Madcap Manor

 Good morning! It's a beautiful but chilly day here in S-E Herts, the sky is a glorious blue and the sun is shining! SPRING IS ON ITS WAY! While we're waiting, what is more natural than thinking about Christmas?! It's time for our 4th Challenge at My Time to Craft Christmas and our theme is Christmas Flowers. I used the gorgeous Christmas Florals stamp and die set by Concord & 9th. I used the outline die to cut out the coloured image, then cut out the letters in gold linen-effect card, using the co-ordinating word die, and glued them over the image.  The background is also linen-effect, it is from an old First Edition Christmas pad.  My teamies have produced some very pretty examples to inspire you, do go and see! Remember - in 10 months' time it will be Boxing Day, so stay ahead of the curve and start Christmassing now!!  Thanks for looking, and stay safe.  love Mags B x

Evening, all! We have a new Challenge at Dream Valley which is to use Dies and/or Punches on your creation.  Our sponsor is the fabulous Di's Digital Stamps. , check out her adorable images, they are so cute!  Di doesn't supply images for other DT Challenges, I gather it's because she was taken advantage of by people sharing her images, which is of course illegal. So instead I made a Christmas card that is almost entirely made with dies! The Poinsettia die is a very old one from Spellbinders, and the greeting is the Holly Berry Dies set by Concord and 9th.  I used some old Christmas papers from my stash, along with some gold card by Tonic. Then I spritzed the card with Glimmer Mist, which is sparkly in real life but not in the picture!  We also have a DT Call so hop on over to the blog to check out the details!  Thanks for looking, and stay safe!  love Mags B x

 Hello, my lovelies! I hope you're all keeping well. We have grey skies and a lot of rain here in S-E Herts! I learned the hard way that my shoes have holes in them: my socks are dripping into the sink and my feet are cold! To brighten the day we have a new challenge at  My Time to Craft! and we'd like to see Autumnal Colours.   We are also looking for Guest Designers so if you'd like to join us for a month, making something for 2 Challenges, check out the blog post for details. Our first Guest Designer is the lovely Hazel (Didos) she has made a gorgeous card! I got out my Distress Inks and some watercolour paper for the background of my card and ink-smooshed in warm autumn colours.  Then I sprayed it with Perfect Pearls spray to give some shimmer. The grass stems are die-cut from green mirri card using an old die-set by Concord & 9th called 'Layering Leaves'  Sadly, it no longer seems to be available on their website.  Finally I rounded the...

Good morning! I hope you're all keeping safe and well at home, with plenty of time to do some stress-busting crafting! It's a beautiful spring morning here in S-E Hertfordshire, so it seems a little odd to be thinking of Christmas! However, we have a new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy to keep you company during lockdown. I have dug out a Concord & 9th Turnabout stamp to make a background, this is the Holly Berry Turnabout. I used 3 shades of green ink and one of grey for the leaves, and 4 shades of red and orange inks for the berries. The gold-embossed sentiment is from an old stamp set by Lil' Inkers which is now out of print. The ribbon came from my stash. Finally I added dots of Crystal Stickles on top of the berries. Go and see my teamies' creations on the blog and be inspired! Thanks for looking, and take care. love, Mags B x

Hello, my dearios! I hope all is well with you. I am just back from Friday evening Choir Practice, which is always such a lovely way to end the week. And tomorrow morning we're singing carols in Saino's to raise money for our local Hospice! Christmas is coming! And so our new Challenge at My Time to Craft is Christmas Flowers. I have used the gorgeous Christmas Florals Stamp and die by Concord & 9th. I stamped the image using my MISTI using Antique Linen ink. I left the stamp in the MISTI while I coloured the flowers with Copics. Then I put the card back in the MISTI and re-stamped with Versamark and gold-embossed it. Copics and embossing DO NOT MIX so this is the best way to do it. Then I cut it out with a matching die and matted it on red cardstock. Finally I embossed one of the sentiments from the stamp set in white on black, cut it out, and added it to the card. I want to try this image with coloured pencils and with watercolour, too! My teamies have made s...

Good morning from a very wet S-E Hertfordshire! Our new Challenge at Dream Valley is to use Summer Colours. Well, today the colours outside are mostly grey, and the only summer colours I can see are on my card! Having seen a lot of gorgeous creations with Turnabout Stamps by Concord & 9th, I have had a go myself, using the Wreath Turnabout . I chose 4 dye inks in bright colours, loaded upmy Misti with the stamp and a Turnabout Jig and started to stamp. It really was very easy, especially now that the stamps come with a printed acetate sheet that helps with lining up the stamp. I used orange card for the cardbase to keep the bright theme going! Finally I used an MFT Celebrate die to cut the sentiment in gold card and added some pearly Nuvo Drops around the wreath. Take a gander at my teamies' bright and summery creations, they will cheer you up! Thanks for looking and have a great week. love Mags B x