Using Alcohol Inks with Dreamweaver Stencil Designs

This card above was dry embossed on a sheet of green foil using Dreamweaver's LX7009 Paisley on the LG683 Teacup.  The edge was trimmed, leaving approx. 1/16 to 1/8" of the edge of the teacup.  Use a piece of sandpaper to lightly sand the raised areas of the foil to remove the color of the foil.  Then, using alcohol inks and a Q-tip, apply the alcohol ink to the raised parts of the design.  Continue adding color as desired.

The above card was colored with a similar technique, except in this card, both the heart and the background were colored with alcohol inks.  The background was dry embossed using Dreamweaver's LX7002 Stripes stencil and the heart was dry embossed using LJ911 Gears and then colored with alcohol inks. This was a fun card to make.  We punched a hole and added a brad through the arrow and added a gear with a brad to accent the card.  The cardstock pieces with the words Timeless and Love were edged with the same alcohol ink colors to keep the same color scheme throughout the card.

Click here to purchase Dreamweaver stencils from In Joy Rubber Stamps

Have you heard about Hero Arts new Stamp & Emboss sets?  Hero Arts and Sizzix are offering an embossing collection that perfectly coordinates with a new line of stamp designs. Here are some samples from their web site that showcase one of these new sets, Silhouette Vines.  These cards were made by Tami Hartley.  I wanted to highlight some samples made with this new line of stamps.  Click here to go to the In Joy Rubber Stamps Web Site

Instructions:

1. Stamp Old Letter Writing with Scattered Straw Distress Ink onto cream cardstock square.
2. Stamp Silhouette Vines over top with Wild Honey Distress Ink.
3. Sponge Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink around edges.
4. Insert stamped piece into embossing folder, lining up image, and run through die cut machine to emboss.
5. Adhere embossed piece to square chocolate notecard.
6. Cut strip from chocolate cardstock and stamp sentiment with cream ink.
7. Cut strip from book text and sponge with Wild Honey Distress Ink.
8. Adhere sentiment and book text strips as shown.
9. Finish with Pewter Metallic Decor.
10. Repeat steps above two more times using different ink colors. Aged Mahogany and Peeled Paint Distress Inks were used in the samples shown.

Flower Soft Country Village Cottage

Flower Soft has "card toppers" which are pre-printed designs that you can embellish with their miniature flower embellishments. The one used here is one of the Country Village Cottages. Of course, you can also stamp a design and embellish it with these miniature flowers.

Just lightly add glue to the areas where you want to add flowers (if you add to much glue, the flowers will clump up and not look as nice). Pick up some flowers in the color you want, and sprinkle them over the glue. Add other colors as desired.

For the grass, the ultra fine Flower Soft worked better. Click here to see what's in stock from Flower Soft.

Dreamweaver Tie Card

We always have a hard time making a card for a man, but Dreamweaver has come out with a tie stencil that makes a really nice card! These cards were designed by Dreamweaver, but I wanted to share the ideas with you. Dry emboss the tie stencil and then, for the card on top (black/gold tie), lay the card down with the Tie stencil over the embossed image and then put the Stripes stencil on top, either horizontally or vertically and stencil with black ink. Then change the direction of the stripes stencil to make the plaid design.

For the card with the diagonal stripes, lay the Stripes stencil at a diagonal on top of the tie stencil and then use a dauber with ink to add your stripes. Notice how the colors have a graduated effect, so you want some stripes to be darker than others. See the cards below for other variations. Notice how changing the direction of the stripes as well as using color varations can change the look of your tie.

Visit our online store to find these Dreamweaver stencils at www.injoystamps.com

Dreamweaver Peacock with Metallic F/X Sample

I must admit that I don't have much time to make cards, but I like to share about various tips & techniques that I learn from other people. I saw this card from Dreamweaver that uses their new Metallic F/X mica powder and just LOVED the colors!

Lynell Harlow, the owner of Dreamweaver told me that they used copper embossing paste and the following metallic F/X:

Sapphire
Purple Satin
Glacier Lake
Kiwi

Apply the copper embossing paste to the stencil, and let dry. Once dry, place the stencil back in place and stipple Metallic F/X mica powders with a stencil brush (these are much smaller and firmer than the larger stipple brushes and allow you to have more control over where the color goes).

Click here to purchase the Metallic F/X Mica Powders.

Holly Berry House Autumn Leaf Medallion Sample

Holly Berry House medallion designs look best when embossed in gold. Here's a beautiful design just in time for autumn cards.

1. Emboss the design several times on different colors of cardstock. The number of times depends on how many layers you want to achieve.

2. Cut out the designs. One of the designs will have the complete image. Cut off more of the design for the next layer (see the image with the green glitter). Cut off even more in the next layer (see the layer with the yellow/gold glitter). Continue until you have the number of layers that you desire.

3. Add adhesive. We used Art Glitter's Designer Dries Clear adhesive with the fine tip to make applying the glue much easier. Apply the glue to one section of the design and then add one color of glitter. Continue adding glue & glitter until the design is covered with glitter. Remember that the parts of the design that are covered by another layer do not need glitter.

4. Set aside to dry. When dry, add pieces of foam tape between the layers to give a 3-D effect and you will have a beautiful card!

Click here to purchase the Holly Berry House Autumn Leaf Medallion rubber stamp.

McGill Dimensional Punches

McGill has come out with some new dimensional punches. Basically, you punch out the shapes and then put the pieces together to form a picture. The dogs on the left were all created from one punch: the dimensional dog punch.

You'll notice that each dog has pieces with different colors. All you need to do is punch out the shapes using different colors of paper.

If you don't want to waste paper, you can just turn your punch upside down and put the paper in the area of the design that you want to punch and just punch out that section.

I wanted to highlight this technique because you can do this with other punches also. Try mixing & matching colors to make your own fun & creative designs!

Click here to purchase the McGill Dimensional Dog punch or to see what other McGill dimensional punches are available!