Madcap Manor

 Hiya! Happy Friday! Welcome to our latest Challenge at My Time to Craft! where we'l like to see Lots of Layers! My first card was made for my new Grand-nephew, born last weekend.  I used Sketch 46 from Operation Write Home with a little adjustment to the central panel. The papers are very old! So is the stamp, which is by Hero Arts.  I stamped the image on the cardstock oval and coloured the crown and beak with Copics, then stamped twice more on patterned paper, fussy cut, and layered them like decoupage.  The sentiment is heat-embossed in blue and I added Nuvo Glitter drops for a bit of bling. My second card is 5" x 7" and is very Old Skool, using Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles dies.   I hand cut the polka dot paper to fit inside each die-cut, then layered them with foam tape.  The flowers and leaves are made using punches, and I added more Nuvo drops to the flower centres.  No sentiment yet, as I'm waiting for the right occasion.  I rea...

Good morning! I hope you've all had a good week and are looking forward to the weekend. We have a new Challenge at My Time to Craft to entertain you: we would like to see Texture on your creations!  I was inspired by This video by Christina Griffiths and decided to CASE her card. She used dry embossing, ribbon and butterflies on her card; I used heat embossing, glitter washi tape and flowers, and also a different border die by Spellbinders. Check out her channel, she makes beautiful cards! I embossed the white card with Ivory Pearl powder by Love from Lizi and an old floral background stamp from Simon Says Stamp. The mesh flowers and washi tape are from my stash. The ombre die-cuts are only glued along the top, so that the edging is raised up a bit. The image and sentiment are from a 'Downton Abbey' collection by Crafters Companion which was a magazine freebie.  Go and see my teamies' creations for more inspiration!  Thanks for looking and keep well.  lo...

Hi, guys! I hope your weekend went well! Ye Olde Manne and I are engaged on a Grand Tidy-Up to get ready for family to come and stay at Christmas! And, no, mid-November isn't too early to start - there's an awful lot of STUFF in this house that needs to go!! However, there's always time to make a card or two! Our new theme at Dream Valley is to use No Squares or Rectangles! None at all!!!!! Our sponsor is Star Stampz and I have used the adorable Snowflake Fairy to make a winter birthday card. The card base is cut with a Spellbinders Labels Twenty Two die (annoyingly, it seems to be no longer available) and I drew around the inside of the die on some glittered snowflake paper from stash, and cut it out to give a narrow border. I had a co-ordinating gem set from Want2Scrap which adds a lot of sparkle! I added a ribbon bow and a snowflake charm from my stash, and glitter Nuvo Drops on the snowflakes around the cute girl. Do join in our Challenge, there is pl...

Hi, guys! Do you have that 'Monday Morning' feeling? Check out our new Challenge at Dream Valley and you'll feel better! Our theme is to used Dies and Punches and our sponsor is the lovely Tracy at Dies to Die For. The background paper is a digi from Pink Petticoat (now relaunched as The Lovely Studio ) but sadly it's unavailable now. Do check out the shop, though, the colours are gorgeous! The flowers were made with Woodware punches and distressed with a Delicata Gold inkpad. I also distressed the edge of the background paper. The leaves were cut with an old Spellbinders' mistletoe die and for the sentiment I layered 3 pieces of white card and one of gold paper, all cut with the MFT Hello There die. Finally I added gold gems to the flower centres. Check out my teamies' creations and have a go! Thanks for looking, and have a good week. 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...

Good afternoon, all! My lovely nephew and neice celebrated the birth of their first baby just before Christmas: a baby boy! He is utterly adorable! I sent a card: The image is Looking at my Sweet by Sami Stamps. So elegant! I added some sparkle to the baby blanket. I used Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles dies to cut the image and the mat. The sentiment is embossed with Steel blue embossing powder by Simon Says Stamps and the Small Banner die is also from SSS. Thanks for looking, and I hope you're having a good week! love Mags B x

Hiya! It's our last Challenge of the year at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and as always the theme is Anything Christmas Goes! I have made a set of gift tags. The Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments stamp came with a magazine a few years ago and it echoes the shape of the 2011 Heirloom Ornaments dies. I embossed some in silver and sone in gold, then fussy cut around the edges. I used the coordinating die to cut out pink and blue card as backing, then used my crop-a-dile to punch holes and added ribbon. Simple, but I like them! I hope you're all getting along ok with your Christmas preparations. Thanks for looking, and have a good week! 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

Good morning! It's a grey, drizzly day here in S E Herts. A good day to hop over to Dream Valley and check out our new challenge, Things with Wings. So - fairies, birds, bees, aeroplanes - as long as it has wings it's ok for the challenge! I went with a cute image from our sponsor Sasayaki Glitter. This is You Blow Me Away isn't she sweet? I added glitter to her wings and the centre of the flower in her hair. I used a Spellbinders' Labels Four die to cut out the image, and layered it onto an Elegant Labels Four mat. The Butterfly is also cut with a Spellbinders die. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the ribbon and pearls are from stash. The background paper is a snippet and the sentiment is from an old Lili of the Valley sentiment set. Go and see my teamies' pretty creations and then join in the fun! Thanks for looking, and I hope you have a good week! love Mags B x

Good morning! We have a great new Challenge at CRAFT Challenge! It's a Colour Combo: Gorgeous, or what? I used Love to Dance by our fab sponsor All Dressed Up Stamps. I love Wendy's beautiful, charming images! The papers were created by our Boss, Jo . I used a Spellbinders Labels 20 die to cut the mat. I also used a Spellibinders Foliage Two set for the white die-cut flourishes. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the lace is from stash. Our sponsors: All Dressed Up Paper Nest Dolls Go and be inspired by my teamies' fab creations! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! I hope you're all having a good week! We have our regular Christmas Challenge at CRAFT Challenge . The adorable image is Christmas Angel from sponsor Digital Paper Craft. I added folds to her pretty gown with my Copics and I'm rather pleased how it turned out! I added clear Wink of Stella to her wings, halo and star. The papers are from Nitwits' Still Joyful Hearts digi papers. The sentiment is by Lawn Fawn from the Ready, Set, Snow stamp set. The sparkly Ikea ribbon was an RAK from my daughter and the pearls are from stash. Our sponsors: Star Stampz Digital Paper Crafts Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hello! It's a beautiful, clear but chilly autumn day here in S-E Herts. Every fortnight when my hubby takes me to hospital for chemo we drive along a road bordered with the most beautiful trees, and over the past few weeks it's been lovely to see them change into their gorgeous autumn colours! And now our Challenge this fortnight at My Time to Craft is Halloween or Autumn Colours I don't oftem make Halloween things, because most of my friends and family just aren't interested, so it's good to have an alternative. This is a very bright card! I die-cut snippets of cardstock in dark red, orange, and gold-spotted yellow with a Spellbinders Majesty die set. For the base layer I drew around the outside of the largest die and hand-cut it. The Fancy Framed Tag is also by Spellbinders and I used the matching diamantes from Want 2 Scrap to bling it up. I embossed the sentiment in gold. The spotted background is actually more green than the picture shows, and it...

Apologies for the lateness of this post, guys! But finally here is my card for the latest Dream Valley Challenge. We would like to see Embossing this fortnight, it can be heat embossing, dry embossing - or both! We have the wonderful Live and Love Crafts as our sponsor this fortnight, Sandy is offering a £10 voucher to our lucky winner! I have made..... a Christmas Card! The fabulous Joy stamp is by Hero Arts. I heat-embossed it in cream, then used Distress Inks to colour the background: the embossing resists the ink, so I just had to wipe over the image with some kitchen paper and now it's clear to see. The die-cut is by Spellbinders and after I cut it I embossed it - there are some subtle diagonal lines around the central oval. I made a 5 x 7 card base from blue Centura Pearl. The die-cut is glued flat, the central oval is on foam pads for some interest. Finally I used a white Perle Pen to add some subtle bling. Simples! Have a look at the blog to be inspir...

Good morning! I hope your week is going well. We have a lovely new Challenge at CRAFT Challenge and it is to make an Easel Card. Recently I have been trying my hand at the Shabby Chic style, which is rather out of my comfort zone. My style is usually less decorated, but I've seen such lovely creations by Sharon Gurnhill and Bev Rochester that I wanted to have a go. You would not believe how many cards ended up in the Round Filing Cabinet (ie the bin!!!!!) However, I have finally made a card that I am very pleased with, and here it is: And a side view: From the back: the papers came with a magazine a couple of years ago, I distressed the edges with scissors and used Gathered Twigs DI as well. Gathered Twigs was also used on the pink Centura Pearl mat. There is some cheesecloth glued on top of the background paper. There is a white die-cut behind the image and a butterfly by Joycraft on top of that, with pink gems on its body and a diamante 'trail.' I adde...

...or both! It's My Time to Craft Challenge day! We have a lovely theme this fortnight, it's Embossing. I used dry embossing (using a folder and my die-cutting machine) and also heat embossing. I enjoyed it so much that I made two cards! This card uses a snowflake embossing folder that came with my Cuttlebug about 6 years ago! The wreath is from Holly Motifs by Spellbinders and the gold-embossed sentiment is from Joyful Greetings by Paper Smooches. This card is made in exactly the same way. The background is embossed with a Spellbinders Flora M-Bossabilities folder. The die-cuts are also Spellbinders, this time from Cascading Grace . The central red piece is embossed and added with foam pads to give a bit of dimension. The gold embossed sentiment is by Clearly Besotted but seems to be discontinued. See what my teamies at My Time to Craft have created to inspire you! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Afternoon, all! I hope you're having a good weekend. My son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter are up from Shrewsbury for the weekend. They have taken the olde manne out to get a stairgate while I have my afternoon kip! So I thought it was about time I posted about the new challenge at My Time to Craft . We have a fab Sketch by Jo for you to try. I always have a bit of trouble getting the sizing right for background strips, so this time I cheated and made the central strip separately and glued it on top of the background paper!! I used the Artists Butterfly wood-mounted stamp by Hero Arts. I used a Die-namics Zig Zag Stitched Square die to cut it out. I also cut all my papers and mats with Spellbinders 6 x 6 Matting Basics A and B which are a bit more accurate than my normal cutting! The papers are from the Snippets drawer and the ribbon and gems are from stash. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Thanks a Bunch set and the Fancy Tags label is by Spellbinders. My...

I have had several occasions recently for which I've been making cards, so there may be posts from me this week that are not DT cards!! This one has been received by my neighbour, who has had a tough 18 months coping with breast cancer. Thankfully she is healed! She has been absolutely wonderful about my bowel cancer, full of sympathy and good advice. The coloured card is from Anna Marie Designs and is a beautiful shade of lilac. I used a Spellbinders Die, Card Creator 5 x 7 Reflective Moments and layered it with foam pads. The sentiment is stamped in Mama Elephant Stargazer Pigment Ink, and the stamp is from Be Happy Today . The tear-shaped purple gems are from my stash. I hope your weekend is going well. For all my Welsh friends - CONGRATULATIONS to Wales for winning their first match at Euro 16! It wouldn't surprise me if they got at least a draw against England on Thursday! :) Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! It's Monday already - where did the weekend go? To cheer you up we have a new challenge at Dream Valley and our theme is Vintage A great excuse to go overboard with lace, flowers, distressing and pretty papers! Our sponsor is the amazing Crafty Ribons Here is my card: My background paper is from an 8 x 8 'Floral Pavilion' pad by First Edition, and I distressed the edges of the paper and the card base with Vintage Photo. The sentiment is from a very old Penny Black sentiment set and says 'Happiness is time spent with a Friend.' I had the oval frame in my stash, it was rather brash white plastic so I dabbed Cranberry and Terracotta Alcohol Inks by Ranger onto it. The shape behind is cut with a Spellbinders die from the 5 x 7 Heirloom Legacy set, and it is also distressed with Vintage Photo. The vine is cut with a Spellbinders Floral Bundle die, the flowers are by Wild Orchid Crafts and the lace and gem swirls are from stash. 'Vi...

Hi, guys! It's the weekend! Hooray!! At My Time to Craft we have a great theme this week: All White Except the Image . The stamp is by C C Designs, one of the Swiss Pixies . Sadly, this older image isn't available, but there are plenty of other cuties on the site. When making a white-on-white card I always go for texture and layering. I used Centura Pearl card which has a pretty gleam. The base is embossed with a Sizzix Hearts embossing folder, and I layered two sizes of the Spellbinders Opulent Ovals dies on top, using foam tape. The image has been fussy cut and also added with foam tape. The sentiment tag is by Lili of the Valley Go and see my teamies' inspirational work, especially if you've never done a card like this. You'll be amazed by the clever cards they have made! Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend! love Mags B x

Evening, all! I have a card to share tonight, one of several I made over half term. I have been having a sort-out of Crafty stuff and came across a stamp set that came with a magazine some time ago: all the images are disigned to fit Spellbinders' Circle dies. So I had a play. I used Copics, and added gold stickles to the flower centres and wink of Stella to the wings. The paper was also a freebie, several years ago. The pink lace and the silver stickers are from stash, and the sentiment is by Lili of the Valley. This is a very bright, very pink card!! I hope your week is going well! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x