Gecko Galz 8th Birthday GiveAway!!

Gecko Galz Etsy Store is having it's 8th birthday in May and to 

celebrate is hosting a giveaway of a $25 shopping spree!  Each Gecko Galz Design Team Member is hosting a give away on their blog, so you can visit other DT Member blog sites and enter there to win as well.  

You can enter to win right here by just leaving a comment on this post.  I will chose a winner at random and give you directions on how to claim your $25 prize.  In addition to wonderful collage sheets, Gecko Galz also has beautiful digital stamp sets and a huge selection of paper packs.

And on the 15th of May, Gecko Galz Etsy Store will have a Buy One, Get One Free Sale.

Below are some samples of work I have created using Gecko Galz products.  So comment here for a chance to win this fabulous prize from Gecko Galz!!

Hi and happy Spring wherever you are today!  It's the perfect time of year for the latest Lost Coast Designs Challenge -  Blooming Lovely: Flowers!  So in keeping with that, I have created a card using one of my favorite Lost Coast stamps:  Grunge Flower Profile.

I started by stamping this lovely lady with black ink onto some pink paper, the result being that all the flowers that make her up are in shades of pink.  I cut out around her profile, then I stamped again onto pieces of light blue and light green paper to give me some other colors of flowers to use.  I cut out random blue and green flowers and superimposed them onto my original image.   I took a white Gel pen and filled in around the center of each flower then glued a small pearl to the center of each.

I cut a piece of scrapbook paper in shades of light blue and green and mounted my stamped image atop that.  I edged this in black ink then layered it with a pink and then a white panel.

And there you have a beautiful card for a special person.

Badass Owl

Here is a project for the Lost Coast Designs ATC Cards, Coins and Chunkys at the Lost Coast Portal.  

I made another ATC coin for this project - after years of doing standard ATCs it's been a lot of fun to make the coins for a change of pace. I used some background paper I had on had made with my Gelli plate and some blue, green, and yellow acrylic paints.  I started by stamping my coin with the Medium Shrubbery background stamp, using StayzOn black ink.  I then die cut a "branch" from a floral die cut set and colored over it with black marker.  I attached that across the lower portion of my coin.  I then stamped the Moon Owl onto white card stock with black ink and cut him out.  I restamped the beak and eyes onto yellow paper, cut them out, superimposing them over the original stamped image.  I positioned my owl perched on the branch, and using a white Gel pen, I dotted some "stars" into the sky.

Finally, I stamped my sentiment Once A Badass from Carmen's Veranda onto white paper.  It was a bit large for my coin, so I used my copier to reduce the size, cut it and and attached it to my coin.

Face with a Heart

I made this ATC coin for the current Lost Coast Design Challenge going on March 1st - 15th at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity:  ATC Coins, Cards, and Chunkies.

For this challenge I chose to go with an ATC coin, although my coin is a bit larger than the standard 2.5 inch coin.  I used the  Face With Heart stamp from Lost Coast Designs.  

I stamped my image onto a piece of green and yellow Gelli printed paper using black StayzOn ink.  I then centered a round die over the image and die cut it into a circle.  I edged the outer rim with black ink.  I stamped the eye, lips and eyebrow again onto white paper and colored those with pink, blue and green marker.  Then I cut those out and affixed them atop the corresponding parts on my original stamped image.  I added some Glossy Accents to the heart to give it some shine and some dimension.

Hope to see you over at the Portal!!

Hip to Be Square: Butterfly Square

Here is a card I made for the currently running "Hip To Be Square" challenge going on at the Lost Coast Portal to Creativity.   I used the Butterfly Square stamp for this card, which can be found, along with 34 other amazing square stamps, on the Carmen's Veranda web site.

I started by stamping my square onto a piece of a Gelli print I had made with yellow, green and pink acrylic paints.  I then stamped the image again and cut out each of the butterflies, positioning them atop the original stamped images with foam tape.  I "stitched' around the square with a black fine- tipped marker and edged the square in black.  I then layered my square to white and dusty rose card stock squares to complete my card.

Steampunk Heart

Here is a card I made for the Lost Coast Designs February Challenge:  Love and Hearts.  I used the Steampunk Heart stamp from  Lost Coast Designs.  

I started by stamping my heart onto red paper with Versamark ink and heat embossing my stamped image with gold embossing powder.  I cut it out and added some red rhinestones in random spots.

I then cut a square of gold paper and stamped it with the Loopy Calligraphy background stamp and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder to create a tone on tone effect.  I mounted my heart into the center with foam tape and layered my gold square with a red square.

The end result is a shiny gold and red card, perfect for any Valentine who has captured your heart!

Embellishment Cluster Ancestor Mini Album

I have been having a lot of fun making embellishment clusters for several swap groups that I am in.

I am fairly new to journal or album making so thought I would start with something small for the Mini Album Makers Challenge and incorporate embellishment cluster making into my album.

I used playing cards as the base for my pages which I covered with papers I had created using my Gelli plate.  I tried to coordinate my colors so the book had some continuity.  I love vintage photos so decided to feature one on each page of my album.

I glued the front and back papers to each playing card then created an embellishment cluster for each page with the focus on the vintage photo but adding in die cuts, scraps of lace and fabric, cut outs from collage sheets, old postage stamps and book pages, etc.  I stapled the clusters together and used a glue stick and white craft glue where needed to hold everything down on the page.  I joined my pages with some Tim Holtz brass book binding rings.  The front cover features a vintage photo of a girl framed with a vintage optometrist's lens and some vintage lace and buttons.

Mini Album Makers Challenge