These instructions and sample cards are directly from Lynell's Dreamweaver Stencils blog.

Distress Powders & Double Stick Paper:

Supplies: DHHS soap, LJ892 stencil (or your choice,) MPDS paper, Distress powders, cardstock for mounting.

1. Soap the back of the stencil with a bar of natural soap (DHHS). A 100% natural soap works best because it is not so crumbly.The soap will act as a resist to the tackiness of the mounting paper, so that when you remove the paper from the metal stencil, you will not ruin it by bending it.

2. Gently brush away any soap flakes from the stencil openings with a firm stencil brush. If there are any clumps of soap on the back of the stencil they will resist the distress powder and could distort the finished image making it blotchy, so smooth these clumps away with the brush.

3. Cut a piece of Double Sided Mounting Paper (MPDS) just slightly larger than the spider mum stencil (LJ892) and remove one side of it’s release paper to reveal the sticky surface. Save this piece of release paper that you have removed for the next step.

4. Press the soaped side of the stencil onto the sticky face of the paper very firmly, to avoid air pockets which could create a way for the distress powder to seep under the stencil. You could use the release paper that you saved to place over the stencil and press to keep the sticky mounting paper clean from dirty fingers.

5. Sprinkle the two Distress Powders...Aged Mahogany and Dusty Concord into the flower petals...give them a circular rubbing motion with your fingers to make them stay on the sticky mounting paper. Then angle these two colors off away from the leaves. Next use Shabby Shutters Distress powder on the leaves using the same technique of rubbing it into the mounting paper with your fingers.

6.When you are finished, tap off the excess distress powder and place your card, stencil side down, on the table. Now your stencil is hidden from your view. Carefully peel the powdered mounting paper off the stencil with one hand, while supporting the stencil with the fingers of your other hand to ensure that the stencil remains flat against the table. (See how the soap keeps the sticky paper from “sticking” to the stencil?) This way you are bending the cardstock in the removal process and not the stencil.

7. Now the background of your powdered design is revealed and this part is still sticky (this is the area the stencil was sticking to).To finish my card I sprinkled the Distress Powder Old Paper all over this now sticky background.You can even do a circular rubbing motion with your fingers to work this powder into the tacky background area. Now after you tap off the excess powder you need to heat the Distress Powders with a heat gun to melt them and set them...I love how they really have an old world vintage look. But remember it is on sticky paper...so it doesn't need much of a heat set, just a bit. And then it is ready to trim and mount as a finished card, so you will remove the second piece of release paper off the back and mount it onto the cardstock.

DISTRESSING THE SCARECROW STENCIL

This was copied from Lynell's blog so you can view the complete article HERE, along with the pictures.

Here is my creation for today, I did a visual tutorial for those of you who are like me and want to SEE how a card is created, today I am using the glossy black embossing paste with the distress powders:

The colors of distress embossing powders that I used on the scarecrow stencil (LG686) are as follows:

Crows: Black Soot
Jacket: Peeled Paint
Straw: Mustard Seed
Overalls: Faded Jeans
Hat/tie/patch: Fired Brick

Distress ink: Mustard Seed and Vintage Photo

Dreamweaver Materials:

Sunflower stencil (LL429)
Scarecrow stencil (LG686)
Crows in a row (LL432)
Basecoat of scarecrow and crows: Glossy Black Embossing Paste (DGKP)
Palette Knife (DPK)
Paste Spreader (LM2010)

STEP-BY-STEP SCARECROW CARD:

Start by loading a 1/2" Dreamweaver stencil brush (NHB1/2") with the Mustard Seed Distress Ink and pull it toward the center of the card you have cut for the scarecrow and the sunflower background piece. Be sure to keep your bristles flat against the surface and stencil off the edge of the card to get that darker edge all the way around the card.

Place the sunflower stencil (LL429) on this card stock and randomly stencil several sunflowers on the background larger piece and the smaller piece that goes inside the card, using the Mustard Seed distress ink or even a darker ink like Vintage Photo . Again notice that you should keep your stencil brush perpendicular to the surface and use a circular rouging motion for a soft shaded effect.

Tape the scarecrow stencil (LG686) onto one of the now inked pieces of cardstock with removable tape (RMT), being sure to use long pieces all the way around each edge to keep your cardstock clean. Apply the Dreawmeaver glossy black embossing paste (DGKP) onto the paste spreader with a palette knife (DPK).

Pull the spreader (LM2010) loaded with the embossing paste gently across the stencil design, but use a firm pressure. If you place your four fingers just like this on the spreader you will achieve even pressure as you lay the spreader down. You may need a little practice, but the results are worth it. Rather than "scraping" it across you are actually "laying" it into the design, flattening the spreader as the holes fill up. Try to avoid going across too many times or pressing too hard.

Take the pieces of tape off one at a time, until you get to the last piece. This piece is referred to as your "hinge". Lift the stencil off from the paste-embossed scarecrow just like you would open a hinged door. This ensures that the paste won't get smeared as you remove the stencil. Once the stencil is off, remove the last piece of tape from the stencil and drop the dirty stencil into a pan of water until you have time to clean it. The next part you want to do before the paste dries so you will need to work quickly.

Now the fun part...adding the color!!! I took a thick straw and cut it into two inch pieces at an angle so I would have a pointed scoop. Then I started with the color at the bottom of the card, which happens to be his straw...you will be using the Mustard Seed distress powder. This next step is important: Be sure to waterfall or angle the card you are holding. This way the powder falls onto the paper below. Next you will give the card a hard tap to remove the excess powder.

Now one color at a time you will move up until you have all the colors where you want them. Be sure to tap off the excess after each color. Don't be afraid to manipulate the card in different directions to achieve putting the colors where you want them. Remember to angle the card so the powder falls away from the wet paste where you want a different color. You will be working from the outside of the design toward the center. So when you are doing his green jacket you will have the card angled on it's sides. The red tie will be the last color to finish.

Remember after each color give the card a tap. So that you don't have to put the powder back in the jar each time you can have different papers set out for each color and just move from paper to paper. This will speed things up. Once the colors are all done set him aside for the paste to dry. Remember the paste is drying the entire time you are working, so you will need to keep moving. This really doesn't take very long...you will work faster than it takes to absorb what I am writing here and before you know it he will be dry and ready to finish.

A wonderful aspect of the distress powders when you use them on the Dreamweaver embossing pastes is that once the paste is dry you don't have to heat the powders to set them like you do on the sticky paper technique that was done last week. So once the paste is dry I stenciled color onto an area which I wanted to be dark brown by using a small stencil brush. If you want to shade on top of the powders with darker inks this is the time to do it.

The crow stencil (LL432) was paste embossed onto the tag with the Dreamweaver glossy black embossing paste (DGKP). The stencil was immediately removed and while still wet the Black Soot distress powder was then sprinkled onto the birds. The air dry time for this is about 45 min. but you can hasten the drying time by placing it on an electric skillet set on the lowest heat. After this was dry I wrote Thank you on the tag and then finished off the card by tying the tag onto the scarecrow portion of the card using a light weight jute.