Christmas Crackers

I've made these crackers using the fabulous October products from Gecko Galz.
The crackers are very easy to make and can be filled with goodies but I'm leaving mine empty to be used as decorations.

Holly Cracker
Gecko Galz Holly Days Background Paper

Gecko Galz Image from the Winter Time Collage Sheet.

Cracker Template. I used a Creative Expressions Template.

Sizzix Alterations Festive Greenery Die.

Gold Mesh.

Ribbon.

Red Beads

Stickles

Print the paper and cut out the cracker using the template. Make the cracker and tie the ends with the ribbon.

Adhere the gold mesh to the ends and middle, attach the image.

Die cut the holly leaves, adhere them to the cracker and then add the beads.

I put a little of the stickles on the image.

Poinsettia Cracker

Gecko Galz Tis The Season Background Paper.

Gecko Galz Image from the Old Fashioned Christmas Collage Sheet.

Creative Expressions Cracker Template

Spellbinders Poinsettia Die Set.

Red and Green Card Stock.

Ribbon.

Gold Snowflake Border Peel Off.

Gold Beads.

Print the paper and cut out the cracker using the template. Make the cracker and tie the ends with the ribbon.

Adhere the peel offs and image.

Cut out and make the poinsettia, adhere to the cracker and add the gold beads.

I'm entering my crackers in the following challenge
Out Of A Hat Creations challenge, their theme is Christmas Decorations.
 Let's Create Anything But A Card

Circus Twinchies

The theme for the UK Stampers October twinchie swap is the Circus.
Here are my twinchies.

I stamped the image and circus onto white card and coloured them with Promarkers. I edged them with fired brick Distress ink. I cut the circus out and adhered to the image.
The stamps that I used are
Hampton Art for the clown
Artistic Outpost for the word circus.

Fur or Feathers

The latest Artful Times challenge is Fur or Feathers, I decided to go for fur although there are some birds on the embossing.

 

I made a tag out of ribbed kraft card and dry brushed lemonade DecoArt paint over it and then I stamped paw prints with burnt orange DecoArt paint. I embossed a piece of kraft core card with a cuttlebug embossing folder and sanded the raised areas to show the core.
I stamped the cat onto white card, coloured it lightly with coloured pencils and cut it out. I coloured some card with shabby shutters Distress ink and stamped the purr and rats/mice onto it and cut them out. I embellished the tag with staples and a piece of ribbon.
The stamps I used are
Craft UK for the cat and rats/mice
I don't know who made the purr stamp.

I'm entering my tag in the following challenges.
Artful Times Fur or Feathers
Lady Anne Challenge Anything Goes
Stamp-n-Doodle Anything Goes

Little Boxes

The lovely ladies at Out Of A Hat Creations have chosen Packaging/Wrapping for a Christmas Gift for their challenge this week. I've made some boxes using some of the templates on the Serif Craft Artist Software.

The image and tag are Gecko Galz images. The holly is 3d decoupaged. I used to do decoupage a few years ago and made up some pieces in case I needed a quick card.

The little bag has got another of my decoupaged pieces on it.

A Taste Of The Orient

Time for another Craft-Room Challenge. This fortnights challenge has been chosen by Zoe and she wants us to go Oriental.

The fabulous Tanda Stamps are our sponsors for the challenge.

I adhered a piece of Craft House paper to a white card blank. I stamped the image with black Archival on to white card and coloured it in with coloured pencils. I tore the end of the card and wrapped metallic thread round it, I then adhered this to a piece of black card. For the strip down the side I wrapped some of the metallic thread round some black card and matted it onto some white card. I embellished the card with some little silver fans, black gems and a chipboard bird that I'd coloured with brushed pewter Distress Stain.
The image is stamped with a Tanda stamp and the greeting is stamped with a Sleek Design stamp.
Take a visit to the Craft-Room blog to see the fabulous designs that the rest of the DT have done.

The Raven Postcard

I've been wanting to make a postcard for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge for a while but never had the time. Today I found a bit of time and have made a digital postcard. The theme this week is Ravens.

The background, ravens, skulls and ghostly face are by Gecko Galz and the spider, web and tombstone are off a digi kit called Spook Time.

Textures

Firstly I'd like to say a big HELLO and THANK YOU to all my new followers - I hope you enjoy looking at my work and I hope that some of it might inspire you.

The theme for the October ATC swap at the UK Stampers is textures.

I used ribbed Kraft card for the base and then embossed some Core'dinations Kraft-Core card. I sanded the raised area to show the core and went over it lightly with some rusty hinge Distress ink. I wrapped some thin string round it and tied a leaf charm to it before adhering it to the base card. I stamped the images onto white card, tore them out and coloured them with peacock feathers, vintage photo and rusty hinge Distress ink and adhered them to the ATC.
I used the Stampers Anonymous Mini Blueprint stamps.

I'm entering my ATCs in the following challenges.
The Artistic Stamper The Natural World Challenge.
Challenge Up Your Life Autumn/Halloween Challenge.
Sweet Stampin' Autumn Trees/Leaves Challenge.

The Gecko Galz Blog Hop Will Soon Be Here

Count Down To The Tricks And Treats Blog Hop

Hi everyone!

It wont be long now until our second annual Tricks and Treats Blog Hop and that means fun freebies, great prizes, and wonderful designs from all our participating Design team members! The Hop will begin on October 26th  and run the entire weekend. There will be 16 diffrent Blogs to visit and each will have a FREE collage sheet for you to grab along with tons of project ideas and lets not forget our 4 amazing prizes that Gecko Galz will be giving away to 4 lucky hoppers! So mark your calendars, get your treat bags ready and join in the hop.


Why not visit the Gecko Galz Blog to find out how you could win the Gecko Galz November product collection.

Andy Skinner Workshop

I had a fabulous day at the Craft Barn on Sunday doing an Andy Skinner workshop.
This is what I made.

We all got very messy playing with paints and I learnt some new techniques, one of them was image transfer - something that I'd always wanted to do and will definitely be doing again.

Here is a closer look at the rust technique.

I'm linking my piece to the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge Rustification.

Christmas Cards

I made some Christmas cards last week using the Gecko Galz October products.

 For this card I used GG Tis the Season background paper and an image from the GG Wintertime collage sheet. I matted the background paper and image onto gold and red card and adhered them to a red card blank. I added some ribbon and a gold snowflake border that I'd made with a Martha Stewart punch.

The image I used is from the GG Vintage Christmas digi set. I cut the image out with a Spellbinders circle die then I layered this onto black and white card. I embellished the card with ribbon, snowflakes, black gems and a merry Christmas peel off.

I used GG Silent Night background paper and the image is from the GG Old Fashioned Christmas collage sheet and I also used a tag from the Christmas Tags sheet. I used Spellbinders scalloped circle dies to cut out the image and gold and red card. I also used holly leaves, red gems, ribbon and gold border peel off.



I'm entering my card into the Out of a Hat Creations Christmas Card/Tag challenge.

Life's a Beach

I made this ATC for the KCUK September swap.

I coloured the ATC with broken china, faded jeans and rusty hinge Distress stain, then I stamped the image. I adhered some Flower Soft sand across the bottom and added some shells. I adhered some string to the top, then I stamped the sentiment, cut it out and adhered to the string.
The stamps that I used are Crafty Individuals.

I'm entering my ATC in the The Crafty Bloggers Network Anything Goes challenge.

Artful Times Postcard

It's been a while since I've been able to join the Artful Times challenge but I've managed to find some time this week and my mojo seems to be coming back from Ireland. The latest challenge is to make a postcard with some letters or script on it.
This is what I made for the challenge.

I stamped the eye, hand and wasps and then masked them before stamping the letters, I then took of the eye mask, cut the eye out and masked the eye again, then I sprayed the background with Bubblegum pink, vibrant turquoise and lemon zest Dylusions ink. I removed the masks and coloured the images with felt tips leaving the eye white. I put stickles on the wasp wings.
The stamps that I used are from the Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Oddities stamp set.

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.

Craft-Room Challenge/Alter It

Another fortnight has passed and it's time for another Craft-Room challenge. The lovely Julia has chosen the theme Alter It, she would like you to alter anything. For my DT piece I have altered a Plywood Frame.

For the lucky prize draw winner there is a £10 prize from our sponsors  Stamp Addicts.

Earlier in the year I went to a Helen Chilton workshop where we used Pebeo Prisme Fantasy Paint, I love the effect that the paint has so I decided to use it to cover the front of a plywood frame. I painted the frame first with black gesso before covering it with the Pebeo paint.
For the embellishments I covered some card with sticky backed aluminium and die cut the flowers using the Sizzix/Alterations tattered flower garland die, I also used the Memory Box delicate vine die. I put some little gems in the centre of the flowers.

Thank you all that took part in our Childhood Memories challenge, we had some fabulous entries. The rest of the DT have made some wonderful altered pieces so why not visit the Craft-Room to take a look.

What A Hoot.

The theme for the UK Stampers September twinchie swap was Birds/Birds and Cages. These are the twinchies that I made.

The background was coloured with Dylusions ink. The tree stump was stamped onto the background and the owls and sentiment were stamped onto card and cut out.
The stamp set that I used is by Hero Arts.

I'm entering my twinchies in the Show Us Your Twinchies Anything Goes Challenge.