Imagine a Merry Christmas...

Well, I did it - I finally got the space in my craftroom ready for the Imagine and it is out of the box and I have started to use it.

I knew that I would quickly get bored with just the Imagine More cartridge that comes with the machine, so last week during the Cricut.com sale I bought the Snow Angel cartridge.  The Imagine cartridges have a variety of artwork styles and some of them do not appeal to me but I think this cartridge is charming.  (I have to confess that I bought several more cartridges as well but I will let you guess which ones they are for now!)

I'll write more about my first experiences with the machine in a later post - today I just want to share the first card I have finished using an image I printed and cut with the Imagine.

 

This sweet medallion is one of the icons on the Snow Angel cartridge.  Icons are extra images that can't be separated into layers and there are ten on each Imagine Art cartridge.  I printed and cut it on some textured white cardstock.  I have calibrated the machine five times and it still is not quite perfect but on a medallion like this there is some room for error around the edges.  You have to look very carefully to see that the borders are slightly uneven.

For this card I cut mat layers in red and white at 3 3/4 x 5 inches.  I had a little trouble finding a red that went nicely with the shades of red in the image but I found that some Martha Stewart cardstock in a value pack I bought a while ago was a great match!  I punched the corners of the white mat with the corner punch from my snowflake Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page set.

I order to make the mat have a more finished appearance, I trimmed away the straight area between the corners.  To do this, you need the type of trimmer that lets you start and stop precisely.

In this photo you can see the difference between the original and the trimmed edges.  The shape is not the correct proportion to use the punch set for all of the sides and have the design work out evenly.  Since I wanted a standard A2 card mat, I tried this variation.

Once all of the edges were trimmed, I ran the white mat through the Cuttlebug using the snowflake folder.  Then I adhered the two mats to the card front.  The card base is a dark green textured Bazzill cardstock but not quite as dark as it appears in the photo.

I used foam squares to pop up the icon image. I don't care for these particular squares as they are difficult to use but I am trying to finish them up (waste not, want not!).

I added four tiny gradient gem stickers from Creative Charms at the points in the image.  Every set of stickers ends with clear gems so I usually have some of these on hand.  I thought I was done so I took my camera upstairs to edit the photos and then I realized that the card was still a little bit dull...

A few more medium gem stickers in the centers of the snowflake cut outs was all that was needed to make the card look finished.

This is the most basic way to use the Imagine - just find a pretty image, print and cut it and make a card.  You could make this card with any image or medallion if you don't have the Imagine.

I have started doing some more interesting things with the machine today and it is fun to experiment with the possibilities.  I'll be sure to let you know what I think are benefits of using the Imagine and where I see room for improvement with this new machine.  I am sure there will continue to be upgrades and changes and I really can "Imagine the Possibilities" as some advanced capabilities are added to the machine.  I am particularly looking forward to software that will allow you to do a lot more with the images and layering.  All in good time...

I hope you are having a good weekend and that your Thanksgiving plans are coming together.  This will be an odd Thanksgiving for us as both of our sons are off on a trip to Japan together.  They should arrive in Japan early Sunday morning and we are eagerly waiting to hear about their safe arrival.  We will see a lot of the rest of the family so it won't be too lonely!

I really do appreciate all of the support you have been giving me in the Creative Memories contest to win a Cricut Cruise.  There is no tally or ranking so I really have know idea how I am doing but I am so thankful that many of you liked my work enough to vote for it and to keep voting all week.  The contest continues until the 23rd and you can click on the image of my layout at the top right of the blog to go directly to the voting page.  You need to wait a full 24 hours between votes, so if you can't vote because it already says "I voted" please try back a little later in the day. 

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