Madcap Manor

Good morning, my lovelies! Our new Challenge at Dream Valley is so cute, it's All About Bears. Our sponsor is the amazing Dies to Die For I have been a big fan for many years! At my Church's Toddler Group which I help to run we are a bit low on birthday cards for little boys, so my card for this Challenge is one of several that I'm donating. I used one of my favourite Lili of the Valley stamps, sadly it doesn't seem to be available any more, but do check out their website and Etsy shop for adorable images! I paper-pieced all the balloons, adding Promarker alcohol pens to give some shading for dimension, and also Glossy Accents for some shine. I used the 'out of the box' technique, cutting around the tops of the balloons before using a stitched circle die to cut out the image. Then I added fun foam behind the image to give some more dimension. The papers were hanging around in my stash. I went around all the edges with Broken China Distress Ink. ...

Morning, all! I hope you're all well and looking forward to a great weekend! Sadly, this is my last DT post for CRAFT Challenge. It's been a blast, and the DT is full of the loveliest ladies, all very talented and kind. However, life has become rather busy recently - in fact I'm scheduling this on Wednesday afternoon, I hope I've done it right!! The Challenge this week is Come Play Outside . This is Owen Building Birdhouse from Paper Nest Dolls. The paper is from stash and the sentiment is from the Scripty Sayings set by Lawn Fawn. Our sponsor is Paper Nest Dolls. Go and see what my lovely teamies have made to inspire you! Thanks for looking, and have a great day! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! How's things? I can't believe it's Thursday already and time for another CRAFT Challenge. Our fun theme this week is Alien or Fantasy! This is Saucer Head from Doctor Digi. I love his anxious expression and the way he's clutching the steering whell, just like any other learner driver! I coloured him in Copics, adding shimmer pen to the Saucer and Glossy Accents over the lights. The papers are actually from an out of print pad by Crate Paper called 'School Spirit Collection' and not a special 'space' collection, but I like the hexagons, and the distressed circles make me think of planets! The silver embossed sentiment is from an old stamp set from a long time ago which has lost its packaging. Our fab sponsor is Dr Digi's House of Stamps. This was such a fun card to make! Zoom across to the Challenge blog and check out my teamies fab creations! Thanks for looking and have a good day! love Mags B x

Good morning, all, from a sunny and chilly S-E Herts! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! Ours was quiet, mainly because we were both going down with colds!! Now things are getting back to normal, and we have our last CRAFT Challenge of 2017, which is Anything Goes. I have made a birthday card for an old friend, using one of Bugaboo Stamp's fun images. This is Gus Birthday - Golden Years. The sentiment reads 'If these are the Golden Years, I am NOT impressed!' The papers are from stash and I used an MFT Vintage Buttons die (sadly unavailable) and some blue Centura Pearl cardstock for the embellishments. Our fab sponsors: Digital Delights and Bugaboo Stamps My teamies have left some great inspiration on the Blog, do go and see! Thanks for looking! Wishing you all the best for a happy and healthy and crafty 2018! love, Mags B x

Hello, all! I hope your Monday is going ok! I have made a card that isn't for a DT! I recently bought Clearly Besotted's Hip Hip Hooray stamp set, which has not only a cute Viking family and a longship, but also a foaming mug of BEER! Perfect to use on a card for a bloke! Rows of beer mugs! The sentiment is also by Clearly Besotted, it's quite old by now and not on the website alas. Through the little aperture you can glimpse someone... And here he is on the inside of the card! Isn't he the cutest Viking ever?! The 'Cheers' sentiment comes with the same set. I had a lot of fun making this card! Thanks for looking! Skol! love Mags B x

Good morning! This week we have a theme at CRAFT Challenge that is rather special to me: Inspired by a Book . Here at the Manor we have books absolutely everywhere! Our Sponsor is Scrapper's Delights and the DT were very lucky to be able to use one of their cute digis. I chose Robot Chip 2 - isn't he a friendly chap? I used some very old papers that were knocking about my desk - actually, I used them for last week's CRAFT Challenge, and hadn't put them away!!! The sentiment is from a set of sentiments that came from the late, lamented Pollycraft, many years ago. I added some little eyelets as decoration. The book that inspired me is 'I, Robot' a collection of short stories by Isaac Asimov - the film of the same name was based on a SF Detective series he wrote, beginning with The Caves of Steel . Yes, I'm a SF/Fantasy geek! Roll over to our Challenge and see what books have inspired my teamies, then pick your favourite book to inspire you! Th...

(Apologies again, I thought I had scheduled this for Sunday but I did something wrong!) If you're looking for my DT post for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down. Good morning! I hope you're all enjoying a good Bank Holiday weekend! I am schduling this post as my son and his family will be visiting at the weekend! There's a new challenge over at Dream Valley Challenges and this time we have a lovely theme For a Child Our sponsor is the wonderful Meljen Designs and a lucky winner will be able to choose 4 of Melissa's fabulous digis from her shop! I used this cute Peter Bunny I used Promarkers to colour him, and Stickles on his tail! The image mat is cut with a Spellbinders Floral oval die, and I also used a Martha Stewart punch along the horizontal piece. The papers are snippets of digipapers and I don't know where they come from! The ricrac is from my sewing box, the buttons from my Mother in Law's Button tin. The sentiment is by LotV ...

Hi, guys! I hope you all had a lovely Easter break! We have sunshine today - what a difference it makes, so many people are smiling today! I have two cards to share today, both to the same sketch. The Challenge at Seize the Birthday alternates between a card for a girl and a card for a boy, isn't that a great idea? Anything that encourages me to think about those difficult male cards is a Good Thing, I think! Here is a CAS card for a boy, following the sketch. I made it yesterday, but the light was too bad to photograph it then, isn't it annoying when that happens? The paper is a Pink Petticoat snippet, distressed with Salty Ocean Distress Ink. I also distressed round the image and stamped the Penny Black sentiment with the same ink. The image is by Woodware, coloured with Speccies and the borders are stickers. Simples! I'm entering the Challenge at Seize the Birthday and this is the sketch: Oops, the plumber is here to plumb in the washing machine! Catch ya...

Happy Friday! This lad is so happy playing with his dinosaurs! He's Oliver and he comes from a set by The Greeting Farm which came from Quixotic Paperie . The papers (which are brighter irl and so contrast better - curse this dull grey weather!) is 'Alla Prima' by Prima. I edged the strips with Icicle Stickles. The swirly pattern looks a bit like wild, swampy dinosaur territory, I think! The tags are LotV and the stickers are Paperchase. The sketch is from this week's Anyone for Anya? challenge, I really like it! Ok, time to get back to the dreaded housework! Thanks for looking, and have a good weekend! love Mags B x Spectrum Noirs: TN2, FS3, 2, 8; GB11, 10, 8, 6, CT3; TB1, 2, 4, 5; BG 2, 4, 6; TB1, 3, 4, 5; DG3, 2, 1