July Sketch Winner: Sherri Thompson

Congrats to Sherri Thompson who was selected as the winner of our July Sketch Challenge. We didn't have a way to contact Sherri, so we're hoping she follows our blog, but if you know her, let her know she WON. (Sherri, just email us your contact information).

She created these darling cards with the very popular Splash Dance Collection. We loved how she used our snag'em stamps too!!

We decided to postpone our AUGUST Sketch Challenge until Monday, August 2nd. So be sure to come back tomorrow to see the cute sketch AND join our BLOG HOP giveaway!!

 Here's the original sketch from Tammy Wark:

MOJO gone AWOL??? TRY THIS 30min PAGE ...

Hi there everybody.  Tracy here all the way from the East Coast of South Africa.  I am so super, super honoured to be guest-blogging here today.

So ... the FIFA WORLD CUP is over (I'm happy and sad all at once - the vibe was awesome but it's great to get back to "normal" again), our kids are back at school and CHA is here ... well, there ... okay, I'm just GREEN with envy coz I couldn't be there ... and it's time to get back to some serious scrapping ...

You may wonder if our MOJO ever goes AWOL (I mean, just because we're on the Design Team, doesn't mean our MOJO plays nice all the time ...) and what we do to get it back?  Just like everyone else we often have days, maybe even weeks (gasp ... stress ... faint ... sigh ...) when our MOJO is on some Island (where all the single socks go to party - you know that place???) sipping Mojito's or Cranberry Juice or whatever, while we are sitting in our Studio's (or at the Dining Room table - but that's another story for another post) stressing out about producing the next wonderfully creative project to WOW all of you ....

I have a fool-proof "recipe" for tricking that old MOJO into thinking it was its idea to come back in the first place .... here's what you do ...

Choose any one of your older Layouts and "lift" it with some new product ... or even use some off-cuts that are lying around taking up space ...

I had been working with the Birthday Bash Collection (sigh ... drool ...) so I decided to just grab a few leftover pieces of patterned paper and some matching bits of cardstock and I turned this LO (using products from the To Love and Cherish collection) ...

into this ...

How about a quick Tutorial??

You will need :-

2 patterned papers

3 plain cardstock (1 for background)

rub-ons

Title

Cluster of embellishments

Method :-

• Cut 4 rectangles measuring 7.5cm x 9cm (3in x 3.5in) (2 each from two patterned papers);
• Using a border punch, punch a strip of plain cardstock and then cut it to 2.5cm x 30,5cm (1in x 12in)
• Cut one 0.5cm x 30,5cm (0,2in x 12in) strip from your second cardstock colour
• Cut 2 x 0.5cm x 9cm (0,2in x 3,5in) strips from the same cardstock 

• Cut a mat for your photo - it should be 11cm x 16cm (4,3in x 6,3in) to fit a standard Jumbo photo - 10cm x 15cm (4in x 6in).  If you want more than one mat, then reduce the measurements for the next mat in to 10,5cm x 15,5cm (4,1in x 6,1in).  So, in other words you will have your photo, then your mat measuring 10,5cm x 15,5cm and then your last mat measuring 11cm x 16cm (ie. you have just double-matted your photo);
• Place all of your cut elements on your page before you stick them down so that you get the correct spacing.  Have a look at my first LO to guide you.

• Stick all of your cut pieces down and then add your Title, rub-ons and cluster of embellishments as shown in my first LO.

Tip :-  If you feel your LO needs it then mat each rectangle of patterned paper as I have done in my second LO or simply ink like crazy or sand/distress the edges ... whatever needs to be done to make the patterned paper "stand out" from the background.  Of course, if you wanted a more Vintage/Heritage look, all you have to do is distress and ink the heck out of all your papers and embellishments ...

It took me about a half an hour tops to re-create this page (with slight changes) and my MOJO was ready to rock and roll and eager to please ...  So eager in fact, that I created the following just for your inspiration too, using the new Apple Cider collection (again, not a great pic - sorry) ...

I hope you have enjoyed your little journey with me.  I have certainly enjoyed creating for you.  If you want to see some more of my work using Imaginisce products then go along to my blog.

I am also hosting a giveaway on my blog - simply leave a comment here AND on my blog and I will pick a winner by Wednesday of next week ...

See ya soon ...

Love,

Tracy

CHA Day 4 or 5...I've lost track! Final day of show...

We've had so much fun here in Chicago visiting with all our friends from the scrapbook industry. It's been a very successful show and we've met so many amazing retail store owners...but we're soooo tired. I always love the last day of the show...things tend to slow down and we have time to visit! 

Here's some pictures of some fun guests we chatted with today!

Catherine from Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine

Teresa Collins loved playing with the i-rock
tool the night before that she had to let us know!! 

Cath Edvalson & Susan Opel from Creating Keepsakes

Barbara Tanner (my favorite ad rep ever!) from CK

Also, I was over visiting my friend Madison of Echo Park. His booth was right next to Punky Sprouts booth. Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed that one of their very cute samples was made with our Apple Cider Collection. I think our sweet Sarah de Guzman might have created this one since she works with them a lot. Check out their cute products on the Punky Sprouts website.

Punky Sprouts Sample with Apple Cider

Thanks to all our friends that helped make CHA Summer show FUN!! So happy to see you all, but SOOOO happy to be home!!

I know you're all wondering about another giveaway for the week! Well we'd brought home one of our i-rock Totes from the show! So let's give one of those cute things away and we'll be sure to fill it with some paper goodies for you! All you need to do is SMILE and tell us what crafty project you have planned for the weekend (and laundry does NOT count)!! 

CHA Day 4: Selling, Orders and Teresa

The highlight of my day was stopping by this morning and talking to Teresa Collins and her daughter Gentry. They were very excited when I told them I'd run an i-rock tool over to them to play with later when they found the time. Now all of you know Teresa is the queen of bling...so it's the perfect tool for her!! When I got back from dinner I received this post on my Facebook wall and I just had to share!! 

I was so busy helping write orders, talk to the awesome media people that stopped by today and manage our make & take table that I totally spaced taking more photos. This is one snap shot I took first thing and then no more...sorry. 

Busy Booth...this was a slow moment!

I know I already showed a picture of Robyn and Liz doing make & takes the first day, but I just saw that Robyn posted this pic on her blog and I wanted to share. Mainly because my hair hadn't quite been taken over by the humidity yet and I liked how the picture turned out. These girls and all the design team girls that helped were amazing!!

Robyn, Lori & Liz

Giveaway....you need more??  So we're curious what you favorite TOOL for crafting is and if you have an ideas on what tools are missing from the industry that Imaginisce could improve on and offer to our fans. One enter for your favorite tool and one entry each time you list an idea Imaginisce should consider.

Happy sleeps all...we're VERY tired!!

CHA Day 3: First Selling Day

I know this is day 3 of us chatting about CHA on the blog, but it's really day 1 of the show...when your favorite scrapbook/craft retailers come to visit us and place their orders. We took the pictures before they opened the doors so you could get a good view of the booth. We'd love to know what you think and giveaway some goodies...read on!

Gotta Buy Basics & Apple Cider

Even Closer Close-up of New Gotta Buy Basic
Rolly Rosies Flowers & Pop-up Posies

Our new paper flowers are going to be some of your favorites, but you have to roll them into their fun 3D shapes. We'll show you how when we get back from CHA!!

Close-up of Gotta Buy Basics Wall

View of booth entrance (and meeting going on)

Cottage Christmas & Enchanted

The two new collections I didn't get a picture off is the B-Day Bash Collection and our very fun Dino-Roar Collections!!

i-Rock tool & i-top Tool

New i-Top Tool Innovations

Have you seen the NEW i-top Tool Innovations? You can make headbands, hair clips and rings with the i-top tool with our new Snap Daddies and Twist Daddies. We'll be explaining these more when we get home...we'll even show some videos explaining how fun these are!!

Here's some fun pictures of our make and take that we offered in the booth...believe it or not, this was a quiet moment for our girls...usually their was a line to create these fun projects!

Robyn Schaub (purple) & Liz Qualman (pink) teaching
our cute Apple Cider make & take.

Retailers "rockin" a fun 6x6 Apple Cider page!! 

We thought it would be fun to hit a long time favorite dinner spot here in Rosemont called Maria's with the Imaginisce design team. Here's some classic pics over food for you. 

Robyn Schaub & Shemaine Smith

Penny Smith, Bridget Bradley & Lori Allred 

Jordan Holmes, Kim Holmes & Heather Carpenter

Aphra Bolyer, Liz Qualman & Pinky Hobbs

These awesome ladies are probably going to kill me for posting this pictures. Because dimly lit mexican restaurants don't result in the best photos? Go figure!

FREE STUFF....that always get's your attention!! So which new CHA release product do you want your local scrapbook store to purchase from the show?? List the one MUST have item we showed you above and we'll pass it along. We'll pick a lucky winner from your comments to win a goodie box of new products!! 

CHA Day 2: Set-up and Classes

Boy was it a long (and fun) day!!  I decided to go against my better judgement and wear CUTE shoes instead of comfy shoes and my infected tooth has been throbbing most of the afternoon. But thanks to the really awesome students in both of our classes today, my day was a BLAST!! Here's a quick run down of what we've been up to...

Kenny & Matt assembling our awesome booth!

Nicole & hubby Matt organizing the trade show closet.

Me...bright-eyed...and ready to start the day.
And lovin my i-rock tool!! 

We then headed over to our classroom where I would spend the majority of my day with some really amazing students from all over the world.

Kenny & Matt helping move the TON of boxes of class
tools & product to our classroom!! 

Awesome students from one of our classes!

More pics of the best students at CHA. Thanks ladies!!

We offered two classes here at CHA...the first was designed with our new B-Day Bash Collection and the i-top Tool. And the second (sold out) class featured our Cottage Christmas Collection and the new i-rock Tool!! I have to say, those girls in the i-rock class loved the new i-rock tool and we couldn't stop them from adding bling all over their projects and more. In fact, we did learn that you CAN i-rock your acrylic nails LOL. Don't try it on your regular nails...that hurts! 

So after getting some food (never have time to eat when you're teaching)...taking a nice hot shower, I put my feet up and started to blog. Now I think I'll go to be early and get rest for another fun and long day tomorrow. 

GIVEAWAY!!

We'll be announcing winners of our week long CHA giveaways...so keep coming  back each day to enter a different giveaway. Today, we'd like to give a big THANK YOU to our class sponsors. So many companies were generous in providing us product so we wanted to list them here. We'll send you a sample box of all the product they donated to us too!! Just make an effort to jump over to their Facebook pages and tell them "thanks for supporting Imaginisce CHA classes!!" Here's a list of links. You can enter to win for each Facebook page you comment on...we'll even throw in an i-rock tool and i-top tool to make it worth your time!! 

Big thanks goes out to the following companies: 

Provo Craft - Cricut Paper Trimmer

Tombow - Adhesive

Therm-o-Web - Foam Squares

Ranger - Glossy Accents

(Thanks to Clearsnap as well for the chalk ink...but I cannot find their facebook page.)

Day 1 CHA Summer: Setup

We're so excited to be here in Chicago (Rosemont actually) setting up our booth for CHA Summer Show!

The very awesome Kenny and Matt flew in a day before us to start building our booth. Then me, Bridget, Nicole and Matt H. flew in today. We started helping put product up on display. But the highlight of my day was trying to lug 12 BIG boxes of product across the street from our hotel to the convention center. I'm sure if someone had been filming us we would have made for a great "America's Funniest Home Videos" segment for sure. But anything to keep from having to make more then ONE trip!! 

Matt covering up the product shelves until the big reveal.

Bridget standing in the center of the sign
that will eventually hang high above our booth. 

We've all been to Chicago a couple times, but we're open to suggestions on where we should go after the show. Tell us the name of your favorite restaurant or site here in the windy city. You'll be entered to win some fun Summer CHA products. And don't forget to stop by tomorrow to find out more of what we did at CHA!!

Giveaway Winners from Last Week!!

We notice that people tend to visit our blog a lot less towards the end of the week then at the first of the week, so your chances of winning go WAY up. We had so much fun during our Cottage Christmas release party!! We have a few winners to follow up with from the past week...so drum roll please!!

#1 Winner - Our winner from Friday's blog post is Summer Braxton. She'll be getting a sample box of Cottage Christmas and the new i-rock tool!

#2 Winner - We also picked a winner from the Scrapbook.com blog comments too and a big 2nd congrats goes out to Leah of wholovesscrapping. She'll also be getting a sample box of Cottage Christmas and the new i-rock tool!

#3 Winner - We asked everyone that previewed our CHA Release Blog Post at Scrapbook.com to go register for our consumer newsletter. From those that registered we'd pick a winner that would receive s sample box of goodies from some of the new collections for CHA. And the winner is

Paula Tucker

Ladies, we've tried emailing your when we could find your email, but don't be shy...email us your shipping information and be sure to remind us what you one so our shipping team can verify that they're sending you the right stuff!! 

Now don't be sad if you didn't win last week. We'll be posting some videos and information from CHA throughout the week and we hope to share our excitement by continuing to giveaway more fun stuff!! So come back and visit us this week!! 

Meet our Design Team at CHA

If you're attending CHA next week, we'd like to invite you to stop by our booth and meet some of our amazing design team girls and make some cute projects. 

You'll create with our new B-Day Bash, Cottage Christmas and Apple Cider Collections while learning how to use the i-top tool and new i-rock tool. In addition, we'll send you home with an idea sheet that shows you how to turn your make & take project into a darling 12x12 layout.

We can't wait to see you there!!  

Apple Cider

Tuesday, July 27

11:00–1:00 and 3:00-5:00

Meet Designers:

Lisa Day, Sarah de Guzman, Robyn Schaub & Liz Qualman

 Cottage Christmas

Wednesday, July 28

11:00–1:00 and 3:00-5:00

Meet Designers:

Penny Smith, Heather Carpenter, Kim Holmes & Aphra Bolyer

B-Day Bash

Thursday, July 29

11:00-1:00

Meet Designers: Shemaine Smith & Lori Allred

Rock Your Stamps

Just added....We're giving away our last Cottage Christmas Collection samples for the week and we thought we'd end it by adding in the i-rock tool too!!

Hi there, Scrappers! I'm Aphra, Imaginisce's guest blogger today.

Ok, I know you don't know me very well, but I feel the need to get something off my chest. Every month or so, the folks at Imaginisce send us Design Team girls a ginormous box of goodies. And every box contains about six stamps per line. So far, I've amassed a whopping 72 PRECIOUS stamps.

I ooohhh and ahhh over their cuteness every month. And then I pack them up and put them in my super special Imaginisce stamp box. They are vintage . . . never been used . . . in mint condition. Probably not what Imaginisce had in mind, hun?

So, when Lori asked me to guest blog, I thought I might push the envelope a little and actually use one of my stamps. Hey, maybe even two. Since I don't have any Copic markers or watercolor pencils and my ink box mostly consists of black and brown, I had to come up with something a little different. That's where the i-rock comes in. Here we go.

First, gather your supplies.

Next, stamp your image onto a piece of neutral cardstock.

Arrange your crystals along the lines of the image.

Set the crystals with your i-rock.

Embellish and add to your project.

Repeat.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you'll try rocking out your stamps. See you soon!

(Update Added 10:40am 7/23/10)

YOU'RE a WINNER!! Actually our congrats goes out to Suzanne Bier who was selected as our winner from yesterday's blog post.

Want to win today?? All you need to is jump over to our blog on Scrapbook.com and leave a comment about our new CHA Release. If you want a second chance to win, leave a comment on the Scrapbook.com blog AND on our blog post here!