A large tag 

I have decorated a large MDF tag for the Gecko Galz monthly Image Challenge July 2020 on their Blog. To enter your project click on the monthly Image Challenge on their Blog and enter it via the Linky.

The tag size is 10 inches long by 5 inches wide. I coloured the edge of the whole tag with gold gilding paste. I papered the back of the tag as I want the tag to look nice from both sides. Then I papered the front of the tag using pretty patterned paper.

For the image of the lady, I printed it out using an inkjet printer onto photo paper and gave it a coat of Ranger Distress Collage Medium to stop the image becoming scratched. I do this to make sure this does not happen.

A pretty metal cutting die has been used to cut out the frame using orange card stock. I then cut around the image to make it an oval shape and adhered it onto the tag, then I  lightly glued in areas on the back of the frame and adhered that to the tag to frame the image.

For the bottom of the tag, I did not have a lace trim in the colour that I wanted to match the tag, so I dyed it using Ranger Distress Oxide spray in abandoned coral and also a Distress Oxide ink pad in fired brick. I also used a gold trim and then the pearl trim was also coloured using copper paint.I adhered the lace to the tag so that the lace is slightly draping over the bottom of the tag.

Finally, I added the paper leaves and also the flowers were coloured to match the tag. To finish the look I added yellow and red rhinestones to match the whole project and a small fabric daisy that I had dyed and I used a small red rhinestone in the centre to cover the hole at the top of the tag

I want to enter the Monthly Image Challenge July 2020

Gecko Galz Image Challenge

Vintage style ATCs

I made the ATCs using white card 300Gsm in weight. The backgrounds on all of the ATCs are made using an A4 stamp No 55 from AAll & Create designed by Tracy Evans.

First I stamped the whole image in permanent black ink onto the white card A4 in size. I then cut up the card into 21/2 inches by 31/2 inches pieces.

The backgrounds were coloured with a sponge using Ranger Distress Oxide in spiced marinade and fossilised amber.

I decorated each ATC with different scraps of patterned paper, corrugated card and ephemera. On some of the ATCs I added circles in white card and shaded them to match the background.

The Tim Holtz paper dolls were adhered to each ATC card making sure that each image is grounded. I then added a word for each ATC and adhered them onto the ATC cards. Finally, I went around each image with a fine nibbed pen in black to make the paper dolls stand out from the background

Alice in Wonderland Flag Book

I made the Flag book for the Gecko Galz Welcome to Wonderland Blog Challenge for July 2020 and also for July 2020 Keys and Keyholes Challenge and the Colour Me Fantastic Challenge July 2020 on the Gecko Galz Papercrafting group on Facebook

I made this book using black cardstock, the size of the book is 43/4 inches by 33/4 inches. All of the images and background papers are from the Gecko Galz on their Etsy store.

I learnt how to make a Flag book from a workshop by Tracy Evans who also designs stamps for AAll & Create, Tracy Evans is also on youtube.

I papered the front and back covers using a pretty backing paper. The main image is matt and layered on black cardstock. The keyhole I made out of paper clay and I painted it black and highlighted the design with silver coloured guilding paste

I decorated the inside front cover and the back cover with a lovely image and mounted these on black card stock

The inside of the book is made as card flaps that fold flat when the book is closed. I added four small tags to the edge on the back page and decorated using patterned paper

These are the images and background paper that I have used

Wonderland 1 and 2

Wonderful Wonderland 1 and 2

Wonderland Dominoes

Wonderland ATCS 1 and 3

Looking Glass

I want to enter 

Welcome to Wonderland Challenge 1 - 29th July 2020

Gecko Galz

Altered metal tin and mini book

I made these so I can enter the June Image Challenge 2020 and the Colour of Summer Challenge 2020 on the Gecko Galz blog.

To start I used a plain gold coloured tin and gave the outside sides and the lid of the tin a coat of Clear Gesso. When dry I painted the lid and the sides of the tin and the base of the tin with blue emulsion paint. I then papered the inside of the lid of the tin and the inside base of the tin and also the outside base of the tin

The image of the seahorse has some touches of gold in the design so to highlight this I coloured a strip of pearls with Gold Treasure Gilding Polish and left to dry and then added some highlights on the tin using the same colour Gilding Polish.

The image of the sea horse was printed onto white photo paper and sized to fit the project. I gave it a coat of Ranger Distress Collage medium to seal and protect the image

To decorate the tin I made shells using a mould and paper clay. I then put them to one side to dry overnight. The following day I painted the shells using two different colours of blue Paper Artsy Fresco Paint and when dry I highlighted each shell using the gold-coloured Gilding polish. I glued the gold-coloured pearl trim to the sides of the base of the tin using Ranger Distress Collage medium and put it to one side to dry. I glued the sea horse image onto the top of the lid using Beacon 3 in 1 glue and arranged the shells around the image again using the same glue.

I made a small folding mini-book for inside the tin. The images I used are from the Gecko Galz Summer Seas Collage sheet 1 and 2. The images fit nicely onto each page of the book. I then hand-stamped some words and I also used the Charming Words Collage Sheet set 1 and 2 and added those to the pages on the front of the mini book and on the back of the pages of the book, I made the mini book to fit inside the tin

I want to enter the June 2020 Image Challenge and the Colour of Summer Challenge 2020 on the Gecko Galz Blog

Vintage style decorated notebook

I made the notebook for the Gecko Galz Monthly Image Challenge May 2020. The Challenge is to create a craft project using this image and then post it on the Gecko Galz blog using the Linky by the 29th May 2020

To start I took apart a notebook and made my own cover out of Kraft card. For the background, I used a patterned paper that I cut to size and coloured around the edges with Distress ink, then I cut out two different layers of paper, staggering the size of each piece one is of patterned paper from the Sunday Times by the Gecko Galz and then I also used tea-dyed paper and hand-stamped a design on the top right and the bottom left corners to balance it.

The image has been resized to make it the focal point on the front of the notebook. I layered the patterned and the hand-stamped paper on top of each other and then added the image on top of that, before glueing these all down I added a selection of lace trims around the edges of the bottom layered pieced of paper.

For the decoration on the front of the notebook, I added a burlap trim on the top and the bottom. Finally, I added two fabric appliques that I have hand-dyed on the top left and the bottom right of the image and then added the paper flowers.

I want to take part in the Gecko Galz Monthly Image Challenge May 2020

Gecko Galz

Vintage style Nature themed pocket

The size of the pocket is 51/2 by 73/4 inches. I made this for the Nature prompt May 2020 on The Mixed Media Emporium with Nina Ribena and Kylie Coo on Facebook

The pretty bird image is from Vintagebyme on Etsy. The pocket is made out of a manilla file folder that I cut to size. On the fold of the pocket, I added Tyvek to strengthen it and then I glued down both sides to make a pocket.

For the background I made a spray using a mixture of Distress Oxide ink in Vintage photo and Distress ink in Vintage Photo and added these to a small amount of water in a spray bottle and mixed them together, then sprayed the mixture over the folder and heat set it. When dry I gave the pocket a light coat of white Gesso this not only gives the option of being hand stamped on when dry it also adds strength to the pocket, I used a script stamp and randomly stamped that over the pocket.

Using pretty paper I hand-stamped in one corner to match the printed design on the other corner so it looked balanced. I then layered with a brown piece of patterned paper and then the bird image distressing the edges with scissors on all of these to give a shabby look. I added more cheesecloth around the edge of the layers and then glued everything down to the front of the pocket.

The paper flowers that I used were blue and purple as I did not have anything to match the project. I painted the flowers with copper paint so that they will match the rest of the project.

I used burlap fabric, cheesecloth and funky fibre yarn all in similar colours and arranged them so that they would look nice on the bottom right and top left of the image. I added die cut leaves that I had distressed with ink and glued those to the bottom right and the top left of the image. Then when the flowers had dried I glued those down on top of these.

Finally, I added lace trim to the top of the pocket and on the bottom of the pocket

Vintage style bookmarks

I made these for a Nature Challenge with an optional twist of vintage on the Gecko Galz Papercrafting Challenge group on Facebook and I am also entering the Gecko Galz blog May Customer Challenge called Vintage Botanicals.

The background paper and the images are all from the Gecko Galz

To start I cut brown kraft card to the size I wanted. I papered each bookmark using different paper designs that I tore into random pieces and glued these onto each bookmark. Then I resized an array of different collage sheets in a program on my computer and then printed them out, I wanted the images to be small enough for me to cut each image out to make a collage on each bookmark.

 I made each bookmark in its own colour scheme. When I had fussy the images out I arranged them on each bookmark so that there was no focal point as when finished I wanted to make each one interesting to look at. Finally, I added lace to each bookmark and a lace tab at the top of each one

I want to take part in


Vintage Botanicals May 2020 Customer Challenge

Gecko Galz

Beautiful Blooms May 2020 Challenge

A Vintage Journey