Madcap Manor

Hiya! I hope you all had a good weekend! I've had a busy day today - first a morning at the Church Toddler and Baby Club where I volunteer, and then a dental appointment! It's quite strange to be busy now, after 2 years of almost nothing! But one constant has been cardmaking, and we have a new Challenge at   The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge.   I made a Shaker card. The wreath image is an old layering stamp by Clearly Besotted.  I added 2 tones of green to the leaves by Stamping the light green (in my Misti) and inking the stamp in dark green and wiping off the edges.  Then I stamped the berries stamp in red.  I used the same red for the bow, which I fussy-cut and glued on top of the acetate. The border and sentiment (an ancient Hero Arts stamp) are embossed in gold, and I added 2 holographic red peel-offs by Love from Lizi to the sentiment.  The paper is from stash. Check out the blog for some inspiration from my lovely teamies! Thanks for looking...

Hello, my dearios! Well, we're back from our holibobs in North Shropshire! We were very lucky with the weather and had a very relaxing week. I read a couple of books by a new author, J M Alvey, they are murder mysteries set in Classical Athens and they are so very good! The first is 'Shadows of Athens' and I recommend them highly! Since returning I have slowly got back into the usual routine, but I took some time out from the post-holiday washing and ironing to make some cards. Does anyone else find they have to schedule their cardmaking activities amongst all the weekly work? I used items from the Love from Lizi September card kit, which included a lot of ephemera in gorgeous colours. The kit is sold out, but I may be able to give you an idea of how to use ephemera from other brands. I apologise for the wonky photos! The frame is popped up on foam tape and the striped paper is pearlised. The sentiment is made with a Clearly Besotted die. The glitter stickers come...

Morning, all! TGIF! Time for a new challenge at My Time to Craft! This fortnight our theme is Let It Snow so we'd like to see snow or snowflakes on your creation! I made a shaker card! I used some tiny snowflake stamps and white pigment ink to stamp on the blue cardbase and let them dry before assembling the shaker. The snowy background paper is an old digi from Lili of the Valley it's out of print now, but LOTV has some gorgeous paper pads on their site! The frame is from a scrap of holographic card. The sentiment is embossed with Simon Says Stamp Steel Blue powder. I love blue and white on Christmas and winter cards, it's so fresh! Look at my teamies' lovely variations on the theme, and have a go! I hope you're all looking forward to a relaxing weekend! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi! Here at last is my post for The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge I apologise for the delay. Suddenly Christmas seems much closer, so I am trying to make at least two of every Christmas card now! This time I made two Shaker cards. For this one I used a Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornaments die to cut the window. I cut it again from gold cardstock and then, without removing the die, traced around the edge and cut it out to make the frame. The sequin mix is from Little Things by Lucy and the paper is from stash. The sentiment is cut in the same gold card with a Simon Says Stamp die. This is made in the same way but with circle dies for the window and frame, and the sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp's Deco Christmas Tree die. Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

At CRAFT Challenge our new theme is Summer. One of the good things about being on the Church Flower Arranging Team is seeing the different varieties of blooms on sale in each season. We work to a strict budget, so the seasonal flowers are often the cheapest - just like fruit'n'veg! To me, Summer means Roses, so I have made a card with a 'flower arrangement' style image by Bugaboo stamps which features roses, this is Rose Watering Can. I made a Shaker Card. I added Glossy Accents to the watering can, and it shows even under the acetate. The sunshine-yellow paper is from stash. Our sponsor is the fabulous, funny and witty Bugaboo Stamps who have a sale on until the end of July! Have a look at my teamies' fab summer creations, they will make you smile! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Goooood Morning!!! I hope you're all enjoying the weekend! Our next challenge at My Time to Craft is to use Sequins or Buttons or Both on your creation! This is a great challenge, as you can add sequins to a girly 'make' or buttons to a 'boy' one! I went with a Shaker card for a baby. I think it looks as though she is sitting in one of those soft ball play areas! The adorable little elephant is from a Simon Says Stamp set, Wild About You - the stamps came with their April kit, I don't have the dies! Even though the price has gone up a lot since the fall in the £ since last June, I just can't stop my subscription to these gorgeous kits!!! We are eating a lot more vegetarian dishes as a result, they are cheap and delicious and my veggie daughter approves! Back to the card. I stamped 3 pale pink hearts around the elephant and used Glossy Accents to glue some sequins about her. I added a pink one near her ear, but when I added more sequins la...

Good morning! I hope you're all well, and looking forward to a good weekend! Thursday is CRAFT Challenge day and we have multiple themes this week: Autumn or Halloween or Thanksgiving Plenty of choice there! I went for an autumnal Shaker card, using Berry Wreath by DRS Designs. The background paper is from an ancient pad which has lost its cover! I dry embossed it before cutting the aperture for the shaker - which meant that the original embossing was squashed! However, it makes a rather nice crinkled effect, so that's ok. The wreath is coloured in autumnal shades with Copics. I die cut the MFT 'Thanks' die 3 times and glued them together to make a raised sentiment. Our sponsors this week are: DRS Designs and Doctor Digi's House of Stamps Thanks for looking, and have a great day! love Mags B x

Good morning! At CRAFT Challenge this week we have a Technique for you to try: Paper Piecing . This is when instead of using pens to colour your image, you stamp it on patterned papers, cut them out and piece them together like a jigsaw. There is a tutorial on our Challenge blog here . Our lovely sponsors this week are: Di's Digistamps The Stamping Boutique Sweet'n'Sassy I used Blast Off! by Sweet 'n' Sassy to make a shaker card. I apologise for the picture, the rocket ship is much clearer irl! I printed and cut out a plain image and then paperpieced the rocket with scraps from my stash, and before I glued them onto the base I went around the edges with a black felt tip to add definition. I added Wink of Stella to the blue bubble cockpit and the flames. The papers are also from stash. Go and see my creative teamies' paper piecing, and have a go! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! It's a grey, overcast Saturday today, and the England Cricketers are not doing very well in their Test Match in Dubai against Pakistan. So I'll be in my craft room if you want me!! We have a new Challenge at My Time to Craft and it's a really good one: Inspired by the Beatles ! I went with 'Yellow Submarine' and a Shaker card. I have this fun stamp set by Reverse Confetti called Here We Go which has the cutest car, aeroplane and submarine! I sponged the inside of the shaker window with Broken China and peacock Feathers. The submarine is stuck onto the front of the acetate - to colour it I used Mama Elephant pigment inks, first covering the whole of the stamp in yellow, then going round the edge with orange. The front of the card has been stamped in an ombre pattern with a stamp from the Best Fishes set by Simon Says Stamp, and I used two of the fish from the same set, coloured and cut out and mounted on foam. Even my hubby likes this one...

Hi, guys! I hope you're having a good weekend! Our subject this week at My Time to Craft is Zoo Animals I have made a Shaker Card. I cut a circle in my top panel, then used a Sizzix diamond embossing folder for texture. The cute animals are by Paper Smooches, from the Zoo Crew stamp set. The sentiment is also by Paper Smooches from the Good Gab sentiment set. The border round the circle is die cut from paper stamped with a Hero Arts Woodgrain stamp. Sequins and beads are from stash. Go and see the wonderful creations that my teamies have made, they are sure to inspire you! I'm on my way to Bath to visit my sister, so this post has been sceduled - I hope it works! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi, guys, I hope you had a great weekend! Monday means a new Challenge at Dream Valley and this fortnight it's the ever-popular Anything Goes Our sponsor is the gorgeous Dilly Beans Digi Stamps if you haven't yet come across Dilly Bean's you are in for a treat! Here is my card, it's my first ever Shaker Card and I used the adorable Iidynn's Bear Framed . I'm sorry about the glare over the image, that's the light catching the acetate window. The card base is made with pink Core'dinations cardstock by Bazzill. The paper is Basic Grey from the old 'Bloom and Grow' collection. I used a Spellbinders square die to cut the opening and also the image, and I glued the image directly onto the front of the card base. The paper is attached with double layers of foam tape to give enough height for the sequins and beads sealed inside. The sentiment is Lili of the Valley. Go and see what my gorgeous teamies have done, they will surely inspire you t...