A spooky twist with Banana Frog

Hi all

Just a quicky to drop this off


My project of the day on the Banana Frog blog. A little spooky twist using the fairytale princess castle ... yes really :) Pop on over to the Lilly pad for my project.

I hope you're well and happy, see you Friday with 2 posts and until then Happy Crafting!
Love
M x

A Glitzy Spooktacular

Hi all, well here I am again to share some more Glitzy goodness with you in the form of 2 spooktacular layouts with yummy Glitz Designs
As the Halloween season approaches I thought I would do a layout to record my Halloween celebration. The celebration stretches right back to pagan roots and is a time to celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of the next, in effect it is the new year celebration as well as a time to celebrate our ancestors and of course the rich harvest to see us through the dark winter months and it is known as


Samhain (pronounced sow-ein)

I love the mix of Purple and black for Halloween so what better line to use than Glitz Designs Plum Crazy, one of my all time favourites ... to date! Purple is such a hard colour to get right with papers and I think Glitz designs just hit the mark with this collection. Ok enough waffling this is my list of ingredients for my layout;
Glitz Designs Plum Crazy paper; Diamonds, chair, polka and stripe
Glitz Designs Plum Crazy journaling cardstock stickers
Glitz Designs Plum Crazy cardstock alphas
Glitz Designs Paisley flourish rub ons
Glitz Designs black damask rub on
Glitz Designs Distressing stamps; set two
Glitz Designs teeny alphas; round black.


I ripped the piece of chair paper in half roughly along the diagonal and distressed it all ... liberally! Using the text side of the paper it went across the base of the diamonds paper (also distressed of course!)


Before I adhered the lilac text paper to the base I worked on it. I used the alpha stickers to create my title but didn’t want them the strong plum colour that they are so I took some of the sticky off the back (by repeatedly sticking each letter to my jumper) and used the alphas as a stencil. As I had run out of some of the letters I cut around their outline on the sticker sheet so I could use the negative, I quite like the ethereal quality I got from mixing up the positive and negative alphas. I then used one of the distressing stamps and some black ink to stamp over my title and built up a ‘black mist’. Tip; to avoid getting a straight edge from the stamp I only applied ink to the centre, avoiding adding ink to the stamp edge. Once I was happy with the build up of black I removed the alpha stickers (remember Glitz Design stickers are really super sticky so really work at covering them in fluff before using this method!)


I then added a piece of the Damask rub on, this I ripped to avoid harsh edges, a little paisley flourish and then cut out the centre of two of the journaling card stock stickers to add later.


My photos are of my Halloween hearth, candles, crystals and offerings of food and wine, these I layered onto some distressed pieces of the polka paper


Lastly I added some ribbon, a strip of the stripe paper as a detail, some staples, the tiny alphas and my journaling which is a little bit of Samhain Lore.

And now I’d like to take you from the past to the present with all the colours of the autumn season.


Little Pumpkin

I love this photo of my cousins little boy over in the states last Halloween on his Pumpkin search. I’ve mixed it up a little with my supplies for this layout and here’s the list;
Glitz Designs Vintage Love papers; love letters and polka
Glitz Designs Kismet papers; brown and stripes
Glitz Designs Kismet journaling cardstock stickers
Glitz Designs Maya papers; damask and stripe
Glitz Designs Maya rub ons
Glitz Designs teeny alphas; brown round


I decided to use the 11’’ x 8.5’’ format for this layout for a change as I really wanted to focus the design around the photo. I layered up a strip of vintage love letters onto some kismet brown then these two onto the vintage love polka. All pieces were distressed and inked, that part of my design didn’t change!


I then added a torn strip of Kismet stripes paper, some ribbon for texture and then cut out the round journaling block from the Kismet stickers so I could keep the very fine line of the outer circle to use as well, so creating 3 circles from the one sticker.


Next I set to with my scissors and the coloured sides of the Maya damask and stripe paper and cut out some autumn leaves. I then inked the edges to define the shape and curled them with my fingers. (You could of course use punches or dies if you have them!)


I layered up the photos and the leaves, using silicon glue to give my leaves movement and added more ribbon for texture.


I added some leaves to the top corner of the photo for balance, added the teeny alphas and finally the Maya rub on birdie ....as it just seemed right :)

And that’s it my Spooktacular Glitzy offering for this month. Thanks for stopping by and whatever you get up to this Halloween may I wish you the warmest of Seasons greetings and Happy Crafting
Love
MJM x

Stamping up a treat ....

.... and no tricks :)

Hi all, it's my turn to share a project of the day over at the Lily pad ... this is what I've made ...


Oh so simple and cute for all your Halloween treats, want to know more about it? Hop on over to the Banana Frog blog for full step by step instructions :)

Thanks for stopping by, I'm sorry this is short and sweet I'll be back soon to chat more, I hope you're well and happy and until soon as ever Happy Crafting.

Love
MJM x

Spooky goings on over at the ranch!

Hi all

Just a quickie to say go on over to the Purple Cows ranch for some spooky inspiration for Halloween, there are loads of projects (and not just for halloween) all with absolutely FREE PDF downloads with full instructions for your inspiration!! Bargain :)

Yours truly has had some spooky projects published recently


The haunted castle


Halloween lanterns


A Bat Mobile (not of the car variety :))


and a real leaf wreath!

So why not visit the Ranch, do some downloading and be inspired all for FREE courtesy of Purple Cows!

I hope you're all well, I'm back tomorrow with some Xmas creativity so until then Happy Crafting

Love
M x

PS new class/workshop dates added to my sidebar .... fancy a retreat? Sparkle retreats has just been announced and I'll have another announcement soon :)

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