Froggity Blog hop!

Hi all

It's Banana Frog blog hop day, it's been a while since I played but this month I've created a little spooky offering to share with you.

Before I continue if you are here on the blog hop way welcome, if you are here just because you are then it's not to late to catch up on the hop just leap on over to the lilypad and start at the top of the list .... and remember comments mean prizes :)

Talking of prizes, thanks for all the lovely comments on my project of the day post and as promised I will now announce the winner ... drum roll please ..... Wrightboysmum you are the lucky winner of a set of Xmas stamps, please email me (mjm@jackson-mogford.freeserve.co.uk) and I'll get Bev to send out your stamps.

Now where was I? ... Oh yes I wanted to share this ..


A super simple mask to complete that halloween costume this year :) (I can't believe it's October tomorrow!!) The idea has come from one of my Guest designer posts on the Lilly pad way back in June 2009!! I've just transformed it with stars and seasonal colours.


It started life as a simple white mask, cheap to pick up from any fancy dress shop.


Then using the Retro space stamp set's smallest star, my finger as a stamp block and some mustard stayzon I stamped up a random pattern.


Then I did the same thing with the next size star and some Iris Stayzon


and finally some Royal Purple Stayzon ad the largest star in the set completed the base of the pattern.


I inked around the mask with some cut and dry foam and the Iris Stayzon and then again using my fingers as a stamp block, black archival ink and the swirl from the winter wonderland stamp set (told you it wasn't just for Christmas!)I added some swirls around the bottom edge of the mask.


I wanted to add some definition around the eyes and the small stars from the make a chain samp set were ideal with a bit of black achival ink. The finishing party touch was picking out the swirls and the small stars round the eyes with some cosmic shimmers twinkles.


Et Voila a sophisticated, unique Halloween mask to intrigue people at the party.

Hmmm I wonder what other stamps would make great mask decoration? I'm off to investigate! Thanks for hopping by and your next stop is with the fabulously talented Audrey Don't forget to leave comments on all the blogs as you go, a guarenteed (halloween) treat for someone :)

See you on Create and Craft TV 9am in the morning with Purple cows and see you here soon, until then Happy Crafting
Love
M x

A merry Froggy Christmas!

Hi all

Today it's my turn at Project of the day over at the Lilly pad. Oh my life can you believe it's only 3 months to Christmas day?

So with all my froggy Christmasness over the last month I have decided to add the finishing touches to my Christmas table with this


A Place setting fit to accompany all my recent frog projects


Faux luminarys from last months project of the day, a Christmas card from this months colour focus and a Christmas cake from my Lilypad lesson.


As ever pop on over to the frog blog to see step by step pictures and instructions for my place setting.

BUT before you go! Do you fancy an early Christmas present? The lovely Bev has said I can give away one of the new Christmas stamp sets to round off my Christmas month nicely and all you have to do is leave a comment on this post AND go and leave some love on my post over at the Lilypad, Shimples!! You have until the 30th September which is frog hop day :) Good luck!

Thanks for stopping by and until soon Happy crafting

Love
M x

a JOYous day at IACW

Hi all

It's this months post over at It's a creative world for the simple things project. A project that lasts all year and explores the simple things in life with a word prompt every month.

This month the word is JOY and here's my take on it



I wanted to record one of the days of my life when I felt I experienced real JOY and happiness when I became trainer for the day with the Dolphins at Xel Ha ecological park in my beloved Mexico.

I created a push me pull me card so the picture popped out to reflect the elation I felt that day. Push me pull me's are so easy to create and when you discover the secret ingredient you'll say no way like I did .... well, maybe you will! I am always amazed at how simple the mechanisms are for interactive cards. To see how easy they are pop on over to IACW to see the post and wallow in the rest of the inspiration over there from the rest of the oh so talented creative girls.

Today I'm busy preparing for a Serif Digtal scrapbook artist 2 show for Create and craft TV on the 23rd at 8am and a Purple Cows show at 9am eek!!

Thanks for popping by, I hope you're well and happy and until soon Happy Crafting!

Love
MJM x

Lilypad lesson

Hi all

Today I have a rather festive, edible, stamping treat posted on the Banana Frog blog for my Lilypad lesson ... want to see? ... ok here it is...


A quite spectacular Christmas cake fit to grace any festive table!

I know it's only September but Christmas has a way of sneaking up doesn't it? so I feel it's never to early to start those seasonal plans and with the new Christmas Banana Frog stamp releases I couldn't resist getting into the festive spirit! In fact it's been somewhat a festive month for my posts at the Lilypad and I have another to share on the 25th to complete it!


I have used one of my favourite stamping techniques for the decorations ... triple embossing


and if you'd like to see the full step by step project hop on over to the lilypad and check out my post :)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're all well and happy andI'll be back soon, until then Happy Crafting

Love
M x

Scrap it BIG!

Hi all

Today is my turn to post over at It's a creative world and today I have scrapped it BIG!


See the full post and my step by steps over on the It's a creative world blog, a great place for daily inspiration from some very talented and diverse crafters!

Sometimes I love to print off my photos at A4 and let them do the talking in my scrap pages.

like this one here of my Husband


Printed at A4 and cut out, accompanied by Glitz Detour papers

and this one of a fun day out with my sister and nieces


Where the ferris wheel almost becomes the background, along with Glitz Maya papers and letting the little photos tell the story. Step by steps for this layout are in this post here.

So why not have a go at scrapping it BIG? Have a lovely time over at it's a creative world, fill your boots with inspiration! Thanks for stopping by and until soon, as ever, Happy Crafting!

Love
MJM x

Tomorrow is Lilypad lesson day, a festive treat with the new Banana Frog stamps :)

A Christmassy colour focus

Hi all,
Well it's colour focus time again over at the Lilly pad with Banana Frog, I can't believe that means another month has gone ... this year is going fast isn't it .... or is it just me? Anyhoo hop on over to the Lillypad to see a pic of our colour focus inspiration and check out the other talented froglets interpretation of it then hop back here and I'll share more step by step piccies of my project ... see you in a mo :)

..... Oh good your back, Some lovely stuff there isn't there! Ok so as promised here's my project in a little more detail ...


I'm really loving all the new Christmassy Frog stamp sets and feel I maybe having a seasonal month with my Lilly pad lesson coming up and my Project of the day later in the month .... well tis only 3 months away eek! So let's get started on those Christmas cards!


The ingredients for the reindeer card are the Banana Frog it's Christmas deer stamp set, Big and Juicy waterfall ink pad, a speedball brayer (my new toy :)) some silk art card, black card, white stayz on, perfect medium clear ink, blonde moments black embossing powder, some rbbon and a bit of bling.


1st up I taped a piece of silk art card to some scrap paper (I taped it to a 5'' square size) and then cut a mask from a post it note to add as a moon.


I took my brayer to my ink pad and picked ink up from the dark blue side towards the middle. The big tip when making a graded effect is to take the hard edge off the inside edge of the brayer by spinning it on some scrap paper to take the ink off the end of the roller. I went across the square at a diagonal ...


...then spun the card round to repeat the same thing on the other corner until the ink met in the middle.


I trimmed the silk art card down to it's 5'' square and then removed the moon mask and added some of the oh so cute tiny stars from the stamp set using white stayz on.


I stamped the deer image with some clear perfect medium and embossed it in black to create a strong focal point. I also made sure the antler overlapped the moon to create a bit of drama to the scene and tie the image together.


Using a bit of offcut from the silk art card that had been coloured when I was brayering, I stamped a sentiment from the stamp set with the prefect medium and embossed this. I cut it down and mounted it onto some white card with a decorative edge courtesy of my Purple cows trimmer.


I made a large white mat with a decorative edge, added a ribbon to the blue square and built up the pieces on foam pads for dimension. The finishing touch was a little bit of bling .... well it is Christmas :)

Moving onto the yellow and red I picked out from the colour focus inspiration..


This time the ingredients are the same as above but this time I used the Banana Frog Christmas Elegance stamp set and Big and Juicy mountain meadow ink pad.


This time I picked up ink from the yellow end of the ink pad towards the centre (again spinning off the hard edge of the yellow ink at the end of the brayer) And I made a vertical coating of ink.


Again I flipped the card round and repeated the process to colour the other half of the card.


I ripped down the edges of the card (towards me) to reveal the white core and then stamped a line of the baubles from the stamp set down it. I love the Merry Christmas sentiment in the set, simple and stylish! I then added some of the small snowflakes into the gaps using black archival ink.


I brayered a smaller square of silk art card with the yellow and red colours again the same way I did the blue square above. I then stamped the other bauble from the stamp set with perfect medium and embossed it in black.


Cutting the embossed bauble out I added it to the centre of the strip on a foam pad to create a focal point for my card.

And that's it! some Froggy Christmassy fun. I love the simple graphic look of Banana Frog stamps and I like the fact that they allow me to create simple, contemporary, stylish cards.....among other things like my Christmas table lights and the goodies I'm cooking up for 2 more Frog blog posts this month .... watch this space :)

Thanks for popping by, I hope you feel inspired to create and I'll see you soon. Until then Happy crafting!

Love
M x

Sharing some purpleness

Hi all

Just dropping by to share some of my recent Purple Cows creations using the fabulous 2 in 1 combo trimmer, the Freestyle mouse and the Hot and cold laminator! Both of these projects .... and in fact ALL the projects the cowgirls design can be seen over at the pasture and from there you can download the projects for FREE!!! So if you're looking for some creative inspiration pop on over and download those projects till your hearts content!!

Today I'd like to share this project with you


Birthday decorations (as seen on tv ... LOL)


The cake, cake stand is made from Bazzill cardstock and Cosmo Cricket DeLovely crafting kit using the 2 in 1 combo trimmer.


The bunting is made from Bazzill cardstock and Anna Griffin papers using the 2 in 1 combo trimmer and the Hot/cold laminator (and some flowers from my garden :))


and finally the laminated light holders are made from tissue paper, clear snaps glitter aswell as petaloo flowers using the hot/cold laminator like these here.

and my next project is my shakey page


Lots of alcohol ink and the Hot/cold laminator for this one aswell as the freestyle mouse kit.

The shakey bits inside and the seaweed and fish embellies are cut from the laminated alcohol ink sheets.

And that's it for today, a little bit of purpleness on this lovely sunny Friday. If you want to see more or are wondering where to get the tools I'll be on Create and Craft TV on Thursday the 9th of September at 8am (if that's too early check the schedule for the repeat shows :))

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're all well and happy and until soon Happy Crafting!

Love
M x