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 :)

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

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

Lighting up a blizzard

Hi cyber buddies it's project of the day day today over at the Lily pad and here is my project


Lighting up a blizzard

A super easy and simple project using one of my favourite Banana Frogstamp sets Blizzard, my purple cows hot laminator and some pound shop fairy lights!! ( I love a crafty bargain!) Go and check out the step by steps here and remember it's not just for Christmas LOL

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

Love
M x

Designer Friday at the Ranch!

Hi all! I'm here to share some purple goodness with you on this lovely day as it's my turn on Designer Friday over at Purple Cows

As some of you may know I've recently been proud and honoured to have been presenting Purple Cows tools on create and craft TV. I've been busy beavering away making samples for these shows and one of my fave raves at the moment are these..



Laminated bags! Oh they are so super easy with the Purple Cows Hot/Cold laminator and my trusty Purple Cows 2 in 1 trimmer!



Of course the beauty of the Purple Cows Hot pockets that go alongside the laminator is that they come in all the crafting sizes and the 12 x 12 Hot pockets are perfect for using your scrapbook papers in a different way! These DeLovely Cosmo Cricket papers are just that and I think they deserve to be shown off, what better way than as a bag! The pockets on the front are made from the 6'' x 4'' Kool pockets, super strong (held on there with Helmars glue!) and the perfect size for my bag (they also enabled me to get more of that paper on display :))

The front and back are 12 x 12 hot pockets, filled with the paper and the side and base are 3 3''x 12'' strips of paper put into 2 12 x 12 hot pockets and then trimmed into strips with the fabulous Purple cows guillotine. The whole thing is then put together with eyelets (I used a crop-a-dile), a bit of ribbon attached for the handles and then you're good to go! The lamination with the Purple Cows laminator and Hot pockets is super strong and believe me these bags are sturdy!

So then I was playing with some digi scrapping ....



How cool! a completely unique beach bag with my own photo on it!!



and then go small with the 8 x 8 Hot pockets and an 8'' x 8'' digi scrap page. Don't you think these would make great gift bags??

So why not see what you can create with your Purple Cows laminator and Hot pockets, think outside the box, get those papers out of the album and create some purple gorgeousness of your very own :)

Thanks for stopping by , pop back often to the pasture to be inspired by the oh so talented cow girls and don't forget that all the projects generated by the girls are available as FREE PDF downloads, just follow the links to scribd. If you're stuck for inspiration let us help you out!!

I'll see you soon, until then Happy Crafting!
Love
M x

It's a creative world with a shakey page!

Hi all!
Today is my turn to share over on the It’s a creative world blog alongside an amazingly talented bunch of crafters! Pop on over and soak up some inspiration!

My project is an interactive scrap page. You’ve heard of shaker cards right? Well this is a shaker page and I had so much fun with my Purple Cows laminator and alcohol inks creating it so without further ado this is how it turned out



Sun, sand and sea?

And this is how I created it!



First off I cut some masks in the shape of waves and layed them inside my Purple Cows hot pocket



Then I went to town with my alcohol inks, splodging and splattering and generally getting messy, that’s the best bit of crafting for me!



And while I had all my goodies out I filled another pocket with some inks so I could create some embellishments … look at that pattern of colours … yumsville!!



Once the inks were dry I sprinkled some glitter into the sea lamination for extra sparkle and laminated my two pockets. Cutting out seaweed shapes and fish I created my own bespoke embellishments.



After building up my 12 x12 to look like a sea bed I added a pile of sequins, micro beads, and laminated fish and seaweed in the centre of it.



I then stuck the sea lamination over the top of it, trapping in all the shaker bits. I built my layout up over the top, using some fish embellishments as accents on the outside of the lamination ...



... as well as some Seaweed around the bottom. With some Hessian, ribbons and my photos I finished of the layout and journalled the story of my little nieces trip to the beach where she loved the sand and the picnic but was just not convinced by the sea!

I hope you feel inspired to create your own interactive scrap page. Pop back often to the IACW bog to be inspired by the creative girls and I’ll see you soon, there and here! Until then happy crafting
Love
M x

Funny old week!

Hi all!
Well here I am writing this post live! I write every post live of course but the past few have been scheduled posts in my absence ... Don't you just love technology :) sad I know but this stacking up of scheduled posts has only just occured to me to keep the posts coming when I'm busy ... oh I can be a bear of little brains sometimes!

Anyway I thought it would be nice to actually drop in and say hi and catch up. So yes a funny old week I've been on't telly :) For those that saw it thankyou for all the lovely messages you have sent me :) I was on Create and Craft on Wednesday launching the new Purple cows hot/cold laminator and also some trimmers, it was live for an hour, I was scared but I survived and surprised myself by actually starting to enjoy it :) Having worked in theatre and entertainment for so long it was very wierd being the wrong side of the cameras!! Then they were foolish enough to ask me back on Sunday to do a 2 hour show on Ideal world. I was with the lovely Leonie and we had a blast. Needless to say that is where I have been, busy prepping for the show and making samples and I have to give a big shout out to all the cow girls across the pond for the wonderful samples they sent me ... you all rock!

Talking of Purple Cows one of my projects was published this week here where, as you will see, you can download the FREE PDF instructions to make your own and when you've finished on my blog (yep you don't get away that easily LOL) Hop on back to the pasture and peruse all the cow girls projects and have a purpleicious time downloading the FREE pdf's till your hearts content :)

Here are some pics of my project ... A Waterproof wall hanging



A lovely memory of me and my husband swimming with the dolphins in our beloved Mexico



The layouts are laminated in 12 x 12 Purple cows Hot pockets with the new hot/cold laminator





Although you can build up the layouts quite a bit within the hot pockets (up to 1/8th'') I like to add extra embellishments and dimension to the outside.



A while ago I had a blog giveaway and the lovely mustavcoffee was my winner. I shared with you a lovely thankyou card she sent me using some of the goodies and have spied this on her blog using some more of it, very cute :) (oh and mustavcoffee the compass stamp I used in my Glitz post is from Glitz designs yummy isn't it:))



There isn't really a lot else to report at the moment, I've just been busy with the TV and my scheduled posts have taken care of keping you up to date with the creative stuff so all that remains to say is ...

And finally ...

Oliver Pickles had his first official lead walk a week or so ago ... he's growing up fast!



Stan took him into his field .... literally! I think it was a vain attempt to lose him



It took Ollie a while to get out!!



But he did and for those of you that have tuned into my blogs for a while (in fact way back when it was on my website!) here's 'little dog on the prairie 2!!'



But they are great friends and this is their favourite place when I'm sat on the computer, it renders my wheelie chair useless but I wouldn't be without them :)



And so that's it, here endeth my waffle! I hope you're all well and happy, thanks for stopping by and until soon Happy Crafting

Love
Mx

Froggity Blog Hop!

Blimey O'Reily can you believe this has come round again? Where did the last month go?? And I'm sure Bev at Froggie HQ is wondering where the last 4 years went as she celebrates 4 years of gorgeous Froggie-ness!

So, it is the monthly frog hop from Banana Frog, (clicking on that link will take you to the list of blogs if you've missed out so far!) So without further ado, and with that darn Stevie Wonder song stuck in my head! lets wish Banana Frog HAPPY BIRTHDAY (or maybe that should be hoppy birthday :))

Predictable I know, but I made a Birthday card, but not just any birthday card, a Kool laminated, hidden message floating in mid air type card :)



This is the front and you will just have to go through the post to see the inside LOL



So first up, one of my favourite things to do with my stamps, as I've said before, making my own patterned paper! A birthday party isn't complete without cake so I started with the 2 small cup cakes from Cupcake Greetings stamped randomly on to some thin white card.



Next, an addition of polka dots stamped with green and pink neon ink using the small dot from Make a Chain, an oh sooooo useful stamp set!



Pro markers at the ready my PP is coloured in.



The alphas for my card come from the Budmo Jiggler stamp set (love that name!) and Steel Fish ouline. I stamped the Budmo Jiggler alphas with lime brilliance inks and coloured in the dots with a yellow pro marker ... hmmmm looks like a certain logo LOL (and hands up at this point that was a complete accident!)



And what party is complete without balloons? Can you guess which stamp set I used? ... the balloons come courtesy of the Retro Baubles stamp set and that lovely neon ink again :)



To assemble, I cut 2 strips of matting and layering that would fit inside my Purple Cows Kool laminator pockets, cutting the front at 5'' and the back at 6'' so the front strip would take the HAPP and the Y fitted at the end of the back strip ... why?.....



So when it's opened the Y completes the message inside the card, and that's when you get to see the 'balloons' in all their glory :)

A couple of eyelets and some colourful ribbon forms the hinge of the card. I love the way it looks like the card is 'floating' in the laminated pockets and love that I can use my Banana Frog stamps not only to create my embellishments and alphas but also that I can create my own paper to fit an occassion!

So what will you create when you win one of the £100 giveaways over at Banana Frog? Today is the last chance to enter so what are you waiting for? Leave a comment on the frog blog here for the chance to win £100 of stamping goodness and while you're at the Lily pad why not shop? That way you automatically get entered into ANOTHER £100 giveaway ... shimples! Go on you know you want to!

Ok so you have your entries in to win some goodies... what now? Well after leaving a comment on this post for the chance of winning a free stamp set of your choice!! hop on over to the lovely and oh so talented Antheas blog to see what stamping goodness she has to share!

Thanks for hopping by, see you soon, until then Happy Crafting!

Love
M x

ps While you're reading this I'll be at the ideal world studios showing off some Purple cows tools!! I'll be live on ideal world at 2pm then on the repeat at 5pm on creat and craft :)