Madcap Manor

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! The final shopping has been done, the carpets hoovered, the living room tidied, there is wine in the fridge for this evening after the Christingle. If anything hasn't been done it ain't going to be done! And next week, of course, it's New Year! Our theme this week at CRAFT Challenge is New . New Year, New Home, New Job, New Baby.... Our terrific sponsors are: Sami Stamps Scribbles Designs I used a beautiful image from Sami Stamps, this is Looking at my Sweet Such a simple, elegant image needed a simple layout, so I went with the Current Sketch at Sketch Saturday. The papers are from stash, the sentiment is from an old American Crafts stamp set called 'Baby.' I added Wink of Stella to the baby blanket. Challenges entered: Sketch Saturday Thanks for looking, and I hope you all have a very happy Christmas! love Mags B x

This is the last challenge of the year at Dream Valley and it will be open until 16th January! The theme is Christmas We have several amazing sponsors: Doctor Digi's House of Stamps Robyn's Fetish The Hobby House Pop over to the Dream Valley blog to see the great prizes on offer! Sadly, I wasn't able to use a sponsor image this time, as my dear old printer decided to chew up whatever card was fed into it. That kind of thing always happens t the most inconvenient time, doesn't it? So I went with a very old Stampendous stamp and some gold embossing. I layered the image onto some gold card from my stash, leaving a border on each side. The photo doesn't do the gold justice! Thanks for looking, and I hope your Christmas preparations are going well! love Mags B x

Happy weekend, everyone! I hope you're not feeling too stressed as the Big Day approaches! For me, Christmas begins with our Carols by Candlelight service on the Sunday evening before the 25th. There is always a wonderful scent of pine from the flower arrangements, as well as the flickering light og the candles - magical! Talking of Christmas, our new Challenge at My Time to Craft is A Last-Minute Christmas Make and I certainly needed one, since I realised that one friend would be away for Christmas, so I had to get a move on! I made a little 'booklet' containing bags of spices for mulled wine, following this video from My Favorite Things. The outside: The cardstock is from an old First Edition 12 x 12 Village Christmas pad - in fact, it was a wee bit too thick, and I had to fold all the creases to and fro before they would lie flat. The sentiment is by Lil'Inkers from their Big Christmas stamp set, I embossed it in gold and glued just the left side of th...

One week to go and the panic is setting in....... Our theme at CRAFT Challenge this week is one that will become very relevant after the 25th! It's Thank you ! I used a fabulous image from Spyder's Other Corner called Rely-on me Lion I loved colouring him and the cute little mouse! I used a sentiment and conversation bubble, with matching die, from Clerly Besotted - sadly they now seem to be unavailable. I used a Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle to cut out the image. The papers are by Bo Bunny, I can't tell you the name because I'd already used the half of the paper with the details! I went over the stars with a clear Wink of Stells brush, and wrapped orange baker's twine from The Ribbon Girl round the background paper. Our sponsors are Spyder's Other Corner Lacy Sunshine Stamps The Cutting Cafe Go across to the Challenge blog to be inspired by my teamies' gorgeous creations! Thanks for looking! love, Mags B x

It's Thursday! That means a new CRAFT Challenge and it's our regular theme of Christmas . I apologise for the delay in posting, I managed to fall asleep this afternoon and I've spent the rest of the day catching up! Here is my card, using one of Bugaboo Stamps' fun images, this is Stella Christmas Sled . Isn't she great? I used Christmas papers from stash, and added Wink of Stella in clear to the hat and scarf, and silver Wink of Stella to the trim on the sledge, and icicle stickles to the fur on her hat. I die-cut some silver card with Lawn Fawn Stitched circles for one mat, then drew round the inside of the dies onto red card and cut it out to make a narrower mat. The vertical strip of paper has an edge punched with a Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment punch, and the green glitter paper is from a leftover snippet. Our great sponsors this week are: Bugaboo Digi Stamps - check out their site, they have freebies so you can try them out. I love their humorous...

For my My Time to Craft post, please scroll down. Well, it's been a Comedy of Errors on the cardmaking front here at the Manor! First I didn't properly schedule my previous DT post; and for this Challenge I read it as Die-cuts or punches, instead of Die-cuts AND Punches! So don't do what I did!!! Our sponsor is the fabulous Di's Digi Stamps . I made some Christmas tags: I used Spellbinders dies for the scalloped circle and the plain circle on each tag. The snowflakes are from a Spellbinders Create a Flake die, and the Ornament is by Marianne. I used silver card and glitter paper for the shapes. I apologise for getting the Challenge a bit wrong! But see what my teamies have done, they will inspire you! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

I'm so sorry I'm late with my My Time to Craft card, I should have checked my scheduling!! Our theme is Christmas Animals think of reindeer, penguins, polar bears..... I went with a deer. I used blue Centura Pearl for the card base, and embossed it, then added a stag's head from a set by Altenew and a sentiment, both gold-embossed, My hubby actually said he likes it very much - a very rare event!!! Go over and see the marvellous inspiration that my teamies have made for your delectation and delight! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! I hope you're all well and looking forward to the weekend! Here at the Manor we are having the entire family visiting this weekend for my baby boy's 26th birthday: that's 4 extra adults plus one gorgeous granddaughter! I am busy cleaning and tidying and making sure that delicate possessions are out of the reach of a 4-year-old girl with a very developed sense of curiosity!! Our CRAFT Challenge this week is a Colour Combo (Jo has such a great eye for colours!) Isn't that gorgeous?! I used a lovely ready-coloured image from The Paper Shelter, this is Spring Elves I think they are adorable! I used a ready-coloured image, since what with the Church Crib and Candle Festival last weekend, and also a visit from my sister, time was at a premium. For the background I used Jo's striped papers, and die-cut it with a Spellbinders 5 x 7 Elegant Labels Four die. On the image I drew lightly round the inside of the die in pencil and cut it out, then distresse...