Thursday 29 June 2017

* If You Give A Crafter A Cookie: Peaches and Cream Bridesmaid

Hello friends!

First of all, a big welcome to my latest follower, Karen Letchworth. I'm delighted you found my little bit of blogland!

Today is the start of a brand new challenge at 
If You Give A Crafter A Cookie.

I do hope you'll join us.



You can enter your projects until the 12th July.

As always, there is a photo inspiration, and here it is:



Our generous sponsors this time are Elisabeth Bell and The Cutting Cafe

    

I chose a gorgeous Elizabeth Bell stamp to work with. She is called Em Jay and here is the card I made:



The image was coloured with alcohol pens and cut with a fancy oval die. Some glitter was applied to the flowers and the butterfly and some sequins attached to the white space. This image was then matted onto a fancy kraft card oval. 
 I chose the background paper to replicate the lace in the inspiration photo and matted this onto kraft card, too. 
To embellish the card, I chose some peach fabric flowers and arranged them with cream die cut leaves. Three ivory pearls were added in diagonally opposite corners.

  

That's all from me for today. Now it's over to you...

Please pop over to the 
If You Give A Crafter A Cookie
challenge blog to check out the lovely designs by the rest of the DT. 

We would love for you to share your projects in the challenge! 

You could win digi stamps or become one of our 'Top Cookies'!

Thanks for stopping by today! 
xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

Double D Challenge Anything Wedding 02/07
Die Cuttin Divas #323 Wedding or Anniversary 03/07
Crafty Gals Corner #129 AG 04/07
Lemon Shortbread #44 AG 04/07
Crafty Creations #344 AG 04/07
A Snowflakes Promise #41 AG 10/07
Everybody's Art #406 Lace or Pearls 10/07
Inspiration Destination #131 AG 12/07



I'd really love some feedback :)      
I read and appreciate all your comments. 

To leave a comment, please click on the G+1 button below.
(If this does not open up the comments, please click either the link to this particular post in the sidebar, or click on the red heading at the top of the post and, hopefully, the comments will open).

Thanks. x

Monday 26 June 2017

* Vera Lane Studio: Seahorse

Hello Crafty Friends!

We're almost at the end of June - that's half of the year gone already!
I expect a lot of people feel the same as me and wonder where the time went.
Before we know it, we'll be making plans for Christmas :)

Today is my DT day for Vera Lane Studio.

Janet is constantly creating new little characters, and today sees the release of The Seahorse and Octopus. This gorgeous set comes with underwater rocks, plants and shells. It's the perfect set to compliment The Mermaid.

Here is my make:


I've had these Inkilicious Artboard Plaques for a while and decided this was the perfect opportunity to use one. I created my own little underwater scene, with bright vivid colours and sparkle - pretty much how I expected to see an underwater scene, until I ventured onto an Atlantis Submarine in Oahu and was totally disappointed! :(  Everything looked so dull - the captain said it was due to light refraction or some such??? Go figure!! Pesky science!

Anyhow, onto my make:
 You may wonder why my seahorse is this strange colour, but I actually found a seahorse that looks similar to this:

 

I coated the artboard with gesso and, when dry, added modelling paste through stencils. Next I applied dye sprays  - this was a mistake as the paint didn't dry completely, so I coated the plaque with Mod Podge, leaving some parts quite thick which added to the background texture. Whist this was still wet I added some Dylusions dyed cheesecloth and some Fauna Art Glitter (my new favourite craft supply!). 
The images were coloured with alcohol pens, glitter added, fussy cut, then attached to the board.




The Seahorse and Octopus


I hope you'll come along and play on Vera Lane. It's such a friendly, fun place to be!
You'll find us on Facebook in a closed group, which I invite you all to join! You can find us HERE
I guarantee, you'll get a very warm welcome!




Thanks for stopping by today.
xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

Daring Cardmakers  Must Go Down to the Sea (JFF) 30/06
Delicious Doodles All Creatures Great and Small 30/06
Crafting By Designs Animals 30/06
Glitter n Sparkle #245 AG 02/07
* Crafting When We Can #147 Use an Image 07/07
Mixed Media World #26 AG 07/07
Love 2 Create #13 08/07 WINNER



I'd really love some feedback :)      
I read and appreciate all your comments. 

To leave a comment, please click on the G+1 button below.
(If this does not open up the comments, please click either the link to this particular post in the sidebar, or click on the red heading at the top of the post and, hopefully, the comments will open).

Thanks. x

* Gecko Galz: June Samples

Hello Crafty Friends!

Can you believe we're almost half way through 2017?  Hasn't time flown by?

Today I'm showing my June Gecko Galz samples.

This month our Customer Challenge  is Under The Big Top and so my first cards are on that theme:


I used paper from the Life is a Circus paper pack and digitally added a stamp from the Circus Time Stamp set, removing it's background so that it looks as if it is printed onto the paper. The clowns are also from the Circus Time stamp set and these were fussy cut and adhered to the background paper. Next came the mats of black and red textured papers.



Next we have 3 cute little boy clowns doing a balancing act. This adorable image is from the Clowning Around Domino set. They were resized, cut out and the edges inked and placed onto of frayed linen, then mounted onto ivory inked card. The background paper is another from the Life is a Circus paper pack which includes the banner. I printed this paper twice, so that I could fussy cut the banner and use it as an embellishment. The 'hello' is spelled out with gold stickers (I still have hundreds of those in my stash!!). Some co-ordinating pic-rac ribbon was attached, then the whole was mounted onto black, then yellow, then black card before being adhered to the card base.

My other Big Top card can be seen here:



Life is a Circus Paper Pack    Circus Time Stamp Set

       

Clowning Around Domino Set       


Next I made two vintage style tags.



  

It's been a while since I've played with pretty lace and gem stones, so I enjoyed making these. The tags were backed with paper from the ****** set and the images are from the Beautiful Bookmark set. Once printed and cut out, the edges of the images were slightly distressed and inked and matted onto heavy cream card which had also been distressed. These were centred upon lace which framed the images. Lace flowers were added with gem stone centres. A beautiful pink rose ribbon trim was added to the tag above and bronze metallic gems to the tag below. Random gems were adhered along with a sentiment from  the Charming Words set, and pretty ribbons were threaded through the top of the tag.

 

  

Timeless            Beautiful Bookmarks      Charming Words

   

Finally, I made two birthday cards:



I love the zingy green colours in the paper and image and feel that this is a perfect card for this time of year.
The paper, called Royal Garden, is from the Tudor Rose Paper Pack and the image and Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Birthday Bash Collage set. The Celebrate sentiment is from the Charming Words collage set. Most of the detail comes from matting and layering onto black and green card, but some yellow flowers, made with a hand punch and textured card were added as embellishment.



 This hot pink card is very simple in design as the papers and image say it all. Matting and layering onto black and red card make the images pop and I felt the only embellishment needed was the ornate bead in the top right corner. The paper is from the Parade of Flowers paper pack and the image is from The Birthday Bash Collage set. The sentiment is again from the Charming Words Collage set.


Tudor Rose           Parade of Flowers     
     

Birthday Bash              Charming Words
  


I hope you'll join our 'Under The Big Top' challenge. The winner gets a whopping $25 shopping spree at the Gecko Galz shop.

 
   xxxxx
The only rule is that you must use at least one Gecko Galz product (this can be one of the freebies, so check back through the blog and also look at the freebies on the Pinterest page, or of course you can buy at the Etsy store!) 
Also if you sign up for the Gecko Galz newsletter, you'll be able to claim a free collage sheet each month. Just so you know, each Wednesday the store has a one buck sale on selected items - if you sign up for the newsletter you'll get a reminder in your inbox!

Please hop over to the Gecko Galz blog to see the fabulous designs by the very talented DT. 

We also have a Private Facebook Group where there are 5 monthly challenges, each with a collage sheet prize. Come and join us!

I'll be back on the 1st July with more Gecko Galz projects.
Thanks for stopping by today.
xoxo



I'd like to play along in the following challenges:

Clowning Around Card

Crafty Calendar Boys will be Boys 28/06
Aloha Friday #97 For the Guys 30/06 TOP PICK


Tags
My Time to Craft #348 Summertime 01/07
PDE #178 Anything but a card 01/07
Ribbon Girls Use Any Image 01/07
Glitter n Sparkle #245 AG 06/07
 * Really Reasonable Ribbon #166 Summer 06/07


Birthday Cards
Di's Digi Designs Summer Days 01/07
Seize The Birthday AG 05/07
That's Crafty Keep it Simple 07/07


I'd really love some feedback :)      
I read and appreciate all your comments. 

To leave a comment, please click on the G+1 button below.
(If this does not open up the comments, please click either the link to this particular post in the sidebar, or click on the red heading at the top of the post and, hopefully, the comments will open).
Thanks x

Saturday 24 June 2017

* Vera Lane Studio: Beach Love

 Hello friends!

I have another Vera Lane Studio Summer Time card to share with you today:


I love this gal, so much I flipped her to make her twin! They're having a great day at the beach, soaking up the sunshine and getting plenty fresh air. That sounds like such a good idea - I might take my own advice!

The background is a gelli print - I love how strong and vibrant the colours are - makes me feel hot and sweaty just looking at it! It was cut with a stitched rectangle die. Some Fauna Art Glitter was applied to represent the sand. The elements, all from the Beach Love set, were coloured with alcohol pens, fussy cut and adhered - the cloud and the girls were popped on foam pads for dimension.

Beach Love



I hope you'll come along and play on Vera Lane. It's such a friendly, fun place to be!
You'll find us on Facebook in a closed group, which I invite you all to join! You can find us HERE
I guarantee, you'll get a very warm welcome!




Thanks for stopping by today.
xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

Mod Squad Challenge Colourful Creations 27/06
Crafty Gals Corner #128 Any Holiday (Summer Hol) 27/06
Crafty Catz #376 AG 29/06
Simply Papercrafts #47 AG (JFF) 01/07
Simply Create Too #128 Summer Fun 01/07
The Crafty Addicts #37 AG/Option of Summer Colours 04/07
Star Stampz Bright Sunshine 05/07
Creative Fingers #133 AG 06/07
A Gem of a Challenge #197 Summer Colours 07/07


I'd really love some feedback :)      
I read and appreciate all your comments. 

To leave a comment, please click on the G+1 button below.
(If this does not open up the comments, please click either the link to this particular post in the sidebar, or click on the red heading at the top of the post and, hopefully, the comments will open).

Thanks. x

Wednesday 21 June 2017

* Vera Lane Studio: Summer Time ATCs

Hello friends!

Summer has arrived in the UK - it's official!  
We're experiencing a heat wave! 
And today is (allegedly) the hottest June Solstice on record.

Tomorrow - it's set to rain ... ah well ... nice while it lasted!

I've made my own sunshine:



Here are two ATCs I made for the Vera Lane 'Summer Time' swap:


I chose images from the set called Beach Love and added a bird from the Lovely Garden set and a sun from the Sunny set. The background is a gelli print to which art glitter was applied to replicate sand. The images are coloured with alcohol pens and popped on foam pads. A hand drawn border finishes this ATC.

 




Who doesn't love Sunny? She's a cute lil gal with a bright and cheerful disposition! Her background is a reverse, inked, embossed card - and yes ... that was a mistake (the reversed part), but I liked how it turned out! I gave her some die cut grass to run through and a few die cut flowers. She's got Glossy Accent eyes and glitter eye make-up. A hand drawn border finishes the ATC (and a tiny smudge of blue ink - I've no idea where that came from!).




I hope you'll come along and play on Vera Lane. It's such a friendly, fun place to be!
You'll find us on Facebook in a closed group, which I invite you all to join! You can find us HERE
I guarantee, you'll get a very warm welcome!




Thanks for stopping by today.
xoxo

I'd like to play along in these challenges:

Crafty Sentiments Add Sentiments 26/06
TTCRD AG 26/06
Creates and Makes #12 AG/Option Use Yellow 27/06
Stinkin Inkers Girls Just Wanna Have Fun 30/06
The Cat's Pajamas #336 Sea, Sand and Sky 30/06 WINNER

Cards and More #187 Anything but a card 03/07
Lemon Shortbread #44 AG 03/07
Digi Choosday #25 AG 04/07
A Snowflakes Promise #41 AG 10/07


I'd really love some feedback :)      
I read and appreciate all your comments. 

To leave a comment, please click on the G+1 button below.
(If this does not open up the comments, please click either the link to this particular post in the sidebar, or click on the red heading at the top of the post and, hopefully, the comments will open).

Thanks. x
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