digital fairyland and floral moo

there are some stunning free digital images from dezinaworld which i highly recommend to you -- they are all in png format which makes it easy to explore creating digital art.

everything here, the background, the fairy and the butterflies are from dezinaworld.  i just manipulated the sizes and rotations in photoshop to create this little scene.  i am very new to creating digitally so this is pretty simple but it is a start and i imagine a lot more fancy things are possible!

i'm linking my creation to the "anything goes with a twist -- fairyland" challenge at suzy bee's blooming challenge blog.  it is my first time playing along there but i found the challenge just after downloading these images so it was a perfect coincidence for me!

next i'm sharing a "moo," a 1.1x2.8 inch creation for the moo mania and more challenge "floral."

all images are from collage sheets by gecko galz -- and these were cut and pasted the old fashioned way with scissors and glue!

i'm also linking to anything goes at pink saturday.

have a wonderful weekend.  love to all.

a trip down a country road

the prompt at tag tuesday this week is "rural" and the prompt at the "cheeky challenge" this week is "town or country."
"rural" made me think farm and farm made me think chicken and then this happened:

this vintage image of a chicken couple in love taking a sunday afternoon ride from the lunagirl "spring chickens" collage sheet grabbed my attention and begged to be used. i tore it out and used a background from my stash, depicting a tree-lined country road in puerto rico.  i added a border, butterfly brad and flower.

enjoy; love to all!

never give up

this strong and proud cowgirl with butterfly wings, my final DT piece for the lunagirl moonbeams april challenge "cowgirls and horses" urges you to never give up, whatever you may be facing.

i've used some wood themed designer paper for the background on this ATC and i added the fussy cut cowgirl from the "cowgirls #1" collage sheet by lunagirl.  the butterfly is also from a lunagirl collage sheet.  the only other additions are the die cut border and the sentiment from tim holtz.

there is time remaining to join the challenge the the lunagirl blog. link up your creation on your theme for the chance to win shopping credit at the lunagirl store.

never give up!
love to all.

lasso my heart

it is week three at lunagirl moonbeams and the "cowgirls and horses" challenge.  if you link up a creation on this theme you'll be up for the chance to win shopping credit at the lunagirl store.

here is a charming image from the lunagirl "cowgirls #1" digital collage sheet.  look at all the hearts she has corralled.  i wonder what she is up to?  all i did for this ATC was add the image to my ATC base, add ribbon, a prima flower and a cowboy boot brad.

enjoy; love to all.

gecko galz inspiration -- all things alice!

one of the new gecko galz collage sheets this month is "go ask alice" and it is a wonderful compilation of images in celebration of alice in wonderland.  coincidentally this sheet arrived to me just in time for an ATC swap hosted by bockel24blog -- all things alice!

for the ATC swap we were invited to interpret the theme however we liked.  i had fun combining images from a variety of gecko galz collage sheets to create my own little collages of wonderland.

supplies: all collage sheets and papers are by gecko galz -- "go ask alice" collage sheet, "bluebird of happiness" collage sheet, "butterfly kisses" collage sheet, "vintage vixens" collage sheet, "butterflies and birds" collage sheet, "spring awakening" paper pack.  in addition to the gecko galz products i used washi tape, paper flowers, enamel dots, stickers and distress inks from my stash of supplies.

instructions: as you might imagine, the process here involved a great deal of fussy cutting, arranging and gluing.  i adore collage and gecko galz products are such wonderful items to work with.  i often just stare at a variety of collage sheets that catch my eye and then slowly i begin to envision pictures that will become my creations.  for example when i saw those fabulous big birds from the "bluebird of happiness" collage sheets i knew i had to cut out some alice images to go with them.  it has nothing to do with the alice story -- it just struck me as a clever combination of images.  i hope you enjoy.

a REMINDER: there are some days left to participate in the monthly customer challenge at gecko galz challenge blog.  the theme you must work with is "roses, lace and butterflies" and you must include at least one item from gecko galz in your creation.  by now i hope you have gone to the blog to sign up for the monthly newsletter as newsletter subscribers not only get a free collage sheet every month you are also made aware of sales and discounts.  also check out the gecko galz pinterest page for freebies.  finally, if you look at my blog post on april 6 you'll see a digital freebie posted which you are welcome to use for the challenge.  follow the gecko galz blog too and you'll see many other freebies posted.

good luck!
love to all.

a horse is a horse

for the second week of the lunagirl moonbeams "cowgirls and horses" challenge i've got an ATC with a cowboy and a horse.

i loved this image from the "cowboys and horses in sepia" collage sheet by lunagirl.  using some wood-themed designer paper as a base, i added the fussy cut cowboy and included a border and a cowboy boot brad.  the top right hand corner has a bit of a sun and rays stamp by judikins.

lots more time to play along with this challenge.  link up a creation on our challenge theme for the chance to win shopping credit at the lunagirl store!

love to all.

april gecko galz inspiration and a freebie!

in celebration of spring coming (in the northern hemisphere) and the latest customer challenge at the gecko galz challenge blog "roses, lace and butterflies" i offer some inspiration for you and also your monthly gecko galz freebie!

altered tin: butterfly joy

supplies: altoids tin; gecko galz "linen closet" paper pack (new this month); gecko galz "butterfly kisses" collage sheet (new this month); caterpillar by anna griffin; washi tape; paper flower; enamel dot

instructions: i measured and cut papers from the "linen closet" paperpack and glued the cut pieces to the altoids tin.  i covered the edges in washi tape.  i cut images from the "butterfly kisses" 

collage sheet to adhere to the top of the lid and also on the inside of the lid.  i added the caterpillar, the flower and the dot.

altered tin: butterfly hope

supplies: altoids tin; gecko galz "spring awakening" paper pack (new this month); gecko galz "butterfly kisses" collage sheet (new this month); washi tape; flower sticker; enamel dots

instructions: i measured and cut papers from the "spring awakening" paperpack and glued the cut pieces to the altoids tin.  i covered the edges in washi tape.  i cut images from the "butterfly kisses" collage sheet to adhere to the top of the lid and also on the inside of the lid.  i added the the flower and the dots.

as promised, here is your gecko galz freebie:

and here is what i've done with it:

supplies: free digital stamp; gecko galz "spring awakening" paper pack; gecko galz "wild roses" paper pack; ribbon, flowers, butterfly die cut.

instructions: i printed the digital image onto paper from the "spring awakening" paper pack and then colored it with pencils.  i adhered paper from the "wild roses" paper pack onto card stock and glued the digital image.  i added ribbon., flowers and butterfly die cut from my stash. 

you are cordially invited to use this free digital image or any other image from gecko galz to enter our monthly challenge "roses, lace and butterflies."  you can also check out the gecko galz pinterest page for additional freebies to help you make your challenge piece.

one last piece.  the little fairy in the digital image made me want to make one more fairy image so i turned to the gecko galz "fairyland stamp set" also new this month and printed one of the images onto "spring awakening" paper as well.  here is what i made:

i also used "wild roses" paper for the background and added butterfly die cuts from my supply stash.

enjoy; i hope to see your creations over on the gecko galz challenge blog.

love to all.

clean and simple

the words clean and simple speak for themselves i suppose -- but when i saw the latest prompt at tag tuesday to make a clean and simple tag i felt the need to do a little research.  i found the CASology blog, dedicated to clean and simple creations.  so here's what i did:

this tag is for tag tuesday and for the current challenge at CASology which is "sprout," in honor of spring.  i started with a kraft cardstock tag and stamped the flower from rogue redhead stamps and the word from inkadinako.  and that's it.  it was a challenge to not do anything more.  but i like the results.  i'll be playing along with CASology again in the future!

enjoy; love to all.

cowgirls and horses

greetings blog friends! this april at lunagirl moonbeams challenge blog our challenge theme is "cowgirls and horses."  get out your stetson and your boots and play along.

this is an ATC using an image from the lunagirl collage sheet "cowgirls #1."  i found this wonderful "wood" designer paper for my ATC base.  i fussycut the cowgirl and also added a bird from the lunagirl birds collage sheet.  finishing touches include a die cut border, paper flower with enamel dot and sentiment from a tim holtz set.

i think this cowgirl is finding out how to be herself, bravely.  may we all!

by the way, it being april fool's day if you re interested in some fascinating lore about the holiday see what lunagirl has shared on the blog here.

love to all.

roses, lace and butterflies

welcome to a new month and a new challenge at the gecko galz challenge blog!  this month of april our challenge theme is "roses, lace and butterflies."  link up a creation on this theme for the chance to win prizes from the gecko galz etsy shop.  here is some inspiration -- a little girl with her arms open wide to love.

supplies: card stock, gecko galz "spring awakening" paper pack (new this month); gecko galz collage sheets: "a rose is a rose," "la vie en rose,"  "vintage card toppers," and "birds and butterflies" also washi tape, enamel dots, tim holtz sentiment stickers and tim holtz distress ink in "tattered rose"

instructions: i covered the card base with the "lace" paper from the spring awakening paper pack.  the little girl is cut from "la vie en rose" collage sheet, the flowers are cut from the "rose is a rose" collage sheet, the carte postale is from "vintage card toppers" and the butterfly is cut out from the "birds and butterflies" collage sheet.  i arranged how i wanted all my pieces to fit together and then i glued them together on the card stock.  the final step was adding the sentiment, the distressing and the enamel dots.

please come back to this blog on the 6th of the month to see more inspiration and also to received a free digital image which you can use for the challenge if you like.  to play in the challenge you must use something from gecko galz.  you can use the freebie i'll be posting on the 6th, or visit the gecko galz pinterest page for freebies to use.  and of course there are so many great things in the etsy shop! 

thanks for looking; love to all.