Madcap Manor

 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...

Hello! I hope you're all keeping well and finding time to craft.  Even in the summer I make Christmas cards, it saves so much wear and tear on the nerves in December! To inspire you to do the same we have a new challenge at  My Time to Craft Christmas  where our theme is Candles or Lanterns.    My first card uses an old die by  Tattered Lace  which I think came with a magazine.  It took several passes with a shim to cut it - my dear old Cuttlebug's life is drawing peacefully to its close.  But it's so gorgeous it was worth the hassle! The background is a speciality paper from  Tonic Studios  which seems to be out of print.  I added a silver mirror border, and the card base is made from the same blue card that I used to back the die-cut.  The silver-embossed  sentiment is by Taylored Expressions. My second card is heat-embossed in gold, with a gold mat on a 5x7 card.  The image is by  Woodware  but unfo...

 I have had this 'Patchwork Boat' stamp by Woodware for many years, and I thought I'd use it for my Olde Manne's birthday card.  Making cards for him is very difficult because he does not do Cute in any way at all! Fortunately the paper-piecing was judged to be acceptable! I used 6 papers from an old paper pad, stamped the image on each one and fussy-cut the 'patches.'  I re-stamped the image on some white card, glued down the patches and then cut the image out.  Then, because I had all those extras left over, I made 5 more to give to the Toddler Group at my Church. The background is made with an old background stamp from Hero Arts and Peacock Feathers Distress ink.  The border is made from blue holographic card from Tonic and I added the embossed greeting to 'ground' everything.  Finally I added 3 drops of Nuvo Drops for a tiny bit of bling! He likes it! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

Evening, all! I'm sorry I'm so late with this post, I was convinced all day that today was Monday!!! Wot a plonker!  Even though it's summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, it's not too soon to start on your Christmas creations! At The Holly and Ivy we are here to help! As usual, the theme is Anything Christmas Goes!   I have made a Tall and Skinny card, using Woodware's Nutcracker stamp, designed by the very talented Francoise Read. I stamped and clear-embossed him on Arteza watercolour paper, and used watercolour pencils. The colours are quite soft and more subtle than alcohol inks, and I like the faded vintagy look it gives. The background paper is from my Christmas stash, and the holly leaves are glittered.  I really enjoyed colouring this image (I was listening to the cricket on the radio at the time, of course! Painting and cricket seem to go well together!) I must do more watercolouring, it's very relaxing. Anyway, now's your chance to pop ove...

  Good morning! There's a new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy and also a DT Call! Check out the blog for details. I have made a slimline card featuring the Woodware Clear Stamp Snowman Family. I stamped onto watercolour paper and embossed the lines with clear embossing powder and painted in the details, then fussy cut the image.  For the snowy ground I stamped the bottom of the image onto glitter cardstock and cut it out to fit.  Tha background paper is from my Christmas drawer, it is very old! Check out my teamies' fab creations and also the DT Call! All levels of experience are welcome! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

Evening, all! It's been a cold, dreich day, and I have been wrapping Christmas presents! With some music on in the background it's a very soothing activity. They will be delivered this weekend along with cards for the neighbours, and then all that remains is to shop for the Big Day.  We will be on our own this year, which is sad, but we will be having facetime with the grandchildren, which is some consolation. I'd rather have a quiet Christmas this year, knowing I'll still be around to celebrate in style next year!  Anyway, we have another Christmas challenge at My Time to Craft! which is Monochromatic Christmas. We're looking for shades of one colour on your creations! I went with blue. The stamp, which is perfect for a slimline card, is a clear stamp by Woodware Craft Collection. I can't find them online - are they still in business?  I heat embossed the outline onto watercolour card and painted the image. I layered it onto blue patterned paper and b...

Happy birthday, William Shakespeare! Good evening, all! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that going back to work hasn't been too stressful! We have a new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge for you to enjoy! I used an old Woodware stamp and heat-embossed it in gold. Then I coloured it using my Zig pens. I scribbled the colour onto a palette (nothing fancy - just a piece of A4 white card that's been laminated!) and used a damp brush to pick it up. I added Nuvo Drops to the flower centres. The sentiment is also gold-embossed, and the sequins are from my stash. The background paper was loose in my Snippets drawer, I have no idea where it's from! Have a look at the festive creations my teamies have left on the blog to inspire you and join in the fun! Thanks for looking, and have a good week! love Mags B x

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

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

Morning, all! Our new Challenge at My Time to Craft! is Paper Piecing. In case you haven't come across this technique before, it's where, rather than colouring your stamped image, you stamp it again on patterned paper, cut out the pieces and glue them in place instead. I used an old stamp by Woodware called 'Patchwork Christmas Tree.' Sadly it's now unavailable. The key with paper piecing is to use an image with clearly-defined shapes - have a look at my teamies' lovely creations to get a better idea. I used a selection of green papers for the tree, and a scrap of red for the heart, which has been covered in Glossy Accents. I also added Stickles to one of the 'patchwork' patterns and the star. The background paper is from stash and the ribbon is from Hobbycraft. The sentiment is from an old magazine freebie stamp set and the gems are also from stash. I made a second card, too: I only have another 2 dozen Christmas cards to make! I've ...

Hi, guys! We have a new challenge at My Time to Craft! and the theme is either Cats or Halloween I found a very, very old stamp set by Francoise Read for Woodware which has some lovely cartoonish cats. I heat-embossed him and used Prismacolour pencils to colour him in. He had to be pink and white, like Bagpuss! The papers are also very old, from My Mind's Eyes Quite Contrary paper pad. The sentiment is from the same stamp set, I bent it into a wave to give some interest. Go and see what my creative teamies have done with these themes! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! Last Saturday I made a shaker card for the current Challenge at My Time to Craft which is to use sequins, buttons or both. While I had my sequins and the button tin out, I thought I'd make another card, using Bubble Bloom Felicity by Woodware. I've had this stamp a while but never used it - it is Never-before-used-Schtuff or NBUS for short. The inspiring Darnell coined the phrase and acronym. If you haven't discovered her blog do go and see, her creations are lovely and she is so funny! Anyway, here is my card: Very CAS! The buttons are from my late Mother-in-Law's button tin, they have a pretty pearly sheen. The sequins are from Little Things by Lucy from her Tutu Sparkly Shaker Collection. So pretty! The leaves are coloured with Copics. I hope you all have a great weekend! I have scheduled this, as tomorrow Ye Olde Manne and I are going to a wedding! A rare excuse to wear my Posh Frock!!! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hiya! Happy New Year! Wishing you all the best for a happy, healthy and crafty 2017! The first Challenge of 2017 at CRAFT Challenge is this Recipe: We'd like you to use ONE image, TWO patterned papers, and THREE flowers. I made a birthday card for a young man: My IMAGE is Birthday Mickey Monkey from Digital Delights by Louby Lou - isn't he cute? I coloured him with Promarkers and added glitter to his hat trim and Wink of Stella to the Balloons. My two PATTERNED PAPERS are from a very old paper pad by Cosmo Cricket called 'The Boyfriend.' The three flowers, and the leaves, are from the In the Jungle stamp set by Woodware and I fussy cut them after colouring. I added the lower leaves first, then added the flowers on foam pads. The Sentiment tag is by Lili of the Valley. Have a look at my teamies' lovely work, it's amazing how different their interpretations of the recipe are! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

That thudding sound is me *headdesking* because I mucked up my scheduling for this post (and the Dream Valley one, too!) I apologise!!! The new Challenge at My Time to Craft is Owls I used a Woodware Patch an Owl stamp and paper pieced it with papers from stash. The background paper and scallopped border are made with LotV Country Lady papers (they are gorgeous!) The sentiment came with the stamp set. My teamies have produced the most wonderful variety of Owls to inspire you, do, please go and see! Thanks for looking! love, Mags 'my google-fu has an intermittent fault' B x

Happy Independence Day to all my friends and family in the USA! Good morning, all! We had an amazing thunderstorm last night, bright sheet lightning lighting up the clouds and an absolute cascade of rain! The air feels so much fresher today! Now for the new Challenge at My Time to Craft which is Paper Piecing . (The link leads to a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers.) Woodware have produced some great 'patchwork' stamps that are ideal for this. Here's the elephant: I used papers from the Snippets drawer to piece her. The background is made with a MFT Die-namics Sun-ray die, I cut it from pink card and patterned paper, glued the card to the front of my card, and filled in the gaps with paper - it seemed like a good idea at the time, but now I'm not so sure. However, half the fun of cardmaking is EXPERIMENTING to see what works and what doesn't! ;) The banner is Paper Smooches, the sentiment I think came from a magazine a long time ago! Do go and see...

Hi, guys! I hope your weekend is going well. I have the excitement of changing the sheets to look forward to: it's not easy stuffing a duvet into its cover when both are longer than you are tall!!!!! In the meantime, here is my card for the new Challenge at My Time to Craft which has the theme Oriental . Go and see the amazing work done by my teamies if you need some inspiration, they have excelled themselves! :) The lady flirting with her fan is from an old Woodware set by Francoise Read, Oriental Ladies , and the butterfly embellishment and the sentiment are from the same set. The papers are from an old Dovecraft paper pack, 'Eastern Promise.' I used a Martha Stewart doily Lace punch, and a Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment punch to make the scallops. The butterfly has been stamed 3 times and all layered together to look like chipboard, and then covered with Glossy Accents. The ribbon is cut from a pair of pink pyjamas lol!!! I am entering a Challenge! Mojo Monday ...

Evening, all! if you're looking for my post for 'My Time to Craft' please scroll down to the previous post. I had 2 cards to make today - one for my Dad's 95th birthday on Thursday; and one for my Flower Arranging mentor, who is in hospital - hopefully not for long. I chose an image of a Bonsai from the Woodware Oriental Elements clear Stamp Set for both cards because both recipients will appreciate it. My Dad learned Japanese after he was invalided out of the Army in 1943 and became a translator at the end of the War in the Far East. My mentor and I went to a wonderful demonstration of Japanese Flower Arranging last year. So you can see that both have an interest in Bonsai!! For my Mentor: The image is coloured with Promarkers. The leaves are stickled, and the pot is covered with Glossy Accents. The 'love' symbol is from another Woodware set, Oriental Ladies. I used a Woodware reverse rounder punch on the corners, and pearls from Hobbycraft for some bl...

Good evening, all! Sorry I haven't blogged much this week, I have had some problems uploading pictures to the blog : fortunately my daughter and her wonderful partner are here for the weekend - he is a Jedi Master of IT and has solved the problem! He is a very noble gentleman!!! So here is one of a set of cards I made a week ago, starring the Woodware Patch an Owl set. I paper pieced the owl, using LotV Bonnets and Bowties papers (they came free with a mag!) The beak is pieced with a scrap of gold card from stash. I used a snippet of pink card and a Spellbinders Lacey Squares die for the mat. The sentiment came with the set. I used a stamp from the Winter Gifts stamp set and the matching Tag You're It dies. The tiny flower brads are from stash. Here's a picture of the 4 cards lying on my ironing board: One of the great things about paper piecing is that if you use 4 different papers you can easily make 4 cards!! I hope you've all had a great weekend, ...

No, that's not 'Three Kings of *Leyton* Orient' which is a soccer team from North London that several of my friends follow!!! The current challenge at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas challenge is to use THREE of something. Well, call me old-fashioned, but one particular Christmas 'threesome' sprang to mind! The images are by Francoise Read for Woodware and I have had them for ages - unfortunately, they don't seem to be available any more. I coloured the Kings with Promarkers, I hope you can tell that one King is African, one is Caucasian, and one oriental. They have all been cut out and mounted on foam pads for dimension. I added Glossy Accents to the gifts and gold Stickles to their robes and crowns - and to the Star over Bethlehem. The papers are from Hobbycraft, I think it's their 'Vintage Christmas' collection, but don't quote me, as they are all loose in my 'Christmas box'. I cut the tan paper to look like hills and used Dis...

Good morning! It's the weekend, huzza! I hope you're all having a bit of crafty 'me-time'. It's time for another challenge at My Time To Craft and this week the theme is 'Kraft.' Use it for matting, embellies, your image - anything! I had never coloured on Kraft before and I was a bit anxious how my inks would look on the darker background, but 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained' and with the help of This video by Kimberly Brown I had a go. The Kraft is from a Papermania stack, it has a very pretty mottled appearance and a distressed grid pattern in white. The image is by Francoise Read for Woodware and is from the 'Flower Doodles' clear stamp set, I stamped in Versamark and embossed with opaque white powder and coloured with Spectrum Noirs. The sentiment is LotV, matted onto the Kraft and glittered round the edges. The corner flourish is a Memory Box die that I got at Ally Pally and I glittered it, too. Papers are 'Bonnets a...