Madcap Manor

Afternoon, all! Please excuse any typos in this post, my laptop refuses to connect to the Internet, so I'm using an old one with a dodgy keyboard! It's My Time to Craft time again! And now that the summer holidays are over the challenge has returned to being WEEKLY! The theme is 'Teddy Bear's Picnic' and we'd love to see your cards featuring A Bear as the main image. (Background papers with bears on don't count!) James the Bear is a Lili of the Valley cutie! I coloured him with Promarkers and added Glossy Accents to the baubles and stickles to the tinsel. The mat is cut with a Spellbinders Lacey Squares die and the blue card is a large snippet! The papers are from Hobbycraft and the ribbon is from stash. I used a snippet of dull gold paper to punch the snowflakes, using a Martha Stewart punch. Do go and take a look at my teamies' lovely makes, then dig out your favourite Teddy Bear image and have a go! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good afternoon, all! We have a lovely challenge today at Dream Valley which is Animals The sponsor is Robyn's Fetish Digi Stamps and one lucky winner will have 5 digis from the shop! I used an image I already had, this is Mouse with Christmas Cookie He is coloured with Speccies (list below). The fur trim has Glamour Dust on it, and the yummy cookie has been Glossy Accented. The papers were another magazine freebie - I love the gingerbread men on the back paper! The sentiment may have also been a freebie, it was all on its ownsome in my 'Sentiments' file. I used a Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch-Around-the-Page punch and also a Snowflake punch which has also been glittered. The spotty ribbon and the green gems are from stash. Go and see the lovely work done by my talented teamies! Remember, you don't have to make a card, as long as it follows the Animal theme! Thanks for looking, and have a good week! Challenges I'm entering: Robyn's Fetish Ch...

Just a fly-by post today, I'm out with my Dear Daughter for a routine check at the hospital. It will be an Adventure as we'll be going on the bus into deepest Essex! (Well, Epping!) A tiny (4") Christmas card, using a Penny Black stamp and a green Versacolor ink pad, with an added star from Paperchase. The green mat is pearlised but the sheen hasn't really come out in the picture. I made 5 of these - well, it's already May, only 8 months until the Big Day! I'm entering the Challenge at My Time to Craft where the theme is 'Use a Sentiment as the Main Focus.' Ideal for a CAS design, I think! I hope you're all having a good week - only 2 days until the weekend!! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! It's the weekend, huzza! I hope you're all having a bit of crafty 'me-time'. It's time for another challenge at My Time To Craft and this week the theme is 'Kraft.' Use it for matting, embellies, your image - anything! I had never coloured on Kraft before and I was a bit anxious how my inks would look on the darker background, but 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained' and with the help of This video by Kimberly Brown I had a go. The Kraft is from a Papermania stack, it has a very pretty mottled appearance and a distressed grid pattern in white. The image is by Francoise Read for Woodware and is from the 'Flower Doodles' clear stamp set, I stamped in Versamark and embossed with opaque white powder and coloured with Spectrum Noirs. The sentiment is LotV, matted onto the Kraft and glittered round the edges. The corner flourish is a Memory Box die that I got at Ally Pally and I glittered it, too. Papers are 'Bonnets a...

Hi, guys! I'm sorry I'm a bit late with this post, I'm having problems with my poor old laptop! Here at last is my card for this week's challenge at My Time to Craft and this week the theme is Stitching - Real or Faux I went for 'faux' stitching. The Spellbinders 'Floral Ovals' dies have a border of tiny holes, so I used a blue gel pen to add 'stitches'. There are more around the edge of the background which has been embossed with a butterfly Embossability and very lightly swiped with my Broken China Distress Ink pad. I distressed round the die-cuts, too. The flowers and ribbon (which has some real stitching on it!) are from stash,the blue leaves are made with a Woodware punch. The butterflies were cut with a die that came free with 'Simply Cards and Papercraft' magazine this month and I added blue pearls from Hobbycraft to the bodies. I've recently discovered Christina Griffiths' blog and youtube videos, and this card i...

Good morning, lovely bloggers! I'm scheduling this post, because when you read it I will be at the Alexandra Palace, at the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show! I've been saving up for this ever since Christmas! Here is my second card as Guest Designer for My Time to Craft . (I am still so excited to be their GDT! :)) The theme this week is 'Up In The Air' - your focal point should be something that flits through the air, like a butterfly or aeroplane or airship or - a balloon! I've used another Woodware image from the Patch A Flight set. I love the Woodware patchwork images, they'd be ideal for paper piecing with those little snippets that I can't help saving! This one was coloured with Promarkers, however. The papers were free with 'Quick Cards Made Easy' magazine last year. I used a Martha Stewart punch on the green mat of the horizontal row, and tiny silver pearls from my stash. The sentiment came with the stamp set. The white card has been ...

A little while ago I was asked by the lovely Shell if I would be Guest Designer at My Time to Craft for April. It took less than a nano-second to say 'yes'! I am incredibly thrilled and honoured to be asked - thank you so much, Shell! Here's my first card. The Challenge is for a CAS card, one layer, no embellishments. Eek! I'm only just getting to grips with CAS, let alone one-layer cards!! But I have this lovely, simple stamp, 'a touch' by Penny Black, which came from Sir Stampalot which I thought would look ok. I stamped it with Stazon and coloured with watercolour pencils (borrowed from my daughter!) and used a waterbrush to blend, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. The sentiment is also Penny Black. The card blank isn't distressed round the edges, that's just a shadow, thanks to my naff photography skillz! The simplest cards, I find, sometimes take longest, because they require a lot of thought and planning, at least that...

Good evening, all! Well, it's meant to be Spring now, but it's sooo cold, and more snow is forecast for next week! I hope you're all keeping warm, my lovelies - I have a wonderful burgundy-coloured Slanket (it's like a fluffy blanket but with sleeves) and I am living in it every evening! We had a power-cut two days ago, and spent the evening by candlelight. Thank goodness for my new Kindle, which glows in the dark so I was able to read for the 2 and a half hours we were without power! Enough of this, here's a springlike Easter card: The sweet Bunny is by Penny Black from the 'T for Transparent' Garden Friends set. I love her gorgeous straw hat! She is coloured with Promarkers and I distressed round the edge with Bundled Sage DI. The mat is cut with a Nesties Scalloped Square die. I glittered the tiny butterflies but of course they don't show too well! Papers are Basic Grey 'Porcelain' which I bought back in 2011 and which I had to for...