Gecko Galz 15th Annual Blog Hop

 Hello Everyone!

We want to welcome everyone to the

Gecko Galz 15th Annual Blog Hop

 

This is our Tricks and Treats Blog Hop! 

We have 14 AMAZING blogs for you to visit this weekend, each with some gorgeous projects created using the Gecko Galz collage sheets that we are giving you for FREE on each site! Each blog you visit will have a exclusive free Gecko Galz Collage sheet for you to download, the one here is

"Fairy Wedding”

(Right click on image to save)

 

Also make sure you leave a message on each blog site you visit and follow that design team member if you do not already. On the last blog there will be a phrase that you will email to us to be entered in our drawing for a wonderful treat pack.  So, sit back, relax, take your time and enjoy the hop!

We have SIX amazing prizes up for grabs:

        First is a Gecko Galz Kit Club for 2026!
        Second prize is a subscription to the Gecko Galz 2026 Card Topper Kits!
        Third prize is a subscription to the 2026 Tin Topper Kits for 2025!
Fourth prize is a $25 shopping Spree!
Fifth prize is a Year of all of our Kit club kits!
       And our Grand Prize ONE FULL YEAR of Gecko Galz PRODUCTS!!! This includes the 6 new collage sheets each quarter, a new stamp set each quarter, a new Craft Kit each quarter, a ATC collections, 1 Paper Pack each quarter, Tin Toppers, and Card Toppers!

 

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 the phrase at the end of the hop on the Fripperies and Butterflies site there will be a link to email the phrase to Gecko Galz at geckogalz2019@gmail.com.

This enters you in the give away. On October 27th we will randomly draw the 6 winners and email each of you, then we will post the winning names in our Newsletter on November 1st.

 

For an extra chance to win make a purchase from the GECKO GALZ ETSY STORE between the 23rd of October and the 27th of October and your name goes in again for a better chance of winning (each purchase you make that weekend gives you another chance to win) 

Here are my projects!

The first one is a Fairy Wedding Book Box:

My Second and Third Projects are Mixed Media Tags:

My fourth project is a Wedding Cloche:

And my fifth project is a Vintage Wedding Card:

 

Now have fun visiting each Blog

 

Gecko Galz

Kim Rayko

Robin Francini

Julia Vasquez

Tanis Buckton

Susan Renshaw

Kelly Parker 

Kim Decker

Carole Jones

Mia

Gerri Herbst

Roni Johnson

Walter Zemrock

Sharron Rogers

Helene Huber

Leanne Seed

All Things Dark and Beautiful - Gecko Galz October Challenge

Welcome back to Paper Play, friends!

October's Gecko Galz Challenge theme was a very fun one to create for - All Things Dark and Beautiful.  I have always been a fan of all things eerie, spooky, paranormal, and creepy.  I'm also a fan of anything Gothic, which i why this challenge was so much fun for me.  But what defines dark and beautiful?  It's so varied from person to person and it was fun to see how each Design Team member interpreted it.

I created five projects for the challenge - A Gothic vampire curio box and four greeting cards.

For the curio box, I used a small wooden rectangular box and painted it black.  I used a Gothic print from the Nosferatu ATC Sheet as the background and fussy cut an image from Victorian Gothic Ladies as the focal point.  Some gems were added around the edge of the frame for a little sparkle.  I love the mischievous smirk on her face!

The first greeting card that I created is a shadowbox card.  The background is a Gothic print from the Nosferatu ATC Sheet that is adhered to a black A2 card base.  The image of the woman was fusst cut from an image in the Victorian Gothic Ladies set and a crystal was glued to the center of the spider web on chest.  I cut a gold arched frame to fit around the background, glued a piece of acetate to the back of it, and adhered it to the card base with double sided foam tape.  A few gems were glued down for added effect.  She looks like she's ready to star in The Curse of the Spider Woman!

The next card is a fun trio of photos preserved in a slimline film strip frame.  I felt like these three images go together well and tell the story of a woman who is haunted by both her past and her future.  I used a die to cut the frame and added distress to it with Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, and Scorched Timber.  I also added from distress to the pictures and then adhered them to the frame.  The frame was adhered to the card base with double sided foam tape, and the sentiment made with a label maker.

The third card celebrates el dia de los muertos, The Day of the Dead.  The gorgeous image is from the Day of the Dead Card Toppers collection.  I centered the image on an arch of black cardstock and adhered it to the card base.  A gold metallic gel pen was used to outline the black rose in her hair.  I rubbed little white flowers with some Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink and glued them down around the arch.  I created a small distressed rectangle and hand wrote the sentiment of hermosa eternindad, eternal beauty, on it.  It's truly dark and beautiful!

The last card is a a Gothic Wedding card.  For the background, I cut a piece of brown shipping paper to fit an A2 card base, wrinkled up the shipping paper several times, and then adhered it down to the card base with a combination of double sided tape and craft glue.  I ran Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink over the card base and Scorched Timber around the edges of the card.  The blood spotted letter is from the Vampire Dreams Junk Journal Kit, and the image is from Gothic Halloween.  The skeleton mask for the husband was cut from an image from The Dark Library set.  I made a frame for it using some chipboard, gold gilding wax, and turquoise gilding wax.  The result is a perfect wedding card for a couple who enjoys everything dark and beautiful.

I hope that you enjoyed reading about my creative process for these projects.  Until next time . . . be well!

AECP Level 3 - Elements of Floral Composition

Hi, friends!  Welcome back to Paper Play.

It’s been really hot and humid in New England this past week, so it was the perfect time to stay indoors in the air conditioning and get crafty!  I took the opportunity to finish my 4th AECP Level 3 class, Elements of Floral Composition.  Jaycee Gaspar taught this very informative course on all of the elements of composition, including: color, value, line, shape, form, texture and space.  Jaycee did an amazing job with breaking it all down and showing exmples of taking each component into your design.

I chose to focus on color, value, line, and space with the project that I created.

Time to Celebrate

I really enjoy ink blending florals and knew that I wanted my main project to incorporate it.  I also knew that I wanted to have lots of depth to play around with space and would use die cut florals to achieve it.  I decided to go with the Altenew Flowering Dogwood Layering Die Set because it checked the boxes and is my favorite layering die set.  I adhered to the 60/30/10 color ratio focusing on pink, white, and green.  As you can see, there are light hues with the pinks, and darker hues with the greens (value).  I used darker shades to emphasize the natural lines of the flowers and leaves, and also added a light white line next to the embossed lines to help give the, direction.  Lastly, I used several flowers and layered them across a wide swath of card to to best utilize space and not have a ton of white space.

Here’s what I used to make it:

• Altenew Caft-a-Flower Flowering Dogwood Layering Die Set
  
• Altenew Lovely Camellias Outline Stamp Set (sentiment)
• Altenew Fresh Dye Inks: Blush and Rouge
• Altenew Crisp Dye Inks: Green Fileds and Hunter Green
• Altenew Artist Markers: Pink Cloud, Swamp Green, Evergreen
• Altenew Jet Black Ink Spray
• Sakura White Gelly Roll Pen
• Taylored Expressions Bits & Pieces Black Rhinestones
• A2 white card base

Here’s how I made it:

• Used a black ink pad to outline the card base
• Die cut all leaves and florals using white card stock
• Blended the florals with Blush ink first and then Rouge

• Used the Pink Cloud marker to add depth to the embossed lines on the petals

• Added light white lines along the embossed lines to give direction

• Colored the leaves with Green Fields and then Hunter Green inks; used the Swamp Green marker to deepen the embossed lines of the leaves

• Colored floral centers with Swamp Green marker and then added center dots with the Evergreen marker
• Assembled the flowers; used the white gel pen to add some shading in the flower centers

• Before glueing down to card, arranged leaves and flowers to decide where to stamp sentiment; stamped sentiment, masked it, and add splashes of black ink to card base
• Once black splashes were dry, adhered leaves down with craft glue; adhered flowers with double sided foam tape to create further dimension

• Glued down three black rhinestones

Here’s a closeup of a flower to show how the light white lines help to further define with the direction of the petals:

This was a really fun card to make and I believe that it provides a great example of what I learned in this class.  I feel more confident with my florals since I know understand more of the theory behind composition and arranging.  Thanks, Jaycee, for another amazing course with Altenew!

Thar wraps up this post.  Thanks for spending some time with me today on Paper Play.  Until next time . . . be well!

AECP Level 3 - Runway Inspired Card Making

Hey there, crafting friends!

Thanks for stopping by Paper Play today.  This post officially kicks off level 3 of AECP for me.  I have five courses to complete and then my final assignment will be to host a live class.  More about the class at a later date - today’s focus is on completing my first level 3 course, Runway Inspired Card Making.  This class was AMAZING and so much fun.  The content focused on getting inspiration for card designs from current runway fashions.  I started by making the decision to make three cards for the class - one female design, one male design, and one bridal design.  Bridal fashion wasn’t a focus of the course but I thought it would be fun to make a wedding card based on current fashion trends.  That decision made, I performed my research of current fashion trends and decided upon three styles to inspire my card designs.

Card 1 - Female 2024 Fashion Trend: Roses

According to Vogue, one of the leading fashion trends for women is rose prints.  I saw multiple rose print dresses that were stunning, but this one from Alexander McQueen truly stood out to me:

I loved the large rose and petals, and the A-line style.  I wanted my card design to have a large rose(s) and lots of petals.  However, I didn’t want to use a red rose.  I wanted to be different and chose two shades of pink instead.  Here’s my card inspired by this dress:

Here’s what I used to make it:

• Altenew Ambridge Rose Layering Stencil Set
  
• Altenew Happy Flowers Stamp Set - for the sentiment
  
• Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks: Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness
• White A2 card base
• 4”x5.25” black card panel
• Brutus Monroe Alabaster Pigment Ink
• Pink and green glitter gel pens
• Taylored Expressions Bits & Pieces Black Rhinestones

Here’s how I made it:

• Made three triangle cuts (top of black card panel, left & right sides) to mimic a neckline and waistline.
• Stenciled the base part of the roses with Spun Sugar Oxide Ink.  I chose this because I knew that the light shade of pink oxide ink on the black card stock would give the flower base the look of a sheer material, which is a way to add the illusion of texture to the card.
• Stenciled the second part of the roses with Victorian Velvet Oxide Ink.
• Stenciled the stem and base leaves with Mowed Lawn Oxide Ink and then added little touches of Rustic Wilderness Oxide Ink to add light shadows.
• Randomly stenciled leaves over the rest of the card panel with Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness.
• Outlined the flowers and leaves with pink and green glitter gel pens to add some sparkle.
• Adhered card panel to base with double sided foam tape.
• Stamped sentiment onto black card stock scrap with Alabaster ink; once dry, adhered to card with double sided foam tape.
• Glued a black rhinestone where each notched triangle is located on the card.

I am extremely happy with how this card came out!  I think it’s a good likeness of the dress.

Card 2 - Male 2024 Fashion Trend: Patterned Cuffs

I have to admit that my research on male fashion trends was quite . . . interesting to say the least!  I didn’t see a lot that really spoke to me or that I could wear.  That said, I’ve always been a huge fan of patterned cuffs on a shirt.  You know, like the kind that the character Cam usually wore on Modern Family.  I own a lot these shirts and am a always drawn to shirts from designed Robert Graham; so I chose a Robert Graham style as an inspiration for this card:

I decided to go a little more bold with mine:

Here’s what I used:

• Altenew Organic Linen 3D Embossing Folder
  
• Altenew Painted Rainbow Outline Stamp Set
  
• Altenew Uplifting Sentiments Bundle
  
• Artistry by Altenew Alcohol Markers
• A2 sized navy card base
• 4”x5.25” medium blue card panel
• 6”x5.25” white shimmer card panel
• Brutus Monroe Alabaster Ink
• Brutus Monroe Clear Embossing Ink
• Brutus Monroe Raven Embossing Powder
• 3 white buttons

Here’s how I made it:

• Embossed the medium blue card panel with the Organic Linen embossing folder.
• Scored the white shimmer panel at 2” and used a stamp from Painted Rainbow to stamp the design with clear embossing ink to make the cuff design; added Raven embossing powder and heat set.
• Colored the cuff with alcohol markers; adhered the cuff panel to the medium blue panel so that the embossed cuff was in front of it and the remainder of that panel was behind it.  Used craft glue on the backside and double sided foam tape at the top of the cuff to give it a flared look.
• Attached card panel to card base with double sided tape.
• Stamped sentiment with Alabaster ink onto a strip of navy card stock; cut it outh with coordinating die; adhered to card with double sided foam tape.
• Attached 3 buttons tomthe left side of the cuff with craft glue.

I think that this card definitely gives the vibe of a shirt sleeve with a flared patterned cuff.  I’d wear it!

Card 3 - Bridal 2024 Fashion Trend: Floral Applique

Vogue was once again my go to source - this time for bridal fashion.  The trend that I decided to mimic is floral applique on the dress.  It’s such a pretty design element and one that I knew I could accomodate.  Here’s the pic of the actual gown that inspired my card:

I wanted to make a wedding card so that I could finally use the Enchanted Beginnings set.  Here’s a pic of my card:

Here’s what I used to make it:

• Altenew Enchanted Beginnings Bundle
  
• Altenew Folk Art Flowers Die Set
• Altenew Vintage Roses Stamp Set - for the sentiment
  
• Black A2 card base
• 4”x5.25” gold foil card panel
• White shimmer card panel
• Vellum
• Poece of white organza ( I cut apart an oragnza bag)
• Brutus Monroe Embossing Ink
• Brutus Monroe Raven Embossing Powder
• Nuvo Shimmer Glitter Gloss Pen
• Pearl gems

Here’s how I made it:

• Embossed the white shimmer card panel with the Enchanted Beginnings folder; colered the groom with Grey Shadow ink; decided on placement of couple on card; fussy cut the couple.
• Cut piece of organza to cover the train of the wedding dress and glued it down along the edges to the dress.
• Die cut nine flowers using die from Folk Art Flowers and vellum; adhered flowers to dress with craft glue; adhered pearls to center of flowers with craft glue.
• Used Nuvo Shimmer pen to add sparkle to top portion of dress and the applique flowers.
• Stamped sentiment onto gold foil card panel with clear embossing ink; added raven embossing powder; heat set it.
• Adhered couple to the card panel with double sided foam tape.
• Adhered panel to card base with double sided tape.

I think this card is gorgeous - and I’d be proud to give it to a couple as a gift!

That wraps up this entry on my Runway Inspired Card Making class.  This was by far my favorite AECP course!  I’ll be starting the next course and will have another post soon.  Until next time . . . be well!

BPM/IBFS: Vintage Santa, Two Ways

Happy Holidays, friends!

As the old song goes, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year!”  Making Christmas cards, creating Christmas ornaments, and any other type of holiday crafting is the creative time that I enjoy the most.  I think that’s because of all the wonderful holiday memories with my family.  I often think of those memories as I sit and create.  Just add some Christmas tunes and I am in my zen!

Today’s share is a double feature using the same stamp - a nostalgic vintage Samta Clause.  I wanted to make a traditional card and also something that could be both a decoration and a card . . . so I made both!

Project 1

My first creation was this traditional Christmas card featuring the vintage Santa framed by colorful rows of stamped Christmas trees.  There is a lot of dimension in this card, and I love the vintage look and feel of it.

Here’s what I used to make it:

• Vintage Santa holding toys Holiday Art Rubber Stamp
  
• Beyond the Border Christmas Set 1 CLEAR Stamps designed by Pam Bray
  
• Christmas word stamp from the Steampunk'd Christmas Holiday Red Rubber Art Stamp Sheet
• Spellbinders Nesting Diamond Dies
• Dark red, dark green, and cream card stock
• Tim Holtz Distress Antique Linen Spray Stain
• Concord & 9th Cranberry and Wheat Premium Dye Inks
• Altenew Evergreen Crisp Dye Ink

Here’s how I made it:

• Stamp alternating Cranberry and Evergreen rows of Christmas trees onto a 4”x6” cream card panel

• Use a diamond shaped die and cut a diamond in the middle of the card panel

• On a 4”x6” green card panel, take a nested diamond die that is two sizes smaller than the one just used in step above and cut a diamond in the middle of the panel
• Put a 4”x6” cream card panel behind the green card panel and stamp the vintage Santa image in cranberry onto the cream card panel
• Adhere green card panel to panel with stamped Santa image with double sided foam tape

• Adhere panel with stamped Christmas trees to green panel with double sided foam tape
• Adhere completed card panel to 5”x7” red card base; may use double sided foam tape or double sided tape, depending on how much dimension you would like
• Stamp the word Christmas onto scrap piece of cream card stock with Wheat ink; cut out the word in a rectangle shape; lightly spray with Antique Linen spray stain; adhere to card with double sided tape

Look at those layers of dimension!  This was such an easy, yet very classic, card to make.  I love the way that it turned out!

Project 2

The second way that I used the vintage Santa stamp was in making this vintage curio box.  This curio box may be used as a decoration and may also be used as a card if you put a blank piece of card stock on the back of it.  

I love that it’s multi-purpose.  It can also hold a gift card on the back if you make a slot for one or put a pocket back there!

Here’s what I used to make it:

• Vintage Santa holding toys Holiday Art Rubber Stamp
• Sizzix Thinlits Curio Box Bigz Die by Tim Holtz
• Carta Bella Wood Grain Paper
• Recollections Holiday Paper
• Chipboard - 1 8.5”x11” piece
• Cream card stock
• Gold card stock
• Concord & 9th Cranberry Premium Dye Ink
• Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Antique Linen & Vintage Photo

I made a video to show how I made the curio box.  You may see it on my YouTube channel.

I hope that you enjoyed learning more about the versatility of this amazing stamp from Blank Page Muse and my creative process in using it!

Thanks for spending some time with me today on Paper Play.  Until next time . . . be well!