Imaginise's Masculine May Challenge

The Challenge:

I decided to enter another Imaginise challenge because when I saw the criteria, I immediately knew what I wanted to do. It was just a matter of trying to figure it out. Luckily I have a genius husband who has the mechanical skills to help me achieve my scrappy dreams. Here is the challenge:

This month we want to challenge you to:

• create a masculine themed layout/card/project
• use one of our Snag'Em Stamps from any Imaginisce collection
• you must use at least 75% of Imaginisce product

If you want to join in, you can also submit a project to their blog by May 25th.

The Result:

I wanted to make a photo frame of the front of a car with Isaiah hanging out with a koala bear (don't ask me why) and I wanted the headlights to actually light up. Kevin thought I should make a pop up card that folds flat, so that is what I did. The hood of the car is a hollow square shape which can be flattened down to fit in an envelope. It is just a 4 x 12" piece of paper folded three times and taped back onto itself. I used Imaginise's Animal Crackers line and the circus tent stripes for the stripe of the car. The koala bear is a Snag'Em stamp I colored in. As a homage to the koala, I put the steering wheel on right side of the car. The car is hand drawn and paper pieced together and I added two stamped arrows.

Isaiah cruising with Mr. Koala Bear

One a side note, my sister was asking about the background in the photo. It is actually one scenery photo I cropped into two parts and printed out separately on 8.5 x 11" photo paper. One is of a road which I placed beneath the car, the other is of the sky which is behind the car. Together hopefully it looks like one continuous scene.

The Mechanism:

The coolest thing about this little card is that there is a hidden push button behind the bumper of the car. The front of the car is popped forward so there is room to attach a lighting mechanism.

I'm turning on the lights

I'm pressing the button which activates the headlights. Kevin soldered two LED lights to a switch, and connected it with wires to a 3V battery. I got the idea from when the 4th graders from my school were studying circuits and they wanted to work with Kevin who teaches physics at the high school. They walked over to his lab and his physics students helped the 4th graders build magic wands that light up at the tip. This was Kevin's idea, and at that time Harry Potter was really popular so the kids really liked it. They really learned their electricity and circuit unit since I saw these complex diagrams with detailed explanation they made post field trip. Anyways, I knew Kevin could build a similar mechanism for me. Here he is at work.

Kevin building the headlights

Here is the finished mechanism with the two LED lights, flat 3V battery, wires, and small push button all taped to the back side of the card. Now the secret is out.

No guts no glory

The Details:

Here are some close up photos. 

Enjoying the Journey

License to Thrill

Besides the headlights, the two things I like are the fuzzy dice I made from baker's twine and the dotted paper, and the metal looking license plate frame. I also thought Isaiah really matched the sentiment of the license plate, but that is totally by design. It is difficult to get a natural photo of him because he painfully poses for most photos. I had to go back one year to an incident where Kevin was tossing him into the air to get the natural expression I wanted. But it all came together in the end. Now the dilemma is, do I give this to a 4 year old or keep it? I kind of like looking at it and seeing him so happy and then pressing the button and feeling proud of Kevin. On the other hand, Isaiah really liked this book I game him yesterday that had a light switch he could turn on and off. Let me know what you think. Sometimes the physical manifestation of an idea isn't as great as the imagined, but then sometimes it is.

Carefree expression

Posed expression

Take care and may your dreams become reality,