Madcap Manor

To celebrate Hogmanay, Sugar Nellie has candy until 7pm GMT on January 1st. love Mags B x

Sorry I've not been online recently, ye olde manne and I have been visiting family in Shrewsbury, meeting our beautiful granddaughter. Lillie is a Downs baby, which means she's been subjected to various tests in the hospital, but they're all home now, thank goodness! She has my ears!!! And my daughter's mouth!!! She is just so cute and lovely! I read somewhere that the job of grandparents and grandchildren is simply to adore one another. That's not hard! I want to wish all of you a very happy New Year! 2011 has been a wonderful year for meeting all you lovely, inspiring crafty folk, and I look forward to seeing you all again online in 2012! with much love, Mags B xxx

Here are pics of Lillie, taken soon after she was born on 23rd December. Best Christmas Present! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Day! Happy New Year! love Mags B x

I'm a Grannie! Lillie was born at 8.26. To celebrate, I'm off to Saino's to do the Christmas food shopping! I hope you'll all have a Happy Christmas! love Mags B x

Well, nearly. DIL has had a 'show' - grandchild due in the next day or so! I probably won't be online much this next few days, so I want to take the opportunity to wish you A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! Thank you so much for your lovely comments this past year, and also for your gorgeous, inspirational blogs. You are all amazing!!! with much love Mags B xxx

I apologise for this terrible picture, the colours are rather faint and faded :( The current Penny Black Saturday Challenge is to make a tag. I don't have any readymade ones, so I took a slightly battered ivory card blank and cut it to size. The sketch is from Mojo Monday , it fits what I wantwed to do very well! The background paper is Papermania, from the Vintage Christmas stack. I coloured another piece of ivory card with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink by smearing the pad onto my craft sheet, spritzing with water and dabbing the card until I had a nice speckly pattern. Very Time Holtz!! I used the small music stamp from the PB 'Clearly in Love' set, stamping with Versamark Gold, then tore round the image. I went over the edges of the papers with the Versamark, which gives a very pretty sheen that is nowhere in sight on the photo! The holly is a Memory Box die from Crafts U Love and I glittered the leaves with gold Glamour Dust. The lace is from stash, and so is the ribbo

Debbi has a great video tutorial on her blog, demonstrating Flexmarkers and how the technique you use has to be slightly different from Promarkers. Very interesting! She also has Flexmarker candy for anyone who'll post and link. You should look at her blog anyway, my dearios, because her colouring is so good! I hope you'll all have a good weekend! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! No news yet of the grandchild, my poor daughter-in-law is doing her nut because she's fed up with being pregnant, poor lass! So I made some Christmas cracker boxes. The measurements were worked out by the talented Julie who kindly sent me the details. It took quite a bit of due care and attention, because numbers and me do not get on, but accurate measuring was the key! Julie's are beautiful, and I'm certainly going to be trying them again, but this time I Kept It Simple, Stoopid! The card and the wreath toppers and the ribbon stickers came from a Papermania bargain bag I picked up at Hobbycraft. The green bows are made with bog-standard wrapping ribbon from Saino's. I used a Martha Stewart punch on one box, but my measurements were a bit off (naff maths skillz!) so I left the other one plain. They aren't nearly as elegant as Julie's, but I'm quite happy for a first attempt (especially since I have half an ear permanently cocked listening for the

It's the final Dream Valley Challenge of the year, and it lasts until January 8th 2012 The theme is 'Christmas' so you can use the opportunity to do a scrapbook page, or a box for a last-minute Christmas present - or, of course, make a Christmas card! We have some lovely sponsors: One Stop Card Crafts and Digi Doodle Shop and Stitchy Bear and Crafty Ribbons Wowee! As you can see, I've made a Christmas card - my last one!! I love this Penny Black antique Santa, and he's a dream to colour. The paper was a snippet, and I can't remember who it's by, but it's at least a year old! I also used a snippet of card for the Spellbinders label. The sentiment is The Greeting Farm, from the Amelia and Oliver Santa set. Gems are from stash. I stickled the spots on Santa's robe and the star on his crook, and also around the sentiment. I made a similar card last year, but this time turned it through 90 degrees. I used Promarkers to colour him. Are you all ready f

Hi, guys! At last here's another Christmas card! We have been having the annual Grand Christmas Tidy Up a little earlier than usual, since at any time we might get The Call to rush to Shrewsbury to behold The Grandchild! (I wonder if the wives of the Magi felt the same when their fellas were preparing to travel to Bethlehem on a moment's notice?!) My Beloved Husband and Adorable Daughter seem to think that the best way to tidy all my stuff is to dump it in my room. Consequently my room looks like a rubbish heap - there are carrier bags of STUFF on the floor and a basket of ironing balancing precariously on the top. So this card is very simple, because I can't get at my drawers. (Apart from those in the laundry basket, but let's not go there!) In Sainsbury's I found 3 boxes of Forever Friends cards on offer (buy 2 get 1 free) and thought I'd try decoupage on them. The first one was rubbish, but this has turned out better. I've a friend who adores these little

The wonderful Sylvia Zet has two freebie images on her blog . They are so pretty - have a look! (Look at her blog anyway, chums, it is great!) love Mags x

I may be even more dopey than usual this week, since First Grandchild is due next Tuesday!!!!! love MagsB x

It's too long since I've joined in at Penny Black Saturday Challenge . This week's theme is Christmas + Red and Embossing . I love this little Penny Black mouse, all snug in his stocking! I coloured him with Speccies and stickled the fur trim of the stocking. The spots are gold liquid pearls. The fab papers were free with this month's 'Cardmaking and Papercraft' and they are gorgeous! I embossed the mistletoe strip with a snowflakes folder and my cuttlebug, then lightly sanded to make the snowflakes stand out better. The two strips of ribbon are from stash. The gold corner is from Wild Orchid Crafts, the chipboard snowflake is by Woodware and I covered it with gold Glamour Dust, then put it on a large Magnolia doohickey flower die-cut. The swirl is a Marianne die. The sentiment is LotV, stamped in Fired Brick Distress Ink and mounted on gold holographic paper. The sketch is from Friday Sketch Challenge , though I don't think I've done it justice, I think

Lili of the Valley is having a Twelve Days of Christmas event! From now until the 12th December there will be a daily draw, and all you have to do is put this banner in your sidebar, link it to the site, and add your name to the Inlinkz list each day. Simples! Stay warm, my dearios! love MagsB x