Madcap Manor

 Hi, guys! We have a new Christmas Challenge at  The Holly and Ivy  to give you extra inspiration for your Christmas creating! Every year I make a dozen tags for a very dear friend.  This year I knew I wanted to include a snowflake.  I was inspired by  this video  by Jess Crafts; and  this video  by Ardyth.  Check them both out on Youtube, they are so inspiring! I used scraps of mirror and holographic card, and an old Martha Stewart punch.  The frames were cut using Spellbinders square dies: I cut the larger die first, then lined up a smaller die in the middle to create the frame.  The white cardstock was cut with a wonky stitched square die from Craftstash (now out of print) and I used my Cropadile to punch holes for the ribbons. Check out our new Challenge and get Christmassy! Thanks for looking and take care. love Mags B x

For my DT post for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Good afternoon, everyone! We have a new challenge at Dream Valley which is Big Birthdays Our lovely boss-lady had a special birthday this weekend, so this challenge is in her honour! We are asking for Special birthdays - eg 1, 18, 21, or any of the ones ending in a big, fat Zero! Our Sponsor is the amazing Robyn's Fetish Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More is proud to sponsor this challenge Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More, a division of I Did It Creations, was created and owned by Robyn Weinrib. Robyn offers a wonderful variety of digital stamps and digital papers designed to meet the needs of all digital paper crafting addicts for every occasion Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More is happy to award the winner 3 digital stamps The DT were lucky to have some images to work with: this is Heloise the Garden Girl isn't she sweet? A lovely friend wi...

Hi, guys, and welcome to my new followers! Nice to see you! My lovely friend Jacqui gives me a lift to and from the Toddler Group 3 times a week, so I wanted to make her a card. She has an adorable little dog, who is a lot hairier than the one in this 'Penny Black' image, but it's the thought that counts! Papers are Basic Grey 'Pyrus' apart from the doily, which was cut from a snippet with a Marianne die. I also used a Memory Box die for the green flourish. Flowers and lace are from stash. I paper-pieced the dress and handbag and used Speccies for the rest. The image mat is distressed with Tea Dye and there's a line of stickles round the edge, too. I'm entering this into the Penny Black Saturday Challenge which this week has this great sketch! I hope you're all having a good week - it's one day nearer to the weekend! Huzza! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x Spectrum Noirs: TN1, 2, 3;FS2, 3, 6; DG3; CG1, 5

Summer time, and the livin' is easy... I'm sorry I'm a bit late with my Dream Valley Challenges DT card. I was whisked away to the North Norfolk coast for a birdwatching weekend my my old man. It was wonderful!!! Back to business: we had loads of fabulous entries for our 'ribbon' challenge last time! You are all very imaginative and talented!! Now we have a Summer theme for the next fortnight, so we want to see bright colours, summer or holiday images, fun on the beach, swimsuits and flip-flops, or even all of the above - whatever 'summer' is for you. For me it's ICE CREAM - somehow, ice cream is never as good as when it's eaten on a beach on a hot, sunny day! Our lovely sponsors are One Stop Card Crafts - they are also on Facebook under that name. My ice cream card started with the Penny Black image - this was one of the first stamps I bought, and I love her, isn't she cool? Love that smiley face - and the ice cream cone!! Papers are Funky Ha...

This is a card for a friend who's had lots of little things going wrong. The image is Lily Lemon, by Kraftin' Kimmie, and there's a fantastic text, 'When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.' Now, it's taken me a while to get used to Anne Rodriguez style, but I finally decided I do like them, they're quirky and elegant (both things I'm not!!) So you may see one or two more of them over the next weeks! Well, I have a birthday coming up, and part of the fun is writing out a long and extravagant wishlist: the 21st Century's equivalent of window shopping! The terrific sketch is this week's Cute Card Thursday Challenge and it's a corker! The papers are Cosmo Cricket 'Togetherness' which is a collection with a great '50s vibe! The flowers are Prima e-line, with a gem from Paperchase in the middle, and again the Magnolia flower die was used for a base. The swirl under that is a Marianne die. The ribbon, which is nice and shimmery irl, ...

Here's another larger-than-usual card, I used a saucer as a template. I think this LotV fairy is my favourite - she was the first one I bought - though I love all LotV's stamps! I've been very firm with myself about buying crafty stuff, because I'm saving up for Stamperama in Stevenage in February, so I've been resisting the gorgeous new stamps. It's very hard! The current Lili of the Valley Challenge is for 'things with wings'. I coloured her with Promarkers and stickled her wings and the flowers in her hair. I used 2 Nesties, the background one was a Christmas pressie from my dear hubby, and so was the Martha S butterfly border. Ribbon is from Hobbycraft, flowers are Prima, Wild Orchid and from stash, and the gem brads and pink gingham paper are also from stash. Here's an interior view. The sentiment is by The Greeting Farm. The colours irl are pink and green, but they've come out more coral and aqua. It's so frustrating having photograph ...