The Colors of Summer

A new month means a new Customer Challenge at the Gecko Galz and the theme for the month of July is 'The Colors of Summer'.
So why not play along - join the challenge with the chance to win $25 at the Gecko Galz shop!

When I sat in the sunshine whilst having a glass of wine mused over the theme for this month, the obvious colours would be sunshine yellow or orange, blue skies or waters etc but for me the colours of summer are some of my favourite things - Lavender in bloom (the smell!), multi-coloured butterflies fluttering round the garden and lastly, a bit different, is bird song - the image of listening to bird song for me is of sunny days, in tree's full of blossom.

Three postcard toppers, intended for either a card or a journal page but I'm now thinking I might just use them for happy mail, pop a note in with them along with a treat -  a nice little envelope of sunshine.

I used three postcards from my stash (no fear, I have plenty left!!) and picked three lovely images for my favourite things.

                               Lavender basket ~ French Provincial
                                           embellished by twine
                                    edges darkened by black ink

                             

                                                                                                                    Birds 
  For the Birds

pink spotty washi tape

vintage blue Nuvo Drops

                                  Butterflies ~ Butterfly Dreaming

                         smudged with black & bronze pigment ink

                              middle butterfly edged with gold pen

                             bottom butterfly edged with silver pen

I hope you'll join in 'The Colors of Summer' Challenge, where the Winner gets a $25 shopping spree to spend at the Gecko Galz shop. (The only rule is that you must use at least one Gecko Galz product... this can be one of the freebies, or, of course, you can buy at the Etsy shop).

If you sign up for the Gecko Galz monthly newsletter, you'll be kept up to date with new releases, Super Sunday weekly deals and be able to claim a free digital collage sheet.

If you pop over to the Gecko Galz blog, you will see all the fabulous designs by the Design Team - and maybe grab a freebie or two.
 If you haven't a blog/and or/ on Facebook, head over to the Gecko Galz Papercrafting Group where there are more monthly challenges, with the chance to win a digital collage sheet.

Amanda xx 

mothers day card

Mothering Sunday is this weekend in the UK. Sunday 6th, so I needed to make a card for Delia.

And shock!horror! going doily free for this.

baking paper - Gecko Galz 'Coquette' design kit paper no5

image - Gecko Galz 'Victorian Spring' design kit icon no 20

old postcard

Wildfire wood white pearls

Lace

flower lace

hobbycraft small white posy

encore metallic ink in bronze

pigment ink in black

Xcut corner punch

Using CAP2, I resized the backing paper to fit a card slightly smaller than A5 and then sized the image. Printed out, cut out and then fiddled with the design till it ended up as you see in the finished project. I choose a blank backed postcard and then rounded the edges using my corner punch. I smudged both inks over it to make it look a bit shabbier, did the same with the image as the whiteness was too much against the other colours used. I stuck the postcard down, then lay the lace over and then finally glued the image down. Everything else was then stuck down.
The sentiment was done in CAP2 also, colour matching the blue from the little girls bow.

Hope Delia likes it as much as I do.

Colour challenge

Over on fripperies and butterflies blog, the colour challenge for Jan into Feb is:

 

normally I do a digital project, mostly because I leave it too late to do anything else and I can't think of anything else to do. This month I've been on the ball, despite having  a really, really rotten flu virus, which is now in the coughing stage - suffered the head exploding stage, then the sore throat stage, then the lost voice stage...... can't be many stages left!

 

Anyway onto the project. Taking inspiration from various vintage digital works featuring post cards, I decided to do a physical piece.

 

the address is 23 Boythorpe Road, Brampton, Chesterfield and was posted at 6.45pm on the 11th of September 1929!

 

 

 

 

 

old postcard from stash

Le Suh traditional decoupage  (I'd forgot how fiddly it is!)

die cut butterfly

Hobby House gems

 

entered in fripperies and butterflies on facebook

 

a path well travelled

Over at card exchange uk, a recent themed swap was 'Travel' which resulted in some lovely cards, this is mine -  still waiting to be posted because a) I forgot to post it and b) now I've forgotten who I was posting it too!

DoCrafts Urban Stamps

freebie A4 backing paper (from a magazine from a zillion years ago)

vintage postcard (never liked the image!)

old 1st class stamp.

pencil & black ink