* Cat Lovers Hop: Victorian Cat Humour

 

Hello

If you are looking for my 

Gecko Galz Blog Hop post

 and free digital collage sheet

 it is HERE - have fun!

Welcome to the Cat Lovers Hop 2022.

Another big hello to all my furry, feline-loving friends!

The Cat Lovers Hop, for those that don't know, is a fantastic annual event, hosted by the lovely Janis over on her blog, Her Peaceful Garden. 

This is its eighth year and an awful lot of work goes into its planning and preparation. The community of cat loving crafters is one of the best I have come across and I look forward to this event all year long.

If you like cats pop over and have a look at the fun games and awesome prizes that Janis has organised for the next few days. 

You'll find the link up and all the beautiful projects here. 

If you enter, make sure you sign up here to be eligible for prizes.

***

I have made a separate post just for the Cat Lover's Hop, using my mixed media  Gecko Galz Blog Hop projects. My free collage sheet in the Blog Hop is a kitty cat one, so please follow the link at the top of this page to collect it.

I made 4 snarky, dressed Victorian cat panels which will most likely go into a journal:

I fussy cut the cat images and inked around the cut edges. 

I made Oxide blended backgrounds and added a burst mica sprays and some white paint splatters. I stamped in tone on tone inks and in black around the edges of each background using AALL & Create background stamps. The sentiments are Tim Holtz Snarky stickers.

That's all for now.

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo 

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* Pammies Inky Pinkies #2243 AG 30/10 Honourable Mention

* SUYP Challenge #82 AG Cats 31/10

* Worldwide Open DT Challenge #10 AG 2/3 11/11

* Crazy for Cats Challenges #1 AG Cats 25/11 2/5  

* Pennys Challenges #533 AG 08/11

* TTCRD AG 08/11

* Gecko Galz: Musical Muses and Sweet Valentines

 

Hello

It's February, the month of Love, and at Gecko Galz our new customer challenge is 

Silly Love Songs.

We also have the monthly Image Challenge and the monthly Christmas Image Challenge, as well as 4 Facebook challenges. 

We hope you can find some time to join in the fun.

The winner of the Customer challenge will get a $25 Gecko Galz Etsy Store voucher and the runner up a $12 voucher. There are plenty of free Gecko Galz images if you don't already own any. Each blog post has a free image to collect and, if you sign up for the monthly newsletter, there is the chance to claim a free collage set each month.  Also if you make any purchase of $2 or more you receive a free image.

For my DT day, I made a card, a journal page and some ATCs.

I made a sweet, mixed media Valentine card using an image from the Lovely Little Valentine collage set. I fussy cut the image and inked around the edges in black ink. The background was made with PaperArtsy Infusions and Brushos. I added some stamping and some paint splatters and heat embossed gold leaves around the top and side edges. Some torn book text acts as grounding for the cute couple who were popped on foam tape for dimension. I die cut the letters to make the sentiment - once in gold and again in black to add a drop shadow.

Lovely Little Valentines

Next, I made an A6 journal page: 

I stamped and heat embossed the rose background, then blended Distress Oxides over the top and added some music note stamping.

The images were fussy cut from two collage sheets, Musical Muses and Lovely Vignettes. I added a gold paper border die and chose a snarky sentiment sticker as my sentiment.

 

Musical Muses                        Lovely Vignettes

  

Then I made a couple of ATCs:

I fussy cut the images from Musical Muses and added them to ATCs made from manuscript paper. I added grit paste through a mandala stencil and coloured with Hickory Smoke and touches of Brushos. Small Talk sticker sentiments were added and the ATCs were mounted onto black card.

Musical Muses

My projects for the Silly Love Songs customer challenge inspiration are below and you can read about them here:

and here

That's all for now!

I hope you'll join our Silly Love Songs Challenge where the winner will get a $25 shopping spree at the Gecko Galz shop.

The only rule is that you must use at least one Gecko Galz product (this can be one of the freebies or, of course, you can buy at the Etsy store!) Also if you sign up for the Gecko Galz newsletter, you'll be able to claim a free collage sheet each month and get first claim on the monthly $1 deals!

Please pop over to the Gecko Galz blog to see the fabulous designs by the very talented DT.

We also have a friendly Facebook Group where there are 4 monthly challenges, each with a collage sheet prize. 

Do come and join us!

I'll be back on the 1st March with more Gecko Galz projects.

Here's all the info you need:

Gecko Galz blog

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : "Silly Love Songs"

Gecko Galz Etsy Shop

Gecko Galz Facebook group

***

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

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

"Be Mine' Card:

* My Time to Craft Love 24/02

* Aud Sentiments #291 Love Sentiment 28/02

* Through the Purple Haze #189 AG 28/02

* Creative Inspirations  FEB With Love 01/03

* Dragonfly Dreams Love 04/03

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

***

* Gecko Galz: Bohemian ATCs

 Hello

This month at Gecko Galz we have a Bohemian ATC swap. I love all things Boho and so decided to take part.

We are given a set of background papers and a collage sheet of images in digital form and we are asked to make 3 ATCs - we can embellish them in any way we like.

Here are my ATCs:

I gave this lovely lady some flowers in her hair and added sequins and Glossy Accents to the background. Gold paint lines were also added and a cluster of die cut flowers.

This image makes me happy - music lifts the soul and dancing released those feel good endorphins.

How pretty is this lady! I gave her a rosy cheek and some flowers on her head-dress. 

Each of the ATCs was matted onto thick gold card which acts nicely as a border. The same colours were used for the Tim Holtz die cut flowers and foliage.

***

I made a mixed media tag and a folder with a see-through, sequinned, fabric front to slot the ATCs into:

The card was coloured by smooshing it into puddles of Distress Oxides. Lots of white paint splatters were applied and some gold acrylic paint added along the edges. The tag was stitched to add a bit of strength and sturdiness and also to keep the ribbon in place.

This is what they look like packaged:

Here is the back of the folder with a lovely, heat embossed mandala pattern:

That's all for now!

There is still a little time for you to join our Sea of Dreams challenge where the winner will get a $25 shopping spree at the Gecko Galz shop.

The only rule is that you must use at least one Gecko Galz product
(this can be one of the freebies or, of course, you can buy at the Etsy store!)
Also if you sign up for the Gecko Galz newsletter, you'll be able to claim a free collage sheet each month and get first claim on the monthly $1 deals!

Please pop over to the Gecko Galz blog to see the fabulous designs by the very talented DT.

We also have a friendly Facebook Group where there are 4 monthly challenges, each with a collage sheet prize. 

Do come and join us!

I'll be back on the 1st August with more Gecko Galz projects.

Here's all the info you need:

Gecko Galz blog

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : "Sea of Dreams"

Gecko Galz Etsy Shop

Gecko Galz Facebook group

***

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

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

Crafting Happiness #106 AG 30/08 TOP PICK

* Double D Challenges Colours of Summer 01/08

Crafty Creations #423 AG 01/08

* Pammies Inky Pinkies #2130 AG 01/08

* Paper Funday #31 Summer Fun 01/08

* Penny's Challenges #501 AG 04/08

* Frilly and Funkie Shimmering Summer Fun 10/08 TOP PICK

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

***

* AALL & Create: Sew Happy

Hello

It's my GDT day at AALL & Create and I have a mixed media page to share. 

This week I enjoyed revisiting some older stamps for my background. One of my favourite things to do is to combine AALL & Create stamps from different designers. I had great fun making this sewing themed page.

I love how the background colours turned out. I wasn't happy with my initial colour choices (Fossilised Amber and Picked Raspberry), so I added some Frayed Burlap and then inked over in Peacock Feathers. It made a beautiful grungy background and the white embossing pops against this dark colour..

 

I added water to the Lotza Diamonds stencil and held it over the background. The bleached out diamonds are subtle, but add a lot of texture.

The machine stitching adds more texture and fits the sewing theme. I really like the two contrasting fonts and the vintage style background with the cute, and quirky Material Girl.

The background has an air of luminosity.

How it came together:

1. I heat embossed parts of the stamps from Sewing Forever and Heartfelt into a collage and heat embossed in white.

2. I smooshed the card into various Distress Oxides.

3. I blended Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide over the colours.

4. I spritzed the stencil with water and held it over the inks to bleach out some of the colour.

5. I stitched around the edges of the background and added Reverse Diamonds in black along the edge of the background.

6. The words 'Weird and Wonderful' from the Sewing Forever stamp set were stamped in black, cut out, inked around the edges and adhered over the background.

7. I decided to mat the piece onto a second piece of card, so I inked the edges and bleached out some colour with the Diamond stencil.

8. I machine stitched around the edges.

9. I stamped images in Memento ink so that I could colour with Copic markers.

In the end I didn't use the cotton bobbin.

Products Used:

#304 Heartfelt

#396 Sewing Forever

#382 Material Girl

#484 Reverse Diamonds

Stencil #124 Lotza Diamonds

To see the stamps, stencils, dies and washi tapes used, please visit

AALL & Create Boutique. 

A list of stockists can be found here.

You'll find lots of inspiration on the 

AALL & Create Facebook Page, the AALL & Create Fanatics Facebook Page and on Instagram

This is me and Casey - a personalised digital stamp from Janet Klein. 

Order yours here.

That's all for now.

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* A Perfect Time to Craft 27/06

* Classic Design Challenge #6 AG 27/06

* Aud Sentiments #277 AG With Sentiments 28/06

* Corrosive Challenge June AG 30/06 

* Crafty Catz #557 AG 01/07

* 613 Avenue Create #6 AG 02/07 TOP ROCKER

* Creative Fingers #211 AG 10./07

* AALL & Create: Nature Artist Trading Cube

Hello

First, please let me welcome Liz McGuire, my latest follower. Thank you for sharing my artsy journey, Liz!

Today is my GDT day at AALL & Create and as it is mixed media week, I have an artist trading cube to share. I had a lot of fun working in miniature as the cube is only 2.75 inches cubed. The images are a reminder that spring has arrived in the northern hemisphere and we can look forward to warmth, colour and new life.

The cube has four different scenes and a bird in a nest on top.

It has tiny wooden bobbins to act as legs, lifting it off the surface.

The elements are not glued on flat, but allowed to lift to create texture and dimension.

The wire bird in the nest was stamped twice, once in reverse, using a gelli plate, so that the two pieces could be glued together and the bird is visible on all sides.

Here are close up photos of each panel:

Work in Progress:

1. The panels were coloured with Distress Oxides using the smooshing technique. Scripted Semicircles were heat embossed with Distress Glazes and some of the wildflowers from In the Bucket were stamped.

2. Reverse Semicircles were stamped in black around the edges of each panel and texture paste was added through the Lotza Dotz stencil.

3. Small elements were stamped onto watercolour card and coloured with Inktense pencils and a water brush. They were fussy cut.

4. Words, wire birds and a butterfly were stamped onto card.

5. The cube was painted with black acrylic paint. Wooden bobbins were adhered for legs.

6. All elements were glued in place along with natural dried flowers, sisal and florists moss. A sisal birds nest was coloured with Oxide sprays, filled with moss, the large wire bird was stamped twice (one in reverse using a gelli plate) and adhered together, and confectionary eggs were added. Wire was twisted to creat a banner for hanging the word 'bird' and 'fly'.

Stamps Used for this project:

#326 Garden Tools

#449 Through the Meadows

#451 In the Bucket

#458 Hibiscus

#469 Scripted Semicircles

#487 Reverse Semicircles

Stencil used: #39 Lotza Dotz

To see the stamps, stencils, dies and washi tapes used, please visit

AALL & Create Boutique. 

A list of stockists can be found here.

You'll find lots of inspiration on the 

AALL & Create Facebook Page, the AALL & Create Fanatics Facebook Page and on Instagram

That's all for now.

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

Creative Artiste #66 Mixed Media 28/03 TOP 3

CRAFT Challenge #592 Spring/Easter 31/03

Star of the Month

Top 3

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday Spring Colours 31/03 TOP PICK

Scrapping4Fun Challenges #188 Easter/Spring 1/04 WINNER

* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #154 03/04

* Creative Moments €211 AG 05/04

* The House That Stamps Built #2421 AG 06/04

Thes Sisterhood of Crafters Easter/Spring 12/04 TOP 3

* Uniko Studio Challenge #64 Signs of Spring 24/04