Dream Catcher

What is a dream catcher?  I knew WHAT it was, but I didn’t know why there was such a thing.  So I googled it!  🙂  Here’s what it says on http://www.dream-catchers.org/ :

“Dream catchers are one of the most fascinating traditions of Native Americans. The traditional dream catcher was intended to protect the sleeping individual from negative dreams, while letting positive dreams through. The positive dreams would slip through the hole in the center of the dream catcher, and glide down the feathers to the sleeping person below. The negative dreams would get caught up in the web, and expire when the first rays of the sun struck them.

The dream catcher has been a part of Native American culture for generations. One element of Native American dream catcher relates to the tradition of the hoop. Some Native Americans of North America held the hoop in the highest esteem, because it symbolized strength and unity. Many symbols started around the hoop, and one of these symbols is the dream catcher.”

“Dream Catcher Lore:

Native Americans believe that the night air is filled with dreams both good and bad. The dream catcher when hung over or near your bed swinging freely in the air, catches the dreams as they flow by. The good dreams know how to pass through the dream catcher, slipping through the outer holes and slide down the soft feathers so gently that many times the sleeper does not know that he/she is dreaming. The bad dreams not knowing the way get tangled in the dream catcher and perish with the first light of the new day.”  http://www.dream-catchers.org/

I decided to make a dream catcher card for my adult daughter’s birthday.  She likes things that are unique, so I try to come up with something that she might not expect when making her a card.  Here’s the dream catcher card I made for Angie.

On the inside of the card I stamped, It’s your birthday!  Celebrate!

The card base is 110# Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock, trimmed to 7 x 10 inches and folded to make a 5 x 7 inch side-folding card.

The background panel is 100# Simon Says Stamp Cardstock, Lemon Chiffon, trimmed to 5 x.7 inches.  It was stamped around the perimeter with a stamp from Tim Holtz Bitty Grunge Stampers Anonymous Stamp Set  using a Versafine Onyx Black Ink Pad.  

FRONT PANEL

The front panel is 90# Canson Watercolor Paper (from Michaels).  After it was water colored and dried, I trimmed it to 4.5 x 6.5 inches.   To watercolor the paper, first I wet it down using water and a mop brush.  Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads – Ripe Persimmon, Carved Pumpkin and Mustard Seed – were individually smooshed onto a craft sheet and spritzed with a little water.  Using a paint brush, I dabbed here and there on the wet surface of the front panel.  I wanted the ink to do its own thing and go where it wanted to go.  This was left to dry.  I then went around the edges of the panel with Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Vintage Photo, using a finger dauber. 

Versafine Onyx Black Ink was used to stamp a little star from Simon Says Stamp Magical Birthday Stamp Set here and there over the panel, as well as a squiggly from Fiskars Make a Wish Stamp Set.

The card panel was distressed using Heidi Swapp Black Metallic Texture Paste (purchase in-store at Michael’s).  I like this stuff.  It went on so easily.  I started at the top and brushed mostly vertically with the tip of my Tim Holtz Distress Splatter Brush.  This worked great.  I was proud of myself for thinking of it.  🙂  After this dried a bit (it didn’t take long), I splattered white specks on the surface.  A tiny amount of Copic Opaque White Ink was thinned slightly with water and splattered onto the front panel by tapping the handle of a paint brush over it.  This was set aside to dry.

THE HOOP

To make the hoop, a rim was cut out of 110# Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Cardstock using a circle cutter.  I have Creative Memories Circle Cutting System.  Two colors of Tim Holtz Jute String were wrapped around half of the rim and attached at the back with Scotch Tape and Ranger Multi Medium Glue.

The netting in the center of the hoop came from the outside of our Christmas ham.  Hey, use what you have.  🙂  This was wrapped around the top left corner and Scotch Taped on the back.

FEATHERS

• Jane’s Doodles Wise Owl Stamp Set
• Versafine Onyx Black Ink Pad to stamp images
• I water colored images using Memento Luxe Nautical Blue Ink Pad, Hero Arts Soft Vanilla Ink Pad, Hero Arts Ombre Butter Bar to Orange Soda Ink Pad, Simon Says Stamp Schoolhouse Red Ink Pad – each mixed with a little water and brushed on.  This needed to be dry before proceeding.
• Scissors – Feathers were cut out.
• Tim Holtz Distress Marker – I went over the smooth feathers’ “seams” with a marker.  I can’t remember the color I used.
• Memento Tuxedo Black Marker – The tip of this marker was lightly flicked over the fluffy feathers here and there, going in the directions of the lines.  Don’t overdo this.  Also I went around the edge of each feather with the black marker to cover the white sides of the cardstock.
•  Tim Holtz Distress Vintage Photo Ink Pad was applied to the outer border of the feathers with a finger dauber.
• Copic Opaque White Ink was thinned slightly with water and splattered onto the feathers by tapping the handle of a paint brush over them. 
• Jute Packaging Twine (purchased in-store at Walmart) was cut in small pieces and taped to the back of each feather or couple of feathers around the neck of the leaves with Scotch Tape.  Longer pieces of cord were cut to attach the feathers to the hoop, again with Scotch Tape, as well as Ranger Multi Medium Glue.  After gluing and securing, I removed as much Scotch Tape as I could.

THE SENTIMENT

I didn’t have a stamp for DREAM BIG, so I printed it on the computer using the Neenah heavy white cardstock.  After trimming with a fish tail on one side, the Vintage Photo ink was daubed around the edges.  This was backed with a piece of 100# Simon Says Stamp Black Cardstock.

ASSEMBLE

The background panel was adhered to the card base with Scrapbook Adhesives E-Z Runner Tape.  

A piece of fun foam was cut slightly smaller than the 4.5 x 6.5 inch front panel.  This needed to be attached to the back of the front panel with a strong adhesive that couldn’t come loose.  I used 3/4 inch eBoot Double Sided Adhesive.  

Now that the feathers were attached to the Jute Twine, the open ends of the twine were tied to the hoop.  To get the ends under control, Scotch tape was used to attach them to the back of the hoop.  Then the Ranger Multi Medium Glue was patiently applied and the twine ends held down until they adhered to the hoop.  The Scotch tape was removed where possible.  Now ready to attach the hoop to the card front, the black netting was trimmed so it would not hang below the hoop.  The Ranger glue was liberally applied to the back of the hoop, and it was pressed down.  Something heavy was placed on the hoop while it dried.  After it was dried, the ends of the hoop were trimmed with scissors.  The twine was glued down on the raw ends to cover the white cardstock underneath.

The feathers were attached to the card front with Scotch Foam Adhesive.  The sentiment was attached with 1/4 inch eBoot Double Sided Adhesive.  

 

I used the Nuvo Crystal Drops I had to make beads on the netting and the jute twine.

This was a dedicated project for a birthday card and it is a keeper.  I could see something like this being made for a wall hanging or a page in an art journal.  Since I’ve already figured it out, you should give it a try.  

Thanks for reading,

Tricia Ann

CHALLENGES ENTERED

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Grunge It Up  http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Make Your Own Background http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes – Challenge #322-#323

 

 

FLKRLV#26