apply more heat to the melted embossing powder. 

Using the Valentine sentiment,  Vintage Photo Distress ink and a foam ink applicator, pounce on the brown ink.

The heart background is last, apply Worn Lipstick with a foam applicator. Mask off the heart that you are not using on the stencil with blue painter's tape. Rotate the stencil as you move it around the tag to created the background. 

Add the ribbon to the top and you are done!

Thanks for stopping today. Leave me a note that you stopped by and then visit the other wonderful ladies on the Dreamweaver Design Team as listed below or to the right. 

Pam Hornschu  
Laura Drahozal 
Louise Healy 
Wendy Jordan 
Terrece Siddoway
Kristi Van Doren
Georgia Sommers
Liz Martin
Cyndi Bundy
Cherylynn Moser
Jessie Hurley

Have fun and make art today!

 

Lee