Madcap Manor

Good morning, all, from a sunny and chilly S-E Herts! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! Ours was quiet, mainly because we were both going down with colds!! Now things are getting back to normal, and we have our last CRAFT Challenge of 2017, which is Anything Goes. I have made a birthday card for an old friend, using one of Bugaboo Stamp's fun images. This is Gus Birthday - Golden Years. The sentiment reads 'If these are the Golden Years, I am NOT impressed!' The papers are from stash and I used an MFT Vintage Buttons die (sadly unavailable) and some blue Centura Pearl cardstock for the embellishments. Our fab sponsors: Digital Delights and Bugaboo Stamps My teamies have left some great inspiration on the Blog, do go and see! Thanks for looking! Wishing you all the best for a happy and healthy and crafty 2018! love, Mags B x

Hello, my dearios! Yesterday I had my latest post-cancer check-up, and I'm delighted to say I'm still in remission! The NHS really is a National Treasure, the staff are amazing and so kind. Thank you, ladies and gents, for seeing me through my treatment last year! But I'm here to tell you about the new Challenge at My Time to Craft which is Winter Birthday. A very useful Challenge, as I have 3 important birthdays between now and January! The gorgeous image is Winter Fairy by Sylvia Zet for Whimsy Stamps. I added a lot of Stickles to the 'fur' on her coat and her earmuffs, and Spectrum Noir sparkle to her wings. The papers are from stash, as is the ribbon, and the snowflakes are cut with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes die. As usual my teamies have produced some lovely examples to inspire you, do go and see! Thanks for looking and have a good weekend! love Mags B x

Happy Thursday, all! My goodness, the nights have suddenly turned very chilly here, I have a woolly blanket wrapped around my legs to keep them warm! Winter Is Coming! And that's my cue to tell you about the new CRAFT Challenge where our theme is Winter. I have made a winter birthday card, as I always need several at this time of year. The image is Fenna Snowflake from Scrap'N'Dipity. I used papers from my scrap drawer for the background and banner. The stars are from Paperchase and the Sentiment is from the Fresh Freesia stamp set by Altenew, embossed in Simon Says Stamp's Steel Navy embossing powder which came with last month's kit. I added drops with a white pearl pen around the image to look like snow. Our sponsors this week are: Scrap'n'dipity and Lacy Sunshine My teamies have left some lovely wintry inspiration for you on the blog, do go and see! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Evening, all! There is a DT Call at Dream Valley Have a look at the details which are on the blog and see if you'd like to join us! DV was the very first DT I was ever asked to join, and my teamies are so welcoming and kind. No experience necessary! We have a great Challenge this fortnight - Birthdays! I have made a card for a little girl: This is Ellie, and she's having difficulties carrying that big pile of presents - I love how the bottom one has slipped sideways and she's supporting it with her foot! She is from Di's Digi Stamps and sadly this image has been retired, but there are other equally adorable images on the site! The papers are from an old pad by Crate Paper called 'Little Bo Peep.' The narrow white ribbon originally came from a blouse - does anyone else snip those off to use on cards? The sentiment is from an old Hero Arts stamp set. Our fab sponsors are: Di's Digi Designs and Crafty Ribbons Thanks for looking, and ch...

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

Hi, guys! I hope all is well with you. We have a new Challenge at Dream Valley for you: last time it was One for the Girls and this time it's One For The Boys. I have made a birthday card for a little boy, using Babay Boy and Monkey from our sponsor Sasayaki Glitter. Isn't he fun? The paper is by Crate Paper from their 6x6 Toy Box collection - sadly now out of print. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches' Sentiment Sampler stamp set, I stamped in black Versafine and clear-embossed it. Now it's your turn! Have a look at the gorgeous inspiration my teamies have left on the blog and make something for one of the blokes in your life! Thanks for looking, and have a good week! love Mags B x

Good morning! We have an Inspiration Challenge at CRAFT Challenge this week. We also have our DT CALL so make sure to check it out! Here is the lovely Inspiration Picture, it's a lovely, tranquil scene: I took the colours of the sky, the sunset and the fence as my inspiration: I ink-blended the sky and added dots of a glitter gel pen tor stars. The 'clouds' are made by drops of water, which bleached the ink. The fence is made with a die from Whiff of Joy and the grass with a die from Lawn Fawn. The image is from clip art by our sponsor Digital Paper Craft. Have a look at my teamies' creations to see how they were inspired by the picture, they will give you some great ideas! Thanks for looking. love Mags B x

Hi, guys! We have a cosmically good Challenge at CRAFT Challenge this week: Out of This World! Think stars, moons, planets, spaceships, aliens..... I have made a galaxy background. I stamped and gold-embossed some star constellations from Simon Says Stamp Seeing Stars stamp set then blended on colour with Distress Inks, and splattered watered-down Nuvo Mousse over it to create the stars. The gold-embossed sentiment is from a very old stamp set which has no name, so I don't know where it came from. The cute image is Magical Unicorn by Scrap'N'Dipity. I admit, this unicorn is stretching the theme a bit, but I'm reluctant to use Astrology signs, but the cosmic background is definitely 'Out of This World!' Our sponsor is Scrap'N'Dipity. Zoom over to the blog and see my teamies' gorgeous creations for more inspiration! I hope you're all keeping well! Thanks for looking Love Mags B x

Good morning! To cheer up your Monday we have a new Challenge at Dream Valley with a lovely theme: One for the Girls. An excuse to dig out all your prettiest papers and embellishments for the ladies in your life! I apologise for the rather odd photo, the Glossy Accents was still wet, so I took the picture with the card lying flat instead of upright! The delicious papers are from a very old pad by MME called 'Quite Contrary.' The sentiment is from the same pad, I fussy cut it and added it to some white card and covered it all with Glossy Accents. The sweet image is Jerry from our sponsor Ppinky Dolls. The ribbon and gems are from stash. Go and see the gorgeous, girly creations my teamies have left on the blog to inspire you! Thanks for looking, and have a good week! love Mags B x

Good morning! We have a technique Challenge at CRAFT Challenge this week: Embossing. This can either be heat embossing or dry embossing with a folder - or both! I used an embossing folder on some ivory Centura Pearl cardstock for my background.  The image mat is cut with a Spellbinders die. The gold-embossed sentiment is from a very old Woodware stamp set. The kawaii image (that's 'cute' in Japanese!) is Kimono Portrait by Star Stampz. The ribbon and gems are from stash. Apologies for the lack of detail, I'm on holiday and left the details at home!! Our Sponsor is the adorable Star Stampz. Go and see my teamies' inspiration and get embossing!!! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

It's Saturday! And it's not raining (yet!) Yippee!!! I had my 3-monthly check up post-chemo yesterday, and all seems well, thank goodness! :) Now on to our new Challenge at My Time to Craft is Hats and Bags. You can use either or both on your creation. I can't find a link to the gorgeous Sarah Kay image, sadly, though if you Google you'll find some places that still sell her stamps. NOT, of course, digi copies of her images on Pinterest or elsewhere, those have been stolen and are why she has stopped doing stamps, I'm told. Anyway, I coloured her in Copics and added Glamour Dust to her ribbons. I used a Joy!Crafts Heart die 6002/0381 for the doily and their Leaf die 6002/0493 for the leaves. The cheesecloth is from stash, as are the flowers and the ribbon. The lace is from The Ribbon Girl. The papers are All About Me by Prima. Go and see what my inventive teamies have done with the Challenge, they will inspire you! Thanks for looking! love Mag...

Hiya! We have a fab theme at CRAFT Challenge this week - Anything Goes! I have made a birthday card for a friend who supports Arsenal Football Club, whose colours are red and white. The fun image is Dunderton Academicals . I coloured him with Copics and added Glossy Accents to his glasses, and went around the edges with Pumice Stone Distress Ink. I added a frame made with an old MFT Die-namics die, which I distressed with Vintage Photo, then added some streaks of Delicata Gold ink to give the impression of an old picture frame with worn gilding. It shows better irl. The background paper is from an old pad by (I think) Cosmo Cricket - the label has come off! The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted. The little banner stamp is from my first kit from Love From Lizi - all my other banner stamps were too big, but this one was perfect! I had a lot of fun making this - even though my team is Arsenal's North London rival, Tottenham Hotspur - and I wonder what he'd look like d...

Good morning! After a summer break we are back at Dream Valley with a nice, easy Challenge: Anything Goes. The sweet image is Birthday Yorkie from Cute as a Button. The papers are Introspection by Prima. The mat is cut with a Spellbinders' Picot Edge Circle Die . The ribbon is from stash and the banner is a Streamers Die . Go and see the pretty inspiration my teamies have left for you! Thanks for looking, and have a good week! love Mags B x

Good morning! It's Thursday! That means two exciting things: it's nearly the weekend AND there's a new Challenge at CRAFT Challenge! This week we have a fabulous Sketch created by our lovely and talented Aunty Sue. So versatile! I made a birthday card for a bloke. The fun image is Frog on a Log from sponsor DRS Designs. I coloured him with Copics and added Glossy Accents to his eyes. I cut him out with a Die-namics Zig-zag Stitched Circle die, then distressed the edges with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink. The butterfly sticker is from stash. The papers are all from the Snippets Drawer and the ancient paper raffia ribbon is from stash as are the star stickers. The silver-embossed sentiment is from an old Hero Arts Messages set. Go and see the gorgeous creations my teamies have made using the sketch, and join in! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Eek! I'm so sorry that I'm late posting this! A busy few days with the Irish Contingent meant I totally forgot. Wot a plonker! (My grandson is adorable, but that's no consolation for you guys!) Our theme at My Time to Craft! is Summertime! Ice cream! The seaside! Sunshine! Scorchio! Torrential rain! (Well, maybe not the latter, I hope!) This is one of a pair of birthday cards that I made for a friend's twin daughters: The image is a very old wooden stamp by Penny Black, and sadly it's out of print. The paper is from an ancient pad that was a magazine freebie. The mat is cut with Spellbinders' Floral Ovals die, and the sentiment is by Lili of the Valley. The stickers are from Paperchase. I have been keeping to my 'stash diet' as you can tell - I'm trying to use up stuff, which is why so often what I show is no longer available. Apologies, I know it can be frustrating! However, if I don't make the effort I'll slowly be driven ...

Hi, guys, our new Challenge at Dream Valley is to have differently coloured hair on your project. Don't do what I did!!!!! I didn't read the requirements properly - what a plonker! So please imagine that the dancer on my card has purple, or blue, or orange or pink hair! The image is an old one from the greatly-missed Saturated Canary. I used paper from a very old magazine freebie paper pad; the sentiment is from an old Clearly Besotted stamps set which sadly seems unavailable. The ribbon and gems are from stash. Our sponsor this fortnight: PPinkyDolls Art Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

I'm so sorry this is a day late! Our new Challenge at Dream Valley is Fantasy. Our sponsor is Beccy's Place and I used this fabulous Dragon Design done by Beccy's daughter when she was 12! I think you'll agree that it's amazing! I've been re-playing a videogame that includes Leviathan, a water-dragon, and although it looks more snaky than this one, I thought I'd use blues and make a 'watery' background. I used Ranger alcohol inks on photo paper, since I can't find my glossy cardstock - it worked ok, but the paper soaked up quite a lot of the ink and dried very quickly, so I don't recommend photo paper at all! The frame round the dragon is a Die-namics Stitched Oval Scalloped Frame Die cut from pearlised card. The pearls are made with a blue and a green pearl pen. The birthday sentiment is from Sentiment Sampler by Paper Smooches and has been gold-embossed. I added Clear Wink of Stella to Leviathan's wings. Have a fantas...

Hello! Our latest CRAFT Challenge is to use this great sketch by Sheryl: I used a fun image by Bugaboo Stamps called Circle Sentiments Birthday Ewe. The papers are from Echo Park's A Boy's Life 6 x 6 pad. I used silver mirri card for the mats, the round one is done with a Spellbinders Lacey Circles die. The stars are from Paperchase, and the sentiment is from the Message Me sentiment set by Clearly Besotted. The balloons and party hat have Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle added. Our sponsors are: Digital Delights and Bugaboo Stamps My teamies have made some great creations using the sketch, have a look and be inspired! 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