Madcap Manor

Bracy yourselves, chaps, this is very pink! I have been experimenting with my new Spectrum Noir pens. It's rather peculiar, after using Promarkers for so long, to be learning once again which colours go together. The colours are more vivid than Promarkers, and the tops on the ends are identical, so I keep pulling off the wrong one and getting the chisel nib instead of the fine nib. I've been playing with colour, which is always an education. Anyway, to the card! The image is of course LotV Rosie Posy, which I haven't inked up in months! I used a Nestie Labels die, then drew round the outside on pink card and cut out to make the narrow border. Papers are Pink Petticoat Vintage Rose. I used my NEW Magnolia Doohickey Tilda Lace Die - I've wanted it for ages and finally indulged! The flowers are the Retro punch, the leaves are a Woodware one which I got last year - it's meant to be a spray of blossom, I think, but it's useful for leaves when you ha...

It's Jacqui P's first blogaversary, and she has this amazing candy on offer. To enter, become a follower and leave a comment on the blogaversary post - like me she doesn't want to faff around with linkys but prefers drawing names from a hat! I like that in a girl!! Seriously, her cards are lovely! luv, Mags x

Jacque has had some wonderful news and is celebrating with this sweet candy! If you become a follower (and, honestly, her creations are wonderful! So pretty and inspiring!) and post this on your blog and leave a comment, you're in for a chance to win! luv, Mags x

This card is for my friend Julie, who has been running our Church Holiday Club this week. It's been great - the kids have got on really well together, and there have been lots of opportunities for all the helpers to make fools of themselves - er - I mean, get involved in the drama we put on for the children to enjoy. Today I performed 'Knees Up, Mother Brown' under my stage name, Cherry Cola (said in a Geordie accent. You may have heard of my husband, the footballer Ashtray Cola!) Unforutunately I haven't got any of the details of the Promarkers written down, but there are Magnolia die-cuts to go with the darling Tilda image, and a Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch, and a Wild Orchid Crafts metal corner. The ribbon is from Hobbycrafts, the gems are from my stash, and the silver stickers are paperchase. The papers are Nitwits Cherry Blossoms and I used a Woodware leaf punch, too. The die-cut circular mat is a Nestie. I'm entering this card for the Papertake W...

It's me again! Here's another card using the Stitchy Bear Fairy Moon digi that I used for my Dream Valley DT card. The card base is cut with a scalloped Grand Nestie and the paper (which was loose in my paper drawer so I can't say where it came from) is done with a plain one. The background for the fairy was made with Distress Inks, this time Scattered Straw, Broken China and Spiced Marmalade. I'd seen cards with elegant trellises made from die-cut flourishes some time ago, so I thought I'd try it. It took ages to organise! I used 2 Marianne flourishes, and a Magnolia one (twice.) The bases of the Wild Orchid flowers are also made with a Magnolia die, and the butterflies are Martha Stewart. The only glitz is dots of gold Perfect Pearls on the butterflies' bodies. Too late I noticed that I stuck the image at an angle instead of straight, but luckily she seems to be admiring the top butterfly, phew! That's my excuse! I'm entering this in...

Lime, Yellow and Orange! Aren't these just gorgeous?! We had such a lot of lovely creations for our 'Distressing' Challenge last time! It's so inspiring to see so many different variations on the theme! This fortnight we're sponsored by The prize for a very lucky winner is a $10 voucher for their store. The DT was lucky enough to have some wonderful images to work with - hop over to Dream Valley and have a look at my teamies' wonderful creations! I have used Fairy Moon one of the lovely silhouette digistamps. I immediately thought of the posters by Jan Pienkowski that everyone had on their walls when I was at Uni: amazingly detailed fantasy silhouettes on backgrounds of swirling colour. So I had a go with Distress Inks (in Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint and Wild Honey) and my mini-mister, following Tim Holtz's Youtube tutorial here . I printed the image over the top of the coloured card and cut her out with a Nestie circle die. ...

How sad is it that when BBC4 (which I love!) shows old clips of TotP and old programmes with eg Lulu or Nana Mouskouri, I remember them from the first time round!

Afternoon, all! It's another cold, grey day here in Hertfordshire - flaming August! I got out my snippets boxes and made a Christmas card! I cut 3 strips of 2 different papers and wove them into a square, stuck it on a blue mat, and added a die-cut snowflake and a Christmas tree, also out of snippets of plain card. I glamour-dusted them and voila! The dies are both Marianne, and the tree is new! I'm going to enter the lovely Jules's Snippets Challenge. On Sundays she challenges herself, and anyone else who wants to join in, to use up papers that have already been used before. If you haven't seen her blog, do go and see! Thanks for looking! luv, Mags x

...and what did we see, we saw the sea!' Morning, all! My, it's a cold, grey day today! I hope you're all keeping warm! Just a quick post to show an experiment I did yesterday. I masked the stamps (Woodware) to make the smaller ships look as if they're just coming into view, and to add the waves. I used Faded Jeans Distress Ink, and also some shimmer paints that came free with a mag last year, in green, gold and blue. They shine quite nicely when the light catches them, but of course the camera doesn't pick it up! The sky has some more ink sponged here and there to give an effect of blue sky and scudding clouds. The frame is silver glitter paper cut with a Nestie with the middle cut out, the sentiment is a peel-off. Not the most sophisticated or elegant effort, but I had fun! I'm going to enter the Deep Ocean Challenge whose theme is 'Light Blue' Thanks for looking, and have a good day! luv, Mags x

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra performing an impromptu concert of the 'Bolero' made famous by Torville and Dean's ice dance routine in the 80s. This is just amazing! luv, Mags x

At last Mr Blogger seems to be behaving! I hope you're having a great weekend! I'm sitting here listening to the England Cricket Team become the best in the world, it's thrilling stuff! I appreciate that few others share my obsession, so I'll move on! This little cutie is 'Summer' from The Greeting Farm's 'Roll Call' set which I got last year, I think from Quixotic Paperie . The current Anyone for Anya? challenge is "Summertime", so as well as using the image I chose bright, summery colours and paper with summer roses on it. Papers are scraps of Craft Creations gingham and Flower Delight by Bearly Mine . The flowers are Prima with adhesive pearls in the middles from my stash. The ribbon is recycled, and coloured with Peach Promarker. I also ran the same colour round the oval card and then stickled. The sketch is a pretty one from Sweet Sketch Wednesday Well, I ought to be tidying now - India are now 221 for 9! 1 mo...

Testing Mr Blogger! One... Two.... Three....

My goodness, what a lot of entrants! Thank you, all, for joining in and WELCOME to my new followers! I have written out all your names on tags, tossed them like a salad in a bowl, and drew out: Kendra Congrats, hun! Drop me an email at Gauroth AT gmail DOT com with your address and I'll pop the candy in the post. I hope you're all having a good evening! luv, Mags x

I want to thank you all for the lovely comments you leave me, the help you give me, and not least the wonderful creations that inspire me! The candy consists of: a 12 x 12 pack of Pepper and Friends Christmas papers, some glittered; 3 Whiff of Joy stamps (Melinda with Basket of Muffins, Christmas Angel, and Mediaeval Castle); and 4 packs of Papermania toppers. You can post about my candy in your blog if you like, but it's up to you!! The only requirement is to leave a comment ON THIS POST - I'll be literally throwing names into a hat and drawing them on August 9th, so commenting is the only way I'll know you're interested! I'll post anywhere! luv, Mags xx

Good morning! This is quite a long post, so put your feet up with a cuppa and we'll be off! It's a new challenge at Dream Valley , the last fortnight has just flown by! We didn't have quite as many entries for the 'Surprise' Challenge, which isn't surprising (!) because it's the holidays! All the entries were very imaginative, though, and I certainly picked up a few tips! This time the Challenge is 'Distressing.' We have TWO sponsors! The first is One Stop Card Crafts They're offering a £10 voucher for their lovely shop! The second is Digi Doodle Shop The prize is a $10 voucher! Not bad, eh? The DT were lucky enough to be given some images from Digi Doodles to play with, yay! I used a gorgeous one, Country Path . I coloured with Promarkers and added some purple stickles to some of the flowers. Now the only distressing I usually do is going round the edges with Distress Ink, but I thought I ought to go further this time! So, after studying many vi...

Evening, all! Here's a CAS card I made for a friend's birthday at the end of last month. I'm very pleased with this one - I find CAS cards tough, but this one looks ok, I think. You'll all be shocked to know that I didn't use Promarkers! Well, they bleed through, and this is a one-layer card, so I dug out my stazon and Distress Inks instead. I'm entering this into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the theme is 'Anything Goes.' I love this Penny Black ballerina, she makes me smile! I used Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint and Broken China. Her ribbon is stickled in purple. The greeting is stamped in Broken China. Simples! Thanks for looking, and sleep well! luv, Mags x

Jane , whose cards are lovely, has candy! Pop over to her blog, add your name, and post about it - you know the drill by now, I'm sure! Have a look at her work while you're there - I really admire what she does, though it's not a style I can handle myself. luv, Mags x

Hi, guys! The house is slowly getting back to normal - spending most of a fortnight away is great, but if you leave your daughter at home there will be consequences. Ie heaps of laundry beside the washing machine and a factory's-worth of cosmetics scattered over the bathroom. However, I think we're getting there, the ironing mountain has been reduced to a small hill. On to the card! The image is Penny Black, isn't he cute? I stickled AND glamour-dusted the fur trim and bobble on his hat, and also the double snowflake, which is made with two Marianne dies. The flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts, the sentiment is Lili of the Valley. The bright papers are from my 'Christmas'n'card' snippets box - yes I have begun sorting my scraps, though the other box is just labelled 'Other Box.' And that, as they say, is that. I'm going to enter the Simon Says Stamp Challenge , which is Christmas in August. I can't find my Promarker list - and I have a confession...