Happy New Year friends....

Hello friends - as the year is drawing to a close, so is our current challenge at Lost Coast Designs -  In the Deep Mid Winter. 

Today I wanted to share with you an ornament I made to welcome in the new year...

I found a bunch of these neat wood ornaments at a garage sale this fall and I knew they would be so much fun to use.  I started off by inking up the ornament with a couple shades of pink Distress Oxide ink. I then added black ink for the ornament cap.  I stamped a few Large Snowflakes and Small Snowflakes around the edge. I then stamped Happy New Year from the Party Words set in the center. I added a bit of glitter here and there...because everything is better with glitter you know - LOL!!

 I finished off the ornament with a bit of die-cut pine branches a jingle bell and ribbon.

It's ready to be placed on the tree to help welcome in 2024!!

Hope you've all had an amazing year and if you haven't already take a bit of time to join in on the fun. All the best to you and yours in the coming year!

Let It Snow...

This months challenge at Lost Coast Designs is The Deep Midwinter.

 What's the Deep Midwinter without snow???

Today our little gnome friend is lobbying for a bit of the white stuff!

I started off by inking up a piece of white cardstock with various Distress Oxide inks. I then stamped the Trees background over top I added a bit of glitter to the trees here and there to mimic a bit of snow on the branches.   I then hand cut a couple snowdrifts and added a bit of ink and glitter.

I stamped the Front Sign Gnome on a scrap of white cardstock and colored him with Clean Brush Markers and wrote the little message on his sign. I finished him off with yes - more glitter (you can never have too much glitter - lol!!).  He was then fussy cut and affixed to the card using foam tape to make him pop off the background.

Do you have snow where you are for Christmas? 

We alas are having a warm and rainy Christmas...no snow in sight but we'll not let that dampen our spirits!

Hope you hop on over and join in on the fun!

More Kitty Christmas

 Some cards I made for a friend....

Meow, Meow, Meow - Santa Kitty

 Hello everyone... I hope you're all doing well.  Today I have a fun Christmas card for you using one of my favorite stamps from Carmen's Veranda.. Peekaboo Kitty...

The kitty was stamped on a piece of off white cardstock and colored with colored pencils.  It was trimmed and added to this fun piece of pattern paper.  I then stamped the Two Gnomes and trimmed away one of the hats. It was then glued about 1/4" above the kitty - I filled in the gap and added a ball with glitter.  I added a few bits of glitter to the trees as well.  Finally I stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment from the Party Words set.

Hope you've enjoyed todays card and that you join in on the fun...

Boo - Witchy JJ

 Hello All...

Yes, #3 of the day. I wanted to share one last project I made today. It's a layout for my Halloween Junk Journal I've started. Today I am using the Gothic image for Decembers Challenge at Gecko Galz.

The witch image is the current challenge image and the rest of the goodies are from the collage sheet - Altered Halloween.  I just love her - she is so intense.

Gecko Galz Gothic Challenge Dec 23

Gnome-y Christmas Wishes

 The stamp challenge at Gecko Galz gives you a digital image that you need to create with.  Well, I stepped a bit outside my box with this one and went BRIGHT...very bright for me.  The pink on the little girl gnome scares me a bit but hey...got be brave sometimes - LOL!!  

To help temper the very bright pink I added glitter...lots and lots of glitter.  

Made me feel better about the bright pink - LOL!!

Gecko Galz Stamp Challenge - Dec 23

Winter Elegance in Pink

 Hello My friends!

I've been busy today so get ready for several projects...first up is my take on the December Challenge at Gecko Galz - Winter Elegance.   I think this might fit the bill...

I used images from the collection Once Upon a Christmas. 

You all know how much I LOVE glitter....well I had a bit of fun with this card and added tons and tons of it. Pink, Blue and Pixie Dust I think it just brings the images to life.

Hope you all are enjoying the season!

Gecko Galz Monthly Challenge - December 23

Winter Elegance

Christmas Elegance

 This months Card Challenge over at Gecko Galz featured a lovely lady in red. I decided she looked very festive and turned it into a pretty Christmas card...

I used a set of dies from Anna Griffin to make the beautiful frame along with some foiled paper from Rinea.

Gecko Galz December Card Challenge

Sleep Til Noon!

 Hello Friends -

Today I wanted to share my creation for the Steampunk Challenge at Gecko Galz...

This fun image was the challenge image for the month of December. I LOVE it! So much fun so I decided that the sentiment fit this lovely kitty.  What do you think?  For some reason the gold ink didn't show up on the embossed background but it's there.

December Gecko Galz Steampunk Challenge

Deep Midwinter Challenge - Purple Deer

 I my ink stained friends... I hope you're enjoying winter in your neck of the woods.  Today I wanted to step out of my comfort zone for a moment and try a color I don't use often...purple!  Yes, in my world there are purple deer.

So I stamped the Trees background stamp on white cardstock using VersaMark ink and embossed with white ep.  I then used 3 colors of purple and a bit of pink Distress Oxide ink to color the image. I trimmed and matted the image, added a bit of glitter and my purple deer family.

I hope you have a chance to join in on the fun! 

#180 - In The Deep Midwinter

Snow Much Fun....Shaker ATC Cards!

 I wanted to share my creation that I made this afternoon...ATC Shaker cards!

I created these cards using the Snowball Fun ATC collage sheet from Gecko Galz for their December ATC Card challenge.  I knew I wanted to make shaker ATC's because I have so many fun winter sequins mixes.  I just love the shimmer and sparkle not to mention movement to projects.

December ATC Challenge - Gecko Galz

Layers and Layers Ornament Card

 Hello Friends...

New month means new challenges over at Gecko Galz! I just love playing with collage images...there are just so many fun things you can do with them. Today I wanted to share one of them - you can take a flat image, add several layers and make it dimensional or over in the UK this is called 3D Decoupage or simply decoupage. I did that with the December Christmas Challenge image to create this card...

You can see from the photos that I added 3 layers to this ornament both at the top and bottom of the ornament.

I the embellished the card with foliage from Honey Bee stamps and a wired ribbon.

December Gecko Galz Christmas Challenge

Snowflake Wishes

 Hello!!

Lost Coast Designs is celebrating winter all month long...  Today I wanted to share my first creation with you and it combines a few of my favorite things...snowflakes, glitter and blue!!!

I simply love the glitter and sparkle of real snowflakes so I thought I'd use some glitter embossing powder on these ones! (Large Snowflakes, Small Snowflakes) I wish you could see the amazing sparkle of these IRL - they are just so pretty.  I used several shades of blue ink to make the background then I stamped the Long Swirl in another shade for fun.  Finally I stamped the sentiment to finish it off. (Party Words)

I hope you take a bit of time to create this month and join in on the fun!!

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!

Edgar A. Poe Shrine

 Happy Friday the 13th!!!

You know a month just isn't long enough for all the fun Halloween stuff I want to make.  Today I wanted to share a shrine I made of Mr. Halloween himself Edgar A. Poe....

The base for this shrine is a metal "book" I bought at borders a long time ago on clearance after Christmas one year.  It had a plastic liner that was designed to hold a gift card.  I took that out and revamped it for this shrine.

I used several collage sheets from Gecko Galz - Poe 1 & Poe 2, Raven, as well as a few of their digi stamps.

I added some black roses, cheese cloth, foil leaves and a bit of glitter.

I added some details with a gold paint pen and some G45 pattern papers in the background.

Hope you like my creation...

Gecko Galz Shrine Challenge