10 Things You Didn't Know About Heather Leopard

I am so EXCITED, HONORED, ELATED, over the moon HAPPY to be a part of the 2011 Imaginisce Design Team. I can't wait to see all of the FABULOUS creations our loyal followers create with these AMAZING products!  But first, let me tell you 10 little things about me...

1. I married the love of my life (gag, right?) in 2002 in beautiful St. Lucia, West Indies. It was just the two of us. We got engaged there and we were married 3 days later. My day consisted of diving 100' feet underwater that morning and then a beautiful beach wedding that afternoon.

2. When I married my hubby, I gained a wonderful step-son. We went on to have our first daughter in October 2003, 11 months after we wed. Five years later in 2008 we welcomed another sweet baby girl, who's not such a baby anymore...WAH! You will see quite a bit of them in 2011.

3. I have a somewhat dry sense of humor so when you read my posts on my blog, it's meant to be humorous, not snide. Just imagine me with a little grin while you are reading what I have to say. This brings me to the next thing you may or may not know about me...

4. My last name is pronounced in the simplest form - Leopard, like the cat. It's one of the coolest names - EVER! When you're telling all your scrappy friends to follow this AWESOME new design team member's blog, appropriately called The Spotted Leopard, you don't need to try to fancy it up like everyone else does. It's not LEE-O-pard, Leopold or Leonard. I just thought you should know.

5. I love, LoVe, LOVE to Scuba Dive - wreck dives, deep dives, night dives, you name it, I'll do it. I've dove the Blue Hole twice where I went down 130' while nurse sharks circled us. I always take stupid silly self portraits like this one. My most amazing experience was a random encounter with 3 hammerhead sharks, one of which stuck around for an underwater stare-off.

6. I'm loyal and can keep a secret! I expect the same in return. That probably goes hand in hand with the fact that I'm usually quite reserved, sweet and innocent until we get to know each other. After that, I reveal my other side.

7. I am a huge and I mean H.U.G.E. huge Rob Thomas fan. I actually bent the truth in a BIG way to meet him but the payoff was AWESOME! He was quite proud of me for doing what I did and no, I won't put it in writing. ;) I'd show you the photo but I had been flying and wasn't looking my best. ;)

8. My grandma, mom, daughter and I all have a birthmark in the same spot on the same leg. How cool is that? I wonder if it coorelates to the fact that we are the 1st borns, except grandma.
9. I cook, the hubby cleans. It's only fair and actually it's the only way it'll get done because domestic goddess I am not. It works for us.

10. Last but not least, I can twist my tongue into a clover, which according to Google, only a small percentage of people can do.

So now that you know a little more about me, be sure to hop over to my blog to see some of my scrappy creations. Become a follower and leave a comment over there AND here on the Imaginisce blog for a chance to win a great prize! 

Winners...Sketch Blog Hop and 12 Days of Christmas Winners (lots & lots)

Well we've raided Santa's workshop and we've checked the list twice and now his sleigh is brimming with pretty packages ready to be shipped off to our lucky winners, and who might they be?

December 1 - Sketch Blog Hop

Prize: $50 Cottage Christmas Package

And the winner is...

December 2 - 1st Day of Christmas

Prize: Complete Cottage Christmas Collection

And the winner is...

December 3 - Second Day of Christmas 

Prize: The i-rock and Complete Cottage Christmas Collection 

And the winner is...

December 4 - Third Day of Christmas

Prize: Complete Cottage Christmas Collection

And the winner is...

December 5 - Fourth Day of Christmas

Prize: Complete Cottage Christmas Collection

And the winner is...

December 6 - Fifth Day of Christmas

Prize: The Brand New ibond and the Complete Cottage Christmas Collection

And the winner is...

December 7 - Sixth Day of Christmas

Prize: Complete Cottage Christmas Collection

And the winner is...

December 8 - Seventh Day of Christmas

Prize: Complete Cottage Christmas Collection

And the winner is...

December 8 - Good Things Utah Giveaway x 3

Prize: Holiday Traditional 6x6 Mini Album Kit and the i-rock tool
And the winners for this were already posted on Lori's blog yesterday, but in case you missed it...

December 9 - Eighth Day of Christmas

Prize: The i-top tool and Complete Christmas Cottage Collection
And the winner is...

December 10 - 9th Day of Christmas

Prize: Complete Christmas Cottage Collection

And the winner is...

 December 11 - 10th Day of Christmas

Prize: Complete Christmas Cottage Collection

And the winner is...

December 12 - 11th Day of Christmas

Prize:  Set of Roly Rosies PLUS the petal roller tool and

Complete Cottage Christmas Collection
And the winner is...

And one last present that was just too big for the back of the sleigh so we had to put it up the front with Santa...
December 13 - 12th Day of Christmas

The Grand Prize:

Cricut Cake Machine

Complete Cottage Christmas Collection

The i-top Tool

The i-rock Tool

The i-bond Tool

Roly Rosies and the Roller Tool

And the winner is...Arjanne

If you were listed as a winner,  please email us your shipping information AND indicate in the subject line WHICH prize/day you won for....this will help us get your package sent to you quicker. All prizes must be claimed by Monday, December 19th. Also, this is a busy time of year and our warehouse may not get prize packages shipped out until after the new year, please be patient (all packages are shipped within 30 days).  

And come back and visit in a little while and see more SPRING inspiration from our Design Team! 

On the 12th Day of Christmas . . .

my Imaginisce DT gave to me, another fabulous post with an amazing finally!!!  (be sure to read this post all the way through you won't be disappointed)

Hello Everyone, today's post is being brought to you by me (Tammy Wark) and my fellow DT Shemaine Smith. 

We have truly enjoyed spending the last 12 days with you sharing some super fabulous creations and sadly today is the last of our 12 days of Christmas posts but with that comes some super exciting news that Shemaine will share with you later in the post.  For now I am going to share my Cottage Christmas creation . . . and since we are all counting down the days to the big holiday I thought I would create a "Countdown Calendar"!.

To make this super fun interactive calendar I started with an inexpensive 12 x 12 Scrapbooking frame.  I simple inserted a background page where you would normally put your layout and then decorated the frame using chipboard shapes, Embellishments, my i-top and i-rock. Next I added the words "days till Christmas" leaving enough room for my numbered day die cut on top of the glass along with some tacky adhesive for the changing numbered days.  I also added a little pocket on the back to hold all my number die cuts. 

Easy Peasy!

Please take a few moments when your done here today to stop by my blog and check out more close ups on this project and see how you can win a little Christmas cheer from me.



Hi there, Shemaine here taking over to finish off our 12 days of Christmas. I'd like to give a big thanks to Tammy for an awesome project!


I love holiday home decor projects. So I whipped up a cute holiday NOEL banner using our Cottage Christmas collection. This banner was really quick and easy to create. For complete directions you can see this post on my blog.

I used my Martha Stewart scoring board to quickly whip up the rosettes behind the chipboard greeting.

The banner was cut using my Cricut Celebrations cartridge and I used the back packaging of our Sticker Stackers shown here

I added the finishing touch of our crystal snowflakes at the bottom of each banner 
with a touch of bling using the i-rock

We hope you've enjoyed our 12 Days of Christmas celebration as much as we have! For those of you that have been leaving comments on each post every day the wait is OVER!!! Here's our Grand Prize announcement for today:

Our Grand Prize winner will win get every tool from Imaginisce that we have given away during our 12 Days celebration, an entire collection of Cottage Christmas and....

A Cricut Cake Machine!!!

Thank you for joining us each day and for all your comments! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from everyone at Imaginisce and the Design Team!

On the Tenth Day of Christmas . . .

Aphra gave to me--a December Daily album that's so EASY!

Are you looking for a quick and easy project for preserving your family's December memories? Well, with Imaginisce's Cottage Christmas line, you can have just that. This Christmas Countdown paper contains a number tag for each day. Combine that with your base pages and some bling and you are good to go.

The front and back of the album are 6" x 6" chipboard pieces covered with some of the Cottage Christmas papers and held together with 3" binder rings. I made the inside pages from a variety of products--envelopes, transparencies, tags, etc.

As you can see, each page is embellished with little more than paper, the Christmas Countdown numbers, ribbon, and a little i-rock bling.

So, how would you like to win the ENTIRE Cottage Christmas collection for yourself? Here's how to ENTER:

1. Follow my blog and leave me a comment telling me your favorite page in my December Daily.
2. Pop over to the Imaginisce Facebook page and like us.
3. Follow the Imaginisce blog and leave a a comment for each of the entry tasks you completed. The more tasks (comments) you leave, the more chances you have to win.

Thanks for stopping by today. And be sure to check back tomorrow for your chance to win a set of Roly Rosies and Pop Up Posies AND the Petal Roller tool.

Toodles!

On the 7th Day of Christmas our DT brings to you...

Happy December, Friends!

It's Cindy here today with a couple of quick and easy projects

 to whip up from scraps for a bit more holiday decor.

Don't miss the second post at the end of mine today for some very exciting news!!!

Now onto my tutorial...I am certain I have used EVERY SINGLE scrap I had from this Cottage Christmas line-

I can't stand to part with ANY of it!

My first project is this wall hanging made from a prefab wooden sign that I picked up at the local Dollar store (I think I paid $2 for this one). I traced a template around my base and then layered my papers until I found a LO that was pleasing to the eye. I then glued onto my base (I used gluestick, covered the ENTIRE area, applied the paper and then used a straight edge (popsicle stick in my case) and made sure there were no bubbles and the paper was really stuck well). Next trim the edges (sand if you like but this will take a bit longer). I didn't sand and just covered my edges with some crocheted lace (adhered with my new cordless glue gun from Imaginisce).

Using more scraps, I then made some rosettes and leaves (all handcut) and glued down with my glue gun.

Add alphas, trim & bling and you are all set!

I always hang onto any scraps I have of white cardstock as well, as it is

ALWAYS something you can find a use for. I made all 3 of these

cards from paper scraps, rub-ons, ribbon & stickers.

And since I used all the same line, they come together quite quickly.

Now how about if I give away an entire Cottage Christmas collection to one lucky commenter today? Yep that could be you so leave me a comment on this post telling me what your favorite thing to create with your scraps are! Winners will be announced December 14th!

There will be a GRAND PRIZE WINNER at the end of the 12 Days who will win one of everything given away during the 12 Days of Christmas Hop - just make sure you have commented on ALL blogs and ALL 12 Days posts ...

Now here's the special post I mentioned above from our wonderful and talented Design Team Coordinator Lori Allred:

As seen on TV....This project segment airs on KTVX Channel 4 - Wednesday December 8th from 10:00-11:00 MST.

 

I am very excited to be invited to do a segment on Good Things Utah on Wednesday for Imaginisce. More detail about the projects can be found on my blog! I'll be featuring ideas for Simple Christmas Neighbor Gifts. Best part is that you can make these with very little effort and all of them feature the Gingerbread Village border paper...

Christmas Fudge Gift Idea
This has been one of my favorites over the years and couldn't resist sharing these with everyone. It's super simple and only requires those large candy bars, like a Hershey's bar or Symphony bar. Wrap it with some Cottage Christmas paper and print out the poem (download your copy). 

Visit my blog to download a copy of this poem to reprint for your neighbor gifts.

Bucket of Popcorn
My families favorite thing ever are those big buckets of popcorn for Christmas. But when I saw these fun clear paint buckets at Ben Franklin (or Roberts...can't remember) I had to put caramel corn in it and dress it up a little. Again, I've only used a strip of the border paper, added a ruffle and center fan folded flower piece and voila, a darling gift for a friend or neighbor!

 

 I'm going to post a tutorial on how to recreate this fun embellishment next week on my blog...come back and visit to learn how easy these are to recreate!

Washer and Dryer Gift Idea
A good friend of mine, Andrea McAllister gave this darling gift out to her neighbors last year and I had to copy it! In fact, I started shopping for clearance dish clothes and hand towels I could use for this. But it's the darling poem that makes this gift rock. Scroll down to download a copy of the poem to reprint!! 

Visit my blog to download a copy of this poem to reprint for your neighbor gifts.

Fillable Paint Bucket Instructions
This project was the one that we showed and assembled on air. The directions are on the Good Things Utah website and my blog.

Hot Cocoa Gift Idea
Hot cocoa is a big hit at our house during the winter and we never have enough of it. How easy is it to take your scraps of paper and wrap the containers. I then tied some of my bakers twine around the container and strung Holiday Wishes Chipboard Stickers and a candy cane to the front. Note: You'll want to peal the adhesive backing off the chipboard stickers and punch a hole through the top! 

Cookie Box Gift Idea


Fill a plain box with treats you purchased or made and wrap it with one of the paper border strips, add a little bling with your i-rock tool and embellish with rub-ons and stickers.

2nd GIVEAWAY today: 

Now no blog post is complete without a fun giveaway! As a thank you for stopping by and reading through this very long post, we'd like giveaway a 3 Holiday Traditional 6x6 Mini Album KITS with an i-rock tools (you need one to complete the album)! This giveaway of course is sponsored by Imaginisce and this is how you can enter!

1. Go back and check out the 12 Days of Christmas (only 7 days have posted) posts on the Imaginisce Blog and let us know what you've like the most!
2. Follow my blog (and leave a little comment LOVE)
3. Follow Imaginisce's blog

Enter a comment for each thing you complete! We'll announce the winner on Monday, December 9th.

On the 6th Day of Christmas, our Design Team brings to you ...

LOADS MORE INSPIRATION, more cool Tutorials and a chance to win the entire Christmas Cottage Collection .... (YEAH, sing-along with us) ... - WOOHOO!!!!

Today Tomomi and I (Tracy Gardiner) have the pleasure of sharing a little of our Christmas Spirit with you all the way from Japan and South Africa.

Let's start off with Tomomi's gorgeous Wreath -

Requirements: -

Wreath

18 medium Brad Daddies

Red Ric Rac

1 sheet Cottage Christmas Peppermint Stick patterned paper

1 sheet Cottage Christmas Swirly Snowflakes patterned paper

Cottage Christmas Acrylic Snowflakes

i-Bond Glue Gun

Assembly: -

1.  Cover 18 Brad Daddies in Peppermint Stick paper, alternating between the stripe and the holly sides;

2.  Thread the brads onto the Ric Rac as shown;

3.  Wind the Ric Rac and Brads around the Wreath;

4.  Using a 2" circle as a guide, draw 6 semi-circles 3/4" high onto the back of the Swirly Snowflakes paper;

5.  Cut the semi-circles out creating 6 scallops and a small tab at the end (as shown)

6.  Divide each scallop into 8 parts and fold into a "concertina";

7.  Attach the one end to the other with the tab - Make 6 of these;

8.  Cut out a circle for the base.  Flatten the flower and glue it to the base;

9.  Attach the flowers to the wreath with your i-Bond glue gun and add acrylic snowflakes to the centre of each flower.

HOW EASY WAS THAT???  This could be done in an hour at the most and would be awesome for neighbour gifts too ... LOVE THIS, Tomomi ...

Then here is an Advent that I created for my son, Bryce to remind him of the true meaning of Christmas - I hand-wrote Scriptures on to the backs of each of the Tags.  You could attach a chocolate to the back of each tag or even a clue to where a little gift has been hidden for each of the 12 Days of Christmas ...

It was sooo easy to make and didn't take much time at all ... Pop along to my Blog where you will find full instructions on how to complete this simple project ...

And of course we cannot forget about another awesome GIVEAWAY - the entire Cottage Christmas Collection - how awesome is that - trust me, this is one of the funkiest, most versatile Christmas collections out there this year - one of my all-time favourites!!!

So, all you have to do is leave a message here, as well as on Tomomi's blog and my blog, and then keep checking back to see if you've won.

There will be a GRAND PRIZE WINNER at the end of the 12 Days who will win one of everything given away during the 12 Days of Christmas Hop - just make sure you have commented on ALL blogs and ALL 12 Days posts ...

Merry Christmas to you and your families from the both of us - may your hearts be filled with the Spirit of Christmas - PEACE. HAPPINESS and LOVE ...

Love,
Tomomi and Tracy