Madcap Manor

 Happy New Year! Our new challenge at  Dream Valley  is all about new beginnings: a new house, new job, new retirement, new baby,,,, anything new! My daughter is expecting a baby girl in March, so it was easy to come up with a 'new' subject for this card! This digi image is an old one from  Pink Gem Designs  and is out of print, but there are so many adorable images still on their website. I coloured the baby with Promarkers, for a change, and added sparkle pen to the bubbles, although it doesn't really show.  The paper is from the snippets drawer, and the sentiment is an old one from Mama Elephant. Check out the Challenge blog for more inspiration! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

 Hello, my dearios! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that you're looking forward to the New Year. Our new Challenge at  My Time to Craft!  is Welcome, Baby.   It's a very useful Challenge for me, as I am to be a Great-aunt again at the end of February.  I don't know if it will be a boy or a girl, so I made 2 cards, both using die-cuts. I apologise for the glare, I used some beautiful matte mirror card and the day was very overcast, so the camera insisted on using the flash. The background paper is  Promises  by Nitwit Collections, so pretty! The lacy  frame is from the Square Fancy Frames set by Christina Griffiths.  The crib is cut with a die by  Tattered Lace  which unfortunately is out of print. Again I used an old Tattered Lace die.  The lovely cardstock is matte rose gold by Tonic Studios.  The heart paper is from my stash, and I used the  Complete 6 x 6 card and box set  by Card Making Magic to c...

 Hiya! Happy Friday! Welcome to our latest Challenge at My Time to Craft! where we'l like to see Lots of Layers! My first card was made for my new Grand-nephew, born last weekend.  I used Sketch 46 from Operation Write Home with a little adjustment to the central panel. The papers are very old! So is the stamp, which is by Hero Arts.  I stamped the image on the cardstock oval and coloured the crown and beak with Copics, then stamped twice more on patterned paper, fussy cut, and layered them like decoupage.  The sentiment is heat-embossed in blue and I added Nuvo Glitter drops for a bit of bling. My second card is 5" x 7" and is very Old Skool, using Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles dies.   I hand cut the polka dot paper to fit inside each die-cut, then layered them with foam tape.  The flowers and leaves are made using punches, and I added more Nuvo drops to the flower centres.  No sentiment yet, as I'm waiting for the right occasion.  I rea...

Good morning, my dearios! Welcome back to Dream Valley! It's a new year, so our theme is Anything New. Our sponsor is All Dressed Up Stamps and I have made a New Baby card, as my niece is expecting a baby in March. I used Night night Little One - so cute! The papers are from ye olde snippets drawer.  The sentiment is from an old Paper Smooches stamp set, and the ribbon is also from stash.  Yes, once again my New Year's Crafting Resolution is to Use What I've Got!  I had a clear out over Christmas and two carrier bags of crafty things have gone to my local Hospice shop, which is glad to receive craft items!  I still have an awful lot of things remaining - after 10 years of crafting I have amassed quite a collection! Go and see what my teamies have left on the Challenge Blog using some of Wendy's adorable images! Thanks for looking and Happy New Year! love Mags B x

Good evening, all! I'm sorry I'm a bit late with my post for the latest challenge at Dream Valley . My hubby and I spent the afternoon sealing our new garden fence, which was quite knackering in the hot sunshine! It does look rather smart, though, and we're recovering with a glass of wine. On a weeknight - so naughty!  Anyway, you're here for papercrafting, not painting and decorating! Our latest challenge is Make It Digital (no stamping. Our sponsor is Morgan's Art World and she is offering 3 sweet images that the DT used as a prize.  I used this adorable Teddy image to make a baby card. The background paper is a digi from Nitwits but it's got no name on it, so I don't know which of Mary Fran's gorgeous collections it's from.  The yellow crochet ribbon is from my stash, and now I must make a Terrible Confession. I used a non-digi stamp for the sentiment. It's lucky I'm on the DT, because my card would not have obeyed the challenge r...

Hello, my dearios! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! My grandson (and his parents!) came over from Ireland and we all spent time in Shropshire with my granddaughter (and her parents!) It's very rare that we all manage to get together, since we all live far apart, so it was a very special treat! I am now at the slightly gloomy stage where everyone has gone home and it's time for a Grand Tidy Up! It's astonishing how much clutter is created when a very lively 2-year old boy is staying! Though I confess I did enjoy laying out train tracks all over the floor and playing with the train! Now I'm taking a break, with a cuppa, to tell you about the new Challenge at My Time to Craft. The very topical theme is 'New'. That can be New Home, New Job, New Baby, even New Stash! My nephew and neice are expecting a baby next month, so of course I went with 'New Baby.' We don't know if they're having a boy or a girl, so I went with lilac for the co...

Morning, all! I hope you're enjoying the Bank Holiday. Our new Challenge at Dream Valley is For a Man or Boy or as I like to say 'For a bloke!' I made a baby card, as I seem to be needing a few these days! My kids' generation is at that age - it's a bit strange, because I remember them when they were much younger, and surely it's not that long ago? The cute duck is Baby Huey by our sponsor Cute as a Button. I did the 'out of the box' technique on the ballon, which I covered with Glossy Accents. The papers are from stash. The sentiment is an old one from Clearly Besotted and I used a die for the word 'Baby.' The star stickers came from Paperchase a long time ago. Go and see what my teamies have made, they will inspire you to join in! Have a good week and thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good afternoon, all! My lovely nephew and neice celebrated the birth of their first baby just before Christmas: a baby boy! He is utterly adorable! I sent a card: The image is Looking at my Sweet by Sami Stamps. So elegant! I added some sparkle to the baby blanket. I used Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles dies to cut the image and the mat. The sentiment is embossed with Steel blue embossing powder by Simon Says Stamps and the Small Banner die is also from SSS. Thanks for looking, and I hope you're having a good week! love Mags B x

Hello, me dearios! I hope you're all having a good weekend, whether at work or at play! Our new Challenge at My Time to Craft! is this fabulous Sketch by Jo! Isn't it great? Just perfect for a card I wanted to make for a friend of my daughter's, who has just had a bonny, bouncing baby boy! I used the adorable Butterfly Baby by Krista Smith, now available in rubber from Little Darlings Rubber Stamps. Too darn' cute! I coloured him with Copics, and slathered Icicle Stickles over his wings. I distressed the edge with Broken China Distress ink, and did the same with the mat, which is cut with a Spellbinders Heart Circles Die. (The link is to the main Spellbinders site, Google the die to find local sources.) The paper is a snippet, I'm not sure who it's by. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, the leaves are cut from a snippet of green card using a Woodware punch. I glittered the flowers with Glamour Dust. The sentiments are from an old 'Ba...

Apologies for the late arrival of my post for the New challenge at Dream Valley . If you've seen my card on the Challenge page you'll have noticed I made a glaring mistake..... More on that later! Our sponsor is the amazing Pink Gem Designs (and they have a SALE until the end of January!) I used the utterly adorable Bathtime Baby Now, if you check that link you'll see that the baby's hair is tied with a cute bow. However, for some reason I missed this obvious clue that this is a baby GIRL and went wth blue papers. Late last night my hubby pointed out my mistake. Oh I do feel like such a prat! So today I reprinted the image and cut out some of the bubbles to stick over the bow. The papers and ribbon and butterfly are from stash, and the hearts are die-cut with a Lawn Fawn hearts die set. Go over to the Challenge blog and have a look at my teamies' 'New' creations, and have a giggle at my silly mistake! D'OH!!!!! Thanks for look...

That thudding sound is me *headdesking* because I mucked up my scheduling for this post (and the Dream Valley one, too!) I apologise!!! The new Challenge at My Time to Craft is Owls I used a Woodware Patch an Owl stamp and paper pieced it with papers from stash. The background paper and scallopped border are made with LotV Country Lady papers (they are gorgeous!) The sentiment came with the stamp set. My teamies have produced the most wonderful variety of Owls to inspire you, do, please go and see! Thanks for looking! love, Mags 'my google-fu has an intermittent fault' B x

Happy Independence Day to all my friends and family in the USA! Good morning, all! We had an amazing thunderstorm last night, bright sheet lightning lighting up the clouds and an absolute cascade of rain! The air feels so much fresher today! Now for the new Challenge at My Time to Craft which is Paper Piecing . (The link leads to a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers.) Woodware have produced some great 'patchwork' stamps that are ideal for this. Here's the elephant: I used papers from the Snippets drawer to piece her. The background is made with a MFT Die-namics Sun-ray die, I cut it from pink card and patterned paper, glued the card to the front of my card, and filled in the gaps with paper - it seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I'm not so sure. However, half the fun of cardmaking is EXPERIMENTING to see what works and what doesn't! ;) The banner is Paper Smooches, the sentiment I think came from a magazine a long time ago! Do go and see...

I have a very cute 'onesie' die from Paper Smooches that's ideal for baby cards, so I made a couple, using up oddments of leftover paper and some ribbon and lace. The onesies have been brushed with clear Wink of Stella. The sentiment is also by Paper Smooches. I hope you've all had a good Father's Day - and my thoughts are with those whose Dad is no longer here. *hugs* Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Dream Valley Challenges has changed from Sunday to Monday. Evening, all! We have another great Challenge this fortnight: For a Baby I'm going to need quite a few of these this year! We have a terrific sponsor: Dilly Beans who are offering 3 digis for the winner! Unfortunately I wasn't organised enough to use one of their fab images, instead I used a stamp set by Paper Smooches called A Little Lovin' . I paper pieced the elephants, using LotV Bonnets and Bowties . I die-cut a circle in the checked piece and made the scalloped border, all with Spellbinder dies, then added the paper on foam pads. The elephants are also on foam pads. The banner is a Lawn Fawn stamp called Bannerific and the sentiment came with the Paper Smooches stamp set. The baker's twine and star stickers were RAKs from my daughter. Go and see what my teamies have done, they have made some fabulous creations! Remember, if you want to have a go, it doesn't have to be a card! Thanks...

Hi, guys! And a warm welcome to my new followers! Thanks for coming by! I hope your week is going well. We had an exciting day yesterday, as the new tv digi-box, phone and Internet were installed! Everything seems to be working a wee bit faster and, even more importantly, we haven't lost the Internet in the last 24 hours! I took the afternoon off, since the ironing is always with ye, and set up a mini-assembly line to make 4 baby cards: It wasn't much quicker than doing them individually, since as usual I kept putting things down and being unable to find them a minute later! I also managed to sit on a pencil and stab myself in the bum! Now, that takes real talent! Here's my favourite of the cards, I love the soft green Promarker colours: I used a different colour combo for the face and hands, since I saw this video on skin tones by Kimberly Brown yesterday. The image and the sentiment are both by Lili of the Valley The papers are all snippets, even the green...