By The Sea Artist Trading Coins

 Hello my ink stained friends - I hope you all have had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.  Today I wanted to share my Artist Trading Coins for the current challenge at Lost Coast Designs - Round & Round.  I just love making artist trading coins...similar to Artist Trading Cards - these small round bits of goodness are just as much fun! It's really cool when you take a stamped image and cut it (in this case) into a circle how it can take on a totally new look.  It makes you focus on a specific part of the image. I hope you give them a try...they really are lots of fun to make.

I wanted to do something a bit summery as it has been so cold here and I thought these might fit the bill.  I used Mini Fish, Mini Maritime and the Steampunk Mermaid.  All of these images were stamped on a shimmery white cardstock (which I sadly couldn't capture in the photos).  They were each colored with a variety of colored pencils and edged with VersaFine ink.

There is still time to join in on the fun...

share your creation with us and you might just be a lucky winner!

Checkin His List

 I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet but I had an idea for the Quarterly challenge over at Gecko Galz and I had to make it now. Do you ever get an idea and you can't rest until it's finished?  Well that's what this was.....

I have been sorting and rearranging my holiday "goodies" and I thought it would be fun to use some of my bottle brush trees, mica flakes and some vintage wooden spools along with some other goodies in my stash to create this little Santa Shrine.

I used collage images from the following Gecko Galz collage sheets...Christmas Scraps (background), Nature's Winter, The Frosty Garden, Natures Christmas and Santa Clause Lane 2.

Hope you enjoy!

Gecko Galz Quarterly Challenge -

 9-23 through 11-23 

Foxy Steampunk Decor

 Hello Friends...

A little bit of Steampunk fun...

The Steampunk challenge at Gecko Galz this month is this darling fox pilot. I thought it would be fun to pair him with a few bits and bobs I had in my stash. I used this (broken) colander as the backdrop. I think it turned out pretty good...it's now hanging in my craft room :)

Gecko Galz Steampunk Challenge

Sleigh Ride Card & Ornament

 Yes, a second project today...

This one was made using the image from the Monthly Card Challenge at Gecko Galz. I liked the image so much I decided that I wanted to turn it into an ornament as well!!  I recently bought 6"+ tall wood ornaments that I thought would be perfect for this image.

Mom saw this while it was "in the process" and has already claimed it - LOL!!

For the card I used some very pretty foiled paper for the background, a shimmery blue cardstock for the die cut frame and a few glitter snowflakes and gemstones to finish it off.

To create the ornament I started off with a 6"+ wood ornament. I decoupaged the image onto the base then inked and embossed the edges and hanger with silver embossing powder.  I added "Snow" with natural colored mica flakes.  I finished it off with an embossed wooden snowflake a second glitter snowflake and pretty blue ribbon.

I hope I have done the image justice.

Gecko Galz Monthly Card Challenge - November 2023

Elegant Ladies Pocket Letter

 I have a fun new project to share with you...My Elegant Ladies Pocket Letter!

I absolutely love making and sharing pocket letters but I hadn't made one in quite some time. One of the current challenges over at Gecko Galz is Victorian Fantasy...and this is my rendition...

I had such fun making this. I used images from Pretty Victorian's 1 & 2, Ladies in Cream and Ladies in Yellow. Another current GG challenge is Color/Texture - use a solid color and create a damask type texture. I used an embossing folder from Darice and my Golden Glitz Delicata ink pad for the background of each card.

I then added all sorts of goodies - flowers of various descriptions, lace, pearls, charms, ribbon and more.

I also had some pretty silver leaves that I cut down and made them fit the cards.

I even added an old key to one of the cards.

I used some lovely fibers, chain and charms to create a little dangle to attach in the top hole of the card sheet.

Hope you enjoy my Elegant Ladies Pocket Letter!

Halloween Junk Journal/Altered Book

 So I've been wanting to get back into making journals - not the date/writing/scrapbooking journal but something more along the lines of glue books, junk journals, altered books kind of journals.  My first book theme is Halloween/Gothic.  I am so excited about it...I've been gathering supplies and I've made my first lay-out. 

The main image is from the current Gecko Galz Gothic challenge.  This is exactly the type of thing I want to include in my book.

Oh...about the book... I have been debating for a long time on what to use for my base. When I journaled before it was in old books or ledgers. Well those things are packed away at the moment so I thought about buying a journal/notebook to use but then we were at an estate sale and the lady had those books where you collect the cards each month and put them into some sort of order. In this case it was plants. I bought one that was full (so I'd have lots of pages to use) and I'm gluing 2 pages together to make them extra sturdy to take whatever medium I want to use. It worked like a charm and since it's a 2 ring binder type of deal I have the option to move the pages around (when I get more made) in any order I want. I think it's going to be just what I was looking for.

Stay tuned for more Halloween junk journal pages in the future :)

Gecko Galz Gothic Challenge

ATC = Artist Trading Coins with a Native Flair

 Hello all...

another fun project...this time ATC's....but a little different than you might be expecting. These ATC's are Artist Trading Coins! I love making these and they are a bit more challenging due to the size/shape but they are so worth it. They make for some fun creations.

Gecko Galz hosts an ATC challenge each month and this months inspiration ATC collage sheet is called Spirit Animals ATC. It's got a lovely native vibe to it. The first thing that came to mind was the amazing Peyote Stitching. Now I'm not going to lie...I have no talent for stitching with seed beads even though I have an amazing collection of them (the seed beads). But I do have a nice bottle of glue so that's what I used - LOL!!

What do you think?  I rather like them.

Gecko Galz November ATC Challenge

Christmas Cloche

 Hello friends! I hope this post finds you all well and enjoying the day. 

Today I have a fun little project I made using the Christmas collage image for Novembers challenge at Gecko Galz.

This darling little vintage image was perfect to use this cloche I've had in my stash for a while now. I thought it would make a great little scene for these little angels.  A couple bottle brush trees, mica snowflakes, a little berry vine and some hand made leather pinecones finish it off.

What do you think? 

I am very pleased with the outcome.

Gecko Galz Christmas Challenge - November 23

Stamping on Pattern Paper #178

 Hello my inky friends and welcome today I have a card I made for the new challenge at Lost Coast Designs..> #178 - Stamping on Pattern Paper! It is so much fun to see what you can come up with by stamping on pattern paper. I just love how the pattern shows through and enhances the design.

For this card I stamped the Roses stamp onto this vintage looking pattern paper that I then added a bit of color with watercolor pencils and a waterbrush. 

After I had colored the image I die-cut the area of the image I wanted to feature.  Next I tore several strips of pattern paper to tuck behind the image.  I used a stamp from the Pieces of Calligraphy set to create the blue strip of pattern paper.  A few brown pearls were used to finish off the card.

Hope you can join in on the fun stamp on your own piece of pattern paper!