Madcap Manor

Hello! The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge is back! And you have until February 10th to join in! I apologise that I'm a day late with my post, yesterday was one of those days of what my Mum called "pottering" - just doing the odd jobs left over from the holidays - and I forgot the Challenge! I need to write 'To-Do' lists - and not lose them!!! Anyway, here is my card, which was made using the Simon Says Stamp December card kit. I stamped and embossed snowflakes from the Christmas Cheer stamp set, then blended Distress Oxide inks over them to make the sky. The Santa and signpost images are from the same set.  I added diamond stickles to the ground area and to Santa's hat trim to give some sparkle. I also used stickers from the same kit on another card: This time I used patterned paper for the sky and white card (and stickles!) to make snowbanks for the ground. If you're not 'Christmassed out' do go and see the lovely inspiratio...

Hello, everyone! We have come to our last Challenge for 2018 at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. The next challenge will be on January 8th. I am busy making multiples of cards (I still haven't found the box where I carefully packed my Christmas cards and stored them 'somewhere safe' - fatal, I know!) This design is based on some old Christmas paper with vintage images of Santa. The paper is gorgeous, it's textured to feel like canvas and is by First Edition: it came in a mega-pack from Love From Lizi.   I cut the image and the gold mirri mat with stitched oval dies by My Favorite Things.  The sentiment was loose in my Christmas stash box, I think it was a magazine freebie. Wishing you a creative week! Thanks for looking. love Mags B x

Hello! Today we have a new challenge at Dream Valley which is the last one of the year. And of course the theme is Christmas! We have several lovely sponsors this time, do check out the Challenge blog to see who they are as well as the lovely creations my teamies have made, using images kindly given to us by the sponsors. I have friends and family in Scotland, so when I saw this cute Highland Christmas image from Di's Digi Stamps I just had to make her into a card! I coloured her with Copics and added red Stickles to the holly berries and white glitter to the trim on her hat.  The papers are from my Christmas box and I matted them on antique gold paper using  scalloped dies.  The sentiment is embossed in gold using a Lawn Fawn Winter Scripty Saysings stamp. The star stickers are from stash. I hope you're all able to take some time to relax as the run-up to Christmas gets going! Thanks for looking, and have a great week! love Mags B x

I'm so sorry I'm late with this post for My Time to Craft. It's been a frantic day - this morning we set up a room at the Church Hall for our Toddler Groups' Christmas Parties next week, with a special chair for Father Christmas (he visits every year, he is lovely!) and Christmas lights and a glowing Christmas Tree, which took ages to set up because there were no instructions! Then came lunch with a dear friend, and this evening there was Choir Practice. We are singing some beautiful songs this year! Anyway, I'm home now with a glass of white wine and a card to share for the new challenge, which is Clean And Simple with One Layer Only. 'One Layer' means putting your image directly onto your card front, though if you want to work on a separate panel the same size as the card base and glue it onto the base, that's ok. I have made..... A Christmas Card! What a surprise! The lovely flourish Christmas Tree stamp is an old one and I heat embossed ...

Hello, my dearios! We have another challenge for you at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge where it's always Anything Christmas Goes! The most difficult cards to make at this time of year, I find, are not masculine ones but the totally non-religious ones! I don't mean for my Jewish or Muslim friends but those who are humanist or atheist. I don't know if my card today actually fits our theme, though it will accompany a present of hot chocolate and marshmallows at the end of the month - what do you think? This adorable image is Christmas in a Cup by Elisabeth Bell. A number of her stamps that were originally rubber are now available as digis. Instead of traditional greens and reds I used pink and mint, with Wink of Stella added to her sash and bow, and Stickles on the snowman on the cup. I used my corner chomper on the bottom two corners. I had several attempts before I got the image to print in the right place - I'm not very good at digi crafting! I th...

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

Good morning, all! It's a grey, overcast, drizzly day today in S-E Herts, very Novemberish! A good day to craft! Christmas is creeping closer - eek! - so it's a good thing that we have a new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy where it's always Anything Christmas Goes. While sorting my craft hovel (again) I found a pack of wooden Christmas embellishments from Hobbycraft on clearance last year which are great for fun cards! Aren't these Gingerbread Dudes cute? I added Glossy Accents to their top hats, bow ties and candycanes. I used a Simon Says Stamp Tri Square Craft Die to cut the 3 holes and added the wood shapes on top. The sentiment is also by Simon Says Stamp. Go and see my teamies' Christmas creations on the Challenge blog and be inspired! Thanks for looking, and I hope your week is going well! love Mags B x

Good morning, my lovelies! It's been a busy day so far, with a hospital appointment for my latest post-cancer checkup, and the good news is I'm still in remission! Now I can shake off the worry that always lingers before any hospital appointment and tell you all about the new challenge at My Time to Craft which is this fabulous sketch: While sorting my craft hovel yet again I came across some pre-coloured images from Lili of the Valley - sadly these don't seem to be available, but do check out their newer images, they are lovely! The papers are digis from Pink Petticoat - now back in business as The Lovely Studio. For the vertical lines I used ribbon from my stash, and I cut out the image and mat with dotted rectangle dies. The glittery snowflake was in my Christmas file, I often make several die-cuts at a time, file them carefully, then forget to use them!! Anyway, do go and see my teamies' inspiration on the blog, and give the sketch a go! Thanks for ...

Hi, guys! I used an old Woodware stamp for this card and paper-pieced the ribbons using some christmas papers I had in my stash. The background paper is from an old Kaisercraft pad, it has glitter on it! I gold-embossed the sentiment on some vellum and wrapped it around the image, which is layered onto some pearlised blue card. I added gold gems on the ribbon knots, sparkle on the ribbons, and Glossy Accents on the star. Go and see my teamies' lovely creations, they will inspire you to make a Christmas card! Thanks for looking, and apologies for posting this a day late. love Mags B x

Good morning! I hope you are all having a good week! We have a new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge but before I go any further I must apologise that my card isn't on the Challenge blog. I was so certain that I'd uploaded it that I forgot to check! D'oh!!! Anyway, as usual the Challenge is Anything Christmas Goes and here is my card. The sentiment and images came free with a magazine recently and have a very 'Scandi' feel so I went with red and white. The background paper is from stash and I added white Nuvo drops to the middle of the poinsettias. The embossing folder for the white strip came with the same magazine and I added gold peel-offs to trim the edges and match the gold embossing on the sentiment. I also used an MFT scalloped edge die along one side. Tonight I am joining my local Mothers' Union members to stitch felt stockings to be filled with little gifts for deprived children in the area, and I've been cross-stitchin...

Hi, guys! I hope your week has started well and that it will get even better! In 3 months' time it will be Christmas Day - so let's get going with Christmas cards! There's a new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge to encourage you! I have made 2 masculine cards, using items from a Love From Lizi card kit from last year. Both cards are made with cut-aparts featuring stags. I added gold peel-offs to the edges of the vertical paper on the first card, and a gold mirri die-cut greeting. The second has a gold mirri mat, a gold ribbon and dots of Nuvo Drops over dots on the image. I find masculine Christmas cards quite hard, but I'm pleased with these! Go and see what my talented teamies have created, and dig out your Christmas stash! Thanks for looking love Mags B x

Good morning, my lovelies! I hope you're all keeping well. We have a new Challenge at Dream Valley - use Pearls or Gems. I may have gonne a bit over the top with the gems on my Christmas card! But can you have too much bling at Christmas? I don't think so! I used a Spellbinders 6 x 6 die for the background, the centre is in the shape of their Labels One and I used a Decorative Labels One die cut in patterned paper to cover it. Sadly, it seems that the Labels One dies are no longer available. The papers are from Dovecraft's The Magic of Christmas 6 x 6 pad. The background paper has wreaths on it, and I like how bits of the wreaths peep through the trellis. The sentiment is from Lil' Inkers All the Christmas You'll Ever Need stamp set (also, sadly, out of print.) I used 3 sizes of clear gems from stash, going from the largest in the middle to the tiniest at the edge. Go and see my teamies' gorgeous creations and join in the Challenge! Thanks fo...

Hi! We have a new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge where it's always Anything Christmas Goes. This is very shiny! The papers came from a Love from Lizi kit, aren't they gorgeous? My teamies have made some lovely Christmas creations, do have a look! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! It's time for another Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge! For a change I have made a pillow box, not a card! I used the Sizzix Pillow Box and Poinsettia die and snippets of paper from the scrap drawer. The poinsettia has gold glamour dust added to make it glitter, and the 'merry christmas' ribbon is from Hobbycraft. Go and see what my teamies have made and say hello to new DT member Marleen! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning, lovely pals! There's a newChallenge at My Time to Craft and it's Christmas in August - a very good reason to get into that pesky Christmas card list before the rush in November! I have made a small card, 4.5 inches square, using a very cute Lawn Fawn Stamp called Winter Unicorn. It's very pink and girly! The paper is from an ancient magazine freebie. I coloured and cut out the unicorn and added Diamond Stickles to her mane and tail. I die-cut a Zig zag stitched circle by MFT and stamped the sentiment before adding the unicorn and 3 gold heartscut with a Simon Says Stamp die. The snowflakes are actually table confetti, bought in a post-Christmas sale! I added Bubblegum Blush Nuvo Drops to the centres. I also made a more general 'winter' card with Lawn Fawn's Winter Alpaca stamp. It's made the same way as the unicorn card, but is perhaps more suitable for a boy. Go and see what my teamies have made, then get out your Christma...

Hi, guys! Festive greetings - we have a new challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge! As usual the theme is Anything Christmas Goes and it doesn't have to be a card! We also have a DT Call so hop over and check out the details! While sorting my stamp sets I came across this cute Merry and Bright set from Simon Says Stamp, which came in an old kit along with Doodlebug papers from the Here Comes Santa Claus paper pad. I used an MFT Stitched Scalloped Border Die for the snowbanks, with some icicle Stickles to add streaks of glitter. I used red Nuvo Drops for Rudolph's nose and the baubles on the tree. My teamies, as usual, have made gorgeous examples to inspire you! Thanks for looking and have a great day! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! I hope your week is going well! We had rain again last night, woo-hoo! The garden smelt lovely and fresh this morning! To counteract the heat, it's time for our next challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge We've had a glitch on our post on the blog, I'm afraid, but keep checking back! I added the Top Five to the first comment under the blogpost. Anyway, here's my Christmas card: The image is a very old C C Designs stamp called 'Stocking Boy.' I used papers from an old Kaisercraft pad, the background is glittered! Do join in our Challenge, you can make anything Christmassy, it doesn't have to be a card! Thanks for looking love Mags b x

First of all, a massive apology to all followers of Dream Valley and our lovely DT! I forgot to add my card to the blogpost. What a plonker! Our theme is Christmas in July and our gorgeous sponsor is All Dressed Up Stamps. This sweet image is All Dressed Up for Christmas. The papers are Merry Little Christmas by First Edition, which is sadly out of print. The gold and green ribbon is from stash. I added sparkle to her wings and Nuvo Drops to the baubles on the tree. The sentiment came with a magazine, I like the pop of teal against the trad red and green! Thanks for looking and have a fab wee! love Mags B x

Good morning, all! Phew! It's already a scorching day here in S-E Herts, so it's a little odd to be posting Christmas cards for The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge. Our challenges are always Anything Christmas Goes. I made 2 cards with decoupage sheets from Hunkydory that I've had for ages! I added silver mats and a silver-embossed sentiment. I used silicon gel to adhere all the layers together. I love this old-fashioned pillar box, it reminds me of one that stood outside my grandparents' house in Newcastle-upon-Tyne! Both images have touches of silver foiling - so pretty! My teamies have made some gorgeous cards to inspire you, go and see!! Thanks for looking and have a good day! love Mags B x

Good morning! I hope you're all keeping well! We have a new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge which as always is Anything Christmas Goes. I have been sorting my craft hovel (again!) and dug out a lovely filigree leaping stag stamp which came with a magazine last year. I embossed it in Antique Gold embossing powder from Altenew, which is gorgeous, and decided to go for a more shabby chic look than usual. I fussy-cut the image and layered it on a circle of blue vellum and a doily, edged with a string of pearls. The gold-embossed sentiment is from the magazine stamp set. I used Vintage Photo to distress the edges of the cardbase and the paper, which is from stash. The Lace and stars came from an old kit from Crafteezee and the ribbon and flower are from Wild Orchid Crafts . I added Glamour Dust to the wooden stars and the dewdrops are from stash. I also used a lot of Glossy Accents to glue everything in place, as I'd mislaid my glue gun! Now I'...