Madcap Manor

For the new challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Thanks! Hello again, my dearios! We have another challenge at Dream Valley and this time it's No Designer Paper. Our lovely sponsor is Freckled Fawn who are offering a $20 voucher to spend at their store! You really have to go there and drool over their fabulous washi tape!! Well, I don't know about you, but I found this challenge quite hard - every idea I had needed to be revised! It's not just that I couldn't use dp to mat and layer, I couldn't use it for embellishments or paper piecing, either! Thank goodness for embossing folders! I used a Cuttlebug Tiny Hearts folder to emboss the background, then went over it lightly with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. I cut the 2 hearts with an X-cut die. Henry Mouse hugging Heart is a stamp from Whiff of Joy and I used Promarkers to colour him. (List below.) The heart has been Glossy Accented. I fussy cut him and added him w

Good morning! Ooops, actually, no, it's the afternoon! I meant to schedule this post, but we were watching 'The Mentalist' yesterday evening and I forgot! D'oh!! But I'm here now to tell you about our new challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox. It's one that will appeal to so many of you - Use Embellishments. Yes, we'd like to see at least TWO embellishments on your creation! Our sponsor is our very own DT teamie Vanessa! Check out her shop she has loads of sweet embellies, as well as a range of other goodies! She is offering a $10 gift card for her shop, and also 3 sets of enamel dots! The images the DT have used have also been designed by Vanessa - this is Caroline, isn't she elegant?! As you can see, I had another go at a Starburst pattern, I thought it would look like the flash from Caroline's camera! The papers are from a magazine last year, they are very bright! To calm down the busy-ness I embossed a strip of cream pearlescent card

I have seen a lot of these Starburst (or Sunburst) cards on Facebook recently and thought I'd have a go! The check background is from a Papermania Capsule Collection stack and the starburst papers are from a 'Forever Friends' pack that was another magazine freebie. I stickled between the lines to give a bit of sparkle! The butterflies are made with a Woodware punch, glued in the centre so the wings lift up, and I stickled them and added a pearl to each body. The baker's twine is from stash and the sentiment was another magazine freebie. This is my second Starburst card - and my first Christmas card of 2014! All the papers are snippets! I used Broken China Distress Ink round the edges. The tiny snowflakes are cut with a Memory Box die, and stickled. The sentiment is by LotV and is embossed in silver. I'm really pleased with how they turned out! Challenges I'm entering: The first card is for Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge as I used mo

Evening, all! By 'eck, it's a damp, cold night in S-E Hertfordshire! I hope you're all snug and warm and dry - especially my friends across the Pond, suffering from the Snowpocalypse! Stay indoors and get crafty, you know it makes sense! I have been playing with some of my Christmas presents: I asked for Inktense Pencils or Tim Holtz Distress markers - and I got both! I used them to make rainbow stripes across two pieces of watercolour paper and then softened and blended with a water brush. Then I cut out strips, used a Marianne 'Thanks' die, and made cards like these: Markers on the left, pencils on the right. I need a lot more practice with them, but I love the vibrant colours! The border was stamped with a Fiskars 'Bubbles' punch, one card is smaller than the other so I glued the border so that only the scallops show. Very quick and simple! Aha, the timer in the kitchen is beeping, I must take the bread out of the oven! Thanks for looking! love,

If you're looking for my post on The Squirrel and the Fox Challenge please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Good afternoon! It's a beautiful sunny day here in Hertfordshire, but there's a definite nip in the air, so I have my thermal socks on as well as my thermal unmentionables!! We are back at Dream Valley Challenges after our winter break, and the first one for 2014 is definitely challenging for me - Boys/Men Our sponsor is the wonderful Robyn's Fetish Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More is proud to sponsor this challenge Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More, a division of I Did It Creations, was created and owned by Robyn Weinrib. Robyn offers a wonderful variety of digital stamps and digital papers designed to meet the needs of all digital paper crafting addicts for every occasion Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More is happy to award the winner 3 digital stamps I already had this adorable Choo Choo Charlie and it's just r

Hi, guys! I hope you're all settling down after the holiday season - I love Christmas, but it can get a bit frantic, can't it?! We have another challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox and it's a chance for you to Show off your new stuff! . Tell us what you got for Christmas and show what you've made! Easy and fun! Our sponsor is Hobbybook - and the prize is 5 digis! Here's the card I made, using one of the sweet images the DT were lucky enough to be given. My 'New Stuff' is the fabulous Inktense Watercolour Pencils that I used to colour the image. The mat is cut with a Spellbinders Big Scalloped Rectangle. The papers are also new, from a pad called 'Floral Pavilion' by First Edition. The swirl is a Marianne Die. The flowers are Wild Orchid and the ribbon and doily are from stash. The sentiment came with a magazine a couple of years ago! Go and see what my talented teamies have created, then grab you new stash and join in! But please tell

Happy New Year! And here's wishing you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2014! We had the best news ever last week - my daughter is in complete remission from her cancer! The last 6 months have been quite trying, but I've found so much creativity in your blogs, you always cheered me up when I felt low. Never underestimate the encouragement that art can give - because we may call what we do 'crafting' in a slightly deprecatory way, but really it's ART! THANK YOU!!!!! I made this card some time ago for my daughter's boyfriend's father's birthday - he is a gardener, as you can probably tell! The stamps are by Polkadoodles , last year I bought one of their Pen and Paper Circle magazines and this clear stamp set came with it. Unfortunately it seems to be out of print, I'm sorry about that. I did some masking with the hydrangea flowers, the flowerpots and the wheelbarrow. I coloured in Promarkers - and wouldn't you know? I've lost t