Guest Designer: Kristen Swain (double sized giveaway too)

We are so excited to feature the very talented, Kristen Swain. She has helped us on some of our advertising and trade show materials and really thought we should invite her to stop by our blog. 

Message from Kris: Hi! I’m Kristen Swain and I live in Maryland with my husband of almost 15 years and our two girls, Alizabeth and Annalise, our three cats and dog. I have been scrapping for over 12 years, and been designing professionally for almost 7 years now. I have been having my designs published for the last 9 years in many of the industry’s leading magazines. I started out scrapbooking, which has led me into card making and created altered items and home decor. I also like baking, painting and some other crafts, but scrapbooking is my most favorite creative outlet.


Here are some new projects Kristen created for us our feature today and they are so stinking cute!! But be sure to scroll all the way to the end of this post to learn about all the fun product giveaways you could win by stopping by for a visit today!

We asked Kristen some fun questions so we could get to know her a little better: 

What is your favorite embellishment? Well, I think my most favorite embellishment but anything pretty or with glitter usually holds top place in my heart.

What is one item or technique you use most often? My most used embellishment is definitely a button with some twine tied on it. I use them pretty much on everything I create!


What is your favorite Imaginisce tool or product? Oh that's a hard question, I certainly love the ITop tool and the button's I can create with it. But I think I will have to go with the IRock tool and gems, it works so well, I used some on a jean skirt of my daughters and they have stayed on completely, we don't even get that with the manufactured clothing!

How do you kick off your creative process? Sketch, photos, paper style, etc.? Usually it's a theme with a layout, but cards and altered items I find ideas come best when I see and think about the products I'm going to use.

What product couldn't they live without? Buttons! Glitter, my Cricut machines, a good pair of scissors and trimmer, Glue Arts Adhesive Squares.

Berrylicious Collection

Diet or Regular? regular- so bad- but yum

When and where do they scrap/craft? I do my best creating in the late mornings, just before lunch! I have an office in my home where I am able to create.

Little Cutie (Boy) Collection

What did you want to be when you grew up? I knew, I mean, just KNEW, that I was going to be an advertising executive when I grew up. But life has a funny way of changing things and I couldn't be happier how things turned out.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be? In the south, somewhere beautiful, maybe southern Florida, without the storms!

Little Cutie (girl) Collection

What is the one thing (not a person) you couldn't live without? My computer, I need to stay connected!

What's the last book you read? Finger Licken Fifteen by Janet Evanovich


And we found some fun projects Kristen created a while back with our fun Dinoroar Collection. We couldn't remember if we'd posted these, so we thought we'd share them again (too cute not to). 

Double the Giveaway: 
First, we're going to send one lucky winner a BIG box of Imaginisce goodies. And then to double your fun....we contacted GlueArts because we know it's one of Kris's favorite adhesives. They wanted to sponsor her Guest Designer spot here on the Imaginisce blog and they offered to giveaway the following to a lucky winner: a Glue Glider Pro, refill of your choice, the new 8 1/2 x 11 U Cut It Foam Sheet, Extreme Adhesive Squares and the Ribbon Adhesive. Now that's a lot of sticky goodness!!

What you need to do to be entered to win:

1. Visit Kristen Swain's blog and follow her blog, or if you're already follower leave her a comment on her most recent blog post. Then return and tell us which of her projects you like the best!!

2. Visit GlueArts Facebook page and tell them Imaginisce sent you!! Come back and leave a comment telling us you did this.

3. Visit our Facebook page and tell us "what inspires you when you're getting crafty". Come back and leave your name so we know you visited our Facebook page too!!

Winner will be announced this Friday, March 4th. 

Guest Blog Spot (with giveaway); i-spy Dinoroar and our Gyspy Winner

I am very excited (in case you cannot tell) to be the guest blogger over on Roberts' Blog today. I focused on how to add a little bling to your holiday projects featuring of course the darling Cottage Christmas product and i-rock collection! A huge THANKS to my awesome design team girls that provide me with tons of great projects to feature!! Be sure to check out the post, we're giving away two of these i-rock collection totes...

Check out this darling DinoRoar layout I spotted over on Michelle Unruh's blog. Don't you love all the layers and that yummy sticker board strip is my favorite!!

We had a fun Turkey Trot Blog Hop last week and the winner of the Gypsy from Provo Craft is:

AmandaB from Oklahoma!! Congrats!!

So MANY November WINNERS....the most EVER at one time!!

The majority of these prize winners have been from posts starting back at the begging of this month. We are so busy working on new products we never found the time to round up the winners until now. Please read carefully to see if you were one of our lucky winners!!

ENCHANTED LAUNCH PARTY
We had so many winners from last week's launch party and finally figured out who those winners were...so here you go. Hope you're a winner (although everyone that reads our blog is a winner)!

Day 1 Layout Inspiration winner of an Enchanted Collection is: Victoria's Place

Day 2 Enchanted with Roly Rosies winner of an i-bond took, Enchanted Collection, Roly Rosies/pop-up Posies & Petal Roller Tool is: Jayne

Day 3 3D Project Tutorial by Adia winner of an Enchanted Collection is: Jessica

Day 4 Card Inspiration winner of a big box of PINK product is: Kim Thompson

Day 5 Melinda's Jewelry Holder Tutorial winner of an i-top tool, rings & snap daddies is: CraftyGirl (barb)

Day 6 Layout Inspiration winner of an i-rock tool is: Lesabe

OH MY CRAFTS TOOL POST
Thanks for playing along....Last week OMC posted on their blog that they wanted to know which tools were your favorite, so we of course asked our FB fans to help us out and let them know how much you loved Imaginisce tools. So here's the winner from that giveaway: AMANDA KNIGHT-BODINE

SCRAPBOOK & CARDS TODAY 
We were fortunate enough to have Kimber feature us on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog a little over a week ago and they gave us the opportunity to giveaway a subscription to their BEAUTIFUL publication. The lucky winner is: isay

AUTUMN SPLENDOR CLASS KIT
Our very talented Cari Locken posted a great blog post about her beautiful class kit she created with the Apple Cider Collection. She offered to giveaway one of these kits and the lucky winner from her blog is: #63 Jennifer Reynard said...
Absolutely love the beautiful fall colours and enjoy the Indian Summers that we are sometimes blessed with. Love taking walks in the fall as the
air smells so wonderful.
NOVEMBER 13, 2010 11:50 AM

DINO-ROAR WALL DECOR
Winner of the Dino-Roar Wall Decor Blog Post: Staci from New Jersey

NORTHRIDGE PUBLISHING CreaTV Giveaway
This one was a big giveaway and included prizes for 3 lucky winners, but since I barely remember creating the post, I figured you all wouldn't remember what it was we were giving away. So here's the list of prizes and the lucky winners:

1. Watch (all or part) of the i-rock video & leave a comment for entry 1...you'll win an i-rock tool & some bling AND some of the Northridge publications! The winner is: EileenMV
   
2. Watch (all or part) of the i-top video & leave a comment for entry 2...you'll win an i-top tool & some of the new i-top innovations AND some of the Northridge publications.  The winner is: Cindy
   
   
3. Tell your friends to come check out this blog post....we'll pick a winner to get some great Northridge publications and paper products from Imaginisce!! The winner is: Jennifer Reynard

QUILTING WINNERS
Monday we offered up TWO giveaways on our blog past about the Quilt Market show Imaginisce attended. We'll be shipping out the i-bond tool to the winner of the first giveaway of "which tool are you the most excited about and why" was:  Anna Fearer

And the second question we asked about was do you do anything with sewing, fabric or quilting. The winner will receive an i-top tool and a ton of button daddies. Congrats goes out to: Mandi P

MY PINK STAMPER POST
We were excited to have Robyn create a fun video featuring again the fun Dino-roar collection. So the lucky winner of a Dino-roar product set is: DebC

We also picked a winner from our Facebook page as well. Congrats to: Michelle Ann Green

Whew! I think we posted ALL the winners we could find from November. If we haven't already gotten in touch with you (thank you people with emails on their profiles) then be sure to send us an email with your shipping information. Note the contest you won in your subject line too!

Guest Designer: Robyn of My Pink Stamper

We are excited today to have the fun Dino-roar Collection featured in a video by Robyn of My Pink Stamper. If you've never been to Robyn's site before, she is a fun girl from Oklahoma that loves to scrapbook and loves to use her Cricut. Check it out!! In fact, scroll down to find out how you could win today!

A little bit about our Guest Designer: Robyn Cardon, founder of mypinkstamper.com , is a busy mother of 5 who loves to spend time in her Pink Loft crafting.  She started scrapbooking over 15 years ago when she returned home from her honeymoon and has not stopped since.  Robyn is known for her "you can do it, too, attitude" and likes to help others get involved in paper crafting.  She has been published online as well as in past editions of Stampin' Success and On Stage magazine.  Robyn also has her own product line out on the market which includes 4 scrapbooking and card making DVDs.

How to WIN today!! Take a moment to jump over to Robyn's blog post and check out her fun video. Come back and leave a comment and we'll enter you to win the fun Dino-Roar Collection. If you'd like to leave a comment about My Pink Stamper on our Facebook page instead of here, you can do that as well. THANKS!!

Dino-Roar Wall Art

Have you been thinking about ways to decorate your child's room without breaking the bank? Is it sometimes tough to find just the right accents, in just the right size, at just the right price???  Well...there may be a solution!

As you can see, my son is obsessed with Dinosaurs at the moment and when I saw the Imaginisce Dino-Roar collection, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it to add some decor to his room. 

I was also lucky enough to come across the amazing Cricut Dinosuar Tracks cartridge.  Together, these crafting materials are an unstoppable locomotion of creativity.  I had a blast making these two pieces of art for my son's bedroom.

You can use the layer and shadow features on your Cricut to bring a "flat" image to life.  I love the contrasting colors of the brown cardstock with the Imaginisce Primordial Ooze paper.  And, the Petrified Wood paper is the perfect compliment to these Prehistoric Pals.

Doesn't this T-Rex look fierce?  My son goes crazy for this one and thinks it is the coolest dinosaur.  He even sleeps with his little T-Rex toy at night.  Guess he must get a lot of comfort knowing he sleeps under the watch of this fierce creature.

I added a few gems with my i-rock to decorate these little guys and then I used an old font folder of rub-ons to add the name of each of the dinosaurs.  Attractive and educational... doesn't get much better than that!

Complete the look...

 

Find some novel items to add to your child's theme...

Add a dinosaur sheet set from Pottery Barn Kids.

Add a dinosaur library from authors Jane Yolen and Mark Teague from amazon.com.

Add some dinosaur critters from Schleich toys found at Target.

Voila - you have created a very personalized room theme for your special little one and you didn't even break the bank.  How's that for a good thing???

And...to make it even more of a good thing, just leave a comment about a home decor idea you have been cooking up and you might be the lucky winner of your very own collection of Dino-Roar!  We'll announce a winner early next week...

Thank you so much for stopping by - Liz

ADDED BONUS PROJECT (from Lori): 
The awesome Brett Lund recently did a local television segment using the new Dino-Roar Collection and created a darling collage frame with it. We wanted to share the video and link you back the step-by-step instructions on the GTU website.

Tutorial: How to make Prehistoric Tracks

I was waiting for an explanation from Tomomi on how she create the VERY cool dinosaur tracks on her layout before I posted this and she was nice enough to include step-by-step photos too!!

Look closer...aren't these dino prints so cool!? I instantly recognized them as our "Snag'em Stamp" but couldn't figure out how she got the cool crackled texture.

 

Supplies needed: 

Stamp the track image on some cardstock:

Cut out the print with an xacto knife:

Here's the image after you cut away the stamped images:

 

Now you'll need some Crackle Paint:

Ranger Ink - Tim Holtz - Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy
Scrapbook.com

Paint over the stencil, like this:

 

Let the paint dry and you're done. Cool technique huh??