June Challenge Gecko Galz

 Hello friends...I hope you have had a lovely week so far.

Today I wanted to share what I have created for this month's image challenges over at Gecko Galz blog. As I have mentioned in the past each month Gecko Galz hosts several challenges on their blog where they give you a collage image and you create something with it.

Yesterday I shared my Fantasy creation and here are the remainder...

Card Challenge - Isn't she lovely...

Christmas Challenge - this is such a jolly Santa - I wanted to do something special for him. The card background die was in the sticker deal I got a few weeks ago. It was time consuming to color it but oh so worth it.

ATC Challenge - Oh My...you know how I love cows - and highlanders no less!! I had such fun making these. Lots of layers - papers, inks, embossing, metallic flakes, so much fun!!

Steampunk Challenge - OMG I loved this image. A Steampunk Owl plaque...  He didn't have a tail in the original image BUT I had printed off 2 - one for the body and a second so I could give him dimension by cutting and adding his face over the first image with foam tape. I had the rest of the body left over from the second print so I die-cut feathers to create a tail!!  I used the cool looking stick to cover the seam.

Gothic Challenge....ALWAYS a favorite of mine!! I trimmed away the background for this image and used tons of fun stickers to create an entire story around him.  This is a journal page in my Goth/Halloween junk journal.

Finally Gecko Galz also hosts a tag challenge on their business page on Facebook. This is June's image.... He's amazing looking don't you think?  Found the perfect quote for him.

Hope you all have an amazing weekend...

take care and stay inky :)

Stained Glass Fantasy - Mixed Media Canvas

 Each month Gecko Galz hosts several image challenges on their blog.

Well, I've been playing with the Fantasy challenge image and oh my...have I had some fun! This is what I created....

Oh my gosh, told you I had fun... this is layers and layers of various mediums.

So to start off with she had such a lovely stained glass look to her which reminded me I had a Stained Glass 3D Liquid Lead from DecoArt. 

I went over her wings, dress and halo with the faux leading and let it dry.

I then painted inside each little cell with Twinkling H2O paints. If you've never seen them before they are a lovely mica paint cake that you just add water and paint. It's wonderful stuff. Adds such a lovely shimmer.

The next step might sound crazy but it really amplified the colors and texture. I used "Vintage" Creative Medium  - it's a lovely sepia toned medium that dries translucent yielding a lovely vintage hue. I used it on the dress by painting it on adding thicker and thinner layers to give it depth and "movement".

I used a clear glossy dimensional medium for the wings and halo to give them a glass like look. 

I wish you could see it in person as the texture created by these various mediums is amazing.

Finally I added some glitter glue to her collar, added some diamonds around her halo and I used mulberry flowers for her ruffled collar!! I folded the flowers in half and glued them on - it worked perfectly - it was exactly the look I wanted!

I added this image to a black canvas with a bit of gold leafing around the edges.

I tell you I love it when you start off just messing around and the project turns out even better than you had hoped for. It makes it that much more fun.

Have a great day friends!!

Sea Goddess

Hello Friends!

I hope you're having a wonderful day...today it's my turn to share my creations for the new theme at Gecko Galz....Sea Goddess!  Now you know how much I love mermaids so I had such fun with it...

Gecko Galz - Goddess of the Sea

My first creation is a little bit of home decor that I made using some shells as the base and loads of little bits and pieces. The fish, turtle, seahorse, bottle and some of the tiny shells were made using paper clay and the new Prima mould. There are micro beads, shells, a piece of junk jewelry and more.  

Gecko Galz - Goddess of the Sea, Nautical Mile

I love this oval piece - it has 4 layers so it creates a tunnel effect. The back layer is the ship/ocean, layer 3 is the lighthouse, layer 2 is the mermaid and the top layer is comprised of sand, glitter, shells and flowers.

Gecko Galz - Nautical Mile

Mom's house is decorated with sea themed canvases and she needed something to fit in a  particular space. I found an old cutting board that I gave new life.  LOVE this ship from the new Nautical Mile collage sheet.

Gecko Galz - Goddess of the Sea

I had a few water globes in my stash that I thought would go perfectly with this theme so I went with it.  this is the first... The goddess on one side and little boy playing by the sea on the other. 

Gecko Galz - Take Me To The Shore

Gecko Galz - Nautical Mile

The next water globe is a taller one...

Gecko Galz - Goddess of the Sea

 My final creation is a shell book...M is for Mermaid...

I used items from - Mermaid Dreams Junk Journal, Mermaid Garden Stamps, Mermaids Bay, She Sells Seashells

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge - #136 - MoondreaDesigns

 Hello Friends - Happy June!!

A new month full of fun new challenges.  To start the month off I'd like to share the new challenge at Crafts Galore!  This month the challenge as always is Anything Goes - so if you create anything at all during the month of June please feel free to enter the challenge for your chance to win. 

This month's sponsor is MoondreaDesigns and here is my creation using the Poppy Fairy...

She was colored using Prima watercolors, Prismacolor colored pencils and Zig Real Brush markers.

Be sure to stop by the Crafts Galore Encore Challenge blog to see all of the other amazing creations by our design team!!

Good Luck and Happy June

I'm Back!!

 Well, that has been a long break...but I'm back! 

My  computer started to die a couple weeks ago and I was limping it along until I could get my new one. It arrived on Saturday and I had quite a time with getting it to work. I finally gave up on installing the Adobe Photoshop (it just will not load) so I am in search of a new photo editing app. If you have an EASY one you like - I'm mostly in need of being to add layers so I can add a watermark to my design team creations. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Now that I am back, I can share my creations I made for the Gecko Galz blog challenges this month. 

Hope you enjoy!!

Gothic Challenge - LOVE this image - she is beautiful!!

I made a page for my goth/Halloween journal.

Christmas - I made an "I" card - this is such a fun type of card to make, don't know why I don't do it more often. I like how you can see bits of the insides of the card.

Card Challenge - She's so very pretty and I got to use some of my new PET Journal Papers/Stickers (more on that later).

Fantasy Challenge. LOVE this image!! Decided to turn her into a Gothic Arch card. 

I really had fun with this arch.

Steampunk challenge...LOVE this - she's so cool looking isn't she? 

If you're so inclined there is still time to play. All you need to do is go over to the Gecko Galz blog, grab the free images and create! You might be the lucky winner of a $25.00 gift certificate to Gecko Galz!!

So, now onto other fun stuff... well, I have been known to watch FB Marketplace in case there is something I just can't live without. As it turns out I found an AMAZING deal on Saturday. A lady was selling a whole load of brand spanking new PET journal stickers, papers, journals, scrapbook embellishments and so much more all for $70.00.  

I have been wanting some of those clear PET journal stickers for a long time but they are SOOO expensive. Anywhere from 2.00 - 10.00 per package (of about 10 - 30 stickers). Way too rich for my cheap a$$. So we made a quick trip to Dunlap (about an hour away) and I snagged it all. I saw from the pics that there were some Goth/Halloween stickers which I was very excited about but from the pics I couldn't really tell what it all was.  WELL....when I started sorting I was thrilled...mostly all of it was my style!! 

This box is misc & flowers...

All flowers!!!

This box is full of Halloween, Goth and Steampunk stuff!!!

(BE STILL MY HEART!!!!)

MORE Goth/Steampunk/Halloween stickers....

I looked up some of the different stickers and they range in price from about 3.50 - 9.00 EACH package. There must be about 300-400 packages of stickers alone.  There are packages of paper that usually run 10-15 per set, rolls of PET stickers, Washi Tape stickers, and so much more.  I didn't even take pics of the scrapbook embellishments or journals.  I can not imaging what this person spent on all the stuff. I feel so very lucky and I've already started using them and organizing them.  I am just so crafty happy!!! 

Wish Upon A Star

 Hello Friends

Today is the day I get to share my inspiration makes for this months theme over at Gecko Galz.

That theme is Wish Upon A Star!

Gecko Galz - Wish Upon a Star, Starlight ATC Sheet

I started off with this card I made using glitter paper to really make these lovely images pop. 

Gecko Galz - Wish Upon a Star, Moon Magic, Starburst ATC Sheet

My next project was this layout in my art journal. I layered on vintage papers and the constellation papers from the Starburst ATC.  I stenciled on snow paste through a star stencil and sprinkled on glitter then spritzed the entire page with a couple shades of blue spray inks. I Then added the image, sentiment, other bits and pieces and finally the sentiment.

Gecko Galz - Wish Upon a Star, In The Stars ATC Collection

My next creation is a Waterfall card...when you pull on the ribbon it flips up the next image on the flap as you can see in the photos...

Gecko Galz - Wish Upon a Star, Sun Moon & Stars, Starburst ATC Collection

And finally I have a home decor piece in this plaque I made. I just LOVE this image - she is so very lovely. She has been matted with glitter paper and was mounted on a plaque that I covered with paper from the Starburst ATC collection.  The little paper stars are from the Sun Moon & Stars collage sheet which I inter-mixed with some metal screen stars.

Hope you are inspired and enjoyed taking a peek at my Wish Upon a Star creaitons.

Happy Haunting Clipboard - Top Pick!!

My Happy Haunting Altered Clipboard won the Top Pick for Aprils challenge at 

Halloween & Other Occasions Challenge Blog!!

 

Crafts Galore May 2025 - Anything Goes #135

 Hello Friends and Happy May!!

Today starts another fun Anything Goes Challenge #135 at Crafts Galore and this months sponsor is Conjurer of Dreams!

I was able to use the set - Soft Beauty to make this fun card....

Aren't these images beautiful? I wanted to play around a bit and add a little twist so the focal image is actually mounted on a little hinge that you can open....

To reveal a 2nd image and a lovely little sentiment!  

There is more room inside the card to write out a nice message.

If you create anything this month I invite you to join in on the fun and enter your creation into our month long challenge.  If you created it, you can enter it!!

Crafts Galore May Challenge - Anything Goes #135

Gecko Galz April Challenges

 Hello Friends!

Today I wanted to share my creations for the April Blog Challenges over at Gecko Galz.

The first challenge I want to share is the Christmas challenge which I made this home decor piece. It's an upcycled wood block that had a saying on the front. The edges had silver polka dots which reminded me of snow/winter that went perfectly with this months image. I ran with it and added a layer of thick bodied gesso (to help cover the previous sentiment) and added some glitter. After that had dried I added several snowflakes I had in my stash. I mounted the image onto a piece of chipboard then added the snowflake frame, snowflake buttons and "Let it Snow" clip. This was mounted to the block with foam tape.  Finally I "wrinkled" some Let It Snow ribbon and adhered to the front of the block. 

OH MY...I Love this months Gothic Challenge image. She is beautiful and I loved the peach/orange colored flowers in the field she is strolling through. So I knew I was going to hang this up in my art room so I used a wooden frame which I painted black then added a glitter paint over the top. I mounted my image in the frame then embellished with a crochet doily, flowers and gemstones.  The sentiment is from the Gothic Chatter collage sheet.

Next up is the Card Challenge image. She is so pretty so I paired her with this lovely pattern paper and gave her a sassy sentiment "Friendships must be built on a solid foundation of alcohol, sarcasm, inappropriateness and shenanigans." 

The Fantasy challenge image is so very romantic - a knight in shining armor! I went with a fancy frame and this lovely scrolly "Love" die cut from pearl blue cardstock. The paper matched the image perfectly :) 

I love this Steampunk bunny for the Steampunk Challenge...I had to make him into an Easter card. I hand cut the Easter egg then embossed it with a gear/clock folder, added lots of gears and a watch body I had on my desk. I added a bit of brown velvet ribbon and added the sentiment. He's the coolest Easter bunny out there.

There is a tag challenge on the Gecko Galz business page on FB and this was the image provided. She's so very pretty...  I really wanted to maker her pop so I used some bright green (almost neon) cardstock for the tag base and went from there. 

I hope you join in on the fun and give one or more of these fun challenges a try!

 

G is for Goth Girl

 I recently shared my "H" altered clipboard with you...well the other part of that particular challenge is "G" so I made this Goth Girl piece of wall art....

It was made using an old monthly Gothic Challenge image and raven images from the Halloween Digi Stamp set.

Happy Haunting Altered Clipboard

 Hello Friends...

Yes, you read that correctly - I am making Halloween projects in April!

What can I say...I love Halloween!!

The Quarterly Challenge at Gecko Galz is Altered Clipboards and one of the themes on the Gecko Galz FB group is "Starting with the letter H" so why not...Halloween Clipboard it is!

I used images from - Happy Halloween Card Toppers (main image), Altered Halloween (the other images) and the sentiment is from Gothic Chatter.

Are you inspired to dig out your Halloween goodies? 

I'm ready to make some more - LOL!!

Entered into the Halloween and Other Occasions All Year Round challenge blog.

Easter Magic!

 Hello Friends!

Happy April - No Foolin :)

April's Monthly Challenge at Gecko Galz is Easter Magic!

And today is my day to share my creations with you...kick back and enjoy...

My first project that I made is this set of embroidery hoops filled with Easter goodness! I used several different collage sheets - I started off by using the Cotton Tail ATC sheet to create the backgrounds which I printed onto rice paper. It adds such a lovely translucent look while being very strong which is what I wanted since I mounted it in the hoops.

The main images of each hoop are from the  Spring Bunnies collage set. I then filled in the background using all sorts of images from Easter Parade, Holiday Icons, Eggstrodianary, Easter Tokens and Hip Hop Easter. I also added bits of lace, ribbon, butterflies and flowers to finish them off.

Next up I made some ornaments for my Easter Tree (I decorate a tree for the various holidays).

The first set of ornaments are these Shaker Eggs....

These are made using a plastic egg which comes apart to fill. You can make 2 ornaments out of each egg. I traced the egg onto chipboard and cut it a bit larger to ensure I could glue it down properly. I added images from Spring Bunnies and Easter Toppers collage sheets.  Each egg was filled with mini plastic eggs, sequins and shaker bits then the back was glued to the egg. I added a bit of ribbon for hanging and wired tinsel garland around each egg.

Next up are my Cracked Egg ornaments...

I thought it would be fun to make a hidden surprise in these ornaments so they look like an egg with a crack running down the center... when you crack open the egg you find a darling little image hidden inside!  The egg images are from Eggstraordinary and the inside images are from Here Comes Easter collage sheets.

My final offering are a set of 3D Decoupage Easter cards which were all made using the Easter Magic Card Toppers and the backgrounds are from the Easter Parade Craft Kit.  To achieve the 3D effect each image was printed 3-4x then the individual pieces were cut and affixed to a base layer and built up using foam tape.

Hope you have enjoyed hopping by and checking out my Easter creations!

Stop by the blog all this month to see what the rest of the team has whipped up for you.

Gecko Galz Easter Magic