Christmas Round Up

Just finishing up the Christmas projects for Imagine If. Here is one that I have not yet posted.  This is my version of the Advent Calendar kitset released by Jo at Imagine If.  

The kit is made of chipboard and consists of a front and back cover and spine and two inside pieces with squares cut out for the doors. Here is the finished project.

Imagine If Design Team Project - MDF Box

For the project this week I used one of the MDF 3D boxes from Imagine If. The box has a window cut out on each side and has a top and a base.

But before I get to the project Jo is running a competion for a prize of Imagine If products. She has given each of us on the Design Team an item from a Christmas list.   You will need to visit each blog to get the complete list.  Once you have all the items go to the  Imagine If Facebook Page  and write I WANT IT ALL in the comments. Do not put the list of items.  If your name is drawn you will be asked to give Jo the complete list and if it is correct you will be a winner and get all of the the goodies on the list.  That is definitely a prize well worth winning so give it a go.   So if you have come from Brenda's blog you should have her part of the list,   my item is :  3 Candy Canes and if you head over to Tash's blog next you will get her items.  Or you can start at the Imagine If blog and work your way through the blogs from there.  Good luck.  

Here is my finished project.

Firstly I painted the sides of the box with black paint and then applied a layer of crackle medium and then a layer of off white paint.  

I created a pocket inside the windows and covered the bse and the sides of the box inside with Kaisercraft Christmas paper.  I then put photos of my grandsons in the pockets behind each window. Because I created the pockets this means that as the boys grow I can change out the photos.

I cut up a cream coloured crochet doily and glued it around the top edge of the box.

I then added some diecuts, small rosettes and tape to each side.

I then took an empty tape roll, a wooden coaster and a toilet roll inner and painted then the same way I had painted the sides.  

I glued these to the base of the box and added more diecuts and embellishments.

Now I have a lovely centrepiece for the table or to put on a sideboard.  There is room inside to put a jar full of lovely Christmas flowers, either real or paper flowers and the best thing is that I can keep updating the photos as the boys get older.  I hope you enjoyed this little project and feel insired to go out and make your own.

Christmas Stocking

For this weeks Design Team project for Imagine If Jo gave us a plain burlap Christmas stocking and we were told to surprise her.  As a bit of fun Jo asked everyone to predict what the other Design Team members would be doing with their stockings.  So here are the predications made about my stocking:

Jo:  tricky - traditional with a dark underlying theme, very grungy.
Beth: layered and altered
Brenda: mixed media - grungy
Katrina:   with her outside the box thinking I would be surprised if its still a stocking :)
Carol: could be anything she puts her mind to
Lilian: something from the darkside


and here are my predictions for the rest of the Design Team:

Lillian very soft, lacy and pretty     
Tash flowers, lace, ribbon and beads
Beth stencilled, painted country chic
Brenda srong colours bold lines
Carol snow, glitter traditional
Katrina traditional, sewing, muted colours

Check out the Design Team blogs to see who got it right.

So to begin:

Here is the burlap stocking in all of its naked glory. There are so many possibilities and so many ways to decorate it. 

I then dipped the stocking in Pavepol and using a cardboard tube inside the stocking shaped it into a boot shape and painted it with white and red acrylic paint.

I wanted it kind of rustic looking so I left the edges as they were.  Because it was looking a bit bare I took some $2 shop ornaments and bows and glued them together

and then I added another bow to some white ribbon to put on the back of the boot.

I then added the ornaments to the sides of the boot and the bow at the back.

After adding the embellishments the front looked a little bare so I took a couple of the Imagine If felt stockings and added those the front along with the leftover ribbon and another bow.

I then decided that I wanted a lid on my stocking to open on Christmas Day to see what goodies were inside so I took a round wooden coaster and glued on a piece of crochet doily. I then covered this with white gesso and I also painted up an old drawer knob.

 

 

I put them all together to make the lid.  Here is the finished project:

Still lots of room inside for little Christmas goodies but a slightly different take on the traditional stocking. To be fair to the Design Team I had actually started work on this project before they made their predictions so who came closest to predicting the finished project.

If you have come from Beth's blog follow on by checking out Tash's creation on her blog and check out how accurate each prediction was.

Be Positive

Just a quick little project to share.  My boss is always telling us to "Be Positive", it is one of her favourite sayings, so I decided that I wanted to make something for the office incorporating this.
I asked Jo at Imagine If to make me  phrase out of MDF using a script font.  Here is the finished project.

 

 

 
I found an old frame that originally had a print in it.  I painted the backing board with brown paint, added a layer of crackle medium then painted it with cream paint.  I then added some doilies to ad a bit more interest.  I spray painted the sentiment and glued it to the background.

I put the board back into the frame and it now hangs in the office to remind everyone to stay positive. 

Celebrating Life

The new challenge is up over at Southern Girls Challenge and this time it is all about Celebrations.

For my Design Team Project this time I have made an Art Journal.  I am joining in with an art journal circle swap that begins in the New Year and as part of the swap I needed to make a journal that I could send around to everyone in the swap so they can complete a page in my journal and in return I get to do pages in everyone else's journals. We each have to pick a theme for our journal and even though I have headed this post Celebrating Life that is not my theme. I have not done a lot of Art Journaling so this is really stepping out of my comfort zone and the Art Journal I have made is celebrating the fact that I am going to celebrate each and every day and each and every challenge that comes my way.  The only way to grow as an artist and a person is to try new things. 

So here is the front cover:

and here is the back cover:

To begin the journal I took an old A4 book and pulled out the pages leaving the covers and the spine.  This bookswas an illustrated book of cats.

I then tore off some textured wallper and glued it to the covers.  Once that was done I used a stencil and some texture paste to add some dimension to the piece.

I then added some more texture paste through another stencil and glued in some chipboard and wooden pieces.  I then covered everything with gesso.

Once the gesso dried I covered the whole thing with a wash of blue paint and I then drybrushed colour over selected areas of the cover.

I covered chipboard flower shapes with dictionary paper and then inked them with distress inks. I added a doily and some can tabs to the large purple flower and a cabochon with a dragonfly into the centre of the sun.

I glued chipboard letters to pieces of card and then coloured them using gesso and acrylic paint.

I covered the bird, butterfly and lizard with embossing powder and heat embossed them.

 

 

I really enjoyed making this journal and I am looking forward to sending it off and eventually getting it back full of gorgeousness.

I hope you are encouraged to join in the challenge at Southern Girls Challenge and I look forward to seeing your creations.  Please check out the other projects from the girls on the Design Team.

A Tale of Three Tags

Welcome to the latest blog hop for Imagine If.  Once again you can begin this journey at the Imagine If blog.  If you have arrived here via  Lillian's blog then can you can follow on by heading over to  Tash's blog. This week I have made three Christmas tags using some of the amazing chipboard pieces from Imagine If.

Here are the three completed tags:

Here is how I made the tags.  Tag 1 - Joy

Firstly I covered a tag with Kaisercraft paper. 

Then I added a lace rub on up one side of the tag.  I painted up one of the Imagine If reindeer and added a bell around its neck.  I also painted one of the chipboard Christmas trees and covered two of the chipboard presents with more scrapbook paper.  I then took one of the circle frames and painted it brown, used crackle medium and then finished it off with cream paint.

 



I used the cuttlebug snowflake embossing album to emboss a circle of acetate.  I put this behind the circle frame and then glued the other pieces over the top.

 

 

 

 

 

I then added one of the Imagine If bows and a candy cane.  I painted the flourish the same as the frame and then painted up three of the little stockings.

 

 

 

 

I hung the stockings using bakers twine and added a sticker.      

To finish it off I added a piece of white ribbon using a Christmas staple from the Fastenator range.

 

 

 

 

Tag 2 - Steampunk Angel.

 

Here are the pieces I used for the second tag.

 

These pieces are the bits left over from the Advent Calendar project.

 

I painted the tag, gears and the offcuts from the Advent Calendar with black acrylic paint.  I then ran the offcuts through the Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder and dry brushed the pieces with silver paint.  I cut the pieces to fit on the tag and added the sprockets. 

 

 

I painted the torso black and then using tissue paper and red paint I covered parts of the torso.  I added white paint to the bodice and the skirt of the torso.  Once this was done I die cut wings using the Cheerly Lynn steampunk wings die and added them to the torso.

 

 

I finished off the tag with some silver snowflakes and white snowflake buttons, an Imagine If Merry Christmas chipboard and some silver flourishes.  I threaded white ribbon through the hole at the top of the tag and added an Imagine If chipboard bow to the waist of the torso. For the buttons on the front of the torso I used a spiral paperclip and glitter gems.

 

 

 

Tag 3: Santa is coming

 

 I painted the tag with green acrylic paint and ran it through a Craft Concepts Christmas Vine embossing folder and then dry brushed it with brown acrylic paint.

I used one of the Imagine If frames,

and an Imagine If flourish as the main elements of the tag,

and used a couple of palm fronds to add to the flower at the bottom of the tag.

I painted the frame white and then covered it with white embossing powder.  I cut out a picture from the Paper Arts Yuletide 5 paper range and glued it behind the frame.  I then covered the picture with crackle glossy accents.  I also painted the numbers and the star white and then covered then with white embossing powder. I ripped off a piece of paper from the Paper Arts Yuletide 5 paper  and glued it to the top of the tag.  I covered the flourish and the palm fronds with Mahogany Distress Ink and glued them to the tag.

I added a flower and snowflake and small green ribbon along with some pieces from a Christmas ornament I had lying around.

I added a sticker and some white ribbon to finish the tag.

 I hope these tags give you some inspiration and remember to pop over to the Imagine If website to get some of these gorgeous chipboard pieces t make your own Christmas tags or cards.

Imagine If products used:

Tag 1
Flourish from Large Damask Frame
Circle Frame
Reindeer
Christmas Present Time
Christmas Gingerbread and Candy Canes
Set 2 Mini Xmas Trees
Christmas Stockings

Tag 2
Cogs large set
Torso/Mannequin
Merry Christmas small
Christmas Present Time - Bow



Tag 3
Hand Mirror Frame
New Zealand Theme Koru Set
Christmas Stars
Flourish
Paper Arts Yuletide 5 paper