Dream Valley Challenges #213 All That Glitters

Good morning! I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Our new Challenge at Dream Valley is All That Glitters. So let's see shimmer, sparkle and shine to cheer up these dreicht November days!

Our sponsor is the wonderful Dies to Die For and there is a £15 voucher awaiting one lucky winner!

The photo of my Christmas shaker card doesn't show how glittery the die-cut wreath is, sadly.

I die-cut green glitter paper with MFT's Winter Wreath die. The bow is from the same set, cut in red pearlised card. The papers are from an old First Edition pad which unfortunately seems to be out of print. The gold-embossed sentiment is made with a stamp from a magazine gift.

Thanks for looking, and may your week be full of sparkle and glitter!

love Mags B x

My Time to Craft! #409 No Squares or Rectangles

Eek! I'm so sorry my post for the new My Time to Craft Challenge is a day late! No excuses - I forgot.

Anyway, our theme is No Squares or Rectangles - check out the blog to see what we mean and how my teamies have interpreted the challenge. I went with a circle card - and went out of my comfort zone by making a Shabby Chic card.

I was inspired by Craftangel online - the lovely Shilpa makes beautiful cards, and her explanations are so clear.

I layered ivory Centura Pearl cardstock with a very old green and gold paper and some white card. The lacy layer is cut with a gorgeous Rainbow Rose Edge Die from tonic studios, I cut it twice to make a circle. I added a strip of rose ribbon across the base.

The flowers and leaves are from Wild Orchid Crafts. I added 2 butterflies cut from the ivory and green cardstock with a Martha Stewart Punch all over the page butterfly punch and layered them, then added brown and gold gems from my stash on the bodies.

The gold-embossed sentiment is from an ancient Penny Black stamp set.

I was so surprised and happy that this turned out so well! As I said, it's out of my comfort zone, but I might try shabby chic again!!

I hope you're all having a good weekend!

Thanks for looking!

love Mags B x

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #59 Always Anything Goes.

Good morning! I hope you're all keeping well. We have a new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy to entertain you! Get those Christmas crafts done - there is less than 2 months to go until the Big Day!

The late, great Victoria Wood joked that this was the time when her auntie began boiling the water to cook the Christmas sprouts..... My Mother in Law wasn't so extreme, but at Christmas she always boiled the Brussels for a good hour 'to make sure they're cooked through.' They disintegrated into a grey mush, only edible when accompanied with piccalilli. And I don't like piccallili!

Enough of that, here's my card!

I used Operation Write Home sketch 146 for the layout. The papers are from a megapack from Love from Lizi from a couple of years ago. The snowflake background has embossed snowflakes. I used some red mirri card for the horizontal banner.

The adorable image is 'Small Fancy Reindeer,' an old cling stamp from Hero Arts. His red nose is a blob of red Nuvo Drops.

Take a look at my teamies gorgeous creations, there is so much variety that you will be inspired!

Thanks for looking and have a good day.

love Mags B x

Dream Valley #212 Add a sentiment.

Just a quick post today, in about 10 minutes we have a friend for tea!

Our Challenge is to Add a Sentiment and our sponsor is Fabrika Fantasy - I have used Halloween Cat.

I used papers from my stash. The sentiment is a very old one by Clearly Besotted, embossed with Pumpkin Pie embossing powder by Love from Lizi.

Go and see my teamies' gorgeous creations and join in the fun with us!

Thanks for looking

love Mags B x

My Time to Craft #408 Halloween or Cats.

Hi, guys! I hope you're all looking forward to a good weekend. A lovely crafting friend is visiting us tomorrow, we'll be going on a big March in London together! On Sunday I expect we'll be a bit stiff and achey!!!

In the mean time, there's a new challenge at My Time to Craft and our theme is either Halloween or Cats. Not everyone celebrates Halloween, which is why there's a choice.

This adorable kitty is Squisshy Kitty from Di's Digi Stamps. The papers are from a very old Basic Grey paper pad. Iadded a row of silver Nuvo Drops to the top of the banner, and the silver mirri sentiment is cut with Lawn Fawn's Scripty Hello.

My teamies have left some fab creations on the blog to inspire you to join in!

Thanks for looking!

love Mags B x

The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge #58 Anything Christmas Goes

Good morning! I hope you're all keeping well! How can it possibly be the middle of October already? This year is flying by! It will soon be Christmas - but never fear, The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge is here once again to inspire you to create for Christmas nice and early!

I have a card made with Baby Snow from Digital Delights by Louby Loo.

I matched the colours to the glittered background paper, which is from First Edition's 'Perfect Christmas' paper pad, which sadly seems to be out of print. I fussy cut the image and mounted it on the same ivory pearlescent card that I made the cardbase from, and then a mat cut from holographic gold card from my stash. I used the same gold card for the strips behind the image. The sentiment is from stash.

One of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to USE STUFF UP and I've used up quite a lot of STUFF on this card!

Go and see my teamis' gorgeous creations and join in the fun! It's never too soon to start on the Christmas shenanigans!

Thanks for looking, and have a great day.

love Mags B x

Dream Valley Challenges #211 Clean and Simple

Good morning! Welcome to a new Challenge at Dream Valley! I hopt that will cheer up your Monday!

Our new theme is Clean and Simple and if you'd like to check what that means, have a look at this Glossary from the "Less is More" blog.

Our sponsor this fortnight is LeAnn's World 101 and I used the lovely Princess Alea. (Unfortunately Etsy won't let me link to her shop.)

I used a mask and Distress Inks to make a green hillock and a sky background, then I masked the green again and gave the sky a quick spritz with Nuvo Mica Mist in Antique Gold. It gives a subtle sheen, with a few splatters as well.

I fussy cut the image and added her to the scene with wet glue, then put Stickles on her tiara and necklace, and Spectrum Noir Sparkle on the embroidery on her dress. The sentiment is from Altenew's Fresh Freesia stamp set. I matted the image on a scrap of pink paper from my stash that matched her pink dress exactly! It's so satisfying when that happens!

Take a look at my teamies' pretty cards and try out some Clean and Simple creations!

Thanks for looking, and have a great week!

love Mags b x