Bratz Get a Mixed-Media Make-over By Cheryl

Hi Cheryl here with something a little different for this weeks crafty inspiration.

After seeing a photo on pinterest of a doll with a plant out the top of her head, my mind started working out how I could do similar with the Bratz heads I had picked up cheap.

I started by cutting the top of her skull off with my rose pruner's(or craft scissors) then used the heat tool to singe her remaining hair off her head.

I put a strip of metal(old machine parts) across the back of her head with a drill punch and small brads. I've used E6000 glue to add
Chipboard leaves, plastic beads, metal embellishments, springs, nuts, bolts, old earrings, chains, masking tape, string, lace, etc as texture for her new hair.

Once all is dry, paint with black gesso.
Next paint with 'lumiere-metallic copper' over skin and dry brushed over her new hair.
Brat '1'-Jo Sonja's Opal Dust was used over the gesso to highlight her dress and choker, then randomly through her hair.

Brat '2'-Chromacryl's -fluoro green paint was used on the flower and lace on the dress. Then opal dust was coated over the top and randomly through her new hair.

Brat '3'-After painting the metallic copper over everything I used Folkart crackle medium as a coat over her skin, let it dry then used Chromacyls Black, fluoro green  and yellow oxide paint as a final layer over the top. This is how the crackle effect was created. Once dry again more opal dust was used on her lips, dress and randomly through out her new hair.

Remember to spray clear lacquer over them to seal the final coats. Now I have a new holder for my paint brushes, container for off cuts of ribbon and a new pot plant holder for in my shade house. Hope you enjoyed this project and I've inspired you to repurpose something too. Remember it doesn't matter what surface you wish to cover with paint, 'Imagine If... will have it, and the expertise to make it easy.
Happy crafting till next time
Cheryl Owsley

Twilight Angel - DT Project Ngaere

I have been having a play with the torso and wings from Imagine If. Earlier in the year I used the torso and a set of fairy wings.  This time I wanted to use the angel wings and make a "pretty" angel.  So I pulled out my lace and doilies and flowers and here is the finished result.

Here are the bare MDF pieces I used

As with my Steampunk Faerie I needed to give my torso some shape in the form of breasts.

Using chipboard circles I formed the breasts and attached them using glue and masking tape.

I then took a few pieces of textured lace, a couple of croceheted doilies and a pieces of ruffled lace, dipped them in black Powertex and draped them over the torso.  I had a piece of heavily textured lace that I used as a belt across the waist.  I draped the lace and doily on the skirt on an angle to reflect the underlying shape of the torso and to give the piece some visual interest.  If you do not have Powertex or Paverpol then you can use fabric stiffener and once it is dry paint the whole thing with black gesso, allowing it to dry before adding the colour.

I wanted to create some texture on the wings that imitated feathers. So I took a fine chiffon scarf and dipped it in the black Powertex and gathered and manipulated it on the wings. I was pretty happy with the way they turned out.

I then dipped some fabric flowers into the Powertex and attached them to the waist adding beads and pieces of recycled jewellery to the waist and neck areas.

Once everything had dried I drybrushed the whole thing with mica powders mixed with gel mediumand Inka Gold pastes. I added some glitter to the flowers and the piece was finished.

This was such a lovely piece to make. Got to the Imagine If website and email jo to order a set for yourself or check out the fairy wings, these ones are made from chipboard, but you can choose whatever you like to go with your creation, get creative and have fun. 

Love My Garden - Ngaere

It has been so good to get back into the carft room after the Christmas.New Year rush.  I have been playing around with a little project for the Imagine If Design Team using lots of the gorgeous chipboard pieces that Jo has in the shop.  Here is the finished project.

Jo had sent me a small MDF heart and I used this as the base for the project.  I painted it with white gesso and added textures using texture paste through a swirl stencil from Imagine If and a Tim Holtz word stencil. I also randomly added some coarse texture paste in  areas.  I then painted everything with white gesso. http://www.imagineif.co.nz/product-category/imagine-if-stencils/

http://www.imagineif.co.nz/product-category/imagine-if-stencils/

I then took a gorgeous tag topped with a butterfly and spread it with crackle texture paste.  This is another all time favourite product.  Jo sells the crackle paste both on line and in her ship at Morrinsville. I cut one of the chipboard chandeliers in half and then sorted out some other chipboard pieces that I could incorporate into the piece.http://www.imagineif.co.nz/product-category/imagine-if-chipboard-our-own-designs/

I then had a play and layered them up to see how they would work on the project.

 Once I was happy with the way it looked I placed it all on the tag, then layered the tag over some muslin on to the heart.  I added a few extra bits and pieces of chipboard that I found and then I painted everything with white gesso.

 Once the gesso was dry I used several sprays and inks to colour the piece. I wanted to keep the colours muted so I blotted the sprays once I had sprayed them.
http://www.imagineif.co.nz/product-category/mixed-media-products/sprays-and-mists-stains/ 

I love the texture and the colours on this piece and I really love using the chipboard pieces. They are strong and hold up well  to the use of paints and sprays.

Check out the products at Imagine If. Not only does Jo design and cut the chipboard herself but she stocks a wide range of paints, sprays and mediums to make any project.

Happy crafting. 

News for 2016

Like what you see... check out the websitewww.imagineif.co.nz

I am a bit late, but happy new year! Well 2016 has begun and as per usual we are off to a roaring start, firstly we got through Christmas day, with a lot of very loud and noisy teams competing in this years challenges.  We had an absolute ball, it was so much fun, with the water pistol game now a permanent feature. We had 26 people playing games, which included naughty and nice, throwing sponges, bouncing balls, shaving foam head, reindeer head, and finally hungry hungry hippo. Then to deal with website issues, the website went live on Christmas eve at 4.10pm. 10 minutes later, we  realised there was no shopping cart logo, and there was no search engine.  This caused some stress as you could imagine.  For some reason the staff wouldnt stay and help sort it out, so we had to just let it go and breathe, not the easiest of tasks for me.  However we are now sorted and the website is looking really good, and seems to be working really well.  We have had a lot of positive feedback, so watch this space. While someone was over in the USA, spending up large, and may I take this moment to mention not visiting a single craft store.  I am not sure she should even be my daughter after she told me that.  What is wrong with the girl!  I was here loading stock as fast as I could.  I just about got all the chipboard loaded, stencils loaded, stock 70 percent loaded, then...... Then I had the bright idea of ringing Twiddleybitz in Australia, and asking to buy them out.  Surprisingly enough they said Yes, so I am now the proud owner of all the Twiddleybitz images and designs, all 800 of them.  So as you can Imagine life has been very hectic. Twiddleybitz was one of the first chipboard companies, and has the biggest range of off the page projects except possibly Kaisercraft in the world. We are still sorting through the files, there is going to be a huge import of chipboard and MDF designs and books over the next  few weeks. I then had a bit of a panic attack as to how I was going to display it all, but another opportunity popped up and we were away.   It has been a busy few weeks making some room.  We have expanded our product ranges quite a bit. The front of the shop, which actually still has some room.  This is one of our new designs  the printers house

Senz tickets are being released soon, so if you want to be early for your 3 day tickets http://www.senz.co.nz/   Classes: Weekly classes: Scrapbooking class 10am - 12pm One again our scrapbooking classes are full on a Wednesday morning.  However we may get a space so please let me know if you are keen to join.  Class costs are $20.00 and everything supplied for at least two pages, sometimes 3. Card class 10am - 12pm We have a couple of spaces in our card classes which are on every 2nd Friday $12.00 for 2-3 cards, everything supplied.   Thursday night 6pm - 8pm This is an open class, you can chat and craft, scrapbooking, cardmaking whatever you would like to do. The cost is $10.00 per person unless you are doing a kit from us. Other classes: Februrary 13th 10am Thank you for your Friendship book with Cheryl $40.00 photo above This book is small in size, but packs a real punch with lots of fold out bits and pieces, it would make a great Valentines gift or a gift for a friend.  It uses Kaisercrafts treasured memories paper and collectables.  Everything supplied except your tape and glues. February 27th 9am Moment by moment Gate fold book: $70.00 with Jo  all day class. This book has been designed to give as a gift for a wedding or for mothers day or just because you want to.  It uses Provincial paper from Kaisercraft, Prima gate fold album, and has lots of place sofr saying or photos to be added.  It has a latch and suitable to give to a male if you wanted. It has lots of pockets and tabs. Everything supplied except your tape and glues. Phone 0274991485 for bookings or email us on imagineif@xtra.co.nz   We are reopen tomorrow Tuesday 26th January with new hours Mondays closed. Tuesday 10am - 4pm Wednesday 10am - 4pm Thursday 10am - 4pm Friday 10am - 4pm Saturday 10am - 12pm. Other times by arrangment. We also will have a new phone number, but telecom will not give us the number until it is connected in case there is an issue. So I will let you know that asap. There are a lot more classes in the pipeline, so will let you know as soon as we have sorted. JO

Merry Christmas 2015

Merry Christmas to all! I hope that this year has been wonderful, and creative and somewhere along the way you go a chance to play and enjoy yourself.  Once again the year is coming to an end, and what a non stop year it has been.   This is the best season for me, and once again plans are well underway for the big day.  24 people for games afternoon and then dinner.  Games this year have been kept under wraps again, and lets just say the photos will be good. Some of the ladies that attend weekly classes all got together for the final night on Thursday night, and it was all go. I made them all play a game, where you draw a Christmas scene on a paper plate, while it is on your head, and it was a little harder than people thought, especially when you think you are being so careful and keeping track of where you have already drawn.   Of course I was a little mean, and made them draw things in the wrong order, to put them off.  Girl has to have some fun. Website stress: is still on going, we are getting there slowly and the new site will now be up after Christmas, in the meantime the old site is still running, but is not being updated.  If you see something you like please email me and I can tell you if it is in stock. MERRY CHRISTMAS SALE: We haven't had a sale for two years, so we thought we would celebrate Christmas with: all scrapbooking papers $1.30 50% off stand of various products 30% off all stickers 20% off everything else,     We have been doing a lot of design work for people, and this was for a 90th Birthday, these were made for the centre of every table.   Make n take day's Tuesday 15th December 10am til12pm - 1pm til 3pm Wednesday 16th December 10am - 12pm - 1pm 3pm We will be having the classroom open for a few small projects.  There is a fireplace kit $12.00 (20 minutes) a note book $4.50 (10 minutes) and a love tile $3.50 (10 minutes) fairy $8.00 (20 minutes) you can choose to do any of these projects there are limited quantities, you can turn up or book it is up to you, however we will not guarantee what is available if you choose not to book.   This is one page from of our final Scrapbooking class for this year, using the Christmas overlay.  One of most favourite products is now available again, Opal dust, glitter and sparkle and I use it heaps especially at Christmas time.  It is not on the website, but if you want some ring or email me.  Love love love this stuff.   My latest piece in the Mixed media class we had last week.  The ladies all did an amazing job.  Ngaere has made this awesome little project with the little fireplace kit.  Checkout the blog for more pictures. imagineifnz.blogspot.co.nz   This is Tracy's version   This is Sharon's version.  These are all on the blog to check out. www.imagineif.co.nz/blog

We have decided to close on Tuesday DECEMBER 22nd 3pm. We will not reopen until January 26th 2016.   I will be in and out of the shop over the last two weeks of that break in January prepping classes, so if you are coming over and want to call in, please ring and I will advise if I or Pauline can meet you there.  Someone else who only just started will be in New York... hmmmmm. For any inquiries please email me on imagineif@xtra.co.nz or text or phone 0274991485 work hours would be preferred. Stay safe Jo