Madcap Manor

 Hi, guys! I have been spending many weeks (many, many weeks!) making Christmas cards.  The latest batch uses the December 2023  Sheetload of Cards  by Alicia of Call Me Crafty Al.  I have made 50 cards for all the mums/Nans/childminders who come to the Toddler Club that I help to run at my church. Here are 8 of the cards I made to show how great this is for using up paper pads.  I finished off a Christmas pad that I'd had for 2 years! And the next 4. All the images and the sentiment are by MFT, the Santas are from the  Jingle All the Way  stamp set and the Elves are from the  Santa's Elves  stamp set.  I love 'em! I coloured them with Promarkers and fussy-cut them.  These cards make me smile! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

Here is a picture of my new granddaughter Fiadh, who was born last Friday, and her brother Oscar, who is 6.  Ye Olde Manne and I will be visiting at the beginning of March and I can't wait!!  Sadly, this is my last post for  The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge .  I am sorry to leave, it has been great to get all my Christmas cards sorted before December! I want to thank Marlene and the lovely Design Team and everyone who enters the challenge for their inspiration. My card is based on  this video  by Iced Images for a Gatefold Star Card.  The papers are from a very old paper pad by Cosmo Cricket called 'Mitten Weather.'  The two glittered chipboard snowflakes came from the same collection.  The sentiments and gems are from my stash. Check out my teamies' lovely creations! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

 Good morning! I hope you're all keeping well.  I am very excited to tell you that my daughter Sacha is in hospital because her baby is on the way! So this weekend Ye Olde Manne and I will be welcoming a new granddaughter.  Her name is Fiadh (pronounced 'Fee-a') and her big brother Oscar is so excited! Now on to our new Challenge at  My Time to Craft Christmas  which is sadly going to be my last.  I am taking a break from all my DTs.  Our new theme is Snowflakes. My first card has a stencilled background. The stencil has lost its packaging, and I don't know who made it.  I used blue mirror card for the mat and the sentiment, which is from and old MFT die.  I added White Blizzard Glitter Drops by Nuvo to the middles of the snowflakes and the dots as well. Card number 2 is made with the beautiful ISSA layering Snowflake dies by  Birch Press Designs  which seems to be out of print. I used 3 shades of blue cardstock for the layers and s...

Good afternoon from sunny Hertfordshire! Well, it's sunny now that the freezing fog has lifted.  Brr! It's so wintry these days - but we can all cheer up by making cheerful Christmas cards! Yes, it's time for a new Challenge at  The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge.   We also have a DT Call  so if you've ever wondered about joining a Challenge Design Team, check out the blog.  All welcome, no matter your level of experience! I was tidying my Craft Hovel and came across an old set of papers and die-cuts by  Hunkydory Crafts  which came with a magazine a long time ago. I can't remember what this fold is called!  Here is the inside: Everything is from the kit, which includes some very pretty foiling.  The inside sentiment is 'To the Lovebirds at Christmas' and I know just who I'll be sending it to in 11 months' time! Check out the blog for more inspiration and for details of the DT Call. Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

 Good morning! For the latest challenge at  My Time to Craft Christmas  we would like to see traditional colours of red, gold and green. (Are you now humming 'Karma Chameleon' by Culture Club? I am!) My first card uses items from  an old  Hunkydory  magazine. I raised the middle of the circular die-cut on foam to give some dimension.  I added a square gold mat, but everything else on the card came from the magazine kit. My second card is actually a 4 x 4 inch tag!  I used an old wreath die from MFT to cut 2 colours of green cardstock which I layered together.  The bow (from the same set) is cut in red glitter card, and I added Xmas Red Stickles for the glittery berries.  The gold mat is cut with another old MFT die, and the ribbon is from my stash. Check out the challenge blog for more inspiration! Thanks for looking and take care! Culture Club: (don't they look young?) Listen out for the 'red, gold and green' line! https://www.youtube.c...

 Edited to add: oops, I made a mistake when scheduling this post, apologies that it's late! Good morning, my lovelies! It's January 24th, and it's only 11 months until CHRISTMAS EVE! I mentioned this to my hubby and he groaned and covered his face with his hands..... Anyway, this means there is plenty of time to get your Christmas Thing going, and at  The Holly and Ivy  we are here to help.  Yes, we have a new challenge for your entertainment! I only realised when I posted that this is the same layout for my card yesterday at Dream Valley! The cute image and the papers are by Doodlebug from their 'Let It Snow' Collection.  I added a red cardstock mat and some white Love from Lizi peel-offs. I also dotted stickles on the snowflake centres and the pom-pom on the penguin's hat. Check out my teamies' fun inspiration and join in the challenge! It's never too soon to start making Christmas creations! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

 Good morning, all! There's a new challenge at  My Time to Craft Christmas  which is to use patterned paper.  I used some old digi papers from Nitwit Collections'  Mooey Christmas .  I made 2 cards, following a  template  by Jess of Jess Crafts. The template easily makes 2 cards from a sheet of 6 x 8 paper, but I used 2 sheets and swapped the elements around. The Christmas tree dies are called  Woodlands  and are by Tim Holtz for Sizzix.  I cut them in pearlescent green card, glued them onto white paper and trimmed around the edges.  The sentiment is one of the  Winter Scripty Sentiments  by Lawn Fawn. If you're like me you'll have a lot of patterned paper in your stash, so this is a very useful challenge to encourage you to use some up! Check out the blog to see more inspiration - and remember, you can enter up to THREE times, so you can use even more papers! (It makes space to buy some more, of course!!) Anyway, tha...

 Hi there! It's never too soon to start thinking about next Christmas! So we have our first Challenge of 2023 at  The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge  to inspire you! Remember, it doesn't have to be a card! I have used papers and ephemera from last November's kit by  Love from Lizi  for a card. I used a no-scraps template by  Jess Crafts  for the patterned paper, and some pearlised pink cardstock for the background.  The sentiment is one of the  Simple sentiment strips - Christmas  by Taylored Expressions. If you're not 'all Christmassed out,' take a look at the Challenge blog and join in - you'll be glad you did when November rolls around and you have a good stack of Christmas cards, tags etc all ready to go! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

 This is tough for me, because there are so many techniques I enjoy! It's a bit like being asked 'What's your favourite book?' To which my answer is always 'The one that I'm currently reading.' Anyway, I love using patterned papers on my cards, but rather than use a sketch I decided on paper piecing for a change.  I used an old  Woodware  stamp by the brilliant Francoise Read, it's called 'Large Patch Tree' and unfortunately is out of print.  But check out the other stamps she has designed, so many are great for paper piecing. One of the good things about paper piecing is that it's so easy to make 2 cards at once. I used 2 green patterned papers, a scrap of red tartan paper, and some red card.  I stamped the tree on all the papers and fussy-cut them out.  Then I went around the cut edges with a black marker to hide any imperfections in my cutting!  I stamped the image again on 2 4 x 6 inch pieces of white card and assembled the trees like a q...