Madcap Manor

  Good afternoon, my lovelies! Here's another Christmas card, because we have a new Challenge at The Hollyand Ivy Christmas Challenge.    I took my inspiration from This video by the very talented Natasha Foote. I used papers from an old pad that was a magazine freebie and the Christmas tree and bling are from an even older sticker sheet! I also used Peel-offs by Love from Lizi where the papers joined.   My hubby said: "It's very.... pink!" when he saw it!   Check out the challenge blog and be inspired to make Christmas cards - in 4 months' time it will be Christmas Eve!!!!!   Thanks for looking and take care.   love Mags B x

  Good morning! I hope you're all keeping well. We have a new Challenge at Dream Valley which is Back to School. Our sponsor is The Paper Shelter and they currently have a sale on for their school-related images!   I didn't use the image they sent, because my printer has been misbehaving, so instead used a very, very old rubber stamp from The Greeting Farm. I used more papers from the snippets drawer. The sentiment is from an old set by Clearly Besotted which sadly is out of print. It reads 'Best Teacher' - because teachers have to go back to school, too!   Go and see what my teamies have made with the cute image from The Paper Shelter, they will inspire you!   Thanks for looking and take care!   love Mags B x

Good morning on a muggy, grey August day in Hertfordshire! I just hope that there is more sunshine by the end of the week, when we go to the Lake District for a week's holiday! It's our first in 2 years, and I can't wait!   I don't think we'll be spotting any Mermaids in Lake Windermere, but we have plenty of mer-mazing cards at My Time to Craft as that is our new Challenge.   My only Mermaid stamp set is an old one from a Smon Says Stamp card kit from a couple of years ago. Very cute! I used a die from Ptretty Pink Posh's Stacked Edges 1 to cut strips of card which I paper pieced to make the background. I fussy-cut the images, then added sparkle pen to all the shells.   Check out the mermaids swimming around on the Challenge post, they are all so varied and pretty!  Thanks for looking and take care!   love Mags B x

Hello, my dearios! Welcome to another challenge at My Time to Craft Christmas. Our theme is Off the Page - that is, have your focal point overlapping the edge. Check out my teamies' creations for some ace examples. I went with a Z-Fold card. The topper is another Hunkydory Magazine die-cut and the papers are from my stash.  I used a dull gold cardstock for layering and also for the 'Noel' sentiment (an old Sizzix die) and the heart on a ribbon (an even older Memory Box die.)  The brown pearls are also from my stash, I had to glue them in place because they had lost their 'stick'! I hope you're all looking forward to a happy weekend.  Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

  Good morning! It's time for more Christmas crafting at The Holly and Ivy. As usual, Anything Christmas Goes.   I have used up more of the items that came with a box magazine from Hunkydory at the back end of last year. Their kits are so gorgeous! This gnome is so cute! I raised the silver-foiled topper and the sentiment on foam pads and added some blue glitter bakers' twine.  An easy design, but quite effective, I think. Go and see the cards and tags that my teamies have made and be inspired! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

  Good morning and Happy Monday! We have a new challenge for you at Dream Valley where we'd like to see embossing - either heat embossing or using an embossing folder. Or both!   I did both!   We were to be sponsored by the wonderful Bugaboo Stamps, but unfortunately the site is unavailable for now and so this challenge is Just For Fun. This cute image is called 'Cupcake Tower.' I coloured it with Copics for a particular friend who has been under the weather recently. The background is pearlescent card dry embossed with a very old folder and the patterned paper strip is a snippet from my stash.   The sentiment 'Friends like you are far and few' is also ancient and I heat embossed it with gold onto vellum. Finally I added some purple sequins.   My teamies, as usual, have made beautiful cards to inspire you, go and see!   Thanks for looking, my dearios, and take care!   love Mags B x

Hello, my lovelies! We have a new Challenge at My Time to Craft!  which is this fab sketch: I have made yet another Christmas card, because I found some darling metal glittered snowflakes in my stash and thought they'd suit the sketch very well. I used some gorgeous Tonic Speciality paper which I can't find on their website, so it may be unavailable. The striped paper is from my stash.  I layered everything with silver mirri cards for some festive bling. The glittered blue and white bakers' twine is from my stash.  This sketch is so versatile, and my teamies have pulled out all the stops to showcase it! Go over to the blog and take a look!  I hope you're all keeping well and looking forward to a great weekend!  Thanks for looking and take care!  love Mags B