Madcap Manor

I'm so sorry I'm late with this post for My Time to Craft. It's been a frantic day - this morning we set up a room at the Church Hall for our Toddler Groups' Christmas Parties next week, with a special chair for Father Christmas (he visits every year, he is lovely!) and Christmas lights and a glowing Christmas Tree, which took ages to set up because there were no instructions! Then came lunch with a dear friend, and this evening there was Choir Practice. We are singing some beautiful songs this year! Anyway, I'm home now with a glass of white wine and a card to share for the new challenge, which is Clean And Simple with One Layer Only. 'One Layer' means putting your image directly onto your card front, though if you want to work on a separate panel the same size as the card base and glue it onto the base, that's ok. I have made..... A Christmas Card! What a surprise! The lovely flourish Christmas Tree stamp is an old one and I heat embossed ...

Hello, my dearios! We have another challenge for you at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge where it's always Anything Christmas Goes! The most difficult cards to make at this time of year, I find, are not masculine ones but the totally non-religious ones! I don't mean for my Jewish or Muslim friends but those who are humanist or atheist. I don't know if my card today actually fits our theme, though it will accompany a present of hot chocolate and marshmallows at the end of the month - what do you think? This adorable image is Christmas in a Cup by Elisabeth Bell. A number of her stamps that were originally rubber are now available as digis. Instead of traditional greens and reds I used pink and mint, with Wink of Stella added to her sash and bow, and Stickles on the snowman on the cup. I used my corner chomper on the bottom two corners. I had several attempts before I got the image to print in the right place - I'm not very good at digi crafting! I th...

Hi, guys! I hope your weekend went well! Ye Olde Manne and I are engaged on a Grand Tidy-Up to get ready for family to come and stay at Christmas! And, no, mid-November isn't too early to start - there's an awful lot of STUFF in this house that needs to go!! However, there's always time to make a card or two! Our new theme at Dream Valley is to use No Squares or Rectangles! None at all!!!!! Our sponsor is Star Stampz and I have used the adorable Snowflake Fairy to make a winter birthday card. The card base is cut with a Spellbinders Labels Twenty Two die (annoyingly, it seems to be no longer available) and I drew around the inside of the die on some glittered snowflake paper from stash, and cut it out to give a narrow border. I had a co-ordinating gem set from Want2Scrap which adds a lot of sparkle! I added a ribbon bow and a snowflake charm from my stash, and glitter Nuvo Drops on the snowflakes around the cute girl. Do join in our Challenge, there is pl...

Morning, all! TGIF! Time for a new challenge at My Time to Craft! This fortnight our theme is Let It Snow so we'd like to see snow or snowflakes on your creation! I made a shaker card! I used some tiny snowflake stamps and white pigment ink to stamp on the blue cardbase and let them dry before assembling the shaker. The snowy background paper is an old digi from Lili of the Valley it's out of print now, but LOTV has some gorgeous paper pads on their site! The frame is from a scrap of holographic card. The sentiment is embossed with Simon Says Stamp Steel Blue powder. I love blue and white on Christmas and winter cards, it's so fresh! Look at my teamies' lovely variations on the theme, and have a go! I hope you're all looking forward to a relaxing weekend! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning, all! It's a grey, overcast, drizzly day today in S-E Herts, very Novemberish! A good day to craft! Christmas is creeping closer - eek! - so it's a good thing that we have a new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy where it's always Anything Christmas Goes. While sorting my craft hovel (again) I found a pack of wooden Christmas embellishments from Hobbycraft on clearance last year which are great for fun cards! Aren't these Gingerbread Dudes cute? I added Glossy Accents to their top hats, bow ties and candycanes. I used a Simon Says Stamp Tri Square Craft Die to cut the 3 holes and added the wood shapes on top. The sentiment is also by Simon Says Stamp. Go and see my teamies' Christmas creations on the Challenge blog and be inspired! Thanks for looking, and I hope your week is going well! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! Do you have that 'Monday Morning' feeling? Check out our new Challenge at Dream Valley and you'll feel better! Our theme is to used Dies and Punches and our sponsor is the lovely Tracy at Dies to Die For. The background paper is a digi from Pink Petticoat (now relaunched as The Lovely Studio ) but sadly it's unavailable now. Do check out the shop, though, the colours are gorgeous! The flowers were made with Woodware punches and distressed with a Delicata Gold inkpad. I also distressed the edge of the background paper. The leaves were cut with an old Spellbinders' mistletoe die and for the sentiment I layered 3 pieces of white card and one of gold paper, all cut with the MFT Hello There die. Finally I added gold gems to the flower centres. Check out my teamies' creations and have a go! Thanks for looking, and have a good week. love Mags B x

Good morning, my lovelies! It's been a busy day so far, with a hospital appointment for my latest post-cancer checkup, and the good news is I'm still in remission! Now I can shake off the worry that always lingers before any hospital appointment and tell you all about the new challenge at My Time to Craft which is this fabulous sketch: While sorting my craft hovel yet again I came across some pre-coloured images from Lili of the Valley - sadly these don't seem to be available, but do check out their newer images, they are lovely! The papers are digis from Pink Petticoat - now back in business as The Lovely Studio. For the vertical lines I used ribbon from my stash, and I cut out the image and mat with dotted rectangle dies. The glittery snowflake was in my Christmas file, I often make several die-cuts at a time, file them carefully, then forget to use them!! Anyway, do go and see my teamies' inspiration on the blog, and give the sketch a go! Thanks for ...