Madcap Manor

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

Good morning! There's Exciting News this morning - a brand new Challenge blog! The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge is a fortnightly Tuesday Challenge, whose theme is Christmas and always Anything Goes! I'm on the Design Team!! For my first card I have used an old Whiff of Joy rubber stamp, Willow with Candle. It's by the talented Elisabeth Bell: many of her images are now available as digis from Elisabeth Bell , but unfortunately not this one. Please read the terms and conditions very carefully. Here is my card: I layered some old Christmas paper on gold and green card, and cut the Spellbinders die from the same gold card. The poinsettia is an old Marianne die, I embossed it and rubbed some Nuvo Embellishing Mouse over the raised veins. The holly leaves are also an old Marianne die, cut from a scrap of pearlised green card. The gold-embossed sentiment is by Altenew. I added gold-coloured gems from my stash. This year I am determined not to spend the ...

Our new Challenge at Dream Valley is Not A Square Our sponsor is the awesome Live and Love Crafts oh, I could spend ages drooling over their gorgeous site! Anyway, here is my card. It's a Christmas one again! I used a new die, this is the Snoflake Fusion Cover Up die-namics die by My Favorite Things, which unfortunately now seems to be unavailable since I bought it a couple of months ago :( I cut it in white card and layered it on gold mirri card. The poinsettia is a Marianne Die sprayed with shimmer spritz. The ribbon is from stash. Don't be Square, join in our Challenge! :) Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good afternoon, and Happy Monday to you all! It's time for a new Challenge at Dream Valley and our theme is Monochrome . That is, use shades of just one colour - except for face and hair if you're using an image of a person. I went with blue: My Christmas card uses an old Lili of the Valley stamp, sadly she no longer seems to be available. I coloured her with Promarkers - I find monochrome quite tricky, and since I know my Promarkers better than my Copics, I went with the old favourites! All the fur on her outfit is glittered with Icicle Stickles. The papers are also LotV, I distressed the edges and added some Stormy Sky DI. The large snowflake is an old die from Marianne, also now unavailable, it seems, and I used a Simon Says Stamp Season's Greetings die.  fo the sentiment, which I went over with a white gel pen for emphasis. The ribbon is actually an old sticker from who-knows-where (ie my stash!) and the pretty cotton lace  is from Crafty Ribbons.  The ...

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...