Gecko Galz: By the Shore

Hello!

This month at the Gecko Galz blog we have a beach theme. The challenge is Beach Blanket Bingo. Have you joined in yet this month? If not, there's still plenty time and you can find new inspiration from the DT and free vintage stamps every couple of days on the blog.

 Here is a card I made:

I did some fussy cutting from the collage sheets to compose this collage card. Some elements were resized prior to printing (ship's wheel and turtle). Each element was inked around the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and adhered directly onto the card or placed on foam pads to give some dimension.

Here is what I used:

Paper: Tiny Bubbles from La Isla Bonita paper pack

Images: Girl from Beauties on the Beach, Ships wheel from Beachy Jewels (enlarged) and turtle from Seaside Splendour Kit

Sentiment: Simply Sentiments stamp set

Bingo Card: free (recoloured) with June 2018 Gecko Galz Newsletter (sign up on the blog)

Own Stash: white card base, red card, Vintage Photo ink and blender, hessian trim.

****

Next I made an altered tin:

 

The tin was a fish tin - quite apt, I think! 
I've admired tiny works of art placed inside tins for a while, but never tried it until now! My attempt was a bit hit and miss, but I am quite happy with how it turned out!

I gave the tin a coat of gesso, then painted the inside and edges with blue acrylic paint. When this was dry, I glued printed Tim Holtz tissue paper over the outside of the tin with Mod Podge and, once dry, I gave it a wash of brown acrylic paint.

  

The back the tin has some swirly patterned Gecko Galz digital paper - it's called Ocean Tide from the La Isla Bonita paper pack. The seahorse is a stamp from the Splish Splash digital stamp set, coloured with Copic markers. I didn't want the seahorse to be at the back of the tin, so I added some squares of cardboard (about 5 in all) and adhered that to the back of the tin to give some dimension. I arranged some garden stones and florists' moss and glued them in place. Next I added some fussy cut shells and a fish from the Beachy Jewels collage set. I sprinkled some Fauna Art Glitter to replicate sand and added two tiny flatback pearls.
I decided to grunge up the inside sides of the tin with a mixture of brown and green watercolour pens lightly wiped over with a baby wipe. 

 

***

My other projects for Gecko Galz this month can be seen here

That's all from me for now!

I hope you'll join our Beach Blanket Bingo 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 $1 Wednesday 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!

Here's all the info you need:

Gecko Galz blog

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : "Beach Blanket Bingo"

Gecko Galz Etsy Shop

Gecko Galz Closed Facebook group

***

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

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

 Card
* Jo's Scrapshack #246 AG 17/08
* Crafty Creations #372 AG 21/08
* Crafting with an Attitude #42 (3) AG 24/08
* Crafty Calendar Dots or Stripes 28/08
Creative Fingers #151 AG 08/09

Seahorse Tin
* A Bit More Time to Craft #73 AG 14/08
* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #87 AG 18/08

* Crafty Friends #90 AG 24/08

* Crafters Castle #8 AG 31/08 Top 3

* Corrosive Challenges #8 AG 31/08 

* Angies' Digital Stamps #23 AG 31/08 (2)

* 613 Avenue Create #212 AG 01/09 Top Rocker

* Pile It On #145 New Technique to You 01/09 Top Pick

* Dare2BArtzy Aug AG 01/09 (1)

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

To leave a comment, please click on the G+1 button below.

(If this does not open up the comments, please click either the link to this particular post in the sidebar, or click on the red heading at the top of the post and, hopefully, the comments will open).

Thanks x

* Vera Lane Studio: Succulents

Hello!

Have you noticed that succulent plants are very popular at the moment?

I've always loved them and marvel at their adaptations and ability to thrive without much water. Their beautiful, often colourful, blossoms are simply amazing!

Why am I rambling on about succulents?

Today at Vera Lane Studio, we have a new digi set release. It's called Succulents and consists of 9 gorgeous plants in pots and 3 sentiments.

I have two DT makes with the new set and this card is my first one:

At our house, we call this succulent 'Bunny's Ears', for obvious reasons! I coloured the image with Copic Markers and gave it some white Posca pen highlights. I fussy cut it to leave a thin white border and popped it on foam tape onto a gelli print background. I cut one of the sentiments into strips and glued them directly onto the background, then made sketchy lines with a black fineliner pen all around.

I made a gelli print using Dylusions Fresh Lime paint and DoCrafts Lagoon acrylic paint. I added some text stamping in black to the edges and some splatter marks using a Grunge Background stamp from Viva Decor in Broken China Distress Oxide. Some polka dot washi tape grounds my plant pot and tiny, torn strips are arranged around the edges. Finally I inked the background with Black Soot Distress Oxide and matted it onto some teal card before attaching to the 6 x 6 inch card base.

My second project is a mini canvas:



I chose the same colour palette for this, but this time brayered the paint lightly onto the canvas. Some Tim Holtz melange tissue was torn and adhered to the side edges of the canvas, then gessoed over to knock back the black print. I added some distress oxide stamping in Peeled Paint DO and some texture paste through a stencil, colouring the texture paste with Black Soot DO for the section along the bottom section of the canvas - some Stampendous multi crystal glitter mix was scattered over the wet texture paste to add a bit of sparkle. A PaperArtsy foliage stamp (EM31) was stamped along the top portion of the canvas.
Striped washi tape was added for the plant pots to sit upon. The images were coloured with Copics, fussy cut and adhered onto the canvas background. Finally, I inked around the canvas edges with Black Soot distress oxide.



Here they are both together:

Succulents




That's all from me for today.
I hope you'll come along and play on Vera Lane. 

It's such a friendly, fun place to be!

  

Here's all the info you need:

Vera Lane Studio Blog

Vera Lane Studio Facebook Group

Vera Lane Studio You Tube Channel

Vera Lane Studio Etsy Shop

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

Card

* Jo's Scrapshack #245 AG 10/08

* PIP Challenges #1831 AG 12/08

* A Bit More Time to Craft #73 AG 14/08

* Cards in Envy Something New 19/08

* Craft Rocket #51 AG 28/08 (2)

* Creates and Makes #23 AG 27/08 (3)

* Crafting with an Attitude #42 AG 31/08

* Crafting by Designs AG 04/09

Mini Canvas

* Always Fun Challenges #70 Let it Sparkle 12/08

* World Wide OpenDT Challenge AG 14/08

* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #87 AG 18/08

* Love 2 Create #11 AG Mixed Media

* 613 Avenue Create #212 AG 31/08

* Angie's Digital Stamps #23 Anything but a card 31/08 TOP 3

* More Mixed Media AG 31/08
* Crafters Castle #8 AG 01/09

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

To leave a comment, please click on the G+1 button below.

(If this does not open up the comments, please click either the link to this particular post in the sidebar, or click on the red heading at the top of the post and, hopefully, the comments will open).

Thanks x

* Crafts Galore Encore: Robins

Hello!

Today I'm sharing my second DT card for the Crafts Galore Encore August challenge.

The challenge is always Anything Goes and we would love you to play along!
We also have a DT Call, so please consider joining our happy little group! All details are on the Crafts Galore Encore blog.

Fred She Said is sponsoring the challenge and is offering the lucky winner, chosen by random.org, a $10 gift voucher to spend in their store. Hop on over to see the fabulous selection of digi stamps, both black and white and coloured, as well as papers, decoupage and cutting files.

Here is my card: 

I used a pre-coloured image called Pair of Robins and is from the Christmas Bird Series. It actually comes with a black and white version for you to colour yourself, and also a choice of backdrops. 

I decided to print two images and fussy cut one of them to add some dimension to the two robins and the holly leaves. I coloured the back of the holly leaves with green marker pen and used a pad and stylus to shape them. I then glued just the centre of the holly cluster, so that the leaves are 3D. I added some Glossy Accents to the berries.

I decided to keep the card simple by matting the image onto green card and placing it onto embossed white card. The sentiment is stamped onto white card and die cut with a Cheery Lynn Banner Die. That too was matted onto green card to match the image.

Many thanks to Fred She Said for sponsoring the challenge and providing the DT with images to showcase!

I hope you'll pop to over to Crafts Galore Encore to see the DT's wonderful designs. 

We'd love to see your creations. 

Remember the challenge is always 'Anything Goes' and so you can create any type of project - it doesn't have to be a card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* Christmas at Sweet Stampin AG 06/08

* Penny's Challenges #391 AG 07/08

* The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #33 AG 12/08

* Dream Valley  #183 Christmas in July 12/08

* The Merry Christmas Challenge Anything Christmas 14/08

* A Bit More Timet o Craft #73 AG 15/08 TOP PICK

*Craft Rocket #51 AG 28/08 TOP 5

* ABC Christmas Challenge R is for Robins 31/08
* Crafting with an Attitude #42 AG 31/08
* Creative Inspirations Holidays 04/09

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

To leave a comment, please click on the G+1 button below.

(If this does not open up the comments, please click either the link to this particular post in the sidebar, or click on the red heading at the top of the post and, hopefully, the comments will open).

Thanks x

* Crafts Galore Encore: Violets

Hello!

August brings a host of new monthly challenges and at Crafts Galore Encore this month we have another Anything Goes Challenge.

We are kindly sponsored by Fred She Said and they are offering a $10 gift voucher for the lucky winner, chosen by random.org. Hop on over to see the fabulous selection of digi stamps, both black and white and coloured, as well as papers, decoupage and cutting files.

I was lucky to receive a wonderful digi to work with called African Violets and here is the card I made:

 

It's a Z-fold card - and it's super easy to make! I took a 6 x 6 inch card and chopped the bottom 1.75 inches off. Next it was just a matter of folding the front panel of both pieces in half and turning the smaller piece upside down. The card base is now ready to decorate.

I coloured the lovely potted violets with Copic Markers and fussy cut them. The main image was backed onto white card as it would overlap the panel. I used some digital papers from Pretty Grafik called Diamond Harlequin to cover all three panels of the two bases, then adhered them together. The violet images were glued directly onto the card and the die cut sentiment was popped on foam for a little dimension.

Many thanks to Fred She Said for sponsoring this challenge and offering a $10 gift voucher to the winner.

I hope you'll pop to over to Crafts Galore Encore to see the DT's wonderful designs. 

We'd love to see your creations. 

Remember the challenge is always 'Anything Goes' and so you can create any type of project - it doesn't have to be a card.

Thanks for stopping by today!

xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #86 AG 04/08
* Crafting from the Heart #217 AG 05/08 (3)
* Pammie's Inky Pinkies #1830 AG 05/08
* Artistic Inspirations #205 AG 05/08 (3)
* Make My Monday #76 Coloured Image 05/08

* Crafty Sentiments AG 06/08

* Colour Crazy #30 AG 10/08 Top 3

* World Wide OpenDT Challenge AG 14/08 Special Mention

* Lemon Shortbread #73 AG 13/08

* A Bit More Time to Craft #73 AG 14/08

* Creates and Makes #23 AG 27/08

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

To leave a comment, please click on the G+1 button below.

(If this does not open up the comments, please click either the link to this particular post in the sidebar, or click on the red heading at the top of the post and, hopefully, the comments will open).

Thanks x

* Gecko Galz: Beach Blanket Bingo

Hello!

It's August already - can you believe it? 
A new month brings a brand new challenge at the Gecko Galz blog and the theme this month is 
Beach Blanket Bingo.

Here is a card I made:

 I did lots of fussy cutting from the collage sheets to compose this collage card. Some elements were resized prior to printing (palm tree and seagulls). Each element was inked around the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and adhered directly onto the card or placed on foam pads to give some dimension.

Here is what I used:

Paper: La Isla Bonita

Images: Sea Side Snap Shots, Beachy Jewels

Sentiment: Journal Toppers Kit

Bingo Card: Gecko Galz Jan 2018 free collage sheet (sign up for newsletter on the blog to get one free sheet each month)

Own stash: Blank card, reft card, Vintage Photo ink, glue, foam pads, pearl gems, cheesecloth.

***

And here is a mini journal I made:



The mini journal is made from one sheet of 12 x 12 inch designer paper, patterned on both sides. It is decorated with elements from Gecko Galz collage sheets and kits. 

Here is a quick step by step guide:

1. Score the 12 x 12 inch paper at 3 and 9 inches. Do not fold yet, but turn the paper 90 degrees and score at 4 and 8 inches. Do not fold yet.
2. Cut the four corners (see pic) and keep the cut outs for later.

3. Now fold along the score lines. Round the corners if you want. Ink the edges of the paper.
4. Add extra fold-outs if you like, using the spare paper and making hinges from a folded strip of paper.
5. Make small pockets, again from the spare paper. I used a die to cut a fancy top edge. Ink around the edges. and glue carefully into place along the bottom and side edges.
6. Add image decorations using cut out collage images - ink the edges. If you wish to tuck journal cards under the images, make sure not to apply glue all over.
7. Make mini journal cards from ATCs, patterned paper, quotes, toppers.
8. Add a ribbon or string fastening.

Here is a list of Gecko Galz collage sheets used:
Images: Beachy Jewels, Cuties by the Shore, By the Shore, Seaside Spleandour Kit
Words: Charming Words, In Other Words Stamp set, Journal Toppers
Bingo Cards: Gecko Galz free collage sheets from Jan, Feb March and July 2018 ( sign up for the GG Newsletter on the blog to get one free sheet each month)
Starfish ATC: Gecko Galz August 2017 free collage sheet.
Own stash: 12 x 12 inch patterned paper, sequin waste trim, string, die, Vintage Photo ink and blender, corner punch, die for pocket top, glue scissors, score board.


First flap opens up to reveal:


Bottom flap opens to reveal:


Side flaps open:


Each side flap has an extra fold out made by creating a hinge from the patterned paper scraps. This is the left hand side:


And this is the right hand side:


Tiny journal cards are tucked behind the images:

Different sizes of journalling cards are tucked into the pockets - starfish ATC card, Bingo Cards, images and quotes:


The Bingo cards are tucked into the image pockets ready for adding some journalling or photos:


This is the back. I threaded the string through two pieces of foam tape attached to the back of the image for the fastening mechanism:


That's all from me for now!

I hope you'll join our Beach Blanket Bingo challenge where the Winner will get 

$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 $1 Wednesday 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 12th with more Gecko Galz projects.

Here's all the info you need:

Gecko Galz blog

Current Gecko Galz Challenge : "Beach Blanket Bingo"

Gecko Galz Etsy Shop

Gecko Galz Closed Facebook group

***

Thanks for stopping by today.

xoxo

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

Card
* Use Your Stuff #323 Colour Challenge 04/08
* Crafting from the Heart #217 AG 05/08 (2)
* Cards in Envy On the Beach 05/08
* Crafters Cafe #201 Travel/Relaxing 13/08
A Snowflake's Promise #53 AG 14/08
* Retarte #125 AG 20/08

* Creates and Makes #23 AG 27/08

* Creative Inspirations Holidays 04/09

GG DT Challenge Winner


Mini Journal

* Jo's Scrapshack #244 AG 03/08

* Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #86 AG 04/08

* Always Fun Challenges #69 Anything but a Card 05/08

* Pammie's Inky Pinkies #1830 AG 05/08

* Artistic Inspirations #205 AG 05/08 (2)

* Pile It On #144 Vintage/Retro 05/08 (3)

* Paperminutes #548 Scenes by the sea 06/08

Crafting by Designs AG 25/08

* Love to Craft #25 AG 31/08

* Ike's World #111 All at Sea 01/09

I'd really love some feedback :)      

I read and appreciate all your comments. 

To leave a comment, please click on the G+1 button below.

(If this does not open up the comments, please click either the link to this particular post in the sidebar, or click on the red heading at the top of the post and, hopefully, the comments will open).

Thanks x