Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Zensdays with Lynell and Wayne #9

What are you doin' New Years....New Year's Eve?

I am sharing a couple of ZIA pieces that Wayne made this past year.

This piece is actually very simply done using Verdigogh  (by Maria Thomas) for the pine needles and Tagh for the pine cones.

No color on this one...just elegant in black and white.

Beautiful, isn't it? Please leave him a comment below.

If you want to learn more about these and other tangles go to www.tanglepatterns.com





I haven't made this one into a card yet, but Wayne Sten-tangled this one inside the umbrella stencil (LG737) which I had already colored in blue ink using a stencil brush. Next he outlined it with a yellow florescent glaze pen from the Moonlight collection by Sakura.

I wanted to use this one because it is raining in Southern California today and I always feel like rain starts out the New Year fresh and clean!

Happy New Year! Pop by Thursday to see who our winners are for the month of December Quick and/or Cute Challenge...

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas...December Challenge: Cute and/or Quick

 Merry Christmas everyone! I am hoping that today your agenda holds a relaxing day with all you hold dear. I know that some of you work and have very busy lives, and now you finally have a few days to rest and enjoy the season. Believe it or not...this is the day I start sending out my Christmas cards. Ahhh...I do enjoy this time of warm traditions.

This is the last week of the challenge Cute and/or Quick. And it seems that all month long I have posted someone else's work on Thursdays. So in keeping with that theme here are two "Merry Christmas" cards I received from two special friends. Elaine Benedict, formerly my sales rep in Chicago and the second is card I received from Linda Baney former sales rep from the Sacramento and San Fransisco Bay area. Thank you ladies for such lovely cards.

This first card from Elaine is simple and a great design for your cards if you're beach minded! Elaine has moved from Chicago and now lives very close to a beach in North Carolina. The new shell wreath stencil (LG759) can be used anytime of year...not just Christmas, but she has added the Merry Christmas (LS92) stencil for this seasonal occasion.

She paste-embossed the stencil with the Pearlescent Embossing Paste (DPP). And added just a bit more shimmer with a mica powder...if you are reading along Elaine, let us know which one. : )

Gorgeously simple creation!









Linda also used the Merry Christmas stencil (LS92) by paste-embossing it on a small tag with gold Embossing Paste (DGP). Then the background was our new fireworks embossing folder (FJ886) using a matte gold cardstock...I like how she cut it diagonally to follow the same line she used with our holly die (DL3005). She centered the nested smaller ornament die (DG674) after paste-embossing it with the new poinsettia stencil and again gold embossing paste. This one is gorgeous too! And elegantly simple. Thank you again, Linda, for the beautiful card.

Now for those of you who have stopped by please take time to leave my friends a welcoming comment.

If you have time be sure to visit the team and see what they have been up to for this holiday time posting.

And we are hoping you will take time to join our December Challenge...just a few more days...link up below and come back next week to see the winner list on Jan 1st!


Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Zensdays with Lynell and Wayne #8

It's Christmas Eve and all through the house....yes, you know the drill. Lots of hustle bustle in our house and I am looking forward to not a creature stirring ...it's time now to relax for a few days and reflect on all the things that are most important ...family, friendships and making these our priorities. (For those of you who are following our monthly challenge on Thursdays come back on Christmas day... you have another week to join. Then return on Jan 1st to see who wins.)

Until then here is our ZIA (zentangle inspired artwork) to celebrate this Season of Joy! Wayne created the wreaths in the windows of tile grid stencil (LJ812) and used the new tangle pattern Akoya by CZT Sandy Hunter...click HERE to see the step outs on how to do this. Next he added the color with the LePlume Alcohol Markers by Marvy Uchida (which are permanent). I stenciled a blue halo around each Akoya wreath with Sky Blue Brilliance ink and then made his work into a card with the Merry Christmas stencil (LM134) sentiment paste-embossed with glossy white embossing paste (DGWP). Wayne added a shadow effect with a micron pen on the sentiment. A metallic gold bow finished the card. Now it's time to send out all of our Christmas cards.... Merry Christmas!




Thursday, December 18, 2014

Quick and/or Cute: December's Challenge

Yep, tis the season for quick and easy cards. Would love to have you join our challenge, so that is why we are encouraging quick and simple creations this month. Winner chooses any stencil from our 720 designs! We also will have a winner that could win two of our stencils (your choice again) if you use Dreamweaver products in your creation. I noticed a couple of people who have joined up more than one creation....which is just fine with us! Link up below!

Today I am featuring a couple of sympathy cards made by former design team member Heidi Erickson. Thanks Heidi for sending these simple cards done with DG642 our leafy branch die is slightly smaller than our stencil, but the design matches the larger stencil design LG642. Combining the die cuts with embossing paste on the word stencil is very effective and of course has an elegant simplicity which is very calming to send to a friend/family member who needs a lift at a difficult time. Heidi owns a stamp/card store in Wisconsin, ...be sure to stop by and visit her blog by clicking HERE


Heidi cut out two leaves from the pale green paper then mounted patterned paper behind the cutout areas. To balance the design she added a die cut yellow-green leaf that she brushed a darker color onto using the Strié technique. The comfort word at the bottom is from our comfort combo stencil (LG696) which was paste-embossed using the silver embossing paste. (DSP


This second card has the In Sympathy sentiment paste embossed in copper embossing paste (DCP). The leaf die (DG642) us cut out of a tan paper and stenciled just a bit with a distress type of ink. The nesting dies (DD001) are placed behind the leaf and "in sympathy" ribbon and are cut from patterned dark brown papers and layered on top of the creamy embossed background design which was dry embossed with the "crusade" background stencil (LX7023).

It's amazing how simple and quick these cards can be put together. I know it's a busy month for all of us, if you have time join the challenge if you don't please join us for January's monthly challenge.

Now please take the time to visit the team and see what they have been up to. Would love it if you would leave these ladies some encouragement in the way of a comment or two! Say hi! to Heidi here as well...







An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Zensdays with Lynell and Wayne #7

Happy Holidays everyone! Today is another mixture of Wayne collaborating with me on the art form of Zentangle. The diva, Laura Harms has issued Challenge #198 and is going back four years to her first challenge ever. She called her #1 challenge "KISS"...which stands for Keep it Simple "Silly"!  Read about her first challenge and see how some of the other Zentangle enthusiasts/artists have interpreted the challenge by clicking HERE. My interpretation of the challenge went the gamut....I have loved the zentangle pattern called Trentwith for a long time and never really ever tried it, so I decided today was the day. Last week David Hunter used it in the center of his arukas challenge tile and I LOVED what he did so I had that added inspiration to go forward with Trentwith...if you want to see his creation from last week click HERE. I used it in the corner of my challenge piece today and added my own variation of the pattern Hached....then went nuts with our ancient Prismacolor pencils. Guess I need to tell Santa I need more colors. I thought this was the "simple" part of the challenge for me...because I literally scribbled away and it went really quickly. It's fun to do a challenge where you can interpret it a gazillion different ways. If you want to see Wayne's interpretation of the KISS challenge click HERE to view his tile on his flickr site. As per usual it's an UNBELIEVABLE creation...it wouldn't be simple for me, but everyone interprets simple differently, silly!!!

Wayne and I also did another quilt design with Trentwith. I did the Trentwith 'roses' and he did the ivy/holly leaves, this will eventually get made into our Christmas cards. If you are interested in knowing more about how to do the tangle patterns  called Trentwith or Hached step-by-step click HERE to go to tanglepatterns.com. Trentwith was a pattern designed by Terri Greenberg. I used the LJ812 metal stencil to trace the grid pattern and the coloring was a combination of pink and pale green Prismacolor pencils then shaded with LePlume permanent alcohol based ink markers using a darker pink and green.





Then our last creation was Wayne's ZIA work using Hollibaugh on the small nested ornament die (DG674) cut out of plain white card stock...it's a variation to look like candy canes and the larger nested ornament die is done with pea-nuckle. How he does it so evenly I'll never know. I put the card together and violà another card ready for the Christmas mail. The dream stencil is paste embossed with glossy white paste and then sprinkled with red glitter.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Quick and/or Cute December's Challenge

DL3005 holly die
This beauty is once again from my friend Marj Marion. We have known each other many years and she has taught with our stencils in the Olympia Washington area for originally a store called Quackers and later it became Art 'N Soul. She has also been a wonderful resource for teaching two or three times in the UK for our distributor there. THANKS Marj  for sending me these special cards for the holidays...it has helped immensely with a busy out of control holiday schedule. Also she has sent some wonderful instructions and although they are in depth...don't be afraid, because they are easy to follow and after reading them through you'll know what to do. So...in her own words...here they are.

WATERCOLOR WITH INLAID DIE CUTTING:

Paper: 

I use 140#, cold press watercolor paper. You can use the "pebbly" side, or the smoother side on the back side of the paper....it's your choice. It is handy to use a temporary rape runner adhesive to attach your panel to a scrap piece of text weight paper- something to hold onto!

Inks: 

Choose 2-4 colors of Distress Inks, and sponge on the colors in a random fashion. Cover most of the card with ink, but precision isn't necessary. Now, spray generous amounts of water on top of the ink let the excess water run around the paper, creating interesting patterns. You can use a heat tool to "move" the water and create nice edges and shapes with the colored water. When it's dry, you can add more Distress Inks with a sponge if you want more intense color. 

Also, you can rub Distress Ink pads down on a Craft Sheet, spray the ink with water, and use your finger or paint brush to mix and blend colors and water, creating droplets and tiny "puddles". Lay your colored W/C panel on these droplets, and press the panel onto the droplets. Dry, and repeat. You will create even more interesting patterns of diluted ink on your panel. If you want to lighten the colors on your panel, it is possible to dribble little droplets of water on the panel, let them soak for a bit, and then "move" them around with the heat tool, or blot with a paper towel to remove some of the color you first applied.

Die Cutting: 

Decide on the placement of your die, leaving room for a stamped message or embellishments. Be sure your paper is dry. Use removable tape to secure the die to your panel, and die cut your design. Save the positive die cut to use on another project.

On a clean piece of W/C paper, die cut your design again, to create a "clean" die cut to color. Use finger daubers and Distress Pad, or Distress Markers, color the die cut as desired, making sure there is some contrast in color with your inked panel. Notice that the holly die (DL3005) in this sample is darker. You can also pat Distress Ink on the Craft Sheet and use a small paint brush to color your die cut.

Assemby:

Cut a piece of computer paper large enough to cover the back of the die cut opening. Cover all of this scrap with tape runner adhesive. Place the sticky side of your scrap paper onto the back of the W/C panel. You will see tape runner adhesive exposed in the open areas of the die cut. Carefully fit your colored, positive die cut shape into the opening, fitting it in exactly, sort of like a puzzle piece going in . Now, glue your W/C panel to an accent panel. Add bling or embellishments like the red ribbon in this sample. Glue your panel to a folded card of choice.

Alternate W/C Methods:

1. Pat or rub Distress Ink pads on the Craft Sheet, spray with water, and swish W/C paper around on the droplets
2. Cover the W/C panel with scribbles from Distress Markers, and proceed as above to spray and move the colored water around on the panel.
3. Create watercolor backgrounds with Twinkling H2O's, Inka Gold, or any watercolor paints, and proceed. Noe that these may not dilute and "run" as well as Distress Inks, but you can follow the same technique with many things getting different results.

Have fun with this technique!

(Thank you Marj for helping me with these beautiful samples recently and detailed instructions when my holidays are so busy!)

NOW...please take time to see what my wonderful team is up to and leave some comments today for Marj and visit the team and please leave them some encouragement as well.



Remember we love it when you join the challenge, but if you don't have a blog and would like to email me your creation I will place it here on my blog. This week Rose Svendsen from Nova Scotia is sending me her creation....here it is and thank you Rose for all of your participation over the years. He fits our quick and cute doesn't he. Paste-embossed penguin stencil (LS84) using black embossing paste (DMBP) on white glittered double sticky tape, then black glitter is added to the wet paste. So simple Rose! Great easy to do creation for the holidays! A few embellishments and he is ready to pop in the mail.




Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Zensdays with Lynell and Wayne #6


The diva's challenge #197 is presented by Laura Harms...she is back in the saddle again, welcome back! Glad your little guy is feeling better. The challenge this week is a new tangle by Molly Hollibaugh and it is called ARUKAS (which btw is Sakura spelled backwards). To see the step by step and to see more about the challenge and what Laura has designed click HERE


Manger is paste-embossed with stencil LL334 
Well this is the time of year that is wild for our schedules! Most of you know exactly what I mean. Because I am trying to post several different things today and Christmas is getting closer and closer (has it ever gotten farther and farther?...LOL) anyway Wayne has helped me with this one. My desk is deep in arukas gone astray, so he helped me do the aruka (a great teacher and tangler) this week and I made it into a ZIA/Christmas card (...tis the season). We're a pretty good team that way. If you would like to see his beautiful arukas creation click HERE to go to his Flickr account.









Also I am showing a stentangle creation below by a facebook friend, Lilian. She was kind enough to share a story. Here in her own words is how she discovered stencils and "zentangle" and what she is doing to enrich others lives.

My name is Lilian Soegaard Wogensen, I live in Denmark and am 65 y.o.
I was first introduced to  Zentanglec ca.  3 month ago, and since I have been tangling tangling....
I had to own  "all " zentangle books  and  while reading I got to know about  Dreamweawer's stencils..
They were hard to find in Denmark, but I finally found Stampman in UK, and now I own 8 stencils and want more more....
I make cards and pictures with them in my own style... I never had made cards before....now I think cards/zentangle day and night  !!!


 There is a little story about the use of the umbrella stencil : 
I am a socialworker in a creative shop under a social institution called the Umbrella..
therefor I make cards with  the umbrella stencil as a motiv in different designs, and sell them in the shop, and the money is used for helping people back to life again...


Thank you Lilian for sharing...it sounds like such a worthy cause and I am glad you found something that helps others AND you can also enjoy zen at the same time. Wishing you the best with your cardmaking endeavors! Click HERE to see her umbrella creations.

Here is a card that Lilian made with the apron stencil:



Here are a few more ZIA cards for Christmas, these are collaborations with Wayne:




Stentangle work by Wayne/Card design by Lynell

Materials:
Merry Christmas Stencil
LM298
Nested stocking
DG692
Chevron Stencil
LX7026
Glossy Black Embossing Paste DGKP

Tangles used:
Florz
Bed of Roses

For step-by-step instructions 
on the tangles visit:










Small stockings by Wayne/Lg stocking by Lynell
Materials:

Nested Stocking dies (DG692)
Happy Christmas stencil (LM203)
Matte Black paste (DMBP)

Tangle Patterns used:
Large stocking-Holly and Cubine
Sm stockings-
Tipple
Betweed
Z-trik

For step-by-step instructions on
the tangles visit:

Thursday, December 4, 2014

DECEMBER Challenge: Quick and/or Cute

In a flurry of a hurry? This month the Dream Team are all about the Quick and/or Cute...whether that be cards, gifts, wrapping, or tags...we have sleigh-loads of ideas! Play along by posting your creations using the Inlinkz tool on the Dream It Up! blog, for a chance to win the stencil of your choice, and a possible bonus stencil for using Dreamweaver products in your Quick and/or Cute project!

Once again life has been wild wild wild and my wonderful friend Marj Marion sent me a couple of cards made with the embossing folders that really inspired me...thank you so much Marj. 

Marj live in the Olympia WA area and occasionally works at the wonderful stamp store Art 'N Soul. She has great following of stenciling and creative card making students that take every class she plans. Here are two cards that are super easy to make for the holidays...in fact I am a bit behind on my own creations so I look forward to using the new embossing folders too.



This is such a classy looking card, Marj! The Holiday Greetings embossing folder (FJ917) was dry embossed through the machine and then the berries were done with a gold pearl pen. The decorative border on either side of the sentiment was done with a decorative washi tape.

Beautifully and quickly done for those last minute cards.












Here in her words is how she accomplished this second card...yes it is done very simply and elegantly:

" Dry emboss the silver panel in the Peace on Earth folder (FG663). Trim it closely to the design. Adhere it to a black layer, and trim, leaving and 1/8" border of the black. Attach silver scroll Washi tape and decorated panel as shown. Attach two black rhinestones at the top two corners. Tie a gentle overhand know with the silver/black ribbon; adhere it to the card with glue dots."

Don't forget our design team is sharing today too, so leave some love here for Marj and be sure to visit the team and leave a comment or two for them as well. 

Read on to hear about our winners for the thankful and thoughtful challenge of November. We have three winners this month...one from overseas, one from here and another winner that has used the Dreamweaver Products in their challenge project. 


Oak Leaf and Maple leaf stencils (LL3043 and LL3044)

NOVEMBER WINNERS: IT'S YOUR DAY!

Our first winner is from Norway #37 Ionabunny
Our second winner is #28 Craftygirl21
Our third winner is #36 Karen Ballentine

If you used Dreamweaver Products in your creation you can choose two stencils, so Karen Ballentine gets to choose an extra stencil. Please choose your favorite stencil from our site and email me your snail mail addy lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com

OK...one more fun thing for those of you that stopped by and didn't win. The first ten people who email me their snail mail addy...I will send you one of my favorite stencils with a card that I have made from the stencil. BUT you have to email me before Monday!

Now please see what the team has been up to:

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Zensdays with Lynell and Wayne #5

Creation #1: The Diva's Challenge #196

This week's challenge at the diva's site is presented by Emily Classon CZT. Be sure to visit the diva's site to follow and see what everyone is creating....truly mind bloggeling, (you can even join in the challenge) click HERE.

And here is what Emily has challenged us with in her own words:

"I invite you to be inspired by dolls like I have been.  Awaken your inner child, and add some playtime to your tangling with a doll-shaped string, a tangled paper doll chain, or a tangled fabric doll.  Do you have an old Barbie stuck in a trunk somewhere?  I bet there’s a way to tangle her too."

Today my doll inspiration came from the apron stencil (LG736) and I CASEd Wendy Jordan's beautiful creation from Suzanne McNeil's book Zentangle 6. Ms. Suzanne was kind and used many of our stencils in her book to create ZIA projects. Stencils are a different way of drawing the strings for your patterns.


Doing the apron did remind me of cutting out paper doll clothes while growing up in the 60s. 

Several of the tangles are also from Suzanne's book. But these are also the following tangles: 
flying geese, leaflet, cockles and mussels are on the pocket, shattuck, and several that are quilt type of patterns. Remember that you can also create your own patterns like Suzanne did.

For information on how to do some of the tangles above go to tanglepatterns.com to find step-
by-step instructions.

This is not a traditional tile, but rather what is considered a ZIA or Zentangle inspired art. I made the apron tangle-ation into a greeting card with a black and white satin ribbon for an embellishment that I found at the local craft store and some black buttons as well.

To see Wayne's fabulous tangleation for this challenge you can go to his flickr site by clicking HERE.




As I got older I became a bit of a doll collector...my sister was an influence, but as you go to the diva's site and see what people have created a couple of people did the Matryoshka nesting dolls that are a very famous Russian doll...click HERE to see Sue's creation. Several years ago my friend, Shirley Day, famous theorem painter from Mass. visited me and we attended the Society for Decorative Painters Convention in San Diego together. At one of the booths were Russian decorative painters selling their fabulous creations and I couldn't resist purchasing a nested set for my doll collection. Imagine creating with brushes that have just a few sable 
bristles to do this wonderful work...here are a couple of pictures:





  Creation #2: Zentangle Quilt (#5)

This quilt design was one that I did when Wayne and I got quilt crazy a few weeks ago. The tangle design is 4 corners by Barbara Finwall and click HERE to go to tangle patterns and discover her steps and variations on the design. I started by using a stencil to make the quilt grid (LJ811). If you don't have a metal stencil like this one you can draw a grid. After I tangled the grid, I colored it in with my ancient Prisma color pencils and then put the stencil back on and daubed on a clear ink and clear embossing powder. Final step is to heat the powder to make the finish raised and shiny. If you are interested in a free instruction sheet on the technique email me and I will send you the pdf of steps. lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com



Creation #3: Another Christmas Card by Wayne and moi. This time in a very non-traditional Christmas colorway.

Materials: Checkered Paper and Micron 01 pen LS26 snowflake stencil, matte black embossing paste, DG674 ornament die

Tangles used from top to bottom: Cadent and Yew dee


Be sure to pop back tomorrow to see what our new challenge is for the month of December and view the winners for the month of November's challenge.



Thursday, November 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving/Thankful and Thoughtful Monthly Challenge

Ok...a bit late here on my Thanksgiving Day post. I will make it short and to the point...I am thankful for all the thoughtful friends and design team members who work so hard each week to help us present these stencil creations in the best possible light.

The card today is a CASEd card that I created. Louise Healy created a beautiful card about a month ago showcasing this oak leaf stencil (LL3043) and the bare tree die (DX7020) and I also used the dual alphabet die (DD005).  




Here is her card that I CASEd....I used the same molten magic technique as well! Thanks Louise! I am grateful for all your beautiful work and inspiration.


Just a couple more days to post your thankful and thoughtful creation and then we have a very open challenge for the month of December. Be sure to visit all the team to see what they have been up to this week and be thoughtful and leaf them a nice comment to cheer them on. Thank you too Linda Neff for all the beauty that you have shared with us...this guest designer is mega talented!


ALSO ....posting a card for Rose from Nova Scotia! She says it's done with embossing paste, then stenciled with distress inks and added clear embossing powder and heated it. This is a technique called faux cloisonné. If anyone is interested in the instruction flyer email me and I will send out to you. lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com

Thank YOU Rose for the added card...what a beauty! I will add you to the challenge list for a chance at the random winning! For those of you who might not have a blog email me your creations and I will try to work them into a post so you can have a chance to win as well!



And here is a card from Gail in Norway...a slider card...I had never heard of them and a link to her blog HERE to see her post...she was not able to post it because the challenge was closed, but  I would definitely like to share it:
Gail used LJ838 Dreamweaver's wave stencil as an icy slope for her slider card!





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