Wild, Free, & Petrified!

This week, my Imaginisce teammates and I are celebrating the new release of the Outdoor Adventure collection. I've got two fun projects to share, so thanks for dropping in to check them out!

I have been wanting to scrap a fun little trip we took with my son to The Petrified Forrest, one of those strangely fascinating roadside attractions that you always drive by but rarely venture into. So, when I saw the Outdoor Adventure collection, I was really excited! 

The woodgrain patterned paper was about as perfect as things could get. I tore the paper into a background element and the colors from the collection are some of my favorites. 

The sticker alpha page made creating my title so easy and quick and I was glad to have the chance to scrap one of our family's best memories.

I am always on the lookout for masculine collections because in my little family, it's all about boys with my son and husband outnumbering me! I wanted to create a really fun birthday card for a boy, and when I saw the darling ATVs and motorbikes, I knew they would make for a great interactive card. 

I used the Outdoor Adventure ATV Die Cut as my moving element and stamped my sentiment in such a way as it would be revealed when it was moved across the card. The "Wild & Free" Chipboard was the perfect accent to my very "boy" card.

BEAN NOTES

Petrified Forest Layout

(patterned paper, die-cuts, alpha stickers from Outdoor Adventure collection) Imaginisce; Cardstock: (white) Stampin' Up!; Specialty Paper: (vellum) PTI; Dies: (photo frame) Taylored Expressions

Wild & Free Birthday Card

(patterned paper, die-cut, chipboard sticker from Outdoor Adventure Collection) Imaginisce; Cardstock: (midnight muse) Stampin' Up!; Tools: (grass border punch) Martha Stewart Crafts; Dies: Movers & Shapers) PTI; Accents: (eyelets) WRMK

I hope you had fun with my projects today! Please visit the Imaginisce blog for more Outdoor Adventure inspiration and to find out how you can win the entire collection!

Cardmaker to Cardmaker

This week, my teammates and I at Imaginisce are showing off projects made with the cool tool, the i-Top. I got to play with Brad Daddies and boy, did I have a grand time!

I love coordinating products -- it makes creating something so much easier and really takes a lot of the guesswork out of finding the right colors, matching patterns, etc. It's one of the reasons I love using my i-Top and Brad Daddies. I can create perfectly coordinated embellishments from whatever patterned paper I happen to be inspired to use.

I have several friends who are dog lovers and who are also cardmakers. I thought it would be fun to put together a coordinated card kit for them to use to create multiple complimentary cards. Using the Good Dog collection and my own stash of twine and card stock, I had many of the right elements, but what the kit really needed was some cute coordinating embellishments. So I made my own using the i-Top punch, the i-Top, and Brad Daddies!

I put all the brads on a card back and placed everything inside a sturdy plastic box. It was enough for my dog loving friend to create 6 cards! The card kit idea will work with any collection, so now I'm off to create some for my surf, treehouse, and birthday-loving friends!

BEAN NOTES

(patterned paper from Good Dog collection) Imaginisce; Cardstock (various colors) Stampin' Up!; Fibers: (twine) The Twinery; Tools: (i-Top Punch, i-Top, Brad Daddies) Imaginisce; (Heart Punch) Stampin' Up!; Other: (plastic box) Taylored Expressions

I hope you enjoyed my fun card kit project. Be sure to check out the Imaginisce blog for more inspiration on what you can do with the i-Tool and Brad Daddies! Plus, Imaginisce is doing a cool giveaway and you could win an i-Top and accessories of your very own, so visit them for details!

Let's Hang Out...Taylored Expressions May Stamp of the Month

Happy Tuesday! If you've come over from the super-talented Monika Davis's blog, you are definitely in the right place -- I have the pleasure of getting to hop today with a guest spot in the Taylored Expressions May Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! 

I wanted to make a card to send to a friend whom I haven't seen in a long time. This month's subscription stamp set, Cutie Pie, is super cute and I get to share a fun card with you today. I used this sweet set along with the May Key Ingredients kit that features darling paper from Echo Park's Sweet Girl collection.

After paper piecing the cute little dresses on the clothesline, I added some liquid dimensionals for some texture. I love the bright colors on this card and I'm pretty sure my friend will just have to accept my invitation to "hang out!"

Now hop on over to sweet Sankari Wegman's blog for more Stamp of the Month fun!

BEAN NOTES

Stamps: Cutie Pie May Stamp of the Month (Taylored Expressions); Patterned Paper, Cardstock, Ribbon all from May Key Ingredients (Taylored Expressions); Accents: Liquid Pearls (Ranger); Dies: Cloud Border, Cloud Duo, Frame it Up, Label Stacklets 3

In case you get off-track, here is the full list of hoppers getting their creative groove on today!

Amy Crockett

Carole Burrage

Cassie Trask

Charmaine Ikach

Debbie Carriere

Jami Sibley

Kerri Michaud

Monika Davis

Regina Mangum

Sankari Wegman

Shelly Mercado

Stephanie Kraft

Tammie Edgerton

Taylor VanBruggen

Tracy Clemente

A Simple Mom's Day

This week, my fellow Imaginisce teammates and I are celebrating Mom! As kind of recent mom myself (my rugrat is 5), I still have a new appreciation for what moms do for us.

My mom-in-law is like a second mother to me and she was having a bit of a rough week with her own mother in the hospital and then my dad-in-law down with a mysterious illness. I decided to make her a Mother's Day-themed card, but wanted to make one in such a way that I could send it to her early, just to cheer her up! 

I used the papers in the Love You More collection and the awesome alpha stickers from Childhood Memories to make this simple card. I let the patterned paper do the work for me, though to add a little bit of dimension, I die-cut some letterpress paper and adhered two of the hexagons to make them thicker. 

BEAN NOTES

(patterned paper from Love You More, alpha stickers from Childhood Memories collections) Imaginisce; Dies: (Hexagon Stacklets) Taylored Expressions; (letterpress paper) Lifestyle Crafts

I hope you check out the Imaginisce blog for more Mother's Day inspiration!

It's All in the Detailz!

Hi Crafty Friends! I am so delighted to get to show off a couple of projects I made with some exciting new products from Lifestyle Crafts. The Detailz line of dies cut and emboss for some really gorgeous and fun die-cuts. 

I created two birthday cards. The first uses the new Party Detailz dies. Here is the full card:

Party Detailz dies

Detailz dies can be cut, embossed, or both. I wanted to show how, with Letterpress Paper, you can also emboss without cutting. 

To do it, simply add another piece of Letterpress Paper on top of the one you want to "emboss" and, voila!, you've got a deeply etched and gorgeous impression, like on this party cake!

I wanted to feature all the dies in the Party collection, so I decided to leave off the sentiment on the front and embellish the inside of the card. Here is the inside:

I adore the pennants. Each one is unique and are so cute! These were cut and embossed using regular cardstock.

The frame below uses the new Labels Detailz Dies.

Labels Detailz Dies

Next up is the second birthday card I created. This one makes use of the new Flags Detailz dies. 

After stamping my clouds and airplane, I created this fun banner for the plane to "trail" behind it in the air. I love the little embossed detail on the flag!

Flags Detailz Dies

Some of you may know this, but I recently completely destroyed a Vagabond die-cutting machine using the platform it came with. My sandwich was too big and my guess wasn't a very good one as to whether or not it would work. With my new Vagabond, I wanted to be very careful. 

I was so stoked to try out the new Genius Ultimate Platform from Lifestyle Crafts. It has been an absolute pleasure! No more bent cutting plates, no more guessing, and the magnetic platform keeps my dies from sliding around! Plus, it works in most manual die-cutting machines like the Cuttlebug and Big Shot. It also comes with some pretty cool, exclusive nesting dies.

Genius Ultimate Platform

BEAN NOTES

Party Birthday Card

Dies: Party Detailz dies, Labels Detailz Dies (Lifestyle Crafts); Patterned Paper: Dots & Stripes (Echo Park); Stamps: Birthday Bash Sentiments (PTI); Specialty Paper: Letterpress Paper (Lifestyle Crafts); Other: Genius Ultimate Platform, Genius Rubber Mat (Lifestyle Crafts)

Flag Birthday Card

Dies: Flags Detailz Dies (Lifestyle Crafts); Patterned Paper: Sweet Girl (Echo Park); Fibers: baker's twine (The Twinery); Stamps: Fly Away (PTI); Other: Genius Ultimate Platform, Genius Rubber Mat (Lifestyle Crafts)

I hope you enjoyed my Detailz Dies projects with Lifestyle Crafts. As an affiliate, I get to offer my readers an exclusive coupon code for 20% off when shopping in the Lifestyle Crafts Store! Please enter Promo Code: BEAN at checkout for your savings. Happy Crafting!

It's All in the Twine

Happy Tuesday! If you are joining me today from the fabulous Jenny McGarvey's blog, then you know that all week long we gals at Imaginisce are hopping along with the awesome design team at The Twinery! We're all playing together this week to show off some fun and creative ways to combine Imaginisce and The Twinery's delightful baker's twine! Plus, to make things even more fun, we've got a giveaway -- keep reading for details.

As you can see from my first photo, I decided to make a pair of dangling twine earrings. I absolutely adore the color of the twine The Twinery sent us to play with, so I think I'll be making several pairs of these. These were made with Caribbean. I wanted to make them a gift, so I created a little gift box to go with them.

I used small Magnet Daddies, i-Top Earrings Kit, Hot Rocks and my i-Top tool to create these cuties. These were so quick, I was done in less than 20 minutes! It actually took me longer to create the gift box!

Here is a mini photo tutorial on how I created the twine portion of the earrings:

The finished product, just to give you an idea of what you are aiming for.

To adhere the twine to the Magnet Daddy, I used a square piece of an adhesive sheet. I simply applied the sticky side to the top of the Magnet Daddy and pressed down for even coverage.

Beginning in the middle, I set down the twine in a swirl pattern. If it didn't come out right, it was easy to simple unwind the twine before it set and start again.

After tucking the end of the twine underneath, I used the i-Top tool to seal it.

Imaginisce is celebrating our hop with The Twinery with a prize! It's a cool one: the Endless Summer collection, an i-Rock and Hot Rocks. Simply hop along with us all week and a winner will be chosen at random -- the more love you leave the more chances you have to win!

BEAN NOTES

Cardstock: Dotted textured (Core'dinations), white (Neenah); Fibers: Caribbean Baker's Twine (The Twinery), wired ribbon (Kate's Paperie); Tools: i-Top, i-Rock, Hot Rocks, Magnet Daddies (small), Magnet Earrings Kit (Imaginisce); Digital File: jewelry gift box cutting file (Rivka Wilkins for Silhouette)

Now, keep hopping for more twined inspiration by visiting the super creative Stacy Rodriguez HERE. If you get off track, you can always get back to hopping today with this list below. Or, visit the Imaginisce blog all week long!

Adora Concepcion

Jennie McGarvey

Regina Mangum

Stacy Rodriguez

Jessica Fick

Tifany DeGough