A Mexican tray from Linda Wallace (and a free Craft Artist template to boot!)

Hi all

Well here it is our Linda's last tutorial for now and what a fabby it is too! Created with my La Senora Mexicana digikit and Craft Artist 2 Professional software (remember you can get the compact version of the software for FREE and still create this! tutorial here) Before launch I got to see Linda's projects and this one made my heart sing! It's a strange thing releasing your own art work into the world but when you see people use it in this way, you know it was the right thing to do! And this is it ....

FABULOUS!!! Linda has created a Craft Artist template for you to create your own tray and you can download it here ..... Quick instruction before you go!

You will see this screen when you click on the link, ignore everything except the pointy down arrow on the top right which when hovered over says download, click this to see....

a pop up bar at the bottom of your screen .... go to the right hand side of it and click the black arrow next to the tab that says save to give you options .....

choose Save as and save it to where you want on your computer ...

..... now you have the Craft Artist project with the template to use I will hand you over to Linda ....

This is quite an easy project. The only difficulty is to decide how to decorate it! I’ve chosen to use the La Senora Mexicana kit as there were so many brightly coloured papers and embellishments, I came to the conclusion that a collage was in order.

Open the Craft Artist project and then open the project box at the bottom of your workspace by clicking the black arrow and copy the template page (copy page!) so you have 2 identical pages.

 

 

Working on page 1, drag and drop your background onto your template, now go to Layer 1 and decorate.

Go to page 2 and drag and drop in another background, this is for the back of your tray. Print off your back on a piece of card. I am lucky enough to have a printer that prints card, if you haven’t, you could chose a piece of matching card for your back and print your front onto photo paper and glue it to the card. Now back to the card printers, turn your patterned card over and print your front (Page 1) With craft artist this is so easy as the copied page is in exactly the right place to do double sided printing (and this works for any project!)

 

Cut out the tray and score the score lines. Glue the tabs in place matching corner A to point A and so on.

I gave the tray a quick varnish with some PVA and a tiny drop of water, or you could use an acrylic varnish

Linda x

I absolutely love this project and as I have been putting this blog post together I was thinking if you made it a more 'Day of the Dead' type pattern it would make a great tray to hold your Halloween treats to hand out!

A Huge thank you to Linda Wallace for sharing all her projects with us and a thank you to you for stopping by! More inspiration coming soon, until then, as ever,
Happy Crafting
Love
MJMx

 

 

A shaped card tutorial with Linda Wallace

Hi all

As promised I am here with another fab tutorial from our Linda. This time it is a shaped card using my Sunflowers and Stars digi kit and Craft Artist 2 professional (Don't forget you can still use my kits and create this project with the FREE version of Craft Artist Compact see the side bar of my blog for the tutorial No CAP ... No problemo!)

Isn't it fab! And I learnt something new .... how to make that candle come alive ... brilliant! ... over to Linda .....

The Sunflowers and Stars card was made on an A5 tent fold template within the page set up of Craft Artist. (The front of the card on the front section and the back on the back section ignore the insert layer.)

Instead of using a background on the front of the card use a material as it’s easier to cut down to size, I decided on a material that looked like wood as I wanted to make a table. I then decided that I wanted the books to be at the back of the arrangement on the table, because they had height. Different embellishments were added in the foreground including an envelope frame to which I added a photograph of my Great Grandfather.

 

The second envelope, the sunflower, buttons, star, tile and the sunflower art work have all been manipulated with the angles in the Transform tool to make them look as if they have been placed on the table, this is trial and error with the settings, as each object is different.

 

I then used the chair to stand behind the table to give perspective, I mirrored it, (arrange and flip horizontally) as I needed it facing the other way. (At this point if you wanted to make a tent card instead of a shaped card you could drop a background into the background layer for the walls)

 

I wanted the candle to be the focal point of the card, so I had to light it up. This was achieved in the Filter Effects (while the object you want to apply the effect to is selected click the right button on your mouse to get the pop out menu and select Filter FX)

 

From the list tick outer glow and give it an Outer glow of 75%, blur 56.9, intensity 13 using the sliders to change the numbers and then click the black arrow next to colour to get the colour palette to drop down and select the colour white.

 

Everything on the front scene was grouped and then cropped to get a straight line on the bottom and side edges, not the top though as this is the shape of the top edge of the card.

The card was then printed and scored at the fold line. Holding the card closed, cut from side to side, around the Chair and top of the items on the table. This will give you your shaped card.

 

Score the back piece, which is now cut to the same shape as the front, in a straight line 1 to 2 inches down from the top edge of it. Fold this, then glue the top section to the back of the top of the front section to create your card hinge. You can now decoupage, glitter or embellish.

Thanks Linda! It seems so simple but looks so different! I love the tip on the candle glow! I learn something new about Craft Artist all the time ... 5 years down the line!!!
What kind of table top will you create? I hope you have fun crafting this project!

Thanks for stopping by and tomorrow will be the last of Linda's fab tutorials (for now!) Until then,
as ever,
Happy Crafting!
Love
MJM x

A pop up card tutorial by Linda Wallace (and a free Craft Artist template too!)

Hi all

Well best laid plans and all that but finally I am here to share one of our Linda's tutorials that she kindly created for all of you to make this clever Concertina pop up card made with my Bizarre and Fantastic digikit and Craft Artist 2 professional software

So first up (I have everything crossed that this will work!) You will need to download the Craft Artist template that she created by clicking here  .... hang on!!  just before you go here's a quick tutorial on what to do when you get there ....

You will see this page when you click the link, do not worry about the list of stuff you only need to ...

 

go to the top right corner to the pointy down arrow (technical term!) and you will see it highlights download .... click it and then you will see a pop up at the bottom of your screen ....

 

 

Go to the middle tab at the right end of the bar that says save and click the black arrow next to it which will give you save options ....

 

 

Click Save as and this will open up a box on your computer for you to decide where you want to save the Craft Artist project (eg my pictures)

 

 

So now you have the template in a Craft Artist project I can hand over to Linda's tutorial .... Enjoy!

 

 

On the first template page in the project, choose a background and drop it into the background layer.

Build up your scene, remembering that the first section on the larger rectangle and the first half of the larger section on the smaller rectangle are going to be the front of your card (This becomes important if you choose to put a sentiment on the front of your card).

 

Group the embellishments on each rectangle and use the crop tool to make the base and sides of each flat.

 

Cut out the large rectangle and score and fold the score lines. Cut out the sides and bottom of the smaller rectangle, then cut the top edge using the shape of your scene as a guide.

Score the fold lines. Part 1 joins to part 2 at point A up to the first mountain fold on 2, then point B back to the next valley fold on 1. Join them with Foam pads for a 3d look.

 

When joined and the card is folded, it should form a square box shape.

 

On the second template drop a background into the background tab. Look at the Layers tab and highlight Layer 2, this is so we can work above our template. Now choose embellishments you want to pop out of the box, make sure you keep them within the centre score lines.

 

(There is plenty of room on this layer to design a greeting embellishment or some decoupage. Place this on the blank white areas)

 

Cut these pieces out and score the score lines (These can be mountain or valley depending which is best for the look of your card) these are then glued into the box area of the card, as in a pop up box card. Your card is now ready to embellish with glitter etc.

 

 

I love this project, It is so effective! Linda also created a similar card using my Lilies and Light kit

 

 

A completely different look but just as striking!

 

Which kit will you use to create this project? I hope you have fun with it! Thanks again to Linda Wallace for sharing her talent with us and thank you for stopping by.

 

I will be back tomorrow with another fab project from our Linda, until then as ever

Happy Crafting

Love MJM x

 

PS you can still create this project even if you don't have Craft Artist 2 Professional, just download the compact version for FREE here and check out this quick tutorial I did on it here 

 

 

Who's visiting today?

Hi all

I have invited some guests to come along and share some of their work with you over the next few weeks and our 1st visitor is the lovely Linda Wallace.
I have known Linda for a while now as she is on the Serif CraftArtist design team and I used to have the pleasure of showing her samples on the TV when I was demonstrating on Create and Craft and I love her 3D work especially.

I asked Linda to write a little intro and this is what she said ...

Hooray,             

We were so pleased to hear that our Michelle was back on board with us, the Serif CraftArtist design team, but this time showing her wonderful art and design talents in the form of her new digikit collection.

We didn’t know what to expect in the way of content, but we certainly weren’t disappointed. There is so much content in the kits that the only difficulty was to choose from all of the wonderful things.

There is something for every taste, but I must admit that the Clarice Cliff inspired Bizarre and Fantastic digikit was just right up my street! It was a joy to work on all of the samples                                      

Linda x

 

And these are some of her fabulous samples!

 

I LOVE this tray created with La Senora Mexicana digikit AND Linda has given me a tutorial for this to share with you all so keep an eye out for that post!!!

 

 

A fab layout created with La Senora Mexicana, that butterfly looks like it's flying of the page!

 

 

and I love this card also created with La Senora Mexicana, not a sign of Mexico and it looks quite English Victoriana doesn't it! It really shows off what I tried to achieve with all the kits, that they can be whatever you can create with them and you don't have to be tied to their titles.

 

 

A perfect layout for the Sunflowers and Stars digikit.

 

 

A fabulous piece of altered art created with Sunflowers and Stars

 

 

A stunning shaped card showing off some of the sunflowers in the Sunflowers and Stars kit

 

 

and lastly from Sunflowers and Stars I think this is genius AND another tutorial Linda has kindly given me to share with you all soon!

 

 

A perfect photo for this layout created with Fantastic and Bizarre

 

 

Another genius project AND another tutorial to share soon created with Fantastic and Bizarre ... love this!

 

 

And this! I had to do a double take at the photo when Linda first sent me pics of her work.... I thought it really was one of Clarice Cliffs sugar shakers but oh no it is very cleverly placed elements from the kit and it's made out of cardboard .... brilliant!

 

 

A layout that you might not immediate associate with the Lilies and Light kit inspired by Claude Monet but beautifully done!

 

 

A beautiful keep sake box created with Lilies and Light, all completely digital!

 

 

and finally from Lilies and Light another genius concertina/pop up card similar to the one created with Bizarre and Fantastic that will be coming soon as a tutorial!

 

 

I love all of Linda's samples and alongside Yvette's (who you will meet soon) from the design team these were some of the first samples I saw created with my kits ... can you imagine how excited I was!!

 

So I will share those tutorials soon and introduce you to some more friends and their work too so please pop back soon and keep an eye on my social media hidey holes so you know when the posts are up!

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're well and happy and as ever, until next time,

Happy Crafting!

Love

MJMx 

No CAP? .... No Problemo!

Hi there!

From the title of this blog post you may think I am commenting on a new stylish hat but oh no, you would be mistaken .... I am here to talk about Craft Artist 2 Professional .... affectionately known as CAP ... or rather I am here to talk about the lack of it if you are not currently a user but you are a crafter and would like to get your creative mitts on my digi kits .... oh look at that I'm a poet :D

At the moment my kits are only available in the Craft Artist format but I don't want to exclude anyone from being able to create with my art work and luckily I have a way you can access all the goodies included in my digi kits for FREE .... we all like that word don't we!

If you got to DaisyTrail.com on the top menu bar you will see a tab that says Free Stuff ... woo hoo! Click on that and then click more info on the Craft Artist compact

Then have a look at the video for more info if you want to check it out

But trust me it's worth getting hold of the compact version of this amazing software for FREE to be able to use it to access not only my kits, but images from other kits and even other craft CD's and downloads you may have!

You can use the page set up to drag and drop the backgrounds onto the work space and create exactly the size of paper you want to use without wasting ink! From 12 x 12 to 4 x 4 it shrinks the design to the right size!

Or maybe you want a complete piece of A4 or A5, the same method applies. You can then print it off OR you could export it as a jpeg to take into any other platform you are more comfortable using!

You can also create your own design sheets to print off and craft with physically. It's all drag and drop technology and by pulling out the corner nodes anything can be whatever size you want it!

Maybe you want to take advantage of the intelligent frame technology, add a photo to a frame before printing it the exact size you want to craft with.

And there are added extras like access to the stencil tool which you can use with the digi brush to paint

...or even make it act like a punch by adding material over the top of the stencil on your work space, it will disappear behind then lifting the stencil will leave the solid image, inverting the image will 'punch' the image out of the material!

And of course you can dabble in a bit of digi crafting .... you might just like it!

So I think if you don't use CAP that the compact version is the perfect way for you to still play with my kits and you can get yours FREE today! I'll leave you in peace now to pop on over to DaisyTrail.com grab your free software and pick up my kits!

Enjoy!
Happy Crafting!
Love
MJM x

A Facebook Live and congratulations!

Hi all

Congratulations to all the winners of the competition to win some of my original artwork! You're all mentioned on the video ....

....Talking of which this is just a flying visit to drop off the recording of the Facebook Live broadcast I did on Friday night (30th Sept)

Sharing some digi kit insights, competition winners and silliness with 'The Digits of Illusion'

Enjoy!

I'll be back soon, I have lots to share! just have to get my little bear brain round all the scheduling! Any questions you would like answering or ideas of things you would like to see, as I say in the video, please let me know!

Hope you're all well and happy!
Happy October everyone and of course ...
.... Happy Crafting
Love
MJM x