Madcap Manor

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree... This is the last Challenge for 2014 for My Time to Craft we are back on January 3rd! I used a Winter Trees die from Simon Says Stamp to cut out various shades of card and paper, then paper-pieced them together. One of these has a card outline and patterned insides; the other has 3 paper outlines glued together for strength, and paper insides. The sentiment is from the Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler stamp set. There's still time to make a quick Christmas Tree card and enter our Challenge! The DT have made some wonderful creations, do go and see them and be inspired! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! How are your Christmas preparations coming along? The Big Day suddenly seems so close, doesn't it? Our new Challenge at CRAFT Challenge will give you a helping hand, as our theme this week is Christmas! I coloured the cute Sweet Danni and Bella from Wags'n'Whiskers in Promarkers and glittered all the fur trim with Stickles. The papers are from a magazine. The snowflakes are cut in glitter paper. The sentiment is die-cut in black glitter card, using a die from Simon Says Stamp We have some great sponsors for our Challenge: A Day for Daisies Wags'n'Whiakers Doctor Digi's House of Stamps The DT have made some wonderful creations with images from our sponsors - go and see! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! I hope your weekend is going swingingly! Since it's Saturday, there's a new Challenge at My Time to Craft . It's a very Seasonal Challenge, the theme is Snowmen Now, I have been a wee bit naughty recently, I have bought some new Christmas stamps I fell for a new stamp set by Paper Smooches called Cool Dudes because apart from having some very cute snowdudes in the set, there are also separate stamps so that you can build your own Snowman face! So that's just what I did! And I made a dozen cards, all suitable for children, to these two designs. I arranged the Snowmens' features on my Fiskars Stamp Press, and stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black, then used a Spellbinders circle die to cut the face, and a scallopped die for the mat. The hat and the nose are coloured with Promarkers and the furry edge glittered. The papers are from Papermania. The sentiment is from the Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler stsmp set. Do go and see the lovely creations that ...

Good morning! (At least, I hope it's morning when this post goes up, I'm at a wedding on Saturday!) Our new Challenge at My Time to Craft is Christmas Decoupage . Now, Decoupage and Teabag Folding were the first 'techniques' I ever used on cards, long before I knew about Stamping or Blogs or Challenges! Cutting and manipulating and layering paper is so relaxing! The foiled decoupage is by Dufex, a firm that sadly no longer is trading. It is quite detailed to cut out. I layered the pieces with silicon glue from Pinflair, and layered it on a piece of gold card to give a narrow border. The card base is Centura Pearl, embossed with a diamonds folder by Sizzix. I hope you'll all go over to the Blog and see the fabulous Christmas Decoupage makes of my teamies! Then have a go yourself - decoupage seems not to be so common these days, but do try it if you haven't done any before, it's very satisfying! Remember, it's Christmas Decoupage - that means i...

Hello! It's another Monday, and there's another Challenge at Dream Valley . Our theme this fortnight is Getting Ready for Christmas Yes, we are encouraging you - and each other - to create something Christmassy! Our sponsor is the amazing Robyn's Fetish and a lucky winner of the Challenge will be able to choose 3 of their fab digis as a prize! I apologise for the slightly faded photo, irl it's brighter! When I saw Paul Penguin I immediately wanted to use this paper, which is from my stash and very old! I coloured Paul with Promarkers and used Spellbinders dies for the mats. The sentiment is white heat-embossed onto a scrap of red card. I added the background paper and the image quite carefully, because I imagined a scene where all the little penguins are sledging and skating and Paul is walking by - perhaps he's Dad, come to call them in for their tea? I hope you'll go and be inspired by what my teamies have done with the theme, and then join in! C...

Evening, all! I hope you're all well! I have spent some time in ye olde craft hovel today, and I've made another Santa card! This is my second-favourite Santa image, after the Penny Black one that I used for yesterday's My Time to Craft Challenge. He is an old stamp from Whiff of Joy and he seems to have been discontinued, sadly. He is such a cheery chappie! I'm sorry about the photo, irl the colours are brighter - and there's lots of glitter! I coloured Santa with Promarkers and stickled all the fur trim on his outfit. The mats were cut with Spellbinders dies. I thought the white mat looked dull, so I stamped some Whiff of Joy Christmas Swirls with Tea Dye DI and stickled them. The papers are from Hobbycraft. I used a Martha Stewart Star border punch along the horizontal piece. The little snowflakes are made with a Martha Stewart PATP corner punch, they are stickled and have gems in the middle. The sentiment is by Lili of the Valley. Now I need to say ...

Good morning! I hope you all have a happy weekend planned with lots of relaxing crafty time! Once I have tidied my Craft Hovel (yet again!) and changed all the bedsheets I am hoping to do some colouring, because.... I have my very first Copics!!! They are Copic Ciaos, and I am hoping to ask for more for Christmas! :D My card today, however, was coloured using Spectrum Noirs. (I'm going to have to do a lot more colouring now, otherwise my Promarkers and Speccies will feel neglected lol!) At My Time to Craft our theme this week is Santa I went for an old-fashioned look. I must apologise for the picture quality, it was quite a gloomy day when I snapped it. The image is one of my favourite Santas: Antique Santa by Penny Black. He is one of their Slapstick Cling stamps. I added gold stickles to the stars on his coat and the one on his staff, and Diamond stickles to his fur trim. The papers are Papermania At Christmas Time by docrafts, sadly it seems to be unavailable now. ...

Good afternoon, my lovelies! My Time to Craft has our latest Challenge up and running, and it's a corker: White on White Christmas. That is, make something for Christmas and everything should be white except the image. In fact I didn't use an image, I got out my Spellbinders Poinsettias dies and made a 3D flower. Some embossing with a Snowflakes folder from Sizzix and a Christmas words folder free with a magazine, a bit of ribbon and a bit of sparkle, dots of Liquid Pearls on each of the embossed snowflakes and the centre of the flower, and there it is! I must apologise for the awful photo, though, the card looks much better irl! You have to go and see the amazing, beautiful creations made by my teamies, they are awesome! Then join in the Challenge - you'll have one more card for Christmas! Have a lovely weekend! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good afternoon, my lovelies! We have a Challenging Challenge at Dream Valley this fortnight! Put away those stamped images - rubber OR digi! Our sponsor is the fabulous Robyn's Fetish who are offering a lucky winner 3 digis from their online shop! I don't know about you, but when I make a card the first thing I reach for is a stamp, so this was, indeed, a Challenge for me! Fortunately, the second thing I reach for is a die. And if in doubt - make a Christmas card! So here I have used a Spellbinders Poinsettia set to cut and emboss the flower and leaves. I added a touch of gold glitter for some sparkle. The petals and leaves have just been glued in the middle, and then I raised up the edges for some dimension. The papers and ribbon are from stash. Go and see how my inventive teamies have risen to the Challenge, then have a go yourself! :) Thanks for looking, and have a good week! love Mags B x

Afternoon, all! Please excuse any typos in this post, my laptop refuses to connect to the Internet, so I'm using an old one with a dodgy keyboard! It's My Time to Craft time again! And now that the summer holidays are over the challenge has returned to being WEEKLY! The theme is 'Teddy Bear's Picnic' and we'd love to see your cards featuring A Bear as the main image. (Background papers with bears on don't count!) James the Bear is a Lili of the Valley cutie! I coloured him with Promarkers and added Glossy Accents to the baubles and stickles to the tinsel. The mat is cut with a Spellbinders Lacey Squares die and the blue card is a large snippet! The papers are from Hobbycraft and the ribbon is from stash. I used a snippet of dull gold paper to punch the snowflakes, using a Martha Stewart punch. Do go and take a look at my teamies' lovely makes, then dig out your favourite Teddy Bear image and have a go! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

it's one of those all-time favourites at The Squirrel and the Fox - Anything Goes! Our wonderful sponsor is the amazing Make it Crafty And if you use one of their fab images you will get an extra shot at the prize of a $10AUS voucher for the store! I have had this gorgeous guy, Floppy for quite a while, but never got around to using him. (Shame!) And when presented with an 'Anything Goes' Challenge my default is to go with a Christmas card! I think he is so cute! The sentiment is silver-embossed: it came from another Australian stamp firm, Tickled Pink Stamps - sadly, they no longer trade as such, but CCDesigns now have some of their fab stamps by Christina Dee (she is so talented!) I used Promarkers to colour Floppy, and added Glossy Accents to his bell and Glamour Dust to the fur on his hat. The green mat is edged with a Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page Snowflake Punch. The background paper is a snippet from an old digi set by Lili of the Valley, and I ...

Hi, guys! I hope you're having a good weekend, with plenty of sunshine! Here in S-E Herts we have alternating drizzle and rain. Gotta love the summer! It's another Christmas Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox and we have a wonderful sponsor, Sweet'n'Sassy . A winner will have 3 of their fab digis as a prize! This cutie is Pippin the Penguin with Christmas Lights. I used Promarkers, and added Glossy Accents to the lights. The papers are snippets, and the holly ribbon has been knocking around my stash for a couple of years. The holly vine is a memory Box die, with berries of red Liquid pearls. The glittered snowflake is a Martha Stewart punch. The sentiment is by Paper Smooches and I embossed it in green. Go and see the merry makes that my teamies have created to be inspired to make your own Christmas cards! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning, all! I hope you're having a good weekend! My daughter is over from Dublin. She has a job there, and now she and her partner are looking for their own place. Exciting! Children grow up so fast!!! it's time for another Challenge at My Time to Craft and this time it's Christmas in June . Well, it's never too early to get the Christmas cards started, is it? (I apologise for the naff photo!) I have some old die-cut sheets of images from Lili of the Valley coloured by the amazing Bev Rochester . I love these cute children decorating the tree - and I wish i could colour like that!!! The striped paper came from a pad of 'Back to Basics' Christmas paper by Dovecraft, and the sentiment is from a sheet of foiled Christmas sentiments, both of which came from Hobbycraft. The ribbon is from stash, and the snowflakes are made with a Martha Stewart punch and then glittered. Go and see the gorgeous Christmas creations made by my teamies, and make a C...

No, that's not 'Three Kings of *Leyton* Orient' which is a soccer team from North London that several of my friends follow!!! The current challenge at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge is to use THREE of something. Well, call me old-fashioned, but one particular Christmas 'threesome' sprang to mind! The images are by Francoise Read for Woodware and I have had them for ages - unfortunately, they don't seem to be available any more. I coloured the Kings with Promarkers, I hope you can tell that one King is African, one is Caucasian, and one oriental. They have all been cut out and mounted on foam pads for dimension. I added Glossy Accents to the gifts and gold Stickles to their robes and crowns - and to the Star over Bethlehem. The papers are from Hobbycraft, I think it's their 'Vintage Christmas' collection, but don't quote me, as they are all loose in my 'Christmas box'. I cut the tan paper to look like hills and used Dis...