Madcap Manor

Good morning! It's the weekend, huzza! I hope you're all having a bit of crafty 'me-time'. It's time for another challenge at My Time To Craft and this week the theme is 'Kraft.' Use it for matting, embellies, your image - anything! I had never coloured on Kraft before and I was a bit anxious how my inks would look on the darker background, but 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained' and with the help of This video by Kimberly Brown I had a go. The Kraft is from a Papermania stack, it has a very pretty mottled appearance and a distressed grid pattern in white. The image is by Francoise Read for Woodware and is from the 'Flower Doodles' clear stamp set, I stamped in Versamark and embossed with opaque white powder and coloured with Spectrum Noirs. The sentiment is LotV, matted onto the Kraft and glittered round the edges. The corner flourish is a Memory Box die that I got at Ally Pally and I glittered it, too. Papers are 'Bonnets a

Good evening, all! I hope you're all keeping well and that you've seen a bit of sunshine today. Is Spring finally here? Certainly the weeds think so, they are becoming quite vigorous! I've been pulling them up by the handful this last week but it seems to make little difference! But I did stop to make a card. This is for a dear friend of my daughter, she hasn't been well so we are sending her a 'care package' to cheer her up. I used this lovely stamp 'A little bit of magic might help' by Norma Fickel from Whiff of Joy's 'Get Well' set. I coloured her with Promarkers (list below) and went over the potion bottles with Glossy Accents. I distressed the image and the WoJ sentiment with Milled Lavender Distress Ink. The papers are snippets from a Papermania Capsule Collection pad. I now have the Spellbinders' Matting Basics dies A and B which I used to cut out some of the papers. It's very quick! I used an old piece of broderie an

ood evening, all!G I must apologise if any or my comments on your blogs have been confused, my laptop now has a mind of its own and it hops about without rhyme or reasonwhen I try to write anything! It's taking me ages to correct it! Here is a card for a baby girl: The image is by Penny Black from the 'Bundle of Joy' set. The papers are LotV/Nitwits 'Bonnets and Bowties' paper pad. I used gold circular stickers from stash as well. The layout is inspired by a design from Teabag Folded Greetings Cards by Kim Reygate Ok, I've had to re-do bits of this post 4 times, I apologise if I've missed any mistakes! I'm definitely going to ask for a new machine as an early birthday present from my family!!! They are wonderful whan they work. When they don't work they are MADDENING! Stay cool, and thanks for lokoing! love Mags B x Apologies, there are no pen numbers, I lost the list!

Please scroll down for my post for The Squirrel and the Fox Good afternoon, my lovelies! It's Dream Valley Challenge time again! Our Challenge is 'Things With Wings' so use something like a fairy or angel, butterfly or bird, bee or dragonfly, or an aeroplane but not an airship!! Our sponsor is Digital Delights by Louby Loo and a lucky winner will receive a $5 voucher for the online shop. I made a card for Father's Day: This is 'Luvvy Owl' - I love his sultry look! I coloured him with Speccies and distressed around the die-cut with Bundled Sage DI, the edge under his feet has more ink added to 'ground' him. The mat is made with a 'Picot Circle' Nestie, and the card is by Papermania and it's pearlised. The papers are from the 'Alla-Prima' stack by Prima. I used a Martha Stewart punch and added dots of green Pearl Pen here and there. The sentiment is by LotV and I edged it with a Speccie. I decorated the inside, as well

Good morning, all! I'm scheduling this post and I hope I've got it right! We have another challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox - where has the last fortnight gone??? This time there is a theme of 'Furry Friends' - we want to see the cutest, most adorable furry animals on your cards! Our Sponsor is Ellephantastic Stamps who are offering a choice of 4 digis to the lucky winner of this challenge! The DT were lucky enough to try out some very cute digis! I chose 'Roger Kite' he is so sweet! I love his expression! I coloured him with Speccies and cut him out with a Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Fourteen. It's quite an elegant shape, I think! I distressed with Broken China DI, and did the 'draw round the outside of the die and cut it out' trick for the narrow orange border. The papers were freebies with 'Quick Cards Made Easy' magazine last year. I used a Spellbinders Edgeability to cut the orange borders, and the LotV sentiment

Hi, guys! I'm sorry I'm a bit late with this post, I'm having problems with my poor old laptop! Here at last is my card for this week's challenge at My Time to Craft and this week the theme is Stitching - Real or Faux I went for 'faux' stitching. The Spellbinders 'Floral Ovals' dies have a border of tiny holes, so I used a blue gel pen to add 'stitches'. There are more around the edge of the background which has been embossed with a butterfly Embossability and very lightly swiped with my Broken China Distress Ink pad. I distressed round the die-cuts, too. The flowers and ribbon (which has some real stitching on it!) are from stash,the blue leaves are made with a Woodware punch. The butterflies were cut with a die that came free with 'Simply Cards and Papercraft' magazine this month and I added blue pearls from Hobbycraft to the bodies. I've recently discovered Christina Griffiths' blog and youtube videos, and this card i

Good evening, all! I hope you've all seen at least a little bit of sunshine today! Hurry up, Spring, I'm well tired of being cold! This card is for a lovely blogging buddy, Mel . I wanted to something a bit different from usual, and decided on a Gatefold card. I used a scoring board which has grooves marked to show where the folds go - mine is quite old and was made by Kanban. It was so easy to make the base! The papers are by Nitwits, from the 'Grandma's Garden' set, I've had them printed out for ages, but only just got around to using them! The image is by Wild Rose Studios and was a freebie with a magazine, isn't it cute? I've lost my note of the Promarkers I've used :( - sorry! The flowers are made with another paper from the same Nitwits set and were cut with dies by Marianne in two sizes, and there are gems in the centre. The sentiment is by LotV on a Spellbinders label. The ribbon is from stash. Here's the card opened, I deco

Good morning, lovely bloggers! I'm scheduling this post, because when you read it I will be at the Alexandra Palace, at the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show! I've been saving up for this ever since Christmas! Here is my second card as Guest Designer for My Time to Craft . (I am still so excited to be their GDT! :)) The theme this week is 'Up In The Air' - your focal point should be something that flits through the air, like a butterfly or aeroplane or airship or - a balloon! I've used another Woodware image from the Patch A Flight set. I love the Woodware patchwork images, they'd be ideal for paper piecing with those little snippets that I can't help saving! This one was coloured with Promarkers, however. The papers were free with 'Quick Cards Made Easy' magazine last year. I used a Martha Stewart punch on the green mat of the horizontal row, and tiny silver pearls from my stash. The sentiment came with the stamp set. The white card has been

Good afternoon, all! If you're looking for my DT post for The Squirrel and the Fox, please scroll down. It's time for another Dream Valley Challenges (where does the time go?!) and this fortnight's challenge is nice and easy: Happy Birthday! Yep, we'd like to see your birthday cards. Our fab sponsor is wonderful Bugaboo Stamps and one lucky winner will have a $21 voucher to spend at their online store! Now, I happen to love Bugaboo, their images were the first I ever downloaded when I decided to dip my toe in the water and investigate digis. Unfortunately I can't find this Spaceship image on the website, but there are so many other gorgeous images! Just be prepared if you visit them and make a big mug of tea first, you'll be engrossed for a long time! This is a shadow box card, as shown in this month's 'Quick Cards Made Easy' magazine by the talented Jules . The instructions are illustrated, and so clear - if my description is confusing,

Good morning! I hope you're all having a relaxing weekend! It's time for another Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox and our theme is Inspired by a Song or a Movie Neat challenge, isn't it?! Our sponsor is The Paper Shelter and the DT were generously given images to play with. I fell for this cutie immediately! There was only one song (and movie!) that sprang to mind - '9 to 5'! I love that film! The girlie's hair made me think at once of Dolly Parton! In fact, she also reminds me of my Vicar's wife, who is also Church Administrator, so I also know who will be the recipient of this card! Well, it's nice to send someone a random card to make them smile! The gorgeous papers are 'Paris Girl' by Carta Bella, isn't that pink fabulous?! I cut the circular mat with a Spellbinders Picot Circle die. I coloured her with Promarkers and Glossy Accented the lid of her laptop and also her cute specs. I used Kraft card from a Papermania pa

A little while ago I was asked by the lovely Shell if I would be Guest Designer at My Time to Craft for April. It took less than a nano-second to say 'yes'! I am incredibly thrilled and honoured to be asked - thank you so much, Shell! Here's my first card. The Challenge is for a CAS card, one layer, no embellishments. Eek! I'm only just getting to grips with CAS, let alone one-layer cards!! But I have this lovely, simple stamp, 'a touch' by Penny Black, which came from Sir Stampalot which I thought would look ok. I stamped it with Stazon and coloured with watercolour pencils (borrowed from my daughter!) and used a waterbrush to blend, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. The sentiment is also Penny Black. The card blank isn't distressed round the edges, that's just a shadow, thanks to my naff photography skillz! The simplest cards, I find, sometimes take longest, because they require a lot of thought and planning, at least that&

In my previous post I promised 2 cards, but the plumber arrived to plumb in the washing machine before I posted the second. And then I had to clean out the blocked overflow pipe, which was totally gunked-up (technical phrase, that) with soap and fibres - ewww! The pong! But now I can share another card I made for the Seize the Birthday challenge, and which was originally going to be for a boy but I think the jungle flowers make it more suitable for a girl who keeps reptiles. I know three! The papers are Pink Petticoat 'Chevron' Collection. The Chameleon and the vegetation are from the 'In the Jungle' set by Woodware. I stamped the flowers and leaves several times, coloured them with Speccies, and cut them out to make a jungle scene. The leaves and flowers are only glued in the middle and the free ends are slightly curled to give some depth. All together now: 'A wim-o-weh, A wim-oh-weh, A wim-o-weh, A wim-oh-weh!' Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! I hope you all had a lovely Easter break! We have sunshine today - what a difference it makes, so many people are smiling today! I have two cards to share today, both to the same sketch. The Challenge at Seize the Birthday alternates between a card for a girl and a card for a boy, isn't that a great idea? Anything that encourages me to think about those difficult male cards is a Good Thing, I think! Here is a CAS card for a boy, following the sketch. I made it yesterday, but the light was too bad to photograph it then, isn't it annoying when that happens? The paper is a Pink Petticoat snippet, distressed with Salty Ocean Distress Ink. I also distressed round the image and stamped the Penny Black sentiment with the same ink. The image is by Woodware, coloured with Speccies and the borders are stickers. Simples! I'm entering the Challenge at Seize the Birthday and this is the sketch: Oops, the plumber is here to plumb in the washing machine! Catch ya