Madcap Manor

Good morning! I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas! I spent a morning with the Flower Arranging team decorating the Church - I love flower arranging, though this year the holly we used was very beautiful but had lethal prickles, 'as sharp as any thorn'! Then we had a fun Christingle on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Day we sang all my favourite Christmas hymns! My daughter's Young Man came over from Dublin to spend the holiday with us, which has been lovely! And now it's time for another Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox . our last Challenge for 2013 is everyone's favourite - Anything Goes. Our sponsor is the cute and quirky Sweet'n'Sassy Stamps who will reward one winner with 3 digis from the store! Not bad, eh?! I used this adorable Fenton Frog digi, which comes with the sentiment 'Oh hoppy day!' (lol!) And it isn't a Christmas card!!!!! I printed out Fenton 3 times, then printed him larger and cut out the 'hoppy&#

If you're looking for my DT card for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Good afternoon, all! It's the last challenge of the year at Dream Valley and our theme is Christmas . You have until January 12th to upload your creation - and it doesn't have to be a card! I did make a card, in fact I've made 24 of this design, using different papers for each one! The papers are all from a Papermania back to Basics Vintage Christmas stock. I used a Spellbinders Bauble die to cut the shape, which is matted onto gold mirri card, and the sentiment was a freebie with a magazine. I embossed it with gold embossing powder. The pearls are from Hobbycraft. Do dash over to Dream Valley to see the fab prizes on offer (I am schduling this, so can't link directly - but there are a lot of amazing prizes from many sponsors!) And have a look at the amazing and varied creations that my talented teamies have made, you will be very impressed! Thanks

Good morning, my lovelies! I hope you're all having a good weekend! I have almost finished my Christmas shopping - yay! But I still have lists and lists of what needs to be done - I bet you do, too! don't worry, we are all totally AWESOME and everything will be sorted on time! In the meantime, why not join in with the latest challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox" ? Our theme is a seasonal one - Christmas or Hanukkah so ideal for encouraging you to make your last seasonal card of the year! Our lovely sponsor is Beary Wishes I used a pre-coloured digi for my card - aren't the colours on the bells gorgeous?! The background papers are papermania Back to Basics Vintage Christmas. The Holly corners are a Whimsy die, thesentiment is by LotV and I gold-embossed it and put it on a nesties scallopped circle die-cut. The wide red ribbon is from stash. The lovely sketch is from Tuesday Morning Sketches This card is going to a friend who does bell-ringing! Do join in wi

Evening, all! As promised, here's another card, which has reached its recipient! I had been watching a lot of videos by Kristina Werner who uses a CAS style, when I made this card, so I went for a CAS look. I love watching videos on Youtube while doing the dreaded ironing! The background is stamped with a Hero Arts/Basic Grey Wood Background cling stamp. I cut it a bit narrower than the card base, which is blue Centura Pearl, and added 3 snippets cut into strip and the ends vandyked. Then I die-cut a circle and added the owl. He's from a Paper Smooches set called Spookalicious The shop I link to, Make the Day Special, has stamps from various American firms that aren't readily available over here. Worth a look, and their service is great - ordered on Monday, here in my hot little hands on Wednesday!!! I used Promarkers to colour in the little fella (and didn't write them down, what a numpty!) then cut him out with a smaller circle die and glued him onto the blue

Hi, guys! How are you all doing? Are you ready for the bloke in the red suit to come down the chimerney? No, nor am I!! As I look around my living room I see one heap of ironing to be done, 3 heaps of presents to be wrapped, 4 heaps of cards to be written - you might say I have heaps of things to do! But on the whole I'd rather be blogging! Actually, I've been making cards, but many can't be blogged yet as they are in the post still. However, the recipient has received this one, so here it is! This is one of the lovely outline flower wood stamps by Penny Black, called 'Whispers.' I stamped in black Stazon on watercolour paper and coloured with watercolour pencils and a waterbrush. The background is dry embossed with an embossing folder - I can't recall which one, sorry! I put narrow strips of blue card down the sides of the flower panel, and mounted it on foam pads. The sentiment is by Penny Black, too.simples! (Though I need to practise my watercolouri

ETA: My heart goes out to everyone affected by the terrible helicopter crash in Glasgow. So sad. Good afternoon, all! We have a very useful challenge at Dream Valley this fortnight - we want to see Anything But a Card . 'And why is this a useful Challenge?' I hear you cry! Well, it's a chance to show off your crafty gift or decor creations! Festive bunting, for instance, or a table decoration, or a candle - anything at all as long as it isn't a card! I have made a folder to hold all my Christmas lists! The instructions are on This youtube video for a File Folder Stationery Set, by a lady named Michelle . This is the front: the papers and Santa topper are from a set by Papermania called 'Noel' which I picked up in a sale last January. The inside shows the pockets at the sides and the bottom. It was very easy to put together, once I'd had a practice run-through without any decorations. I'm going to be making more for some of my friends for

Good morning! There's a new challenge over at The Squirrel and the Fox . Thanks to everyone who took part last time for the 'Violet for Hodgkin's Lymphoma' challenge - seeing the lovely cards submitted really cheered my daughter up! She has her last chemo on Wednesday, then a scan just before Christmas, and in January we hear if she's clear of the cancer. So there's not much longer to wait! Now on to the current challenge which is Summer or Winter Our sponsor is Pink Cat Studio who have some great digis for sale, and also lots of activity sheets for children, so with the Christmas holidays coming up you might want to see if there's anything that will keep the little 'uns amused! Check out the page for 'free stuff' too - the paper I used for my card is free at the moment, it's so pretty! I used Promarkers to colour the image, and also to colour the narrow strips of card on either side and which have been Glossy Accented. The bp was

Lynsey has this wonderful candy for her followers! Go and have a look at her lovely blog! love Mags B x

Good afternoon, my lovelies! If you're looking for my post for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Today at Dream Valley Challenges we have a theme that I found - well, challenging! But that's what it's all about, isn't it?! our theme is Clean and Simple Our lovely sponsor this time is Crafty Ribbons - oh my word, their website is full of the most delectable ribbons and lace that you can imagine! You have to go and see!!! Ok, so. Clean and Simple . It's ironic that this kind of card takes me a long time to work out! I chucked three previous versions of this card because the stamping was blurred or there was a ruddy great fingerprint in the middle - oops! The stamps are from a set by Clearly Besotted called You Are . I stamped the solid flower in Dark Peony Color Box Chalk ink, and the centre in Yellow Ochre. I masked the flowers and stamped the rest in memento Tuxedo Black, which I coloured in lightly with pink and yello

Good morning! I hope you're all having a lovely weekend! It's time for another Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox and this time the theme is rather special to me. As I'm sure you know, my daughter Sacha was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a form of cancer, this year. She has been undergoing quite fierce chemo once a fortnight: so far, the prognosis is good, as her last scan showed that she's in remission and several of the 'lumps and bumps' have disappeared. The wonderful Linda contacted me to arrange a Challenge using Violet as our theme, since that is the colour of the Hodgkin's Lymphoma ribbon. My daughter is so chuffed about such kindness - and so am I! Our main sponsor is the terrific Zoe at Make It Crafty - if you haven't come across her fab digis and chipboards, go over and have a look now! You're in for a treat! Zoe is generously offering a AU$15 voucher to spend at her online store! There's a second prize, from me an

Evening, all! I hope you're all keeping well! I made this card a little while ago for a friend who's having quite a tough time at the moment. She's received it, so now I can blog it! I'm sorry this photo is so naff, the colours are so much brighter irl! The flower is blue and the stem and leaves are green (I masked off sections of the stamp before inking) while the butterfly is yellow and the sentiment is brown. The brown card base is a snippet of Bazzil cardstock. I used a Hero Arts/Sissix stamp and die set called Floral which I got in the summer. It's such a clever idea! I stamped the flower, butterfly and sentiment using Color Box Chalk Ink cats eyes (another purchase that I hadn't used yet!) and then used the matching dies to cut out the images. The blue paper is a snippet, and I used a Fiskars Border punch (I think it's called 'Effervescence') along the top. The ribbon came from Hobbycraft. Finally I drew a double border with a Sakura

Hi, guys! The stranger returns!! I wish I could tell you that I've been away from Blogland because of some exciting holiday or something else dramatic and thrilling - but, no. Unless you count my dropping my stam iron, which broke and spattered water on the tv plug. ALL the lights went out - but luckily I only needed to reset the fuses. Phew! And then the builders came to replace a broken gutter and ended up relacing 3 rotten roof joists. What a palaver!!! But you don't want to hear me whinge! Here's a card I made, using a pre-printed LotV image that came as a freebie with a mag a long time ago. Well, I need to use up my stash before Christmas, when hopefully there'll be new stash wrapped up under the tree! The background paper is from stash, it was another freebie, it's a lovely colour! The vines are cut with a small flourish die by Cheery Lynn, using a snippet of brown cardstock. The flower used a Spellbinders Rose Creations die, with a gemmed brad in the

To see my DT card for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Hi, guys! Well, in the UK November has come in with rain and wind - ideal crafting weather, methinks! And, just in time, here's another Challenge from Dream Valley and for this fortnight's Challenge we would like to see Humour on your cards. Our sponsor is the purveyor of perhaps the most humorous stamps on the Internet, it's Bugaboo Stamps . One winner will have a $21 voucher for Jodie's online shop! If you haven't yet come across Bugaboo, do go over and have a look at the quirky and downright funny images and sentiments! My card features Gus and Stella, the image is called Deck of Cards and the sentiment reads: "Marriage is like a deck of cards: In the beginning all you need is two hearts and a diamond; By the end you wish you had a club and a spade." This is the card I made for my hubby for our wedding anniversary back in September. I'm very sorr

Good morning! And Happy November - can you believe it's November already?! I'm sure that time is speeding up as we go through the 21st Century!!! It's also time for another Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox . Our theme this time is Animal Antics and our great sponsor is Sweet'n'Sassy Stamps who are offering 3 of their adorable digis to a lucky winner! The DT could work with some of their stamps, I chose Santa Owl I just love his startled expression! I coloured him with Promarkers and added Glamour Dust to the trim on his hat. I fussy cut him (mainly because I managed to go over the edge by his ear and trying to repair the damage only made it worse! Oh dear!) and added him with foam pads to a square of paper cut out with a Spellbinders Square Die. The mat is another Spellbinders die, this one is Lacey Squares. The papers were a magazine freebie, they are Christmas Carnival by Kaisercraft, and the colours are so pretty! The sentiment is from the same

For my DT card for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Thanks! This fortnight's challenge at Dream Valley is a seasonal one - Halloween! Our sponsor is Di's Digi Stamps (which was Di's Digi downloads but she has a new site.) I used one of her adorable images for my card, this is called 'All Aboard' and she's available from the 'Halloween' section of the website here I love the traditional orange and black colours used for Halloween and Autumn cards! I couldn't actually decide what paper to use for my background, so I dug out various papers from my snippets Box and glued them at an angle to a snippet of white card. The vertical piece looks white in the photo (my camera skillz are not the best!) but in real life it's a pale blue. I used nesties to die-cut the image,which is coloured with Promarkers, and the mat is done with a Lacey Circle Nestie, using pearlised black card from Paqpermania. The spiders are cu

Good morning, all! I hope you're all enjoying a good weekend! It's time for another Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox - and since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, our theme is Pink for Breast Cancer Although this disease is not quite the scourge that it was some years ago, it is still very horrible and dangerous. So CHECK YOUR BOOBIES, LADIES AND GENTS! Yes, men can fall foul of breast cancer, too. Our sponsor this time is Delicious Doodles and one lucky winner will be able to choose 4 Delicious digis! Here is Fairy Fae isn't she magical? I was inspired by the work of Christina Griffiths who makes gorgeous cards with Spellbinders die-cuts. The pink card is pearlised, and came from Craft Creations it has a lovely sheen. The white card is Rymans 200gsm coated card, which I use for all my stamping. I embossed the background with an M-Bossabilities folder (I don't have the name but it's number EG-003). The next pink layer is cut and emboss

Good evening, all! I hope you're having a good week. Does anyone else remember the advert for 'Fry's Turkish Delight - full of Eastern promise'? It's a slab of not-very-authentic Turkish Delight covered in milk chocolate. I used to love the stuff when I was young, but when I grew older it seemed soooo sickly-sweet! We have had work done on our roof, and hopefully that will be finished tomorrow - IF the rain stays away! What with one thing and another (making tea for the builders and DT work) I've only managed to complete one card to share this last week, but I'm rather pleased with it! The delicious image is Arabian Spell from The Paper Shelter. Isn't she elegant??? i wish I had that figure lol! The papers are by K & Co 'Sparkly Sweet' pad, the pastel colours are lovely! I used a fair amount of Spellbinders: Labels Five for the image mat, and Floral Doily Motifs for the long die-cut strip. The die-cut along the top of the horizontal

Oh my, I won at Challenges 4 everybody with my new home card here !!!!! This has brightened up a rather grey and depressing week! :) love Mags B x

Hi, guys! I have New Home card to share, which I made for a dear friend who is moving away Up North. I used a cute sketch from I {heart} sketches And here's my card: The paper is a freebie by Jennifer Ellory, I love the little birds! The image is by Funstamps, coloured with Spectrum Noirs (sorry, I lost the list!)I used a Spellbinders Wonky Rectangles die, and also a Die-namics Fishtail Banner die for the sentiment. The flower is punched with a small and medium Retro punch (by Tonic Studios and EK Success) and the leaf spray is from a Woodware punch: I stamped it with a Stampendous flourish in green Color Box pigment ink. Finally, the sentiment is by LotV. Challenges I'm entering: I {heart} Sketches Crafty Sentiments have a theme of 'Anything Goes!' Challenges 4 Everybody is, as always, 'Anything Goes! I can't go without posting a photo from Sunday. Hubby, daughter, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter all travelled to Derby to visit my Dad.

For my DT card for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Good afternoon! And welcome to my new followers! Take a pew, have a cuppa and a slice of virtual chocolate cake! Our Challenge at Dream Valley is Buttons and our lovely sponsor is Freckled Fawn Go and take a look at the fantastic embellishments they sell! Yummy! I have seen a number of Christmas cards that have wreaths on them, and thought I'd have a go: I drew around a circle Nestie to make the outline of my wreath. I used a Spellbinders Foliage die and two snippets of green card for the leaves, which are only glued down the middle to give a bit of dimension. The buttons are from stash, in several shades of red. The bow is made with ribbon I bought from the Pinflair shop in Hertford, which is full of gorgeous stuff! The sentiment is stamped in gold Color Box pigment ink, using a very old stamp. Ok, now it's over to you! Go across to Dream Valley and see the gorgeousnesses tha

Good morning! I hope you're all having a splendid weekend! We have had a wonderful time with our lovely little Granddaughter (and her Mum and Dad, too!) I love being a Grannie! Today it's time for another Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox . this time we have a lovely theme - 'Things With Wings' . Our fab sponsor is Hobbybook and a lucky winner will be able to choose 5 digi images! I used this little cutie, she is 'Pearlsticks Fairy.' The papers were free with a magazine a long time ago! I used a Spellbinders Gold Labels Four die for the mat. I distressed round the image with Tattered Rose DI. The flourish, the flowers and the corner piece are all Marianne dies, and the butterflies are a memory Box die. The fairy's wings are glittered with Diamond Stickles. The sentiment is by LotV. The crochet lace is from stash. I also added clear gems to the flowers and to the fairy's hair sticks. Do flutter over to the blog to see my Teamies' fab

What a week! It began with a builder coming to look at a cracked gutter. It ended with urgent work to repair rotten timbers in the roof. ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!! However, my son and his family are on their way to us to stay for the weekend, and there is a delicious chick pea curry simmering on the stove, so all is not lost. And I made a card! While sorting through my old wood stamps I came across this shadow stamp, by Anita's. I stamped it in Olive Versacolor ink and added three brads that came from Lakeland in the days when they still did crafts. The borders are a stripy paper from the snippets box, and the sentiment is by Docrafts. The trickiest bit was cutting the white stamped card to the right size so that it would be balanced! CAS cards often take me just as long as more complicated cards, and I always have to chuck out my first efforts before I get it right! I'm entering The Glitter n Sparkle Challenge who want metal on your submission - the brads are all metal. Tha

Evening, all! This is just a fly-by post to share a very quick card that recycles a card I received a couple of years ago. I needed an ultra-quick birthday card, so I used a punch by Leone Em to cut a basket out of a snippet of textured and pearlised card. Then I fussy-cut the shiny roses, which already had the gems on: the red one at the front is raised on foam pads. I also used foam pads for the sentiment. Et voila! Now I'm off to The Playground to enter Pixie's Crafty Snippets Challenge I hope you are all keeping well! Have a good week, and thanks for looking! love Mags B x

My brother was 55 today! here's the card I made for him. He is red-green colour blind, so I used yellow and blue to make a strong contrast on the image. The stamp was given to my daughter when she worked at Waterstone's Bookshop by a lovely lady who used to come in and chat about crafting. This old Kadoodles stamp was one that she no longer wanted, and it's perfect for my brother, so I borrowed it! The papers are from stash, I've had them for ages!! I used promarkers to colour the lad and his dog, and used a Spellbinders Deckle Rectangle (one of the first I ever bought! If only I'd known then how my die-addiction would grow!!) to cut him out. The very shiny stickers are from Paperchase. Alas, they seem to have been discontinued, they are brilliant for male cards! The indigo twine was also borrowed from my daughter! The sentiment is by LotV. You might say that this card is a joint effort between my daughter and me!! Thanks for looking! I'm entering the

Hi, guys! If you're looking for my post for The Squirrel and the Fox < please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Our new challenge at Dream Valley is Autumn. Remember, you don't have to make a card, you could make jewellery in autumn shades, or a scrapbook page - anything goes, as long as it fits the theme. Though if you've made something a bit eclectic (a cake???) please do tell us how it relates to our theme! Our sponsor is The Paper Shelter - do go and have a look at their gorgeous digis! I used Autumn is coming on my card, so cute! I used very old papers from my stash, they are by My Mind's Eye but I think they are discontinued. The orange ribbon is also from stash. The flowers and twigs are diecut with Spellbinders foliage dies and snippets of card, then I snipped them into individual leaves. the sentiment is a LotV Grunge sentiment. Do go over and see the amazing creations of my teamies on Dream Valley and then have a go yourselves! You know it

Good morning! It's time for another challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox! Last time we asked for cards 'Just For Men' which are always a bit difficult, but this time we have a really easy theme: Happy Birthday! Our sponsor is Sweet'n'Sassy Stamps and a lucky winner can choose three digis from the shop! For my card I used one of the adorable Cocoa Mouse digis, this is Cocoa's Chocolates The papers came free with a magazine, they are by Lilly Bimble and they are so pretty! I used my Cheery Lynn french Pastry doily die to cut the doily and distressed the edges with worn Lipstick DI. The ribbon is from Hobbycraft, the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, and the twigs are made with a Nellie Snellen punch. The sentiment is by Lili of the Valley, stamped in Worn Lipstick distress Ink. Finally, I added Glossy Accents to the tops of the cakes, and glitter to the sugar roses. do scamper over to The Squirrel and the Fox and join in! Thanks for looking!

Good morning! I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! I am about to watch some cricket on the telly while doing the ironing. Before then, I have an engagement card to share. I have known the young lady since she was born, she is a lovely lass, but it is very hard to realise she's old enough to be married! It seems scarcely 5 minutes ago that she was a toddler!! I'm sure that time speeds up every year: did Einstein have an equation for that? Or is it Quantum? I used an old digi from Squiggle Stamps - some of their images are now available from The Stamping Shack Well worth a look. I used Speccies to colour the image: I outlined each bird in the very palest (PP1 and BT1) colours to give a 'glow'. The hearts and flowers have dots of red Stickles added. The mat is cut with a Spellbinders Heart Circles die. The sentiment was a freebie some time last year, I added Eucalyptus Stickles to the stars. I cut it with a Spellbinders die and also cut the same shape

Yes, it's me again! I'm just popping in with a Christmas card I put together over the last few days. It's a bit OTT, I think I should have made the mittens from plain paper, but I'll know next time. The sweet image is Annabelle Skating by Wild Rose Studios and it was free with the current edition of 'Quick Cards Made Easy' magazine. The papers are also from the same freebie set, they are yummy! I used Promarkers (tell me if you want to know the colours, I left the list upstairs!) and Diamond Stickles on Annabelle's fur trim and muff. The image is cut with a Romantic Rectangles die. The snowflakes are made from glitter paper with a Whimsy Snowflake Border Die but I snipped the snowflakes to use them individually. The sentiment uses a Marianne die and silver mirri card, and the mittens are Memory Box. The 'Bow' is actually cut out of paper and decoupaged, using a very old Lili of the Valley ribbon stamp. I'm entering the following chal

Good evening, all! Is it really 10 days since my last post?! *brushes away cobwebs* Apologies, my loves, the days seem to be evaporating, I can't believe we're halfway through September!!! I made a card! This was for a lovely new friend from Church who has just joined us as a volunteer helper at the Toddler Club that we run three times a week. I wanted a fun image and found this lovely Penny Black stamp in my stash. It's called Bun Bun and it's so cute! The layout is from last week's Sketch Saturday, which obviously I've missed! The papers are from a Craftwork Cards stash which came free ages ago with a magazine, and the striped ribbon is from Hobbycraft. I can't remember the pens I used to colour the image. Sorry! I also can't remember which stamp set I used for the sentiment and flower - I think it was by Stampendous. If anyone wants to know the details (I am downstairs watching 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' and the stamps are upstai

For my DT post for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Good afternoon! (Though I'm actually posting this on Saturday night, with the Last Night of the Proms on the telly - it's magnificent, as usual!) I hope this time I schedule the post correctly! We have a colour challenge this week, and it's Purple and Green Rather like a monochrome challenge, we ask that you use mostly shades of purple and green on your creations. (Remember, it doesn't have to be a card!) Of course, skin and hair colour don't have to be purple and green - unless your image is of an alien! I have made a Christmas card: The adorable image is by Meljen (have I mentioned that I love Meljen?) for Whimsy Stamps and she is called Holly Christmas Fairy I coloured her with Promarkers and used spellbinders dies to cut out the image and mat. The papers are by Pink Petticoat. The striped green ribbon is from Hobbycraft. The sentiment is also by Whimsy stamps, a

Good morning, all! I hope you're enjoying the weekend! It's officially Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, my favourite time of the year. I love the colours on the trees as the leaves turn! Though I'm not so keen on the fog and rain! However, this fortnight's challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox concerns rain that I think I'd enjoy - It's Raining Men! Can I hear a 'Hallelujah!'????? (If you have a moment, hop over to Youtube and see It's Raining 300 Men which has shots from the film '300' and the soundtrack of the song. Guaranteed to make you laugh!) The image on my card makes me smile, too, it's Buggin' Drummer by Kenny K. Yes, our sponsor is Kenny K and a lucky winner will be able to choose FIVE digis as their prize! Isn't he having a great time?! I used Promarkers to colour the image (and lost the list :( - sorry!) The background papers are from the Rock Star stack by DCWV, I love the clashing colours and the foi

Good evening all! I hope your week is going well! Here's another Thank you card that I made for the tea ladies and behind-the-scenes helpers at the Space Academy Church Holiday club last week. It's inspired by the work of Christina Griffiths she not only has a blog but a website called Card Making Magic which is a mine of fascinating information! The die-cuts are in white pearlised card, and are made with Spellbinders Enchanted Labels 28 and the trellis is by Spellbinders for 'Our Daily Bread.' I saw the trellis on Christina's blog and fell in love! The dark blue backing card is a snippet, and the middle patterned section is from stash, probably from a magazine. The decoupaged flowers are from a die-cut sheet that I found while tidying, but I don't know its origin. The tiny butterflies are made with a Woodware punch, using a snippet of purple pearlised paper. Here's a side view to show the layering: The tea-ladies, especially, are of an age to

Does anyone else remember The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band? No? They were very good! This week I have mostly been involved in our Church Holiday Club. The Church became 'Space Academy' with posters of the planets everywhere, space-themed bunting, and even a more-than-life-sized cardboard cutout astronaut! We were looking at the stories of Daniel and his friends (Shadrach! Meshach! Abednego! - the children shouted out the names every time they were mentioned.) It was great fun! I made several Thank you cards for the organisers, using a cute Bugaboo Rocketman image. (And forgot to write down the Spectrum Noir colours I used - oops! Phasers on stun, Mr Spock!) This design was for the Commanders (the leaders and helpers for our 2 groups of children): And this design was for the organisers: The papers for both are from the Bo Bunny 'Blast off!' collection. On the second card I added a dot of a silver-grey Sakura gel pen to each star to give a bit of a shine, and used a

(Apologies again, I thought I had scheduled this for Sunday but I did something wrong!) If you're looking for my DT post for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down. Good morning! I hope you're all enjoying a good Bank Holiday weekend! I am schduling this post as my son and his family will be visiting at the weekend! There's a new challenge over at Dream Valley Challenges and this time we have a lovely theme For a Child Our sponsor is the wonderful Meljen Designs and a lucky winner will be able to choose 4 of Melissa's fabulous digis from her shop! I used this cute Peter Bunny I used Promarkers to colour him, and Stickles on his tail! The image mat is cut with a Spellbinders Floral oval die, and I also used a Martha Stewart punch along the horizontal piece. The papers are snippets of digipapers and I don't know where they come from! The ricrac is from my sewing box, the buttons from my Mother in Law's Button tin. The sentiment is by LotV

(Oh dear, I'm so sorry, I thought I had scheduled Sunday's posts, obviously I did something wrong! Apologies!) Good morning, all! When you read this we will be entertaining my son, DiL and gorgeous granddaughter for the Bank Holiday weekend! I hope it stays fine! It's time for another challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox and it's a seasonal theme! It's Spring Down Under and Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, so you can choose Spring or Autumn for your theme! The sponsor is the aptly-named Delicious Doodles and a lucky winner can choose 4 digis from the shop! I used one of their pretty images, this is Pumpkin Corner isn't it gorgeous? I coloured it with Promarkers and *Flexmarkers. The papers are both embossed: the background using a Spellbinders Autumn Leaves Embossability and the orange paper with a Cuttlebug Dots folder. I used a Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Square behind the image, I cut it into quarters and glued them in place. The sentiment is

Evening, all! I hope your week is going well - we are one day closer to the weekend, huzza! Yesterday I was making Christmas cards while watching the cricket, which was riveting! We won! (Sorry, Aussie mates!) One of the good things about following the England cricket team is that they do win - unlike the England football team!!! Anyway, I made half a dozen of these: The lovely Old Gold card is from Anna Marie Designs and it has a gorgeous sheen. I used a Spellbinders A2 Filigree Delight set for the die-cut gold and white shapes, and a Marianne die for the white sentiment. The white oval has dots of gold Liquid Pearls as a border. I was inspired by the beautiful cards made by Christina Griffiths whose blog and Youtube videos have taught me such a lot about how to use Spellbinders! I hope you like it! Ok, I must buzz off now and finish the ironing - that's the only downside of taking an afternoon off, the ironing pile expands when my back is turned! Take care, my love

For my DT card for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Good afternoon, all! I hope you're having a happy and relaxing Sunday afternoon! Our new challenge at Dream Valley is up and running, and it's a great colour challenge: Monochrome - use shades of just one colour (apart from skin and hair if you're colouring a person.) There are some lovely examples from the DT - and the amazing Mel has once again created something awesome from paper, you really must go to the Challenge blog and see it! Our sponsor is the fab Robyn's Fetish and a lucky winner can choose 5 digis from the shop! I already had the beautiful Gilded Christmas Dove and I made a Christmas hanging: Here is a close-up: I coloured with Spectrum Noirs, GB7 to GB1. I added gold Liquid Pearls here and there. The ribbon is from my sewing box, I sandwiched it between the image and a backing of gold card from my stash. I need to find a large yellow bead to hang

Morning, all! It's another challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox . One of the gret things about being on DT is seeing all the amazing entries for a Challenge, I get so much inspiration from all your submissions! (usually along the lines of 'I wish I could do that, too!') This time we are looking for your Whimsical creations! our wonderful sponsor is Make it Crafty , source of wonderful digis and fabulous chipboard makes, and Zoe is offering $15 Aus to spend in her store. But that's not all! if you use a Make It Crafty image for your card and you add MIC to the end of your name on mr Linky you'll be entered into an extra draw to gain a prize! How great is that?! I have been a fan for quite a while, and I already had the ideal image on my laptop. It is Metallic Flowers - I think this is whimsical, don't you? I used Promarkers to colour the image. The background paper is a snippet from my stash, it's probably by Nitwits. The flowers are die-cut from

Good evening, my lovelies, I hope you're all having a good week! I have been sorting out our filing cabinet, which was full of out-of-date computer info and old receipts! Not any more! The drawers will actually shut easily now, since they are no longer jammed full of rubbish! I found some time the other day to make this card: The image is by Hanglar and Stanglar I bought it when I first started this carding lark but was never satisfied with how I coloured her gorgeous hair. Three years on, with fine nibs for my Promarkers, I think I'm beginning to crack it! The papers are from my Snippets box. I used a fleur de lys rectangle by Spellbinders for the image mat. I fussy cut my image, curved her slightly, and added her with foam pads just down the middle, to give dimension. there is purple glitter on the flower and Glossy Accents on her shoes. The white satin ribbon and the textured pink one are from stash. The leaves were cut with a Spellbinders foliage die. The purple f

Sadly, I have had to make another Sympathy card for a dear friend. I used the lovely Penny Black stamp 'Fireworks' with a Kaleidocolor 'Fresh Greens' multicoloured pad. The paper is by Pink Petticoat from the 'Waterfall Hearts' collection and the ribbon is from stash. I had the sentiment already stamped in my file - it might be Hero Arts from either 'Messages' or 'Framed Messages' clear stamp sets. Or it might be Penny Black! I really should organise my sentiments one day! (An update: Thanks for all the kind thoughts and comments about my daughter's cancer, I appreciate them very much. You guys are a tower of strength. Good news - the chemo is definitely working and she will be CURED by Christmas, hooray!) Wishing you all a happy weekend, and thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Wow, I made the Top Three at Lili's Little Fairies with my monochrome baby cards! I am so chuffed! :) love Mags B x

Hi, guys! And a warm welcome to my new followers! Thanks for coming by! I hope your week is going well. We had an exciting day yesterday, as the new tv digi-box, phone and Internet were installed! Everything seems to be working a wee bit faster and, even more importantly, we haven't lost the Internet in the last 24 hours! I took the afternoon off, since the ironing is always with ye, and set up a mini-assembly line to make 4 baby cards: It wasn't much quicker than doing them individually, since as usual I kept putting things down and being unable to find them a minute later! I also managed to sit on a pencil and stab myself in the bum! Now, that takes real talent! Here's my favourite of the cards, I love the soft green Promarker colours: I used a different colour combo for the face and hands, since I saw this video on skin tones by Kimberly Brown yesterday. The image and the sentiment are both by Lili of the Valley The papers are all snippets, even the green

Good afternoon, my lovelies! (Please scroll down for my DT post for The Squirrel and the Fox ) It's Dream Valley Challenges time again! Our new Challenge is Summer Days - now, how many of you are humming the song from 'Grease'? Our sponsor is the wonderful and witty Bugaboo Stamps - I love Bugaboo! I have had Sunbonnet Sue Strawberry Basket and Sunbonnet Sue Strawberry Jam in my files for a while now, and this challenge was ideal to print them out! In fact, there's a whole section on the Bugaboo site devoted to 'Sunbonnets' and they aren't all cute little girls! I used Spectrum Noir pens this time (the list is below) and I Glossy Accented the strawberries. I used a Spellbinders Wonky Rectangle die to cut out the image, and drew around the edge of the die on my green card and cut it out to make the narrow mat. The papers are by Raspberry Road and came free with a magazine. (Honestly, I have so many of these freebie pads, I really must get a mo