December Cherry Blossom Markets

Afternoon internet, well what a brilliant way to spend a Saturday. We had an absolute ball at the Christmas Cherry Blossom Markets! The atmosphere was great, plenty of lovely people around, semi-decent weather, delish food and very temping products from our fellow stalls.

Here are a couple of photos I took early in the day.

As you can see, plenty of cards and baubles this month, quite popular again. But the stand out was the button frames, (which you can see in the 2nd picture on the right hand side) proving to be a sort-after gift this Christmas.

Thanks also to all our brilliant friends for your help setting up and throughout the day. Couldn't have done it without you.

If there is anything you can see in the pictures, on our blog or saw at the markets that you might be interested in, we are more than happy to take orders (we even have some stock left over from the markets). Just give us a call on 0458496419 or email us at melandmedesigns@gmail.com.

Until next post, I hope you're all having a brilliant day, only 9 sleeps!

-mel

Christmas Cherry Blossom Markets

Morning all, it's been a little while between posts, we have been working hard on a whole range of projects ready for this weekend. We are at our second Cherry Blossom Markets on Saturday 14th December 2013 (this Saturday) from 9am to 2pm. It's the Christmas markets so their will be plenty of gift ideas, decorations, yummy food and entertainment. And I have heard that a jolly red-suit-clad gentleman might be making an appearance!

So come along and check it out and don't forget to stop by out stall for some Chrissy cards, decorations and baubles.

ArtiqueMixedMedia.com Design Team Call

I am very excited to be able to put in a submission for the artiquemixedmedia.com design team of 2014. For those of you who haven't come across Artique, they are an American based artistic duo who sell a range of brilliant products at very, very good prices. They have had an etsy store in the past and are in the process of re-launching their webpage at the moment. Sucking-up aside, it is certainly worth a look, their style appeals greatly to me, kinda of a grunge-y but pretty look with a bit of fantasy about it, and their products/prices are pretty hard to beat. Check them out at www.artiquemixedmedia.com or their etsy store here.

So here is another look into my art journal, three pages actually from three different journals.

 This one is from an altered book, again one of the ones from my local University book sale. I was playing around with gel medium for the first time and this is what happened. Totally by accident, it started out as a vivid blue and orange spotted mess. Then I just kept layering and layering, inks, paint, medium, spray and pen. And this came out.

 This one is in the small Kaszazz journal. I really liked working in the smaller journal, a double page just flows out without too much hasel to fill the space. Again through much layering I used gesso, tissue paper (to hold the inks) Distress ink, Dylusions strays, Distress paint, washi tape and Kaszazz stamps.

 Last but not least, I just finished this one. It's actually the biggest page I have done, that is the Dylusion art journal from Ranger, which is brilliant to work in, the paper is excellent for playing with inks and water. I used Dylusion inks, Ranger paint dabbers, Tim Holtz stencils, Dylusions stamps, Kaszazz stamps Distress ink, Sumi ink, charcoal pencils and chalk pastels.

The picture of the girl is taken from a calendar. It is one of the Gorjuss artworks by Suzanne Woolcott for Santoro, which make me wish I lived in the UK where her products are readily available!

Well that's all from me today. Hope you enjoyed my pages and keep your fingers crossed for the design team.

-mel

Playing with Stamps

So I said a couple of posts ago that I just got a package from America with some JOFY and Dylusion stamps. I have been playing with them in a new book, which I have dubbed my sample book. They are not super fancy and I haven't made backgrounds or full pages, it's just the stamps coloured very simply with pencils and Distress Markers. Still, I thought I would share because they are super awesome stamps.

 This is where I started, just simply stamping a JOFY stamp with Distress ink and highlighting it with Smooch inks. As you can see, my sample book is an altered book.

Next up I did a bit with Distress ink and and a stencil as a background and stamped a Tim Holtz stamp over the top. Colouring was done with pencils, which were brilliant and satisfying to use.

 I figured it was time to try a scene using the new stamps. So I did a JOFY garden with butterfly. Really fun to layout and stamp with these guys. Again coloured with pencils.

 Time for some whimsy, and what better way to be a little crazy then Dylusion stamps. This one required very little input from me, looked super as soon as it was stamped.

Finally I stamped out a bunch of random Dylusion stamps and coloured them with Distress markers. If you look closely at the mushrooms, I used the Picket Fence Distress Marker over the top of the other colours for highlights.

So that's a bit of a peek into my sample book. Stay tuned for some pages from my actual journals.

-Mel

Art Journal Every Day

Greetings again folks. I have been doing a little perusing of the internet via Pintrest, looking for some inspiration for art journaling and I came across this little gem:

 

Lots of inspiring ideas and projects from a range of different people. Plus it's a brilliant concept! Really trying to squash the inner perfectionist, the enemy of art journaling, by willfully finding time to journal every day. It doesn't need to be a whole page, doesn't need to be brilliant, just putting something on paper, getting over the hurdle of 'I can't' or 'I don't know where to start' and just doing. Definitely giving this a go.

-Mel

Cherry Blossom Market Photos

Some photos from our stall at the Cherry Blossom Markets on 9th November 2013.

 T'was a brilliant day, we had a great deal of fun and got to meet and talk with some lovely people. As you can see from the photos, we had a range of products, standing decorations, hangings, tags, photo books, advent calendars, wreaths, baubles and of course plenty of cards!

 And our location was just brilliant; second stall along the basketball courts, just to the left of the entrance.

So we hope to see everyone again in a couple of weeks (Saturday 14th December 2013) at the Christmas Cherry Blossom Markets.

Another rainy day

Well it's still pretty soggy today, not much break from the rain. But the up side is more time in-doors to craft!
We've been working away at some more cards and products for our next market and it seems that glitter has invaded my life, it is everywhere! I've been doing some embossing as well, with quite pretty results.
I've also been getting back into my art journal after a couple of weeks off. I received a package from America last week with some super stamps from Ranger (Dylusions and Tim Holtz) and PaperArtsy (JOFY), so I couldn't resit having a play. I'll be posting photos of the finished products when they are done.

-Mel

Alcohol Ink is Awesome

Thought I would share with you a page I did while having a play with alcohol ink markers. This is my first every attempt at using them. I have been resisting for years, saying I don't need them and they are just an over-priced texta. Wow was I wrong!

 

When Kaszazz brought out their markers I thought I would give them a go, with just one colour-way (berries) just to trial them. I was sure I wouldn't like them because I have seen others using them and they looked like they required quite a deal of talent in colouring and shading etc. So I thought with one colour-way I can have a go with some coordinating colours, without having to spend too much and if I couldn't make them work, not much lost.

After having a bit of a doddle with a simple flower design, I decided to jump right in an do a whole art journaling page. 

As you can see, it's in an altered book, just a hard cover book I got at a book sale at my local University. I have gesso-ed the background, then stamped the images on with Ranger's archival ink (which turned out to be a major error as it reacts with the alcohol ink markers). Then just applied the markers, for the flowers I just coloured and mixed only a little bit, the big butterfly I did all the shading by going light to dark and blending each colour as I went. It was surprisingly fun and kind of soothing.

Needless to say, I have purchased all the alcohol markers for myself as a Christmas pressy! Stay tuned for more alcohol ink marker adventures.

-Mel

P.S. If you are interested in the makers, there are some great technique videos on YouTube. Search alcohol ink markers, and/or Kaszazz and you get a bunch.

Post-Market Post

Well what a busy weekend for mel&me designs. Our first Cherry Blossom Markets on Saturday were a great success, despite the very changeable weather! We stuck with the Christmas theme, (only 6 weeks to go folks!) with cards, decorations, banners and baubles all handmade by myself and Jacqui. I'll put some photos up of our stand and products this week.

So now we are madly getting ready for the next Cherry Blossom Market on Saturday 14th December, and stay tuned for info on other markets we will be attending in the Hunter/Central Coast region.

Busy, busy, busy, but hopefully we will be able to fit in some time for some scrapbooking and art journaling.

-Mel

Cherry Blossom Markets

Well it's official, our first event! We are going to have a stall at the Cherry Blossom Markets in Adamstown this weekend (9th November 2013). We will be selling Christmas themed cards and home decor items.
For those of you who have not been to the Cherry Blossom Markets, you certainly are missing out! They are not your average markets, with a focus on handmade, boutique items including clothing, jewelry, kids toys and accessories, all at reasonable prices, it's a brilliant Saturday out (not to mention the delicious food stalls!)
So come along and check us out on Saturday 9th November 2013 from 9am-2pm at Adamstown Public School (Bryant Street Adamstown NSW).
I've included a link to CBM's Facebook page so you can have a look. Hope to see you there!
Cherry Blossom Markets

-Mel

Scrapbooking pages

Greetings internet world, welcome to the blog of mel&me designs. We are a locally based business in Newcastle and Central Coast Australia. We focus on card making, scrapbooking, home decor, art journalling and mixed media. As we develop we will be bringing you news, photos of our products, events and details of our crafting adventures.

-mel