Madcap Manor

Hi, guys! Isn't it cold? We've a frost forecast for tonight, and I have dug out the winter duvets! I made a card with a Whiff of Joy springtime image that I bought last year - even if we're heading into winter we can make happy springtime cards, I think! The young man it's for likes a videogame that features big yellow birds (don't ask!) so I think he'll like the joke! I apologise for the wonky, faded photo, I really don't like taking pictures indoors when there's no natural light! I took my colours from the striped Nitwits paper (Canibefranktoo). The diamond paper is also Nitwits, but I forgot to write down which collection! The yellow ribbon is from stash. I stickled the girl's hairbands and also the centres of the flowers, and put Glossy Accents on the eggshells but otherwise left it plain. The great sketch is from Sketch and Stash - everything is old except some of the Promarkers, which I picked up at Ally Pally. I may be even more erratic than ...

Good morning! This is quite a long post, so put your feet up with a cuppa and we'll be off! It's a new challenge at Dream Valley , the last fortnight has just flown by! We didn't have quite as many entries for the 'Surprise' Challenge, which isn't surprising (!) because it's the holidays! All the entries were very imaginative, though, and I certainly picked up a few tips! This time the Challenge is 'Distressing.' We have TWO sponsors! The first is One Stop Card Crafts They're offering a £10 voucher for their lovely shop! The second is Digi Doodle Shop The prize is a $10 voucher! Not bad, eh? The DT were lucky enough to be given some images from Digi Doodles to play with, yay! I used a gorgeous one, Country Path . I coloured with Promarkers and added some purple stickles to some of the flowers. Now the only distressing I usually do is going round the edges with Distress Ink, but I thought I ought to go further this time! So, after studying many vi...

Evening, all! I hope you're all having a good week. Here's a card for a friend who loves cute and fairies and PINK! The image is 'Candlelight' from Lili of the Valley . Their latest challenge is 'Anything Goes' which is nice and easy! The sketch is the current Sketch and Stash challenge. I used old MME papers from stash, which came with a magazine last year - I love these papers! The ribbon is also from stash, and I used a Bow-Easy to make a double bow. The leaves are a Magnolia die and the swirl is a Marianne one. The gorgeous flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts. The image is fairly new, bought a couple of months ago, and I slathered stickles in pink, magenta and gold over her wings! I'm rather pleased with the shaded effect. I gold-stickled round the papers, too. I needed to post tonight about pretty, girlie things because this week's episode of 'Primeval' (on the 'Watch' channel) had a lot of horrible insect in it. Yuck! Fortunately, in t...

It's been too long since I entered the Anyone for Anya? Challenge. This week the theme is Easter, or a calendar page for May. So I made an Easter card! The sketch is from Sketch and Stash Challenge . The requirement is to say which old or new stash has been used - I always find this challenge is a good one for encouraging me to use old stash! So here goes: I've had the Miss Anya stamp for ages, and isn't she great for Springtime! The papers are Honey and Hugs, and the yellow is from stash. The lace ribbon is from Hobbycraft, the flowers are Wild Orchid, the glittered swirl is a Marianne die and the leaf punch is Woodware. All of those I've used before, but the Easter greeting is from a new stamp from Pink Gem - there wasn't enough room for the whole greeting so I cut it in half. I distressed the edges of the oval with Shabby Shutters DI, and stamped in the same ink with a very old swirl stamp, then I glittered the swirls. It's supposed to look as though Anya...

Morning, all! Suddenly the weather is warmer and all the daffs are out - I do love daffs! This card is for someone whose favourite colours are black and red. Yep, she's a Goth! I hope this Dancing Willow from Whiff of Joy isn't too 'Establishment.' The current WoJ Challenge is 'Anything Goes, and there's a blog hop, too. The challenge at Cute Card Thursday is 'Music and Dance' and I reckon Dancing Willow fits that - she's shakin' her bootie for sure!! I fell for her at the Ally Pally last spring, and I really should use her more! The lovely, simple sketch is from Sketch and Stash . I've had the papers, which are Dovecraft Charcoal Prints, for ages - I got them in Portsmouth when my daughter lived there, so they must be more than 18 months old!! I used Glossy Accents on Willow's handbag, jewellery and shoes. The flowers are made from red glitter card with a Woodware punch, with black gems from stash in the middle - they're meant to ...

Welcome to my new followers! I hope you like my waffle and my cards! Just a quick post before I zoom off to the Toddler Group! I made this for my sister, who's had a lot of niggly things going wrong with her house! So I thought a happy Tilda card would cheer her up. I have neglected this Tilda, which is a shame, as she is so pretty! The papers are new: Pink Petticoat Vintage Rose, and came with 'Quick Cards Made Easy' magazine. I love them, they are adorable! The sketch is a lovely one from Sketch and Stash Challenges and I'm sure I'll use it again. The flowers are from Wild Orchid and also from stash. I had a list of the Promarkers, but I'm in the middle of what my mum called 'A Grand Tidy-Up' and I think I grandly tidied-up the list into the bin. Wot a plonker, eh? I have started spring cleaning! All the computer cables, booklets, discs, bits'n'pieces now have their own little home - it took about 3 hours to go round the house finding all the ...

These cute Wild Sprouts are wonderful for little girls' cards! This one is for the Anyone for Anya colour challenge which has a photo of a gorgeous vase of pink, red and purple flowers as inspiration. I don't know what I'd do without the inspiration from all your blogs, seeing all the different interpretations of the challenges. It's much appreciated! I used Promarkers, of course (I love my Promarkers!) The papers are from an old magazine (patterned) and Bearly Mine designs (spotted) which has a sale until the 27th - oh dear, my purse is getting so thin! The dotty paper is lilac irl, not blue. The sketch is from Sketch and Stash challenge I got the patterned paper last year, so it qualifies as old stash, and the stamp is one I haven't used before. She came from Dies to Die For I ordered some stuff from Bunny Zoe's Crafts on Sunday night and the parcel arrived first thing on Tuesday morning! I indulged in my first Magnolia stamps. I'll have another card t...

Well, after a warm and sunny July day we now have grey cloud, rain and a chilly breeze. It's not quite suitable weather for 'Christmas in July' which is this week's Penny Black Challenge The sketch is from Sketch and Stash Challenge and my new bit of stash is the adorable image, which I bought from Blade Rubber Stamps when I went to London for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. The snowflake is punched from white card and given the Glamour Dust treatment. I went a bit OTT with the stickles (round the image, on the pine branch and dotted on the stocking) and Glamour Dust (on the stocking and snowflake), but, well, it's a Christmas card, after all! Have a good evening, everyone! luv, Mags x Recipe: Promarkers: Pine, Honeycomb, Satin, Blossom, Lipstick Red, Poppu, Lush Green Papers: Dovecraft (a Christmas stack that's lost its cover)and plain green and white from stash Image distressed with Bundled Sage Snowflake punch, Woodware; border punch Martha Stewart Red r...

Sam is a friend of my daughter, and we've known her since she was 9 - that's 15 years! They grow up so fast! As you can see, I tried to make a circular easel card without the safety net of using a tutorial, so it's rather flat. The papers are downloads from Bearly Mine Designs and they are gorgeous! The cute Wild Sprout by The Greeting Farm is from Quixotic Paperie here I'm entering this into the Sketch and Stash Challenge no 39 whose theme is to make a round card. My new stash was the image, not used before, and the digital papers. I'm also entering it into Anyone for Anya Challenge where the challenge is... Anything Goes! I used Promarkers, and stamped round the edges with a swirly stamp and stickled - I don't normally do that, but it seemed right this time. Circles cut with Nesties, of course - what did I do BC (Before Cuttlebug)??? Today is grey, hot and muggy, and even my fingers are sweaty (ewww!). Do I Not Like That. I hope it's better weather tomo...