there be treasure

Digital page done for a challenge over on the Gecko Galz facebook page, its a Closed group so you have to request to join.
The challenge name was Cruise the High Seas. When I saw the ship it reminded me of The Goonies *headdesk*
So I decided to go with treasure, when I googled that, the obvious link was to Treasure Island...Doh! -  I was still distracted by The Goonies *lol* A Wikipedia page came up and it the first line included the words "Buccaneers and buried gold" which was perfect for what I wanted.
Scrolling down the page there was a hand drawn map by Robert Louis Stevenson of Treasure Island, itself - which I used on the page, rolled up as if its just been found by the person who's looking for the treasure

the map details:

Original source: Beidecke Library

Transferred from cs.wikipedia; transferred to Commons by User:Sevela.p using CommonsHelper.

 

background map Gecko Galz  'Old World Maps 1'

image Gecko Galz 'Life Altering'

map from Wikipedia (see notes)

compass Gecko Galz 'Od World Maps 2'

digi frame 'Shabby Chic'

 

 

 

 

flutter by

Something different for a change - something for me! Eons ago, I rescued a small plastic ring binder from going in the skip, its been sat in my 'one day' box shoved under my craft desk. Watching Ephemeras Vintage Garden  doodle book on YouTube, I had a light bulb moment and knew what I wanted to use the folder for.
I've wanted to do an altered book, or journal, or something along the same lines but from past experience I know I will fall at the first hurdle, so I will use the folder to put individual pages in, no time limit, no pressure - just a 6 1/2 by 7 1/2 page when the notion takes me. I'm going to include pockets and envelopes and other bits and bobs but nothing is going to by set in stone, so then I won't get too wound up by it and craft myself into a corner, where I just get more and more frustrated then GIVE UP.

So this is my first page, I like how it turned out, left some blank areas so I can add more bits in the future, if I want to.

 

Treasured Memories backing paper

Debbi Moore paper/butterfly

washi tape

hot pink gems

lace scrap

wire

 

I lightly sanded the backing paper - the diamond pattern was glittered, so took that back to the paper. Stuck that to the card then punched the holes. When I found the right paper to use I tore it out of the bookazine, leaving a lovely distressed edge, then folded the other edge against a ruler and ripped downwards so that looked a bit distressed. Stuck that on the page using 2 pieces of spotty washi tape.

The bottom half of the paper is a lace effect so I used some cream lace to compliment that, fussy cut a butterfly, used some copper wire to make its feelers and glued down onto the lace, using some foam pads to keep the wings up.

Cut the sentiment out and edged it using a pink promarker. I decided to chop the first letter off and hand write it in the promaker just to add another bit of pink, still don't like my writing.

I used the same promarker on a bit of scrap lace to see how it looked, then threaded it onto some more wire to see if I could make a flower with it - too short a wire and bit of lace, but I like what I ended up with so stuck that on the top right, with a bit of it hanging off the page. The bottom left corner looked empty so I stuck 3 hot pink gems on.

 

entering in: butterfly blog - W is for washi tape

 

twinkle twinkle

Simple atc done using backing paper, cardboard stars & pen.

entering into: wicked wednesday - stars & stripes

blue, blue sea

As said before...many, many times, I find it hard to do male cards - I get really stuck on the embellishments, can't really stick a doily on them.
But this lovely image speaks for itself, so there was no need to embellish much.

 

Gecko Galz august email freebie

blue embroidery thread

blue buttons

blue card

 

In CAP2, I picked out my chosen image, resized it to be my topper and then copied and pasted it, so I had a second image to use if needed. After trying various digi kit materials to use as the backing paper and not getting anything looking right re the colour tone, I had the idea of enlarging the second copy of the image and using that, after settling on the right placement, I used the transparency tool and lightened the picture.

With the topper, I drew a square, resized it to fit as a frame then colour matched it to the sea, same with the sentiment.

 

Printed everything out and played around with the placement of everything & stuck everything down.

 

(Used a DoCrafts corner punch to round off the corners of the frame, makes it 'pop' out more from the background. I wanted to use some blue/white cotton twine on the card somewhere, so I punched holes round the edges of the background - following a stitched design on the card, but I didn't have a big enough needle to take the twine, so substituted with embroidery thread  instead. Stuck two buttons over the ends to make a 'full stop'.)

entering in: cheerful stamp pad - happy birthday
                    digitally sweet challenges - celebrations
                   the crafty addicts - anything goes
                    Gecko Galz Closed Papercrafting Group on Facebook

a whiter shade of...

This card looks better in actuality, the shadow on the weeping angel is highlighted in the photo, but not so much on the card.

I also came across a new challenge blog, which looks interesting, so I thought I'd enter this months. All the other designs look so amazing!

 

 

An Angel mourns the loss of their lover.

 

 

Delicious Doodles - Dark Valentine & Weeping Angel

Spellbinder die cut (small one)

Do Craft die cut (large one)

white pearls

white gesso

 

 

I used CAP2 to resize and place my images, and also to lighten them using the transparency tool. Once I was happy with the size and placement, I printed the page out, cut down to fit a 6x6 card and then rummaged around in my die cut off-cut box, to see what I could find. Stuck them on and added a few pearls. The Gesso was a happy accident *cough* there was a mark on the paper below the Angel, so I had to think how to cover it up..... three applications of Gesso later, I think it worked.

 

entering in: delicious doodles - white on white

                    forever dark - challenge 3

 

 

C is for card

Had lots of fun doing this card, although when I was playing around with the design sheet on the computer, I nearly gave up, ended up just printing the image in the hope I had some paper in my stash that would work..... I did *lol*

Pushed my limits with this one, so I'm quite chuffed how it came out!

dictionary page

black versamark ink

bronze metallic ink

papers from 'Old Treasures' pack (The Works)

wooden button & twine/cotton from DoCrafts

paper clip

image Lunagirl 'animals at the zoo'

 

entering in: lunagirl moonbeams - animals

 

 

cockney queen

atc done for 'Down the Rabbit Hole' challenge over at Wicked Wednesday Atc blog.

 

image from Wonderland domino set by Gecko Glz

 

Using a black and a red watercolour pencil I drew, then coloured (roughly) the diamonds. I then smudged the colours together using a very small amount of water, left the atc to dry.

Cut out, resized then printed out the Queen. Fussy cut round her and then stuck her onto the atc, the mirror card heart was from my stash. Used black promaker to do the words.

 

 

entering into: wicked wednesday atc - down the rabbit hole

clowning around

Boy, this was a labour of love, took me all afternoon - doesn't look much to it but I had to use the cutout studio on everything but the ticket and the background - slowly. *lol*

 

 

1. horse & clown stood on stool from Lunagirl (freebie)

2. checked material from Ephemeras' Vintage Garden (tulip collage)

3. clowns face & clown acrobat from GeckoGalz (Clowning Around jewel sheet)

4. circus ticket from Google search

font used Carniavale Freakshow

5. background paper from Jodie Lee (Butterfly Garden paper n10)

 

The original image was of horse & stool attached, I snipped the two apart, removed the original horserider and placed the yellow clown on top. Then I used another image of a clown, digitally beheading it (for want of a better phrase) and sticking the head over the original image.

 

Using the tulip collage (freebie for members) I cut away part of it, leaving behind the chequered board.

 

Used a stamp effect and 'ripped' the edges on the ticket, changing colours to match the rest of the page.

 

Assembled everything together, changing colour tones and matching colours along the way.

 

Phew.

 

And I don't really like clowns.

 

cheerful stamp pad - anything goes

gecko galz - life is a circus

 

 

hello sunshine

an atc done for a challenge using one of my favourite retro ladies image from Lunagirl, with a new stamp from a magazine I bought this week, unfortunately it doesn't stamp so well so I used it with a pale ink and then used pencils to write over it. Hand stitched the 'sunshine' bit in the corner.

 

entering into: wicked wednesday atc blog - summer & sunshine