My Grandma's Teacups

Need a last minute gift for someone special. Just wait until you see how easy this beautiful vintage inspired necklace is.

What you need:

Blank silver cabochon (the type with a back in it, not a hole).
Silver chain
Digital Image from Gecko Galz
Glossy Accents
Resin Rose
Small charm that is big enough to hold resin rose

How To:

Its so simple I am not even going to break it into steps. Just cut the image to the size of the opening. I make a cardstock template first and once I get it sized right I trace it on my image and cut. Apply and even coat of glossy accents beginning in the middle of the image and allowing it to pool towards the sides. Leave the necklace to dry overnight. In the meantime you can adhere the resin rose to the charm. Once the pendant is dry you can add a jump ring to it and the charm and attach it to your chain. There you go. One sweet vintage necklace just in time for Valentine's Day.

I think this little wall hanging turned out so stinking cute. It would be wrong though for me to force my now teenaged daughter to hang it in her room. I guess I will have to wait for someone to have a baby girl. Have you noticed the number of boys being born right now. Whoa..there must be something in the water.

How To:

1. Coat the smooth side of the coaster with Gesso.
2. Transfer the image by coating the paper in Gesso and adding it face down to the coaster.
3. Once dry remove backing paper by saturating it with water and rubbing gently with your finger.
4. Colour the image using alcohol markers.
5. Coat the coloured image only with Glossy Accents.
6. Once Dry use any paints or inks that you have to create the background. Spray it with water to create the soft flowing effect.
7. I gave mine a coat of mod podge to seal it all in.
8. Add adhesive backed gems to the outside perimeter of the circle.
9. Create a loop using your favourite ribbon and adhere it to the back of the coaster.
10. Centre a bow on the top of the design and adhere with Glossy Accents.
11. Allow all the glue to dry overnight before hanging.

I think this would look really sweet with a vintage teddy or Peter Rabbit as well. You can change the image to suit the theme of the room. Maybe even some vintage floral design for the bathroom. Have fun making your wall hanging, I certainly did.

Have you tried image transfers yet? I have tried several times with varied results but I purchased some Gel Medium and it works every time. I would suggest investing in some if your budget allows. A little goes a long way. 

What you need:

mod podge

How to:

For this particular project I laid down a coat of gesso on a ceramic tile. It was the type that looks like smooth rock not the type that is smooth and heavily glazed. After the gesso dried I applied a coat of mod podge to seal it. I then applied a second generous coat and while it was still wet I covered the inked side of my paper (Gecko Galz Tara's Garden) with mod podge and placed it face down on the tile. It is really important to get all the air bubbles and wrinkles out, so use your hands or a squeegee and really make it smooth. 

Put it aside and don't even think about doing anything else until tomorrow.

After you have had your first coffee go ahead and take out your tile. You are going to need a spray bottle or sponge and water. You will totally saturate the entire surface of the paper. Let it sit for 5 minutes and then spray again. 

Using your finger, gently draw little circles on the paper. You should see little piece of the paper begin to ball up. Keep going gently. If you find the paper is drying, wet it again and continue. Keep going until you can see your image clearly. This will take some time so be patient.

When you are convinced you have all the white paper off the tile, set it aside to dry.

I added another coat of mod podge just to be sure nothing moved or soaked up colours from my embellishments later on.

I then adhered, using Glossy Accents (Craft Medley Premium Craft Glue works perfectly I was just out) all of my flowers and my framed Gecko Galz image from the Isn't It Romantic Collage sheet.

What do you think?

I love February. It's not just because it's the month I was born in (though I do like that part too), it's just far enough from Christmas that life has returned to normal and not so close to Easter that we are gearing up again for holiday business. Groundhog's Day, Valentine's Day, Family Day...they are all pretty low effort fun holidays without much fanfare attached. My point being, it's a great time to craft. If you are a vintage inspired crafter like me February is your month to shine. In February there is no such thing as too many doilies in a piece or too much lace. You can just decorate to excess and it will be considered on trend.

I made a pile of projects for February. I won't inundate you with them all on one day, so be sure to come back often to see what I have been working on.


I love the lollipop flowers on the cute Valentine's card. It looks complicated but it actually is a very fast card to put together.

You will need:

Gecko Galz Ephemera Sheet
Red 12x12 cardstock (2 sheets)
flat backed adhesive gems
small piece of white or cream cardstock.

First assemble the card base. You do this by cutting your 12x12 sheet into two 12x6 sections. Set one 12x6 aside and cut the other in half forming a 6x6. Fold the 12x6 in half forming a 6x6 card base. Now score and fold the top of that card base back creating a doubled over 3x6. This will act as your hinge mechanism. Next take the 6x6 square you cut and adhere it to the card base. Be sure to only apply adhesive to the bottom half of the folded piece so that it can pop up.

Now that the base is done you will need to cut your design paper. I used Gecko Galz Ephemera and matted it on colonial white cardstock. The mat should be 5.5 inches square and the design paper should be 5.25 square.

Mat your chosen ephemera onto red cardstock and mount on card. Decorate as desired.

Use the piece of cardstock to create a sentiment and pop it up on foam squares to use it as the stopper to hold the page up.

Decorate the base as you feel appropriate,

Voila....you've done it again.

Thanks for visiting

Tracy