Madcap Manor

 Evening, all! Sorry I'm late with my post, I have been wrapping presents for Santa to give out to the children at the Toddler Club Christmas Party in 3 weeks' time.  It's always good to get Christmas preparations under way early! Speaking of which, we have a new challenge for you at  The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge!  I have made a CAS card. Once again I have used some older stash.  The background is embossed with an ancient Sizzix folder with Christmas words.  The vertical strip is a snippet from my Christmas papers, edged with Love from Lizi's  Gold holographic peel-offs .  The gold mirri sentiment is an old Love from Lizi die.  I matted the panel on some red paper before adding it to my card base.  Simples! Check out my teamies' creations on the challenge blog and get inspired to make a Christmas card! It's not long now until the Big Day! Thanks for looking, and take care! love Mags B x

We have a DT Call at The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge - check it out here. I used an embossing folder and pearlised card for my card. The die-cut poinsettia also has embossing on the leaves and petals. I used stickles on the centres of the snowflakes. Sorry I'm so late with this! Thanks for looking. love Mags B x

Hi, guys! I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend! Now we have a new Challenge at Dream Valley and it's to use Dry Embossing on your creation. While sorting through my embossing folders I came across one with this geometric pattern that reminds me of the patterns on metal stairs meant to give your shoes a better grip. I also needed a card for a bloke, so I dug out some silver mirror card and some metal cogs from stash. The strip of paper is from an old Authentique pad - I like how the print gives the impression of texture. The sentiment is cut with dies by Marianne from a scrap of black glitter cardstock. Go and admire my teamies' creations, they are so varied! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! We have a new Dream Valley Challenge for you and it's a corker: Add Texture. I have made a Christmas card (surprise!) using a sweet image from our sponsor, the wonderful Digistamp Boutique. Seriously, go and have a look at their fun, adorable images! Here is my card: This fun trio is Happy Penguins and even my hubby, who does not 'do' cute, likes them! The senstiment comes with the penguins. I added Flowersoft to the trims on their hats, which gives a nice fluffy look. My background is dry embossed with a snowflake pattern and I added some Nuvo Drops for some shine. The silver trees are made with silver Nuvo Mousse and a stencil which came with the November kit by Love From Lizi and I roughed-up the mousse before letting it dry, then cut out the trees. Lots of Diamond Stickles were added to the hand-cut 'snow banks!' It's a very sparkly card! My texture is: dry embossing; Nuvo drops; stickles; Nuvo Mousse, and Flowersoft! Do you th...

Good morning! I hope you're all having a good weekend! Our new Challenge at My Time to Craft is to use No Designer Papers. I went with dry embossing and inlaid die-cutting to make my card. The most important thing to remember about embossing your background is to die-cut first! Squished embossing is not very pretty - go on, guess how I know! Anyway, I cut the hearts using a nesting die set and some card snippets to give an ombre effect before embossing the background with a Sizzix folder. Then I used a scrap of typing paper to back the aperture and glued the hearts onto it. I added clear Wink of Stella for some shimmer. The gold-embossed sentiment is from Super Script stamp set by Altenew. My teamies have all been so inventive with their creations, do pop over to the blog to see what they've done! Thanks for looking. love Mags B x

...or both! It's My Time to Craft Challenge day! We have a lovely theme this fortnight, it's Embossing. I used dry embossing (using a folder and my die-cutting machine) and also heat embossing. I enjoyed it so much that I made two cards! This card uses a snowflake embossing folder that came with my Cuttlebug about 6 years ago! The wreath is from Holly Motifs by Spellbinders and the gold-embossed sentiment is from Joyful Greetings by Paper Smooches. This card is made in exactly the same way. The background is embossed with a Spellbinders Flora M-Bossabilities folder. The die-cuts are also Spellbinders, this time from Cascading Grace . The central red piece is embossed and added with foam pads to give a bit of dimension. The gold embossed sentiment is by Clearly Besotted but seems to be discontinued. See what my teamies at My Time to Craft have created to inspire you! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! It's the weekend! Hooray!! At My Time to Craft we have a great theme this week: All White Except the Image . The stamp is by C C Designs, one of the Swiss Pixies . Sadly, this older image isn't available, but there are plenty of other cuties on the site. When making a white-on-white card I always go for texture and layering. I used Centura Pearl card which has a pretty gleam. The base is embossed with a Sizzix Hearts embossing folder, and I layered two sizes of the Spellbinders Opulent Ovals dies on top, using foam tape. The image has been fussy cut and also added with foam tape. The sentiment tag is by Lili of the Valley Go and see my teamies' inspirational work, especially if you've never done a card like this. You'll be amazed by the clever cards they have made! Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend! love Mags B x