Maybe You're all I deserve

Did you know that Gecko Galz Yahoo group has changed it's name  to the Ephemera Emporium crafting Challenge group. Well:
Do you like giveaways?
Do you like to take part in fun challenges where you can win amazing products?
Do you like making new friends who also like paper crafting?
then this group is for you!

We welcome everyone to take part in our challenges and swaps as well as share your amazing works with all of us! This group was created for people who enjoy doing paper crafts with amazing crafting products. We hope in time people will share tips and techniques on wonderful ways to work with paper crafting products and all we ask is that you have fun while here!Come on over and give us a peek.

For today's project I've made a card using a free domino woman image that you can get on this yahoo group site for the "Darling Domino" challenge. I actually made it bigger and spread it over 3 dominoes! LOL. I started by making the background that is hand stamped on a multi colored ink base. The dominoes were layered and I painted them to coordinate. The butterfly which was also painted came next and all this was set in a black embossed frame. Everything is embellished with Stickles and liquid pearls.The hand cut sentiment reads: "Maybe, you're all I deserve."

Hope you will have a deserving week.
take care, gerri



"Maybe, you're all I deserve."



A Portable Colorful Garden of Delight

Sometimes I create things that just don't work out. Does that ever happen to you? Well I just put it aside and then magically some day I look at and and an idea comes to me on  how I can improve it. That idea maybe taking it apart and sometimes just using  it's elements. That's what I did today for this little ribbon embroidered necklace. I embroidered a little box top a long time ago, but was never happy with it, so I just took it apart! Now I am delighted.

I put the little embroidered piece in a Retro Cafe Art  Gothic shrine frame that I painted purple and mustard. I put some tiny yellow ribbon around the frame to hide the edge and attached a hook. The ball chain and the hook were colored with bright pink Alcohol inks. My dear friend Mary Lou was kind enough to model it for me today.

Hope you will get to take a see a pretty garden  of delight this week.
artfully yours, gerri

"A Portable Garden of Delight"

"Ribbon details"

Music in my heart

Today for Retro Cafe Art I worked on an altered tin. Haven't done anything altered in tn awhile so it was fun to do something different. Speaking of different I have been working on some jewelry too and Mary Lou is just dying to show you! I'll be doing that latter this week.

Well back to my little darling who is from the "Love" sheet at RCA. Do stop by their site and facebook page there is always something fun going on, like contests and free stuff. Well to make my tiny tin I painted it a brown color then covered it with with Ranger crackle paint in blue and then swiped a white acrylic over it. The darling girl image with the heart was fussy cut and painted too. I love adding rosy cheeks. LOL. Some little tags that say "Laugh, Love and Live" came next with some paint, ribbon, rhinestones and a tiny button. The sentiment came last with "Who knows the music n my heart?" and was colored with pencils to match.

Hope you follow the music in your heart this week.
yours truly, gerri

"Who knows the music in my heart?"

Sing Sing a Joyous song

Guess what I saw in our backyard at our little house on the lake? A beautiful majestic Bald Eagle, I may have mentioned it before but every time I see it I am amazed. As a symbol of the USA, it is quite striking. First of all it is huge, with a bright white head and tail and bright yellow beak....just amazing. Since I am feeling better, I made this little ATC with a birdie theme. Oh and thank you so much for your warm wishes about my spring cold. It means the world to me.

The starting point for this ATC was the Gecko Galz Tasha Tudor sheet that I printed on a transparency. I watercolored the back to bring out some high lights. I painted the Retro Cafe Art ATC with holes in creams, browns and oranges.After layering the birdie I accented it with Stickles and Liquid Pearls and attached it to the ATC with the sentiment "ye Birds, sing, sing, a joyous song!". Some twine, brown lace and  autumn fabric leaves completed this little piece.

Hope you will sing a joyous song this week.
sincerely, gerri

"ye Birds, sing, sig, a joyous song."

I saw the prettiest creature

Dear friends, sorry I have not been around this week, I have a terrible cold. Its a beautiful warm week and I am sneezing and coughing all the time. It's so silly. Hopefully I am on the mend now and can get back into the studio to create. I did manage to make this little card using Gecko Galz "TooTweet" from the April digital stamps. Somehow the little plain bird in black in white tweeted to me that it really was a glorious creature of many colors and I just helped it show off!

It was rather simple, I simply over painted the image with  white acrylic then used watercolor paints to bring out the pretty bird. The dimension  was added by using Liquid Pearls and glittery Stickles in soft blues and greens. The sparkle thread for plumage came next. The sentiment says" I saw the prettiest creature". I tore the paper  edges and layered it on some patterned swirly paper to complete my little friend.

Hope you will  see a pretty creature this week.
take care, gerri

"I saw the prettiest creature."

"Pretty details"

Beautiful Together

Decided to go monotone today with a heart black and cream standing ATC for Retro Cafe Art. They have some gorgeous new collage sheets from Cassandra Van Curan. I am always delighted and surprised when I visit their shop. Do take a peek. My favorite collage sheet today is Ephemera CV38 cause it is in all neutral colors and  I can do so much with it. That sheet was the inspiration for this piece titled "Beautiful Together."

I used my cuttlebug to cut and emboss hearts from the center of several  of the ATC centers then switched them up. I ink kissed all pieces with black ink and cream acrylic paint. I sandwiched, folded and glued the ATC and hearts to two scalloped paper ovals , one black and one cream. The little girl images and the dimensional cut out hearts came next. A cream skeleton leaf , tiny heart rhinestones, Stickles dots and some Tim Holtz Tissue Tape were the final accents.

Hope you will do something beautiful together this week.
take care, gerri

"Beautiful Together"

"Together details"

Dive In Sea Beauty

The warm breezes are blowing and you can smell the sea today, so I had to create this little sea card for 100 Proof Press. You know that I adore  and collect sea shells so using their 100 Proof Press sea shell stamp is just my thing! Everyone must have the same feeling so I am also entering this in Fashionable Stamping Challenege #19  Nautical and Happy Daze Challenge April Showers where we are to use water or  a water theme. Please do check out all these sites for fun challenges.

I started this card by using Distress Ink to edge kiss my sandy colored background. I love how it adds depth to our backgrounds. I layered some sea shell transparencies , a script image, and a pretty sea side scene from Artchix Studio. The dimensional paper sea shells came next and are accented with Rangers Liquid Pearls. The little sea beauty is 100 Proof Press stamp Victorian Woman # 2943. She was fussy cut and colored with pencils and Liquid Pearls. The sea shell plate #5990 stamp came next. The tiny little sentiment circles "Dive in Sea beauty" completed this aquatic card.

Hope you will experience the sea this week.
take care, gerri

"Dive in Sea beauty"

"Sea details"

Birds warbled around me

The flowers are blooming and the weather has been gorgeous here in the  low 70's all week. Couldn't ask for more! I'm in a flower mood so today's ATC for Pink Saturday  has  lots of blooms for a romantic walk. Its pink and yellow too, which is a challenge over at the ever exciting Gecko Galz Yahoo group. Do stroll on over and give us a peek.

To make this ATC the darling flower garlanded woman is from Gecko Galz  March Ephemera Collections called Flower Maids  and the tiny coupon is from their Tickets Please Collection sheet. Both are watercolored  by me and have Stickles accents. The images are set in a Retro Cafe Art ATC window frame that I painted pink and rubbed with a yellow crayon. Some watercolored die cut butterflies and some yellow rhinestones came next. Don't you just love the little sparkly earrings! The hand cut text reads " Birds warbled around me".

Hope you will have birds warbling around you this week!
sincerely, gerri

"Birds warbled around me"

"Pink and Yellow details"

Kindness is the sunshine in which friendship blossoms

Thought I'd try something different today and make a fabric card. Having been in the fashion industry and sewn all my life I do have lots of pretty scraps. They are just to beautiful to throw away! LOL. I used my usual techniques  and style and just created a more dimensional piece. I will enter this in Stampsmith's "The colors of Spring "challenge  because pinks and greens always make me think of spring. For the first time ,I am entering Frilly and Funky  which is dedicated to all things Vintage in their "Ill take your word for it" challenge.

The cover was simple enough with just sewing little punched hearts and a watercolored organza flower on front of the textural fabric. The little hearts can be flipped and one side is watercolored and the other is stamped with the words "My Dear One". Inside there is layered on the tulle, some script paper that was been ink kissed, the sentiment " Kindness is the sunshine in which friendships blossom." which was cut out and the Stampsmith flapper stamped image. Some  pastel stapled hearts, picot edged ribbon, some watercolor accents and Stickles detail finish my fabric card today.

Hope you will be bathed in sunshine and kindness this week.
yours truly, gerri

"Kindness is the sunshine in which friendships blossom."

And lovely is the rose

Today for  Retro Cafe Art  here's a hanging  collage. I think it makes displaying them easier if I just include the hanger. LOL. Well it's back to the routine now that the holiday is over. That's fine with me I get to get back to the craft room....Oh all the roses are blooming here, so I just had to do this piece about it.

I started with a Retro Cafe Art Shelf shrine back and covered it with green striped paper. The next step was too add the Pretty woman  from RCA collage with the roses image. Some glittery rose ribbon and the transparency  were layered.  A glitter covered cutout heart, some rhinestones and the sentiment "And lovely is the rose " were the finishing touches.

Hope you will see and smell some lovely flowers this week.
artfully yours, gerri

"And lovely is the rose"

"Rosey details"

Friendship is a sheltering tree

Hope all of you had a splendid Easter.  I'll be around tonight to see how you all are after we take our daughter to the airport. Boo Hoo, I will miss her...We had a wonderful few days together, eating, shopping, talking and laughing.

Well, on to today's project which is a colorful card. I used the  adorable Owl image and layered it on the Gecko Galz Tickets please collage sheet. I also stamped the branches from 100 Proof Press  #6355 Tree Branch to give our birdies something to sit on. To make the owl image match the background, I used colored pencils, Stickles and confetti on their crowns.

Hope you find a sheltering tree this week.
take care, gerri

"Friendship is a sheltering tree."

"Birdie details"

Hopping You Have a Sweet Weekend

Just a  very quick post today with a few more Easter cards today using the cute vintage Gecko Galz Easter Jewels Sheet. Of course I am starting with a mostly pink creation for the wonderful Pink Saturday site.  Also I am excited to announce that this week I revamped my old Inkthology Etsy shop and now it's called ItsAllTreasureArt. I decided to frame my little collages, ATCs, tags and cards. Please do give  them a  peak. Have to hop away 'cause we are spending the weekend with our daughter and we are so very hoppy!

Hope you will have a hoppy weekend too!
take care, gerri

"Hoppy Easter Cards"

             "Some Items from my new Etsy Shop"

Coloring Easter Eggs

Here's a card today using a cute  Gecko Galz image called Easter Jewels, I used it for all my Easter cards and will show you some more tomorrow for Pink Saturday! I loved coloring eggs with my daughter when she was young, we always blew out the middles and colored the hollow eggs. We would dye them, paint them or glitter them and then look at them forever. No colored eggs this year, but our daughter will be visiting starting today so I am so excited!

To make this card I colored another foam egg and stamped dots and painted on top of it. There's the bunny image and some sparkly rhinestones layered on top. I added the confetti eggs and the die cut embellished butterflies. Put this all on patterned paper, tulle and some fiber for some dimension. I added the sentiment "Happy Easter" and I was ready to hop away!
Hope you will be very hoppy this week!
artfully yours, gerri

"Happy Easter"

Hoppy details"

Easter Eggstravaganza

Started playing around with my Gecko Galz sheets and just had to make this panoramic egg. It reminds me of large sugar eggs that I had as a kid. As an  adult, I made them with my mom too and sold them at work! We made about 30 different  5" eggs in all pastel colors and piped flowers, bunnies and ribbons on them. They even had a little sugar scenes inside too. They were so cute. In honor of my mom, I am dedicated this egg to her memory.

 So over at Gecko Galz, if you make a purchase this month and for every dollar you spend you get a GECKO BUCK! Now what this means to you is for every dollar you get a chance to win a wonderful prize pack which includes; 10 collage sheets of your choice, 2 paper collections of your choice, and 2 stamp
sets of their choice.But wait there is more....you also get a pack of goodies mailed to you which will include ribbons, fibers, buttons, twine, flowers and other fun stuff!!!!! And who could win this wonderful prize
pack? The person with the most Gecko Galz Bucks.... And yes signing up for retreats & our kit
club count.So good luck to everyone! Do stop over at Gecko Galz Challenge group to see challenges, a place for friendship and their free collage sheets.

This months Challenges on the Gecko Galz Challenge group site are;
-For The Birds Challenge...April 15(win the "Too Tweet Digi Stamp Set)
-Spring Has Sprung Challenge......April 20(winner gets 5 sets of ephemera of their choice)
-April Color Challenge; Pink and Yellow.......April 25(winner gets their choice of any 3 ephemera sets)
-Something Old Something New Challenge.....April 25(winner gets a Gecko Galz Paper collection of their choice
-Story Book Challenge.......April 30(winner gets digital paper pack from Webster Pages)

You can see this paper egg and other Gecko Galz Design Team Totally Spring projects for some inspiration here.  So back to my project, I painted one half of an egg  baby pink outside and pale yellow inside. I printed out the little bunnies and fussy cut them out using the Bunny Trails sheet. All were painted then detailed with Stickles and tiny rhinestones. I love their little necklaces. I added the curtain image and then real tulle curtains with pink tie backs. Added some paper grass and some foil doilie fans on top and bottom to hold the egg up came next.

Hope you will have an eggstraordinary week.
fondly, gerri

Heads or Tails

Well, now that my celebration for 300 darling followers is over...congrats to the winners, your candy is on the way  in the mail. Enjoy! So its back to the studio to work on some quick Easter projects for me. For Retro Cafe Art today's project here is a cute chocolate card. My husband just loves the egg and I just love the chocolate bunnies. By the way do you eat  your chocolate bunny, the heads(ears) first or the tail...... me, I go right for the head!

To make this I painted RCA bunny cutouts chocolate brown and added pink candy eyes. The egg is a foam plastic kid's cutout that I stamped with dots then added the watercolor painting for dimension. I layered this on two different papers that were painted on the corners. Some pink pearl candies and a hand stamped sentiment "Heads or tails" completed this little card.

Hope you will get lots of chocolate this week.
artfully yours, gerri

"Heads or tails"

"Chocolate details"