I Baked Some Gingerbread

No, I'm not getting an early jump on Christmas! The gingerbread I baked were made out of Shrinky Dink, and while they didn't smell as yummy as the real thing, I think they turned out just as cute.
To start, I purchased Shrinky Dink for Inkjet printers and cut the gingerbread boy and girl images from Kate's Kitchen at 3.5" using the Imagine. Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them before I shrank them.

These were baked in the toaster oven set at 375 degrees. I guess my oven doesn't heat evenly though, because every batch turned out like this, with some being longer and more stretched out than others, depending on where they were on the pan.

After they were baked and cooled off  I put them on a piece of plastic wrap and took them outside to spray with a clear coat. I do not recommend doing this in 105 degree heat, however, as it took them forever to dry! The clear coat  I used was Krylon Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze.

Hope you can see how shiny they look. It doesn't look it in the picture, but they were really smooth too, almost glassy looking.

And here's the finished product, all packaged up and ready to go. I used Kate's Kitchen for the recipe card too. The printing is computer generated. Oh, I almost forgot about the little heart. I actually printed out a section of the print from the Mr. Frosty cartridge on a piece of Shrinky Dink. (I think it was a 5X7 rectangle). Then I hand cut the individual hearts. Another important point, if you are planning to make charms or other jewelry with Shrinky Dinks, be sure to punch your hole for your findings before you shrink them. I used a 1/8" hole punch and that worked just fine.
My grandson was here while I worked on some of these and he got the biggest kick out of watching them shrink. He asked me if it was magic! I'm planning some fun Shrinky Dink projects that we can do together.
As always, thanks for stopping by!
Maria

Imagine cards, Circle weekend challenge #2 and 3

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. The the second challenge this weekend was to create something for any holiday. I chose Christmas since it is my favorite and I need to start thinking about this year's cards.
This card is a 4 1/2" square. The white piece was cut with a Lacy Scallop square Nestability, the largest of the set. The print square in the center is from Imaginisce, the Cottage Christmas collection, and it was stitched to the lacy square. All the image cuts were made with the Imagine and Winter Frolic cartridge. The colors for the mouse and letters were made using RGB codes from tayloredmkt.com. The shadow and box were printed with a pattern from the Imagine More cart. Peachy Keen stamps were used to make the mouse's face. His body is outlined with a brown Copic Glitter marker. Red and pink Stickles were used on the bow and mouse ear.
For the 3rd challenge were were given a sketch. I found this Stampin Up Something Sweet set that I haven't used and decided to use this sentiment. Again, the Imagine was used for all the cuts and everything is from the Imagine More cartridge. The small squares were cut with George and Basic Shapes. The background paper is from my scrap stash. The faux stitching was done with a brown Copic glitter marker. (I really like those things!)
Whew, I think that's everything! This has been a lot of fun so far and I think has really gotten me motivated to get some stuff done. I have one more challenge to complete for this and the Circle Blog. I think I may use the same for both. I also have a fun Halloween project that involved creating something on the Gypsy. Hopefully I'll get those done this week too.
As always, thanks for stopping by!
Maria

First Imagine Card (and a little about my saga)

After deciding I was not going to buy an Imagine, I caved and bought one during the HSN launch. It arrived sooner than expected and I was very excited to get it up and running. Slight problem though, it would not do the cut calibration. How quickly my excitement turned to frustration as I realized there was something wrong with my I. I called PC the next day and after a little over an hour of troubleshooting, it was determined that I did indeed have a defective machine and it would have to returned and exchanged for another. Happily they did get my new Imagine to me quickly and this one has worked like a charm. I still wasn't sure if I would like the I, but the more I use it the more I see the possibilities, especially since you can use the original cartridges in it too. Well, enough rambling, here's my card...
I used the Imagine More cartridge for all the patterns and cuts. I created the background by cutting a 51/2 in square with GBS then trimming it down to my usual 51/2 X 41/4. I used a scallop border punch on the strip across the bottom. Then I added an MPS stamp from the More Punny-liscious set and some buttons with twine. I did use foam tape on the scallop circle and the cow, but it's hard to tell from the picture. I'm hoping to get some more time to play this weekend.
Thanks for stopping by!
Maria