Craftilicious Creations

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : "Love Through The Ages"

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Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

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

* Classic Design Challenge Feb AG 26/02

* A Perfect Time To Craft AG FEB 27/02

* Moving Along With The Times #127 Valentine/Love 27/02 TOP 3

* Crafters Cafe #260 Lace/Pearls 27/02 TOP 3

* Double Trouble #77 Layers 28/02

Stamps + Fun = Creativity #383 Use Kraft 28/02

(all feature kraft card, but entering snarky card)

* Pearly Sparkles Challenge #59 AG 28/02

* Love to Scrap #142 Love is ... 28/02

* World Wide Open Design Team Feb (3/3) 12/03

I'd really love some feedback :)

I read and appreciate all your comments.

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Wednesday, 1 April 2020

* Gecko Galz: Spring's Muse

Hello!

I hope that the start of the new month sees you all safe and well. These are difficult and testing times that we're going through and we must all play our part in staying at home to avoid the spread of the virus.
If you need a distraction, then why not take a look at the Gecko Galz daily challenges. Just use one GG product to be in with a chance of winning a daily prize and everyone who plays along gets a collage sheet.

The new month sees the start of a new customer challenge at the Gecko Galz blog. The theme for April is Spring's Muse. We would love for you to join the challenge using one or more products from Gecko Galz.

Here is what I made:

It is a kraft tag/hanging. I chose a beautiful image from the Vintage Beauties collage set. This lovely lady depicts springtime for me. She looks so fresh and serene with pretty flowers in her hair.
I distressed and inked the edges of the image and then went along with the shabby chic theme adding die cut kraft borders, which I lightly gessoed, lace and trims along with some burlap trim, twine and pink organza style ribbon trims. White paint splatters and Nuvo clear drops add to the shabbiness.

I added some paper roses and pink stamen to the bottom corner of the image. The sentiment is from the Charming Words collage set.

Vintage Beauties Charming Words

I hope you'll join our Spring's Muse 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 20th with more Gecko Galz projects.

Here's all the info you need:

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : "Spring's Muse"

***

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

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

* World Wide Open Design Team Challenge AG 12/04
* Crafters Cafe #239 AG 13/04

* A Bit More Time To Craft #113 AG 13/04

* A Perfect Time To Craft #4 27/04
* Love to Scrap #132 For The Girls 29/04
* Love to Craft #45 AG 29/04

I'd really love some feedback :)

I read and appreciate all your comments.

Saturday, 28 September 2019

* Vintage Wedding Acceptance Card

Hello!

Today I am sharing a card that I was asked to make by one of my friends. Her son is getting married and she wanted a personalised acceptance card as she knew the bride and groom-to-be were making a keepsake album.

My friend chose a photograph which the couple had taken just after he proposed.

Here is the card I made:

I changed the photo to sepia to fit in with the vintage/shabby chic style. I used Anna Marie design papers and distressed and lightly inked the edges. A corrugated cardboard tag was aged with white paint and the distressed edged photograph was mounted on foam pads. Lace and pearls were added to the base of the tag and some natural twine thread through the top.

The tag was raised on foam pads and some die cut Scrapinec embellishments tucked beneath it. Little Birdie mulberry paper flowers were grouped around the tag with some cheesecloth and natural dried flowers, as well as some looped twine.

I didn't have an 'Acceptance' stamp or die, but found a kraft 'Thank You' tag that I thought was suitable. Twine was threaded through the tag hole and it was popped onto the bottom of the card on foam pads.

Finally a lace butterfly was attached and some crystal Nuvo drops added randomly over the background papers.

That's all for today.

Thanks for stopping by.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* Creative Inspirations Sept Lace & Pearls 01/10
* Cute Card Thursday #601 Sentimental 02/10
* Crafty Catz #476 AG 03/10
* Creative Knockouts #317 AG 03/10
* Crafty Friends #119 Special Occasion 04/10
Scrappers Delights Sept AG 04/10
* Crafty Creations #399 AG 08/10
* As You Like It CAS or FAF 09/10
I choose FAF! With vintage or shabby chic distressed cards, I think the more elements, the better!
* Moving Along With The Times #107 Wedding/Anniversary 09/10

* Cardz TV #99 AG 10/10

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Thursday, 22 August 2019

* Gecko Galz: Seaside and Nautical

Hello!

Today is my feature day on the Gecko Galz blog.

Each month we have a customer challenge and the winner gets a $25 spending spree in the Gecko Galz Etsy shop.

This month the challenge theme is Shabby Chic Seaside.

There are still 7 days left if you wish to play along.

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My projects today are nautical and seaside themed, though none of them are what I would call shabby chic in style.

Here they are:

First of all, I have a wall hanging made from wooden popsicle sticks.

I made the substrate by gluing popsicle sticks together and attaching some twine as a hanging loop. I painted the sticks with white gesso, then watered down some phthalo green acrylic paint to give the sticks a wash of colour. I decided to blend some Vintage Photo Distress Ink along the edges.
The beautiful image is from the Summer Seas collage sheet. I enlarged it and printed it onto tissue paper. I used matt medium to attach it to the sticks.
I added small and medium art stones around the image as a frame, colouring here and there with a wash of Vintage Photo ink. In the bottom corner I made a cluster of natural fibres and sea shells (which were gifted to me from overseas - I wish I could remember whereabouts they came from!), filling in any gaps with more art stones.

My second project is an altered notebook:

This started out as an ordinary paperback notebook. I covered the front, back and spine with kraft card to make it sturdier, measuring the dimensions of the book and using my score board to make the spine folds. I inked around the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Next I distressed some papers (First Class and La Boheme paper pack) and the sail boat image from the lovely Summer Seas collage sheet and attached these with glue to the front cover. Twine ribbon was attached below the image and sticker letters were adhered to spell out 'Daily Log'.
The fastening is twine with wooden beads at the end and a fish charm. The end of the twine was attached to the inside back cover and covered with kraft card. The twine then wraps around the book and tuck in on itself: the beads add weight and help to hold it in place.

I gave this to my friend's husband to take on their cruise so that he could keep a memory journal of each day.

My third project is a set of six note cards which I have packaged as a little gift set:

These were quick and easy makes on 4 inch square cards. The die cut matting and layering with kraft paper, along with the twine ribbon adds some extra interest and dimension.
The paper I used is from the First Class paper pack and the images are from the Beachy Jewels set. The images were enlarged before printing. All the paper edges were distressed by scraping scissors along the edges. I love how these turned out! I packaged them in a cellophane envelope with a kraft card belly band and another matted shell image which had a thin piece of twine tied around and knotted in a small bow.

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I made a couple of shabby chic projects as inspiration for the customer challenge. These were posted on my blog on the 1st August and the details can be viewed here. Here is a photo of the two projects:

I hope you'll join our Shabby Chic Seaside 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 weekly $1 deals!

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

We also have a Private Facebook Group where there are 4 monthly challenges, each with a collage sheet prize.
Come and join us!

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

Here's all the info you need:

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : "Shabby Chic Seaside"

***

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

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

Wall Hanging
* Mod Squad Travel/Vacation 27/08
* Crafty Creations #396 AG 28/08
* Penny's #444 AG 28/08 TOP 3

* Crafting by Designs Aug AG 31/08
* Creative Inspirationsn Aug Seasonal 03/09
* More Mixed Media Aug AG 04/09

Altered Notebook
* Crafty Calendar AG 28/08
* Cassic Design Team Challenge #8 AG 28/08
* Cardz TV 96 AG 29/08
* 613 Avenue Create #224 AG 30/08
* SimplyCreate Too #152 AG 30/08
* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #112 AG 31/08

Notecard Set
* A Gem of a Challenge #16 AG 26/08
* A Perfect Time to Craft Aug 27/08
*A Bit More Time To Craft #98 AG 31/08

I'd really love some feedback :)

I read and appreciate all your comments.

Thursday, 1 August 2019

* Gecko Galz: Shabby Chic Seaside

Hello!

It's August already!

A new month brings a new challenge at the Gecko Galz blog and this month the theme is one of my favourites: Shabby Chic Seaside. I love making seaside projects and shabby chic is one of my favourite styles with vintage images.

I made two projects - a card and an altered tin:

What is Shabby Chic?

For anyone wondering what shabby chic is, it is something that is pleasingly old, slightly worn or distressed - I suppose aged, cracked, torn and showing signs of wear and tear.

So, in order to create this style I've compiled a list of distress techniques a crafter could use:

1. Use light, pastel coloured paper - maybe spritz with pastel sprays to add a little extra colour, add glimmer mist if you want a little sparkle. Layer up different co-ordinating papers using foam pads.

2. Tear the paper edges, roll the edges, distress them by running a craft knife or scissors along the edge, tear and roll back pieces, crumple and fold the paper.

3. Add some ink to the edges to make it look aged (vintage photo, frayed burlap, antique linen)

4. Dry brush gesso or watered down white acrylic paint over the paper.

5. If you crumple the paper, try lightly sanding the creases back to revel the white core of the paper.

6. Add book paper to your project using the techniques above.

7. Add white splatters with watered down gesso or white acrylic paint.

8. In terms of embellishments add items such as cheesecloth behind the focal image, natural fibres, natural hemp string/twine, lace, flowers (paper, fabric, dried), doilies, stick pins, pearls, charms, butterflies, painted or glittered chipboard shapes. All should be in soft, pastel colours or neutrals.

I hope that helps.

***

Here is the card I made:

I used a beautiful pelican and lighthouse image from the Summer Seas collage set. I love the soft green-blue colours and the natural shades. I teamed it up with papers from Winter Wonderland, Country Charm and Timeless paper packs, although much of the paper ended up covered over. The sentiment is from The Journal Toppers Kit.

I tore the papers by hand and distressed the edges - I chose not to ink mine, but left the white core of the paper as it was. I layered the different papers, dry brushed some gesso on the blue-green paper and added the image on foam pads placing some natural fibres under the image and curling two of the image's corners. The sentiment was placed on foam pads along the bottom edge of the card.

I added some ribbon trim to the side of the image and some Little Birdie paper flowers at the base. I tucked some twine, made into bows, behind the flowers along with some dried flowers. At this point, I covered the image and splattered some watered down white acrylic paint over the card.

I found a piece of Scrapinec chipboard in my stash and attached it behind the top of the image. I added a small shell tucked between the flowers and finally I added some Nuvo crystal drops to the papers.

I love how this card turned out!

My second project was an altered tin which could be used for storage, as a pen/pencil holder or, as I chose, as a vase:

I recycled a coffee tin for this project.

I began by cutting paper to fit over the surface of the tin - I distressed the top and bottom edges. I used blue striped paper from the Gecko Galz Country Charm paper pack to add a belly band, again distressing the top and bottom edges. Lace was adhered to the top and bottom edges of the tin and then the band was decorated. I used two images from the Summer Seas collage sheet - distressing, tearing and curling the edges. The 'To the Beach' image was lightly faded and aged by adding gesso with a dry paint brush. I placed the images on top of a corrugated card tag which had also been dry brushed with gesso. Under the images and tags, I tucked dry flowers and a seahorse charm. In-between the images I added some fabric flowers with frayed edges and a pearl centre. To finish I added some Nuvo Crystal Clear drops.

Gecko Galz products used:

Summer Seas Journal Toppers

Country Charm Timeless Winter Wonderland

I hope you'll join our Shabby Chic Seaside 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 weekly $1 deals!

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

We also have a Private Facebook Group where there are 4 monthly challenges, each with a collage sheet prize.
Come and join us!

I'll be back on the 22nd with more Gecko Galz projects.

Here's all the info you need:

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : "Shabby Chic Seaside"