Madcap Manor

Hi, guys! Our Challenge this fortnight is Monochrome - that is, use shades of just one colour on your creation (skin and hair don't count!) I got out my Distress Inks and did some embossed resist! I used an old stamp set from Clearly Besotted to stamp and heat-emboss three dragonflies and some little hearts onto watercolour paper, then wet the paper. I squished some Seedless Preserves onto a craft mat and used that to paint. Then I added some sequins, a sentiment from the stamp set, and a purple banner. I liked it so much that I had another go, this time with Victorian Velvet! This one DOES NOT FIT THE CHALLENGE because one of the banners is purple, not pink - but I wanted to show you anyway! Hop over to the Challenge blog to see my teamies' gorgeous creations! Thanks for looking and have a great weekend! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! I hope you're all keeping well! It's already time for another Challenge at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge and we're up to number 20! As ever the theme is Anything Christmas Goes. I used an old wood-mounted stamp and versamark ink on watercolour paper, then heat-embossed in gold. I used Distress Inks to colour the image by tapping an ink pad on a palette and using a waterbrush. I'm not brilliant at watercolouring, but I like the way the ink puddles between the embossed lines to give variety. The palette, by the way, is a piece of white card that's been run through a laminator - a great idea from Kristina Werner. Good luck with all your Christmas card making! Put on some seasonal music and craft, then reward yourself with a mince pie and a mug of chocolate!! Thanks for looking and have a good week! 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 and Happy Saturday! Our new Challenge at My Time to Craft is deceptively simple: make a One Layer Card In its purest form a One Layer Card has the image, sentiment etc added directly to the card base. This can be stamping or die-cut insertions. Often, though, the one layer section is a separate piece of cardstock, decorated and adhered to the front of the cardbase. NO additional paper is allowed, whether patterned paper or washi tape or cardstock! Embellishments should be used very sparingly. For more detailed rules look Simplicity One Layer Challenge . Here's my card: it is inspired by the amazing Kristina Werner I used Distress Inks on watercolour paper to colour Pricilla, a Saturated Canary stamp from Little Darlings Rubber Stamps. (Sorry there's no link, Google doesn't show it!) This is my fourth attempt, watercolouring is not as simple as it looks!! I used my craft mat as a palette and squashed the Ink pads on it, then used an ordinary p...

Evening, all! I hope you are enjoying calmer weather now, we have seen two days' sunshine in a row for the first time in ages! What a difference it makes! Sadly, I have had to make a sympathy card. They are so hard to make. I used a Stampendous stamp called 'Agapanthus Cluster.' I stamped it in Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink and dabbed it while the ink was still wet with Turquoise Perfect pearls, then misted it with water to set the Perfect Pearls. There's a lovely sheen when the light catches it. I can't remember where I got the coloured base card, it's been in my stash for several years! The ribbon is from Hobbycraft. The sentiment is also from Hobbycraft: it's a clear stamp and I carefully cut the words apart so that they would fit on the banner, which is from the Lawn Fawn 'Bannerific' stamp set. I added shading with a Weathered Wood Distress Marker. I hope you are all keeping well. There seem to be a lot of cold and flu bugs going around...

Evening all! And welcome to my new followers! Pull up a chair, pour out a glass of your favourite tipple, you are very welcome to this Manor of Madcapness!! While waiting for the supermarket delivery yesterday, I made 4 Christmas cards to this design: Hooray! It's a CAS card! I find CAS cards quite difficult, because if you make a mistake you can't cover it up with embellishments! I'm so pleased with this one that I made 4! The image is a Woodware clear stamp from the 'Christmas Greenery' set by Francoise Read. I stamped with Embossing Ink and then embossed with Evergreen 'Heat It Up' embossing powder. If you squint hard you can almost see how it shines! The leaves looked a bit stark left white, so I gave them a very light wash of Evergreen Boughs Distress Ink. I used a square Woodware punch to cut the images out (it JUST fits!) and glued them onto ridged gold card from the Pinflair Shop in Hertford. The ribbon came from the same place, the gold tri...

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...

Afternoon, all! It's time for another Dream Valley Challenge! This time we'd like to see something for a special man or boy in your life. We have two sponsors this time: one lucky person will win a £10.00 gift voucher from One Stop Card Crafts A second lucky person will win 4 images of their choice from Sassy Studios I made a card for my daughter to give my hubby for Father's Day. The inspiration comes from Rubber Stamping by Kim Reygate which was one of the books that got me into cardmaking. Anyone who has read the book or visited her blog will recognise the technique of embossing and sponging on the torn paper. I used a background stamp by Great Impressions which I think came from Sir Stampalot and stamped on white card with embossing ink, then covered it with glitter embossing powder. A wave of the heat gun and a Harry Potter chant of 'Meltiamus!' and there was the white-on-white pattern. Next came the fun bit, sponging Distress Inks (Peeled ...

Good afternoon, my lovelies! It's time for another challenge at Dream Valley and this fortnight we're asking for Earth Tones . Think browns, creams, greys, russets, maybe a touch of green... Our sponsor is Bead Crafty who are offering one lucky person a massive £20 to spend in their online store! Have a look at their website, it's an absolute treasure trove! I decided to make some little notecards and a box for them, following instructions on the Scor-Pal website here . It was the lovely Jules who made a set in January who linked to the page. The cards are tiny, just 8cm square. The sunflowers are a stamp by Great Impressions. I had great fun making the paper that I used for my paper-piecing, using Distress Inks as shown by Tim Holtz here . He uses Perfect Pearls, but I sprayed with gold Glimmer Mist, and the sheen is lovely! The box is made from a sheet of Bo Bunny double-sided card, and the ribbon is from stash. It took longer than I expected to cut ...

I apologise for this terrible picture, the colours are rather faint and faded :( The current Penny Black Saturday Challenge is to make a tag. I don't have any readymade ones, so I took a slightly battered ivory card blank and cut it to size. The sketch is from Mojo Monday , it fits what I wantwed to do very well! The background paper is Papermania, from the Vintage Christmas stack. I coloured another piece of ivory card with Shabby Shutters Distress Ink by smearing the pad onto my craft sheet, spritzing with water and dabbing the card until I had a nice speckly pattern. Very Time Holtz!! I used the small music stamp from the PB 'Clearly in Love' set, stamping with Versamark Gold, then tore round the image. I went over the edges of the papers with the Versamark, which gives a very pretty sheen that is nowhere in sight on the photo! The holly is a Memory Box die from Crafts U Love and I glittered the leaves with gold Glamour Dust. The lace is from stash, and so is the ribbo...

...and what did we see, we saw the sea!' Morning, all! My, it's a cold, grey day today! I hope you're all keeping warm! Just a quick post to show an experiment I did yesterday. I masked the stamps (Woodware) to make the smaller ships look as if they're just coming into view, and to add the waves. I used Faded Jeans Distress Ink, and also some shimmer paints that came free with a mag last year, in green, gold and blue. They shine quite nicely when the light catches them, but of course the camera doesn't pick it up! The sky has some more ink sponged here and there to give an effect of blue sky and scudding clouds. The frame is silver glitter paper cut with a Nestie with the middle cut out, the sentiment is a peel-off. Not the most sophisticated or elegant effort, but I had fun! I'm going to enter the Deep Ocean Challenge whose theme is 'Light Blue' Thanks for looking, and have a good day! luv, Mags x

Evening, all! Here's a CAS card I made for a friend's birthday at the end of last month. I'm very pleased with this one - I find CAS cards tough, but this one looks ok, I think. You'll all be shocked to know that I didn't use Promarkers! Well, they bleed through, and this is a one-layer card, so I dug out my stazon and Distress Inks instead. I'm entering this into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge where the theme is 'Anything Goes.' I love this Penny Black ballerina, she makes me smile! I used Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint and Broken China. Her ribbon is stickled in purple. The greeting is stamped in Broken China. Simples! Thanks for looking, and sleep well! luv, Mags x

Sorry I've not been around - we went to Shropshire to stay with my son and his Young Lady. What a beautiful county it is! Now for the card! The current Less is More challenge is a simple sketch, perfect for a thank you card made in a hurry!! The flower is Hero Arts and the text Penny Black. I stamped both in Peeled Paint DI. The strip of ivory card was cut with a fancy cutter on my Woodware Fingerguard Trimmer, then I went over the edges with Shabby Shutters DI. The flower was cut with a Nestie, and again I did the edges with DI. I raised it on foam pads. I stickled the flower to give a bit more pizazz, because it was very plain indeed with no decoration at all! My daughter asked for a plain thank you card for her boyfriend's parents, and I had it finished in 20 minutes! She likes it, which is the main thing! This "Less is More" challenge is very good for me, it encourages me to try things that I wouldn't otherwise think of! Thanks for looking! luv, Mags x ETA: t...

Here's another birthday card for my bro, this time made for my sister to give him. My sister is staying for a week, which means she sleeps in my craft room, so I may be a little quiet until the weekend. I used distress inks for the bunnies in their flowerpots (aren't they sweet? I love this stamp!) The paper is MME 'Bloom and Grow' I also used my Martha Stewart zigzag punch, which is great for men's and boys' cards! I'm entering 3 - no, 4 challenges (Get 'em in while I can, I say!) Penny Black Saturday Challeng has a theme of Indian Summer Looking out of my window (when the rain stopped for a moment) I saw red, yellow and green on the trees, so those are the colours I used. Notice the large summer carrots: The sketch is a lovely one from Sketch Saturday. I really enjoyed working with this one, it all came together like magic! Papertake Weekly has the theme 'Animal Magic.' I remember that tv programme, with dear old Johnny Morris. Finally, the...