http://www.mjm-thearttart.com en-gb mjm-thearttart.com 2010-3-24T00:00:00Z mjm-thearttart.com http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#61344 Hey cyber buddies hop on over to the new blog www.mjmthearttart.blogspot.com and see pics of my booth at the stitch and craft show at Londons Olympia. I had an absolute ball see you in the new corner of blogdom Love M x 2010-3-24T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#60605 Are you going to the Olympia stitch and craft show in London 18th 21st March .... see you there come and say hi and check out my workshops ...... sneak peaks on the new blog www.mjmthearttart.blogspot.com Apologies for all of you having problems with the hyper link to my new blog home please copy and paste the above address into your address bar and visit me there .... and while youre there become a follower leave a comment and win a package of gorgeousness from me just for doing something so shimples LOL Hope youre well and happy see you on the blogspot Love M x 2010-3-15T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#59907 Hey cyber buddies .... I know I hear you cry shes blogged within the week LOL wonders never cease and miracles do happenI thought Id drop by and share this ..... To find out what this is go to my new blog house here .... see you there Why not become a follower over there too thatd make life easier wouldnt it Hope youre well and happy Love M x 2010-3-6T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#59529 Well I dont know where the time has gone since our last visit I just seem to be chasing myself coming back at the moment. BUT I will not complain alls good and I am happy if not a little frayed around the edges LOL So before I go further I will apologise for yet another epic post from me I do have the good intentions of little and often but dont seem able to put that into practice Please hop on over to my new blog home here to catch up on my adventures 2010-3-2T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#58348 Im home for our wonderful holiday to Mexico I have a whistle stop tour of the final part of the holiday and some creativity knocking here ... Please come and find out more on my new blog Love M x 2010-2-13T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#57294 Want to know more then click here to go to my new blog see you there Love M x 2010-1-30T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#56672 Hola Cyber buddies from me in Mexico Please pop on over to my new blogger blog here I told you we were moving and with connections over here the time has come as its quicker and easier for me to blog from there ... see you in a mo Oh before you go I have updated my DT web galleries have a peruse now or pop back after youve been to the blog Love M x 2010-1-21T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#55568 Hey cyber buddies HAPPY NEW YEAR Sorry Ive been cyber AWOL the festivities took over ....as did the snow visiting family in Devon having my family for new year and doing a rather good Nigella impression LOL and yet more snow I hope you all had a great Christmas and a happy and safe New Year. I enjoyed mine but am now looking forward to normal service resuming Well in cyber world at least .... the snow may put pay to a lot I have crafted over the festive period and will share when I am more organised At the moment I am clearing the decks of deadlines ready for my long awaited and much looked forward holiday to Mexico yay me and while we are away we will be taking a trip to CHA and I am soooooo excited about that I cant stand myself How will a country girl cope with all that crafty gorgeousness So if youre there come say Hi I will be on the Purple Cows booth on Monday 25th morning and Tuesday 26th afternoon showing off my icube panel Fabby storage and my Home shopping network project ... 2010-1-5T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#54677 Hi Cyber buddies Glad to have you here if you visit me regularly and havent arrived here via the Purple Cows blog hop I suggest you stop right now click here and start at the beginning its a very good place to start LOL and go and be inspired by my uber talented fellow cow girls Ill still be here when you return And if you are here via the hop you are most welcome Please help yourself to a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie while I share with you a couple of quick and easy projects Ive made with my fantabulous Purple Cows tools I am so honoured to be part of such a wonderful team of talent and thrilled to be able to work with the fantastic company that is Purple Cows and their brilliantly crafty high quality tools. Im sure youve had a fab time on the hop and have inspiration coming out of your ears I hope my little projects may inspire you too to play along and go running to grab them tools Of course you know we have an amazing competition going on and I hope youve all entered and... 2009-12-17T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#54052 Hi all This will be a flying visit but I wanted to drop in 1 to keep up with my blogging miracles do happen 2 to make sure you dont miss out on some great chances to win stuff and 3 to wish Stanley Dervish happy birthday So on my last visit I told you I was battling the lurgy well sad to say I still am and am now even more bored of it I just cant give into being ill I am a rubbish patient so I guess Im not helping myself but heh Ill survive Unfortunately it has meant that I missed out on the workshop with Crafty Stash and Tracie Hudson today Im sure they had a fab time though and Ill catch up on all the goss talking of which we have a blog now over at Crafty Stash here Im sure Sue will be posting all the lovely pics on there this week so why not pop on over and visit. Ive also been working on a new Crafty Stash kit heres a sneak Now I mentioned good stuff to win didnt I well yep get yourself over to the Glitz blog now and leave a comment for the chance to win this .... OMG tha... 2009-12-6T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#53677 Hi all sorry to have not been back sooner.... just when I was doing so well at this blogging malarkey but I have been struck with the dreaded lurgy well one of the cold things thats going around and I am getting extremely bored of it now A girls just too busy and christmas is coming eek ... so un organised Anyway here I am Ill try not to breath on you while I fill you in on my latest crafty happenings I am super excited to be the guest designer over at pencil lines this week. I was thrilled when the lovely Anna invited me to play and had great fun heres my layout for sketch 163 Little flower girl I love to see all the different versions of the same sketch pop on over and check out the talented DTs work. Im also realy excited for Anna as she has just released her new book see it on the blog a Christmas list must me thinks So before I got poorly sick I did get to go to a crop last Saturday and see lots of my lovely friends that I havent seen for ages. It was the Barncrafters crop... 2009-11-30T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#52996 ..... What a week .... phew crazy madness Before I settle in with this blog post Ill announce my competition winner Thankyou for all your lovely comments here on facebook and in my other cyber hidey holes Now I dont have a fancy random number generator but I do have a husband a hat and some paper LOL so ... drum roll please ..... my winner is ..... odori san .... congratulations Thankyou to all who entered I will be in touch Odori to see which DIY project you would like and it will wing its way to you through cyber space Talking of DIY projects thankyou so much for all the orders this week ... the wishing house is the favourite so far I cant wait to see what you all create with the projects ... please share I will be adding more projects soon. The first DIY projects I did were very much model making projects however I am so much more into papercraft now that most of them are constructed with ordinary card and paper to that end I will be re visiting some of my previous projects li... 2009-11-20T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#52528 Hi cyber buddies well I have to confess I am a little over excited with this post. I have lots to share and Im not quite sure where to begin I have new DIY projects a way to help you win 5000 of purple cows goodies a free PDF of that spooky castle to give you and a competition of my very own So deep breath here goes I need to get this in order so it makes sense oh dear me make sense Ill give it a whirl LOL A year ago this week I was officially announced a Best of British Scrapbooking winner. I cant believe a year has passed But what a fabulous year it has been This also means it has been a year since I launched my website eek And my first DIY project A memory theatre which was seen in the December 08 issue of Scrapbook Inspirations magazine. I came up with the idea of DIY projects as a way to share with you full instructions and templates of my projects a bit like a class that you can do in your own time but without a kit as we all have different styles and tastes and I didnt w... 2009-11-13T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#51658 Welcome to all you cyber visitors from the copy and paste party and of course youre still welcome if you didnt arrive here from there but I suggest you hop on over and check out the Christmas workshops on offer from the very talented girlies Julie and Kirsty who have combined to make the fabby inspiration blog copy and paste . They have also very kindly given me a little treat for you if you sign up for the workshop a bonus download Click here and you have access to a free downloadable file to get a taster of the workshops coming glad you stopped by now arent you So I was invited as a Halloween party guest so lets get back to the spooky Samhain pronounced sowein is a pagan celebration which over the years many many years has been hijacked and renamed Halloween from the original meaning all hallows eve. It is in fact the start of the pagan new year so seasons greetings to all of you It is seen as a night to contact the ancestors while the veil between our two worlds is lif... 2009-10-31T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#51626 Thats really what my week has been about I was getting worried I had sleeping sickness I have been sooooo tired but I reckon its just the toing and froing to airports and buses and my crazy life in general catching up so I have had a quieter few days trying to be kind to myself and catch up . I love sleep Mums cure all when we were growing up was go sleep youll feel better and we used to take the mick out of her something awful but do you know what she was so right mums always are arent they but why do we never realise this when we are younger everything looks so much better after sleep and surprisingly I can actually get things done I think sometimes I get stuck on such a treadmill in my life I forget to stop and be kind to me so Im trying to remedy that I think where the tiredness crept in was fetching hubby from Gatwick airport last Thursday night well silly oclock in the morning actually his plane got in at 1.45am so it was 5am before we arrived back the older I get the har... 2009-10-30T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#51108 I thought I hadnt been away that long but it seems the little green men have been around again stealing a week of my life LOL .. its my excuse Im sticking to it Well it looks like Autumn has arrived the temperature has plummeted the leaves are falling and the nights are drawing in. I dont like the earlier dark nights which will get even earlier when the clocks change.... is that really next week But I do like the late afternoon autumn sun .... and this picture made me laugh the cows were fascinated by Stan on the way home from our walk I had a fab Sunday with the girls at the Crafty Stash crop where I was teaching in Wellwyn Garden City. I met the lovely Anne Freeman too and her friend had one of these attached to the table ..... I think it is a thing of beauty and one of the most practical things Ive got my hands on for ages luckily Anne had bought herself one and was sweet enough to give it up for me ... hope you got another one hun And look the ring is to hold a rubbish ... 2009-10-21T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#50419 I know I know you must all be wondering if this is really me or have I been abducted by aliens and some strange blog obsessed Michelle has replaced me I can hear the cries What another blog post already Well it is true and it is really me no little green men involved LOL I just HAD to post tonight to share my latest news its official ... IM A GLITZY GIRL sorry didnt mean to shout but I am so excited not just because I can finally tell you The lovely Laura invited me to join a month ago I was just waiting until she announced it officially on the Glitz blog not just because all my teamies are super talented and Im so excited to work with them especially the lovely and uber talented Jeni Boisvert who I met on the Bad Girls site but because I LOVE their product and I get to play with it I discovered Glitz recently when I did some Layouts with their papers for crafty stash and fell in love with them. I think their papers are so funky new and fresh and the colours are just e... 2009-10-11T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#50264 Dont faint tis me blogging within a week of my last post I have a couple of bits to share so thought Id pop in and say hi Weve been having the jungle tamed this week lots of hedge trimming and brutal tree chopping but it looks so much better Its even got me out there pottering about Now I feel more in control of the garden everything else seems to be falling into place and Im feeling super productive yay Improved even more so by catching up on my sleep not having to drive back and forth from airports Hubbys on a ship now for a while all right for some heh I also had a fabulous weekend On Saturday I went out to lunch with friends I havent seen for ages we laughed so much I was exhausted and it was just the tonic I needed then I had a lovely time at the Artisan show on Sunday. Its a new craft show and was held at the Warwick exhibition centre half an hour from my front door I did a workshop with paper artsy bought some stash and met some lovely people. It was nice to potter around for t... 2009-10-8T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#49868 .... Ok so the only part of that title that is anyway relevant to this post is the planes bit .... just couldnt think of a witty title again ... sorry The last 2 weeks of my life have certainly revolved around planes though as in when they take off and land and to which airport I have to drive to next at silly oclock to collect hubby .... I really should write that book on airports this past fortnight has taken me to Birmingham Bristol and Gatwick not in that order and more than once in some instances He has been a whirlwind in and out the house and it plays havoc with my routine and my creativity but he is working very hard so who am I to complain There is another part of my life connected to planes too in a round about way. My friends son Ollie came to stay with us this week. He qualified as a pilot recently and finally has a posting to go and be a proper grown up pilot and fly people around and it only seems 5 minutes since he was a little boy in his batman pyjamas ... sorry Ollie ... 2009-10-2T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#48990 ....Rubbish I could ask who stole a week of my life I could tell you the sob story about losing my internet last week I could tell you Ive been a very confused headless chicken running around fetching and dropping off hubby I could even tell you porkie pies and say I had been on holiday or visiting a sick relative but I think the only thing to do is hold my hands up and say I am officially rubbish at this blog malarkey Ok Ok you dont have to agree so readily LOL So where on earth have I been Well all of the above happened except the holidayvisiting a sick relative thing and yes I saw the little green men in their space ship steal a week of my life... honest I have been a busy bee with life and creating however when getting my pics together for this post I realise that most of the things I have done the past couple of weeks Im not allowed to share yet I wont give cryptic clues or sneak peeks one because cryptic clues annoy me somewhat and two I dont have any pics to sneak peek with LOL... 2009-9-18T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#47904 Hi all Well Im back from my rather long trip orbiting cyber space thanks for being patient with me those who have seen my website off line for a few days Ive FINALLY got round to a much needed update I WILL NOT leave it so long next time I am sick of sitting at this blimin machine LOL Anyhoo lots of new pretty pictures to see in my galleries so after youve read through my waffle here why not go and check it all out I also have added a blog roll to share with you all my teamies blogs and further links will be added. So the last time I was here I said that my nieces had been staying and I was recovering ... it took a while LOL but I had such a lovely time with them I thought I would share some pics ... the rest are filed away for scrapping We packed so much into a week witches castles safari fun fair swimming picnics and shopping and we also managed a bit of crafting This is the result Megans princess hat to wear to the castle and Lillys cool trilby of feathers and buttons My... 2009-9-1T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#47334 ... do you have that song in your head now Bet you do I have so I thought Id share the pain LOL This is a very very quick one from me Im rubbish Its been soooooo long again since Ive been here and Im sorry if youve been lurking with the cry of where the hell are you I had my nieces to stay last week we had a fab time and I will share pics in my next more civilised leisurely post needless to say though it was busy busy busy and Ive spent the last week recovering and trying to catch up with myself and deadlines however I am gaining some sense of control and cyber world once again gets a look in. So while Im catching up in my little cyber universe I thought Id drop in ever so quickly throw a big wave at you all grovel on my knees to beg forgiveness for neglecting you and let you know Im stil alive I will be back soon with pretty pictures and stuff and I hope you are all well and happy Thanks for stopping by and for being patient with me ... as ever LOL Speak soon til then happy crafti... 2009-8-22T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#46533 Ok so Ive just sat here for ten minutes and brain will not click into gear and think of a witty title so I gave up LOL Well times flown again Its been a soggy old week here and I was in danger of breaking out the scuba gear yesterday thank goodness the sun kind of shone today .... emigrating was becoming a serious option ... please can we have some summer now This week hubby has been to and fro again and my life just seems to be constant trips to airports train stations and coach stops. I should really do a scrapbook about all the airports with handy hints on parking and where to get the best coffee LOL. At the moment hes sailing home and touches dry land tomorrow morning home for a few hours unpack repack then flying again early hours of Sunday to pick up another ship in Corfu nice work if you can get it I would consider hiding in his suitcase this time though I think there would be an excess baggage charge but my nieces also arrive tomorrow for a week so putting on my best Aunty hat... 2009-8-7T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#45755 Hi all Well I am ashamed of myself In the last post an eon ago I said I would post as a 39 year old well as you can see I didnt make it LOL I did try and post over my birthday weekend honest governor but there was a technical hitch on my site and I couldnt thats my excuse and Im sticking to it So here I am posting as a fully fledged 40 year old Still not sure how I feel about it But I did have the best birthday ever and probably one of the longest So lets go on a catch up in the Mogford household go on you know you want to. On the lead up to my birthday life well and truly caught up on me I was sooooo tired but did manage a bit of creativity which I will share with you in a mo. But first to my fab day. I travelled up to London in the morning after dropping Dervish boy at Aunty Carols where he had the best time and hubby travelled to London from Southampton when he finally got off his ship. We met up and travelled out to the apartment he had booked. We knew it was close to the gig v... 2009-7-28T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#44698 Hey there Well another week another blog Different kind of week as I said hubby has been home for most of it I went to collect him from the airport on Sunday and his plane was delayed then his bags by the time I had nearly lost the will it was 2am So we landed home about 4.30am and Ive been on catch up since Anyway its been nice having him around for a change although our planned week of gardening was thwarted by the blimin weather I knew I would jinx it by planning to tackle the jungle Weve had thunderstorms and torrential rain although I did manage 1 day in the garden in a comedy fashion. I felt like one of those weather vains out when the sun was shining in when it rained again Although as it was a mad dash to achieve as much as possible when I could get out I guess I probably did more than I would have IYKWIM The other thing is due to the wet weather I felt I needed to achieve something else so .... drum roll please..... the studio and spare room got sorted so finally I have a... 2009-7-10T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#44323 Hi all Well another week bites the dust and hasnt it been glorious weather well in amongst the inevitable thunderstorms So here I am still managing a blog a week woo hoo to fill you in on the comings and goings of the mjm household LOL On Sunday I went to the Crafty Stash workshop in Exhall although I was late arrived just in time for a yummy lunch actually LOL cooked by the lovely Claire and Tracie due to a late night run to Gatwick to pick hubby up Anyway I digress it was a great day and the lady teaching was the lovely Tracie Hudson and fellow Banana Frog teamie. It was great to meet up IRL her work is fabby and she knows how to use those sassafrass lass and prima products Me Sharon Shaznay and Tracie Ofcourse Sue had her lovely shop there tempting everyone and talking of Crafty Stash she has invited me to join the DT officially yay me This is the latest kit I worked on all the product is from Glitz and the kits now available in the shop Heres the full pics of the LOs follow... 2009-7-3T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#43858 Hi all And the prize for the spelling mistake on the last post goes to my mum Doh its faint not feint Michelle Anyhoo Im here again and demand a recount on the last 10 days since my last post Where did they go I promised you pictures this time round and I have a fair phew to share so depending on the time of day youre visiting Ill wait a minute and let you grab a cuppa or a glass of something alcofrolic ... go on then...... Right sitting comfy now Here we go ... as I said in the last post I was doing some cleaning well I did force myself and have now managed to spring clean the whole house EXCEPT the studio and spare room that is half full of the rest of my studio LOL Those will have to wait until I can build up enough oomph to tackle them I then caught up on some bits and pieces of life and loose ends and on Saturday went to Bedford to teach my class for Crafty Stash so now I can share the LOs the lovely ladies worked on ... The kit was Cosmo Cricket Snorkel and my 1st Layout was a... 2009-6-25T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#43325 I know a post so soon but it is a quickie. My second guest spot is up over at Banana Frog today and I am thrilled skinny to tell you that Bev has invited me to join the design team on a permanent basis woo hoo Pop on over and check out my latest offering I had a great time teaching yesterday at the welwyn Garden city crop for Crafty Stash . All the ladies made me feel so welcome and survived my class producing some great work Cant show the LOs yet as Sue has asked me to teach it at her new crop in Bedford next Saturday ... see you there The lovely Caz over at Its a creative world has asked me to guest design in July what a lovely invite and Im honoured to be asked pop on over and check out the lovely blog and Ill give you more details about my appearances soon I am soooooo tired today hence the quick post It was a busy old weekend with picking hubby up cramming everything into a weekend and dropping him off at the coach station again at 1.30am phew So day off today well bit of cle... 2009-6-15T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#43148 .... yes they are as I hear you all sing liar liar at me When I said in my last post I would be back tomorrow with pretty pictures I didnt specify which tomorrow .... lame I know but thats my get out clause LOL The naughty Gremlins have there fingers firmly pressed on the fast forward button on the little chaos that is my life at the moment and are not letting up I know it is a frequent cry of mine but where does the time go My friend Cleo at Bellaboo commented on face book recently that she wants more hours in a day and a cleaning fairy if anyone has one of those stashed away please send her on to my house LOL and fellow cow girl Paula NelsonHart says in her Purple Cows intro that she wishes fo 48 hour days if only However its not going to happen so I will continue to just keep going while the garden grows around me my house looks like world war 3 and the deadlines keep coming LOL .... you know I love it So what have I been up to where to start Ive completed 3 more projects for Bana... 2009-6-11T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#42575 Hi all just a quickie from me tonight I just had to let you all know I am on the Banana Frog Blog as the guest designer for June This is the first spot and there will be another one that I am cooking up for the 15th. I had a blast playing with the superb stamps the lovely Bev sent me and I am still a stamping fool enjoying playing I never realised how much fun stamps can be especially ones of such high quality I have so many but never really used them until now so please go on over and check it out and hopefully you will be inspired to dig out those banana frog stamps and get inky Its been a busy old week in the household hubby came back from Cyprus earlier than expected so its been great having him around for a few days and the grass got cut LOL Ive been sorting out my Banana Frog spot and working on the next one aswell as working on my classes for Crafty Stash for the 14th of June sneak peeks in the shop gallery and I will post some of my own tomorrow I had a great time at the cro... 2009-6-1T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#42110 Well its been a week since I was here last and what a whirlwind it has been Ive been busy beavering away on deadlines and projects. Hubby came home for about 72 hours a whirlwind on its own Ive moved out of the studio temporarily and had a great cyber night with my ninja teamies over on UKS .... hysterical So why the move out of the studio Its been difficult to settle up there with Stanley Dervish when hubbys away although he has a great time with bits of stash he can steal Stanley that is not hubby LOL he gets bored after a while and I guess I feel guilty aswell so Ive decided to pretend Im on a permanent crop and have moved into the front room on the dining table and am actually quite enjoying it Ive also managed to be productive so everyones happy although not sure hubby is impressed when he comes home LOL although I am now spreading to the conservatory and kitchen And the studio well it does need a tidy out to be honest so another reason to move.... cant work in chaos Im loving... 2009-5-22T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#41629 Just a quicky from me to say its official I can now share with you the news that I mentioned in the last post I have been invited to join the Willow Tree crafts design team and they have officially announced the team on the blog here it sounds like a great mix of scrappers and I cant wait to get to know the other girls aswell as to get started on the creating My Banana frog stamps arrived this week aswell for me to play with for my guest design spot next month so Im busy playing with them and getting inky nothing quite like it Ive also been playing with my purple cow goodies and am loving that freestyle mouse Im also thrilled to be asked to teach at the wellwyn garden city crop for crafty stash on the 14th and the kit arrived yesterday all I can say is its yumsville and right up my street No pretty pictures this post Im afraid although I have been creating will share soon. Wish the sun would come back its been cold and grey all day and reckon we may see thunder later. Ok back to pl... 2009-5-14T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#41372 Well the toothache got worse Ive been fighting an abscess its just a good job I had a lot to cheer me up this week Not least the arrival of my purple cow trimmers and WOW They are blinkin fab. I knew they would be good products but they are even better than I could have imagined The Big combo trimmer 1040 is super strength and 12x12 And I am loving that guillotine it has one of those very satisfying cutting noises when you use it you know that noise from being allowed to use the grown up guillotine when you had to mount your work for your art exam at school And I love that it comes apart and has a handy flip out measurer on the trimmer I was also lucky enough to get the smart trimmer too 1060 perfect for cropping as it folds up in a really cool way and still has a swooshy guillotine on it aswell as the trimmer and my new best friend the freestyle mouse..... ooo purple cuteness as is the tote that it all fits perfectly into And if that wasnt enough I got the complete set of 1... 2009-5-10T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#41039 Ok so I wanted to blog this on Saturday to wish you all happy international scrapbook day but I ran out of steam Hubby came home for a few hours on friday night and went again early hours of saturday morning and as I had to take him to get the coach to the airport it involved very few hours sleep Gradually getting back on track now so thought Id make a belated happy INSD 2 years ago I entered a competition that scrapbook inspirations ran for INSD the brief to create a LO mini book or altered item about an ordinary day in your life well as most of my days seem to be anything but ordinary I decided to make an adventure comic mini book of my day and the day didnt let me down in its content for my book See the inside pages here and full description here . I am happy to say I was one of the winners and was thrilled to bits. That started the fantastic relationship I have had with the magazine for the last 2 years. So Saturday was a double celebration for me really The bit I liked most abo... 2009-5-4T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#40847 Ok I swear it has only been a couple of days since I last blogged The purple time eater is on the loose erm .... sorry bout that lost the plot maybe its this bag on my head phase one of return to the pink hair think the bleach is getting to me LOL So where have I been Well Ive had more new toys to play with in the garden pruning has never been so much fun and while the sun was shining I took advantage and continued my mission to tame the ever growing jungle Ive also had a HUGE amount of basic grey papers to admire stroke and play with.... .....Basic Heaven I made out like a bandit in the DoCraft sale and bought loads of papers to make kits up for my upcoming appearance at the Hitchin Festival 2nd July The art of scrapbooking Chat afternoon tea and a demo its going to be so much fun..... see you there Of course a few extras fell into the basket and I just had to play detail of cute as a ella bella button using the urban prairie range more detail The LO in the Basic Grey g... 2009-4-30T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#40135 ...and class sneak peeks Dont feint Im here again I have to share some exciting news some pics of an upcoming class Im so looking forward to teaching and a pic of one of my lovely customers work So go on grab a cuppa or if like me right now a glass of red Ill wait ......... .......ok sitting comfortably Then Ill begin. First my news and the reason for Mooing a happy dance I had a call from America yesterday from lovely Gary at Purple Cow inviting me to be a member of their Design team YEE HAW I am soooooo excited and cant wait to play with all their lovely tools. Thanks to all at Purple Cow I am honoured to be a new Purple Cow Girl And now to what I have been cooking up for the Crafty Stash crop May 3rd in Exhall. I have had so much fun playing with the lovely kit gorgeous colours and cuteness Heres some sneak peeks...... This is the first Layout and this is the second The kit is so generous that you can easily get 2 layouts from it and I think I might make a card an... 2009-4-19T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#39906 Blimey oh Riley cant believe its so long since my last post Life sure has been busy so where do I start Well Hubbies play went really well I will post some production shots as soon as I have them so you can see my stage set which really was like scrapping on a grand scale LOL. The day after we finished that we got home in the morning then by 8pm he was off up to manchester airport to jet off to the dominican republic.... alright for some heh it was work Then he went onto Egypt from there arriving home easter sunday and while he was away I finished putting my first real life class together for the Barncrafters crop and my niece came to stay followed by my other niece and my sis in amongst all that there has been numerous bits and bobs going on aswell and only now am I starting to put my life into some assemblance of order .... I would say normality but I dont know what that is really LOL So anyway heres some piccies Do you remember I posted some sneak peaks of the class I was going to... 2009-4-15T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#38779 .... on a crest of a wave Well not so sure about the wave but on a mad tidal wave of theatrical madness being deep in rehearsals and production week for hubbies one man play which opens on Sunday However I have grabbed a little time and escaped to the relative sanity of my studio to post this and share some photos of my lovely Day at Olympia on Sunday at the stitch and craft show where I was thrilled to see my work on display in the Best of British scrapbooking gallery along with the other talented winners work. I also got to meet two of the other winners both lovely ladies Sarah Bond and Jo Anne Cavanagh aswell as have a good old catch up with the lovely Rosie Waddicor Scrapbook Inspirations Deputy Editor. What a whizz she was on those tills and that apron is so fetching LOL I had chats with some lovely people that were at the show too including a UKS teamie big waves cassandra and thankyou for all your kind words Im glad that I have inspired you I had a long chat... 2009-3-26T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#38269 .... well thats not bad for me is it Yep life and stuff got in the way oh and creating Ive actually managed quite a bit of studio time woo hoo so taken advantage while I could So as promised heres the more colourful post 1st the canvas that I made for my friend ...... We first met when we went to ballet together at the age of 7 and have been best friends ever since how 40 has happened I dont know recount I think I wanted to have pictures of us growing up and when I searched my memory boxes I realised how few I have of us oh how I wish wed had mobile phones and digital cameras then But with a bit of computer trickery I managed to salvage a few of us together. The programme is from our first ballet show together The last picture is of my wedding and my chief bridesmaid we grew up near the sea and the wedding was sea themed hence the shells The 7 gypsies friends paper was perfect for this project with a basic grey swirl and buttons a we are memory keepers tag and brad and some ... 2009-3-16T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#38045 ........ where does it go My life seems to be in a permanent state of fast forward at the moment I cant believe it is so long since Ive been here Ive had to limit computer time do you find it eats up your days I do once I get surfing I seem to enter into a black hole LOL. So what have I been up to Well Stanley has been taking up a lot of time finally he is allowed out which involves a lot of sitting in the middle of the road staring at his lead in mass confusion good job we live in a little village without a busy road LOL and also I have introduced him to the studio brave arent I Not too much damage so far although the contents of my scrap box has been emptied and chewed BUT I have been able to get down to some creating Hallelujiah and we seem to be reaching an understanding about my work time I made a lovely canvas for my dear friend who turned 40 last week the first of the terrible trio to get there and I will post pics tomorrow ..... no really I will It was inspired by a bad girl... 2009-3-11T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#37208 ... Stanley Dervish of the Wolds Hes here and who would have thought one bundle of fur could be so tiring and time consuming LOL He had two days at our house with his sister Ruby before she took the long trip back to Yorkshire with my mum and dad. This is them on their 1st night sharing my slipper I will post another pic of them together when I get it off my phone He was fine after a while when Ruby went and is terrorising us and the house daily Hes made his first trip up to my studio this afternoon hes playing havoc with my scrapping time But dont worry the stash is safe so far as he was too busy barking at the bath and throwing his water bowl around the bathroom .... odd little thing He loves the garden aswell and I think I may leave the pruning to him LOL So gradually were trying to get into a routine made ever complicated by hubbies comings and goings hes in Mexico at the moment Lifes been busy and tomorrow at 10.45am I am on BBC Radio Northampton talking about scrap... 2009-2-24T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#36606 Well Im back and what a shock to the system the weathers been My life being what it is my return could not be normal of course we flew home Monday evening and we were diverted form Birmingham to Manchester because of snow we were then all herded on to coaches to return to Birmingham where happily wed paid for meet and greet so the car was waiting for us all warmed up good to go it was by this time 3am. The drive to Banbury was ok however the council being what they are round here had not gritted the main road out to our village so there was much gripping of steering wheel and mutterings under the breath until we turned onto our lanes ...... 5ft snow drifts eek So we soldiered on as far as we could getting stuck on a hill skidding and coming to rest against a hedge. So there was nothing for it but to get out and walk the last 2 miles through the snow at 5 am and a husband who has never really walked through deep snow although at least that was entertainment on the way home I soooo wish ... 2009-2-13T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#36132 Here I am sunsea sand and scissorless Enjoying the break but itching to get back into the studio Lanzarote is certainly warmer than home in blighty at the moment but we have had storms Today my mum text me to say she had recieved her sub copy of SI and my pirate ship project is in there so frustrating having to wait to see it I will post more about it when I get home and add pics and of course the DIY project but as connections are not great here I will stop blogging for now before I lose everything again Such a shame I had all sorts to share never mind itll wait til Tuesday Hope youre all well and thanks for stopping by for some inspiration go and check out the banana frog blog some lovely new stamps and work there and I get to play with them in June for my guest spot yay and check out the bad girls blog project 52 it rocks Catch you all soon Love M x 2009-2-5T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#35364 Hi all Sorry for being AWOL and neglecting my little corner of blogdom There are many reasons for this .... not excuses .... reasons LOL. 1. Ive had the dreaded cold lurgy thats been doing the rounds so feeling an ickle bit sorry for myself no please put the violins away 2. Weve had my Hubbies children visiting and the grand children oh boy that was exhausting especially with a 4th birthday party in the midst of it I had grand ideas of being able to steal time to at least jump on the computer how wrong I was I forget how much attention little people need 3. Ive been getting lost in cyber space with all the yummy new things coming out for the CHA and really getting into this blog world so as I said before Im going to post some links to the places Im stalking at the moment Ive finally taken the plunge and joined the BAD GIRLS Foum oh my word there is so much talent and inspiration there. I have been covetting their kits for a long time but always stumble on the delicious add ons to... 2009-1-22T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#35003 .... and go green Thats what Im into at the moment. Following on from my recent post about leaving stash in plain view so I use it Im really enjoying getting through some stuff Ive been hoarding ... it really works.... try it I also figure its quite a green thing to do and thats got me thinking about other projects infact my head is so full of them I had a really rubbish nights sleep last night I just wish I could magic up more hours in a day so I could find the time to complete everything I dont know about you but when an idea pops into my head it has to come out or it haunts me and drives me round the bend Im also trying to use up stash as I am coveting a lot of the new lines that are appearing with the CHA coming up theres some lovely stuff out there Ill post some links to some of the collections I have seen later. Today I have been doing the canvas for my friend I talked about and it has been an exercise in using stash its not quite finished yet but here are some work in progress... 2009-1-14T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#34900 .... to you all hope you have a great week So things are not going that well in blog land for me I just typed a big post step by step pictures and everything and suddenly it all disappeared maybe I pressed the wrong button So I will endeavour to start again .... wish me luck As promised I am going to share my finished canvas project with you. Its scrappy but one of those off the page projects I really enjoy. I also thought it would be fun to share some step by step piccies with you incase you get the urge to raid your bits and bobs box anyone out there old enough to remember playschool Step 1. I used papier mache to add tissue paper over the areas that wouldnt be covered by anything else....... ... I used pva white school glue to do this mixing 2 part glue to 1 part water then I ripped and scrunched tissue paper gluing it in place you can get some really great texture using this method. I also took the tissue paper over the edges of the canvas to make it a whole piece. While the g... 2009-1-12T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#34826 .....it will wear off LOL Ok so its a new toy and I wanted to post again 1. to see what will happen 2 to see if I can remember how to do it and 3. to share the beginnings of the project Im working on for Louisa. I think its the bit I like best about the creative process collecting together all the bits and pieces that I might use and then piecing them all together into some kind of coherent gathering Im making a double canvas each one being about 17cmx13cm that I will hinge down the middle so it stands up. I want it to be inspirational aswell as remind Louisa of her run in Peter Pan so bells and stars abound Im also loving getting a chance to play with some of my lovely winning stash from the Best of British competition this project using my fancy pants ribbons courtesy of creative expressions and Prima flowers courtesy of craft superstore . Im so useless at remembering to use stash that Ive bought myself usually so I have decided to leave all this prize stash in plain view in my... 2009-1-11T00:00:00Z http://www.mjm-thearttart.com/page35.htm#34821 ..... that has been the question Ive been asking myself since launching my website and here I am after much cajoling from friends not least by the lovely Rosie Waddicor from ScrapBook Inspirations Rosie this is all your fault I have been on a grand Blog hopping tour all weekend and boy theres some fab ones out there although where I am going to find the hours in a day to keep up I dont know So finally I have thought to myself if you cant beat em join em and here I am. I will add links as I go to some of my faves. In my little space I hope to share with you projects I am working on and some of my techniques aswell as any of my life chat that I think anybody maybe vaguely interested in. I hope you all enjoyed your festivities over the last month though I am sure they are a distant memory now to most. I get stuck in a time warp at this time of year as hubby is still in Panto in Milton Keynes so at least for the next week I will continue to live my odd little life trying to move on ... 2009-1-11T00:00:00Z