The Creative Life

Another Year of Getting Inky with Imagine!

In The Studio

Since the official announcement has been made, I can now let the cat out of the bag: Imagine has graciously allowed me another year on their Artist in Residence team and I couldn’t be happier!airs-badge-2017

I really enjoyed my first year with the team and appreciate the push it gives me every month to create. After stepping down from Helmar earlier this year I debated whether I’d submit myself for a second term with Imagine, but when the time came to make the choice, the idea of not being on the team (or at least trying) was just too horrible to contemplate!

Of the 32 projects I created for Imagine in 2016, two were selected for their 2017 catalog: the Growth Potential onesie and my Stamped Napkins.

jv_feb16-growthpotential-watermarked

2016_july_jv_stampednapkins_main1

But there was one project you never saw, and that was my audition piece from last fall, the one that got me on the team in the first place:

jvanderbeek_imaginecrafts_christmas_card-0520

This card uses Iridescent Creative Medium (roughed up with a stipple brush) for the moon, with the background of India ink dropped around and on top of it, creating a space-like background and shadowy craters on the surface of the medium where I made spaces for it. The tree and other embellishments are StazOn Studio Glaze. I remember writing up the project sheet for submission while on our anniversary cruise last November so it would be ready to send when we got back to our home port. Guess it was worth the effort, right?!

So here’s to another year with the fabulous folks at Imagine! I can only hope to do them proud once again.

I’ll Make a Home For Christmas

In The Studio

Or three…

jvanderbeek_imaginecrafts_fauxmetal_papermache_houses_detail

I’m fairly certain I’ve mentioned the metal house “lanterns” that we saw last November in a shop in Disney Springs and how amazing they were and how sad I was that they weren’t for sale. Turns out they are available from the Acorn catalog, and aren’t terribly expensive at about $30 a pop. But by the time I’d found them there, I’d already purchased a trio of papier mache houses to make my own Christmas village with.

Sadly, it took a full year before I got around to painting the houses, but I’m glad I waited! The Delicata inks I used to add the metallic sheen to these houses really made the project! You can see the step-by-step over on the Imagine blog!

8 Cards from 1 Kit

In The Studio

In an attempt to curb my random spending, I joined two subscription services at the end of October: Pipsticks (more on that another time) and Simon Says Stamp. I’d been impressed with the Simon Says Stamps products I’d seen some of my favorite YouTubers display and I finally let myself buy in. My first kit to arrive was the November kit, very fall, very Thanksgiving-y, and very bad timing. When it arrived I was in the crunch time on the yarn bomb so all I could do was open it, ooh and aah over the items, and set it aside until this past weekend.

jvanderbeek_simonsaysstamp_november_cardkit_thankful

With the December kit already shipped and due to arrive at any moment, I thought it wise to go ahead and bang some cards out while watching Gilmore Girls A Year in the Life on Saturday. I usually watch Vicky Papaioannou make 10 cards from each kit and wanted to challenge myself to do the same. You can see the cards she created with the kit over on her YouTube channel (I waited until after I made mine to watch hers) and here are mine in more detail.

Unless noted with a +, everything is from the Thankful Heart kit (currently out of stock, but the stamp set may be available in the future). Just because it’s fallish, doesn’t mean the materials are dated–the stamp set is fabulous for any thank-you occasion! (And, no, this is not a sponsored post. I’m just a fan.)jvanderbeek_simonsaystamp_november_cardkit_thankful-1

  • Red cardstock base
  • Plaid patterned paper
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • Celestial Copper Delicata Ink
  • Stickles
  • +White cardstock
  • +Spellbinders Belly Band Two die
  • +Dollar Tree grosgrain ribbon

jvanderbeek_simonsaystamp_november_cardkit_thankful-2

  • Red cardstock card base
  • Green/Orange dot patterned paper
  • Red heart patterned paper
  • Stickles

jvanderbeek_simonsaystamp_november_cardkit_thankful-3

  • White cardstock card base
  • +Vellum
  • Floral embossing folder
  • Blue patterned paper
  • Floral-heart clip
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • Celestial Copper Delicata ink
  • +Xyron Create-a-Sticker

jvanderbeek_simonsaystamp_november_cardkit_thankful-4

  • Green cardstock card base
  • Tree patterned paper
  • +White cardstock
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • Celestial Copper Delicata ink
  • Stickles

jvanderbeek_simonsaystamp_november_cardkit_thankful-5

  • White cardstock card base
  • Wood plank patterned paper
  • White patterned paper
  • +Spellbinders ellipse die
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • Celestial Copper Delicata ink
  • +Off-white twine

jvanderbeek_simonsaystamp_november_cardkit_thankful-6

  • Green cardstock card base
  • Flower-pot patterned paper
  • Wood plank patterned paper
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • +Tuxedo Black Memento ink
  • +Helmar Zap Dots

jvanderbeek_simonsaystamp_november_cardkit_thankful-7

  • Blue cardstock card base
  • Dotted patterned paper
  • Orange patterned paper
  • Camera patterned paper
  • +Heart punch
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • +Coffee Bean Brilliance ink
  • Stickles
  • +Twine
  • +Helmar Zap Dots

jvanderbeek_simonsaystamp_november_cardkit_thankful-8

  • Blue cardstock card base
  • Camera patterned paper
  • +Heart punch
  • Thankful Heart stamp set
  • Celestial Copper Delicata ink
  • +Coffee Bean Brilliance ink
  • +Helmar Zap Dots

Things like acrylic blocks for stamping and basic adhesive go without saying, right?

At any rate, my timing was good. I finished these cards (plus the bonus cards for Monday’s blog hop) on Saturday, the December kit landed in my mailbox on Tuesday evening, and last night the special Holiday Card Kit (not part of the subscription–I was at work on Black Friday and did some frustration shopping from my phone at lunch) came in! Now I have two kits to play with!

Card Week Continues!

In The Studio

It’s an unofficial designation, sure, but it seems to be where we’re heading, because I’ve been on a roll, lately, and have another card to share.

jvanderbeek_cmas16_flowercard-1

This card started out a bit differently, as one of my Imagine-intended projects, but then I ended up using no inks or media other than paper or washi. So it turned into a bonus card, just for me. I guess there’s nothing wrong with that, right?

Recipe:

  • 5″x7″ white card base
  • White glitter washi tape (Scotch brand, from Target)
  • Striped and solid printed paper (American Crafts, from the dollar spot at Target)
  • Spellbinders Moroccan Motifs die set
  • Hermafix adhesive
  • Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots

I used 5 of the 6 dies in the Spellbinders set, cutting them out of the two solid burgundy (with white back) papers at the same time. Some of the larger pieces were snipped to make individual “petals” and one of each was flipped upside down so the white showed. Offsetting the burgundy and white matching pieces, I put them together with a thin layer of Liquid Scrap Dots between each, curling the points up a bit where appropriate. A little more of the Liquid Scrap Dots is propping up the largest motif to give it a little sturdier structure.

The downside to the 6″ paper pads is that it can limit the size of the card you can make. Unless, of course, you think outside the pack a bit, like I did by creating a frame of washi tape to serve as a matte underneath the striped paper. I considered that a slight stroke of genius on my part, and it worked out far better than piecing together two smaller pieces for the backing.

A card like this would require a padded mailer, to be sure, if you wanted to send it through the mail, but it was such a quick card, ultimately, that I think it’s worth the extra postage.

Holiday 3-In-1

In The Studio

Today over on the Imagine blog, my latest project is up: Go check it out!

jvanderbeek_imaginecrafts_snowflake_card_tag_ornament_main

It includes instructions on making a shaker card, ornament, and gift tag all from a single set-up with the die cutting machine and a single pass with the embossing paste.

Earlier this month I continued my love affair with faux finishes and created my take on mercury glass and made them into a quartet of napkin rings fit for the holiday table.

jvanderbeek_imaginecrafts_fauxfinish_mercuryglass_napkinrings-main

I believe it’s been a little while since I shared my Imagine projects (shame on me, I know!), so let’s keep rewinding with some October projects:

jvanderbeek_imaginecrafts_masks_main

I may not be on the Helmar team anymore, but I do still love their products and have a bit of a stash left. This mask charm project put Imagine’s sprays and embellishers to work with linen and Helmar’s stiffening and draping liquid.

jvanderbeek_imaginecrafts_halloween_garland_main

And does this Halloween garland really need explaining? Really?

jvanderbeek_imaginecrafts_book_main

Is it bad form to have favorite projects? I don’t care if it is, because this book I made for a September project just makes me squee with delight. The book itself is cool enough, but the cover just makes me swoon–instant age courtesy of some careful application of Creative Medium and metallic inks.

jvanderbeek_imaginecrafts_main

I haven’t forgotten my mixed media friends, either. My other September project was art journal meets wall art and was a rather satisfying monochromatic project.

2016_august_jv_puppycard_main

Going back a little farther, in August we went to the dogs and I make this puppy love card that I still hanging around my work table because I find myself terribly clever some days.

2016_august_jv_bulletjournal_main

And to complete this project rewind, we have something rather topical (I think). I still want to go into the planner journey I went on this year in greater detail, but for now it’s important to know that I spent my summer in a bullet journal and had a merry time exploring different ways to customize my weekly spreads. For the back-to-school time frame I played around with this particular layout in my journal with stamps and inks and some choice embellishments.