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

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge - Anything Goes

New Month, New Challenge at Crafts Galore!!

A very warm welcome to our April 2025 challenge. 

Here at Crafts Galore Encore the theme is always Anything Goes and you can enter up to 3 different projects.

This challenge ends on 29th April at mid-day GMT.

This month the sponsor is WendyLynnsPaperWhims and oh what cute digital designs she offers! The design team was kindly given  some images to work with and I choose to play with the Cats in Red Gnome Hats...

I had so much fun making the kitty postage that I decided to make another card because I love the images so much.

Aren't those little cats just adorable?

Such fun to work with :)

Now it's your turn...if you make anything at all in April remember to enter it into the Crafts Galore Challenge...you might just be the lucky winner of a set of images.

As always the theme is Anything Goes!

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge

Altered Clipboard - Spring!

 Every few months Gecko Galz has a special Quarterly Challenge. 

This quarter the challenge is Altered Clipboards!

I've made quite a few over the years and was excited to see this challenge as they are so much fun to make. Today I have a mini clipboard dedicated to Spring!

I used Images from March Free Collage Sheet, Spring Butterflies, Flower Garden Paper Pack, Library Cards and Tag Time. I also added flowers, ribbon, and a few other bits and bobs to finish it off. 

If you're game and decide to give it a go be sure to post your creation on the GG Quarterly Challenge page. You might just be the lucky winner of a special prize :)

Happy Day!!

Challenge Time at Gecko Galz

 Each month the Gecko Galz blog hosts several challenges - they give a specific image for each challenge and you are asked to create something using this image. I LOVE these challenges and have been playing for years. It is always so much fun to see what the new images are each month and try to figure out something new and different to do with them.  These are my creations for this month's images...

First up is this darling little girl & her pet dragon. This is for the Steampunk Challenge. I liked the image so much I decided to turn it into some ornaments. I have a fun metal Christmas tree that I'm going to decorate with a steampunk theme this year so I am going to be making my ornaments through the year. I think these are a pretty good start!

Next up is the ATC challenge. The collage sheet is called Steampunk Couture - LOVE this!! In addition to the background and ladies I added a few "digi stamps" from the Curiosity Shop and Industrial stamp sets plus a fwe gears and stickers from my stash. 

This image was so cool...an underwater nymph for the Gecko Galz business page Tag Challenge. I thought it would be fun to turn her into a tag shaker. 

Oh my, another image to love. This is for the Gothic challenge - isn't she cool looking...I haven't added a sentiment yet because she would be great for so many things. Anyway, I added her to one of the background papers from the Life's a Circus Craft Kit. I also added some sparklie garland and gemstone brads.

Next up is the Christmas challenge and this sweet pair of children. I had this fun kraft christmas print paper in my stash that has a great vintage vibe. Added some ribbon and gemstones to finish it off.

I am so excited about these next 2 cards. I LOVED the images and really wanted to do them justice. I hope you like what you see...

First up is this lovely lady in purple. I normally don't use purple but I wanted to go all out so I used foiled paper from Rinea (sorry they are no longer in business). I used Anna Griffin dies to make the amazing layers of frames. I finished it off with a bit of lace and paper flowers.

My final blog challenge card is made using the castle for the Fantasy Challenge. I again used Rinea foiled papers, Anna Griffin dies and an assortment of leaves and gemstones.  I also added the Queen down in the corner - she is from the Autumn Queens collage sheet and she matches perfectly don't you think? I gave her a little medallion die-cut tucked in behind her for an extra bit of pop.

Well there you go...

Hope you are inspired to give some of these images a go!

Gecko Galz Blog Challenges 

Conjurer of Dreams - Sparkle!

 Hello Friends!

Today is my day to share what I have created for Conjurer of Dreams...

I start off with this beautiful image from the Waterhouse Soul of the Rose set. I used my sparklie metallic watercolor paints to enhance the image...It's so very pretty IRL - you can see just some of that sparkle in the photo below taken on an angle. 

My next offering is a set of ATC cards  for my 7 Gypsies tower. I used the Forest Maidens and a variety of backgrounds. They are so very sweet looking don't you think?

My next 2 cards are from the Teacup Florals Coloring Book Pages. These grey scale images are perfect for all sorts of mediums. I colored the above card with Prismacolor pencils and the bottom image with the sparklie watercolor paints. Which is your favorite?

Finally I have a set of cards using images from both Heather the Highlander Cow and Quaint Village. I LOVE these sets - they are so very pretty and work so well together.

Hope you have a lovely day friends!

Gecko Galz - Natures Child

 

Hello Friends - this month's theme at Gecko Galz is Natures Child. I had loads of fun with this challenge and here is what I created...

My first creation is this lovely little trinket box. I covered the box using one of the prints from the Flower Garden Paper Pack.  I then used one of the images from Enchanting Fairy Forest Tin Topper sheet for the top of the lid. I added rhinestones around the edge and covered it with resin.

My next set of creations was made using more images from the Flower Garden Paper Pack and sentiments from Pixie Dust Sentiments.

Each card is a bit different ....

Paired with a stamped background...

A fun shaped flap and 2 different prints. 

For this card I outlined each of the flowers with a metallic pen - IRL the flowers really pop. The center was die cut then affixed to the card with foam tape to pop it off the background.

This card was a combination of one of the Flower Garden Paper Pack and an image from the Blossom Girls collage sheet. She was covered in resin left over from the next couple projects.

My next set of creations are these fun magnets that I made using the collage sheets Natures Spring Goddess and Blossom Girls. I used frames and the cloche for the bases which were made from resin (the copper frame) and paper clay (the other 2 magnets). 

My final project are these fun double sided charm pendants....

They were created using images from the Nouveau Garden Jewel It collage sheets.

I hope you are inspired to create and if you are...please feel free to join in on the fun!