Madcap Manor

Good morning! The new challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox and the theme is to use 'something spooled.' That can be lace ribbon, twine, string - anything that comes of a spool. Our sponsor is the fab Robyn's Fetish and a lucky winner will be able to choose 5 digis from the shop! The DT could also use some images, I chose English tea cup isn't it pretty? I used a Go Kreate large Frilly Die to make the shaped card blank. The background paper is by Bearly Mine, I love the roses! I used a Spellbinders Stately Circles die for the mat. The image is coloured with Speccies, and the roses have been Glossy Accented. The flowers are by wild Orchid Crafts, and the fern is made with a Memory Box die (it was a pain to cut, even in Excalibur, my gorgeous Grand Calibur!) I used two spooled items - a length of lace, and some organza ribbon. Do go and see what my teamies have made, they will inspire you to dig out your spools and have a go! Thanks for looking! love M...

Evening, all! It's been a bit chilly today, my daughter is wearing her onesie and a sweater and has her dinosaur blanket draped round her like a toga and she's still cold! I'm just grateful for thermal undies! My card tonight is reminiscent of sunnier days. I found the cute Tilda with Water Lily already coloured (with Speccies, I think) and so whipped up this: I'm sorry the picture is a bit fuzzy! I used a Spellbinders Labels Five die and distressed the edges with Tea Dye while the image was still in the die. The papers are from the snippets box again, they are all Bearly Mine. The lace is from my sewing stash, it has a pretty pink thread running through it which is not showing well! I made the bow with the same lace and glued it on. The flowers are all Wild Orchid Crafts (the biggest is a lily of course!) and the leaves are made with a Woodware punch. The gems are from stash. The tags are LotV. I blinged Tilda's dress and bow with dots of stickles. I lo...

Evening, all! Sorry I'm so late, I've spent the evening stocking the freezer and making chicken soup, and the time ran away with me! But the kitchen smells delicious! I've been playing with my Spellbinders again: I used the Floral Doily set, the largest circle die and the border die. The border die slots along the edge of the vertical strip and just needs touches of glue to hold it in place - thank you, Christina of Card-making Magic for the video demonstration! I used snippets of Vintage papers from Bearly Mine Designs - it's a shame my camera skillz are so naff, because they are so pretty and don't show up well at all! I die cut some leaves with the Spellbinders 'Foliage' dies and Distressed them in Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles, then had a go at a flower arrangement. Here's a side view: I have learned the hard way that an arrangement on a tall stand in Church is not an ideal inspiration for a card - the bouquet looks...

Evening, all! Well, the 'flu has gone, huzza! I really appreciate being able to breathe again! And I can read without falling asleep - always a bonus! My daughter's ex-boss married her girlfriend today, so now I can show the card I made for them. I've never made a card for a same-sex marriage before, but this beautiful Lovebirds image from Squiggle Stamps came to the rescue. It's sad that Squiggle Stamps are closing, but some of their images will be available through The Stamping Shack I coloured the digi image with Sunkissed Pink and Rose Peach Flexmarkers, and also with Sakura Stardust pens which add a lovely gleam that the camera hasn't picked up, chiz. I used a Nestie to cut out the image and distressed the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The card is ivory coloured, and I cut the edge of the front with a Magnolia die and also distressed with Vintage Photo. The papers are Bearly Mine Vintage, from the Snippets Box. The gorgeous lace is from Th...

I was going to schedule this post, but I've been watching all the Olympics catch-up programmes tonight and I'm still up! Hooray for Mo Farah, Double Olympian, what a star he is! We have also had a visit from my son, daughter-in-law and adorable granddaughter! There was a lot of cuddling and giggling, singing and playing and reading stories. It was wonderful to have a baby in this house again! Now on to the new challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox which this time is 'The Sea'. That could be Under the Sea, On the Sea, or Beside the Sea! I've been humming 'Under the Sea' from Disney's 'Little Mermaid' for several days now - and I bet now you're all humming that catchy tune, too! Our wonderful sponsor is Make It Crafty . I love their digis, and Zoe (their boss) has amazing colouring skillz. You may have seen her articles in the Magnolia Ink Magazines. There's a $15AU voucher for the lucky winner of this challenge! The cute image is...

Hi, guys! Sorry about the long time without blogging, we visited my granddaughter in Shrewsbury and when we got home discovered the fuses had blown on all the sockets! I thought I'd got it fixed, but it happened again, I reset the fuses again, and called the electrician, who can't come until tomorrow :( But the reason he's busy is he's very good, so I don't really mind too much!! So this will be an ultra-quick post! The image is LotV, of course, I love their cute bunnies! The digi papers are by Bearly Mine Designs , their 'Peach Dreams' set, which is just yummy! The circles are done with Nesties, and edged with Glamour Dust. The sentiment is by Pink Gem . I used a decorative blade on my Woodware Fingerguard trimmer to give the wavy edges. Gems are from stash, and the butterflies are punched with a Martha Stewart punch from a snippet of copper paper. I didn't list the colours of the pens I used! Sorry! But the yellow on the image has been covered with Gl...

Here we are again with the next Dream Valley Challenge, 'Stamp Something'! So get out the old rubber and get stamping! Our two sponsors are Papermaze who are offering a £10 voucher for their shop, and Funky Kits which is the home of Sugar Nellie, who are offering the winner's choice of one of their stamps! What about the card, then? This lad is Scooter Boy one of the Sugar Nellie Mangas. I love those stamps, they are so cute! I hope he's not going to take that scooter onto the road, though, because he isn't wearing a helmet! I coloured his mean machine green then went over it with an embossing pen and clear embossed, to give some shine (which doesn't really show here, hey-ho!) The papers are a Bearly Mine download called 'The Boys Zone'. The colours are lovely soft blues, browns and greens. The sketch is this week's Cute Card Thursday challenge. The ribbons in the top corner are actually stamped with a Lili of the Valley Additions ribbon stamp,...

My son and his girlfriend got engaged on Friday! This is the card I made for them - it's a bit OTT! I made a simplified step card for the base: fold A4 card crossways to make a tent fold, then cut down the middle to a bit less than halfway. Fold one of the flaps forward and back to make a nice crease, then invert it to make the step. This side view might be more useful than my explanation! I got the technique from Christina at the card-making-magic website Papers are Bearly Mine Designs and they're gorgeous! Flowers are Wild Orchid, the sparkly purple flourishes are Marianne. The images are Tickled Pink Stamps - I do love their stamps! Oops! I've chucked the list of Promarkers, though I remember Lil' Lad Luca's suit is done in Cool Grey 2 - 5. Martha S's hearts punch was used on the horizontal strip and Nesties fro the shapes behind the images. Ribbon and heart pin are from stash. This is the biggest card I've ever made, and it took ages! I did a bit here...

This is what I've been doing the last few days, in between listening to the cricket as we RETAINED THE ASHES! It's been so exciting! The stamp is Hero Arts, and it's a delight to colour! I've been practising my shading, which I hope makes the flowers look 3D without the need to decoupage. The papers are scraps, mostly Bearly Mine Designs which are gorgeous! I requested the Bearly Mine Vintage papers last Wednesday evening, got the invoice, paid and downloaded within an hour! Fantastic service, especially just before Christmas! You might spy 2 new Martha Stewart punches, the butterfly border and the lattice one, which my DH got me for Christmas! My horrid cold has almost gone, I'm carding again, at last, and everything (except the foggy weather) is rosy! I hope you all had a great Christmas, and I wish you lots of crafting fun in 2011! Now I'm off to make a cuppa and listen to the highlights of yesterday'sVICTORY again! Obssessed? Moi? Thanks for looking! lu...

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...

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...