SPA - Travel/Maps

Good morning everyone, the theme for this weeks Sunday Postcard Art is Travel/Maps.

I covered my card with tissue paper that had a map pattern on it, then I die cut the Sizzix/Tim Holtz  world map and embossed it with Frantage embossing powder, I adhered it to some coloured card and cut round it. I added some die cut seagulls and some word stickers.

Thank you for visiting, have a lovely day. xxx

Art Journal Page

Good morning everybody. It's time for a new challenge at Altered Eclectics, as always the theme is Mixed Media/Altered Art.

I've done an art journal page for my DT piece.

I started by adding some colour to the page using watered down Dylusions ink, then I added some torn strips of washi tape, strips of book pages, a bit more colour and then I added some stamped script. I scribbled a circle on the corner and scribbled some writing round it. I die cut the circle using an Elizabeth entwined circle die and embossed it with some Frantage embossing enamel, the butterfly was made using a Sizzix stamp and die. I added a pen nib for the body and some stickles on the wings, the words are a Tim Holtz sticker.

Thank you for dropping by to take a look, have a lovely day. xxx

Sweetheart Box

Hi everyone, I can't believe that it's February already and time for another Altered Eclectics challenge, as always the theme is Altered Art/Mixed Media, no cards of ATCs allowed.

For my design team project I've decorated a heart shaped box that had toiletries in it.

I covered the box with handmade paper, it's not a very good photo, the paper is a peachy colour not white.

I glued some lace to the side of the lid and embossed the chipboard hearts with Frantage embossing enamel. I decorated the box with a book page, lace, chipboard hearts, a Gecko Galz image. flowers and stickles.

The rest of the design team have made some lovely inspirational pieces and they would love you to visit the challenge to take a look or join in with the challenge.

Have a lovely day. xxx Hazel.

Altered Tic Tac Toe Board

It's February already and time for Altered Eclectics first challenge of the year, as always it's Anything Goes as long as it's Mixed Media/Altered Art - no cards.

For my DT piece I've altered a tic tac toe board

I've had this board in my stash for years and thought it was time to do something with it.

I first gave it a coat of gesso and then painted it with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint.

I added some Aged Spice Frantage embossing enamel and oceanic Crushed Glass Glitter. I used a felt tip pen to colour some little wooden houses. I painted the heart with red acrylic paint and covered it with some crackle paste. I glued the houses and heart to the board.

A close up of the Frantage enamel and the heart.

Thank you for looking.

xxx Hazel.

Another Christmas Canvas

It's time for the December challenge at Mixed Media Mojo the theme is Sentiment and the twist is NOT to use red of green.

For my DT piece I've made a Christmas Canvas.

I used the same technique as the canvas on my previous post.
I covered the canvas board thickly with gesso and made marks in it, the tiny stars were made using a very small star icing cutter.

I scraped acrylic paint over the dried gesso.

I used my finger to spread some Treasure Pewter over it.

I decorated it by gluing some gauze to the bottom. I embossed the edges and the gauze with shabby white Frantage enamel, I also used it on the star. The words were done on the computer and die cut, I went round the edge with some distress ink and matted them onto die cut black card. I edged the canvas with Gelatos and a damp brush. I added some glass stars.

Here is a closer look at the star.

Thank you for looking at my project, please take a visit to the Mixed Media Mojo blog to take a look at the beautiful things that the rest of the DT have made.

Birdie ATCs

Good morning everyone, I hope you're having a lovely weekend, I had a fabulous day yesterday at a Mini Album workshop at the Craft Barn.

I'd like to share with you some Bird ATCs that I've made during the year.

I used a mono print background and stamped the hessian [Indigo Blu] and the branch [Inkadinkado]. Shabby pink Frantage was added to the card and I stamped the postmark [TJ Designs]. I stamped the bird [Lost Coast Design] onto a separate piece of card and cut it out.

I used Dylusions ink on the background and stamped the Inkadinkado branch. The Dina Wakley scribble bird was stamped onto a separate piece of card and cut out.

The background on this ATC is weaved pieces of handmade paper. The Sheena Douglas stamps were stamped onto white card and watercoloured and then cut out.

The background was made with Distress inks. The main image is by Crafty Individuals.

Roses And Romance

It's time for another Craft-Room Challenge and this time it's Debi's turn to choose the theme and she has chosen Roses and Romance.

Our Sponsor is Crafty Individuals.

This is my DT card that I've made for the challenge.

I found some white velum in my stash, it had pale green music printed on it, I covered a white card blank with it and then I added some lace and seam binding that I'd coloured with bundled sage distress stain.
I used a Sizzix die to cut out the trellis.
The rose [La Blanche] was stamped onto some watercolour paper and coloured it with watercolour pencils.
I covered a Tando frame with some aged gold Frantage embossing powder and put a Gecko Galz image in it. I tied some seam binding to the frame and added some tiny roses and the sentiment.

Thank you everyone that entered the Dance challenge, we had some lovely entries and I now have to go and choose my top three , not an easy task.

The Age Of Aquarius

It's time for another Craft-Room Challenge and this time it's the turn of Esther to choose the theme, here's what she has to say about her choice.
This fortnight I'm asking for all things Water based as we are now in the Sign of Aquarius - The Water Bearer. This means you can either use a water based technique i.e. water colour pencils/paints, or a water themed image.

Our sponsor this challenge is Tando Creative.

For my DT piece I've made a mermaid tag. It wasn't very good lighting when I took the photo so the colours aren't as good as they should be.

For the background I swiped a Caribbean sea Kaleidacolour ink pad across my craft mat and sprayed water on it then I coloured my tag with it. When the background was dry I sprayed it with water. 

I stamped the Clarity Stamp mermaid onto the tag and also onto some white card. I coloured her body with a felt tip and her tail with Sakura gelly roll pens then I cut her out and adhered her over the image on the tag.

I embossed a mixture of aged aqua and aged marine Frantage at the bottom of the tag and adhered some shells and a metal starfish charm. 

I stamped the Hobby Arts sentiment onto card and adhered it to the tag.

Bah Humbug

I was thrilled to bits when I got an email from Chris at Country View Crafts Challenges telling me that I'd made the top three in the October challenge and was even more thrilled when I was asked to be a Guest Designer for December.

When I found that the theme for the December challenge is Bah Humbug it took me back to my teacher at junior school sitting the class down and reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens to us - it became one of my favourite books.

I decided that my project should have something to do with Scrooge on it - I searched the Internet and found an image of Scrooge being visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present [my favourite ghost] and have used it on my Christmas canvas.

Supplies

Canvas.
Red paint.
Martha Stewart snowflake punch.
Corrugated card.
Shabby white Frantage embossing enamel.
Christmas papers.
Scrooge image of the Internet.
Gecko Galz snowmen and music images.
The Artistic Stamper Santa stamp.
Distress Inks.
Sizzix tattered pine cones die.
Sizzix holly branch die.
Spellbinders die.
Wooden snowflakes.
Ice Stickles.
Ribbon, lace and beads.

I adhered some strips of punched snowflakes to the sides of the canvas and then painted the canvas red, I wiped some of the paint of the snowflakes before the paint dried.
I coloured the back of some patterned paper with distress ink so that when I distressed the edges the white background wouldn't show.
I edged a square of corrugated card with some Frantage embossing enamel, adhered  the distressed papers and added the ribbon and lace, then I adhered it to the canvas.
The Santa image was stamped and coloured with distress ink, I die cut the Santa image and snowmen images and edged them with distress ink then adhered them to the canvas.
I made the pine cones and adhered them to the canvas with the holly and beads.
I painted some wooden snowflakes white and added some stickles. I used a lot of stickles on the canvas so it's very glittery - the photo doesn't show it very well.

Here is a side view of the canvas.

Gecko Galz Anual Blog Hop

Welcome Everyone to the 3^rd Annual Gecko Galz Tricks and Treats Blog Hop

 I am the next stop on your “hop” welcome to my blog! If you started here you might want to go back and start at the begining at the Gecko Galz blog so you won’t miss anything!  

We have 15 AMAZING blogs for you to visit this weekend, each with some gorgeous projects created using the Gecko Galz collage images, that we are giving you for FREE! Each blog you visit will have another free Gecko Galz Collage sheet for you to download, The one here is "Beautiful Birds".

Also make sure you collect all the secret words on each blog so at the end of the hop you can enter to win our wonderful treat.  So sit back, relax, take your time and enjoy the hop!

We have FOUR amazing prizes up for grabs:

·        First is the ephemera collections for each month for an entire year. That is 48 different sets! This is a $144 value

·        Second prize is a The monthly paper pack for an entire year! Each month you will receive our paper pack absolutely FREE! This is a $72 value.

·        Third prize is all 3 individual collage sheets each month for a year! This is a $54 value

·        And our Grand Prize ONE FULL YEAR of Gecko Galz  COLLECTIONS!!! That will be 1 paper pack, 1 digital stamp set, and 4 collage sets each month for the entire year! This is a prize worth $288

Read on to learn how you can win!

First of all, you will need to visit all 15 blogs and leave a comment on each blog :) **This is important so we know you have been to all the blogs **. Collect all Fifteen words (one on each blog site) and at the end of the blog on the Fripperies and Butterflies site there will be a link to email the phrase to Gecko Galz. This enters you in the contest. On October 28^th we will randomly draw the 4 winners and email each of you, then we will post the winning names on our website and on the Gecko Galz blog site.

For an extra chance to win make a purchase from the Gecko Galz site and your name goes in again for a better chance of winning (each purchase you make that weekend gives you another chance to win) 

Finally, we are having one more give away! If you post our Gecko Galz badge (found on the Gecko Galz Blog) on your blog, facebook page, or website you will be entered to win a Gecko Store Shopping Spree worth $25 - super easy right?  Just post a link to your blog on the Gecko Galz Blog so we can come visit :).

Your Secret Word is;

TRICK 

Please enjoy this free Gecko Galz Collage sheet “Beautiful Birds”

As well as the samples I have made using the images

 (Just click on this link for the full size sheet]
                                                                                                 

Here are the pieces that I have made with the lovely Beautiful Birds collage sheet, I hope you enjoy looking at them. Thank you for visiting now go and have some fun looking at the rest of the design teams blogs.

xxx Hazel

Darling Birdie Card

Matt the image onto some black card and layer it and some Gecko Galz background papers onto a card blank. I edged the card with some black soot Distress Ink using my finger. Add the ribbon, a couple of skeleton leaves and some paper roses.

Decoupaged Framed Bird

Paint the wooden frame with some dark blue acrylic paint, when it's dry cover with Fresco Finnish Crackle Glaze and when this is dry paint with a turquoise acrylic paint, it should crackle as the paint dries. Adhere leaves and flowers to the frame, it doesn't matter what colour they are, using your finger touch parts of the flowers with Treasure Pewter and then spray the flowers and bottom of the frame with green and gold mica sprays. When everything is dry adhere a piece of Gecko Galz background paper inside the frame. Print the image three times, matt one of the images onto some blue card, cut the oval from one of the other images and adhere to the main image with foam pads, cut out the bird from the last image and adhere to the main image with foam pads. Adhere to the inside of the frame.

Song Bird Card

Distress the edges of the image.  Sponge the edges of the image and some Gecko Galz background paper with aged mahogany Distress ink and layer them onto a card blank. Stamp some twigs on the right edge of the card, adhere the sentiment, lace and pearls to the card. Emboss a wooden bird with some Frantage embossing enamel and adhere to the card.

 Bird Song Tag

Paint the tag with acrylic paint and then adhere a piece of book page to it. Using a leafy mask, stencil some modelling past onto the tag and paint green when dry. Distress the edge of the image and some Gecko Galz background paper then colour the edges with stormy sky Distress ink, adhere to the tag. Put a strip of tissue tape to the bottom of the tag and add some lace. Add some flowers and ribbon.

Now  you are ready to go to the next blog site and see what wonderful treats await you there. Just click the name  to be whisked away to their blog!

Here is the Blog Hop Rotation 

 Hazel Harler

Carol Salisbury

Joan Liddel

Penny Walker

Starr Timmons

Helene Huber

Barbara Bird

Gerri Herbst

Sharron Rogers

Lisette Baker

Sherri Levinton

Jessica Moore

Heather Hudson 

Leanne Seed

Craft-Room Challenge - ATCs

Another fortnight has flown by and it's time for another Craft-Room Challenge. It's Maria's turn to choose the challenge and she would like you all to make an ATC or a group of ATCs.

Our sponsor for the challenge is Tando Creative.

One lucky person drawn at random will get a wonderful package from Tando.

These are the ATCs that I've made for a recent ATC swap, the theme is Houses.

For the background I used distress stains, a Finnabair mask and Fresco Finish paint and some Frantage chunky white embossing enamel. I used an Invoke Arts stamp for the house and I stamped it onto some card that I coloured ages ago.

I used Dylusions and Distress ink for the background and added some Frantage shabby white embossing enamel. I stamped the PaperArtsy house onto white card and coloured it with Smirk glitter pens, I cut it out and adhered it to the ATC and added some gems.

For this ATC I stamped the Panduro/Tilda stamp onto some white card and coloured it with watercolour pencils, then I adhered it to the red ATC

The rest of the Design Team have made some lovely samples and they would love you to visit the Craft-Room to take a look.

Craft-Room Challenge - Heat Embossing

Another fortnight has gone by and it's time for the latest Craft-Room Challenge, the challenge is Heat Embossing and it has been chosen by the lovely Suzanne. This is what she has to say about why she chose the challenge.

I selected my theme based on the past couple of summers we have had here in the UK - which have been far from good.  I thought we may do with a bit of "heat" although if we are at present experiencing a heatwave then the theme may prove a little unpopular as the last thing we will all want is to get those heat guns out ...whoops!  However I would love to see your heat embossing on your crafty projects......

"HEAT EMBOSSING"

Our sponsor for the challenge is Stamp Addicts.

Our Guest Designer for this month it is Helene aka 2amscrapper.
We are looking for a new GD for the month of October, if you are interested, please add GDT after your name when taking entry to the challenge.

For my DT project I decided to use the Embossing Powder Technique that Birgit Koopsen used for her project in the July issue of The Craft Stamper Magazine.

I have a collection of Moon Glow embossing powder in quite a lot of colours so I decided to use them on my card.
I started by covering a piece of mountboard with Versamark and sprinkling different coloured powders over it, I also used aged silver  Frantage powder around the edges. I melted it with my heat gun but wasn't pleased with the result so I just kept adding more powder until I liked the result. I then stencilled some Versamark through a mask and embossed with white powder, then I stamped the image with black Stazon.

This is the mountboard before I stamped on it.

For the background I used the powders in exactly the same way onto a piece of white card and matted it onto a black card blank, then I adhered the main image and some gems.

I used a PaperArtsy/Lynne Perrella stamp for the main image.

This is a photo of the background. Unfortunately the photo's don't show the glimmer of the mica embossing powders.

I'm entering my card in The Craft Stamper Magazine Take-It-Make-It-Challenge-Three, Embossing Powder Technique.

We had some beautiful entries in Julia's Vintage Stamping challenge, she's going to find it hard to choose her top three.
As usual the DT have made some fabulous samples so why not take a visit to the Craft-Room Challenge to take a look.

Create For A Cause

This month Gecko Galz are giving back. The D T are making items for their chosen charity so if you purchase products from your favourite design Gecko Galz are giving 10% of the money towards their chosen charity. Every couple of days one of the D T will have their design showcased so please visit Gecko Galz to take a look. Today it's my turn to be showcased.

My chosen charity is Great Ornond Street Hospital Childrens Charity.

I made a door hanger using images from the Gecko Galz Wonderland collage sheet.

Wonderland Door Hanger

Images from the Gecko Galz Wonderland Collage Set.

Wooden Door Hanger Blank.

Gesso.

Fresco Finish Paint in two colours – one light and one dark.

Fresco Finish Crackle Glaze.

Alice In Wonderland Book Pages.

Picked Raspberry, Walnut Stain and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink.

Versamark Ink Pad.

Clear Embossing Powder.

Stampendous Frantage Embossing Powders. The colours I used are Aged Rose, Shabby Pink, Aged Green and Shabby Green.

Sizzix/Alterations Bird Branch Die.

Mountboard.

Paint the hanger with the gesso, let it dry.

Paint the hanger with the dark FF paint, when dry spread a thin layer of the crackle glaze over it and when this is dry paint it with the lighter FF paint, as it dries you will see the crackles appearing. Sponge the picked raspberry round the edge.

Tear the book pages and adhere to the hanger.

Die cut the bird branch with the mountboard and cut away the bird, colour with the walnut stain and mowed lawn distress ink, adhere to the hanger.

Emboss the Frantage powder round the edge of the hanger and anywhere else you’d like it to go.

Cut out the images and double emboss them with the clear embossing powder. Adhere them to the card.

Here are a couple of close ups.

Butterfly ATCs.

I chose the theme for the June Paperplay ATC swap and Butterflies is what I chose.

All three ATCs are the same except that I used different colours.
The backgrounds are coloured with Distress inks.
I stamped the Crafty Individuals image twice and cut out the butterfly from one of the images to embellish the ATC.
I embossed Frantage powder round the edge - some of it blew into the centre.

Texture ATC

TEXTURE is the latest theme at the Fun With ATCs challenge.
This is the ATC I've made.

I started by painting some corrugated card with acrylic paint. I stencilled the dragonfly with texture paste on to a piece of scrap pink card then I tore round it when it had dried. I adhered it to the card then painted over the dried paste. I then covered it with an orange wash, then when the wash had dried I melted some Frantage embossing powder round the edge then added the tiny dragonflies.

So Sentimental

Another fortnight has gone by so it's time for another Craft Room Challenge. The theme is So Sentimental and it has been chosen by the lovely Mervi. She would like to see texts, scripts, messages clearly on your projects.
Tando Creative are the sponsors for the challenge.

I decided to make a canvas for my DT piece.

I adhered a torn piece of a book page to the canvas and then I painted the canvas with Fresco Finish paint and stamped various images. I used a Imagination Crafts stencil and DecoArt Modeling paste for the leaves. When it had dried I painted the leaves and using my finger put some Treasure Gold metalic wax on them. Using my finger I added the modeling paste to the edge of the canvas and  when it had dried I added some metalic wax.
I embossed some Frantage embossing powder over some Tando Creative butterflies and adhered them to the canvas. I die cut a label with a Spellbinders die and stamped the sentiment.
I used PaperArtsy stamps for the background and the sentiment is an Artistic Stamper stamp.
Here are some close ups of the butterflies.

The rest of the design team have made some fabulous samples so why not visit the Craft Room blog and take a look.

I'm entering my canvas in the Country View Crafts Butterfly Challenge.

UK Stampers ATC Swap

The UK Stampers September ATC swap was to use stamps that we haven't used before, I don't know about you guys but I have rather a lot to choose from but I managed to sort out three and the results are below.

I sprayed the background with Glimmer Mist and stamped some swirls with an Ecogreen stamp then I adhered a piece of patterned hand made paper to it. I stamped the PaperArtsy stamp onto white card and edged it with worn lipstick Distress ink, I also used it round the edge of the ATC. The eye and cheek were coloured with coloured pencil. I embellished the ATC with a sun charm.

The PaperArtsy stamp was stamped onto white card using Black Archival ink. I used blue card for the ATC and embossed the edges with shabby pink Frantage embossing enamel. I adhered the image and words and added a silver charm.

I coloured the ATC with Distress Stain and stamped the PaperArtsy stamp with black Archival ink. I'd stamped the image twice and cut the butterfly out of the 2 image and covered it with stickles, when it was dry I adhered it to the ATC with some black gems. The image was matted onto black card.