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

An interview and the end of September!

Hi there, well our little catch up journey has now reached the end of September! The 28^th to be precise when my interview went live here

Do you remember me mentioning the series of up and coming interviews with British artists in a blog post back in August? I hope you’ve been remembering to pop along on a Friday and meet some of the talented artists that have been interviewed in the series, if you missed out you can still see them all on the blog, including yours truly in spot number 12.

Bernice has done a great job in hosting this series, her interview questions were brilliant and a bit different to the norm and what a great idea to celebrate the British talent that is out there I was honoured to be included in the series and alongside some lovely, talented people too.

So why not pop along and find out a little bit more about me

And be inspired by all the other interviewees.

Thanks for popping by my little corner of blogdom and for those of you that have been in for the long haul of this little catch up thanks for sticking with it ;) I’ll have more to share with you soon until then I hope you are well and happy and as ever

Happy Crafting

Love MJM x

All aboard the paperarts tour bus!

Hi there, ready to continue our catch up journey? I told you my little life had been a little busy in my recent absence from here ;) Never fear though we are now three quarters of the way into September!

In the midst of the Craft Artist 2 mega launch on Create and Craft I toddled off to Swindon to teach at the Paperarts on tour retreat

 

 

and I have to tell you I had the best time! I only wish that I hadn’t had to leave after my second class on the Saturday to get back to Peterborough. I could have quite happily stayed for the rest of the weekend and scrapped to my heart’s content! The delegates were fab, people I’ve known for a while and new friends made. The teachers were great too and I was honoured to be alongside such talent as well as getting to meet some in real life that I have been friends with online for a while. Sue and Rachel did a fantastic job with it all too, the hotel was lovely, the food great, the classrooms spacious, the crop room huge and open for as long as people used it not to mention the shop full of too many goodies for one scrapbooker deprived of being in a real life shop for too long! And not only that they are lovely people with such an attention to detail to make it a perfect weekend. I know I may be gushing a bit but trust me it was great and it had such a happy atmosphere. I know they’re planning next year’s already so maybe you should jump on the bus!!

These are the classes I taught

Inspirational

Not my usual colour scheme but I asked Sue to put kits together for me, I don’t like that bit and I like a challenge too, it makes me think outside the box and I'm really pleased with the result

The kit included viva decor inka gold paste, if you haven’t played with it yet give it a go, something completely different! On the layout we used it on the chipboard shapes once we had papier mached them with loo roll (classy me ;)) to create an almost metallic look.

The second class was this one

A snapshot of happiness

Remember that book page I posted back in August? Can you spot it?

We had lots of stencil and stamp paint for this layout which we stencilled with, smeared, stamped with cups and splattered, a good messy time was had by all ;)

Now I did take my camera with me but as ever useless me forgot all about taking pics until right at the end of the last class ....I know what kind of scrapbooker am I? So all I have is this one photo of the last men standing in class (well Katy Fox and Penny alongside some other lovelies LOL)

So if you were there and you are reading this thanks for a great weekend, I had a blast!

That’s it for this post, one more catch up to get us to the end of September so until then as ever I hope you’re well and happy, thanks for stopping by and until next time

Happy Crafting

Love MJM x

A crazy launch

Hi there and welcome to my little corner of blogdom.

I have been on a catch up of my little life in my last few posts as I was absent from my corner of cyber space for about a month and a half, I thought I would explain that if you have just stumbled across this and wonder what’s going on, however if you’ve been keeping up with me let the story continue .....

Most of September was taken up with the launch of Craft Artist 2 professional

The superb graphic software I demonstrate on Create and Craft TV. We launched it as a blockbuster on the 14^th of September alongside a Pick of the week which was a superb collection of royalty free graphic brushes and stamps (I REALLY like them!) I am pleased to say it was a massive success and a crazy week and a half and thrilled we have welcomed thousands more into the Craft Artist world.

Here are some of the pages I created when I was learning the new bits...

A page about our trip to the Rewind 80’s festival using the new software, the daydream digi kit included and some of those graphic stamps. The background is a full photo blend into the background paper, all done with the touch of a button.

A page about that instant garden I told you about again using the kit included in the software and some of those graphic stamps. Notice the little blue bird in the sky? That’s a graphic stamp re-coloured and digitally decoupaged with one of the new software tools and the clouds are painted with one of the software’s digi brushes.

My nieces when they visited in August when we went to the maritime experience. I’ve used the new re-colouring tools on this one (I really love the new re-colouring capability) alongside the included digi kit and yes more of those graphic stamps

How cool is this? One of the new Digi punches in the software that makes anything into a jigsaw image. I’ve also used one of the graphic styles to ‘stamp’ the background, yes you can actually make things look like they have been stamped and even get the faded look like you do when you need to re-ink the stamp!

So if you haven’t got your hands on this amazing piece of software why not go and check it out, I think it’s amazing and not just because I demonstrate it, as a designer I can do so much with it but don’t need to know how it works as it’s all done with the touch of a button, oh and don’t be put off by the ridiculously low price you will be amazed at what this little beauty does.

Right that’s me for this post I’m going to leave you with a little love

Digi punch, Digi decoupage, graphic style on the middle heart that started out as a black graphic stamp.....you get the picture ;)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I hope you’ll stop by soon for a little more catch up (nearly there LOL) Until then as ever

Happy Crafting

Love MJM x

Still on my little life catch up!

Here I am again with another little life catch up ;) I’m going back a bit now from the last post to talk about the beginning of September which is where I left you the blog post before last ....confused? Welcome to my world LOL

At the beginning of September there was another addition to the family

Welcome Evie the newest little person in my Step sons family, she is the floppiest baby I have ever met! She was 10lbs when she was born but surprisingly small when we went down to Devon to meet her. (At this point I will say note to self next time we visit the West Country to see hubs family we will fly, that was one heck of a car journey!) But she is obviously a considerate baby as she was born just before we were travelling down to Devon for Hubs Mums 80^th birthday party so we could tie it all up in one weekend!

It was an afternoon affair set up like a tea party/street party. One end was all ‘Kath Kidson’, cupcakes and cream teas and the other end was a British street party come end of the pier fairground complete with a Punch and Judy man and games including a tin can alley and even hook a duck with colourful little ducks bobbing about in a washing up bowl LOL We also made some £1 notes (remember those?) with hubs mums face on so people paid to play the games, it was great fun for young and old alike and was something completely different.

That’s it for this post. I’ll leave you with this

A page to document the arrival of little Evie which was created with Craft Artist2 professional and the Daydream kit included in the software, more about that in the next post!

Thanks for stopping by. As ever I hope you are well and happy and I look forward to *seeing you* soon, until then

Happy Crafting

Love MJM x