Madcap Manor

Good afternoon, all! It's a beautiful, warm Spring day here in S-E Hertfordshire, with sunshine and blue skies! Such a lovely change, it seems as though it's been grey and cold for months! Here's a summery card featuring Anya from the 'Miss Anya Love' set by The Greeting Farm. I've wanted this set for ages, and treated myself after Christmas, it's a bit embarrassing that I've only just inked one of these cuties up! I apologise for the wonky photo, I'm obviously no David Bailey! I coloured Anya with Promarkers, and there are stickles on the flowers and Glossy Accents on the heart in her hair ornament. The elaborate mat is a Spellbinders 'Timeless Rectangles' die, another post-Christmas purchase. The papers are Nitwits 'The Bees Knees' collection, they are so pretty! The sentiment banner is by LotV and I put a foam pad in the middle and glued down the ends to give the curve. The lace is from stash. The flowers and leaves are ...

Happy Bank Holiday! Is it raining where you are? We have typical BH weather - wet, grey and cold! So I have spent the day clearing and chucking-out, and a bit of cardmaking in between! This little Tilda is one of my favourites! She looks so surprised at the butterfly that's landed on her gorgeous bow. I used some of the new *Summer Limited Edition Promarkers, they are such pretty colours I just couldn't resist them.  The challenge at A Passion for Promarkers is 'Light and Bright' - either use bright papers and soft coloured pens or vice-versa. I went for some bright papers by Raspberry Road that were free with 'Quick Cards' which are also quite shiny, though my naff camera skillz haven't really picked them up. Following an example by the lovely Jules I used checked paper from the stack instead of plain card for matting. The swirl is a Marianne die, the cute butterflies are a Woodware punch. I coloured them with Promarkers to match the image and ...

Beware, this is rather picture-heavy!! At A Passion for Promarkers Challenge the theme is 'alter something that is not a square.' Well, ever since seeing a tutorial by Jane Johnson on the Whiff of Joy inspirations blog last year for adding images to candles I've wanted to have a go and so I've altered a small candle. The image is by Penny Black, I stamped it on tissue paper and coloured with my faithful Promarkers. The colours come out much more faded than on card. Here's another section of the cat finding the hat. When all was safely coloured in I trimmed round the tissue paper and wrapped it round the candle. It does seem to cling to the wax. Then I slowly and gently heated it with my heat tool holding it about 5 inches away, moving about all the time, until the wax softened. I had to smooth the edges down to make them blend. I kept gently heating until the tissue paper melded with the wax leaving the image. I made the candle a decorated hat rather than apply d...

My olde manne is out tonight, so I've been ensconsed in my room, creating! I love this Whiff of Joy image of Willow adjusting her shoe. She is so graceful and elegant, and I love her ruffled sleeves! I went back to my Promarkers, which are easier to use than Speccies because I know twhich colours work together! The swirls are also Whiff of Joy, stamped in Worn Lipstick DI, and I also dragged the edges around the ink pad to emphasise them. The pink mat is a Nestie and is also edged with Worn Lipstick. I've stickled her belt and jewellery, and also round the edge of the image, and along the cross-shape. Papers are MME, from a pad that was a magazine freebie last year (loved these so much I bought a second copy!) I also used the Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch. The pearls are from stash. I'm entering this into the current Sketch Saturday Challenge it's a really nice sketch, very simple. I'm also entering the Whiff of Joy Challenge where the theme ...

All my photos come out faded - this cute Bugaboo digi Dino is lime green! The current Passion for Promarkers Challenge is 'Prehistoric.' Well, I'm a lover of History and Time Team and Dinosaurs, so I had to go for it! Only problem... no dino stamp. However, Bugaboo came to the rescue - I love how you can buy digis and just download them with no waiting! Though resizing and printing is a bit more of a faff than just using rubba. The sketch from Sketch Saturday was ideal. I used Basic Grey 'Origins' papers, they seem to fit. I used a new Nestie, 'Wobbly rectangles' to die cut the image, and drew round the edge to give a narrow border. I also ran a Shabby Shutters Distress Ink pad round the edge. I did the same with the sentiment, which was a mag freebie. I glossy accented his toes and heart, and the card candy has been coloured with Lime Green Promarker and stickled. Even my hubby likes it! WIN!! Thanks for looking, chaps. Only one more day to go before ano...