* Gecko Galz: Mini Matchbox Journal & Shaker Card

Hello!

At Gecko Galz we have just held the annual Blog Hop. 

You can see my main post here and collect the free collage sheet that I used to make these projects.

A Boxed Mini Journal with coffee stained paper

My box is a large matchbox which contained Cooks Matches. I like to recycle and repurpose where I can! It also has a handy ready-made drawer.

I started by covering the outside of the matchbox with paper from the Solarium paper pack. I distressed the edges of the image and lightly inked them (and the box edges) with Vintage Photo. I added lace and cheesecloth beneath the image and finished off with a lace flower and pearl, a ribbon bow and words from the Journal Toppers kit.

Next I covered the drawer section of the matchbox with printed tissue paper and added a button and a brad to act as a drawer handle.

I made a tiny journal from coffee stained paper, hand stitching it to the kraft card cover. Lace, cheesecloth and pearls were added and then the distressed-edged image. The word 'secrets' is a Tim Holtz chit chat sticker.  Ribbon closes the journal.

4.  Christmas Shaker Card

This last project shows how you can take almost any image and make it into a Christmas card.

I chose to make a shaker card with this beautiful lady. I inked around the edges of the image with Peacock Feathers DO to add a little more colour. I die cut a frame from heavy teal card and made the shaker element with sequins. I found some beautiful silver card which I used for matting and also die cut a snowflake banner. I added gems to the centres of the snowflakes for a bit more sparkle. Finally I added a silver, die cut sentiment.

I hope you like what I made with the free collage sheet.
Head here to collect it.

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in the following challenges: 

Matchbox Mini Journal
* Crafting By Designs Oct AG 30/10

* Corrosive Challenges #10 AG 01/11
* Pammie's Inky Pinkies #1943 AG 03/11
* As Yo Like It Favourite Papers & Why? 06/11
Coffee Stained Papers
Especially useful for vintage and shabby projects. 
Unique and handmade.

Shaker Card
* Cute Card Thursday #605 Sparkles 30/10

* Crafty Catz #480 AG  31/10

* 613 Avenue Create #226 AG/Opt: Spotlight 02/11 (#6) TOP ROCKER

Everybody Art Challenge #456 Silver & Turquoise 04/11
Crimbo Crackers #196 AG 06/11

* Cardz 4 Galz #108 Something beginning with S 06/11

    

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

* Gecko Galz: Framed Pictures & Note Book

Hello!

At Gecko Galz we have been holding the annual Blog Hop. 
You can see my main post here and collect the free collage sheet that I used to make these projects.

  A set of framed pictures on stands:

I bought two wooden blocks from the craft store. I painted the inside black and the outside gold using Winsor & Newton Acrylic paints. The images were enlarged and cropped to fit the aperture. I printed two of each image so that the focal figure could be fussy cut, have the edges inked for definition and adhered (decoupage style) inside the frame. I had some die cut greyboard shapes that I cut apart to fit the top and bottom of the frame and I die cut some leaves from kraft card. I decided to heat emboss these with fine gold powder and glued them to the frame sides. I also bought some wooden craft spools and painted these gold and adhered them to the base of the frame to act as stands for the pictures.

 

 A decorated notebook:

My notebook was an ordinary paperback note book which I first covered with kraft card, making sure to sandwich a piece of ribbon between the original notebook and the kraft cover so that it could act as a closure. I chose some patterned paper from the Gypsy Market paper pack. I distressed the edges of the paper and the image and layered them onto the front cover adding some black mats. I spelled the word Journal with some alpha stickers and added a strip of daisy lace, popping a flat back pearl, which I coloured with Copic markers, into the centre of each. The words are from the Journal Toppers Kit. 

I hope you like what I made with the free collage sheet.

Head here to collect it.

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in the following challenges: 

Picture Frames
* Penny's Challenges #453 AG 28/10
* Bown Sugar #294 AG 30/10
* Corrosive Challenges #10 AG 01/11

* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #116 AG 04/11

Notebook

* Crafty Calendar #Oct Autumn 28/10

* Crafters Castle # 22AG/Autumn 31/10
* Crafty Catz #480 AG  31/10

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

* Cat Lovers Hop: Love of a Cat

Hello!

Have you heard? 

It's the Cat Lovers Hop hosted by Janis at Her Peaceful Garden.

This year is the fifth hop and it's a crazy week filled with crafting, commenting and celebrating cats of all sizes. There are fabulous sponsors and prizes to be won, but best of all, friendships to be forged with like minded cat lovers from around the world. Why don't you come and join us?

Here is my eighth and final card.
Thank you to those who have stuck with me to the end.
And a BIG thank you to everyone who left lovely comments along the way.
But most of all, THANK YOU to Janis, for organising the hop again this year. It has been such fun!
PS... I'm still making my way through all the lovely Cat Lover Hop entries. When I have finished commenting, I'll go back to Janis's blog and play along with the daily games. I haven't been as organised this year with my time :( 
***
For this card I chose another digital image from Vera Lane Studio. The cat is from the Love of a Cat digi set. The full set contains two different cat images and a sentiment.

My cat is coloured with Copic markers and fussy cut leaving a thin white border. He is popped on foam pads onto a sponged, Distress Inked (Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive and a little Vintage Photo) background. Some stamping with an Inkylicious flourish stamp was applied around the background's edges and some black and white paint spatters were randomly flicked onto the card. I decided to add some gold acrylic paint, using my fingers, as highlights and I edged the background with black archival ink.  The sentiment is also from the Love of a Cat set and it was cut into strips, inked along the edges and adhered directly onto the background.

 Love of a Cat

I was honoured to receive this badge (by The Gray Muse) and beautiful postcard from D.Anne for my participation in the Cat Lovers Hop. Thank you so much!



GIVE AWAY (NOW CLOSED)
If you like the Vera Lane Studio digital stamps I have used in the last 3 posts, you'll be pleased to know that I have three, single set, gift codes to give away (so you can choose the set of your choice - obviously it should be cat themed!) 
 Here is the link to the VLS cat digis and collages. (The ones I have used for this hop seem to be sold out at the moment, but will be back in the shop soon)
What do you have to do? Simply say 'Yes to VLS' in your comment and I'll draw out 3 winners on Monday morning. 
**I'll edit this post to announce the winners, so please come back to check.**
You may want to join our VLS Facebook group - it's a very welcoming, friendly and supportive group. We'd love to see you there!

Vera Lane Studio Facebook Group


* Karen Ladd *
* Jennifer Skull *
* Susan Renshaw *
Please email me for your coupon: caroleannjones2@msn.com

That's all for now!
Pop over to see what the others cat lovers have been up to
click here

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in the following challenges: 

* Crafty Catz #480 AG  31/10
* Allsorts #543Make Own Background 01/11 (#1)
* International Art & Soul #70 Celebrate Autumn 02/11( #1)
* Scrappers Delights # Oct AG 03/11
* SUYP #47 AG 04/11
* Polkadoodle #43 AG 04/11 (#3)
* A Gem of a Challenge #1 AG 05/11 (#3)
* As Yo Like It Favourite Papers & Why? 06/11
My own papers! 
Each one is unique and I can make any colour/design to match my focal point
* Cardz TV  #101 AG 07/11

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

* Cat Lovers Hop: Cat Life

  Hello!

Have you heard? 

It's the Cat Lovers Hop hosted by Janis at Her Peaceful Garden.

This year is the fifth hop and it's a crazy week filled with crafting, commenting and celebrating cats of all sizes. There are fabulous sponsors and prizes to be won, but best of all, friendships to be forged with like minded cat lovers from around the world. Why don't you come and join us?

Here is my seventh card.

 Last year I made a couple of cards using Vera Lane Studio's Les Chats. Well this year I have a pre-coloured digital collage sheet of the same cats, called Cat Life, and I have made a couple of ATCs.

As you can see I had hoped to make other projects with these quirky cats, but it was not to be, so they are fussy cut ready for use some other time. You might also see that I add colour to the cats' eyes and personalise them with white dots and dashes. You can also add glossy accents, glitter, trim and colour over with pens and pencils, so that they become a fusion of pre-coloured image and your own artwork.

I started by making the background by braying acrylic paints in pink. I stamped over the painting an AAll & Create stamp and added white doodled marks with a Posca pen. I cut the ATCs to size and inked the edges in black. I added a piece of black texture trim and popped the cats on top with foam tape. I finished with stickers from Tim Holtz's Small Talk pad. Here are the 2 ATCs in more detail:

I must love Franoise the most as I've just realised I've used him in both ATCs!
I'm also going to pretend that the burgundy spots of ink on the above ATC's cat were intentional :) !

Cat Life                                       Les Chats
  

That's all for now!
Pop over to see what the others cat lovers have been up to
click here

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in the following challenges: 

* Crafty Animals #31 27/10
* SUYP #47 AG 04/11 (#6)
* Polkadoodle #43 AG 04/11
* A Gem of a Challenge #1 AG 05/11
* Cardz TV  #101 AG 07/11

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

Cat Lovers Hop: Fat Cats

Hello!

Have you heard? 

It's the Cat Lovers Hop hosted by Janis at Her Peaceful Garden.

This year is the fifth hop and it's a crazy week filled with crafting, commenting and celebrating cats of all sizes. There are fabulous sponsors and prizes to be won, but best of all, friendships to be forged with like minded cat lovers from around the world. Why don't you come and join us?

Here is my sixth card:

For this card I chose a digital collage sheet by one of my all time favourite digital artists Vera Lane Studio. Janet creates quirky and whimsical digital images in black and white for you to colour as you wish, but she now makes pre-coloured digital pdf sheets for quick and easy cards and journals. 
I have used the Fat Cats Collage Sheet for my card.



I printed the sheet and fussy cut the cats. Once cut I always run a black marker around the edges of the image to hide any cutting imperfections. I added some colour to my cats' eyes and a few areas of shading, plus my usual dots and highlights.
The background is a gelli print made with PaperArtsy chalk acrylics and a Carabelle texture plate. The edges are inked with Broken China DO and black archival ink.
I arranged the cats into a group photo position and adhered to the background, the front two rows are popped on foam pads for dimension.



Fat Cats Collage Sheet                 Fat Cats Digi Stamp Set

That's all for now!
Pop over to see what the others cat lovers have been up to
click here

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in the following challenges: 

* Crafty Animals #31 27/10
* Penny's Challenges #453 AG 28/10 (#2)
* Allsorts #543Make Own Background 01/11
* SUYP #47 AG 04/11 (#6)
* Crafty Creations #401 AG 12/11 (#3)
* Polkadoodle #43 AG 04/11
* A Gem of a Challenge #1 AG 05/11
* Cardz TV  #101 AG 07/11

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

Cat Lovers Hop: Angel Cat

Hello!

Have you heard? 

It's the Cat Lovers Hop hosted by Janis at Her Peaceful Garden.

This year is the fifth hop and it's a crazy week filled with crafting, commenting and celebrating cats of all sizes. There are fabulous sponsors and prizes to be won, but best of all, friendships to be forged with like minded cat lovers from around the world. Why don't you come and join us?

Here is my fifth card:



It's another Laurel Burch stamp and it looks like I have a lime green and turquoise theme going on this year! I coloured this sweet Angel Cat with Copic markers, adding my usual white dots and highlights. I was intending trying to make a CAS card, but it didn't quite turn out that way. 
I started the background by stamping with the Mini Distresses Tree Poly Plate from Crafty Roo. It's a little like a gelli plate, but with form and texture, I applied Twisted Citron and Peacock Feathers DO inks to the stamp, spritzed with water and stamped to give a lovely, artsy, watercolour tree.
I stamped Angel Cat alongside the tree, placed some gold glitter washi tape and popped the fussy cut coloured cat on foam tape to add some dimension. The halo and stars were coloured with a gold Posca pen. I inked around the background's edges with a Twisted Citron/Peacock Feather mix and doodled a hand drawn border with a fine liner pen. The tree looked like it needed decorating, so I added some tiny, gold coloured crystal gems and some shiny gold sequins. I finished with a gold, heat embossed, wooden star and heart for the top of the tree. The background was matted onto turquoise textured paper and popped onto a 5 x 5 inch card base.

That's all for now!
Pop over to see what the others cat lovers have been up to
click here

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in the following challenges: 

* Crafty Animals #31 27/10
* Cute Card Thursday #605 Sparkles (#1)
* Penny's Challenges #453 AG 28/10 (#1)
* Winter Wonderland Oct Merry & Bright 31/10 (#2)
* Ellibelles #Oct Stamp It  01/11 (#3)
* SUYP #47 AG 04/11 (#5)
Crimbo Crackers #196 AG 06/11 (#1)
The House That Stamps Built #02319 05/11 (#2)
* Crafty Creations #401 AG 12/11 (#2)
Christmas at Sweet Stamping Oct AG 12/11 (#3)

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

Gecko Galz Tricks and Treats Blog Hop

Hello Everyone!

We want to welcome everyone to the

Gecko Galz 9th Annual Blog Hop

This is your eighth stop on our Tricks and Treats Blog Hop! 

We have 12 AMAZING blogs for you to visit this weekend, each with some gorgeous projects created using the Gecko Galz collage sheets that we are giving you for FREE! Each blog you visit will have another free Gecko Galz Collage sheet for you to download, the one here (found below my samples) is

"COLORS OF THE WIND".

Also make sure you leave a message on each blog site you visit and on the last blog there will be a phrase that you will email to us to be entered in our drawing for a wonderful treat pack.  So sit back, relax, take your time and enjoy the hop!

We have FOUR amazing prizes up for grabs:

·        First is a Gecko Galz shopping spree for $100!

·        Second prize is a $75 Shopping spree with Gecko Galz.

·        Third prize is a $50 shopping spree!

·        And our Grand Prize ONE FULL YEAR of Gecko Galz PRODUCTS!!! This includes the 6 new collage sheets each quarter, a new stamp set each quarter, 2 new paper packs each quarter, a ATC collection each quarter, and one jewel it collection!

 This is a $150 value!

First of all, you will need to visit all 12 blogs and leave a comment on each blog :) **This is important so we know you have been to all the blogs **.  Collect the phrase at the end of the hop on the Fripperies and Butterflies site there will be a link to email the phrase to Gecko Galz at geckogalz2019@gmail.com.

This enters you in the contest. On October 28th we will randomly draw the 4 winners and email each of you, then we will post the winning names on the Gecko Galz blog site.

For an extra chance to win make a purchase from the GECKO GALZ ETSY STORE between the 24th of October and the 27^th of October and your name goes in again for a better chance of winning (each purchase you make that weekend gives you another chance to win) 

***

Here are my samples using the free Colours of the Wind collage sheet:

1.  A set of framed pictures on stands:

I bought two wooden blocks from the craft store. I painted the inside black and the outside gold using Winsor & Newton Acrylic paints. The images were enlarged and cropped to fit the aperture. I printed two of each image so that the focal figure could be fussy cut, have the edges inked for definition and adhered (decoupage style) inside the frame. I had some die cut greyboard shapes that I cut apart to fit the top and bottom of the frame and I die cut some leaves from kraft card. I decided to heat emboss these with fine gold powder and glued them to the frame sides. I also bought some wooden craft spools and painted these gold and adhered them to the base of the frame to act as stands for the pictures.

 

2.  A decorated notebook:

My notebook was an ordinary paperback note book which I first covered with kraft card, making sure to sandwich a piece of ribbon between the original notebook and the kraft cover so that it could act as a closure. I chose some patterned paper from the Gypsy Market paper pack. I distressed the edges of the paper and the image and layered them onto the front cover adding some black mats. I spelled the word Journal with some alpha stickers and added a strip of daisy lace, popping a flat back pearl, which I coloured with Copic markers, into the centre of each. The words are from the Journal Toppers Kit. 

3.  A Boxed Mini Journal with coffee stained paper

My box is a large matchbox which contained Cooks Matches. I like to recycle and repurpose where I can! It also has a handy ready-made drawer.

I started by covering the outside of the matchbox with paper from the Solarium paper pack. I distressed the edges of the image and lightly inked them (and the box edges) with Vintage Photo. I added lace and cheesecloth beneath the image and finished off with a lace flower and pearl, a ribbon bow and words from the Journal Toppers kit.

Next I covered the drawer section of the matchbox with printed tissue paper and added a button and a brad to act as a drawer handle.
I made a tiny journal from coffee stained paper, hand stitching it to the kraft card cover. Lace, cheesecloth and pearls were added and then the distressed-edged image. The word 'secrets' is a Tim Holtz chit chat sticker.  Ribbon closes the journal.

4.  Christmas Shaker Card

This last project shows how you can take almost any image and make it into a Christmas card.

I chose to make a shaker card with this beautiful lady. I inked around the edges of the image with Peacock Feathers DO to add a little more colour. I die cut a frame from heavy teal card and made the shaker element with sequins. I found some beautiful silver card which I used for matting and also die cut a snowflake banner. I added gems to the centres of the snowflakes for a bit more sparkle. Finally I added a silver, die cut sentiment.

I hope you like what I made with the free collage sheet - it is very beautiful! I would LOVE to see what you make with it, so please tag me in on social media or, better still, join our Facebook Group and post your projects there. It is a very friendly community and you will be warmly welcomed! We also have four challenges each month with prizes.

And here is the FREE collage sheet for you to enjoy

"COLORS OF THE WIND".

(Right click on the image below to save)

 

Now have fun visiting each Blog:

Gecko Galz

Katie Lamb

Patti Fisher

Vicki Romaine

Mia

Rene Van Wyk

Betsy Davis

Laurie Davis

>>>Carole Jones<<<

Amanda Hamilton

Gerri Herbst

Cathy Norton

 Leanne Seed

Visit Gecko Galz at

https://www.etsy.com/shop/geckogalz

To Join Our Newsletter and Get your Free monthly Collage Sheet go to

http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?llr=emaoj9gab&p=oi&m=1106836390276&sit=8t6hzcggb&f=a2170b0d-05fa-4dd7-b606-1140d5ffbb14