Madcap Manor

Yes, it's me again! After the shenanigans on Tuesday with the power cut I was looking forward to some quiet crafting time yesterday - and the washing machine decided to die! We've had it for seven years and it's been used daily, so it has served us well - but I was not happy when it flooded my kitchen floor! On the plus side, my kitchen floor is clean and sparkly. On the minus side, I had to haul sopping wett clothes to the bath and get rid of the water the old-fashioned way. Reader, I trampled them. It's a bit like crushing grapes for wine, without the delicious alcoholic result. After that I spent the evening with my Kindle. If any of you like Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy/ Vampires, try Karen Chance's books. Sexy vampires, kick-bottom heroines, and a fair dose of slapstick humour, too! Amazon has an anthology of the first 4 books of the  'Cassie Palmer' series in their Kindle store. The first book in the series is 'Touch the Dark.' But yo...

Good afternoon, everyone! I hope you've all recovered from any Jubilee celebrations in the rain. Wasn't it a shame the weather was so awful! I hope the Queen has had a lie-in today to recover! Next week the 5 lads and lasses from my Sunday School class are being confirmed, so I have made each of them one of these cards. I didn't want them to be 'religious' because the family of one of the candidates just isn't interested at all and I don't want to put the kid in an awkward situation. So instead I used this gorgeous Poppy stamp, which I bought at Ally Pally this year. I used red Promarkers for the image, and the sentiment, which came with a Forever Friends stamp yonks ago, is stamped in Faded Jeans Distress Ink. The white bows are from stash. It took me quite a while to make 5 of these - actually I made 9 altogether, but the stamping went wrong on 4 of them so they were Binned With Extreme Prejudice! I'm entering the Less is More Challenge whi...

Evening, all! It's really chilly tonight, so I've dug out my purple snuggle-blanket! I also made 2 cards today! This one uses a very old stamp, which I found when tidying some weeks ago. It's by First Class Stamps Ltd and there's a Sun stamp somewhere in the house, too. Time to tidy up again, methinks! I embossed in white glitter powder and then sponged with blues from a Kaleidocolor rainbow pad, using a square mask. The challenge at Less is More is for a one-layer embossed card. Here's a detail shot: The stamp's quite detailed, and I think would look better with a much finer embossing powder, but it does glitter very prettily! Hope you're all having a good evening! Thanks for looking! 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...

Oh dear, this is not a very good photo! Last night my daughter and I saw the Moscow Ballet Company perform 'Swan Lake' at the Civic Hall. It was tremendous!! This card is for the lady at Church who organised the tickets. The challenge at Less is More is to use 3 squares on your Clean and Simple card, so I'm entering this there. The hedgies are PB, of course! I cut them out and popped them on foam pads. I used Promarkers (surprise!!) and glittered their skirts. The squares were punched from plain card using a Woodware punch, then I went round the edges with Distress Inks: Shabby Shutters, Worn Lipstick and Broken China. The text is also PB. Thanks for looking, and I hope you're keeping warm on this cold day! luv, Mags x Promarkers: Ivory, Pastel Pink, Cool Grey 1 - 4, China Blue, Blue Pearl, Mint Green, Pastel Green, Blossom, Pink Carnation

Afternoon, all! It's a grey, chilly, dank day today and my feet were so cold at church this morning! Hurry up, Spring! We can always make cheerful springtime cards in the meantime, of course! This one is for two challenges: Less is More whose theme is 'Spring' and Penny Black Saturday Challenge who want Mens' Cards. I loved the technique that the lovely Jules used on a card a few weeks ago, when she paper-pieced one of the pretty, sketchy PB flowers. So I decided to have a go. Actually, this is my second attempt, as I chose the wrong shades for my first attempt, and made a dark purple SPLODGE. That's what it looked like, anyway! The papers are Papermania Capsule Collection. The sentiment stamp is from an unmounted collection that's lost its cover, so all I can say is it's not Woodware, who very sensibly print their name on the protective acetate. The flower stamp is PB 'Gossamer.' Thanks for looking! luv, Mags x

There's a new 'clean and simple' challenge blog, Less is More whose current challenge is One Layer and a theme of flowers. Now, CAS is a real challenge for me, because you can't use embellies to cover mistakes! I had a go yesterday, since in my Grand Tidy Up I have found my chalks, which had been put away 'in a safe place.' So I versamarked this Hero Arts stamp ('Pastel Petals', it's a set of 4) and got to work with cotton wool, blue and purple chalks - and a rubber to clean up the bits of chalk that went over the edge. The faux stitching gives it a bit more definition, I think. (The stitching is meant to be wobbly and rustic, honest!!) Sentiment is PB. It was a very quick card - it took me longer to nerve myself to stamp on the card than to colout it! Also my hubby likes it!! Anyway, have a look at the blog, I know it's going to be inspiring for male and non-cute cards! Thanks for looking, and have a good Wednesday! luv, Mags x PS The photo is...