Journal pages with Tracy

Hi Tracy here. Today I wanted to share the front page of an Art Journal I have decided to start. So, I I wanted the back and front covers to look the same so first layer I painted gesso to prime them, and then the fun began! Using Texture Paste I picked out a stencil and stencilled onto the covers.











Once dry I painted whole thing in Phthalo Green, and wiped of excess paint especially around stenciled parts with a baby wipe. I then repeated this using Copper paint, taking care to high light areas I wanted to stand out. 

While the paint was drying and waiting to be "dressed up" I ran my chipboard wings and Dressmaker image through the cuttlebug. This took some playing
around until I could find the right thickness to run them through (I didnt want to break another one!!!)
Next I painted all the chipboard using same colours I had used for journal, rubbed around the edges with brown gelato to grunge them up and picked out flowers which I also rubber a bit of copper around edges to match them up. All that was left then was to play around and place
items until I was happy with flow and stick them down.
Hope you have enjoyed my project. I certainly am enjoying being on Jo's
team and creating.

newsletter update for October

Hi everyone, I thought I was in so much trouble! Hope your week has been a good one, and you have made it through safely.  The All Blacks are busy playing this morning, and I am banned from watching it, as I seem to be a bit of a jinx, and hubby didn't want to take any chances. Well as the heading says I thought I was in heaps of trouble with an email from MAF (ministry of  AG & Fisheries) to ask why I was importing deer antlers.  I was shocked, I thought someone was using my name, business etc, until I checked the invoice and realised that it was in fact my new Tim Holtz resin antlers, With a lot of relief we were able to get that mess cleared up.  In the meantime my order is stuck somewhere awaiting final clearance.  .   Alysha has been busy designing all our new invitation range.  She has put them up in the shop, and they will be going live on our new website soon.  Check out her new facebook page https://www.facebook.com/imagineifcreativestudios   Saturday October 31st:  MDF Gingerbread house $40.00 This picture is from the children's class, but we are still waiting on stock due to MAF and customs issues, should have it finished but ..... this is to give you an idea. Ours will be hollow and you can see inside.  This is for the basic kit, including other awesome products.  Spent the whole day looking for extra bits, and found some really cute pieces for the project. So excited, yes you can purchase as a kit.  There are a couple of spaces left in this class.  Adult set classes We have now filled all Wednesday scrapbooking classes, and card classes.  Thursday nights please make sure you book, as we have a very full house as well.   We have had quite a few new stamps arriving in store including Prima's A Victorian Christmas, as well as Graphic 45's Christmas carol and Crafty individuals mini Christmas trees. http://www.imagineif.co.nz/stamps/  Tomorrow we should have all our Viva back in stock, and will be updating the website as soon as we can.  If you have been waiting on stock please email me with your order, as last time we never even got it on the website. http://www.imagineif.co.nz/cremes-pastes-rubs/ A new lot of miniatures are arriving including this gumball machine.  Which may or may not be going with the gingerbread house! Okay it is going with the gingerbread house.  Shush! Prima gate fold albums are finally back in stock, these are an awesome little album. $20.00  http://www.imagineif.co.nz/books/ Ngaere has a design team project on the blog, check out this book she made.  Click on the picture to to got the blog. Here is Cheryls design team project, an amazing heart shaped Torso.  Check it out by clicking on the photo.

Other Classes 22nd October - 2nd part of Christmas long house 31st October Gingerbread house.  $40.00 see advert above. Thursday 12th & 19th November Christmas village wreath.  6 Houses on a wreath with street lights and trees. 14th November Saturday - 10am - 3pm Christmas card and tag class $50.00 Very excited this project is completed and looking so very good.  There are 8 cards, one tag and a gift bag. 21st November - Joint venture Christmas day with Paperzone in Hamilton.  $100 for all 3 projects, bookings to me or Paperzone. I am teaching a Christmas compendium, which has a notebook, place for recipes, tags and more. Tracy is making a Christmas tree with buttons project and Sharon is making a small book.   9am - 4pm.  Three projects, lunch and tea and coffee supplied. November 28th Private Birthday Party December 5th Mixed Media Canvas (NEW Class) I have been asked to put on another mixed media class.  The cost is $50.00 plus you need to supply a picture and a canvas. This is a 9am - 3pm class.  It can be any theme, canvas needs to be A3.  I have some fairy pictures, including a new range I purchased today. December 10th Private Christmas party booked. December 24th closed until January 26th (probably)   For any inquiries please email me on imagineif@xtra.co.nz or text or phone 0274991485 work hours would be preferred. Stay safe Jo

Corset heart - Cheryl Owsley

Hi all Cheryl here with my first post for Imagine If.... I am a bit of a steampunk girl, and I like trying new things, and basically playing with different products.  For this post I have created a heart shaped torso.  

Imagine If... Products used:                               
  Large MDF Funky Heart      Chipboard Florish(med)                                    
  White Gesso-Dina Wakley   Matt Gel Medium-Dina Wakley                                
  Muslin Cloth                         6mm D/S tape(red)  extra sticky                        
 Vintaj Patina Paint 'Antique Copper'                       
  Ink Spray- After Midnight(Dylusions)  London Blue (Dylusions)                         
  Distress Spray Stain- Tarnished Brass(Tim Holtz)
  Distress Ink Pad -Ground Expresso (Tim Holtz    -Black Soot
  Asstd Cute metal cogs
  Glass Glitter- Gold and Navy (Art Ingredients)

To start:
Gesso coat the MDF Heart and chipboard Flourish.
Use plastic shopping bags to model the two bossoms.  .Place them in the corner of a bag, then roll them underneath, like a bread dough roll, to get the right shape.
Attach to the heart with magic tape. Cover with a layer of gel medium and tissue paper. Once dry coat with gesso.

Make with pencil on the chest how much skin you wish to show at the top and cover this area with muslin then gesso and paint with skin coloured paint. Place 3 rows of D/S tape as pictured above.
Use dictionary pages(cut into strips Approx 3" by A4 length)scrunch up and then randomly scribe vertical lines up them.(this makes it easier to gather)
Start from bottom and place 1 strip at a time, pulling back only enough double sided tape for 1 strip at a time. Cover with matt gel medium then distress with 'ground espresso' ink.

Corset: time to play, you just use all sorts of different products and shades and textures. 

So that is my project I hope you enjoyed it. 

Owl Journal - Ngaere Bennets

Yay its good to be back on the Imagine If Design Team.  I have been playing with some of the products and here is my first project. A cool art journal using Jo's large chipboard owl.

I began by altering the large chipboard owl. 

I took off his wings and cut out his pupils.  Then using texture past through the gears stencil from Imagine If I covered the entire thing to add depth and texture.  I then painted the whole thing with black gesso.

I took a pair of wings out of the Angel Wings pack and a couple of cogs from the Large Cogs Set and painted them with black paint.

Once the black paint had dried I drybrushed everything using brown and gold acryclic paint.

For the eyes I painted circles gold and glued gear diecuts on the top of the painted circle.  I glued the cogs over the top of the circles and then glued these behind the eye holes.  I painted the pupils black and glued them on to the center of the cogs.  I painted the eyebrow pieces brown and glued them back on around the eyes.  I then filled the eyes with glossy accents to give them some shine.  I took the beak piece and glued small cardboard circles around the edge of the beak,painted it yellow and glued it on to the face.

I took some chipboard letters to spell the word "Art" and glued them to the front of the owl.

I used more diecuts to make the feathers on the chest and glued the new wings on to the body.

Once the owl was finished I found an old book and took the insides out.  I then covered the book with tissue paper and various diecuts which I then painted black.  Once dry I drybrushed the whole thing with Lumiere Pewter paint.  I glued the owl to the front of the cover and then I bound watercolour paper signatures into the cover to complete the journal.

I now have an awesome good sized art journal with 50 pages in it, just waiting to be filled with artistic goodness.  Hope this project helps you to look at things a little differently and to think about changing things up a bit. 

October update

Hi everyone, and it is October, and a new term is about to begin, with lots of exciting new classes, and lots of things coming in to the store.

Finally we have a purple ink on the market that I am totally stoked about, love love love Distress ink Wilted Violet, which reminds me I haven't got one for my own stash yet.

they are on the website, under the various headings inks, pens, sprays and paints and stains.
http://www.imagineif.co.nz/distress-ink-pads/

The next thing that has arrived are the new ranger bags, they are $22.00 each and have been selling very well.
We have four designs



bag 1: Dina Wakely media bag
bag 2: Is Tim Holtz Distress bag
Bag 3 is Dyan Reavely  Dylusions
Bag 4 is Wendy Vechi
if you would like a bag
http://www.imagineif.co.nz/designer-storage-bags-by-ranger/

Last of the Childrens Classes for the school holidays:
Thursday 8th October:  MDF Santa stockings
on a string $20.00, decorate a set of 4 christmas stockings, and add to a string ready for christmas.

a few spaces left

Friday 9th October Gingerbread house box, 9am - 12pm.  SOLD OUT

You can email me imagineif@xtra.co.nz or phone or text on 0274991485, during work hours please.

Adult classes:    .
Wednesday class 1 space available
Card class full at this stage
Thursday night -   

Here is the updated list, please note some changes, hopefully stock will be here soon, we have had to change a couple of dates.  Note some Thursday night classes have been added.  Also there is still more to come.

This Saturday 10th October $22.00 10am - 1pm card class make 4 cards, a swing card, a step card, a diamond card and a gate fold card.  Picture below everything supplied.


Thursday night October 15th and 22nd $50.00 ($25 each week), Christmas Long house 6pm - 8pm over 2 weeks  (8 only) everything supplied.


Saturday 17th October 9am - 3pm 9 pages in one day class $70.00
This has had to be postponed due to lack of time.  we will start these again next year.  I apologise for this, but with our big work load we have decided to leave this class.  

Saturday October 31st:  MDF Gingerbread house  (note this is a change of date for this class) $40.00
This picture is from the children's class, but we have only just managed to get the MDF cut designed and cut today, so we will have a finished version next newsletter, but this is to give you an idea. Ours will be hollow and you can see inside.  This is for the basic kit, including other awesome products.   But you can add trees and more to this project.


Thursday 12th & 19th November Christmas village wreath (change of date due to stock still not arrived)

14th November Saturday - 10am - 3pm Christmas card and tag class $50.00
10 Christmas cards or tags

21st November - Joint venture Christmas day with Paperzone in Hamilton
more information to follow.  We are doing Christmas projects.   9am - 4pm.  Two projects, just working out costs now.  
 
December 10th Private Christmas party booked.

December 24th closed until January 26th (probably)  

For any inquiries please email me on imagineif@xtra.co.nz
or text or phone 0274991485 work hours would be preferred.

All the best and stay safe
Jo

term 4 class list

Hi all, well after today we cannot say mother nature is not trying, although I have to say I nearly had to get a jacket the other day it was just a bit chilly.  A quick drive to Tauranga this morning in the sunshine, and I felt like the cobwebs got cleaned out of my head and I am rearing to go again. Firstly apologies for not keeping you up to date with what has been happening, I felt the whole term has been waiting for the next thing to happen before I could let you know, but now everything is going ahead so here it all is, a very long and busy newsletter. Blenheim was awesome, had an amazing time, lovely weather, didn't actually get to see any of the local countryside but had an awesome walk around the square and shops with Trina McLune and Beth Barnes.  Classes went very well, and I was pleased most of my kits sold out.  If you get a chance to attend the SPA retreat which is on again next year, I would highly recommend it. Something I am super excited about, is that my eldest daughter Alysha, a graphic designer, is joining us at the shop 2 days a week to start with, whilst we get our new venture under way, We are offering a graphics service through the shop, expanding our invitation section of the business.  We will be laser cutting our invitations, and we are able to go the graphics as well, which will make things heaps easier for us.  We will also be offering laser cut business cards and much more.  She will also be available to help design stencils and anything else you may need. She will also be managing the new website, newsletters and more. We are getting a brand new fancy website, this is getting underway in the next few weeks, and we hope for it to be live November.  In the meantime our old website will still be running, but we will not be updating it as the new one will take over from it. We have a new design team being announced this week, congratulations Ngaire Bennetts is back, and Cheryl Owsley, Sharon Newport and Tracey Jackson, are all joining the team and of course Alysha as well.  I will give you more information as we get going. We are off to the Wellington paper arts show September 26th and 27th September https://www.facebook.com/wellingtonpaperarts this is going to be interesting as we are driving the stock down, already I have booked the accommodation in the wrong part of Wellington, so that is a great start, hopefully I can get a refund and get a closer place to stay.  I really do need to get my directions straight before I do silly things.  We have an gorgeous make n take and are super excited to be showing that off. The shop will be closed on Thursday 24th from 1pm, while we are in Wellington and not open again until Tuesday 29th 10am.  We are sorry for any inconvenience but hopefully you have enough notice. Stock has been flowing in and out at quite a steady pace, and we have been struggling to get the stock loaded, and even advertised to you, but if there is ever anything you need, we may have it even if it is not on the website, also just because it is on the website we may have sold out, so feel free to contact us about any products you may want.  We are finding some fun and interesting things to stock and of course we are always manufacturing new products.  A certain husband got all excited about an idea I had and has spent hours drawing it up on the computer, (just as well I don't have to do that) so fingers crossed we will have some new designs again soon. Kits: This is an on going thing for us now, more and more often people are asking for us to supply classes as kits, if you want a kit please ask, it is easy enough to make kits up, while we are packing classes. Classes: Once again we are running a school holiday program, but due to being in Wellington we are not starting it until midway through the first week.  The theme is Christmas presents, so your children can make gifts for members of their families or friends.    Children must be over 5 years of age. Wednesday 30th September: 10am - 12pm  DREAM word $20.00, paint, emboss and decorate a dream word.  You can choose from a range of colours, designed as a gift for a girl or a sister but can be done for a boy.     this was a birthday party we did last week, and the girls had a lot of fun creating their Dreams. Thursday 1st October:  10am - 12pm Paper dress $20.00 Starting with an MDF dress shape, we will be adding paper and other embellishment to decorate this wall hanging.  Sorry no photo yet, but it has been designed as a gift for Mum or a grandma or a sister.   Friday 2nd October Advent Calendar. 9.30am - 12pm $30.00 This is a flat advent calendar, that the children make using little houses on an MDF board.  Each house is about 7cm high, and there are 24 houses to make, all the paper is cut and ready to be stuck on,   We haven't quite finished the project but this is what is basically will look like.  We also have fences and other embellishments to decorate the houses.  A gift for the family.  it is about 40cm high and 28cm wide. Tuesday 6th October 10am - 12pm Birthday Board $25.00 a gift for dad We know how hard it is to remember birthdays, so this wall hanging will help with that.  Will paint the board and the letters and then the tags paper will be precut. You can add birthday details later. Wednesday 7th October:  10am - 11.30am Dream catcher $15.00, This is a simple project with beads and feather and embossing on a disc to create a dream catcher, designed for a brother or a boy but can be for a girl.  Project not completed yet. Thursday 8th October:  MDF Santa stockings on a string $20.00, decorate a set of 4 christmas stockings, and add to a string ready for christmas.  Picture to follow.   . Friday 9th October Gingerbread house box, 9am - 12pm.  $25.00 Decorate a cute paper mache gingerbread house, with lots of christmas things.  We are awaiting confirmation on the paper mache houses, however we will replace it with a MDF house if we need to.   we are awaiting stock so we cannot even show our idea yet, but it is super cute and has a traditional ginger bread house theme.   That is the school holiday program.  Booking essential, I will put in school newsletters, so you have a few days to get your spots first if you want them for your children.  You can email me imagineif@xtra.co.nz or phone or text on 0274991485, during work hours please. Adult classes:  Term 4 classes will be out in more detail soon.  . Wednesday class full at this stage Card class full at this stage Thursday night - has a couple of spaces. Extra classes:  we will also be putting on a few others as soon as we get time to organise, possibly on a Thursday night.  Thursday 24th September Grunge fairy - 9am until 12pm $65.00 From this full on Senz class we will be making a fairy, using texture and fibre, and other mixed media bits to make this piece.  You can choose which colours you would like to use, and we will be changing the mixed media pieces that are on the fairy as well as we have new stock. 24th 1pm until 28th 10am September Wellington paper arts Saturday 10th October $22.00 10am - 1pm card class make 4 cards, a swing card, a step card, a diamond card and a gate fold card.  Picture below. Saturday 17th October 9am - 3pm 9 pages in one day class $70.00 This very popular class is on for the last time this year, 9 pages, with a mint colour theme and grunge of course.  You will complete 9 pages, everything supplied, except your tapes and glues.  I would say pictures to follow but last time we sold out we didn't get a chance to show what we did. I will try to add them if I get a chance.  KITS AVAILABLE Saturday October 31st:  WAITING ON STOCK BEFORE ANNOUNCING but it is  a CHRISTMAS THEME.  It does have a wreath and it does have 3d chipboard houses! 14th November Saturday - 10am - 3pm Christmas card and tag class $50.00 10 Christmas cards or tags 21st November - Joint venture Christmas day with Paperzone in Hamilton more information to follow.  We are doing Christmas projects. December 5th  WAITING ON STOCK BEFORE ANNOUNCING CHRISTMAS THEME. December 10th Private Christmas party booked. December 24th closed until January 26th (probably)   Lastly we have been busy packing some more of the popular christmas concertina kits, we have packed 30 more kits, but we have orders for 16 already,  If you want a kit we will be taking them to wellington, but if you want to put your name down for a kit please advise, we may do as a class, but it will depend on how many kits we have left. $50.00 everything supplied plus freight of $8.50, but please note, the new colour way is slightly different a bit brighter, as we have used this years papers from Kaisercraft.  All chipboard and papers have been laser cut for you to make it easy. You will need to supply your own paints and embossing powders if you wish to colour chipboard that way. We are just waiting on a few pieces to arrive before sending out kits. The next kit we will be offering is one we have just finished repacking after selling out in Blenheim, it is pictured below, we will also be taking this to Wellington, it is $50.00 for the kit plus postage of $8.50, everything except your glue and paints supplied.  It is around 40cm high from memory, and about 10cm wide.  instruction included.  We are just waiting on a few pieces to arrive. The final kit is a scrapbooking kit we have 3 kits left $45.00 each plus $8.50 postage. This includes everything required to make the 4 pages and includes 3 bottles of patina used in the kit, which has a value of $22.00. For any inquiries please email me on imagineif@xtra.co.nz or text or phone 0274991485 work hours would be preferred.  I said it was a big email didn't I. All the best and stay safe Jo   You are receiving this newsletter because you joined either personally or on-line. 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