Crafting with Kaisercraft

Ever since I wandered into the Kaisercraft booth at CHA, I've been dying to play around with some of their products. And I finally got the chance this week. There's a lot to share, so I won't waste time with a bunch of chit-chat. Let's get to the photos!

Here's a wall collage I made for my grandmother for Mother's Day. (Since she doesn't own a computer, I'm pretty sure there's no chance she will see it here and ruin the surprise.) I used the Nan's Favorites 6x6 Paper Pad, which was perfect for giving a variety of patterns and textures, and the Nine Frame Photo Display.


I used a red chalk ink pad and some green acrylic paint to color these wooden cherry embellishments. Then I finished with some i-rock bling.


That's a vintage book page in the background that I topped with a handmade flower and some die-cut embellishments from the paper pad.


I had plenty of papers left over, so I created this card:


Next, I played with the Seaside collection. I altered a 6x6 canvas by spraying mists to create the sky and the sea. Then I used sandpaper (which I tore into "dunes") as the bottom border.


And yes, I made the umbrellas and the sun from the patterned papers. They were super easy, and I will post a tutorial for both next week.

While I was in the "beach" mood, I created this layout with lots of layers. Check out that canvas tag that I journaled on...it worked perfectly!


Now I know this is a beach line, but the little beach huts really reminded me of doghouses. And it's been a while since I did a dog layout. So...


I cut the heart outline with my Cricut, but it seemed a little plain, so I wrapped some baker's twine around it and, all of a sudden, it became a lot more fun!

But wait...there's more!

As my followers know, I have a thing for butterflies, so this next project is right down my alley. I painted the Kaisercraft Table Tidy blue, added some embellishments and turned it into a bouquet holder for some spring butterflies.

I cut the butterflies with my Slice, then I made the bodies by cutting a long strip of paper at a slight angle, then rolling it up (starting with the longer edge).


These papers and chipboard embellishments are from the Bubblegum Hills collection. Here's a quick and easy layout I did with the same range.


As I was cleaning up from the layout, I realized that the backing of the chipboard flowers had this wonderful image printed on the back of it. I'm all for recycling, so I turned it into a card. I added a ribbon and a little "bling" and it was done!


Hope you enjoyed the projects. Thanks for stopping by!

Another use for those recycled tins

Hello, blog friends! Today I have a fun little "step-by-step" for a quick and easy gift idea. It's a mini "brag book" that fits conveniently inside a recycled tin. Perfect to carry around in your purse and whip out each time you hear the phrase "Do you have any pictures?"

I'm using the Little Cutie collection from Imaginisce because my mini has a baby boy theme, but you could use any double-sided paper that fits your theme.

First, cut a 3" strip from your double-sided patterned paper. Then you will score it along the short side at 2".


Now flip it over and score it at 4".


Repeat this score, flip, score routine every 2" (so you will have scores at 2", 4", 6", 8" and 10"). Then fold along the score lines to create an accordion fold-out.

Next you'll want to round the corners so it will fit nicely into your tin.


Once you have everything rounded and folded, it will look something like this:


And then you're ready to embellish! I kept it simple by punching 1 1/2" squares from one of the backing sheets.


I did four of them and adhered them to the inside of the fold-out.


I added a combination of die-cuts, canvas stickers and sticker stackers to finish the look.


To give the front a little extra oomph, I used the new square Glam Rocks that work with the Imaginisce i-Rock tool. I turned them so they were shaped like diamonds instead of squares and made a border around my title block.


I finished the project by embellishing the tin with some patterned paper and stickers.

And voila! A great little gift (or something you might want to keep for yourself!)

Hope you find many uses for this fun little gift idea. Be sure and visit the Imaginisce blog today and all this week for more ideas on how to incorporate the new i-Rock accessories into your projects.

Thanks for stopping by!

Late for the party

I hate being late for anything. In fact, I'm usually so antsy about being on time for things that I end up being early. It's kinda embarrassing always being the first to show up, but I never quite mastered the concept of "fashionably late."

However, this week, I totally missed the Imaginisce Release Party for Little Cutie. Well, not totally. I did manage to make some projects to share on the Imaginisce blog. But here on my own blog...well, I'm a little late.

So without further ado, here's what I made with this cute new collection:

It's a perfect collection for baby things, of course. But I thought the girly papers would be fun to use for girls of all ages, so I paired them with a black background and voila!


I did a lot of edge punching as accents on this page, and I created my title by cutting letters out of this paper, which made for a fun, non-baby look. I also glitzed up the banner die-cut with a few i-rock Glam Rocks.


In case you missed any of the amazingly creative and diverse ideas from the other Imaginisce design team members during the release party, you can check them all out at these links:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

Now I'm off to prepare for the next party. Guess who's going to be early this time!

Sniff, sniff

If you haven't heard the sad news, Coordinates Collections is closing at the end of this month. (sigh) As much as I respect Jamie's decision and am so happy that she will have more time with her family, I am so sad to see the end of such a wonderful community and kit club. I have enjoyed every minute of my time there.

I posted one of the layouts I created with the Blooms kit yesterday, but here are a couple more projects I created with all the beautiful Crate Paper and BasicGrey yumminess in the kit.


I got pretty wordy with my journaling, but there was plenty of room on this My Mind's Eye journaling tag, so it all worked out.


And here's a card. I misted the doily with Glimmer Mist to give it that beautiful shimmery color. It's topped with a Studio Calico Fab Rip (pleated into a flower, and also used across the background), a BasicGrey petal and a Crate Paper sew brad.


And since I'm talking about Coordinates Collections today, I wanted to share one more layout I created last month that I somehow forgot to post to my blog. This one was with the Sweet N Sassy kit from March, and it's truly one of my favorite photos of Avery of all time. Papers are from Echo Park and American Crafts.



Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you'll pop in again tomorrow when I'll be sharing my projects with the new Imaginisce release: Lil' Cutie!

My Core'dinations Creative Frenzy

Get ready for a lot of photos...I went a little "Core'dinations crazy" over the past few weeks, and it's time to share the results.

It all started when I received my Coordinates Collections "Blooms" kit to play with, and it had a sheet of Core Impressions My Mind's Eye cardstock.

The rich brown color was so pretty by itself, but I couldn't resist sanding away a bit of it to reveal the red underneath. It made a perfect background for the butterflies on this layout.

But that was just the beginning. With sand paper and my Imaginisce d-stress tool in hand, I was ready to experiment a little more. I've had this Maya Road Picket Fence album in my stash for a while and it seemed like a perfect fit for the Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock. After I had glued and trimmed it from the fence shape, I sanded the edges and used the d-stress tool to add some lines to give it the look of a weathered garden fence. I also embossed a sheet of the Whitewash with a pink core to use as part of the title block.


And since this little book showcases my family gardening, I created this little flower by tearing circles of yellow Core'dinations cardstock into circles, crinkling them up, then unfolding and layering.


There's Core'dinations on literally every page of this mini book. I used it to mat the photos, create layers for backgrounds and even to punch the butterflies for accents on the page below.


On these pages, I created handmade accents and journaling spots with Core'dinations.


For the flower, I used an edge punch to cut along a 1" strip of cardstock, then I pleated it into a circle on top of a Cosmo Cricket Gluber and topped with a Crate Paper brad. I added some leaves that I hand-cut from the Whitewash cardstock and sanded to get a pretty green color.


Ok, this is subtle, but I love this idea so I'm going to share. I used the Imaginisce d-stress tool to sand journaling lines onto this cardstock. I have a hard time keeping my handwriting straight, so these subtle, sanded lines were a perfect way to make sure my writing would stay neat.


I was amazed at how easily the Core'dinations cardstock tears in a semi-straight line. It made it easy to create some accent borders and strips to add unity to my pages.


And just for fun, here's the back of my little book. I couldn't resist adding this little birdie as a "bye-bye." To get the weathered effect on the cardstock, I used the same technique I used on the cover, but I rubbed a little Distress Ink around the edges to create some depth.

And finally...a card! This one includes a mix of sanding, embossing and tearing -- because I tried it all! On the embossing, I accidentally embossed the wrong side of the cardstock, but it gave this cool "reverse embossing" effect, which I ended up loving. Yay for happy accidents!

Thanks for checking out my Core'dinations Creative Frenzy! I hope there will be many more Core'dinations projects in my future!