Altered Wooden Butterfly Wall Plaque

Hi Crafty Friends!  Today I am sharing an altered wall decor piece that I have entered in the Reneabouquets March mood board challenge.  It was a simple piece to create.  I traced the shape onto my chosen design paper (products listed below), cut it out, then adhered it to the wood with matte Mod Podge.  I used vintage photo distress ink along all the edges.  I added a wee bit of texture paste through a stencil at the top right, along with a wee bit of spraying.   Using the Mod Podge to adhere, I added a couple of die cut pieces and a couple of die cut flourishes.  The image was added using pop dots for dimension, and the top banner piece underneath the image is also on pop dots.    I tucked in the flowers here and there (mainly all from the same Prima multi-colored flower package), then I tucked in the leopard butterflies, and then hot glued the dragonflies.  It was actually very simple.  Thanks so much for looking!

Wooden Plaque from Michael's (11 inches at the widest point)
Butterflies and Dragonflies by Renea Bouquets
Image freebie from Fripperies and Butterflies (weekly freebies)
Design paper by DCWV (the primrose stack)
Banner pieces and die cut images are from the same paper stack
Prima flowers - Labelle Island Mix

Gecko Galz March Samples

Hi Crafty Friends!  Here are my March samples created for Gecko Galz.   You will find a free digital stamp at the bottom of the post.

Spring Friendship Card

Kitchen Sink paper pack

Spring Beauties digital collage set

Vanity Fair digital paper pack

Happy Easter Card

Easter Parade Digital Craft Kit

Vanity Fair digital paper pack

Easter Children digital collage set

Friendship Card

Wild Roses paper pack

Bingo Cards digital collage sheet

Pixie Children digital collage set

Vintage Ladies Pocket Letter

The above pocket letter was made almost exclusively from scraps of Gecko Galz papers and collage sheets.  Some products are listed below:

Vintage Labels digital collage set

Viva Le France digital collage sheet set

Paris Dreams digital paper pack

Pretty Vintage Portraits digital collage set

Hocus Pocus digital paper pack

Pixie Children Row Houses

Pixie Children digital collage set
Vanity Fair digital paper pack
Lemonade digital paper pack
Behind Door #1 Collage sheet

Your Free Digital Stamp!

Another Journal to Share!

Hi Crafty friends!  I decided it was finally time to publish/share this post.  I created and filmed this pocket journal made from shipping tags last June, but I just never got around to linking up my products and sharing it.  Life was pretty hectic back then.  This journal went out the door today, to it's new happy home, so I figured that now is the time.  I am in various stages of creating several more similar ones for my Etsy shop (which sadly has been abandoned for some time), so keep on the lookout for some different styles and themes.  I have one in particular that I'm currently working on that I'm very excited about in a theme from a popular television show.  I don't want to give anything away, you'll just have to check back.  Thanks for looking!

I used collage sheets from the following:

Gecko Galz

Ephemera's Vintage Garden

Alpha Stamps

Dreamz Etc.

Layout - What A Wonderful World

In 2007 I reluctantly moved from the Hollywood apartment, my friends,  and the lifestyle that I dearly loved, so that my pets could have a better life in a rural area. I still kept them "enclosed" for their safety from coyotes and other potential dangers, but we built enclosures outside of many of the windows and also a massive three level one in the back of the property that they could access down an enclosed walkway. The space and the views they had were completely different from the limited world they'd experienced through the windows of my apartment.    My goal was to give them extra years by giving them a happier and more fulfilling life

Oliver was my favorite, and by the grace of God, he lived the longest of that group from those Hollywood apartment days. Almost exactly half of his life was spent here. In the last weeks of his life, he didn't visit the large enclosure much, but instead favored this smaller one that I photographed him bird-watching from.  Whether or not he was out there was one of my ways of gauging how well he was feeling, and even though he's been gone for a few months already, I still find myself looking up to that enclosure to see if he's there whenever I'm outdoors in the back yard.

I just hope he was happy.

Butterflies by Renea Bouquets, paper and diecuts by Kaisercraft Limelight collection.

I am entering my layout in the March challenge on the Kaisercraft blog.

Thanks for looking!

New Challenge for March at Gecko Galz!

Welcome Crafty Friends!  It's time for a new Gecko Galz Customer Challenge!  Please join us for the current challenge "Shabby Chic Easter".  We are accepting entries from March 1st - March 30th.  There is only one rule.  You need to use at least ONE product from Gecko Galz.  It can be one of the free products, stamps, collage images, or digital background papers.  The winner will receive a $25 Gecko Galz shopping spree!

  Stop by the Gecko Galz blog to see what the rest of the team created this month.  We hope to inspire you to enter the challenge and win!  Don't forget that throughout the month, the Gecko Galz blog features samples created by the team.  The projects this year are "anything goes",  featuring both our new products and our existing products, so there are a lot of ideas to inspire you.


Below is a sample card that I have created for this month's "Shabby Chic Easter" challenge.  We have an amazing selection of Easter collage sheets and backgrounds in the Gecko Galz Etsy store, making this my toughest month ever to choose!  After much deliberation, I choose this adorable Easter girl in my favorite color combo of lavender and green.  Thanks for looking!

Easter Parade Digital Craft Kit
Vanity Fair digital paper pack
Easter Children digital collage set