Madcap Manor

 Hiya! I'm sorry I'm a bit late with my DT post for  My Time to Craft , I was doing the flower arrangement at Church this morning, and then I had a mammogram this afternoon (ouchies!)  But here am I, faint but pursuing! (My Grannie used to say that, it's probably Shakespeare.) Our new theme is Fantasy or Whimsy.   Fairies, magical beasts, mages, whimsical images of quirky animals or birds or people - whatever takes your fancy. My first card uses 'Magical Day', an older clear stamp from  The Greeting Farm .  This one is out of print, but if you check out the 'Fantasy' tab on their website you'll see another set of cute unicorn images. The papers are from an old First Edition pad which has a unicorn theme.  The background is glittered and I used pearlised card for the mats and  Love from Lizi sway peel-offs  in Teal Mirror, which give some lovely shine.  The sentiment came with the stamp set. My second card is more whimsical, using a very ...

  Hiya! We have a challenging Challenge at My Time to Craft but it's actually easier than it sounds! Think of how your garden is marked out - maybe it's a trellis supporting climbing plants, or a stone wall or a fence or a hedge or maybe there's an arch shading the path to your front door.  Or maybe there's a field nearby full of horses or cows that's surrounded by a wood or wire fence.  Any of those can be inspirational, whether for a scene with animals or a row of flowers. I admit, it took me a lot of thought, but I have one stamp that shows a fence and one die that cuts one.  The first card is naturalistic, using a Penny Black stamp of a winter scene. I used a Kaleidoscope ink pad in various shades of blue which is darker at one end and lighter at the other.  Blending inks directly on the stamp would give the same effect.  You can just see the line of the fence between the groups of trees.  The sentiment is by Taylored Expressions. The second card ...

Hi, guys! It's another lovely day here in S-E Herts. I hope everyone is keeping safe and well. During the summer I wear a straw hat shaped rather like a Stetson, and whenever I go out in my hat and mask my hubby howls with laughter because I look like a short and pudgy outlaw from the Wild West! We have to get our entertainment where we can, these days! We have even better entertainment for you at My Time to Craft where the new theme is to Use a Stencil. I used the Hero Arts Swirl Stencil to make a background with glitter embossing paste. I coloured 3 dollops with Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick and Wilted Violet Distress Inks before smooshing it over the stencil. Once it was dry I added a die-cut in gold card with a vellum shadow. Go and see my teamies' gorgeous work, they are so full of inspiration! Take care, my lovelies, and thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hello! I hope you are all coping with having children at home/lockdown. Ye Olde Manne and I have been self-isolating for the last week, going out only to shop for essentials like bread, milk and beer. Thankfully, I began picking up an extra can or two every week at the beginning of last year, in preparation for Brexit, so we have soup, fruit, tuna and corned beef in the larder! We will probably get a bit tired of corned beef..... Anyway, it is what it is, and I hope you're finding time to craft. Creating something is such a good stress-buster. Even more so when you make Christmas cards and see that bit of stockpiling increase - and The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge is here to help! I used a very old Hero Arts set to stamp and emboss three ornaments, then fussy-cut them out. I added some DMC floss plus some very thin, springy and bloody-minded silver thread, for the hangers, first making holes for the thread to go through. Then I added the ornaments with some foam tape, ...

Good morning, my lovelies! I hope you're all keeping well. We have a new Challenge at My Time to Craft which is to use More than one fold. I made a Diamond Top Card - the link is to Christina Griffith's very useful website. The papers are from stash. I masked and gold-embossed the flowers and leaves, and used Zig Real Brush markers to colour them, then used a Spellbinders Lacy Square die to cut them out. The gold-embossed sentiment is from an old Hero Arts stamp set. The diamond top fold is a bit tricky at first, but I practised on printer paper until I got it right! Go and see my teamies'lovely creations, and welcome the 4 new members of the DT! Thanks for looking and have a great weekend! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! I hope you all had a great weekend! Who watched Eurovision? I've had a nasty cold, so I watched it well-wrapped up in a blanket with some medication and a wee whisky toddy (or two.) I love Eurovision, it's so kitsch and so much fun! Now I'm almost back to normal and here (belatedly!) with my post for the new Challenge at Dream Valley. Our theme is Summer Colours which is a great reason to dig out your most vivid papers and inks!! This bright striped paper was in my stash, and I used it to choose my Promarkers when colouring this cute image. She is Fireflies from Star Stampz. I added Nuvo Drops in Limoncello to many of the fireflies to give some shine. The sentiment is from an old Hero Arts set, I used Spellbinders dies for the images and mats. The ribbon was a magazine freebie long ago. The butterflies were cut with an old Joy! crafts die and glammed-up with some Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen. Our gorgeous sponsor this fortnight is Star Stampz . Do ...

Hi, guys! Our new challenge at My Time to Craft is Krafty - use kreft on your creation. I love the look of white embossing on kraft, though alcohol markers don't mix well at all with embossed lines, so I dug out my Prismacolor pencils. This is Hero Art's Tall Flowers stamp, sadly unavailable. The die-cut banner and stamp are Streamers by Paper Smooches. I rounded the corners with a corner chomper. Have a look at the inspiration from my teamies, they are gorgeous! I hope your weekend is going well. Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! To cheer up your week we have a great new Challenge at Dream Vlley which is Christmas Animals. I used a small Hero Arts cling stamp called Small Fancy Reindeer - I love his curly antlers! I used a gorgeous die from Joy!crafts which sadly is no longer available, to echo the curly antlers. The starry ribbon-threader is a very old Marianne die, and I used silver ribbon from Hobbycraft to thread through the holes. I added some of the left-over stars as embellishments. The paper is from stash. Go and see the fun cards that my teamies have made to inspire you! There is a fabulous variety! Thanks for looking, and have a good week! 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 ...

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...

Afternoon, all! I hope you're having a good weekend. My son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter are up from Shrewsbury for the weekend. They have taken the olde manne out to get a stairgate while I have my afternoon kip! So I thought it was about time I posted about the new challenge at My Time to Craft . We have a fab Sketch by Jo for you to try. I always have a bit of trouble getting the sizing right for background strips, so this time I cheated and made the central strip separately and glued it on top of the background paper!! I used the Artists Butterfly wood-mounted stamp by Hero Arts. I used a Die-namics Zig Zag Stitched Square die to cut it out. I also cut all my papers and mats with Spellbinders 6 x 6 Matting Basics A and B which are a bit more accurate than my normal cutting! The papers are from the Snippets drawer and the ribbon and gems are from stash. The sentiment is from Hero Arts Thanks a Bunch set and the Fancy Tags label is by Spellbinders. My...

Good morning! The new Challenge at My Time to Craft is right up my alley, as it's a Science Fiction theme Time and Space Think Aliens, Spaceships, Clocks, Time.... (I love Science Fiction and Fantasy!) My card features a Rocket, a fab retro design from a stamp set by Hero Arts and Basic Grey called Bam! it's part of the Kneehighs and Bowties Collection. I stamped the Rocket in red dye ink by Hero Arts and coloured in with more hero Arts ink, swiping the ink pad onto an acrylic block and using a Dove Blender Pen to transfer the colour. Then I cut it out and smothered it with Glossy Accents! It is mounted on foam pads. The papers are from the 'Blast Off!' 6x6 pad by Bo Bunni. I stacked them together and cut them with a Border Builders Die Set by Lil' Inkers and layered them on holographic silver card. The moon is cut with a Spellbinders die (I love that blue paper!) The sentiment is by Altenew, the Super Script 2 sentiment set. The stars are cut from t...

Good evening! I hope you're all having a lovely weekend! Here is another card inspired by the lessons at Online Card Classes 'Stretch Your Stamps 2'. I took the suggestion from Debby Hughes of stamping appropriate words on a die-cut with a Distress Ink colour, then blending the same colour lightly over the top, as you can see on the heart: The background is stamped in Wet Cement Hero Arts Shadow Ink, using a Hero Arts 'Tweed' background stamp. I cut 2 banner shapes from Pink Petticoat 'Vintage Rose' digi papers (sadly discontinued, but there are so many gorgeous new papers to substitute!) The pink spotty ribbon came from Hobbycraft. The pearly hearts and clear gems are from stash. The sentiment is stamped in the same Distress Ink - Worn Lipstick. This is not my usual style, my Mojo seems to be moving towards a more CAS, stamping-focused style. Which is bad news, really, since I have SO MUCH PATTERNED PAPER!!!!! My Mojo really needs to do somethin...

Good morning! I hope you're all having a relaxing Saturday with a minimum of housework and a maximum of crafty time! There's a new Challenge at My Time To Kraft which is Use Craft . (Did you see what I did there?!) As long as we can see Kraft on your artwork, it's all good. Colour on it, emboss it, mat and layer it - however your fancy takes you! Now, I have to apologise for this dull picture, irl the colours are much prettier! I made my card base from Neenah Desert Storm Kraft card, and it's cut to the American A2 size (4.25" x 5.50") and i rounded the bottom corners with the faithful Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers. I stamped the background with Versamark, using a background stamp by Hero Arts/Basic Grey called Circles and Diamonds . I went over the circles with a teal gel pen from Sakura. It's shinier than shown on the photo! The chipboard butterfly is from Maya Road, I've had it for ages! I covered it with paper from the Basic Grey ...

Hi, guys! I hope your weekend is going well! Here's another card that has reached its destination, so now I can blog it. I am trying out more of a CAS style, inspired by people like Kristina Werner and Jennifer McGuire . I find CAS tricky, since when you make a mistake you can't just bung an embellishment on top to hide it!! The picture is a bit faded, the light wasn't very good on the rainy day when I took the photo (quite aside from the fact that I am no David Bailey!!) The bird is from an old Hero Arts set Birds and Branches and I used Distress Markers to colour it. The sentiment is from Paper Smooches' Sentiment Sampler . The flower and brad are by Papermania. The papers were loose in my drawer, I can't remember their origin. I used a fiskars 'Bubbles' punch, and the ribbon is from stash. I added Gold Stickles to the bird's crown. I rounded the corners with a We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper - isn't that a wonderful name?! It's i...

Happy New Year! And here's wishing you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2014! We had the best news ever last week - my daughter is in complete remission from her cancer! The last 6 months have been quite trying, but I've found so much creativity in your blogs, you always cheered me up when I felt low. Never underestimate the encouragement that art can give - because we may call what we do 'crafting' in a slightly deprecatory way, but really it's ART! THANK YOU!!!!! I made this card some time ago for my daughter's boyfriend's father's birthday - he is a gardener, as you can probably tell! The stamps are by Polkadoodles , last year I bought one of their Pen and Paper Circle magazines and this clear stamp set came with it. Unfortunately it seems to be out of print, I'm sorry about that. I did some masking with the hydrangea flowers, the flowerpots and the wheelbarrow. I coloured in Promarkers - and wouldn't you know? I've lost t...

Evening, all! As promised, here's another card, which has reached its recipient! I had been watching a lot of videos by Kristina Werner who uses a CAS style, when I made this card, so I went for a CAS look. I love watching videos on Youtube while doing the dreaded ironing! The background is stamped with a Hero Arts/Basic Grey Wood Background cling stamp. I cut it a bit narrower than the card base, which is blue Centura Pearl, and added 3 snippets cut into strip and the ends vandyked. Then I die-cut a circle and added the owl. He's from a Paper Smooches set called Spookalicious The shop I link to, Make the Day Special, has stamps from various American firms that aren't readily available over here. Worth a look, and their service is great - ordered on Monday, here in my hot little hands on Wednesday!!! I used Promarkers to colour in the little fella (and didn't write them down, what a numpty!) then cut him out with a smaller circle die and glued him onto the blue...

Evening, all! I hope you're all keeping well! I made this card a little while ago for a friend who's having quite a tough time at the moment. She's received it, so now I can blog it! I'm sorry this photo is so naff, the colours are so much brighter irl! The flower is blue and the stem and leaves are green (I masked off sections of the stamp before inking) while the butterfly is yellow and the sentiment is brown. The brown card base is a snippet of Bazzil cardstock. I used a Hero Arts/Sissix stamp and die set called Floral which I got in the summer. It's such a clever idea! I stamped the flower, butterfly and sentiment using Color Box Chalk Ink cats eyes (another purchase that I hadn't used yet!) and then used the matching dies to cut out the images. The blue paper is a snippet, and I used a Fiskars Border punch (I think it's called 'Effervescence') along the top. The ribbon came from Hobbycraft. Finally I drew a double border with a Sakura ...

Good afternoon! I'm sorry I'm a few hours late with my card for Dream Valley I just had to listen to the cricket: we won, but it was a damn' close-run thing! Anyway, this time we would like you to show off your Fancy Folds . Our sponsor is Whimsy Farm Twine and one very lucky winner will be able to choose 3 spools of the most gorgeous twine! I also used twine (from The Ribbon Girl ) on my easel card. The image is by Hero Arts, Clear Design - Layered Flowers . I stamped the big bloom 3 times on orange paper and decoupaged them with thin foam tape. The leaves were stamped and fussy cut from a scrap of green Nitwits paper from the snippets box. More Nitwits papers, from the Bees Knees set, were used for the background paper and also the Memory Box Spring Border die. The sentiment tags are LotV and the orange tag is by Spellbinders, from 'Framed Tags One.' They all have orange gems added to them to look like fasteners. I glittered the edges of the petals w...

Hi, guys! If you're looking for my DT post for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. It's Dream Valley Challenges time again! I hope you're not Squares, man, because this fortnight no squares are allowed! In other words, whatever you create (Not necessarily a card!) mustn't be square-shaped! Our gorgeous sponsor is Crafty Ribbons go and have a look at their drool-worthy website, they have some fabulous things!! I used my lovely Cupcake Frame by Hero Arts to make a little card (It's only about 4 inches high!) I die-cut a snippet of Nitwits paper for the 'icing' and a strip from another snippet for the case. This was scored with my Hougie Board at every cm all along one side of the strip, then I flipped it and scored between the marks already made, then I concertina-folded it and glued it onto the base. The sentiment is by LotV, stamped in worn Lipstick distress Ink. The heart is cut with a die from the same Hero ...