Madcap Manor

 Hi, guys! We have a new Christmas Challenge at  The Holly and Ivy  to give you extra inspiration for your Christmas creating! Every year I make a dozen tags for a very dear friend.  This year I knew I wanted to include a snowflake.  I was inspired by  this video  by Jess Crafts; and  this video  by Ardyth.  Check them both out on Youtube, they are so inspiring! I used scraps of mirror and holographic card, and an old Martha Stewart punch.  The frames were cut using Spellbinders square dies: I cut the larger die first, then lined up a smaller die in the middle to create the frame.  The white cardstock was cut with a wonky stitched square die from Craftstash (now out of print) and I used my Cropadile to punch holes for the ribbons. Check out our new Challenge and get Christmassy! Thanks for looking and take care. love Mags B x

 Good morning! To brighten your Monday we have a new challenge at  Dream Valley  which is Lots of Layers.   We are sponsored by  Polkadoodles  and the Design Team received some of their adorable images to work with. I have used  Balloon Days  which is so cute! This is a 5 x 7 card because I wanted lots of space for my layers of papers.  They all come from an old paper pad by Papermania, and the colours are so bright and cheerful.  I used  Sway peel-offs  by Love from Lizi to edge the long vertical strip.  The flowers came from The Range, and I added buttons to the centres.  The sentiment banner is an old stamp from Paper Smooches.  Finally I covered the balloon with Glossy Accents. Check out my teamies' creations using Polkadoodles images, get out your favourite papers and join the fun! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x.

 Q: Qhat do you get if you cross a Kangaroo with a Sheep? A: A Woolly Jumper. A very old joke.  (Here in the UK a sweater is also known as a jumper.) Our new challenge at  My Time to Craft Christmas  is to show winter clothing on your creation.  Scarves, hats, gloves, coats, woolly jumpers...  The papers and ephemera on this card are from the  Love from Lizi November 2022 card kit  which is called 'Cosy Christmas.'  The sentiment is from the  Perfect Sentiments Holiday  stamp set by Pinkfresh Studio, and I added Gold Coast Nuvo Drops to give some sparkle. My second card uses an old Memory Box die called 'Precious Mittens' which is now out of print.  I cut the first layer from pearlised white cardstock and also red paper, trimmed off the red mittens and glued them together.  The purple pearlised background has been embossed with a 'knitted' embossing folder.  Papers and ribbon are from stash and the sentiment is anothe...

 Good morning! Hooray and Huzzah, it's almost the weekend! There's great excitement here at the Manor, because our dayghter is popping over from Ireland to visit.  Tomorrow we go to That There London Town to see an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  I admit, I'm rather nervous, but I have a new mask and hopefully the trains won't be too crowded. Yes, there is a point to that tale: our new challenge at  My Time to Craft!  is all about Transportation.  Not just trains but cars, boats, aeroplanes, Santa's sleigh.....  I went with bicycles! I used a Memory Box die which sadly is out of print.  I used an old Spellbinders decorative circles die set for the lacy purple mats, and the sentiment is by MFT and also, sadly, out of print.  The rest is all from my stash.  I added gold sequins to the flower centres. This card is in a completely different style! The papers and image came from the October 2022 kit by  Love from Lizi. ...

 Evening, all! Sorry I'm late with my post, I have been wrapping presents for Santa to give out to the children at the Toddler Club Christmas Party in 3 weeks' time.  It's always good to get Christmas preparations under way early! Speaking of which, we have a new challenge for you at  The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge!  I have made a CAS card. Once again I have used some older stash.  The background is embossed with an ancient Sizzix folder with Christmas words.  The vertical strip is a snippet from my Christmas papers, edged with Love from Lizi's  Gold holographic peel-offs .  The gold mirri sentiment is an old Love from Lizi die.  I matted the panel on some red paper before adding it to my card base.  Simples! Check out my teamies' creations on the challenge blog and get inspired to make a Christmas card! It's not long now until the Big Day! Thanks for looking, and take care! love Mags B x

 Good morning! It's a really autumnal day here in S-E Hertfordshire: misty, moisty, and the trees on the housing estate are showing off their beautiful leaves.  I love this time of year! Anyway, enough waffle, because we have a new challenge at  Dream Valley.   Our theme is Anything Goes  and it's Just For Fun. I fell in love with Papermania's  Modern Deco  paper pad and when I got it home, after admiring the gorgeous geometric patterns and the gold foiling, suddenly wondered - now, how shall I use this? Well, I came up with one idea - it's a birthday card for my son.  See what you think. Black, white and gold aren't colours I would normally use together.  The airship image is a very old red rubber cling stamp from  Whimsy Stamps , I stamped it repeatedly in black pigment ink - thank goodness for a Misti, which makes it so easy! I cut gold and patterned papers and the image with Lawn Fawn's  Stitched Rectangle stackables  to gi...

 Good morning! I hope you're all keeping well.  We have a new challenge for you at  My Time to Craft Christmas  and we'd like to see Elves or Gnomes  on your creations! I have used Gnomes that came with an old Simon Says Stamp card kit. The Gnome, presents and sentiment are from the  Gnome for the Holidays  stamp set, though the trees are from a retired  Clearly Besotted  set.  I ink smooshed the card with Distress Inks to make the sky and the snowbanks were die-cut using Lawn Fawn's  Stitched Hillside Borders dies .  I added streaks of Stickles here and there to make the snow sparkle. I die-cut and paper pieced this cute Gnome die from Simon Says Stamp using scraps of Christmas paper.  Sadly, this particular die is no longer available.  The white oval and the background have a very subtle linen look, which doesn't really show up on the phot.  The sentiment comes from the previous SSS stamp set. Check out my Gnom...

 Evening, all! There's a new challenge at  My Time to Craft : Critters! I've used 2 old images from Paper Smooches, which is sadly no longer trading. I used a basketweave stencil and Distress Ink in Bundled Sage for the background, then coloured and fussy-cut the cute cat.  I love the sentiment, which comes from the same set.  I added gold glitter stickers for some bling. For this background I used a Tim Holtz/Sizzix embossing folder.  The dinosaur is from another Paper Smooches set, and I used the same flitter stickers.  The sentiment is by Taylored Expressions, from their  Simple Strips: Friendship  set.  I edged it with an alcohol pen to make it stand up more. Check out the cute critters on the challenge blog! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

 Hi, guys! Welcome to another Challenge at  The Holly and Ivy ! I found a digi image of a Christmas present, but unfortunately I had forgotten to write down the source.  It's quite old.  If anyone recognises it, please let me know so I can give credit where it's due. I used papers from my Christmas stash, and coloured the image to match.  I added  Gold holographic peel-offs  by Love from Lizi to edge the vertical strip.  I also added  Bottle Green Nuvo Drops  to decorate the ribbon. Check out the blog for more Christmas inspiration! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x