Madcap Manor

Good morning! It's well and truly autumnal today, damp and windy, and fallen leaves are everywhere! Time to have a look at this week's CRAFT Challenge methinks! Our theme this week is Shaped cards - but no squares or rectangles! Instead, go for a circular card, or a hexagon or even a dodecahedron!!! I took the easy route and went with a circle. You'll notice it's another Christmas card! I used Grand Circles and a Grand Scalloped circle and my Grand Calibur to cut the base, gold card, green card and paper (which is from stash and very old!) The 'Noel' sentiment is printed from a fab digi Christmas Alphabet Blocks by Melonheadz Doodles . I hadn't come across them before, but they have some fabulous images, and their alphabets are fun! Melonheadz Doodles is one of our sponsors, the other is: The Stamping Boutique Go and be inspired by my teamies' creation, then take up the Challenge of a Shaped card! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Sadly, I've had to make some sympathy cards recently. I experimented by dropping tiny amounts of Brusho Pigment Powder on wet watercolour card using blues, purples and a smidgen of orange and green. When it had dried I die-cut it with a Memory Box Lovely Peony background die, then added the matching open die-cut in blue cardstock on top. The sentiment is by Penny Black from the Gratitude stamp set. Not too sombre, I hope! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! I hope you all had a good weekend! We have a colour challenge at Dream Valley this fortnight: Blue. That is, everything except an image's skin and hair, should be in shades of blue. Looking at my card, you can see that I used shades of blue that are a bit too close in colour, I needed more contrast. You never stop learning in this cardmaking lark! I used Lil Lovely Hearts by our sponsor, Sherri Baldy, and coloured her with Promarkers. The falling hearts have been Glossy Accented, the rose has been glittered, and a blue gem heart is added on top of the heart on her blouse. The papers are by Pink Petticoat . The ribbon and broderie anglaise are from stash, the sentiment is by Clearly Besotted from the Mini Basic Banners stamp set. On the right I added some flourishes cut with the Cheery Lynn Mini Fanciful Flourish die and some flower shapes which have a blob of stickles in the centre. As I said, not enough contrast! Our sponsor is Sherri Baldy Desig

Good morning! It's a grey, overcast Saturday today, and the England Cricketers are not doing very well in their Test Match in Dubai against Pakistan. So I'll be in my craft room if you want me!! We have a new Challenge at My Time to Craft and it's a really good one: Inspired by the Beatles ! I went with 'Yellow Submarine' and a Shaker card. I have this fun stamp set by Reverse Confetti called Here We Go which has the cutest car, aeroplane and submarine! I sponged the inside of the shaker window with Broken China and peacock Feathers. The submarine is stuck onto the front of the acetate - to colour it I used Mama Elephant pigment inks, first covering the whole of the stamp in yellow, then going round the edge with orange. The front of the card has been stamped in an ombre pattern with a stamp from the Best Fishes set by Simon Says Stamp, and I used two of the fish from the same set, coloured and cut out and mounted on foam. Even my hubby likes this one

Good morning! It's a damp, grey and gloomy Thursday - perfect crafting weather! It's also time for a new CRAFT Challenge and our theme is Black and White plus ONE other Colour . Just that! Yes, it is quite Challenging!! I made a Halloween card, using Scarry Mummy from Spyder's Other Corner. The background paper is from an ancient Black and White pad by Papermania. The spiderweb and spiders are Die-namics by My Favorite Things - I don't think it's available now, unfortunately. The spiders are Glossy Accented and have red gems for eyes. My 'plus one' colour is a scary RED!!! The Mummy was lightly coloured with Copics, then cut out and mounted on a home-made wobbler. I took a small piece of quite sturdy card and cut a narrow spiral from the edge to the middle then glued one end to the card and the other to the back of the Mummy. You have to make sure the card is hidden behind the image, and not make the spiral too narrow, but it works! Our spons

Hi, guys! It's time for another CRAFT Challenge and this week it's our regular Christmas theme. Our sponsor is Stitchy Bear and I used this lovely Holly Bough It's a 5" x 7" card. The papers are all from LotV's Classic Christmas paper pad. I layered them on red and gold cardstock for some festive bling. The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted. I added Wink of Stella to the bow, and Glossy Accents to the berries. Go and be inspired by my teamies' Chrimbo Creations! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hiya, peeps! We have a new Challenge at Dream Valley which this week has a spooky Halloween theme! Our sponsor is Imagine That! . I used an adorable image from All Dressed Up, this is Boo! I can see you! isn't it gorgeous?! I wanted to keep the rest of the card simple, because the image is so delicate. I tell you, it took me half an hour to find suitable papers! Most Halloween papers that I have are very busy and overwhelming. Finally I found these papers in a pad by Studio Calico that came with a kit, I like the tiny geometric patterns! Trot across and see the inspiring Halloween creations that my teamies have made! They are lovely! Have a good week! love Mags B x

Good morning, and Happy Saturday! At My Time to Craft we are looking for autumnal colours - I love this time of year when the leaves are changing! I made a small thank you card, it's only 4 inches square! The white base is embossed with a Spellbinders folder. The image is Flowers N Hearts from Robyn's Fetish, I like the simple lines, and it's so useful for all kinds of occasions! The photo has made the hearts look more coral than amber, I'm no David Bailey I'm afraid! The paper is a snippet from a very old magazine freebie pad, and the orange ribbon is from stash. I gold embossed the sentiment. Go and have a look at what my teamies have made to inspire you, and join in the Challenge! Have a great weekend, and thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! We have a seasonal theme at CRAFT Challenge this week: Autumn/Halloween/Thanksgiving/Bonfire Night . I love this time of year, with all the gorgeous colours of the trees! Our sponsors this week are: Imagine That! and Deedee's Digis I used a fabulous wreath from the Autumn Blessings digi stamp set by Deedee's Digis. My patterned paper was a bit pale, so I stamped little leaf sprigs in various pigment inks by Mama Elephant, then embossed them with clear embossing powder to give a bit of shine. The image is die cut with a stitched square die by Lawn Fawn. The banner sentiment is by Paper Smooches, I gold embossed it onto vellum. Finally I added gold stickles to the berries on the image. The photo doesn't really show the gleam of the embossing, unfortunately! My teamies have made some wonderful creations to inspire you, do go and see them! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

We had good news yesterday: my daughter has been over from Ireland to have her regular blood tests to check that she's still in remission from the cancer she had in 2013. Not only is she still clear, she now only needs to be checked every 6 months instead of every 4 months! Yay!!! Now it's Thursday again, and October! I swear there are fewer hours in the day than when I were a kiddiewink, it's the only explanation for why time seems to evaporate! But Thursdays are good, because Thursday means another fab Challenge at C.R.A.F.T Challenge and this time we have a terrific sketch designed for you by Jo . (Check out her blog for a recipe for Dutch Apple Pie! Yum!) Our fab sponsors: Great Impressions and for the Top Three: Sunsational Stamps And now my card - another Christmas card! (I'm so impressed with myself for getting on with them!) I used Willow With Christmas Candle from the sadly-missed Whiff of Joy. I used a Spellbinders die to cut the blue m