Gecko Galz: Tweet Spring

 

Hello

It's a new month and we have a new customer challenge over at the Gecko Galz blog.  

The theme this month is Tweet Spring.

As always, we have free images to download to make projects to enter the Card Challenge, the Christmas Image Challenge, the Fantasy Challenge, an ATC challenge, a Steampunk Challenge and a Gothic Challenge,. The free images can be accessed by the tabs at the top of the main blog page. We also have a quarterly challenge on the blog.

If that isn't enough challenges, we also have 4 Facebook challenges each month.

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 collage sheet.

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Here are the projects I made.

A mini book called Little Song Birds with words from a poem by Emily Dickinson.

I used a die to cut the pages for the book from black card. 
The images are all from the Spring Song Birds collage set.

I die cut design paper and inked around the edges and I aged a white doiley by lightly adding Vintage Photo distress ink. I tore pieces of doily to put under the bird images which I matted onto gold paper.

The words of Emily Dickinson's poem were typed and printed, then cut into strips to be added to each page.

Here are the pages:

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A wall hanging.

I used die cut squares of kraft card for the base and a beautiful bird from Spring Song Birds. I added a die cut border across the bottom and placed a copper sticker across the seam. I sandwiched another song bird in between the squares and added some acetate wings and fussy cut florals from the same collage set.

I found the little notice card in my stash and adhered it to the bottom of the plaque. To finish, I added a sticker word and a butterfly

 

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A card

Beautiful lace and shop bought flowers and leaves were used to embellish this beautiful Spring Song Birds. image. The image was raised on foam pads, so the card has lots of texture and dimension.

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Plant Pot/Vase sticks

These were so simple to make, but look beautiful in my vase of flowers.

I simply enlarged the bird images from Spring Song Birds and fussy cut around them. I inked the edges with Vintage Photo ink.

I added thick card to the back of the image and attached a skewer stick.

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That's all for now!

I hope you'll join our 'Tweet Spring' 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.

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 bespoke digital prize. 

Do come and join us!

I'll be back on the 10th June with more Gecko Galz projects.

Here's all the info you need:

Gecko Galz blog

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : 'Tweet Spring'

Gecko Galz Etsy Shop

Gecko Galz Facebook group

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Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

Gecko Galz: Signs of Summer

 Hello

It's June and we have a new customer challenge over at the Gecko Galz blog.  

The theme this month is Signs of Summer..

As always, we also have the monthly card challeng.e, the monthly Christmas Image Challenge, the monthly Stamp Challenge, an ATC challenge, a Steampunk challenge and a Gothic Challenge on the blog, as well as 4 Facebook challenges. These can be accessed by the tabs at the top of the main blog page. We also have the new quarterly challenge.

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.

***

Here is what I made as inspiration for the Customer Challenge. 

It's a Tag Booklet:

I cut tags from cream card and used a brayer and PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paints to  colour them. The paint was vibrant and needed toning down, so I stamped a wavy pattern with Versamark and used white embossing powder. Once the tags were constructed into a booklet, I used the Good Vibrations ATC set for the background images and fussy cut images from the Sweet Summer Days collage set for the focal images. I added gold sticker borders around the background images. I typed and printed some summer sentiments and cut them into strips to add to each page.

Here is the front cover:

And this is the back cover:

The first two pages:

The middle pages:

And the last pages:

And here is the tag booklet opened up:

Preparation

1. Cut Tags.

2. Brayer paint.

3. Heat Emboss to tone colours down.

4. Ink around edges of each tag in black ink

5. Bind tags together to form the booklet (painted strips of paper).

6. Add ribbon for the tie mechanism under the front and back covers.

7. Decorate with chosen images.

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I also made a wall hanging:

I enlarged images from the Beachy Jewel It collage set and mounted them onto drink mats which have a textured wood background. I distressed the edges of the images and inked in Vintage Photo ink. I made two copies of each image and fussy cut elements from the second images to add on foam tape, making each tile 3-D. I used a crop-a-dile to punch holes in the mats and threaded twine and wooden beads

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A set of note cards:

I used images from Beachy Jewel It and Beach Signs collage sets.. Some elements are decoupaged to make the images three dimension. I inked the background mats in Distress Oxides and popped them onto white cards.

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And finally, two digital scrapbook pages using the Summer Sweeties collage set:

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That's all for now!

I hope you'll join our Signs of Summer 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.

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 bespoke digital prize. 

Do come and join us!

I'll be back in July with more Gecko Galz projects.

Here's all the info you need:

Gecko Galz blog

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : "Signs of Summer"

Gecko Galz Etsy Shop

Gecko Galz Facebook group

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Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

***

AALL & Create: Flourish Plaque

 

Hello

Today I have a piece of wall art to share for my GDT post for AALL & Create.

I made a wall hanging using an MDF plaque from Samantha K.

I love the #269 Flourish bird stamp by Bipasha BK and wanted to create something other than a card with it. Inspired by a Tracy Evans workshop, I made a clay bird and popped it onto some twigs, then surrounded it with moss and flowers. I am really pleased with how it turned out. Here are some close up photos:

Step by Step:

1. Texture paste was applied through the #112 Heapza Hexagons stencil and acrylic paints applied and wiped back with a baby wipe.

2. #374 Reverse Hexagons were stamped with Shady Lane ink and gold wax applied around the edges.

3. The #269 Flourish stamps were stamped and fussy cut.

4. The leaves and bird images were coloured with Inktense watercolour pencils.

5. The leaves were layered for added dimension and liquid pearls added as berries.

6. I gathered some twigs from the garden, glued them in place and surrounded them with florists' moss.

7. I stamped the bird into air drying clay. It was cut out and left to dry. When dry it was painted and waxed. The words 'little birds' which is part of the stamp was also stamped into clay.

8. The flowers were layered and placed with the leaves on the bottom part of the plaque.

9. Glossy accents was applied over the clock face and the robin was perched on the twigs.

Gold Posca pen was used to add shine to the clock surround and white Posca paint was splattered over the entire project.

Stamps Used: 

#269 Flourish by Bipasha BK

#374 Reverse Hexagons by Autour de Ewa

Stencil Used: 

#112 Heapza Hexagons by Autour de Mwa

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

AALL & Create Boutique.

You'll find lots of inspiration on the 

AALL & Create 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:

* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #143 18/10

* As You Like It Favourite non- card project 21/10

Mixed media plaques - get displayed in craft room or given as a small gift.

Creative Artiste #65 AGMM 25/10

* A Perfect Time to Craft AG Oct 28/10

Classic Design Challenge #10 AG 28/10 Best Technique

613 Avenue Create Winged Things 30/10 TOP ROCKER

Lets Create and Craft #146 AG 31/10

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Gecko Galz: Captured Hearts

Hello!

Happy New Year!

The first month of this new year brings a brand new customer challenge at the Gecko Galz blog and this month the theme is Captured Hearts.

The DT have been busy making inspiration projects, so why not pop over to the blog to see everyone's makes.

Here are mine:

Firstly, I made a shabby chic hanging heart:

 The substrate is corrugated cardboard which is die cut and dry brushed with white paint. The edges are inked with Vintage Photo and the back has a covering of design paper. I used a beautiful image from the Hugs and Kisses collage set. I distressed and tore the edges, then inked them. I added some Nuvo Crystal drops and a pearl heart. I attached some cheesecloth and a piece of ivory lace across the heart, then glued the image down, leaving the edges loose so that the corners could be curled to add to the aged look. I had just received three packages of sari scraps from Love Me Blue and the flower embellishment was in the ivory package. The sentiment is from the Charming Words Collage set; I distressed and inked the edges, added some gems and popped it onto the heart, on foam tape, to give some dimension. A few more Nuvo drops were added to the heart and to the flower embellishment. And finally, a piece of twine was threaded through the heart and knotted on the front.

Hugs and Kisses                                     Charming Words

 

Next I made a card. This can be for Valentine's Day, an anniversary or engagement or simply for writing a love letter:

I used one of the ATCs from the Heart Strings ATC set and made it larger. I inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and applied Stickles Crystal glitter around each heart. I fussy cut the fun fair ride couple from the Retro Love Story collage sheet, inked the edges and popped them on for tape to give some dimension. The sentiment is from the Charming Words collage set, but I altered the colour of the background to match the ATC colours. It also is popped on foam dots and glittered around the edges.

I matted it onto red textured card and then on to dark blue satin paper.

Heart Strings ATC                                 Retro Love Story

   

I hope you'll join our Captured Hearts 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. 
Do come and join us!

I'll be back on the 20th with more Gecko Galz projects.

Here's all the info you need:

Gecko Galz blog

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : "Captured Hearts"

Gecko Galz Etsy Shop

Gecko Galz Facebook group

***

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

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

Hanging Heart

* Creative Inspirations Something Old/Something New 31/01
old - recycled sari trim flower and corrugated card

* A Perfect Time to Craft #1 AG 27/01
* Classic Design Challenge #1 AG 30/01
* Love to Craft #42 AG 31/01
Mix It Up #33 AG 31/01

Love Birds Card
* Double Trouble #46 AG 05/01
* Love to Scrap #129AG 31/01

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments.