Book box set

I made a book box set for the March 2023 Challenges on the Gecko Galz Blog.

The set is made from white cardstock and blue patterned paper. First I made the book box out of an A4 sheet of white cardstock and trimmed it to 111/2 inch wide by 71/2 inch long then I made a one inch spine so that I had the room to fit in the box base when the book was closed.

The box base measures 6 inches in height by 4 inches wide. I glued the base down on the right side of the inside of the back cover. I then added ribbon to the side of the front cover of the book box and the back side so that the ribbon will be secure and will look neat when the blue patterned paper is added.

I made a small notebook to go inside the box base and decorated the cover using the image of the birds. The tag I made to fit inside the pocket on the left hand inside of the cover I added a pretty image of a rabbit. 

For the lid of the box I used the pretty image of the fairy that has been provided for the Challenge. The blue paper on the lid, notebook and tag I lightly stencilled using a leaf stencil then adhered all the images by layering  with blue and light green card and paper. 

The little flowers I made using a metal die. Finally I added a light touch of glitter to all of the images and added little rhinestones to the centre of the flowers and the corners of the fairy image to give it all a finished look

March 2023 Image Challenge

'Ode to Spring Challenge'

I want to join these Challenges on the Gecko Galz Blog

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Double Display Box

I made the Double Display Box Card for the 'February 2023 Steampunk Love Challenge' on the Gecko Galz Blog.

I followed a tutorial made by Create with Scrimpingmommy on you tube  to make each of the box cards, both are made using a tan colour Kraft cardstock in an A4 size

When assembled I used the image of the lady from the Gecko Galz. The paper to cover the front of the boxes is from Stamperia called Mechanical Seaworld. As there is a rust colour and green in the paper design I added the same colours in Distress Oxide in different areas on the front of each box. The cogs are made from MDF that I coloured using gilding wax in gold and copper. 

For the corners of each shadow box I used metal corners that I coloured in gold wax to match the project

Steampunk Love Challenge Gecko Galz

Open Book 

I made the Open Book for the Gecko Galz 'Myths and Legends August 2022 Challenge' on the Gecko Galz Blog.

I have a set of open book page metal dies in different sizes. To start I cut out the back of the book using gold coloured card using the largest metal die, then I cut the second size page using pretty patterned paper in peach and then again using the smaller die in white card and over that the printed page from the 'Gecko Galz Starlight ATC' collection that I resized and printed it out to fit the project.

For the edges of each page I added gold colour corner peel-offs to give a more finished look.

I curled the pages to make them look like pages of a book and cut each one down the centre and adhered them down by layering one on top of the other this stops the pages being too bulky. I used raised foam pads behind the pages to keep the curled page look.

The image of the lady is from the 'Gecko Galz Mystic Fantasy set'.

I resized the image and printed it out. I cut a frame out of the gold card for the image and different size stars in white and gold card. For the sentiment on the right of the book I used the same gold card, patterned paper and white cardstock and layered them and stamped the word Dream in the centre.

The smaller stars are also layered. I adhered the framed image on the left side of the book and the large star on the right side using foam pads. I then adhered the stars on all four corners of the frame. I added gems to the small stars the large layered star For the centre of the book I adhered a ribbon and added large gems to the top and bottom of the ribbon. The stand is also made using a metal cutting die and  gold card.

I want to enter the 

Gecko Galz Myths and Legends

Shabby Chic Style Canvas

I made this for the Garden Child Challenge for April 2022 on the Gecko Galz Blog.

To start I used an 8 inch by 8 inch canvas. Then I chose the image of the girl from the Spring Innocence Collage sheet by the Gecko Galz on Etsy and resized it in a photo software program on my computer and then I printed it out onto matt photo paper. I always start with the image and I decorate that project to match. 

The backing paper is from My Porch Prints on Etsy and I printed that out onto matt photo paper. I adhered the backing paper onto the canvas. I then layered brown and pink cardstock behind the image to make the image stand out from the background. Then I used pretty scalloped lace at the top and bottom of the canvas. The flowers and butterflies are die cuts that I cut out and made from Carnation Crafts

I decoupaged the pink and cream flowers in different size layers to make them look more realistic and added a die cut clock that I coloured in pink to match the flowers and I tucked it behind the flowers at the bottom left of the canvas. I then added flower sprays in white to fill in the gaps between the flowers then I adhered them all onto the canvas. 

The image of the girl was adhered next and then I added lace and pink flower trim to the bottom of the image and added the same flower trim that I cut up for the top of the image. I added glitter to the flowers and also the butterflies to highlight them so they stood out from the background

Garden Child Challenge April 2022

Shabby Chic style large tag

I made this tag for the Birds and Bees Crafting Challenge for March 2022 on the Gecko Galz Blog 

To make the tag I used a large mdf tag approximately 11 inches long by 51/2 inches wide. I chose to use one of the Gecko Galz ATC's from the Gecko Galz 'Woodwork ATC set', resized in a photo editing program to fit the tag, and printed it out onto matt photo paper. The image of the bird is from the Gecko Galz 'Pretty Little Birds collage set' and I also resized it before printing it out again using matt photo paper. to fit on the front of the tag.

I tore around the image of the bird that I wanted to use so there would be no harsh lines and adhered it onto the front of the tag. I then used sections of a die-cut of a brick wall from Carnation Crafts for around the bottom of the image. Then also using a selection of other die cuts all from Carnation Crafts I tried to make a realistic-looking scene using flowers, ivy, leaves, and grass by cutting sections of each die-cut and arranging them where I thought looked nice.

To finish the decorating of the tag I added a large flat back pearl to the top section of the tag

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 Decorated Tin

I made this decorated tin for the Pre Raphaelite Dreams January 2022 Challenge on the Gecko Galz Blog.

I had been inspired to decorate this tin by watching youtube, boxes being decorated with images used around the base of them although I did use images I wanted to make my own design as I prefer to do this.

To start I printed out some digital images onto photo paper to use for the tin. The images of the ladies are from the Gecko Galz on Etsy and the blue and cream paper is from Arty Maze on Etsy.

First I gave the outside of the tin a coat of white Gesso and for the base, I used grey chalk paint. I cut the background paper to fit around the base of the tin and adhered it down using Mod Podge. I wanted to use small images around the base of the tin in sections so I chose the Gecko Galz Pre-Raphalite Jewels digital sheet as the images were already in a small size. Using photo editing I then sized each image to fit on the base of the tin.

I adhered these to the tin using Mod Podge and then gave the whole outside of the base of the tin a coat of Mod Podge and set it aside to dry. For the lid of the tin I gave it a coat of white Gesso then two coats of blue acrylic paint. When dry I used an image of a lady from the Pre-Raphelite Kit from the Gecko Galz and I cut around the image to fit inside an MDF Frame. I then gave it a coat of clear matt varnish to protect it. For the frame, I again used white Gesso and also two coats of blue acrylic paint to match the lady image and the background paper that I used for around the base of the tin.

For the lid I used white filler and a stencil, placed the stencil on the lid and using a palette knife I spread the filler over the stencil lifted the stencil off and let the filler dry. When this had dried I lightly brushed cream paint over the embossed design on top of the lid then when that had dried I lightly sandpapered over it.

I had decided to use cream pearl trim around the images on the base of the tin and also around the base near the top and bottom. I then adhered the lady image into the centre of the frame

Then I adhered the frame down into the centre of the lid. I used a larger cream coloured pearl trim around the lid of the tin to match the base. To finish I added flat back pearls around the image of the lady towards the centre of the frame

I want to enter the Pre-Raphaelite Challenge for January 2022

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Holly & Ivy decorated canvas

I made this for the Holly & Ivy Challenge December 2021 on the Gecko Galz Blog

The white canvas is 8 inch by 8 inches in size. To start I used a stencil and white texture paste, laid the stencil on top of the canvas, and using a spatula spread the texture paste over the top then lifted off the stencil and put the canvas aside to dry. When dry the stenciled design gives a raised embossed effect. Next, I gave the canvas a coat of green acrylic paint and dried it off with a craft heat gun.

I then hand-painted over the raised scroll design in different areas on the background with metallic copper acrylic paint.

Having already chosen the image of the girl that is from a digital collage sheet called Cuties at Christmas by the Gecko Galz. I resized the image to fit the canvas and printed it out onto photo-quality matt paper.

The frame around the image is made out of MDF so I painted it with copper metallic paint to match the background, then cut around the image to fit inside the frame.

I adhered them together with glue and then adhered them down in the centre of the canvas. 

The floral spray is hand made by myself and I added that to the right-hand side of the frame then added a holly embellishment to the top left-hand side of the frame, also I coloured clear gem embellishments using a red alcohol marker and added them to the frame

The raised holly embellishments on the four corners of the canvas I had previously made out of paper clay so I painted the leaves with the same green acrylic paint and highlighted them using copper acrylic paint, I also painted the berries with red acrylic paint so that all the decoration on the canvas will match together

I want to enter the Holly & Ivy Challenge for December 2021 on the Gecko Galz Blog 

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