Saturday, May 31, 2014

Fairies and Owls - Lilian





Hi there everyone
Well what a fun month of Fairies and Owls over at Imagine if!
For my last Design Team project for May I've chosen to alter a  wooden photo frame
I'm just loving how it looks with some black and white photos.



I first gave the wood a stressed look with some vintage cream paint.
then got to work painting and adding texture to all the wee owls, some are card and felt laser cuts from Imagine if. I've used Tim Holtz stickles and distress inks.


For my fairies I've used cheese cloth tea dyed for the dresses,I've chopped the arm and moved it on the larger fairy which I've also added a butterfly wing created from a stamp and coloured with Tim Holtz distress ink :) loveeee them! The middle sized fairy I  cut in half one of the filigree butterflies from Imagine if and added to the wing for more interest.
Painted on some faces and a bit of texture on the moon which I  added glitter and a glow in the dark glitter!

The other half of the butterfly I added to my toadstool, the tree trunk is made from upcycled cardboard and paint!
I added some of the tea dyed cheese cloth around the photo sections to frame like a window, also added a trail of ivy around to create a forest look!
Adding a selection of the stars glittered and textured for a "Sparkle" in the night light!
I finally created an old fence with painted Ice block sticks cut roughly joined with some wire,
Seam binding dyed with Tim Holtz vintage photo distress ink for curtain ties.
After much fun I continued to add a few paper white roses and a felt ladybug from Imagine if, a selection of very pale lemon paper and fabric flower.
Go take a look at all the amazing fun products Imagine if has to offer!

Friday, May 30, 2014

Owl card - Marilyn

Hi everyone Marilyn here, 
This is my 3rd project for this month and I have chosen to make another owl card
For this card I have used one of Imagineif/fix designs chipboard cut outs.
(The owl and the branch come as one piece.)
I sealed the whole piece with Gesso which I applied generously so that I could add texture to the owl.
 
 
 
I then coloured the owl using a selection of brown Distress Markers
To add body I cut some brown felt leaves in half, inked the edges with black and layered to form feathers.
Another brown  leaf was cut into  fine strips to add tufts  to the ears.
I punched a couple of circles out of gold card to add to the back of the eyes to make them more realistic and lastly ground down a button to form the beak.
The branch was sealed with Gesso, inked with a variety of brown shades then  leaves and lichen added.
The moon was made with double sided sticky paper, glitter applied on the front and rubbed in, then positioned on the card.
The owl and branch are doubled pop dotted on to give depth.
The photo does not do this card justice. A very simple card yet beautiful.
Check out Imagineif/fix designs – They have a wonderful selection of owls - 
 
Hope you enjoyed.
Marilyn.  
 

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Journal - Katrina

Good morning, Katrina here, today for my Imagine If.... blog I have an altered book.
Jo from Imagine If.... sent us Fairies and owls with the cutest mushrooms ever, so I decided to try my hand at a book, I'm really happy with how it turned out, except I should have ripped out a few more pages so the book would close flat. I made my book backwards so I glued just over half the pages together to make the hidey hole, then worked my pages from there and finished with my outside cover. I'm a bit of a backwards person but it worked out in the end, I'll show you from the right way around, hope you like it!


















I use the book as a journal, playing with the lovely chipboard, the page with the outline of the fairy against the moon is a pop-up page with the quote "like the glittering dust on fairy wings, Little girls dreams are magical things"

Then my last page/hidey hole I've made into a magical keep safe place, I have a bottle with 'fairy dust' and a 'fairy skirt' and I made a little mushroom out of polymer clay, it's so cute!!!!!

That's my fairy magic book hope it inspires you to make one.

happy craftin

Katrina



Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Happy ....Arrows and Lettering



Hi Carol here today,
Hope you are all in joying all the fabulous stuff that is going up in Imagine If`s online outlet.
I wanted to show of  some of the new lettering, and the new arrows today.  The arrows can be inked or any other medium, I have painted and then added some stickers letters to them.   


I loved the paper, so I enlarged the photo and added some embellishments,
check out that little car.. it is made from felt, and the new chipboard fence, which I left plain, as it suited the layout. 

A simple layout, but I love it..so happy with the result. 
Carol. 

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Kiwiana - Brenda

Hello everyone, Brenda here.  I hope you are all keeping warm & dry now that winter seems to be upon us.  Luckily up here in the North we aren't getting this terrible weather system that's affecting the majority of the country.  Mind you cold and wet is the best time for crafting isn't it??
 
In todays layout I've used a gorgeous photo of my niece celebrating the most important day of her life - her graduation.  Tessa had a rough time getting through her school days, so now finally she is on top of the world after years of catch up and hard grind.  Well done Tessa.


In keeping with the kiwiana theme introduced by the gorgeous feather cloak being worn I've used only green's & brown's throughout.  Believe it or not this stunning HOTP paper actually has pretty pink flowers in the bottom corner, but gesso and a strategically placed flower hid them nicely.  The papers have been distressed & inked, the stitching is on top of printed stitching (which actually looked cheap & tacky).  Burlap & the HOTP trim border the layers perfectly.  The awesome koru from Imagine if . .  have been flocked along with 'TESSA', then glimmer misted  just to tone the colours down a bit.  Felt kiwi add more kiwiana to the page.

I found a tutorial for these stunning burlap flowers on You Tube, take a look here.  Skeleton leaves, pheasant feathers & beads finish the embellishments.


Good ole Google is very handy, here I've used Google translations to add yet more kiwiana.  "mihi Tessa i runga i to koutou puta" translates to "Congratulations Tessa on your graduation".  I've used cuttlebug dies for the lettering.

I'm really please with how the page has turned out with all the embellishments from Imagine if . ..  Most of these can be found in felt and chipboard and are all proudly NZ made.  Check out the range (which is being added to daily) for that little something different.  Its the only place I am aware of to find such a great range of kiwiana. 

For a closer look of this layout and many others, come and visit the Imagine if . . stall at SENZ, where Jo and her helpers will also be running some classes and have some make & takes for you all.

Brenda

Monday, May 26, 2014

Film strip hiding box - Katrina

Good Morning, hope you are all keeping warm and getting lots of crafting in, I have been busy and got some interesting projects coming up over the next few months, Jo has sent us some amazing products and has us all thinking outside our comfort zones.

Today's project is my film strip box and I loved playing with this, the possibilities are endless, but this is what I came up with, I have put some hinges on it so I can open and close the lid and I will keep special little things hidden inside. My latch is a felt flower cut up because I needed something flexible to reach over the lid. I've made it so I can change my photos they just slide into little pockets, and I have a small mini album on the inside to write down those special little things!









The film strip box was really easy to put together and all the little notches slipped in with ease, there was not one slightly off  piece that you have to tap in with a hammer, and that is something I love about Imagine if's products they are really well made and thought out. Please check out what the other design team members have been up to, each one is so unique and beautiful!

Until next time

Happy Craftin!

Katrina

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Imagine Your Journey Hanging - Altered Film Strip Box Ngaere

By now you would have seen the gorgeous film strip boxes that the other ladies have made. They are stunning.  Of course by now you have to expect that I would do something a bit different.  My daughter being a photographer wanted some "arty" photos taken while she was pregnant.  So we trundled to the beach and she posed and I took the photos.  We got some stunning photos and I wanted to use a couple of them in this project. I wanted the project to convey the natural organic feeling captured by the photos.  Here is the finished project, although the photo does not really do the project justice.












So to begin.

Here are the original pieces of the film strip, they fit together to make the film strip box.





I got a very sharp craft knife and cut up the pieces to make separate boxes.



I then took a placemat which I sanded and painted with white gesso.


After painting the placemat I used Mod Podge and covered the placemat with torn book pages.





Using more mod podge I covered the placemat with a green serviette and then over the green serviette I mod podged another serviette with birds and butterflies over the left half of the placemat.


With the placemat covered I then painted the film strip box pieces with black acrylic paint.
I also painted a few small wooden blocks I had in my stash with the same paint.




Using distress inks I inked up a dictionary page, and using stencils I added some circles using black distress ink. I then cut the pieces to fit the inside back of the box and the insides.



I then decorated the box, using die cuts, a chipboard butterfly and corner flourish.  The bird is from the Imagine If range, I used a button from my stash and a quote :Imagine your Journey".  Around the outside of the box I used some Dresden trim. I covered the outside edges of the box with aluminium tape that had been embossed and painted.  Once the paint was dry I sanded some of the paint off.



I embossed the butterfly, the bird and the flourish with embossing powder.  On the fence die cut I used crackle glossy accents.


I created a flower using  embossed,painted and sanded soda can metal.  Ithen cut out the flowers using the Tim Holtz tattered flower die.  I layered the flowers together to make the bloom.  I then made a few other embellishments using Coutoure Creations Dies.  I painted some of the stars from Imagine If and covered them with blue glitter.  I covered a piece of black card with black and white script tape to put behind the box.



For the photos I painted the film strips with green metallic paint.  I then used the heat tool and heated the paint until it began to bubble to give it a bit of texture. I then rubbed over the paint with gold and black rubon.



I then put the photos in behind the strip and filled in the holes with glossy accents.Using black card I made a hinge to hold both photos and glued it to the top of the box as illustrated. The photos are glued on an angle on the top of the box. I added the other embellishments and put it all together.   I hope you enjoy this project please feel free to leave comments or ask questions.  Now I am off to make something with the remaining pieces of the film strip box...........

Ngaere

Friday, May 23, 2014

Owl Birthday Card



Hi everyone :) Lilian here, and this is my 2nd DT project for the month of May
A pretty girlie card!
I covered the laser cut-outs Owl and Stars from Imagine if  with some random scrapbooking paper
 trimmed and sanded to get a nice edge which I've inked to make them "Pop" with Tim Holtz di-stress inks. I  also added a name with glitter alphabets!

Finally I've glued them to a card covered with wood grain paper 
 added a quote from Imagine if.  
Perfect for my niece, now all ready for the wee babe's birthday!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Fairy Blackboard - Beth

Happy Thursday everyone!

The new chipboard fairies from Imagine If are really sweet, especially for a little girl, just right for making a gift for my only niece.
1405C Fairy Blackboard 1
I started out with a dry erase board, and we sprayed it with blackboard paint (very cool having blackboard paint in a spray can, no brush marks. I covered all the chipboard pieces with gesso, giving me a good white base for the white paint.  Once the paint was dry I used Kindy Glitz to cover each piece with a layer of glitter, perfect for a little girl
1405C Fairy Blackboard 2
This is the Fairy and Butterfly with some grass.
1405C Fairy Blackboard 3
This is the Fairy with a Rose.
1405C Fairy Blackboard 4
And some beautiful butterflies to finish it off.
I hope this little girl loves this and gets a lot of use out of it.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Box card - Marilyn

Hi everyone,
Marilyn here with another New zealand project that Jo has me working on for Senz, a box card today.
This was so much fun, as I finally sat down and learnt to paint, and I have to say I am loving the challenge. 

I started with a box card, and embossed brown wood design on the brown card stock.  
I then painted all the little birds, moths and bugs in their correct NZ colours, and layered up the branches.  This is a little different from a normal box card in that it goes across on a diagonal inside so that I could put the two back pieces up right, instead of the normal one.



I added heaps of leaves and other pieces to add interest, and the New Zealand word, which has been designed for another project.

I hope you like my version of the box card, I have been making a few of them at the moment,
This is one I made for mothers day.  I hope you have enjoyed.

Marilyn.   

 

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Magical - Carol

Hi everyone Carol here,  

If you love fairies, owls and mushrooms check these out!! aren't they just fabulous!



Look at the face on the owl,  he even has those fluffy ears that some owls have. Also the bird is another Imagine If.... product. 


This one shows the wings and it sits on a branch

This mushroom comes in two pieces, full bottom piece with a separate over lay top with holes, I don't know about you but I just LOVE mushrooms, they give a project, that make-believe, magical feel. I ran the bottom part of the stalk through the cuttle bug and painted it brown, the top section I painted mushroom pink, the overlay I painted red then covered in resin to give that glossy look.  The mushroom comes with grass, so that finishes it off nicely.  

The little fairy has her own butterfly, and I kept her simple so she didn't steal from the photo.  I really love the frame around the photo with all the swirls and leaves, just adds the final touch  I think.

 

Magical....