Madcap Manor

Good morning! We have a Christmas Challenge with a twist at My Time to Craft this fortnight: Christmas with non-traditional colours which means no red, gold or green! I went with pink for my card, using Snowman Bells by Bugaboo Stamps: I apologise for the naff photo, the corner where I usually take them is now blocked by the Christmas tree. I decided to make this a Snowwoman, in pink, for a change. The paper by Dovecraft is very old, so sadly no longer available - a shame, since I really like the pastel colours. There is a bit of green on it, but it's mint green rather than pine green, so I think I've got away with it! The ribbon is from stash. I used a Spellbinders 5 x 7 Detailed Scallops die for the mat, and the Modern Stationery Card Creator dies for the background. I added stickles to the snow and Wink of Stella to the hat, scarf and bells. Not quite my last Christmas card, but nearly! I still have a few to make for the neighbours. Awwww, the 5 year old ...

Hi, guys! We have our regular Christmas theme at CRAFT Challenge. Very topical! I am at that stage where speed is of the essence - I usually manage to get my cards for posting done in good time, but then suddenly there's only 10 days to go and I need lots for friends and neighbours, to be hand-delivered! So now I'm in 'simple' mode, aided by mirror card and a lovely image! The adorable image is Little King by Sami Stamps, he is especially heart-melting for me because he reminds me of my little grandson! The fabulous die-cut is Maggie by Sue Wilson. (Great name, eh?!) I like that you can see a cross-shape in it, reminding me of Easter. I used silver mirror card and blue pearlised card to back it. The image is cut with a plain circle die - I fussy-cut the edges of the manger's straw to make the image go 'out of the box' at the edges. Our sponsors this week are: Pickled Potpourri (love that name!) Sami Stamps Thanks for looking, and I h...

Here's my rather belated card for our new Challenge at CRAFT Challenge and the theme is Winter I went with a fairly simple design because the image is so pretty! The digi stamp is Prissy Poinsettia by sponsor Robyn's Fetish. I coloured it with Copics and added gold Stickles to the centre. The image and the gold background are cut with Spellbinders' gorgeous Divine Eloquence dies. Our lovely sponsors are: Robyn's Fetish Doctor Digi's House of Stamps Sunsational Stamps Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hiya! I'm late again - sorry! My son, DiL and granddaughter are visiting this weekend. My little boy will be 27 on Monday! 27!!! Wehave been celebrating with chocolate cake! Now on to the new challenge at My Time to Craft and our theme is Christmas Animals I have made a shaker tag for my granddaughter's Christmas present. I used some cute images from Lawn Fawn's Toboggan Together stap set, and the matching dies. The blue background has been embossed with a Cuttlebug Dots folder, and I glued some stars from stash onto it. I meant to add a red Christmas hat to the sitting deer, but I forgot! So this isn't quite as Christmassy as it should be! Thanks for looking, and I hope your weekend is going well. love Mags B x

Morning, all! Our new Challenge at CRAFT Challenge is to use this gorgeous Colour Combo Mmm, look at those rich colours! For my card I used this adorable image, Baby Snow from Sponsor Digital Delights by Louby Loo . So cute - and he's on offer on the website for just $1.00!!! I coloured him with Copics and added Gold Stickles to the snowflakes (quite a good way of colouring over areas where my pen slipped!) The poinsettias and leaves are made with layering stamps and matching dies which came with a Hero Arts Kit last year, and I gold-stickled the flower centres. The papers are from the Snippets Drawer, and I used some gold and white twine from Hobbycraft to add a bit more glitz. Our sponsors: Digital Delights and: Sheepski Designs and: A Day For Daisies Check out my teamies' inspiring creations and have a go! Thanks for looking - stay warm (in the wintry Northern Hemisphere) or cool (in the Summery Southern Hemisphere!) love Mags B. PS Sorry ...

I'm very late with this post, for which I apologise. I had written the wrong Challenge at Dream Valley in my diary! What a plonker!! So I made a card in a hurry, but I'm quite pleased with it! So here I am at last! Our new Challenge is Winter Animals. I have used a cute Penny Black image from the 'Celebrate the Wonder' stamp set - sadly I can't find a source for it so I suspect it may be out of print. Those mice are so sweet! The paper is from stash and the ribbon is by American Crafts. I layered the image in gold and stickled all the decorations and trim on the Christmas stockings. Quite a simple card, but I wanted the image to stand out. Go and see the amazing work that my teamies have done - their cards are so elegant! I admit, my card is more 'Christmas' than 'Winter'! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

It's Saturday! And it's ruddy freezing here in S-E Hertfordshire! Winter is Coming! So it's a good day to stay in and craft! Our Challenge at My Time to Craft is No Layers. So - no patterned papers, just make your design directly on your card front. It's not a scary as it sounds - the DT have produced some lovely examples to inspire you! Surprise! I made a Christmas card! I made a (US) standard cardbase and Stamped and masked the bow and then stamped the wreath from the Clearly Besotted Joy to the World set. I used Altenew Crisp Inks from the Red Sunset and Green Fields sets, and covered the bow with clear Wink of Stella, The berries have dots of Christmas Red Stickles. The sentiment is from the same stamp set, and heat embossed in gold. I added 3 sequins for added bling (and to cover a smear!!) Right! Back to tidying the Craft Hovel, then it's back to the Christmas cards! Thanks for looking - and thanks for so many lovely comments on the news...

Good morning! We have another Christmas Challenge for you over at CRAFT Challenge - not long to go before the Big Day arrives! I have used a fun image from The Paper Shelter , this is There's a Penguin in my Cocoa I found a lot of die-cut holly leaves whilst tidying, so I used them for this card, adding Christmas Red stickles for the berries. The vine underneath is made with a Mini Fanciful Flourish die by Cheery Lynn, I cut off the leaves to make it fit. The papers are from stash, and so is the silver puffy snowflake, the ric-rac braid and the ribbon. The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley Our fab sponsors this week are: Bugaboo Stamps The Paper Shelter Oddball Art Do go to the Challenge blog and see what my very talented teamies have made to inspire you! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! We have a DT CALL at My Time to Craft! . We re a very friendly group, so if you would like to join us, hop over to the Challenge Blog and get all the details there! Now on to our new Challenge which is Distress It! You can use Distress Inks and a blending tool to colour the edges of your papers, or use scissors to rough them up. I did both - and it's another Christmas card! You can just about see that I used Tea Dye Distress Ink to add colour to the background paper, which is by Papermania from an old pad. I also used scissors to roughen the edges, and made sure that I didn't glue up to the edge so I could lift it up (I hope that makes sense!) The totally gorgeous image is Candy Cane Angel by Hannah Lynn for Crafts and Me. I glittered her wings and the fur trim on her outfit. The ribbon and lace are from stash. The snowflake is made with a Laced Pine Sowflake die by Cheery Lynn and I used glitter embossing powder to give it some shine. I heat e...

Good morning! Christmas is only 2 months away! To help with your Christmas crafting we have our regular Chrstmas Challenge at CRAFT . Our fab sponsor is Digital Paper Crafts I have used this adorable Drummer Boy he is so sweet! The papers are from an old magazine freebie and I cut 2 sheets into triangles to echo the pattern on the drum. The snowflake is by Avery Elle and I added glamour dust to it for some sparkle. The green bakers twine also has a bit of sparkle, though it doesn't show in the photo. The gold-embossed sentiment is by Lili of the Valley . I added dots of a white Pearl Pen in two of the corners, and Glossy Accents on the drum. Have a look at the inspiration that my teamies have created, and get stuck in! Every card made now means one less to be made in a panic in December! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

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...

Morning, all! We have our monthly Christmas theme at CRAFT Challenge which I for one am finding very useful, my stock of Christmas cards is quite respectable now! I made a gatefold card: The cute ornaments image is Ornament Tags by Pickled Potpourri. All the lines are doubled, and I went over them in sparkly gel pens, and also coloured the images on the ornaments with gel pens. The sparkle doesn't show, but it looks rather good! The rest of the colouring I did with Distress Inks. The paper came from an old magazine freebie pack, I am determined to use up all my freebie paper pads! The sentiment is made from a Simon Says Stamp die and silver mirri card. This is the inside, the paper comes from the same pad. I just used the gel pens to colour the tag. I'll be using these tags for my presents this year, they are so cute! Our lovely sponsors this week are: Pickled Potpourri (I love that quirky name!) and: The Stamping Boutique Thanks for looking, and h...

Our new Challenge at Dream Valley is Not A Square Our sponsor is the awesome Live and Love Crafts oh, I could spend ages drooling over their gorgeous site! Anyway, here is my card. It's a Christmas one again! I used a new die, this is the Snoflake Fusion Cover Up die-namics die by My Favorite Things, which unfortunately now seems to be unavailable since I bought it a couple of months ago :( I cut it in white card and layered it on gold mirri card. The poinsettia is a Marianne Die sprayed with shimmer spritz. The ribbon is from stash. Don't be Square, join in our Challenge! :) Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good afternoon, and Happy Monday to you all! It's time for a new Challenge at Dream Valley and our theme is Monochrome . That is, use shades of just one colour - except for face and hair if you're using an image of a person. I went with blue: My Christmas card uses an old Lili of the Valley stamp, sadly she no longer seems to be available. I coloured her with Promarkers - I find monochrome quite tricky, and since I know my Promarkers better than my Copics, I went with the old favourites! All the fur on her outfit is glittered with Icicle Stickles. The papers are also LotV, I distressed the edges and added some Stormy Sky DI. The large snowflake is an old die from Marianne, also now unavailable, it seems, and I used a Simon Says Stamp Season's Greetings die.  fo the sentiment, which I went over with a white gel pen for emphasis. The ribbon is actually an old sticker from who-knows-where (ie my stash!) and the pretty cotton lace  is from Crafty Ribbons.  The ...

Good grief, is it Thursday already? Time for a CRAFT Challenge It's our monthly Christmas theme! I used Kendall by Nikki Burnette for my card. I went a bit over the top with the gold card - but, hey, Christmas cards need some bling! The papers are by Die-Cuts With a View and unfortunately are out of print, I do like the bright colours! I went to town on the die-cutting! The frame is made with Spellbinders Decorative Labels 28 and the corners I think are by Whimsy Stamps - I've had the die so long that it's lost its label! The ribbon is from stash and the heat-embossed sentiment is LotV. Our lovely sponsor this week is Nikki Burnette Have a look at the inspiration that my talented teamies have made for you, and join in! Thanks for looking! Merry Christmas! love Mags B x

Good morning! I'm delighted to tell you that I'm a Grannie for the second time! My daughter in Dublin has produced a sweet baby boy, named Oscar. So exciting! Now to get down to business, our regular Christmas Challenge at CRAFT Challenge I used one of the Christmas Elves by one of our lovely sponsors, Melonheadz Doodles The papers are from an old pad by Kaisercraft called 'Mint Twist,' as is the sentiment. I matted everything on silver and red card, and the image mat is cut with a Spellbinders 5 x 7 Detailed Scallops die. Our lovely sponsors are Melonheadz Doodles and Sheepski Designs My teamies have made some lovely cards, do go and see them and be inspired! I leave you with a picture of Oscar: Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! I hope you all had a refreshing weekend are are rarin' to go this week! The challenge at Dream Valley this fortnight is Christmas in July Our sponsor is the fabulous Pink Gem Designs I have used Funky Snowman which is one of the first stamps I ever bought when I started cardmaking. He stamps as beautifully now as he did 5 years ago. The paper is a snippet, I think it came with a magazine, and the sentiment also came with a magazine. The snowflakes are cut with a very old Marianne die and covered with glitter. Have a look at the inspiration on our blog from my teamies! Thanks for looking love Mags B x

Well, we finally have sunshine and warmth here in S-E Hertfordshire! Is it possible that summer's here? I do hope so, one of my chemo side-effects is that I feel chilly all the time! Lots of hot tea and a woolly cardigan are the answer! (In fact the chemo is going ok, and the staff at the hospital are so encouraging. Hooray for the NHS! Awesome people!) Seeing that it's warm and sunny, at My Time to Craft our theme is Christmas in July . We're a mischievous lot!! Here's my card: It's a small card, only 4" x 4". The image is from Penny Black's Holly Day Critters and I added stickles to the fur on his hat. The papers are from an old pad by LotV - sadly they are no longer available. I used holographic gold card from stash to mat and the ribbon came with a magazine a couple of years ago. Do join in our Challenge, the more Christmas cards you can make before the panic sets in on December 1st, the better you'll feel! CHALLENGES ENTER...

Hi, guys! At CRAFT Challenge this week we are having our regular Christmas theme. Beat the November rush, make a start on your Christmas cards now! ;) Our lovely sponsors are: Pickled Potpourri and Nikki Burnette I used Snowman Tags by Pickled Potpourri, aren't they cute? The fun snowmen paper is from Basic Grey's Nordic Holiday 6 x 6" pad. I layered with red paper from the same set, and also silver mirri card. The sentiment is from Waffle Flower's 'Stocking' stamps set - unfortunately I can't find the link. Go and see the inspiration that my teamies have made for you, and get another Christmas card finished! You know it makes sense lol!!! love Mags B x

Hello, my dearios! I'm back after my hospital adventure with a card for the new CRAFT Challenge and it's our regular Christmas theme this week. Our terrific sponsors are: Bugaboo Stamps and Doctor Digi's House of Stamps I used the very cute Skinny Bird Christmas Ornaments by Bugaboo. The papers came free with a magazine. I die cut the Memory Box Frostyville Border and Whimsy Stamps Winter's Jewels 1 (the snowflake) from white card and added Wink of Stella in clear. The Jingle Bells border is another Memory Box die. The sentiment is from the Most Wonderful set by Clearly Besotted. Go and see the fab Christmas creations that my teamies have made, they will inspire you to join in! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x