April's Review	Andrea's Review	Catherine's Review	Karen's Review	Stephanie's Review

Review by April

Creative Imaginations has been creating unique and innovative scrapbooking products since 1997. They started with a few papers and stickers and have since grown into one of the industry's leading manufacturers in themed scrapbooking products. Creative Imaginations currently has over 3,500 individual creative products available, including an extraordinary line called Bare Elements. Some of the newest additions to the Bare Elements line are the foil kits and the themed double-sided patterned adhesive packages. I always look forward to trying out new scrapbooking products that offer something out of the norm and the new Creative Imagination foil kits are just that!

For this review I received one Bare Elements Sunset Foil Kit, one Bare Elements Earth Foil Kit, one package of Bare Elements Sticky 2 - Naturals, and one package of Bare Elements Sticky 2 - Romance. Each of the foil kits came with twelve 8x10 sheets of foil in six different colors, a 1 fl oz bottle of foil glue,and an instruction sheet. The six foil colors in the Earth kit consisted of black, silver, gold, copper, platinum, and a pearly white. The Sunset kit contained purple, red, orange, and 3 lovely shades of pink. The glue bottle is clear so you can see inside the bottle, and comes with a fine tip point that just needs a little snip to get started. After you open the glue, there is a handy little cap that is attached to the base of the glue cap. You can apply the glue directly from the bottle tip, using a brush, or simply using your fingers. The glue is very sticky and dries fairly fast. After drying it becomes tacky and is then ready to be foiled. The instructions also suggest using this glue on foam stamps or brushing it through stencils. The Sticky 2 - Romance and Sticky 2 - Naturals, contain double-sided, patterned adhesive rub ons designed for use with the foil sheets. Both packages were over 12" in length and contained over 12 decorative sticky rub on images. The Romance rub on sheet was filled with intricate hearts that had distressed like images and writing inside, a 12" sticky border XO's rub on, and the words romance, and love. The Naturals sheet contained an over sized distressed frame, gorgeous swirls designs, floral images, and a splendid variety of butterfly images. The images were spaced generously enough to allow easy cutting, and are easy to see while transferring. I thought it was great that sticky images can also be decorated with micro beads and glitter!

For my first layout, I was immediately drawn to the distressed frame rub ons on the Sticky 2 - Naturals sheet. I cut the frame into two different 12" strips and transferred them onto my cardstock. The actual transferring of the sticky rub ons went very smoothly and I didn't have any problems with the rub on lifting back up or sticking to the protective sheet. I then chose a pink sheet of foil from the Sunset foil kit and rubbed it over the top of the sticky distressed lines. Unfortunately, this did not go as smoothly. I tried burnishing the foil and every time I lifted it up, there would still be several small areas that the foil had not stuck to. I attempted to re-foil the uncovered sticky areas several times by following the instructions and finally decided to lay the foil over the image and use my fingernail to scratch the foil onto the adhesive. This worked immediately, however it also left foil on areas that were not meant to be foiled. Now, since I was going for the distressed look, this actually worked toward my advantage. When I transferred the foil onto the butterfly image, there were several areas left un-foiled again, but I just kept going back over and over with the foil until I covered as much as I could. I then used the foil glue to lightly cover the blue letter stickers, and create doodle dots across the page. When I tried the foil on the letter stickers, it worked great. After the doodle glue dots dried, I gently pressed foil onto them and I didn't have any trouble with the foil transferring. I think the doodle dots inspired me the most, because after seeing how cool they turned out, I was eager to try writing and drawing with the foil glue!

Title: She's Clever
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Foil Kit (Creative Imaginations: Sunset)
Sticky Rub ons (Creative Imaginations: Sticky 2- Naturals )
Stickers (Chatterbox, Basic Grey)
Flower (Prima)
Rhinestone (Wal-mart)
Pen (Sakura)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I was anxious to try out the sticky words from the Sticky 2- Romance sheet on my second layout. I lined up the words "Romance" and "Love" along the edge of my photo and burnished them with a red sheet of foil from the Sunset foil kit. I also layered a few of the sticky hearts over the photo to see how well they would transfer on top of picture. Both the words and the heart images transferred onto the surface easily, and it only took a couple of seconds of rubbing on the red foil sheet to turn them into beautiful and shiny page decorations!

Title: Romance
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Creative Imaginations)
Foil Kit (Creative Imaginations: Sunset)
Sticky Rub ons (Creative Imaginations: Sticky 2- Romance)
Rhinestone Brad (Heidi Swapp)
Pen (Uniball)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

On my third layout, I used the foil glue to draw a frame around my photo. After the glue dried, I pressed the black foil on it, which made it look like a shiny dimensional frame! I also transferred the hugs & kisses double stick rub ons underneath my picture, and along the side, and used the black foil to color it as well. I love the way the leftover foil looks after you have lifted it off the sticky image, so I decided to staple it on as a page embellishment above my photo.

Title: Hugs & Kisses
Products used:
Foil Kit (Creative Imaginations: Earth)
Sticky Rub ons (Creative Imaginations: Sticky 2- Romance)
Stickers (American Crafts, Making Memories)
Rhinestone Brad (Karen Foster)
Staples (Making Memories)
Pens (Sakura, American Crafts)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I had a lot of fun creating with the foil kits and sticky rub ons. Even though I had a little bit of difficulty getting the foil to stick to some of the adhesive rub ons, the images still ended up looking great and I really liked how the look of the foiled embellishments added such a unique and dimensional feel to my projects. Having two of each foil sheet color is a major plus because it allows you to use the foils on several projects and it really goes a long way. I've never really thought of foiling as something I might be using often when creating projects, but now I look forward to using up all my left over foil sheets and buying more in other colors. I think the Creative Imaginations foil kits are super fun and would recommend them to crafters as a creative way to dress up their designs!

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Review by Andrea

Creative Imaginations is a company full of unique and innovative products. Their paper collections run from Lego themed to "Old Guys Rule", reminiscent of the 50's California surfer dudes, and everything in between. Stepping away from the paper and embellishments, Creative Imaginations has a "bare elements" collection full of very 3-D objects to alter along with mediums to enhance the altering process. For this review, we are working with the "bare elements" (be.) foil kits and double-sided patterned adhesive embellishments called "Sticky2".

I love the concept of the "be." products - start with something bare and make it into something that is uniquely yours. The foil kits are themed and contain six different colors in 8" x 10" sheets. There are 2 sheets per color giving you flexibility and enough product to complete a large project or multiple small ones. Since these are kits, also included is a 1 fl. oz. bottle of foil glue plus an instruction sheet. The foil is a beautiful and classy touch when added to a project. It adds elegance in an instant!

The patterned adhesive sheets are 6" x 12" with one to a package. There are 2 liners on the adhesive to protect both sides of the design. Each sheet is themed and coordinates with current Creative Imaginations paper lines. I received 2 sets of Sticky2 sheets, Naturals and Tidepool. Both are wonderfully detailed flowers, butterflies and sea elements. Just beautiful! I think the best way to describe this product is that it's a sticky rub-on. It is applied like a rub-on then the clear top protective liner is removed to expose the sticky adhesive. This leaves a lot of possibilities open - micro-fine glitter, foil and even microbeads.

Starting with a layout seemed to be the best idea. I used the Sticky2 Naturals to accent this page. I found that adding the glitter to the sticky surface of the patterned adhesive was straightforward and produced great results. I was able to piece together the adhesive designs to fit within the appropriate areas. The glitter stuck to the exposed adhesive, creating a terrific sparkly image. I sprayed the whole page with sealer so that the glitter didn't migrate. It worked like a charm.

Title: On the Road
Products used: Patterned Paper and Cardstock Stickers (BasicGrey Euphoria)
Naturals Patterned Adhesive (Creative Imaginations Sticky2)
Glitter (PK Glitz)
Clear Spray (PYMII and now sold by Creative Imaginations as "Super Seal")
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I couldn't resist playing with a new acrylic piece from Tinkering Ink. The large oval was the perfect size to make a suncatcher! I added the large image first and foiled it with colors from the "ocean" themed foil kit. I then added some of the smaller starfish images over the existing design, added a different color foil and ribbon. A simple but very elegant home decor item!

Title: Acrylic Suncatcher
Products used: Oval Acrylic Piece (Tinkering Ink Peekaboo Pieces)
Tidepool Patterned Adhesive (Creative Imaginations Sticky2)
Foil (Creative Imaginations)
Ribbon (Tie One On Ribbon Club)
Metallic Pen (Krylon)

I wanted to work with the foil glue, so I followed the instructions to apply it with a brush to a stamp, just like inking a stamp with an ink pad. The glue is a white, milky color and on the thin side. The bottle comes with a thin applicator tip which makes the glue more controllable. It dries to a mostly clear state and remains very tacky. The foil is placed over the sticky surface, lightly burned with a finger and peeled back leaving the foil only on the tacky areas. The effect is wonderful as you can see in the following cards. I even covered chipboard with the glue, let it dry and applied foil. Check out the 3-d flowers and you'll see it!

Title: Shimmer Cards
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Metallics)
Patterned Paper (Pebbles Inc.)
Naturals Patterned Adhesive, Foil and Foil Glue (Creative Imaginations Sticky2)
Glitter (PK Glitz)
Clear Spray (PYMII and now sold by Creative Imaginations as "Super Seal")
Fabric Border (Queen & Co)
Stamps (Faerie Song Art Stamps)
Scalloped Mats (Spellbinder Nestabilities)
Die Cut and Embossing Machine (Spellbinders Wizard)
Chipboard Flowers (Cosmo Cricket Blackboard)
Ribbon (Close to my Heart)
Ink (Ranger)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

The foil kits and patterned adhesives are super fun! I really liked the sticky rub-ons for their ease of application and detail. The glue is good for larger areas and using with stamps. Both have their advantages depending on the project. The foil colors are crisp and matched well to the theme. They also coordinate well with each other, making mixing across kits effortless.

I envision some holiday cards coming together using the foil kits! Imagine the beauty! I would also like the do more foiling on acrylic. Even though the color is not visible on both sides, the detail is there to see. For that special, elegant touch to your projects, have some Creative Imaginations Foil Kits in your stash.

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Review by Catherine

I’ve tried metal foil in the past for a number of crafts, including on my scrapbook pages. One of the biggest problems that I’ve found is that metal foil is often messy and often seems wasteful to me because the foil tears and shreds into tiny pieces and is unusable after the first application. Hearing that we would be reviewing a Foiling Kit from Creative Imaginations, I was hoping that the problems I have had in the past with foiling wouldn’t be present with the Creative Imaginations kits.

When I received my packet of products from Creative Imaginations, I was at first completely enthralled with the beautiful Sticky Sheets. The Sticky sheets are detailed adhesive images that can be used with the Creative Imaginations Foil Kits as well as glitter, micro-beads, and other media. I received two different themes of the Sticky Sheets: Romance and Naturals. The Romance Sticky includes beautiful hearts and romantic words, as well as an XO’s border. The Naturals Sticky includes butterflies, flowers, and a wonderful grungy border. In addition to the two Sticky sheets, I also received two Foil Kits. The Foil kits include twelve different foil sheets in six different colors, as well as a bottle of foil glue. I love the colors of both foil kits that I received. The first is the Sunset Foil Kit which includes pinks, purples, reds, and oranges. The Earth Foil Kit includes golds, silvers, brass, copper, and a pearly color.

As I said before, I truly loved the look of the Sticky sheets that I was sent for this review. I was hoping that the details in the double-sided adhesive stickers would come through once they were adhered to the paper. For my first page, I decided to give it a shot, using the border from the Naturals Sticky sheet. I love the grungy look of the border, and I cut it apart to use on the top and bottom of my page. I also took inspiration from the instruction sheet that came with the Foil Kit to add adhesive directly to the page, as well as using a rubber stamp to add adhesive to the page to create more foil embellished details.

Title: Brothers
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Papers)
Patterned Papers (BasicGrey; Scenic Route)
Sticky Sheet (Creative Imaginations)
Foil Kit (Creative Imaginations)
Transparency (Hambly Screenprints)
Stickers (7Gypsies; Making Memories)
Vinyl Thickers Stickers (American Crafts)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech Permanent Bond Glue Runner; Creative Imaginations Foil Glue)

I was happy to see that the Sticky sheet worked exactly as I had hoped. The integrity of the detail on the adhesive was preserved. I decided to use more of the Sticky images on my second page.

Title: Summer in Full Bloom
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Papers)
Patterned Papers (Sassafrass Lass)
Sticky Sheet (Creative Imaginations)
Foil Kit (Creative Imaginations)
Chipboard Sticker Block (We R Memorykeepers)
Buttons (American Crafts)
Ric-Rac (unknown)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my last project, I used one of the Sticky images as the centerpoint for a card for a friend. I love the way this large butterfly image looks on top of a black and white journaling block.

Title: Hi Butterfly Card
Products used: Cardstock (Prism Papers)
Patterned Papers (BasicGrey; My Mind’s Eye)
Sticky Sheet (Creative Imaginations)
Foil Kit (Creative Imaginations)
Punch (Fiskars)
Stickers (Making Memories)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I am extremely happy to say that the problems that I have had in the past with foiling and foil kits have been completely eliminated with the Creative Imagination Foil Kits. The Foil sheets stay intact after use, and can be used over and over again. There were a couple of places that did not get the foil adhered the first time I placed it over the adhesive, but laying the foil down again and burnishing with my finger again always seemed to fix the problem to my satisfaction. I love the way that the Sticky sheets look with the foil affixed on top, and I cannot wait to use them with other mediums. I think I have found my new favorite technique for my scrapbook pages. I will definitely be using the Creative Imagination Sticky images and Foil Kits again and again for numerous crafting activities. I give these products my highest recommendation!

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Review by Karen

I am so excited to be able to work on this review. I’ve always wanted to use foil on a project. I love the shiny look that foil adds to a project. For this review, I got to work with the Creative Imagination’s foil kits and “be” stickers. Each kit is packed full of foil sheets. There are five different colors in a kit with two sheets that are roughly 8x10 in size. The kit also has a bottle of glue included.

I received two different color kits, Earth and Ocean. I love the color pallets of both of these kits!! The earth kit contains bronze, gold, silver and other metallic colors. While the Ocean kit is packed with blues and greens. The glue that comes with the kit “dries” to a sticky consistency. The bottle boasts that it can be used with rubber stamps as well as being spread over an area with a brush, but both need to be cleaned immediately after use.

I also received some “stickers” called Sticky2 that are images made from double sided adhesive. I got to work with the Tidepool and Naturals sets. I really loved these images. They are SO detailed, so much so that I worried about how they would hold up while using them. Not to worry, they keep their detail and look wonderful!

For my first project, I started one of the images from the Naturals set. I love this set! There are butterfly images and scrolls and borders. I used the border portion, cutting it down to fit my needs, as an addition to my photo mat. I love how it looks like old paint. Then I wanted to see how the Sticky 2’s hold up to being on a surface other than paper, so I added the butterfly to the Maya Road sheer. I LOVE how this layout turned out.

Title: Growing Up
Products used:
Cardstock Kraft,Frosted Pink(Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Basic Grey)
Foil (Creative Imaginations)
Stickers (Basic Grey, Creative Imaginations)
Sheer (Maya Road)
Pen (Slick Writter)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

My second project used the Sticky 2’s from the Tidepool collection. I chose one of the larger collage images to add some depth to the journaling area of my layout. I used the pearl looking sheet from the Naturals collection. The only downside to this color is that it showed the blue color of the Sticky 2’s. This worked in my favor for this layout, but it might be a problem in other applications.

Title: meeting Family
Products used:
Cardstock Baby Blue Light, Tawny Light(Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Crate Paper)
Foil (Creative Imaginations)
Stickers (American Crafts, Creative Imaginations)
Die Cut letters (Crate Paper)
Stamps (Heidi Grace)
Brads (Queen and Co)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

My last project is one where I love the technique but I’m not so sure I love the colors I picked. I die cut some orange letters to spell the word “ride”. I wanted them to have more depth, so I used the glue that came with the foil kits to create a “brushed” effect on the letters. I love the technique but I’m not sure I love the teal foil over the orange letters, but that is my mistake not something that the product did wrong.

Title: Ride
Products used:
Cardstock Frosted Orange, (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper (Heidi Grace, Flair Designs)
Foil (Creative Imaginations)
glue (Creative Imaginations)
Brads (Queen and Co)
Die cut letters (Quickutz)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I’ve really enjoyed using the foil and seeing where I can use it in the future. This would be beautiful for cards and home décor projects, as well as layouts. I also want to try out the rubber stamping with the glue that the packaging suggested. I can’t wait to play with this product some more!!

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Review by Stephanie

I had the opportunity to review Creative Imagination’s Foils and Stickies this month. I was not sure what I’d be getting, but Creative Imaginations has been creating innovative scrapbook products for about 10 years, so I knew I’d be very happy. Originally a gift manufacturer, Creative Imaginations is now creating designs for over 20 licensed brands. This new product is just one more amazing product in their vast line of scrapbook products. So easy to use, the effect of the foil is an incredible simmer and shine and the effect can be quite dramatic.

I received 2 package of foils, each containing 12 sheets of 8 x 10 foils. The Sunset collection contained 6 gorgeous colors of pinks, reds, orange, and purple. The Ocean collection contained 6 gorgeous colors of blues and greens. A special foil glue was also included with each kit. In addition I also received 2 packages of Stickies – Romance and Tidepool. These images and words can be cut out and used with the foils as well as any other medium you want to experiment with.

I started with the Stickies first as I was quite intrigued with this product. Using them was quite easy. You just cut out the design or words you wanted, place them on a background and rub with the included stick, just like a rub-on. The image went on smoothly and easily, the only difference being the tacky feel to the Stickies after you remove the backing. I cut my foil to a size slightly larger than my image, placed it on top, and gently rubbed it with my finger. The foil adhered only to the sticky sections. It certainly could not be any easier or simpler and a beautiful image appeared. But the best part – the negative is just as awesome. This process gives you two images to work with!!!

In the following examples, I used cardstock, chipboard, and Cuttlebug embossing folders. I had a lot of fun experimenting with this product and love how the look changes with each item I used.

In the above examples you can see the positive Friends image, but I decided to use the negative Friends image on my layout. I just cut the cardstock to the size of the foil and ran it through my xyron. I then placed the negative foil on the tacky side and my title was complete. The instructions included with the foils indicated you could use the glue to create your own designs. So, following the instructions I placed glue on a foam stamp and stamped my background. The glue is tacky enough to stamp 2 – 3 times. Once I had the background stamped, I washed the stamp to remove the glue. This is definitely NOT recommended for good rubber or acrylic stamps as the glue can damage the stamps. The glue remains tacky almost indefinitely so I was able to apply my foils a little at a time. Using various colors from the Ocean collection, I love the background I created.

Title: Friends
Products used: Foils, Stickies (Creative Imaginations)
Patterned Paper, Stickers (Sandy Lion, Coastal Collection)
Acrylics (Maya Road)
Stamps (EKSuccess, PSX)
Ink (Staz on, Colorbox)
Flower (Prima)
Brads (Making Memories)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner, Xyron)

Now I wanted to use some images on cards. I used the positive numbered foil as the main background to a birthday card – I ran cardstock through an embossing folder, then applied glue over it. I made a two-color foil heart and bird using the Romance Stickies and I used a Sizzix embossing folder to create an orange pumpkin with a green stem – I applied glue over the stencil. I then used a plastic stencil to create a two toned flower and used mini marbles as the stem. And finally, I had a lot of fun creating a colorful butterfly from a stencil with all the scraps I had left over from my other projects. To be sure I had every part of the butterfly covered, I cut a sheet of foil to the size of my butterfly and rubbed it over the entire image when I was done.

Title: Cards
Products used: Cardstock (Prism, Iced Azalea, Frosted Azalea)
Patterned Paper (EKSuccess, Basic Grey, Dove of the East-Russia Journey)
Foils, Stickies (Creative Imaginations)
Stamps (Hero Arts, Hampton Arts, Stampendous)
Embossing Folders (Cuttlebug)
Stencils (American Traditional, Sizzix)
Ink (Staz on, Colorbox)
Die Cuts (Nestabilities Scallop Circles)
Beads (AIC Mini Marbles)
Ribbons (Unknown)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner, Xyron)

These new products are simply amazing. I would strongly recommend you buy these items and just experiment. You need to try them on everything. I see so many different ways to use these products and since I do have quite a lot of product remaining, I will definitely be creating some more projects. Thanks Creative Imaginations for an incredibly fun product to work with.

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