Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree .....

How lovely are your suprises!

Hi folks
Well it's been a busy few days with life and putting together one of my DIY projects so you can create this ....

A Christmas tree surprise ..... what's the surprise?

it opens up to reveal a decorated Christmas tree complete with fairy lights and space to add your own special Christmas memories.

The project is available on line in my website shop at www.mjm-thearttart.com

But what is a DIY project I hear you cry. I created the idea of DIY projects a few years ago as a way of sharing a kind of workshop with you, I provide all the templates you need and full step by step instructions with oodles of photographs on the way and you use your own stash, that way you make the project in the colours and patterns you want without me inflicting my choices on you, after all we all have different tastes and what a dull world it would be if we didn't! And this DIY project goes a step further as I have added a new digi craft set of instructions for those of you that would like to create the project digitally with Serif Craft Artist 2 professional like this one

and again this set of instructions has a full step by step tutorial with lots of screen shots of me working on the programme.

Then you complete the project with the relevant steps from the paper craft instructions.

So fancy having a go and creating a very unique Christmas decoration full of memories that will take pride of place and return year after year? It would make a great Christmas present especially for a first Christmas for a baby or even a newly married couple, the beauty is you can make it however you want for whoever you want and as you have the templates you can make it again and again (and for those of you wondering if you can sell what you make then yes you can ;))

The project will be emailed to you in a zipped file so no postage, it will contain 3 PDF's a set of templates, a set of paper craft instructions (21 pages of instruction and full colour photo step by steps) and a set of digi craft instructions (42 pages of instruction and full colour screen shot photo step by steps) and it costs just £5.00. Whether you're a new crafter or a seasoned crafter you will love this project, it's easy and it's unique! Find it in my shop www.mjm-thearttart.com

Right folks I have to dash, hubs is home for a couple of days from panto and is waiting for a Sunday roast!!! I will be back soon, I hope you're well and happy.
as ever Happy Crafting
Love
MJM x

One little post before I go!

Hi all
Well tomorrow is M day ...... moving day! As you can imagine I am buried under boxes and all those last minute 'what do I do with that' things and packing the studio ..... well don't get me started LOL But all being well, with a good wind behind us we'll be off tomorrow to start a brand new adventure! I hope the sun shines!!!

So I thought I'd post a few bits before I go, thanks for all the lovely messages, some of you have been asking to see some of the samples I've had on tv .... so here's a couple (a lot of my 'stuff' has been packed so only been able to photograph a couple of bits :))

These were created for the Serif Craft Artist Steam Punk 4 day deal on create and craft TV back at the end of March .....

A hope chest ......

I made the chest out of chipboard and then designed my own decorative papers to cover it.The blend mode in the programme is fab for mixing the backgrounds to make my own papers and the photo real embellishments look great gathered together and shadowed to give that realistic touch

I printed some of the imges off multiple times to create some 3D embellishments and mixed them with some of my own crafty embellishments.

Then I created some scenes on paper to cover the inside of my chest.

This one is a reverse canvas filled with a photo of my niece

And some embellishments layered to make them 3D, with some imagery printed onto acetate to hang within the frame to create more depth

So that's a taster of some of my hybrid projects.

Just before I packed my studio up I completed a commission for scrap365, here's a sneak

to appear in the Sepember issue, I took great joy in getting messy with fibre paste and ink.... well until my new studio is settled I guess it will be a while before I can get messy in my craft room :)

And finally ....

The boys took a last spin in the fields

They don't know it yet but not only will they have fields to play in soon but loads of cliff walks and miles and miles of beach too ..... did I tell you I was a little bit excited??!!!

Ok so I'll sign off for now I will be back as soon as possible and hopefully writing to you from the comfort of my brand new studio! Until then ,as ever, I hope you are well, thanks for stopping by, I'll *see you* soon and of course.....
Happy Crafting
Love
M x