With the weather that we have been having here in Victoria, BC all week, it sure reminds me that another school year is coming to an end….and quickly!  Time to think of “Thank You” gifts for teachers.

For the month of May, the Dream Team is dreaming up “Tiny Treats”…party favours, wedding favours, end of school year treats, teacher appreciation gifts, baby shower favours, co-worker treats, in other words…small tokens of appreciation for those you care about.

Today, I am sharing with you a simple box that can easily be filled with a gift to give to a Teacher as a year-end “Thank You”!    I created the top of the box to look like a Chalkboard.  But, keeping up with technology, I’m just not sure how many chalkboards actually still exist in classrooms.  I know that in my daugther’s class, the teacher has a dry-erase board….so why not fill the box with NEW dry erase markers ready for the next year of teaching!  Then there are boards that are magnetic…why not make some creative magnets to fill the box.  But there’s ALWAYS a good “fall back on” gift:  Chocolates!  The size of the box that I created is just the right size for A2 sized cards too (hmmm, the “Thank You” box filled with “Thank You” cards).  One last idea would be to have a layer of tissue paper in the bottom of the box and place a gift card from the teacher’s favorite store or coffee shop placed on top of the tissue paper.  As you can see, the possiblities are endless.

How to create the box:

Bottom of box:  Cut a piece of Cardstock 7″ X 8 1/4″ for the bottom of the box.  Scor in at all sides at 1 1/4″.  Fold all scor lines.  On each of the long sides, snip on the scor line until you reach the rectangular scor.  This will create flaps that you will fold inward to create the bottom of the box.  I always use a strong double-sided adhesive when adhering any 3D project together.

Lid of box:  Cut a piece of Cardstock 6 1/16″ X 7 5 1/6″.  Scor around all of the edges at 3/4″.  Do the same as you did for the Bottom of the box: folding, snipping and adhering the flaps to create the lid.

 For the “Chalkboard”, I cut a piece of Brown cardstock slightly smaller than the top of the lid and then a piece of Black cardstock that was even a bit smaller than the brown.  The brown cardstock represents the wooden frame and the black cardstock represents the chalkboard itself.  There is also a piece of May Arts ribbon as the “metal ledge”.  Dreamweaver Stencils has teamed up for the year with May Arts ribbons!  LOVE their ribbon~!

STENCILLING:

The stencilling of the box could not have been easier. (follow proper stencilling techniques and cleaning techniques:  Click HERE to follow step-by-step procedures)

• I 1st placed the 2 stencils onto the Black cardstock to determine the placement. 
• The 1st stencil to work with was the APPLE (LL 562).  I pasted it with the Regular paste.  You could wait for the paste to dry, but I didn’t want to wait. 
• Being very careful, I placed the MERCI stencil (LS 1011) next to the Apple stencilled image so it just did not touch the apple image.  I used repositionable tape to mask off any areas of the Black Cardstock that I did not want to get paste onto.  I then proceeded to paste the MERCI stencil with Regular paste.  Set your stencilled cardstock aside to dry. 
• While waiting for it to dry, I cut very small pieces of White Cardstock and rolled into tiny tubes.  These represent chalk. 
• Once the stencilled images were dry, I placed a hand cut curved piece of paper on the apple.  While holding this piece of paper in place, I dipped a sponge into a Red ink pad (Barn Door Distress ink) and sponged the colour onto the apple.  Start sponging lightly applying more until you achieve the darkness in colour that you desire.  Remove the paper template once finished sponging.
• Repeat the sponging of colour onto the leaf using Green ink (Crushed Olive Distress ink) and Brown ink (Gathered Twigs) onto the stem.  To help avoid getting the colour onto other images and ONLY getting ink on the images that you want the ink to be on, I used the Picaso tool and placed one of the openings over the image that I wanted to sponge.  The rest of the Picaso tool masks off the other images and segregates the image that you are working on.   Brilliant tool!
• The MERCI was left plain white.
• Place a piece of MAY ARTS ribbon over the bottom of the black cardstock and adhere the ends to the back.  This piece of ribbon represents the metal chalkboard ledge.
• Adhere the brown cardstock centered to the top of the box lid.  Then adhere the black stencilled cardstock layer centered onto the brown cardstock.
• Using Glossy Accents, I adhered the rolled up white paper “Chalk” pieces where desired.
• VOILA!  Your box is complete!  

NOTE:  MERCI was used in place of “Thank You” as my daugther is in French Immersion!

 Please check out this week’s design team posts:

Dream It Up! 
Lea Kimmel 
Louise Healy 
Stacey Rumsby 
Terrece Siddoway 
Caroline Duncan 
Pam Hornschu 
Cherylynn Moser 

Once you have been creatively energized, put that energy to work and create!  We would love to see your creations for this month’s Tiny Treats challenge.  A random winner will get to choose ANY one item sold by Dreamweaver stencils!  Leave your thumbnail on the linking system  through the Dream It Up! blog.  If you don’t have your own blog email Lynell a picture of your creation at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com, and she will blog about it for you. Our random winner will be chosen at the end of the month and posted on the Dream It Up! blog on the first.

Happy Stencilling (truly such a treat…lol!)

Stacey

April’s Dreamweaver Stencils Challenge is

Mists, Drizzles, and/or Showers.

You can interpret the challenge literally and figuratively!  Let your imagination soar.  Do you think rain, umbrellas, puddles?  Maybe your imagination takes you to products like Memories mists and sprays!  I look forward to see what everyone creates.  Why don’t you join in on our April challenge….what do you have to lose?  You could even WIN a stencil from Dreamweaver Stencils!  Don’t forget to link your creation up to Mr. Linky on the Dream It Up! blog or e-mail a picture of your creation to Lynell at lynell@dreamweaverstencils.com

Today is my very 1st day sharing with you my creation for this month’s challenge as a Dream Team design member!  As you view my post as well as the other designer’s posts, keep in mind that you can play along too!  Why not, with a chance to WIN a Dreamweaver Stencil!  SPECIAL NOTE:  Thanks to Dreamweaver Stencils, the stencils that I am using today were stencils that I had won back in 2012 in one of their monthly challenges!

For my card I used stencils:

• LG 737 Umbrella
• LG 738 Rain Words and
• LJ 905 Rain (the background)

Dreamweaver Pastes that I used:

• Metallic Silver
• Regular
• Transluscent

The following step-by-step instructions describe how to place/secure a stencil over your paper and how to apply paste.  To view a step-out picture tutorial that Lynell put together, please visit her post HERE:

STEP #1:
Begin by placing one long piece of removable tape at the top of your stencil. This piece is referred to as your “hinge”. When it is time to remove the stencil it will be the last piece of tape to be removed.

STEP #2:
Tape out the rest of the other sides of the stencil and press the tape down firmly onto the stencil so the paste doesn’t seep underneath the tape.

STEP #3:
Apply the Dreamweaver  Embossing Paste to the Dreamweaver Paste Spreader (LM2010) using the palette knife.

STEP #4:
Gently yet firmly spread the paste into the openings/holes of the stencil with the paste spreader (LM2010). Try to avoid going over the image more than once or twice. This will ensure that the paste doesn’t seep under the stencil and cause the image to blur.

STEP #5:
Remove all of the tape except the “hinge” or the first piece you positioned at the top of the stencil. You now remove it just like you would flip open a hinged door. This keeps the print from getting smeared.

STEP #6:
Add a small amount of dishwashing detergent into a shallow pan of water and immediately put the stencil into this bath. Be sure that when you dry or wash a metal stencil you always keep them flat. This will keep them from getting damaged or bent.

Here’s how I created this card:

1. Place a small amount of translucent paste in a separate container.
2. Add one drop of re-inker to the translucent paste. (I used Tim Holtz distress reinker Stormy Sky) Stir until blended (I used a plastic disposable knife).  You now have a tinted translucent paste!
3. Place stencil over white background cardstock (CS).  Spread  tinted translucent paste over Rain stencil LJ 905.  Remove the stencil.  While the paste is still wet, dip a small paint brush into a jar of iridescent diamond glitter.  Randomly tap off some of the glitter over desired areas until you achieved the look that is pleasing to you.   Gently tap off any excess.  Set your pasted image aside to dry.  Your paste will go from a “milky” hue and dry to a translucent blue hue.
4. On a piece of Grey CS cut to the size of the Umbrella stencil LG 737, place the Umbrella stencil over the Grey CS and apply Regular Paste.  Remove stencil.  Set your pasted image aside to dry.
5. Once the Umbrella is dry, place your clean and dry stencil over top of the pasted umbrella image.  Using fingertip daubers (sponge), dip the sponge directly into an ink pad.  I used Tim Holtz distress inks Stormy Sky and Peeled Paint.   I picked these colours by pulling colours out of the pattern paper that I used on this card.  With a light touch, dab the colour onto the umbrella and the handle of the umbrella image. 
6. Once you are finished applying colour to the umbrella and handle, clean off your stencil.  Then use removeable tape masking off parts of the umbrella image so only the areas on your stencil where the “metal parts” of the umbrella are showing.  I then applied Metallic Silver embossing paste to create the look of metal.  Remove stencil and allow to dry.
7. Once your unbrella image is entirely dry, you will then cut the umbrella image out leaving an even space around the image.
8. While waiting for the umbrella image to dry, place a rectangular piece of white CS under the “Rain, Rain Go Away” words on stencil LG 738.  (My piece of CS measured 1 1/8″ X 2 1/8″).  Using removeable tape mask off other words on stencil that are not desired (for this purpose, just to keep the surface underneath clean).  You will then apply Metallic Silver paste over the “Rain, Rain, Go Away” words.  Remove stencil, and set your stenciled paper aside to dry.
9. Once the Background and the “word” pieces are dry, sponge the edges with the Stormy Sky ink just to soften the edges.
10. The ribbon on this card is from May Arts and is their 1/8″ Center Stitched Turquoise ribbon.  I used it to create a double ribbon embellishment over the Pattern Paper.  I also create the tiny bow on the umbrella’s handle (YES, I LOVE to make little finicky bows!).

I do hope that you will play along.   If there are Dreamweaver Stencil products that you would like to have in your crafting collection, please go to my ON-LINE store HERE to view all of the Dreamweaver Stencil products that I have available for sale.  If there are any Dreamweaver Stencil products that you would like that I do not have in stock, you can always send me a list and I will order them in!  To view ALL Dreamweaver products, please visit Lynell’s site www.dreamweaverstencils.com

Please visit the following Dream Team Members to check out what they created this week for the April Challenge!

Dream It Up! 
Lea Kimmel
Alison Heikkila  (April Guest designer!) 
Louise Healy 
Stacey Rumsby  (this is me!)
Terrece Siddoway 
Caroline Duncan 
Pam Hornschu 
Cherylynn Moser

Happy Stenciling!

Stacey