Madcap Manor

Morning, all! I hope you're having a good week. We have a new theme at CRAFT Challenge which is to Add Ribbon and Distress your card . I don't normally make Hallowe'en cards, and in fact this is intended as a birthday card for someone who loves creepy horror stories!! The fun image is Calista the Witch by Rick St Dennis. All the papers, the sparkly ribbon, the spiders and the webbing are from the October kit by Love From Lizi . The tag is a little advert for a potion made of snake scales - it looks as if the snake curled around Calista's had has seen it and is alarmed!! I distressed the edges of the background paper with scissors, and added Distress Ink in Pumice Stone around the image. Our sponsor is Rick St Dennis Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Evening, all! There is a DT Call at Dream Valley Have a look at the details which are on the blog and see if you'd like to join us! DV was the very first DT I was ever asked to join, and my teamies are so welcoming and kind. No experience necessary! We have a great Challenge this fortnight - Birthdays! I have made a card for a little girl: This is Ellie, and she's having difficulties carrying that big pile of presents - I love how the bottom one has slipped sideways and she's supporting it with her foot! She is from Di's Digi Stamps and sadly this image has been retired, but there are other equally adorable images on the site! The papers are from an old pad by Crate Paper called 'Little Bo Peep.' The narrow white ribbon originally came from a blouse - does anyone else snip those off to use on cards? The sentiment is from an old Hero Arts stamp set. Our fab sponsors are: Di's Digi Designs and Crafty Ribbons Thanks for looking, and ch...

Hi, guys! We have a new challenge at My Time to Craft! and the theme is either Cats or Halloween I found a very, very old stamp set by Francoise Read for Woodware which has some lovely cartoonish cats. I heat-embossed him and used Prismacolour pencils to colour him in. He had to be pink and white, like Bagpuss! The papers are also very old, from My Mind's Eyes Quite Contrary paper pad. The sentiment is from the same stamp set, I bent it into a wave to give some interest. Go and see what my creative teamies have done with these themes! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Using items from the Love From Lizi October Kit, plus paper scraps, plus stickers, plus a chipboard ship from Hobbycraft, plus a little Santa hat stamp from Lawn Fawn. Isn't it a horrendous pun?! love Mags B x

Morning, all! I hope your week is going well and that you're looking forward to a good weekend! Maybe you're planning on making Christmas cards? If so, you're in luck, as Christmas is our new theme at CRAFT Challenge! The sweet image is Christmas Bella from Paper Nest Dolls. The crown of candles is worn by Santa Lucia, whose feast day is now 13th December - but before the calendar changed in 1752 it was on the shortest day, hence the candles to signify light. A friend of my daughter's is called Lucy and she's a big fan of Santa Lucia, so this is for her! The papers are from an old pad by Papermania, there is gold foiling and glitter on some of the papers. The sentiment is from the Paper Smooches Christmas Sammpler. Our sponsors this week are: All Dressed Up Stamps and also Paper Nest Dolls Go and see the gorgeous creations made by my teamies using digis generously given to us by our sponsors! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Morning, all! I hope everyone is ok this morning, especially those in the British Isles hit by Storm Ophelia yesterday. It was a bit blowy in S-E Herts, and the sky turned a strange reddish-sepia: I remember 'red dust' from a couple of times in the 60s and 70s when I was at school, but never anything like that! Fortunately the sky is clear and the sun is shining today. How are you doing with your Christmas cards? The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge is here to encourage you! As usual, our theme is Anything Christmas Goes! In my never-ending quest to use up my patterned papers I investigated Youtube and found a tutorial on making a pleated card here by a talented lady called Crazy Paper Chick. The paper isn't actually Christmas, but I love the pattern! I scored a piece of 10" x 5" paper at 1" and half an inch alternately, trimmed out a truncated diamond, and folded. Then I re-folded because I had the wrong side of the paper facing up!!! The car...

Hi, guys! We have a new challenge at CRAFT Challenge and it's a good one: Shaped Card - but NOT Square or Rectangular! I have an old octagonal die by Spellbinders which is about 10 cm wide, and I thought it would be ideal for a small card. I drew areound the outside onto a piece of folded cardstock, then die-cut the mat and finally drew around the inside of the die and cut out the patterned paper. The adorable image is Little Boy Blue from Melonheadz Doodles. I added Glossy Accents to the horn. It was lovely to work on such a small scale, the trick is to find papers whose patterns aren't too big. Our sponsor this week is Melonheadz Doodles Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

I recently subscribed to the card kits by Love From Lizi which is a uk-based online shop. She has a Youtube Channel too, which is where I first came across her. Wow! is all I can say! I found it very hard to cut into the gorgeous speciality papers and use the fab sequins, lace and ribbon, but I bit the bullet and here are 3 cards. This is made with beautiful, glossy patterned card and an old Die'sire die which I cut and then embossed. For this Shaker card I used a scrap of the left-over speciality card and the peacock die which came in the kit. I stamped and embossed the pretty curly flower onto mint cardstock : stamp, card and embossing powder, and the sequins, are from the kit, as is the sentiment and the silver twine. The zig-zag border is made with a MFT zig-zag circle die and a Spellbinders die to cut the centre. On this card - you guessed it! everything came from the kit, except I used a die to cut a rectangle into kraft cardstock, then covered the inside pie...

Hi, guys! I hope all is well with you. We have a new Challenge at Dream Valley for you: last time it was One for the Girls and this time it's One For The Boys. I have made a birthday card for a little boy, using Babay Boy and Monkey from our sponsor Sasayaki Glitter. Isn't he fun? The paper is by Crate Paper from their 6x6 Toy Box collection - sadly now out of print. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches' Sentiment Sampler stamp set, I stamped in black Versafine and clear-embossed it. Now it's your turn! Have a look at the gorgeous inspiration my teamies have left on the blog and make something for one of the blokes in your life! Thanks for looking, and have a good week! love Mags B x

Morning, all! It's a grey and overcast day here in S-E Hertfordshire - I hope you guys are seeing some sunshine this weekend! We have a new challenge at My Time to Craft and it's quite a difficult one: Sympathy. I am a big fan of Jennifer McGuire and took inspiration from this video entitled 4-for-1 masked cards. It's a clever technique, because you get two cards from just one stamping session. I cut a circle in a piece of card the same size as a card front and stamped various flower and leaf imges in dye inks over both pieces, added a stamped sentiment, and mounted them on 2 card bases with foam tape. I cut one of the cards down because the circle looked a bit remote on a full-sized card. Some close-ups: and: My teamies have made some beautiful and elegant sympathy cards - do go and see them! Thanks for looking and have a good weekend!

Good morning! We have an Inspiration Challenge at CRAFT Challenge this week. We also have our DT CALL so make sure to check it out! Here is the lovely Inspiration Picture, it's a lovely, tranquil scene: I took the colours of the sky, the sunset and the fence as my inspiration: I ink-blended the sky and added dots of a glitter gel pen tor stars. The 'clouds' are made by drops of water, which bleached the ink. The fence is made with a die from Whiff of Joy and the grass with a die from Lawn Fawn. The image is from clip art by our sponsor Digital Paper Craft. Have a look at my teamies' creations to see how they were inspired by the picture, they will give you some great ideas! Thanks for looking. love Mags B x

Good morning! It's time for another Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and as ever it's Anything Goes. I have been inspired by the videos of Kristie Marcotte. She takes a pad of 6x6 papers and challenges herself to use the whole lot! This card is not a copy, I hasten to add!! I just wanted to make a card with a simple layout that highlights the patterned paper! The papers came free with a magazine. The sentiment is from All the Christmas You'll Ever Need by Lil' Inkers, and is gold-embossed. The die-cut mat is from Spellbinders Stately Circles. The ribbon and gems are from stash. I made 2 other cards with the same papers: I hope you'll go across to the blog and have a look at my teamies' gorgeous creations and be inspired to make a Christmas card or two!! Thanks for looking, and have a great week! love Mags B x