Gecko Galzs February Feature Day

Welcome back friends visiting from Gecko Galz. We are glad you stopped in.  Here is the incredibly sweet image that Gecko Galz has provided as your freebie for the month.

I used it to make a really sweet shadow box. It looks like you are peeking out the window and catch the sweethearts smooching under the tree. It turned out so well my 13 year old son said he wanted it for his room but it was too girly. High praise from a teenaged boy.

If you are interested in using the image for a shadow box just follow the steps below.

 1. Prep your shadow box. I picked this one up at Dollarama for $3 which I thought was pretty cheap. Use painters tape (I also got that at the dollar store) to mask off the glass. I used newspaper to cover the centre of the glass pane. 

 2. Be sure to remove all the stickers. Do not use Goo be Gone or anything like that as it will create a spot that will not take the paint. (ask me how I know). Usually just a warm damp rag will get it off. Be sure to let it dry before trying to paint.

 3. Do 3 very thin layers of Gesso over the entire box. Let it dry well between coats. Then using your Tattered Angels spray colour the window with dark blue and greys. Be sure to make it splotchy and darker towards the corners. After the mist has dried apply a thin coat of watered down white acrylic paint. You should now have a weathered look on the box.

4. Now you can colour the image. I used spectrum noir markers but feel free to use whatever you like. Pencil crayons or watercolours would be lovely.

 Once I finished colouring all the little bits I placed the image in the box. Next I added some vines and paper roses to create the 3D effect. Finally I sealed the box shut so my boys could not come and dump out the girly stuff and take the box to put bugs in. (I'm no newbie Mama).

Enjoy your new shadowbox. Be sure to send me a picture of your creation.

Tracy

My Grandma's Teacups February Feature Project for Gecko Galz.

Gatefold Valentine Using Gecko Galz Ephemera

Here is another simple but high impact Valentine that you can create with very few supplies and very little effort.

What you Need:
Red Cardstock
Digital Image from Gecko Galz
Digital Design Paper from Gecko Galz
White Enamel Accents (or white paint)
Paper Flowers
Adhesive Backed Pearls
White Paper Doily

Tools:

Scoring Board
Bone Folder
Paper Trimmer
Heart shaped die and machine or scissors to freehand the Heart Cutout

How To:

1. Using your paper trimmer cut a 12x12 piece of red cardstock in half. Set one piece aside to make another valentine if you so desire.
2. Using your score board, score at the the 3 and 9 inch marks.
3. Use your bone folder to give a nice clean crisp edge to the two folds as you bring them forward. You should now have a 6x6 card base with a cut down the centre front.
4. Use your heart die or freehand cut a heart out of the centre front being sure not to cut through to back paper. Be sure to align heart so that it is perfectly even on both sides of the cut.
5. Adhere a doily over the heart cut out space and carefully trim it to match the opening and also cut it so that it opens with the card.
6. Using a scrap piece of cardstock cut a heart shape larger than your operning and then cut it again to create a hollow heart shape. 
7. Glue the cardstock heart image to the left side panel only so that the card can still open.
8. Decorate the face of the card with the white enamel or white paint.
9. Adhere your flowers to the bottom of the card, ensure that they do not inhibit the card opening.
10. Add some adhesive backed pearls around the heart.
11. Cut a 53/4 square piece of design paper and adhere it to the inside of the card.
12. Centre your focal image (in my case gecko Galz Ephemera) making sure it is showing properly through the heart cutout.
13. Add any sentiment you wish to the inside of the card using stamps or pens.
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15. Once you get the hang of this card it becomes an incredibly easy card to create. It is a cute layout for any occasion.
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Romantic Vintage Inspired Necklace Using Images from Gecko Galz

Need a last minute gift for someone special. Just wait until you see how easy this beautiful vintage inspired necklace is.

What you need:

Blank silver cabochon (the type with a back in it, not a hole).
Silver chain
Digital Image from Gecko Galz
Glossy Accents
Resin Rose
Small charm that is big enough to hold resin rose

How To:

Its so simple I am not even going to break it into steps. Just cut the image to the size of the opening. I make a cardstock template first and once I get it sized right I trace it on my image and cut. Apply and even coat of glossy accents beginning in the middle of the image and allowing it to pool towards the sides. Leave the necklace to dry overnight. In the meantime you can adhere the resin rose to the charm. Once the pendant is dry you can add a jump ring to it and the charm and attach it to your chain. There you go. One sweet vintage necklace just in time for Valentine's Day.

Little Fairy Wall Hanging using Gecko Galz Digital Fairy Stamp

I think this little wall hanging turned out so stinking cute. It would be wrong though for me to force my now teenaged daughter to hang it in her room. I guess I will have to wait for someone to have a baby girl. Have you noticed the number of boys being born right now. Whoa..there must be something in the water.

How To:

1. Coat the smooth side of the coaster with Gesso.
2. Transfer the image by coating the paper in Gesso and adding it face down to the coaster.
3. Once dry remove backing paper by saturating it with water and rubbing gently with your finger.
4. Colour the image using alcohol markers.
5. Coat the coloured image only with Glossy Accents.
6. Once Dry use any paints or inks that you have to create the background. Spray it with water to create the soft flowing effect.
7. I gave mine a coat of mod podge to seal it all in.
8. Add adhesive backed gems to the outside perimeter of the circle.
9. Create a loop using your favourite ribbon and adhere it to the back of the coaster.
10. Centre a bow on the top of the design and adhere with Glossy Accents.
11. Allow all the glue to dry overnight before hanging.

I think this would look really sweet with a vintage teddy or Peter Rabbit as well. You can change the image to suit the theme of the room. Maybe even some vintage floral design for the bathroom. Have fun making your wall hanging, I certainly did.

Decorative Ceramic Tile using Gecko Galz images

Have you tried image transfers yet? I have tried several times with varied results but I purchased some Gel Medium and it works every time. I would suggest investing in some if your budget allows. A little goes a long way. 

What you need:

ceramic tile

background paper

mod podge

gesso

flowers

framed image

adhesive backed gems

strong glue

How to:

For this particular project I laid down a coat of gesso on a ceramic tile. It was the type that looks like smooth rock not the type that is smooth and heavily glazed. After the gesso dried I applied a coat of mod podge to seal it. I then applied a second generous coat and while it was still wet I covered the inked side of my paper (Gecko Galz Tara's Garden) with mod podge and placed it face down on the tile. It is really important to get all the air bubbles and wrinkles out, so use your hands or a squeegee and really make it smooth. 

Put it aside and don't even think about doing anything else until tomorrow.

After you have had your first coffee go ahead and take out your tile. You are going to need a spray bottle or sponge and water. You will totally saturate the entire surface of the paper. Let it sit for 5 minutes and then spray again. 

Using your finger, gently draw little circles on the paper. You should see little piece of the paper begin to ball up. Keep going gently. If you find the paper is drying, wet it again and continue. Keep going until you can see your image clearly. This will take some time so be patient.

When you are convinced you have all the white paper off the tile, set it aside to dry.

I added another coat of mod podge just to be sure nothing moved or soaked up colours from my embellishments later on.

I then adhered, using Glossy Accents (Craft Medley Premium Craft Glue works perfectly I was just out) all of my flowers and my framed Gecko Galz image from the Isn't It Romantic Collage sheet.

What do you think?

I stamped my sentiment using a Graphic 45 stamp from the Mon Amour collection and Daisy White ink from Close To My Heart. Using some white glitter embossing powder and my heat tool I embossed the sentiment to make it stand out. The finishing touches were the adhesive backed crystals which to me make it the cutest Valentine's Day Decor item.

Easel Valentine's Day Card using Gecko Galz Ephemera

I love February. It's not just because it's the month I was born in (though I do like that part too), it's just far enough from Christmas that life has returned to normal and not so close to Easter that we are gearing up again for holiday business. Groundhog's Day, Valentine's Day, Family Day...they are all pretty low effort fun holidays without much fanfare attached. My point being, it's a great time to craft. If you are a vintage inspired crafter like me February is your month to shine. In February there is no such thing as too many doilies in a piece or too much lace. You can just decorate to excess and it will be considered on trend.

I made a pile of projects for February. I won't inundate you with them all on one day, so be sure to come back often to see what I have been working on.

I love the lollipop flowers on the cute Valentine's card. It looks complicated but it actually is a very fast card to put together.

You will need:

Gecko Galz Ephemera Sheet
Red 12x12 cardstock (2 sheets)
flat backed adhesive gems
small piece of white or cream cardstock.

First assemble the card base. You do this by cutting your 12x12 sheet into two 12x6 sections. Set one 12x6 aside and cut the other in half forming a 6x6. Fold the 12x6 in half forming a 6x6 card base. Now score and fold the top of that card base back creating a doubled over 3x6. This will act as your hinge mechanism. Next take the 6x6 square you cut and adhere it to the card base. Be sure to only apply adhesive to the bottom half of the folded piece so that it can pop up.

Now that the base is done you will need to cut your design paper. I used Gecko Galz Ephemera and matted it on colonial white cardstock. The mat should be 5.5 inches square and the design paper should be 5.25 square.

Mat your chosen ephemera onto red cardstock and mount on card. Decorate as desired.

Use the piece of cardstock to create a sentiment and pop it up on foam squares to use it as the stopper to hold the page up.

Decorate the base as you feel appropriate,

Voila....you've done it again.

Thanks for visiting

Tracy

2016 Canvas Corp Creative Crew 4x4 Canvas

Gone are the days when a quick photo could be your avatar for identifying your work. I am rather glad of that as I am less than photogenic.

Canvas Corp Brands was generous enough to send each of the crew members 2 4x4 canvas to create a design that best represents our crafting style. If you have a moment be sure to go and look at all the designers projects as they are just lovely.

How did I do it:

• I coated the canvas with a thin layer of Gesso before laying down my base colours of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (garden fairy, wedding pink.)
• Once the canvas was dry I adhered half of an old cotton doily, ensuring that all the loose edges were securely attached.
• After the glue dried I sprayed the doily with  Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (wedding pink).
• I used two rolled roses that I had made over the holidays, two homemade hatpins, a cross charm and a homemade cameo to complement the colour pallets. I added the metal corner filigree and crochet bow  and finished it off with a sentiment from Canvas Corp Brands "The Watering Can"
• I finished the canvas off with a thin coat of Tattered Angels Dazzling Diamonds.

ATC Swap from Saturday's Crop

Today is actually Friday but I wanted to post the picture of the ATC that I will be taking to Angie McColeman's Crop in Kingston tomorrow. This is the crop that is held to raise money to support Angie's Kitten Rescue.  If you are still interested in supporting this worthwhile cause but can't make it to the event please message me and I will get you in contact with Angie.

I was surprised that so few ladies were able to take part but I am sure that the ones that do will do a wonderful job. I will share the other ladies work later on this week.

Here is mine.

Word & Paintery Colour Challenge For January

The Canvas Corp Creative Crew was challenged to participate in a colour challenge with the design team from Words and Paintery this month. If you are not familiar with Words and Paintery, they issue a new colour pallette and phrase each month to inspire creative folk to stretch their comfort zone. You can read all about the January challenge and even take part for a chance to win some really cool crafty supplies. Visit here to check it out.

It took me awhile to complete my piece as I was struggling with the colours. As you know I am more a tan, pink, green kinda gal. It's all about trying new things though, so here is my entry.

Materials Used:

Canvas Corp. Brands watering Can (Owl and corrugated paper)

Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (Sky, Riptide, Sea Glass)

Spectrum Noir Markers

Egg Image from Graphics Fairy

Leaves from Ebay

Ribbon from Ebay

Close To My Heart Liquid Glass

Ranger Black Enamel

Mixed Media Canvas Using Gecko Galz Fair Maiden Ephemera

Good morning. I have been playing around with mixed media allot more lately. I usually stick to very vintage, shabby chic projects that are light and airy. I decided to push myself to create a piece that was a bit darker. Perhaps I went a bit too dark.


What do you think?


I used Gecko Galz Fair Maiden image 1 as my base using it as a transfer onto the canvas. That is why she is backwards. I forgot to invert her before I printed. I added crinkled tissue paper to the canvas around her with mod podge. Once it was dry I painted all around her in black. I am not sure if you can see it from the picture but I added a layer of lace for the inside section of her mantle. I created the mantle using resin roses that I had coloured using my pomegranate Tattered Angels Glimmer mist and a few white ones along the base. Once they were adhered using Craft Medley Clear Glue, I began adding the buttons. I covered the buttons in a light coat of gesso before spraying with several shades of blue glimmer mist. Once it was all dried I sprayed the entire project with Dazzling Diamonds Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. I added the adhesive backed stars as an afterthought to try to brighten the piece up. All in all I really like it, but I think I am going back to light and airy...lol....

Gecko Galz Art Journal...the video....

Sometimes I wonder if my pictures are able to get the fine details of a project across. I decided to do a quick video to showcase the Gecko Galz Art Journal that I posted last week. If you missed the post be sure to go back and check it out. There is a free stamp on that post courtesy of Gecko Galz.

Gecko Galz Art Journal: Go get the free stamp here!!!


Watch the video here.

Canvas Corp Creative Team Supply Haul

Oooohhhh I am super excited to share with you the box of goodies that I received as part of the 2016 Canvas Corp Creative Crew. If you fall in love with this stuff, wait until you see the beautiful designs they launched this week at the Craft and Hobby Association Mega Show in Anaheim. There are so many new items coming my brain is filled with ideas.

This is my video of the unboxing. If you have not used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists go out and get a few next time you are shopping. I suggest buying them at least in twos but preferably threes so that you can create shading effects. Much like our alcohol marker tutorials. you want a light, medium and dark shade. If your budget is a bit stretched after the holidays, I suggest getting a neutral colour like dazzling diamonds that will just provide a fine glimmer effect to your project.

Angie's Kitten Rescue

I know not everyone is a cat person. My husband is most certainly not a cat person...at all...ziltch. Still, it is so sad to see so many cats running around loose. The last few years there has been such an increase in ferral cats in the area that I live. It breaks my heart to see their skin and bone frames, matted fur and often injured little bodies. One effective way to reduce the number of cats running wild and suffering under harsh conditions is to make sure that kittens receive their proper immunizations, are spayed or neutered and are found loving homes to adopt them. My friend Angie does just that. She rescues litters of kittens and cares for and loves them as they proceed through to their new homes. She opens her home and her heart to all these little fur balls and asks nothing in return.

I would love to adopt one of her sweet kitties, my German Shepard would love a playmate, but we have kids with allergies. So in a show of support for this great lady I am trying to raise some money to help out her cause. Kitty chow and litter are not cheap, let alone all the vet costs.

So I put a little bundle together that you can bid on to help out. Please visit my ebay listing

Ebay Listing

January Gecko Galz Feature: Art Journal

Hello and welcome to everyone visiting me from the Gecko Galz blog. First of all I want to say how thrilled I am to be part of the 2016 Gecko Galz Design Team. The wonderful papers and images are entirely my style. The creative group of ladies that are on this team are so inspiring to work with. 2016 is going to be such an exciting year.

I decided to use the beautiful stamp that the Gecko Galz provided as a freebie for all of you. It was the perfect sentiment for the art journal that I was creating for 2016. I paired it with one of their other digital stamps from the Fairies Stamps digital stamp collection.

 I printed the images off separately on my HP Inkjet printer. I started with the Beauty and Truth stamp and coloured over the foliage and banner with pencil crayons. I then began shading with my spectrum noir alcohol markers being very careful not to allow the ink to saturate the paper so much as to smear the inkjet image. I found it works best to colour small areas in isolated patches and allow them to dry before colouring the adjacent spaces.

The incredible fairy image comes to life with just a few highlights on her dress and some bold blue on her wings.

After the images were completely dry I adhered the fairy to the sentiment and began highlighting using stickles in pink, green, yellow and silver.

Using some purple and white paint along with a bit of teal glitter paint I created a background on white cardstock.

 I adhered the cut out coloured image to the background and then used mod podge to add it to the cover of my art journal. Making sure all the wrinkles were our I gently dabbed an extremely light coat of Mod Podge over the entire image and background paper. Let me stress.....extremely light. Once that layer was dry I applied another coat of Mod Podge to the entire page.

Using some adhesive backed gems from the Dollar Tree, I outlined the image border and also the page border.

I am so excited to use this new journal for all my inspiration notes this year. Working with the ladies on the Gecko Galz design team, I am sure that it will be filled up in no time.

Be sure to grab the free stamp and also visit Gecko Galz store to purchase the fairies stamps collection.

If you love working with the Gecko Galz products be sure to show off your creations and get inspired by following the Gecko Gals Challenge group on facebook.

DIY Planner Pages: Cricut Explore Slice Feature and Gecko Galz Ephemera

Well we are finally coming to the end of this particular project. I hope you are feeling confident in your ability to use the upload and print then cut features of your Cricut Explore.

Today we will take those lessons and combine it with the Slice Feature. I have to tell you this is one of the most useful functions on the Cricut Explore. Having the ability to cut shapes inside other shapes makes it so easy to mass produce elements for classes and clubs.

Lets go back to our Cricut Design Space and insert one of the images from Gecko Galz that we have previously uploaded.

 Next you will want to select the shape that you are going to use for the planner page. I am using a cut from my Artbooking cartridge but many cartridges has page shapes you could use.

Click insert image, cartridges and the filter to your cartridges.

Select the shape that you think works best with your image. Choose insert.

Cricut Explore Air™ Machine + Ultimate Machine Set

DIY Planner Dividers: Print then Cut Feature with Gecko Galz Ephemera

So yesterday we walked through how to upload silhouettes to your Cricut Design Space. That is the option that I find that I use most often. Sometimes however you will want to use a particular image as the background for your project. You could always trace the pattern onto the image and fussy cut it. A more efficient way to do it is to upload the image directly into your Cricut software.

In this example I will be using images that I received from Gecko Galz. These incredible images make a wonderful backdrop for my cuts.

Begin by logging into your Cricut Design Space software. Then click on upload image just like we did in the tutorial yesterday. This time we are going to browse to the folder where we saved the images from Gecko Galz. You can see in the picture I already have a few in use.

Once you select your uploaded image from the library you can click the cut button. This will take you to the Print then Cut dialog. The first time you use this feature it will need to run an alignment (much like a new printer). The image must be printed on white paper in order for the Cricut to read the registration marks. Once prompted print the image on your printer and then adhere it to the cutting mat. The Cricut will make all kinds of beeps and bumps as it reads the registration marks on the paper. Once it has figured out where on the mat your image is it will quickly do all the fussy cutting for you.

Tomorrow we will explore (no pun intended) using Print then Cut images along with the Slice feature to create the lovely planner pages I showed you on Monday.

DIY Planner Dividers: Uploading images to Cricut Explore

I have been a proud Cricut owner since the original baby bug came out way back when. There have been times when my loyalty waivered and I considered buying another type of electronic die cutting machine, but I am glad that I stayed the course. The Cricut Explore has added so many new features that have helped explode my creativity. I am constantly coming up with new things to make with my Explore.

Even having owned 3 prior Cricut machines, my Explore sat on the corner of my desk still in the box for three whole months. Every time I went in the studio I would see it sitting there, waiting to be discovered but I would just look away and get our my beloved Expression. Finally I mustered the courage to tackle whatever learning curve lay ahead and brought my shiny new wonder out into the light. I have not touched my Expression since.

Many people have asked me if they should upgrade to the Cricut Explore and I have answered in this way, "where will you be using it?" If it is going to sit on your worktable connected to your wifi then by all means you will love it. If you are planning to take it to crops with you there will be added task of ensuring that you will have stable internet access.

So for those of you that have made the plunge let's discuss uploading images to Cricut Explore.

There are two types of images that you will upload directly to Design Space (the Cricut Explore online design software) first of all images that you want to cut as a silhouette (which tends to be most projects) and images you want to use the Print then Cut feature for.

Lets look at a basic image upload first.

I usually begin by doing a quick Google search for images in the topic I am working on.  Often Google pulls up copywritten images so it is important to check the use policy on an image before your borrow it. If you are leary about breaking copyright another great resource is Karen Watson's The Graphic Fairy. She collects and restores vintage pictures that she distributes free of charge.

Using my original example you should end up with a screen like this:

See those images with lines through them or watermarks, stay clear of those. Choose the image you like and click view image. Right click and save the file somewhere you won't forget.

Open a new browser and log in to your Design Space account. Start a new project. Once your fresh page has loaded click on the tab to the left of your screen that says upload image. Then go ahead and click the blue button to begin the uploading process.

Browse to find the image that you saved then choose simple image and continue.

First thing zoom in so you can see what you are working on. Using the magic wand click on any white spaces to remove them. Pay close attention to small spaces like curls, fingers and ribbons. Sometimes there will be a grey outline in the image, I like to remove that as well in order to add more detail to the cut.

Once you have carefully removed the unwanted areas click continue. This will bring up the screen where you can rename, add tags and decide how you are going to use the image. In this case we will click save as cut image and then save.

After the image saves it will appear in your uploaded image library. You find this library by clicking the upload image tab. Once you scroll down, your image should be the first one in the line up. Click on it to load it and Voila, you can cut your image out as normal.

DIY Planner Dividers Using Gecko Gals Ephemera

Are you a planner addict? I used to be. When I worked in an office and had meetings to attend and important tasks to complete. After I began working from home I fell away from using a planner and graduated to the big calendar on the fridge and post it notes on my computer. Very professional.

The truth is I missed having my planner. I still have countless meetings and tasks that in hindsight are far more important than the ones I was responsible for in my twenties.

Last year I printed many of the lovely printables I found on pinterest. I found that it was costing me as much in ink as it would to just break down and buy a planner.

This year I decided to go with the "Color Crush" planner from Webster Pages. It is beautiful. I love the monthly and weekly calendars, there is plenty of space to write in. The downfall, I wish there were more pages for capturing ideas. So it looks like I will need to go back to Pinterest to find a few more add ons.

The one thing that I did love about my printed planner from last year was the dividers that I had made. Having my favourite images right in my planner is very inspiring to me.

Last year I used my Cricut Explore to cut out the pages and then just adhered to images I liked. This year I decided to get a bit more savvy and I uploaded the beautiful images from Gecko Gals directly into the Cricut Design space and used the print then cut and slice features to create beautiful layered dividers.

This week I will begin a mini series to walk you through uploading digital images to Cricut Design Space, Using the Slice feature and Print then Cut to create these beautiful planner inserts. Tell all your friends that got a Cricut Explore for Christmas to join us as I show you how to used each of these really fun features.

Be sure to sign up for my newsletter as I will be sending out freebies this year and you wont want to miss out.

Happy New Year!