Scrap-a-Mia ... YAY!

Hey all

Life has been crafty crazy busy at the art tart towers this week getting ready for my trip to Southampton to teach at the Scrap-a-Mia retreat at the weekend and I have to confess I am super excited, if not a little over awed, to be teaching alongside some uber talented Crafters; Dina Wakley, Celine Navarro and Emma Trout gulp!

We have just found out today that 3 places have unexpectedly become available .... so fancy playing? .... Go on I know you're tempted! Visit here to see what it's all about and call 01935 422499 NOW to snag one of these coverted places!

All you will need is some clothes and photos ... I happen to know that the amazing organisers supply everything else ... trust me they will really look after you! So what are you waiting for? come along it will be great to see you!

What? You want a sneak of my class? well go on then ...




It's one of my 3D projects with a scrapbooking Glitzy twist and is oh so 'tweet' as for the other classes ... all I can say is I wish I had time to do them, they look AMAZING! You'll just have to come along t see for yourself!

I have also been busy getting my Glitz post done for this month going live tomorrow :) and also prepping for a Serif Craft Artist Platinum Pick of the week launching live on create and craft with a 2 hour show live at 12 noon!! (I'll just fit that in before I hightail it down to Southampton to prep my scrap-a-mia class!!) So busy, busy but Happy, happy! I ohpe you are too and hope to see you at the weekend :)

See you in cyber space tomorrow :)
Love
M x

Get your Glitz on challenge #2

Hey all

HAPPY NATIONAL SCRAPBOOK DAY!!!! Hope you've all had a little creative time! I also just wanted to drop in and let you know that the Get your Glitz on challenge #2 will go live today on the Glitz blog .... it's time for YOU to get your Glitz on and show us what you can do with yummy Glitz product, there are prizes and you will be featured on the Glitz Blog so go for it!

This months theme is clustering all the details can be found on the Glitz Designs blog ....I had a play and came up with this for my Dad's birthday card ...








.... it also goes to prove that even though Glitz product is oh so pretty it can be used for a masculine twist!

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward t seeing what you all come up with for the challenge!

I hope you're well and happy and until soon Happy Crafting!
Love
M x

PS I have used Glitz Designs;
Love games papers; damask and stripes,
Love Games peek-a-boo
Love Games Glitzer
Love Games paper layer
Love Games cardstock stickers titles
Laced with grace clear stamps
Afternoon Muse glitzers
Teeny alphas in cream
Black frosting

A Royal Froggy celebration!

Hi all and today it's my turn to share a little corner of the lily pad over on the Banana Frog blog. With all the weekend festivities, what a lovely wedding it was! I am feeling quite patriotic and as I had my sister and nieces to stay and we had a right royal a tea party I have quite a lot of photos to start scrapping so where better to start than right here with some perfect Banana Frog stamps!


As ever the full step by step photos and instructions are over at the Lilypad!

It's been a busy time here at Mogford towers with hubby home for a rare length of time.... nearly a whole month! We were crazy busy spring cleaning .... and I mean full on spring cleaning!!! and visiting family and having family to stay so I'm sorry to have been AWOL a while but normal service is resuming and with that a pledge to you from me to be a better blogger :) .... we'll see LOL

I hope you're all well and happy and until soon (I hope!) Happy Crafting
Love M x

PS Thusday 6pm I have a 2 hour Serif Craft artist show on create and craft!

Glitzy Springtime and Bunnies

Hi all,
Spring is here and with it arrived a box of new goodies from Glitz Designs on my doorstep. It's contents made me smile as much as the blue skies, the flowers in the garden and the lambs in the field, the new lines are yumsville and I know you're going to LOVE the new stamp sets. So what better thing to scrap first than some Spring photos!


This layout is inspired by the beautiful Spring day today and the 'song' I have journalled. It is from one of my all time favourite films Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory (the original Gene Wilder version, love you Mr Depp but Gene rules this one!) and I sing it a lot at this time of year, but originally it came from As you like it by Willam Shakespeare and even then he was quoting from a celtic ballad 'it was a lover and his lass' ... hmmm best stop waffling and let you know what I used!

Glitz Designs Afternoon Muse papers; Banner, Stripe, Block, Floral, Carte Postal, Polka
Glitz Designs Laced with Grace paper; Butterflies
Glitz Designs Afternoon Muse and Love Games Clear Stamps
Glitz Designs Afternoon Muse Glitzers
Glitz Designs Afternoon Muse Paper Layers
Glitz Designs Teent Alphas; Burnt Orange, Cream, Bubble gum pink, aqua block, yellow block, apple green block
Glitz Designs Maya cardstock stickers


I cut out all the shapes I needed for the fields, rainbow and clouds etc distressing edges as I went. When doing a collage like this I use a plain 12 x 12 piece of cardstock to build it on so I don't waste too much of my precious paper (this also means it's a great way to use up scraps!) The colours and patterns of the afternoon muse papers are great for my happy spring collage, love that polka paper!


The hot air balloon and sun rays are made using the new stamps. So useful and so much fun not to mention brilliant stamps that give a great image every time.


I took some photos of the lambs in the field next to our house and cut them out to fit into my collage and cut out the photo of my nieces (a great way to lose a dodgy background)


With scissors still in hand I cut out lots of flowers from the floral paper even ones that were missing petals (as they are tucked under flowers in the design) and those around the edges as they still work when I layer everything up.


Once I'd layered all the flowers around my photo and tucked some behind the 'hills' I cut out some of the butterflies from the laced with grace paper, curled the wings and added them all over the collage.


Finally I set to with the teeny alphas. My favourite all time alphas ever and I LOVE the new additions to the line with their mixed up style of letters, the colours make my heart sing! I added some doodled journalling inbetween and doodled in places on my collage


and that was it done, a happy spring time layout with one of my favourite photos of my nieces. My second layout stays with my beautiful nieces and something else that happens at spring time ... Easter.


This is a record of a really fun Easter weekend spent with them and my sister. Decorating eggs, eating roast dinner and driving the girls crazy with a fiendishly clever Aunty Michelle treasure hunt LOL. Here are my ingredients;

Glitz Designs Laced with Grace papers; Rose, Stripe, Polka
Glitz Designs Afternoon Muse paper; Floral
Glitz Designs Laced with Grace Peek-a-boo
Glitz Designs Laced with Grace Clear Stamps
Glitz Designs Afternoon Muse Peek-a-boo
Glitz Designs Afternoon Muse Cardstock Stickers-titles
Glitz Designs Afternoon Muse Paper Layers
Glitz Designs Clear stamps Distressing set 2
Glitz Designs Teeny Alphas; cream


The orange tones with the playground imagery from Laced with Grace mixed with the Afternoon Muse yellow were perfect to tell my story. I broke up the orange 12 x 12 by stamping, using a distress stamp with yellow paint, around the area my photos would sit to tie everything all together.


I stamped images on to the yellow paper and also adhered one of the Afternoon Muse peek-a-boos onto it to pop it off the page.


I lifted my photos by matting them onto some of the polka paper and cut out the photo of my bunny eared niece to create a photo embellishment of my own.


I framed my cut out niece with a peek-a-boo from Laced with Grace and as it has a cut out centre I could pop her out of it on foam pads for dimension. I added an orange butterfly from the paper as an extra embellishment.


The cut out stamped images, cardstock stickers, a paper layer and those gorgeous teeny alphas finished off my layout. Another happy layout that makes me smile

So what new Glitzyness will you use to make you smile? .... warning! You will be spoilt for choice .... whatever it is please share it with us and now there is the perfect opportunity to show off your Glitz with the new Monthly challenge, see details here and get Glitzy and creative!

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share my projects with you. I hope you're all well and happy and enjoying Spring, until soon Happy Crafting
Love M x

Old Techniques and favourite stamps!

Hi all
It's my turn to share a project over at the Lily pad. A revisit to an old chalky technique and some of my favourite Banana Frog stamps


As ever the step by step instructions are over on the frog blog so why not hop on over and check it out, and while you're there snag a bargain, there's an AMAZING sale on stamps in the shop!!!

I hope you're well and happy, I'll *see you* soon, until then Happy Crafting
Love
M x

NEW and absolutely FREE craft stamper e-zine

Hi all

Have you heard about the new kid on the block?? We all know and love the Craft Stamper magazine right? Full of inspirational projects covering all crafts with a twist of something different thrown in for good measure!....

..... Well today see's the launch of the craft stamper e-zine FREE to download NOW


and packed full of projects, 12 complete step by step projects to be exact, all projects chosen from the best of 2010 by the readers so what are you waiting for? ....

.... oooh! wait! there's more! add this....


...Blog button to your side bar (adding this link http://www.craftstamper.com/ezine/ to it) and then go to the Craft stamper website and leave a comment, there is blog candy available so really it's a win, win situation for all of us .. a free e-zine and the pleasure of spreading the word about it with blog candy thrown in for your efforts woo hoo!

So go download and spread the crafty word to one and all wherever you can shout about it, from face book to the roof tops and anywhere in between .... you know it makes crafty sense!

I hope you're all well and happy, enjoy your craft stamper e-zine and I'll see you soon .... Happy Crafting!
Love
M x

A {Tweet} Froggity Blog hop!

Hi all

Well another month of 2011 gone and it means it's the Banana Frog blog hop time once again! With Spring in the air the theme for this month is birds and I hope you've been enjoying the {tweet} offerings from all the other froglets :) If you're here without hopping why not hop on over to the Lilly pad and start at the beginning to be inspired!

So without further ado here is my feathery offering for March ...


Is it a piece of wall art? is it an embellishment? or is it a bespoke brooch? ... the answer I think is all of the above! It's small and cute and oh so easy to make.

I used the Hiya Chick stamp set and the shake your tail feathers tadpole stamp set alongside some chipboard, music paper, gesso, distress inks, blonde moments embossing powder, small flowers and bling, some scrap paper and some craft wire. (by the way both stamp sets are on sale at the moment go grab a bargain!!)


Using the transparent image sheet in with the stamps I was able to draw out a template big enough to accommodate the bird on the branch and then cut this from a piece of chipboard.


I covered it in strips of music paper..


.... then trimmed it to shape and painted it with gesso.


I coloured it with distress inks ..


... and then stamped the end of the branch around the outside for a decorative pattern and embossed the bird. Some of the embossing powder stuck to the pattern I had stamped, a happy accident as I like the way it fills the branch out :)


Stamping the sentiment from the tadpole set ...


.... I then cut it up, inked it and added it to my collage along with some tiny paper flowers.


Leaving my collage aside to dry I made a wire cage to go over the top of my compositon. A little fiddly but worth the 'slightly' blue air in my studio LOL


I slipped the cage over the top of my chipboard collage...


...and attached the craft wire at the back with masking tape.


To finish off the back I glued some scrap paper onto it, trimming away excess with a craft knife and sanding any rough bits with a nail file


et voila, a cute little birdcage that could be used for anything you like!


I like it as a little wall plaque and think it would look great as a set of 3 but also think it would look great as an embellishment on a special card or scrap page and would look cool as a brooch by just adding a brooch pin to the back .... why not have a go and show me what you do with yours?

Thankyou for visiting my little corner of the lilly pad today your next hop stop is with the lovely and oh so talented Jo Firth Young and don't forget to leave comments where ever you go there may be prizes!

I hope you're well and happy and until soon Happy Crafting
Love
M x

PS My limited edition Art Tart DIY project CD's are available on my website see the post under this one for details and links ... why not try something different today :)