Scrap 365 .... the cat's out of the bag at last!

Hi all

Welcome to my little slice of the Scrap 365 blog hop, I hope you're having fun :) If you are here under your own steam why not start at the beginning on the Scrap 365 blog? I don't want you to miss out on any of it!

So finally the cat is out of the bag and we can shout about Scrap 365, the brand new UK scrap magazine coming very soon. I have been lucky enough to have worked with Katy Fox (the editor of Craft Stamper and this new title) as a freelance consultant on Scrap 365 and all I can say is this is going to be a great magazine with a super talented design team bringing articles covering all aspects of scrapping today.

For those that don't know me let me introduce myself. My name is Michelle Jackson-Mogford aka MJM. I’m a onetime theatre designer/stage manager who decided to give it all up to get back to my arty roots and I’m loving it! I’m married to a comedian (that’s a whole other story!) and I live in the beautiful British country side with him and our 2 little dogs Stanley Dervish and Oliver Pickles

I discovered scrapbooking at the beginning of 2007, I love creating art with meaning as well as being really into collage so scrapping is perfect for me. I also enjoy using my model making skills to create 3D scrap art and interactive pages.

I was proud to be a Best of British Scrapbooking winner 2008. I am a regular contributor to the Craft Stamper magazine and have been featured in other craft magazines in the UK. I design for Banana Frog stamps here in the UK as well as Purple Cows Inc and Glitz Designs in the States. I also work with Serif (Digital Craft Artist) and I have been demo-ing their product on Create and Craft/ Ideal world TV as well as Purple Cows tools for the last year and a half and love being part of an amazing TV family!

The rest of 2011 going into 2012 is shaping up to be very exciting with many big crafty projects on the go and a 6 week Amazon cruise on which I will be teaching craft classes ... lucky, lucky me :)

As part of the hop we've been asked to share one of our favourite projects of 2011 with you and I think mine has to be a class I designed for the Scrap-A-Mia retreat back in the Spring ...


A scrapped birdcage....


...A unique piece of home decor...


...That looks good all ways round...


...Containing pictures of our Granddaughter...


...and our Grandson (I know what you're all saying, I don't look old enough LOL, it's my step son's children ;))


I also converted it to a double layout



For anyone a little nervous to tackle the construction



and I have to say I like the layout just as much :)

I best stop waffling now and let you carry on with the hop. Before you go don't forget to leave a comment. REMEMBER! leave a comment on EVERY DT blog and on the Scrap 365 blog for a chance to win a years subscription to Craft Stamper (our big sister magazine) PLUS over £20 worth of stamps .... now that's worth leaving a few words for isn't it :) Oh and if you're lucky enough to be at Ally Pally for the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking show this weekend don't forget to pop along to the Traplet stand for a sneak peek of the new mag and a fabulous subscription offer! (Can't make Ally Pally but still want the fab subs deal? If you live in the UK you can still get it by calling 01684 588599that'll get you the first 3 issues for just £1 whoop whoop! And click the button on the post earlier today on the Scrap 365 blog to be entered into the prize draw so you don't miss out on a thing!)

So you're next stop is with the oh so talented Wendy McKee Enjoy!!

Thanks for stopping by. I am absolutely thrilled to be part of the Scrap365 Design team..... It’s going to be a grand adventure!

*see you* soon, until then HAPPY CRAFTING!
Love
M x

Designer Friday over at the pasture!

Hi all

It's Designer Friday over at the pasture and today is my turn to share a purple cows project using the some of the new Craft Geek tools ..... they're so cool!


I've created some bespoke designer papers using the punch its and roll it and smooch spritzers


it was so addictive once I got going and I had a happy messy afternoon creating :)


Pop on over to Sadies brand new blog for some step by step pics and come back soon to see the project I created with them ... I love it!

I hope you're well and happy, I'm busy creating some stuff I'm really rather proud of and will hopefully be able to share soon ... until then Happy Crafting!

Love M x

Purple Cows love on Valentines day

Hi all Michelle here with my little corner of the pasture for this week over at Purple Cows! So have you seen all the udderly cool new toys coming out of the ranch in April? The craft Geek range is about to hit and you can check it out in all its purple gorgeousness here.

I knew you would be gone a while once you clicked the link, excited? I know I am and I have been lucky enough to get to play with some of the new lovelies already. This ....


... is an ATC I have just made using the ‘punch it’, the ‘wind it’ and ‘roll it’ (such cool names!)




Using the dots ‘roll it’ ball I created a texture on the background of my ATC by rolling it round a colorbox ink pad and then rolling it around the card, and look you can even write with this beauty ... oh the possibilities!! The ball is so easily changed so you can use the other lovely patterns available.


Then moving onto the ‘punch it’ I created a complete pattern on a slightly lighter red coredinations card. I used the winter pattern; it is so easy to line up to create an infinite number of patterns.


I then cut out half a heart from my punched card and look you can create your own doyleys in whatever colour you want to create whatever shape you want!


This was followed by creating a smaller heart from white card and using the ‘roll it’ with the heart ball and some red colorbox ink to create some texture and then it was the turn of the ‘wind it’ to create a metal embellishment threaded with some red coral chips. Such a cool way to create metal embellishments for your work!


Adding some cosmo cricket tiny alphas finished of my ATC which is now destined as a topper for the front of my hubby’s valentines card but heh love is not just for the 14th of February right?!

If you clicked on the link to see all the new goodies or you saved it until the end of the post you will see 2 more ATC offerings from me in the catalogue. This one .....




‘Silent sea’ using the ‘roll it’, the ‘wind it’ and of course my all time favourite Purple Cows tool the freestyle mouse, and this one ....




‘I craft therefore I am’ using the freestyle mouse and the ‘pin it’ as featured by the lovely Robin last week, now we have the ability to staple ANYWHERE on a piece of work, even slap bang in the middle of a 12 x 12 scrap page .... how cool is that?!

I hope you’ve enjoyed taking a quick peek at the brand new Craft Geek range with me I know you’re going to love it over the coming months I know I do! Thanks for popping and spending some time with me and don’t forget to pop by Sadies blog often to see oodles more inspiration from all the talented cow girls and remember to pick up your free PDF downloads of our projects! I’ll see you soon and until then Happy Crafting

Love
Mx

PS I will be back tomorrow with all those missing photos from my Banana Frog blog hop post and who knows a bit of a chat :) see you then! Mx

Purple festivities

Hi all

I hope you're all keeping warm and safe! This weather is bonkers isn't it? Luckily I haven't had the snow but I know family and friends who are so over the white stuff .... thinking of you all!

I thought I'd share some colourful festive pieces with you tobrighten yur day with the main colour being purple of course ... purple for Purple cows and today I have some projects to share over there ...



.... as always I got very carried away with my freestyle mouse and 2 in 1 combo trimmer LOL and don't forget you can downlaod the PDF instructions for FREE from Sadie so why not mosey on over and have a look :)and don't tell Sadie I told you as I'm sworn to secrecy but there are some amazing new products coming out next year .... I can't wait for you to see them!

Right I'm off to light the fire, put on a few more layers of clothing and write some Christmas cards, thanks for hopping by, stay safe and warm and as ever until soon happy crafting!
Love
M x

Tis me!!!!

Hi all!

Yep tis me!! Although the old bloggity blog has been ticking over nicely with DT posts that I schedule to do their magic by themselves I have recently realised it's July since I was here in person ... eek!! So I thought I would drop by and say 'yoo hoo' and do a quick catch up on life in general, I'll try not to make it too long even though it's been nearly 4 months!!

I don't know about you but time seems to be going crazy fast at the moment, I can't believe it's nearly Christmas again and my battle cry at the moment is definitely more hours in a day please!

So as you may or may not know a lot of my time recently has been taken up with Create and Craft TV. Never in a month of Sundays did I ever think I would be guesting on TV shows, let alone doing live hours but do you want to know a secret? I'm really enjoying it! It helps that I love the products I take on; Purple Cows tools and Serif digital scrapbook artist 2 and it also helps that everyone at the studios is so lovely and so much fun to work with!

Talking of Serif digital scrapbooking, that's another never in a month of Sundays moments for me! never did I think I would love digi scrapping but I am, here's a small selection of my latest favourite pages


The software makes it so easy and creating my own papers and my own embellishments has never been more fun!

This month me and him celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary! We've been together 19years now and to be honest it seems like 5 minutes, I am a lucky girl to have met my soul mate, here's a montage of then and now


Blimey we look so young in some of those pics!! On the same day as our anniversary Sophie was born 4 years ago so we had a trip to Devon to see the grandchildren.


I went armed with a birthday tea, complete with egg sandwiches, sausage rolls and cheese and pineapple on sticks LOL Sophie decided she liked cheese puffs and chocolate cake together the best and Dylan managed to polish off most of the sausage rolls!

Way back at the end of July, when I last did a 'live' post I mentioned we were off on a cruise. Hubby was working on it so it was a cheap birthday treat for me and we had a fab time. It was a Baltic cruise, and the main reason I wanted to go, as we had 2 days in St Petersburgh Russia and it was AMAZING! We also met some great people, ate too much and endulged in the old vino LOL here is a very small collection of photos (you can only imagine how much I could bore you with more!)


Back in September I was honoured to be featured in the September issue of Craft Stamper magazine in their stamping for scrapbookers section with an image transfer technique, here's my layout


Keep your eye out for more features in 2011

I mentioned Christmas earlier and in this household that can only mean one thing ... it's panto season ... oh yes it is!!! Hubby is in Bristol again this year at the Hippodrome with the lovely Barbara Windsor and back in September we spent a couple of days in Bristol for the launch


Rehearsals start next week and it opens at the beginning of December. It's going to be a goodie!

October saw the end of my 2010 workshops at Bee Crafty :( I've had a fab year with the girls there and all that attended the workshops, I particularly liked it went Santa came to visit when we made the light up Christmas tree :)


Let's see what 2011 brings!!

2011 is filling up with bookings too. I'll be at Stitches in February, Olympia in March, Scrap-a-mia in May and sparkle dreams in October, check out the side bar for details and any additional info and I'm also working on something exciting that I hope to bring you all soon :)

And that's it really, the last 4 months kind of caught up on, life is mighty busy but I can't complain because life is good and at the end of the day I am getting to do what I really love .... create!

So all that's left for me to say is ... 'and finally' ...


The boys are doing really good, they make me laugh every day and are my best friends. Ollie recently went through it a bit following an op, he was very poorly and did put me and Stan through a week of trauma but I am happy to report he is back to normal and terrorising us as ever! (thankyou to all those that sent well wishes during all that via email, blog, facebook and daisy trail!) As you can imagine I have many, many photos of my fur babies so here are just a few collaged together so you don't lose the will LOL


I've really enjoyed this visit with you and thanks for stopping by, I've missed this 'live' blogging and will try and pop back soon to do it again!!In the meantime I have some DT posts coming up so hopefully I'll *see you* then. I hope you've all been keeping well and happy yourselves and until soon Happy Crafting
Love
M 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

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

a JOYous day at IACW

Hi all

It's this months post over at It's a creative world for the simple things project. A project that lasts all year and explores the simple things in life with a word prompt every month.

This month the word is JOY and here's my take on it



I wanted to record one of the days of my life when I felt I experienced real JOY and happiness when I became trainer for the day with the Dolphins at Xel Ha ecological park in my beloved Mexico.

I created a push me pull me card so the picture popped out to reflect the elation I felt that day. Push me pull me's are so easy to create and when you discover the secret ingredient you'll say no way like I did .... well, maybe you will! I am always amazed at how simple the mechanisms are for interactive cards. To see how easy they are pop on over to IACW to see the post and wallow in the rest of the inspiration over there from the rest of the oh so talented creative girls.

Today I'm busy preparing for a Serif Digtal scrapbook artist 2 show for Create and craft TV on the 23rd at 8am and a Purple Cows show at 9am eek!!

Thanks for popping by, I hope you're well and happy and until soon Happy Crafting!

Love
MJM x