Mini Collage Frame

Another July Gecko Galz project I made is this cutie little mini frame. I used the Gecko Galz card topper images, mini frame, ribbon roses, foam dots, rhinestones, gold ink, glitter glue.  Cut out various card topper images to fit the frame and attach inside the frame and around the edges. Add ribbon roses to the corners of the frame. Embellish the images with glitter glue, gold ink, and rhinestones. Embellish the edges of the frame with glitter glue.  I stood this frame next to a candle and it sparkled so pretty with all the glitter glue and gold metallic paint around the edges.

 

Miles of Smiles,

I Saw Three Ships

Another Gecko Galz project for July. I used Gecko Galz map background, sailboat image and sailboat digi's, foam dots, colored pencils, tan dye ink, fibers, epoxy stickers, & gold mesh. Start with a navy cardstock base, layered with cream cardstock.  Attach map image over the cream cardstock. Color the postage stamp images with colored pencils, age them with tan ink, cut out and adhere to the map image. Adhere the sailboat image with foam dots between the digi images. Cut pieces of gold mesh to form "photo corners" and adhere to the corners of the card and to the sailboat image. Wrap fibers around the card front and tie the ends in a knot. Affix epoxy word stickers. I really like how the mesh looks like fishing net.

Miles of Smiles,

Surfer Dude

One of this month's Gecko Galz projects I created is this surfer card. I used Gecko Galz Beachy Keen Lowtide paper and surfer digi image, glitter glue, fibers, fabric star fish, epoxy stickers, colored pencils, chalk. Create card base from bright blue cardstock. Cut a slit in the Lowtide paper, following the edge of the image. Adhere Lowtide paper to the card being careful not to adhere the cut edge. Color the surfer image with colored pencils and chalks, slide and adhere the image beneath the cut edge of the Lowtide paper. Affix an epoxy phrase sticker to the bottom of the image. Wrap fibers around the card, threading under, over and through the fabric starfish. Affix epoxy bubble dots to the cardstock base. Apply green glitter glue to the cut edge of the Lowtide paper. A fun masculine card for that special surfer guy. My hub gets so tan and blonde in the summer that I call him my surfer dude. This card makes me think of him {grin}.

Miles of Smiles,

Super Give Away at Gecko Galz!

Wow! Go visit the Gecko Galz blog for an AMAZING give away!  If you like vintage images like these, collage sheets and ephemera, then you are going to be blown away by what Gecko Galz has up for grabs!  And not just one collage sheet, but SIX MONTHS of exclusive designs!  Check it out and pass it on!

Miles of Smiles,

Waiting for the Scrap Bus!

Really like this photo of me and the girls.  Looks like we are waiting for the scrappin' bus to pick us up and whisk us away to a crop! LOL It's fun times like these that I realize how blessed I am to have such a fantastic group of gals in my life.We can all just be ourselves, have different beliefs and ideas, support each other, laugh with each other, cry with each other, eat together, shop together, celebrate joys, share pains, and oh yes, sometimes even get some scrappin' done! How many of you out there can say that? How many of you have found true friendships? My hope is that you all have that, but if not, that you find it one day. At one point in my life, I pushed everyone away, so to have these strong, kind, caring, creative women in my life now is really amazing to me. Now go hug your sista!

Miles of Smiles,

Penguins In July!

Hi! I am the host of this week's BBTB2 Challenge. I chose the penguin with umbrella cut from the Jolly Holidays cartridge. I specified that the projects did not need to be winter or Christmas related.  I thought it would be fun to do a penguin project in July. Think cool thoughts during this summer heat! I created a 12x12 wall hanging.  I started with a base of large polka-dot paper, then a layer of raindrop and umbrella cardstock. I used a scrap of banner paper cut following the arc of the banners as the "rainbow". I cut with a blade around a few of the umbrellas and slid the rainbow banners beneath. I added a strip of cloud paper to the top. I cut the penguin from brown and light blue cardstock, embossing the brown and embellishing with a swirl clip, ribbon, eyelets and chalk. I cut the umbrella layer from pink polka-dot paper. I added letter stickers and Stickles to the umbrellas and the arcs of the banners, and blue epoxy dot "raindrops" to the background paper.  Check out the other designer's ideas at BBTB2 and chill out with our penguin challenge this week!

 

Miles of Smiles,

BBTB2 Mittens Challenge

This week's BBTB2 challenge was to use the mittens from Joys of the Seasons. This cut made me think of mittens I had when I was a kid, with the little string that connected them so I wouldn't lose them.  I made the mittens into pockets by running a line of glue along the edges of the mittens and adhering the shadow layer of blue cardstock together. That forms a pocket where a gift card, candy, or other small gift can be placed. I added shredded paper as filler sticking out of the top. I embellished them with blue snowflake patterned paper, cupcake paper flowers with pearl brads, snow ball wired ribbon around the cuffs, and blue rhinestone flowers. I attached the two mitten pockets with wired ribbon. Check out the other adorable designs at BBTB2!

Miles of Smiles,

Cupcake Paper Flowers

I wanted to experiment with cupcake papers (liners) because I keep seeing inexpensive packs of cupcake papers and they are so pretty.  I thought, I have GOT to find some way to use those!  So on Friday night, I played around by layering them, border punching the edges, cutting them, and squish-squashing them every which way to make them nice and full and poofy. I even used one on a scrapbook layout over the weekend. I am loving these, and they are so stinkin' cute and easy!

Miles of Smiles,

Another Father's Day Card

I made this as a Father's Day card too. I started with a brown cardstock base, matted with cream and swirled blue metallic cardstock. I inked and ripped a manilla tag, covered it with blue mesh, and cut out clouds from patterned cardstock. I embellished it with a fabric sailboat sticker, and a vintage Graphic 45 cut out. Finished it off with letter stickers and a metal anchor sticker. I love the metallic paper with the swirl pattern. It mimics ocean waves, and it looks like brushed aluminum, very cool. 

Miles of Smiles,

Father's Day

Here is a Father's Day card I made for my dad. Red card base, golden polka dot paper, and flocked harlequin cardstock. The tag is Graphic 45. I embellished it with a file folder sticker, alphabet beads, arrows and 3D pop dotted gold cut outs.

Miles of Smiles,

June Wedding

Here is the wedding card I made for my brother and his wife.  I started with a patterned cardstock with foil wedding words on it as the card base.  Border punched a foil heart patterned cardstock matted against brown cardstock. Stamped the frame image on acetate and on heather pink cardstock, cut them out the same size and inked the edges in brown. I adhered the photo to the pink cardstock, overlayed the acetate, and aligned the frame images. I put a teal flower brad through each side (to hold the acetate in place) and matted it with light blue cardstock. I centered and adhered this to the border punched foil paper. I added rhinestones and a heart charm to the acetate image. I added the date to the top left corner.  I cut a rectangle of the light blue cardstock the same width as the matted piece, inked the edges in brown, and affixed the clear sticker. This was added below the brown cardstock, aligned with the blue cardstock matting the photo. The photo and the date came from a "Save the date" postcard the bride and groom sent out. I thought this was a good souvenir to incorporate into their card.

Miles of Smiles,
 

Bridesmaid in Blue

Recently by brother married his long time sweetheart, and I was a bridesmaid in their wedding.  I just love my bro and his fiance', I mean wife! LOL I miss them terribly living so far away. My hub and I traveled up to PA for the wedding. It was a fabulous day! The bride was gorgeous, the groom was handsome (his is my brother, after all) and the reception was beautiful and tons of fun. I will post a pic of the bride and groom when I get a good photo. For now, here I am in my very fashionable bridesmaid gown. Surprisingly it was very comfy. The weather in PA was just right too. No need for air conditioning at my mom's house, where we stayed. It was a short trip, but we still managed to squeeze in my hub's family, lunch at Abe's hotdogs, the rehearsal and dinner, wedding, and lunch at Pizza Perfect. There's never much down time when we head north, but our families get to see us so it's worth it.

Miles of Smiles,