Craftscape inspiration part two

Hi all

As promised I am back with a few more of my sample pics from the recent Craftscape shows on Create and Craft using the new Craftscape digi kits from Daisy Trail and Craft Artist professional.

Following on from my last post when I shared pics from English Town, Autumn Country and Twilight Forest here are the other 3 kits in the collection starting with images from Country Garden

 

This cut out photo of my sis, my nieces my woofs and their sister was taken on the Yorkshire moors and this kit is brilliant for creating that expanse of rolling hills and beautiful blue skies

 

These scene kits are brilliant for creating posters and flyers and this one I mocked up to advertise some cream Teas yum! Great for small businesses and I can smell the scones wafting from the aga in that country cottage LOL. I used the transparency tool (the wine glass on the top tool bar) to blend the background scene so the text pops in the fore ground.

 

Another piece of home décor with a quote on it, perfect to create scenes to match your home décor and your mood!

 

A simple scene for the front of a card, there are a lot of elements in the scene but as the kits are so clever everything just merges together as one brilliantly!

 

 

as well as creating lovely inserts

 

Now we're going to the seaside ...

 

Another card which again shows you don't have to create a huge scene but a few elements used together can create a really striking design.

 

 

and you can go to town more on the insert

 

And then this card is creating a whole scene that leads your eye through and to the end of that pier into the lovely warm water ... sigh!

 

 

Using elements to then create the insert.

 

More work with the cut out studio allowed me to put hubs into a painting

 

and his niece and nephew into a scene. I really love this seaside kit, so many clever elements and a great one for home décor!

 

and finally to the other extreme we're off to the Winter Village kit, again so many clever elements with snow, snow banks, frosty tracks and pretty houses

 

I was able to cut out the scene behind my cousins and create a winter wonderland for them

 

This is the front of an aperture card ...

 

 

and this is the inside, like I said there is a project tutorial coming ;)

 

Not a scene in sight for this card but lovely elements from the kit on the pretty background create a stylish design

 

and then what about creating some Christmas place mats? I created the scene and once it was printed off and cut out I laminated it, you could even personalise each one from everyone coming to dinner as well as print smaller ones for drinks mats and don't stop there what about Christmas crackers made with the templates, place names etc, Christmas table sorted :D

 

And finally a very Christmassy and simple card that looked great with diamond Ice glitter once it was printed

 



 

with an insert to match :)

 

And that's all for now. I hope you feel inspired to have a go at some different projects and thanks for popping by.

 

I will be back soon with some projects and some other things to share, I hope you are well and happy. Until next time, as ever,

Happy Crafting

Love

MJM x

Craftscape inspiration part one

Hi All

I am loving seeing all the work pop up in cyber space that you have all been creating with the new Craftscape kits from Daisy Trail to use with Craft Artist Professional, and from what I have seen it looks like you are really loving using them! They are fab aren't they and oh so clever! I had such a good time with the One Day wonder shows on Create & Craft when we launched them!

I thought I would share some of the samples I made and have split the pics into a couple of posts so they are not too big LOL I am also putting together a couple of project tutorials with the kits, although they are so easy to use you don't need to be told how to use them! But thought I'd share ideas on aperture cards and maybe one of the stepper cards I made .... bare with me they will be ready soon ;)

The first few images use the Autumn Country kit, such a lovely warm autumnal colour palette

 

I put the cut out studio to good use with these kits as I think the scenes lend themselves to having people put into them to create a story

 

They also really lend themselves to creating scenes for home decor

 

and of course they are great for card making! Also when you look at your kits don't always think you have to build a huge scene some of the individual elements put together make lovely simple images

 

 

and if your card making the kits are more than perfect to make your own stylish inserts with any of your digikits! (Don't forget your insert sentiment either when making inserts, there are lots pre installed and you can add your own .... I will cover this soon in a little project tutorial ;))

 

These next images are from the English Town kit, so many little details to play with from hanging baskets to pigeons, birds on a wire and a castle on a hill.

 

this is the front of a card but could be home décor too!

 

Another play in the cut out studio allowed me to add my sis to this one (she will kill me!) The photo isn't great as it is quite old from the Queens Silver Jubilee actually when she dressed as a Pearly Queen but photo quality doesn't bother me too much, its the story that matters and the smile it gives me when I remember the day!

This design I transferred to the front of a canvas shopping bag using t-shirt transfer material just remember if you have a go to flip the image before you print so the writing is the right way round :D

Another card, I found I really liked some of my designs without a background, the images are so vibrant they look really good against a plain white background I think.

 

One of my favourites was this mock poster I made, I want to go to that party! I created the scene for the background and then used the transparency tool on it (which looks like a wine glass on your top tool bar) to blend it into the background then built on top of that with more embellies and the text.

 

Next we're moving on to the Twilight Forest kit, I love it! When I start playing with it I am transported into a magical fairy realm and it's a lovely place to be!

Another card again using a few elements from the kit to create a tableau and using a white background so it pops off the page. I love the way the candles seem to light whatever is behind them, Oh and don't forget the glitter once these magical projects are printed off, they really are license to go to town with the bling :D

 

 

And once again don't forget to create your own designer inserts and something for the back of the card for that professional finish!

 

More fun in the cut out studio this time with my niece playing dress up, perfect for this kit!

 

This as a finished sample is an aperture card, I have just given you the flat front image for now and as I said I will be posting a project tutorial to show you how to make this into an aperture card, a simple but very effective project. I also think it works as this flat image too!

 

and finally a clock face I made ... I want to go into that house don't you?

 

 

So that's some of my ideas from 3 of the craft scape kits. I will continue to look out for all your fab projects in cyber space and hope I've maybe given you some more ideas to have a go at. Thanks for popping by and I'll post some of my pics from the other 3 Craftscape kits soon.

 

I hope you're well and happy and as ever

Happy Crafting

Love

MJM x





It's time ....

.... for a MAMMOTH catch up!! I have no idea where time goes, I seemed to just get back into the swing of blogging then a pesky 3 week trip away comes along and life is thrown into chaos again ;D

So in my last post I said I was off to Greece needless to say that remote island really was not Wi-Fi friendly and even the phone signal struggled most of the time but it was beautiful and really rather nice to not have the black hole that is cyber space getting in the way!

We stayed at a holiday centre called Atsitsa Bay

on the side of a mountain .... on the island of Skyros

these were the views out the front .... stunning!

Hubs was working doing comedy classes which was one thing on offer alongside music, writing, art, mosaics, dance, yoga, tai chi, wind surfing and mindfulness. A kind of holistic centre for creativity and self discovery.

We stayed in hutland .... not a prospect I was looking forward to but I have to say we loved out little hut ...

..... and we were quite happy with our 3 weeks of glamping in the end :D

I did the art course with a most amazing lady called Cat Bennett (click on her name for her web site and here for her blog) and rediscovered many things I had forgotten, mainly the joy of just sitting and drawing!!

I also did the mosaic course and even did Tai Chi at 7am in the morning on that beautiful mountain side. It really was an experience that is difficult to describe.

We met some great people along the way and made some special friends.

So that was my 3 week absence .... back to reality on my return and straight into

A saggy old, raggy old Bagpuss weekender with Serif shows on Create and Craft TV

That was followed by A Roald Dahl Pick of the week

 

 

And then it was off to the Rewind 80's festival in Henley on Thames which was Awesome!!

 

 

What a great weekend and a great line up including The Boomtown Rats, Marc Almond, Tony Hadley and Holly Johnson to name but a few.... we danced our socks off LOL

 

 

The layout is from the Sahlin studio shows that followed that weekend and I will share more of my samples soon with some step by steps.

After all that I then felt the need to embark on a mammoth house clean and tidy .... I guess the hibernation gene is kicking in and I'm getting set for the dreaded winter .... I even tidied the craft store room after my mousey visitors so I have to say I am feeling quite smug :D

And now? well I am working on some secret squirrel stuff that I hope to share soon but feeling good being back in my studio doing the Michelle stuff I discovered back in Greece :) And that's my life since the end of June in one brief blog post so I will love you and leave you with this ... and finally (it's been a while!)

My boys are just as adorable as ever and this is proof that they even like each other once in a while LOL

I hope you are well and happy, thanks for stopping by and I will be getting some posts ready to share some step by step CAP projects with you soon, until then, as ever
Happy Crafting
Love
MJM x

MJM's FAQ - Importing CD images into CraftArtist2 Professional

Hi All

From doing the shows on Create and Craft TV I get asked a lot of questions about CraftArtist2 Professional and some pop up quite frequently so I thought it was about time I did some posts with answers to those questions in the form of some picture tutorials :)

So first up is how to import images from Craft CDs and image CDs into CraftArtist2 Professional. This tutorial will be in two parts, this first one addressing the importing of image files and the 2nd will address importing PDFs. I will also refer to CraftArtist2 Professional as CAP from now on it's just quicker ;)

Importing any file images (jpeg, png, bitmap etc) from a craft CD or an image CD is super easy with CAP. Some craft CD’s that hold images have a user interface that opens when the CD is loaded, we don’t need this as we just want to access the image files so close down the interface once it has loaded.

Next from CAP we go to the photo tab on the left and at the bottom of this section click add, this takes you to all the files and folders on your computer and where you would normally add your own photos and scans but this time we need to search for the CD location

It will be in your DVD drive and should have its name showing.

 

Click to open and then search for the folder(s) that hold the images. (These folders can be called different things and also can be sub folders in other folders all CDs vary so search around for them) In this instance its not in the images file but found in a file I wouldn't expect!

 

Open these when you have found them and make it easier on yourself by changing the view of the files to large icons!

 

and then click on the images you want to add to your workspace (holding the Ctrl key down while selecting allows you to add multiple images at once)

Now you can work with the images in CAP as you wish and even build your own digi kits by dragging and dropping them into the relevant tabs

 

and then saving your digi kit at the end of your work time. Go to Tools then digikit creator

 

Open the relevant section to check your images are in place then click save digikit

 

This will probably take you to your My Digikit folder in Documents. Name your kit and click Save.

 

So that’s importing just basic image files. Some CD’s, however, have multiple images on a page and we want to get to the individual images so we need to do a little extra work.

 

When the ‘page’ is added to your work space we want to be able to cut out the images so for this we use the cut out studio

If the images are on a white background you can work with a large brush size and 100% grow tolerance.

Simply drag the brush into the page

and you will see a dotted line appear around the images, the background is now cut away. If the images are on a patterned background you may find a smaller brush size easier and the reduction of the grow tolerance – I liken this to fingers that reach out and grab like for like colours to cut away so a smaller grow tolerance means a smaller grab and also click drag and release the brush a little at a time so it doesn’t grab too much at once, play around with the settings for each individual project and you’ll get the hang of it in no time ;)

Once you are happy with the cut out click ok and the images return to your workspace but you will find they are still joined.

This is simply solved by making sure the images are selected with the blue box around them and then go to the scissor tool

drag this a little way into the blue box on an empty space (avoiding cutting into images) Unlike usual when you have to cut from outside an object to outside an object to cut it you only need to make a small ‘snip’ in this instance

Click select to de activate the scissors and then click outside the blue box of the images to de select them all and now when you click back on an individual image you will find that it has been separated from all the others!

Again dragging them into the relevant tab e.g. embellishments allows you to save all your hard work in your own digi kit!

 

As before go to Tools then Digikit Creator. Open the relevant sections to check your images are there and click save digikit. (You must make sure that the digikit you want to save into is added into your workspace already so I have already got my crafty CD kit loaded in when I go to save this part of the kit)

 

This time instead of naming a new kit click on the name of the existing kit that we just made (crafty CD kit)

 

Click yes when this box pops up and it will overwrite the existing kit adding the new bits (NB: this is providing this kit is loaded into your workspace!)

 

When its all saved click done

 

And if you look in your Digikit browser you will find your newly created kit!

 

I hope all that makes sense and de mystifies importing CD images into your CAP to work with!

 

At this point I have to say please use your common sense and adhere to any copyright and angel policies linked to the images you intend to use. They all still stand as stated by each company even though CAP enables you to use them in different ways, it is just a tool and content remains the property of each individual designer but I know you all know that anyway ;)

 

Well I will toddle off now and leave you in peace, I will post part 2 of this tutorial talking about importing PDFs in a day or so. I hope you are well and happy, thanks for popping by and as ever, until soon

Happy Crafting

Love

MJM x