Hi all, I made this card using Gecko Galz  Winter Time Collection, I love this image!  I used some flock on the muff and collar and I cut them out and pasted them over also to add more depth.  I used some Stickles on the holly and also around the border of the picture.  The background is a 2 1/2" wide sheer red ribbon with green glitter.  I mounted it onto red card stock to get the really deep red.  I did have a problem taping it down, the glue lines from my glue runner show through a bit and they did not hold that well, I had to use the skinny red 2 side tape to get it to stick.  It was a lot of work but well worth it as I love how it came out!  I used Grandma's House Paper Collection 

for the envelope liner.  I used my  Perfect Layers square to get the nice registration on my image.  Well, thanks for sticking with me through the remodel, it feels so good to make cards again!  I have more I will be sharing later in the week.  Thanks for looking. ~Diane
I am entering this into the Gecko Galz Blog Challenge. 

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Special card for a special friend

Hi, sorry I have been absent for so long.  The remodel keeps moving through different phases, I get things put back together then it gets torn up all over again.  The end is in sight, thank goodness!  

I made this card for my friend Celeste from Celestina Marie Design to thank her for the exquisite hand painted ornaments she sent me.   The image is from Gecko Galz , I printed it on matte photo paper to capture all the beauty.  The paper is from Shabby Cottage Studio also printed on matte photo paper.   I have been admiring the use of gauze on other blogs,  I sprayed this gauze with some Tattered Angels glimmer mist, I made the hat pin from items at Pizzazz Aplenty.   

and the vintage ribbon charm is from my Mothers costume jewelry box.   I used my Perfect Layers square and rulers to get the nice square cuts and borders.  (use my link and coupon code Bove5%, you will save 5% on the Perfect layers rulers and get flat rate priority shipping. 

  If you are looking for some great ideas for Christmas presents, all of the above links are places I can vouch for, they all have beautiful items to get or give.

Thanks for looking and I hope to be posting more frequently in the future.  I am entering this card into Beverly's Pink Saturday, thanks for hosting Beverly, also into the Gecko Galz Blog Challenge. 

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Thank you Celestina Marie

Let me start off with,  I did not make these, my friend Celestina Marie made them for me   Since Beverly's Pink Saturday, is celebrating Holiday Treats, I want to include Celestina's beautiful pink treasures,  they were quite a special treat for me, thanks for hosting Beverly.
Wow, it's times like this that I wish I were a better photographer or had a better camera.  My dear friend Celeste celebrated her blog anniversary with a drawing and I was one of the chosen recipients!  These are the most beautiful tree ornaments I have ever seen, I wish you could see all the beautiful details!  All hand painted with just the right touch of glitter, they are exquisite!  Even the way she packaged them up and sent them is gorgeous!  Thank you so much Celeste, as if following your blog is not reward enough!  If you follow her blog you will know what a beautiful person she is. She shares tips on how she makes and re-purposes things in such a beautiful way!  Always offering beautiful treats for the eyes, (her photography is perfect), a feast for your eyes!  She also has an Etsy shop; Celestina Marie Design where you can find more of her exquisite hand painted roses and vintage inspired cottage decor that are her specialties along with holiday, shabby and French chic decorating. When I popped over to get the link to her shop I noticed she has a sale going on now too, 30% off using coupon code~ HOLIDAY30 at checkout with paypal Nov.8 ~ Dec.8 in all shoppe sections! 

I first started following her blog Celestina Marie Designs from a link on another blog.  I remember one of the most interesting things I read about Celeste at that time was that she painted ornaments for the White House Blue Room Christmas Tree in 1998 and 2004, I think that is so awesome!  I am just as amazed today as the day that I first read it!

Thank you Celeste, for these beautiful gifts, they will be the center of attraction on my tree for many years to come.  Most of all, thank you for your friendship, I am so grateful for the opportunity to know you and call you my friend, that is the truest blessing.  

I hope you will take a minute and check out her blog and her store.  Thank you for looking.  ~Diane

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Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone!  I made this card for my dear friend Valerie (Bastelmania is her lovely blog) who had some knee surgery.  I know she loves Halloween so I thought the play on words would be fun for her, it was, she loved it.  I stuffed the kettle with some extra bottles of witchy potion so she would have some to play with too.  The spooky paper is a freebie from Gecko Galz, Lee Ann is always so generous with the free images.  The skull border, cauldron and spider web are all free cut files from Bird, (Birds Cards is her blog), she too is very generous with her beautiful and free cut files.  I cut the cauldron from gold mirror stock and then embossed it, added ruby rhinestones to the skull eyes and the tiny spiders too.  I printed all my images on glossy photo paper, I even splurged and used it for the envelope liner. 
Sorry I have not been posting much, my house is still under construction, still can not locate half of my craft stuff, but the end is in sight.  My computer crashed twice too and getting all of that together again has been a challenge too.  Spent the better part of yesterday finding and installing all of my additional fonts.  Installing all of my old programs too has been fun, but I am fortunate that my son builds computers so he helped with all the hard stuff, I get to do the fun re install work.
Just a note to all of you who have been affected by Sandy, all of you in that region are in my prayers.
Hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween, don't eat too much candy! 
Thanks for looking.   ~Diane

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 For this card I used 4 different Ephemera sets from Gecko Galz.  The Carolers with the sentiment are from the  Christmas Chic collection,  the music sheet tucked behind it is from the Alter Me Collection,   all the papers except the navy blue border sheets are from Grandma's House Paper Collection.  I love how the red and pink are the exactly right shades to be used together, that is what I really loved about the coordinating set, I never would attempt to mix the 2 colors together on my own.   The button is from Gecko Galz Happy Holidays Jewel Collection ,

I made it with the I Top Brad maker and I mounted it onto a lace flower from Pizzazz Aplenty.  

 I used my Perfect Layers square and rulers to get the nice navy borders.  

I think this will be it for a while on Christmas cards, I will switch back again after I make some Halloween cards.

Thanks for looking.  ~Diane

I am entering this into the Just Keep on Creating Christmas card challenge.  

I am also entering Out of a Hat Creations Christmas card challenge.

Also entering the Sparkles Christmas Challenge

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Imaginisce ITOPTOOL I-Top Tool for Place Your Paper and Blank Brads (Google Affiliate Ad) 

Imaginisce ITOP2182 I-Top Badge Daddies 22mm (Google Affiliate Ad) 

 

Gecko Galz Christmas Release # 8

 This is the last card that I sent off to Gecko Galz for the October Guest Designer spot.  I am still making them though so you will still see many more to come!  It sure feels good to have a head start on my Christmas cards too!
For this card I wanted something different so I layered the same print in 2 different sizes, I like the way it looks.  The print is from the  Christmas Chic collection.   The gorgeous papers are from Grandma's House Paper Collection .   The precisely cut solid frames were done with my Perfect Layers square and rulers using the 1/16th measurement.
It truly was a pleasure to work with so many beautiful images and papers, thank you Leanne for allowing me to be your October featured guest artist for Gecko Galz.  Now that you have seen some of the beautiful products from Gecko Galz I hope you will consider joining the Yahoo Group.  The Galz there are very supportive, Leanne spoils us with gorgeous free images and challenges to win more free image sets!  Stop by one of her 2 stores Etsy and GeckoGalz .com to see what she has to offer.  And if you are in Texas check out her classes here.
Thanks for looking.  ~Diane
I am entering this into the Just Keep on Creating Christmas card challenge. 
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Gecko Galz Christmas Release # 7

And yet another special card made with the Gecko Galz Wintertime Collection  and the Grandma's House Paper Collection.  The sweet little toy horse made a great embellishment too and it came from the Old Fashioned Christmas Collection.   I added a wide red satin ribbon and some Stampin Up Dazzling Diamonds to the frame and the snowballs.  I wanted to be sure to share something from each of the sets but it was hard because once I started working with a set I loved them all so much I wanted to do all of them!  These are really beautiful images, and they sure made getting my Christmas cards done a whole lot easier! 
Thanks for looking.  ~Diane
  I am entering this into the Just Keep on Creating Christmas card challenge. 

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Gecko Galz Christmas Release # 6

These Gecko Galz sets were so much fun to create with!  This sweet image is from the Winter Time Collection, it really makes me smile.  The papers are Grandma's House Paper Collection. 
The stamped sentiment is Stampin Up and so are the Dazzling Diamonds glitter.  I used my Perfect Layers square and rulers using the 1/8 th measurement.
Thanks for looking, and Happy World Card Making Day to all of you.  ~Diane

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I am entering these challenges
 Just Keep on Creating Christmas card challenge.   
Sparkles Christmas Challenge 
Inspire Me Fridays

 

Gecko Galz Christmas Release # 5

Today I am showing you some 3 3/4" x 2 1/4" gift card boxes I made with Gecko Galz Happy Holidays Jewel Collection.  These are actually sized for dominoes, but I made these instead.  They were really easy to make, I printed them on glossy photo paper then glued them down with my Art Glitter Glue dries clear.  I added Stickles to all of them except the Jolly Santa that is trimmed in red glitter.

I also made these 22mm brads with the same Gecko Galz Happy Holidays Jewel Collection set.  The Jewel it sets come as a 2 page digital image pack sized to fit dominoes/slides and poker chips and bottlecaps.  I added them as embellishments to some of my cards, I love how they came out.  These were also printed on a glossy photo paper, I thought that would be easier than adding the Crystal Effects.  I used my I Top brad maker punch and tool on these also. 
Thanks for looking.  ~Diane

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Additional products that were used.

Gecko Galz Christmas Release # 4

This is one of my favorites, I think because I felt so confident choosing the mix of papers.  You may notice when I comment on your blogs I frequently comment on the paper selection, as I think it really does make the card and also because I really struggle with that aspect of it.  With Gecko Galz Grandma's House Paper Collection  it was so easy to mix papers and patterns, the work was already done for me.  The great coordinating image is from the Christmas Chic collection.  The precisely cut solid frames were done with my Perfect Layers square and rulers using the 1/16th measurement.
I want to take this opportunity to remind you that Gecko Gals is having their 2nd Annual Blog Hop on 10/26/2012 running through 10/28/2012.  For this 3 day event they are offering free goodies at every blog and at the end of the hop there will be a special phrase that you will have collected along the way that will give you an opportunity to win the amazing prize of all prizes!  1 year of free collage sets... that is 5 free sets each month, whoo hoo, how cool is that!  Kick off will start at the Gecko Galz blog on 10/26/2012, you can find the link at the top of my sidebar on the right.  Good luck to all of us!  Thanks for looking.  ~Diane
I am entering this into the Just Keep on Creating Christmas card challenge.  

I am also entering Out of a Hat Creations Christmas card Challenge. 
 

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Gecko Galz Christmas Release

Today I am sharing more of the beautiful collage sets from Gecko Galz.  For this card I used pieces from the Rockwell Christmas Collection along with the Alter Me Collection.  The beautiful background papers I used are from Grandma's House Paper Collection. 
Although I did not frame these pieces I did use my Perfect Square tool to get the nice straight edges.  I used Tim Holtz Distress ink in Weathered Wood also.Ranger DIS-27157 Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad (Google Affiliate Ad)
I am very grateful that I was chosen as a Guest Designer for Gecko Galz and they are currently looking for more artists to fill the spots for 2013, you can read more about it here.  I am encouraging all of you to give it a try, the products are all gorgeous!
Thanks for looking.  ~Diane
I am entering this into the Just Keep on Creating Christmas card challenge. 

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Gecko Galz Christmas Release

The minute my daughter saw this image (on another project I made) she said Momma I love that, make me something with this on it!  So I made her this journal using the digital stamp from the Vintage Christmas Digital Stamp Collection (25 stamps) by Gecko Galz.   I printed the stamped image on glossy photo paper and colored in the berries on the girl with Ranger SGG01-836 Stickles Glitter Glue 0.5 Ounce (Google Affiliate Ad) along with the outline.   The background paper is from the  Grandma's House Paper collection.  I used a Stampin Up punch for the ring holes but ended up gluing some extra pieces in as the holes were not the same.  I used my Perfect Square tool to cut the image evenly. 

I really love working with these Gecko Galz sets, there is still so much more to show you.  Speaking of Gecko Galz, there is a Yahoo group, I would love for you to join the fun there.  Plenty of challenges with great prizes, free images every month and all the Galz there are so nice (tell them I sent you)! 

I love how this looks but I wonder now if I colored her berries in the wrong color.  I noticed after it was all said and done that the leaves on the boy are the sharp pointy leaves of the Holly and I don't know what kind or color plant the girl is made of, if anyone knows please give me a shout out.  I do know the faces on the two of them are gorgeous!   Thanks to all who have correctly identified the leaves for me as Mistletoe.  I already have a gift card holder colored in the same way but I will be sure to do another project with the right colors.  I think I was somewhat following my creative instinct but once it was done I realized there is a reason my thumbs are not green, ha ha!

Thanks for looking.  ~Diane

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Gecko Galz October Guest Artist

This month I have the honor of being the Guest Artist for Gecko Galz, this is also the month of their Christmas release.  So I have had the opportunity to work with the most beautiful papers and ephemera sets.  For this card I used the Grandma's House Paper collection  along with this image from page 2 of the Chic Christmas collection.  The sweet little button is from the Jewel It collection Happy Holidays, perfect for this 22mm brad I made with the I -Top.  I maintained the perfect frame alignment using my Perfect Layers square and rulers using the 1/16th measurement.

I must confess, the most difficult part of card making for me has always been choosing the papers.  This is the first time I have ever worked with a complete collection like this and I love it!  It was so easy to choose papers because they were already selected to be in the right color family for me!  I printed out all the papers and the sets and it was so much fun to choose multiple papers that were all coordinated to go together with each other and with the images!  Even I could not go wrong with this set ha ha!  I will be posting all of the fun Christmas things I made with this collection in the next few weeks, I think you will love these sets as much as I do!

On a more personal note my sciatica is better and we have finally finished the floors!  I am still unpacking and trying to organize my craft room, I am almost settled in to my new space.  I should be able to get back to my regular posting again, I have really missed all of you.  I truly appreciate all the well wishes here and through emails you have sent me, it has meant so much to me.  I hope to catch up on your blogs too, I am sorry I fell behind.  Thanks for looking and thanks for not giving up on me!  ~Diane
I am entering this into the Just Keep on Creating Christmas card challenge.

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A funny thing happened

 Above is my 1st try (see the little bomb ornaments?)

Today I thought I would share this with you.  A funny thing happened on the way to making this Christmas card.  I had this great idea for this tree with Stickles for ornaments and and little wires hand made into ornament hangers, sounds great doesn't it?  Not, my son looked at it and said the ornaments look like little bombs, ha ha he is right!  Not exactly what I had in mind!  

 I remade it with some sweet little gel stickers I found on clearance at Joanns.  I also used some Goose Bumps Spray and then sponged on some Tim Holtz Distress ink.  I am much happier with the finished result.  The lovely cut file is from Alaa Studios this is actually the negative cut out, it is a beautiful file and a bargain at $1.00.  The green paper is a large polka dot print I copied onto glossy photo paper, it really changed it up.  The Envelope Liner is Lindsay's Stamp Stuff and I used a gold leafing pen and a ruler to gilt up the border.  Thanks for looking.  ~Diane

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Butterfly Pixies Pop Up Card

Today I am posting a special card I made for my dear friend Valerie.  Most of the images of the beautiful Butterfly winged Fairies come from the Gecko Galz set called Pixie Dust.  If you look closely you can see it is another one of my Pop Up cards, where I layer it from the center out, one image extending on to another.  If you are interested in making one I have a post with step by step instructions here.  The real butterflies are from Magic Moonlight, free digital images (I have had them in my file for a long time you may have to search to find them there.)  The front ticket with the pretty bird is a free image from Emily at Sweetly Scrapped, it is one of her free business cards that I went into Pic Monkey and edited to say Thank you.  I wrote Valeries name and signed my own in Stickles.   (I didn't have a picture of her name on the card so I used the one she had featured on her blog).  I used my  Perfect Layers Rulers to get the precise layers on the front of my card.  And, and, and, I printed these all out on HP Matte Matte photo paper.

I am entering this into the Gecko Galz Ephemera Emporium Crafting Challenge from the Yahoo group:The Summer Garden Challenge 

As Summer draws to an end we want to see what your vision of a summer garden is, mine is butterflies.  I would love to see you join us at the Gecko Galz Ephemera Emporium Crafting Challenge Yahoo group, there are always fun challenges and swaps, the people are so sweet, I am sure you would have fun.  Leanne from Gecko Galz is so generous, she is always offering free images, just sign up for her Email list and you will get a free monthly collage sheet!  8/21 Update, whoo hoo,  I just won 5 free collage sheets from Gecko Galz for this card!  Thank you to a very generous Leanne!  There are plenty more challenges to join!
I am also entering  
Tammy's Scrappin Corner : Anything Goes Challenge 

Just some Lines:  Lets Layer it up

As always, thanks for looking.  ~Diane

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Sweet surprise in the mail!

I received this beautiful belated Birthday card in the mail from my sweet blogging friend Gerri who writes a wonderful blog called It's all Treasure.   Thank you Gerri, this really cheered me up, and I really needed that too, I have been feeling a bit down, getting sciatica right now stinks!  My family needs my help installing the floors and I am more of a burden than a help right now.  

I love all the beautiful detail on this card, I told her it really is much more beautiful IRL than on the blog.  I love how she uses her Stickles, framing adding jewelry and accents everywhere!  

Be sure to stop by Gerri's blog and see the her work and and watch a video Etsy made for Etsy TV featuring her also talented husband John (Classic Wrecks) work.  They are both so talented.   Thanks again Gerri, your card really made my day!

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Lindsay's Stamp Stuff 1 day sale

Hold on to your hats, 2 posts in 1 week!  Check out this 1 day sale sale at My Graphico, all the designers including Lindsay's Stamp Stuff are all on sale 50% off for 1 day only!

How fun is this!  I made these fun cards with Lindsay's new set called Photo Booth Props SVG and Printable.  And as with all of Lindsays sets for those of you without die cut machines, they are printable too.  I cut the images out of black card stock and then mounted the cut piece on to the white card.  Makes for a fun set, and you all know how I love matching envelopes!  I made the fun collage at PicMonkey a free photo editing site.

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