Madcap Manor

Good afternoon! Apologies for the late post, we have been having work done on our roof and in the excitement of supplying mugs of tea for the builders, I forgot! Our new challenge at CRAFT Challenge is Fantasy. So let your imagination roam - fairies, unicorns, dragons, hobbits.... Whatever floats your Elvish cockle-shell boat! I have used the lovely Magic is All Around Us from Scrapper's Delights The paper is from an old LotV/Nitwits pad, and the sentiment is also by LotV. The purple butterfly came free with a mag a long time ago! The ribbon and the little crystal butterfly are from stash. I went over her wings with a clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen. Our lovely sponsors this week: Bugaboo Stamps Scrapper's Delights My teamies have created some fabulous, fantastic inspiration for you, have a look! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Apologies for the lateness of this post, guys! But finally here is my card for the latest Dream Valley Challenge. We would like to see Embossing this fortnight, it can be heat embossing, dry embossing - or both! We have the wonderful Live and Love Crafts as our sponsor this fortnight, Sandy is offering a £10 voucher to our lucky winner! I have made..... a Christmas Card! The fabulous Joy stamp is by Hero Arts. I heat-embossed it in cream, then used Distress Inks to colour the background: the embossing resists the ink, so I just had to wipe over the image with some kitchen paper and now it's clear to see. The die-cut is by Spellbinders and after I cut it I embossed it - there are some subtle diagonal lines around the central oval. I made a 5 x 7 card base from blue Centura Pearl. The die-cut is glued flat, the central oval is on foam pads for some interest. Finally I used a white Perle Pen to add some subtle bling. Simples! Have a look at the blog to be inspir

Hello, my lovelies, I hope you're having a good weekend! It's My Time to Craft Saturday again! Our Challenge is Anything BUT a Card -go and see the fabulous creations my teamies have made to give you some great ideas! (It's a Challenge I always have to think about for a long time, making a card is my default setting!) I have been playing with Distress Inks and watercolour paper, using Tim Holtz's Wrinkle free Distress technique. (The link is to a Youtube video.) I then made bookmarks, since at the time I was using an old envelope as a bookmark which was a bit naff! I die-cut the watercolour paper with the second largest of the Lil' Inkers Pinking Edge Sentiment Flag die, and also from pearlescent cardstock using the largest of the dies. I stamped the images with Ranger Black Archival Ink: the butterflies were magazine freebies, and the vine is from Butterfly Flourish Swirls by Chocolate Baroque. I made a hole protector with a small circle die, glu

Good morning! I hope you're all well, and looking forward to a good weekend! Thursday is CRAFT Challenge day and we have multiple themes this week: Autumn or Halloween or Thanksgiving Plenty of choice there! I went for an autumnal Shaker card, using Berry Wreath by DRS Designs. The background paper is from an ancient pad which has lost its cover! I dry embossed it before cutting the aperture for the shaker - which meant that the original embossing was squashed! However, it makes a rather nice crinkled effect, so that's ok. The wreath is coloured in autumnal shades with Copics. I die cut the MFT 'Thanks' die 3 times and glued them together to make a raised sentiment. Our sponsors this week are: DRS Designs and Doctor Digi's House of Stamps Thanks for looking, and have a great day! love Mags B x

Hello, all! I hope your Monday is going ok! I have made a card that isn't for a DT! I recently bought Clearly Besotted's Hip Hip Hooray stamp set, which has not only a cute Viking family and a longship, but also a foaming mug of BEER! Perfect to use on a card for a bloke! Rows of beer mugs! The sentiment is also by Clearly Besotted, it's quite old by now and not on the website alas. Through the little aperture you can glimpse someone... And here he is on the inside of the card! Isn't he the cutest Viking ever?! The 'Cheers' sentiment comes with the same set. I had a lot of fun making this card! Thanks for looking! Skol! love Mags B x

Hello! I hope you're all having a good weekend. Today has been grey and definitely chilly, summer is officially over. I have been tidying my craft hovel and found a card that I haven't blogged yet. And it's not for a Design Team lol! I die-cut some silver card with the Sydney Die from Sue Wilson's Australian Collection. The silver embossed sentiment is by Lil' Inkers from the set All the Christmas you'll ever need sentiment set. The background paper is from an old LotV pad - sadly no longer available! Nearly time to make tea - we are having a traditional British tea of chicken curry followed by apple pie..... Lol! Thanks for looking, and take care! love Mags B x

Morning, all! We have our monthly Christmas theme at CRAFT Challenge which I for one am finding very useful, my stock of Christmas cards is quite respectable now! I made a gatefold card: The cute ornaments image is Ornament Tags by Pickled Potpourri. All the lines are doubled, and I went over them in sparkly gel pens, and also coloured the images on the ornaments with gel pens. The sparkle doesn't show, but it looks rather good! The rest of the colouring I did with Distress Inks. The paper came from an old magazine freebie pack, I am determined to use up all my freebie paper pads! The sentiment is made from a Simon Says Stamp die and silver mirri card. This is the inside, the paper comes from the same pad. I just used the gel pens to colour the tag. I'll be using these tags for my presents this year, they are so cute! Our lovely sponsors this week are: Pickled Potpourri (I love that quirky name!) and: The Stamping Boutique Thanks for looking, and h

Our new Challenge at Dream Valley is Not A Square Our sponsor is the awesome Live and Love Crafts oh, I could spend ages drooling over their gorgeous site! Anyway, here is my card. It's a Christmas one again! I used a new die, this is the Snoflake Fusion Cover Up die-namics die by My Favorite Things, which unfortunately now seems to be unavailable since I bought it a couple of months ago :( I cut it in white card and layered it on gold mirri card. The poinsettia is a Marianne Die sprayed with shimmer spritz. The ribbon is from stash. Don't be Square, join in our Challenge! :) Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hello! I hope you're all having a good weekend! My daughter is over from Dublin for a flying visit, and to get a solid night's sleep! Baby Oscar is being looked after by his Dad and Grandparents: as my daughter said, Oscar loves anyone who gives him food and cuddles! I can't wait until he comes to visit us in October! In the meantime, cardmaking keeps me going! And today at My Time to Craft we have a new Challenge: Stitching (real or faux) Hooray, it's another Christmas card lol! This is made with an old stamp from Imagination Crafts. I stamped it twice and silver-embossed it, then cut out one of the snowflakes. I coloured the background with Distress Inks (Salty Ocean and Broken China) then added the extra snowflake on top with foam. The gem in the centre is from stash. I matted everything on silver and then blue card. The blue square mat is cut with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Square Die (that's the first bit of faux stitching) and the background paper ha

Good morning! I hope your week is going well. We have a lovely new Challenge at CRAFT Challenge and it is to make an Easel Card. Recently I have been trying my hand at the Shabby Chic style, which is rather out of my comfort zone. My style is usually less decorated, but I've seen such lovely creations by Sharon Gurnhill and Bev Rochester that I wanted to have a go. You would not believe how many cards ended up in the Round Filing Cabinet (ie the bin!!!!!) However, I have finally made a card that I am very pleased with, and here it is: And a side view: From the back: the papers came with a magazine a couple of years ago, I distressed the edges with scissors and used Gathered Twigs DI as well. Gathered Twigs was also used on the pink Centura Pearl mat. There is some cheesecloth glued on top of the background paper. There is a white die-cut behind the image and a butterfly by Joycraft on top of that, with pink gems on its body and a diamante 'trail.' I adde

Good heavens, it's Thursday already - and the first day of Autumn, too! It's also time for a new CRAFT Challenge and it's a Technique Challenge: Embossing. This cutie is (JACK) Let's Go Out by Crafty Sentiments, isn't he a dapper chappie? The blue background has been dry embossed with a Cuttlebug Dots folder and the sentiment (from the All Boy stamp set by Simon Says Stamp) has been heat embossed. The red paper is a snippet. Our sponsor is the awesome Crafty Sentiments The prize is 3 of their lovely digis of your choice. My teamies have left you lots of inspiration on the blog , do join in the fun! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x