Madcap Manor

Good morning! As you're reading this I am on the train, heading for Shrewsbury and a day visiting my gorgeous grandchild and her lovely parents! I love travelling by train! In the mean time, it's another great Challenge at My Time to Craft . this week our theme is Fantasy . So dig out your fairies, elve, unicorns, dragons, hobbits... Anything Fantasy! I've used a stamp by Nellie Snellen, this is Sweet Eline Frog on Flower I coloured her with Copics, and added glitter to her wings. All the papers are by First Edition from their New Bloom paper stack. The sentiment is by Lili of the Valley.I used Spellbinders dies to cut the image and Sentiment mats. The ribbon is from stash, as are the flower sequins in the corners. My teamies have made some gorgeous fantastical creations, do go and have a look and then join in the fun! thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Evening, all! I'm just popping by to show one of a whole series of thank you cards I made this month. They have all reached their destinations, so it's time I blogged the design. I stamped a butterfly by Indigo Blu and a sentiment from the Penny Black 'Gratitude' stamp set on a square of card with Tsukineko Delicata Gold ink, and rounded the corners. Then I brushed round the edges with the same ink pad and mounted the piece onto a 4.5 inch white card base, using foam tape. The ink is gorgeous, it has a lovely gleam! It's a very CAS design, but consequently the stamping has to be quite accurate! I did have to chuck a few that weren't up to scratch lol! Have a great weekend, and I'll see you tomorrow for the next My Time to Craft Challenge! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Well, guys, I don't know about you, but sometimes Get Well, Sympathy and Sorry cards are the hardest to make, I think, especially if it's a good friend who is going through a bad patch. However, that is the time when the old cliche 'It's the thought that counts' really is true, so don't be afraid of these difficult cards, the recipients will really appreciate them! This is for a particular friend, I know that she and her hubby and son will be amused by these Smiling Flowers . I coloured them with Promarkers, adding some gold stickles to the first flowerpot, and cut out the image with a die by Mama Elephant and inked the edges with Mowed lawn Distress Inks. The sentiment and speech bubble are by Clearly Besotted . The yellow background paper is from yet another magazine freebie (I'm doing quite well with my vow to use up my freebies!) The ribbon is from stash, and the sequins and gem flowers were a pressie from my daughter. Our sponsors this week a...

Good mor - er- afternoon! Goodness, Saturday is speeding past, we have been madly tidying up as we're having visitors for tea. Not that the place is immaculately tidy, of course, but it's what my mother rather dryly called 'lived-in' instead of a total tip. However, all the craft things that osmosed their way downstairs since Christmas are now dumped in the Craft Hovel, and that needs tidying!!! Tomorrow. For now here is my card for this week's My Time to Craft Challenge, which is Lace . Nice and easy! it's ages since I coloured sweet Tilda, and I wanted to use the Magnolia Doohickey lace die that edges the horizontal band(I can't find it online to link to, but there are loads of gorgeous Magnolia lace dies out there!) so here she is! The sketch is from Dawny P's blog The papers are from Basic Grey's 'Porcelain' collection. The image and mat had their corners cut with a Woodware Reverse corner rounder punch. The card looks like...

Good morning! It's Thursday - I can't believe how fast this week is going! It's also time for another C.R.A.F.T Challenge! This week we'd like you to go Clean and Simple If you're unsure what CAS is, have a look at Less is More which has great explanations and examples. Put simply, it involves lots of 'white space' and no embellishments to cover up mistakes! I think this week's card is the Cleanest and Simplest I've ever made! The lovely image is Daisy Rope from The Stamping Boutique. I coloured it very simply, and gold-embossed a stamp from Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler Then I used a stitched frame die by Mama Elephant to cut it out, and mounted with foam tape onto my card base. The card base has been embossed using a Spellbinders die. The photo is at an angle to show the dimension. We have two ace sponsors this week: Rick St Dennis The Stamping Boutique Go and see what my teamies have made, then try your hand at Clean and...

Good afternoon, all, and welcome to Dream Valley's 100th Challenge! Our theme this fortnight is Your Favourite colour Combo . I must admit, I find this one hard, because I have so many! However, my 'go-to' combo is green and pink, they always look so pretty together, and remind me of spring. Not a bad thing to be reminded of on a chill, grey, wet day! This time I'm using shades of mint green and coral. This sweet Flapper girl is 1920s Candy (scroll down the page to find her.) She looks so trendy with her headband and pearls, and isn't the feather fun? The paper is by Webster's Pages, from a 6x6 pad called All About Me - another magazine freebie. The feathers, too, are cut with a free die, this one is by Hot Off the Press. The circular mat is cut with a Spellbinders Lacey Circles die. The gem swirl is from The Hobby House and I cut it down to fit the corner. The sentiment is silver-embossed, it is from the Penny Black Gratitude stamp set. Our lovely...

Hi, guys! I hope your weekend is going well. I have the excitement of changing the sheets to look forward to: it's not easy stuffing a duvet into its cover when both are longer than you are tall!!!!! In the meantime, here is my card for the new Challenge at My Time to Craft which has the theme Oriental . Go and see the amazing work done by my teamies if you need some inspiration, they have excelled themselves! :) The lady flirting with her fan is from an old Woodware set by Francoise Read, Oriental Ladies , and the butterfly embellishment and the sentiment are from the same set. The papers are from an old Dovecraft paper pack, 'Eastern Promise.' I used a Martha Stewart doily Lace punch, and a Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment punch to make the scallops. The butterfly has been stamed 3 times and all layered together to look like chipboard, and then covered with Glossy Accents. The ribbon is cut from a pair of pink pyjamas lol!!! I am entering a Challenge! Mojo Monday ...

Hi, Guys! It's Thursday already, and that means another CRAFT Challenge and this week we'd like to see your Christmas cards in traditional colours. So put away the lilacs, pinks and turquoises and get out the red, gold and green!!! I used a lovely image, Triple Tree with Snow by one of our sponsors, DRS Designs . I coloured it very simply, using Inktense Pencels and blending the colour with a waterbrush. Then I added stickles to the snowbanks. I used a Spellbinders die to cut it out. I used papers from the 'Vintage Village' stack by First Edition for the image mat and the background, and the ribbon is from stash. We have two lovely sponsors this week: DRS Designs Sweet'N'Sassy Stamps Go and see what my creative teamies have done with images generously supplied by these two sponsors! They will inspire you to begin your Christmas cards early - think how glad you will be in December not to have the usual orgy of Christmas card making!!! Have a g...

Hi, guys! I hope you're all keeping well! It's a cold, grey day in South East Herts, I'm wrapped up in a lovely woolly blanket! Brrr! Roll on Spring! However, our new Challenge at My Time to Craft is one that makes me think of Summer and Sunshine, it's to have Banners or Bunting in your design! I went with both!! The bunting paper came free with a mag a couple of years ago, I picked out the teal and pink to colour Anya. She is one of three cuties from the Miss Anya Garland stamp set by The Greeting Farm. I went over her dress and socks with a clear Wink of Stella pen, and covered the banners with Glossy Accents. I used a Spellbinders oval die to cut her out, and drew round the same die onto teal card and cut it out, giving a narrow border. Then I added it to my card with foam tape. The long pink banner behind her also uses paper from the same free pack. I left the points loose and curled them slightly to give dimension. The ribbon is by American Crafts and the...

Hi, guys! I hope you're all keeping well! My Olde Manne and I have just spent 3 days in Stratford upon Avon, where we saw a performance of 'Love's Labour's Lost' which was so good and so funny! It's amazing that Shakespeare's jokes are still funny 400 years after he wrote them! On February 11th there is going to be a live showing of the play in cinemas - not just in the UK but in other countries, too! Check it out! Now back to this week's C.R.A.F.T Challenge and it's a technique: Decoupage That's the technique of cutting out and layering your image to give a 3D effect, not the version that layers cut-outs in a collage-effect on an item like a tray or box. Here's a description by Christina Griffiths Decoupage I have used a cute Flower Pot image from Sunflowerfield Designs which was ideal for decoupaging! Here's a sideways view to give a better idea of the layering I coloured each layer with Promarkers and filled the centre wi...

Morning! When you read this I will be on a trip to Stratford-on-Avon for a short break for my hubby's birthday, and a trip to the theatre to see 'Love's Labour's Lost'! In the meantime, the new challenge at Dream Valley is Valentines Our sponsor is the lovely The Paper Shelter I have this absolutely wonderful Fancy Psychedelic Heart which reminds me of the exotic doodles my friends and I used to draw (often during Science lessons!) back in the 60s. I so enjoyed colouring it in with my favourite shades of Promarkers! The photo is a little pale, in real life the colours are brighter. The heart in the centre is covered with a Clear Wink of Stella pen - it has a lovely shimmer! Go and see my teamies' gorgeous makes - you don't have to do a card, anything that follows the Valentine theme is good! Please note that we now ask you to join in no more than 9 additional Challenges! Have a good day, and thanks for looking! love Mags B x