Some Serif to share

Hi all

Just thought I would pop in and share a little Serif with you from the shows I did on Create and Craft TV last weekend. It was so good to be back after an absence and I had so much fun! It really is a great TV family and we do laugh!

I was showing The Good life double CD collection of Digi kits and stamps over the Create and Craft birthday weekend, at the moment the kits are only available through Create and Craft and you need Serif Craft Artist 2 Professional to power them .... so here we are some of the samples as seen on TV all created from the 6 The Good life kits...

Chocolate Heaven - Food and Drink kit

 I have used the torn edges in the graphic style section on the material for the background (style tab on left side > edges > paper > torn and increase line as you wish) I have also cut up some of the embellishments so the garden of cakes can be split up and images used individually to fill in gaps (select embellie > pick up scissor tool > cut a little way into the lank area of selection > click select > click on then off embellie and when you go back onto it you'll find the elements have been separated NB this doesn't work on all embellishments)

 

Clock - Words of Wisdom kit (mainly)

 



This is an image that I printed onto printable canvas and then stuck to the front of a bought canvas that held a clock mechanism (the canvas came from B&M) I've used the shape tool to create the circles (hold the shift key down as you draw the circle out to create a perfect circle) I then re coloured from within the digi kit colour palette. I applied one of the Digi brushes from the kit around the circle (select the circle > go to brushes tab on left > drop down and select digi kit > click butterfly brush > go to line tab top left > increase line as desired)

 

Daisies plaque - words of wisdom kit

 

 

This is a 12 x 9 wall plaque - a bit of home décor which these kits really lend themselves to.

 

 

 

Baby - Happy Families kit

 

This shaped layout is created by punching out some material from the kit (Punch tab top left > shapes from drop down > select shield and drag onto material > resize as required and punch) I then created the matt in the sae way but punching from a square created with the shape tool and re coloured from the digi kit palette. I added line round both to add definition (select shape > bring frame image top of colour box to front and select colour > line tab next to colour box and increase line) I used an intelligent photo frame and added he photo I then dropped this behind the light blue matt (with photo selected go to arrange bottom left > send back one) while it was still selected I then picked up the eraser tool on the top tool bar and erased away any photo and frame showing (it will only ease the item selected) Once happy I bought it back to the front. I then added the 'hill with flowers' embellie and repeated the eraser process so it sits within the shape. I added the tree from the kit and flowers from a search in the digi browser. (I separated the 3 daisy type flowers as I separated the embellies in chocolate heaven above and then erased he stalks with the eraser tool to add to the bottom of the plant pot. I also selected the photo at the end and went to the [photo lab to add an effect to it (photo lab > effects > style > comic book)

 

 

I see no ships - By the Sea kit

 

 

The photo on this A4 layout was put through the cut out studio and then a scene built around it from the kit.

 

Lilly on the Farm - Friends forever

 

 

Another photo put through the cut out studio and placed in a scene created from the kit.

 

 

 

T-Shirt - Words of wisdom (mainly)

 

 

I created a t-shirt from this image by printing onto t-shirt transfer material and ironing in place (top tip when cutting an image from t -shirt transfer material cut as close to the image as you can to keep the image tidy)

 

 

 

Front and Back of a bag - words of wisdom kit

 

 

I printed these two images onto printable canvas and used pinflair glue to attach them to the front and back of a hessian shopping bag. The background is created from the shape tool and coloured from the digi kit palette. The front image is and embellishment and the two pigs backs are as well but minus the bird so I copy and pasted the front image so it was the right size and then used the eraser tool to erase the pigs just leaving the bird shape. I then used the shape tool and drew an oval to fill in the front of the bird (the circle tool without holding the shift key so you can create an oval) and then coloured it from the colour palette so it exactly matched the colour of the bird, I then grouped it and the bird embellie and put it between the backward pigs sending it back one on the arrange tab so the edges are hidden by the pigs. The heart was also created with the shape tool and the faux stitching is from the digi brushes (draw a square with shape tool > take away any colour fill or line > brushes on the left > global > embroidery > select running stitch with eyelets > Line tab top left > increase line as you wish)

 

 

 

Dirty faces - Friends forever kit

 

 

The one not seen on TV as Dill brain forgot to print it!! Pretty straight forward using an intelligent frame and the quote has been put through a sticker style to make it pop off the page. (select text > styles left side > sticker from drop down > select the effect that suits)

 

 

 

Dreaming - Words of wisdom

 

 

I love all the dreamy imagery in this kit with flying sheep etc. Quite straight forward 12 x 12 with the photo held in an intelligent digi frame.

 

 

I've added explanations where I can as a lot of you have been asking questions about some of my projects .... I hope they make sense :) Thanks for stopping by and letting me share some of my samples. I hope you're well and happy and as ever .... until soon ....

 

 

Happy Crafting

Love

MJM x









 



 



 

 



High in the Sky!

Hi all..... How are you? I guess it took a little longer than I intended to come back here but there’s nothing new in that and let’s face it at least I have come back!

So today I’d like to (finally) share pictures of my trip to the Olympic Park at the end of March to see my models in the exhibition at the top of the orbit high in the sky! The regeneration project is being run by a company called No ordinary park / Park in Progress and they are now doing trips for the public to get a glimpse of what’s coming to the park over the next couple of years.... it’s all exciting stuff! For those that don’t know I was commissioned to make some models for an exhibition that shows visitors what they can expect to see after the regeneration.

So my visit started at Pudding Mill Lane station, almost in the park itself and it was my first glimpse of that stadium in the flesh....

 

.... And the red twisty tower is a most amazing sculpture that is the orbit, do you remember seeing it on TV and wondering what it was? (Unless of course you were lucky enough to actually go to the events then you will know that)

Before we set off we were all issued with high vis jackets and hard hats as it is a building site with all the redevelopment...

..... Hmmmm sooooo attractive.... NOT!

After a bus ride through the park we arrived at the Orbit.....

Standing at the bottom of it you realise how huge it is and what a fantastic feat of sculptural engineering it is.
At the top you have a full 360 degree view of London around the viewing platform, shame the weather was a bit rubbish and inside there are the funkiest mirrors ever....

You feel like you’re standing in the mirror and also standing on certain marked points and looking in the mirrors it turns the world upside down!

And so to my models, 1 of them is in a bird box in the amazing tower of bird boxes representing the North side of the park....

.... It’s a wildlife scene to show the natural development of the rivers and the planting intended to introduce wildlife into the park. Here are some close ups I took before it went to the park.

 

The other 3 are in a structure of boxes that represent the South side of the park.

A Cabaret club to show that local bands and artists will have a place in the entertainment venues intended for the park.

The model is 20cm x 20cm x 20cm and is made from chipboard, cardstock, dowelling, fimo and plumbers fittings!

A Carousel to represent the fairground rides coming to the park.

Again this is 20cm x 20cm x 20cm and is made from chipboard, dowelling and patterned paper.

 
And finally, a theatre proscenium arch to represent the theatre space coming to the park

20cm x 20cm x 20cm and made from mount board, patterned papers and rub ons and I made the theatre masks from fimo!

I’m looking forward to going back to the park over time to see all the developments and I’m thrilled skinny that there is a bit of me there high in the sky!

Thanks for stopping by, the next post will be soon.... honest! I hope you’re well and happy and as ever

Happy Crafting

Love
MJM x

ps. apologies for the different fonts, I tried to be clever and copy and paste from a document and blogger evidently didn't like it! After an hour of trying to make it uniform I surrender!!! M x

A New Look .... A New beginning

Well here I am, I knew it had been a while since my last visit but boy I was shocked when I saw the date of my last post ..... time sure does fly!!

I have been a busy bee in my absence with TV blockbusters for Serif, Christmas, Hubs Panto and a huge amount of prep for teaching on the 6 week Amazon and Caribbean cruise we did at the beginning of the year .... pics will follow in another post!

When we came back I had a very exciting commission for the Olympic park exhibition and built some of my models for them .... again pics will follow of my visit to the exhibition to see them last week!

And so to the reason for this post .... today I am finally re-launching my website .... never I hear you cry! It is true and you can visit it here .... enjoy and let me know what you think.

I'm going to get off now and finish all my re decorating in cyber space but like I said New Look .... New Beginning and I will be blogging again soon :)

I hope you're all well and happy and keeping warm ... roll on the sunshine eh!
Until soon, as ever, Happy Crafting
Love
MJM x