The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #69 Anything Christmas Goes.

Good morning! I hope you're all keeping safe and well at home, with plenty of time to do some stress-busting crafting!

It's a beautiful spring morning here in S-E Hertfordshire, so it seems a little odd to be thinking of Christmas! However, we have a new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy to keep you company during lockdown.

I have dug out a Concord & 9th Turnabout stamp to make a background, this is the Holly Berry Turnabout.

I used 3 shades of green ink and one of grey for the leaves, and 4 shades of red and orange inks for the berries. The gold-embossed sentiment is from an old stamp set by Lil' Inkers which is now out of print. The ribbon came from my stash.

Finally I added dots of Crystal Stickles on top of the berries.

Go and see my teamies' creations on the blog and be inspired!

Thanks for looking, and take care.

love, Mags B x

My Time to Craft! #429 Easter Cuties

It's 5.15 pm and I have just realised it's Friday! Not only that, but there's a new challenge over at My Time to Craft! Our theme is Easter Cuties so any adorable image related to Easter (Chicks, Bunnies, Eggs....) will be great!

I have used a VERY old wood-mounted stamp from Penny Black called Bun Bun. Its copyright date is 2008, so it's now 12 years old!

I colouredher with Copics, die-cut her with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Circle die and layered her onto pearlescent green card.

The yellow spotted paper is also very old, and the green card is a snippet. I used a Lawn Fawn Grassy Hillsides Die to cut the edge of the card. The flower sequins are from my stash.

Do hopalong (geddit?!) to the Challenge blog ro see the Easter Cuties that my teamies have made, and to say hello to 3 new members of our Design Team: Judith and Tracey and Cazro, who is returning for another stint on our loopy and lovely team!

Thanks for looking! Stay safe and well and CRAFTY!

love Mags B x

Dream Valley Challenges #222 Spring Colours.

Hello! It's a beautiful Spring day, and I have been sitting in the garden having a cuppa - still in my coat, because it's a wee bit chilly! Thebirds are getting very active, and a neighbour's tree is covered in pink blossom. Also, the grass needs cutting!

And we have Spring Colours as our theme at Dream Valley! Our sponsor is the gorgeous All Dressed Up - Wendy's images are so pretty!

My spring colours are pink and green.

The elegant dancer is dressed like a cherry blossom and is about to twirl across the stage! She is an older stamp called Looking Gorgeous which came via Little Darlings Rubber Stamps. The flowered background paper is from an old First Edition pad, and has a spot gloss finish. I used an old Spellbinders die to cut the frame. It looks coral in the photo, but in real life it's more pink!

The green ribbon is from my stash.

Go and see the lovely examples left on the blog, then pick your favourite spring colours and join in!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you're all keeping safe and well.

love Mags B x

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #67 Anything Christmas Goes.

Hello! I hope you are all coping with having children at home/lockdown. Ye Olde Manne and I have been self-isolating for the last week, going out only to shop for essentials like bread, milk and beer. Thankfully, I began picking up an extra can or two every week at the beginning of last year, in preparation for Brexit, so we have soup, fruit, tuna and corned beef in the larder! We will probably get a bit tired of corned beef.....

Anyway, it is what it is, and I hope you're finding time to craft. Creating something is such a good stress-buster. Even more so when you make Christmas cards and see that bit of stockpiling increase - and The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge is here to help!

I used a very old Hero Arts set to stamp and emboss three ornaments, then fussy-cut them out. I added some DMC floss plus some very thin, springy and bloody-minded silver thread, for the hangers, first making holes for the thread to go through.

Then I added the ornaments with some foam tape, under the bows. The paper comes from my stash and the gold-embossed sentiment is from an old set by Clearly Besotted. There were a couple of tiny snowflakes with the sentiment, and my kraft layer looked a bit bare, so I stamped the snowflakes round the edges using Versamark. It scarcely shows, but it does break up the solid brown.

Go and see my teamies' creations, they do such a great job making lovely and varied cards. Something for everyone!

Thanks for looking, my lovelies. Stay safe and well.

love Mags B x

My Time to Craft #428 Off the Edge

Good morning! We have an intriguing theme at Mt Time to Craft which is Off the Edge. That's when you die-cut (or trim!) around your image to make a shaped edge - here is a video from Penny Black to give an example.

I didn't have a die for this Simon Says Stamp image, which is from the Stronger Together stamp set which was in this mont's card kit, so I used my scissors to trim it. I painted the leaves using watercolours, then splattered the card with green, yellow and gold paint.

The hello die also came with the kit, I cut it from some pealised green card. Then I lined the inside with a snippet of checked paper and finally rounded the bottom right corner.

I should have made this a side-folding card rather than top-folding, because cutting along the fold at the top was a bit tricky!

My teamies have done some lovely work to show you, do go and see!

Thanks for looking! Stay well!

love Mags B x

Dream Valley Challenges #221 One For the Boys. And why washing hands kills that ruddy virus.

Oops! I'm a day late with my post for Dream Valley, I apologise! Following on from the last Challenges theme of 'One For The Girls' we now have One For The Boys.

Our sponsor is the amazing Bugaboo Digi Stamps. Unfortunately my printer is making everything look blurry and I wasn't able to use the fun images we were sent so generously, so instead I used something I already had.

This is Gus, isn't he wonderful?

The sentiment reads: 'Growing old is mandatory... Growing up is optional.'

I used old papers from my stash plus 2 of Love from Lizi's Gold Matt Peel-offs. I added Glossy Accents to Gus's spectacles and two stitched circles die-cut from a scrap of gold card as embellishments.

My teamies have made some fab cards to inspire you, showcasing more of Bugaboo's fun images, do check them out!

Thanks for looking, and have a good week.

love Mags B x

PS I was talking to a friend who has just finished a Bio-Med degree, and he explained why we're supposed to Wash Our Hands. The Covid-19 virus is surrounded by a fatty membrane, which is destroyed by soap (or strong alcohol hand gel.) Makes sense!

He also said it's really important not to touch your face if your hands haven't been washed because the virus enters your nose, mouth or eyes to infect you.

I wish we had had all this explained to us weeks ago!

Stay safe and well, my lovelies.

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #67 Anything Christmas Goes.

Hello, my dearios! I hope you and your families are all keeping well. We have another Challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge for you to get a head start on those Christmas cards!

I have used a pre-coloured image from an old collection by Lili of the Valley. They now do downloadable pre-coloured images for printing at home, but sadly not this cutie. I trimmed the image down a bit, then layered it on silver mirri card (I love silver with blue for Christmas cards!). I added Spectrum Noir shimmer pen to all the stars.

The background paper is from a long-out-of-print LOTV paper pad which I have had for years! The sentiment is from Craft Creations and is also very old!

I am using up stash!!!!!

My awesome teamies have made some beautiful projects to inspire you, do go and see!

Thanks for looking, and have a good week.

Cheerio, my dearios!

love Mags B x