Madcap Manor

Hello! It's a beautiful Spring day, and I have been sitting in the garden having a cuppa - still in my coat, because it's a wee bit chilly! Thebirds are getting very active, and a neighbour's tree is covered in pink blossom. Also, the grass needs cutting! And we have Spring Colours as our theme at Dream Valley! Our sponsor is the gorgeous All Dressed Up - Wendy's images are so pretty! My spring colours are pink and green. The elegant dancer is dressed like a cherry blossom and is about to twirl across the stage! She is an older stamp called Looking Gorgeous which came via Little Darlings Rubber Stamps. The flowered background paper is from an old First Edition pad, and has a spot gloss finish. I used an old Spellbinders die to cut the frame. It looks coral in the photo, but in real life it's more pink! The green ribbon is from my stash. Go and see the lovely examples left on the blog, then pick your favourite spring colours and join in! Thanks for l...

Hello! I hope you are all coping with having children at home/lockdown. Ye Olde Manne and I have been self-isolating for the last week, going out only to shop for essentials like bread, milk and beer. Thankfully, I began picking up an extra can or two every week at the beginning of last year, in preparation for Brexit, so we have soup, fruit, tuna and corned beef in the larder! We will probably get a bit tired of corned beef..... Anyway, it is what it is, and I hope you're finding time to craft. Creating something is such a good stress-buster. Even more so when you make Christmas cards and see that bit of stockpiling increase - and The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge is here to help! I used a very old Hero Arts set to stamp and emboss three ornaments, then fussy-cut them out. I added some DMC floss plus some very thin, springy and bloody-minded silver thread, for the hangers, first making holes for the thread to go through. Then I added the ornaments with some foam tape, ...

Good morning! We have an intriguing theme at Mt Time to Craft which is Off the Edge. That's when you die-cut (or trim!) around your image to make a shaped edge - here is a video from Penny Black to give an example. I didn't have a die for this Simon Says Stamp image, which is from the Stronger Together stamp set which was in this mont's card kit, so I used my scissors to trim it. I painted the leaves using watercolours, then splattered the card with green, yellow and gold paint. The hello die also came with the kit, I cut it from some pealised green card. Then I lined the inside with a snippet of checked paper and finally rounded the bottom right corner. I should have made this a side-folding card rather than top-folding, because cutting along the fold at the top was a bit tricky! My teamies have done some lovely work to show you, do go and see! Thanks for looking! Stay well! love Mags B x

Oops! I'm a day late with my post for Dream Valley, I apologise! Following on from the last Challenges theme of 'One For The Girls' we now have One For The Boys. Our sponsor is the amazing Bugaboo Digi Stamps. Unfortunately my printer is making everything look blurry and I wasn't able to use the fun images we were sent so generously, so instead I used something I already had. This is Gus , isn't he wonderful? The sentiment reads: 'Growing old is mandatory... Growing up is optional.' I used old papers from my stash plus 2 of Love from Lizi's Gold Matt Peel-offs. I added Glossy Accents to Gus's spectacles and two stitched circles die-cut from a scrap of gold card as embellishments. My teamies have made some fab cards to inspire you, showcasing more of Bugaboo's fun images, do check them out! Thanks for looking, and have a good week. love Mags B x PS I was talking to a friend who has just finished a Bio-Med degree, and he explain...

Hello, my dearios! I hope you and your families are all keeping well. We have another Challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge for you to get a head start on those Christmas cards! I have used a pre-coloured image from an old collection by Lili of the Valley. They now do downloadable pre-coloured images for printing at home, but sadly not this cutie. I trimmed the image down a bit, then layered it on silver mirri card (I love silver with blue for Christmas cards!). I added Spectrum Noir shimmer pen to all the stars. The background paper is from a long-out-of-print LOTV paper pad which I have had for years! The sentiment is from Craft Creations and is also very old! I am using up stash!!!!! My awesome teamies have made some beautiful projects to inspire you, do go and see! Thanks for looking, and have a good week. Cheerio, my dearios! love Mags B x

Hello, my dearios! This year seems to be racing by, how can it be March already??? And now it's time for another Challenge at My Time to Craft! which has the theme Farmyard Animals. Think sheep, cows, pigs, chickens..... I used an image from an old Simon Says Stamp set called 'Birthday Farmyard Animals' which is sadly out of print. I coloured the Chickie with Copics and die-cut a panel with a stitched rectangular die, leaving space for the ribbon and sentiment. I blended Broken China and Tumbled Glass Distress Oxides over white cardstock for the background, then used the same inks and Simon's 'Screened Leaves' stencil (also out of print) to give a tone on tone background. I really like how it turned out! My teamies have made some gorgeous creations in so many different styles, do check them out! Thanks for looking, and have a good weekend! love Mags B x

Hello there! Sorry I'm late with my post for the new Challenge at Dream Valley but I have been playing a demo of a new videogame that comes out next month and got a wee bit carried away. Yes, I'm a nerd. However, here we are with our new Challenge For Girls Only. Our sponsor is the amazing Crafty Ribbons so of course I used ribbon on my card! I used an old Miss Anya stamp from The Greeting Farm. I can't tell you the exact name because she has lost her packaging. The background paper is from an ancient Basic Grey pad which is long out of print, and I echoed the colours in the Copics I used on the image. I added Spectrum Noir to the flowers and a blob of Glossy Accents on her heart barrette. The ribbon is Lilac Grosgrain Ribbon from our sponsor. I added a wooden heart from stash, coloured with Copics and Glossy Accented. The embossed sentiment came with a magazine. My teamies have made the most gorgeous creations, do go to the blog and have a look! Thanks for ...