Madcap Manor

Hello, me dearios! I hope you're all having a good weekend, whether at work or at play! Our new Challenge at My Time to Craft! is this fabulous Sketch by Jo! Isn't it great? Just perfect for a card I wanted to make for a friend of my daughter's, who has just had a bonny, bouncing baby boy! I used the adorable Butterfly Baby by Krista Smith, now available in rubber from Little Darlings Rubber Stamps. Too darn' cute! I coloured him with Copics, and slathered Icicle Stickles over his wings. I distressed the edge with Broken China Distress ink, and did the same with the mat, which is cut with a Spellbinders Heart Circles Die. (The link is to the main Spellbinders site, Google the die to find local sources.) The paper is a snippet, I'm not sure who it's by. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, the leaves are cut from a snippet of green card using a Woodware punch. I glittered the flowers with Glamour Dust. The sentiments are from an old 'Ba...

Hi, guys, our new Challenge at Dream Valley is to have differently coloured hair on your project. Don't do what I did!!!!! I didn't read the requirements properly - what a plonker! So please imagine that the dancer on my card has purple, or blue, or orange or pink hair! The image is an old one from the greatly-missed Saturated Canary. I used paper from a very old magazine freebie paper pad; the sentiment is from an old Clearly Besotted stamps set which sadly seems unavailable. The ribbon and gems are from stash. Our sponsor this fortnight: PPinkyDolls Art Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning and Happy Saturday! Our new Challenge at My Time to Craft is deceptively simple: make a One Layer Card In its purest form a One Layer Card has the image, sentiment etc added directly to the card base. This can be stamping or die-cut insertions. Often, though, the one layer section is a separate piece of cardstock, decorated and adhered to the front of the cardbase. NO additional paper is allowed, whether patterned paper or washi tape or cardstock! Embellishments should be used very sparingly. For more detailed rules look Simplicity One Layer Challenge . Here's my card: it is inspired by the amazing Kristina Werner I used Distress Inks on watercolour paper to colour Pricilla, a Saturated Canary stamp from Little Darlings Rubber Stamps. (Sorry there's no link, Google doesn't show it!) This is my fourth attempt, watercolouring is not as simple as it looks!! I used my craft mat as a palette and squashed the Ink pads on it, then used an ordinary p...

Hi, guys! I hope you're enjoying your weekend! I am at the yucky stage of a cold - why do I always come down with a cold when there's a holiday coming up?!! On to our new challenge at My Time to Craft and it's very topical - New Baby Congratulations to Wills and Kate on the birth of their little girl, and also to everyone who has a new little prince or princess in their family! I have used an adorable image from Saturated Canary - Krista's images are wonderful! This is Butterfly Baby The papers are from the Snippets drawer. I used Copics to colour him - I am still learning what the colours are like, so the blending on the wings is a bit off, but I love that lemon yellow! The sentiment is from a stamp set by American Crafts which I picked up for £1 and is now out of print. I used Mama Elephant Stargazer pigment ink to stamp it, and Broken China Distress Ink around the edges of the image. The butterfly sticker is from stash. The flowers are by Wild Orchid C...

Hiya! I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I've just had a really good week, my sister has been staying with us while she attended at course in London, which has been lovely! Now it's time to do all the cleaning and tidying that I neglected last week! But it's also time for a new challenge at My Time To Craft ! Our theme this time is HAIR - no, not the risque musical from the 1960s (if you can remember that far back!) We'd like to see images coloured in non-traditional colours! That means PINK or BLUE or Any other colour that isn't brunette, blond, black or auburn I went for Turquoise I love these colours of Promarkers! And this image was the natural one to use, too: she is 'Windswept' by Krista Smith, and she is a rubber stamp from Sugar Nellie/Funky Kits and sadly she seems to be discontinued. The Promarkers for her hair are: Marine, Turquoise, Duck Egg and Cool Aqua, and her dress is Burnt Orange, Bright Orange, Mandarin and Soft Peach. ...

Hello, my dearios! I hope you're all keeping well! I have been practising with my Promarkers recently! I belong to a facebook group, Donna-Marie's Cards and Promarker tutorials and Donna has produced an e-book on colouring. It's with the permission of letraset, of course. All money raised will go to a homeless charity. Her tutorials are very detailed, and well worth £12! Here is Bubbles who I coloured along with one of the tutorials. I am so much happier with my colouring, it's much smoother and more defined! I edged the image with a Fiskar's Scallop Sentiment punch. The black paper for my mat was dull, so I livened it up with some clear embossing, using a background stamp by Impression Obsession called Circle Fusion 2 CR002. I think I ordered it from Simon Says Stamp. The background paper is from a Christmas pad by Dovecraft called 'Noel.' I added glitter to the star, bubbles, and the dots on her dress. The sentiment and heart are from a Hero...

Good morning! One of the most interesting things for me about being on a DT for The Squirrel and the Fox , which is an Australian Challenge Blog, is how I now comprehend how the seasons are reversed between here and Down Under. Yes, I knew it intellectually before, but now I can experience it via the Internet. While we are (supposedly) heading into Summer, Down Under it's Autumn, heading into Winter. I hope your weather is better than our cold and grey Spring, chaps! *waves to Aussie friends* Our new Challenge is Winter or Spring and we have the fabulous Saturated Canary as our Sponsor! The amazing prize for one lucky winner is 2 - yes, TWO! - digis! I wish I could enter - though to be honest I have a mahoosive file on my laptop of SC images already!!! This card is made with one of them, this is Picnic and she really speaks to me of Summer with her picnic basket full of goodies to eat and a blanket to sit on! The papers are an old My Mind's Eye set called 'Bloom a...

Good afternoon! I hope you're all ok in this snow, we've got off quite lightly in S-E Herts but I know other parts of the country are having a very bad time. Keep warm and safe! If you're looking for my DT post for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. It's Dream Valley Challenge time again! We have a gorgeous theme this fortnight: Pearls AND Lace and our sponsor is the amazing Krista Smith of   Saturated Canary One lucky winner will have $10 to spend on her gorgeous images! Krista very generously let the DT choose an image: this is Easter Dress - isn't she cute? The picture is very faded, in real life the colours are much better! I took my colours  from the papers, which are by Pink Petticoat from the Snippets box. The bracket tab is an MFT Die-namics die called, unsurprisingly, 'Bracket Tab.' The corner pieces are cut with Spellbinders Parisian Motifs dies and I added little pink pearls. There are also 2 pear...

Afternoon, all! I apologise for not being around much this week, I've had a dose of the 'flu. I know I'm poorly when I can't even read :( ! Enough of my woes, it's time for another challenge at Dream Valley ! Our lovely sponsors this time are One Stop Card Crafts with a £10 voucher, and Bugaboo with $21 to spend on their fantastic digis! This fortnight's theme is 'Hallowe'en.' Now, I don't really 'do' Hallowe'en, having problems with children being encouraged to knock on strangers' doors in the evening and demand sweets with menaces. I also know a lot of elderly ladies who sit in the dark all evening on October 31st because they're terrified of 'trick or treaters.'  Enough ranting! I'm happy to make a spooky card for my son's birthday in December, and here it is. The image is 'Zombieboy' by the superb Krista Smith of Saturated Canary . I used Promarkers to colour him. I put Rock Candy Stickl...

Morning, all! If you're looking for The Squirrel and the Fox bloghop, please click here This is going to be a loooong post, so grab a cuppa - or, if The sun's over the yardarm you may prefer a G and T! The current theme at Dream Valley is 'Breast Cancer Awareness' so you need to THINK PINK! You can make anything, not necessarily papercrafts, as long as it fits the theme. My card uses a gorgeous image by Krista Smith of Saturated Canary Isn't she lovely? She looks a bit like my adorable granddaughter! Krista also has a sweet new image, 'Butterfly Baby' and this week she is donating money from this image to a children's charity - there's a link in my sidebar. I'm really pleased with the colouring on this one - Krista's images are a dream to colour! I used Promarkers (list below)and stickled the rose in her hair. The papers are Nitwits, from the snippets box. (Hi, Di! ) The gingham ribbon is from Hobbycraft. The flowers are all Wil...

Hi, guys! I hope those of you who had a Bank Holiday on Monday had a good one, in spite of the rain! Here are two more of the Thank You cards I made for helpers at the Church Holiday Club earlier this month. The sketch for this one came from 'Sketch Saturday' 2 weeks ago but I made a boo-boo so didn't enter the challenge. The image is Saturated Canary and the papers are Nitwits 'Tour of London.' The swirl and the flowers are both made with Magnolia dies, and there are gems from stash in the flower centres, and the two shiny dots are stickers. The butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch, with added gems from stash, and the sentiment is my fab  Marianne die with Stickles. The ribbon is coloured with pens from the Spectrum Noirs Yellows set. This cute laddie is another Saturated Canary digi. The papers are Nitwits. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the scalloped edging, and the bakers twine is from The Ribbon Girl. More of the shiny silver Paperchase stickers...

I made this card last week for a very special friend but our paths haven't crossed until tonight. She keeps chickens so I thought this was just the right image! It's a Saturated Canary image by Krista Smith called Murray who, as you can see, also keeps chickens! I coloured her with Promarkers, but unfortunately I can't find the list. I'm usually dissatisfied by my hair colouring, but this time I think I've almost cracked it. We Shall See! The papers are Nitwits Bees Knees Collection. The colours are so pretty, for once I chose the papers first and then matched the Promarkers. I know that's what you're supposed to do, but I'm rarely that organised!! The corners are cut and embossed with Spellbinders Floral doily set, the card is cheap'n'cheerful gold card for children's crafts which came from our lovely Art and Craft shop which closed 2 years ago - I miss it so much :( But I think my bank manager is quite happy that it closed lol! ...

Yippee! It's time for another Dream Valley Challenge which is 'For a Special Lady.' We have a very special lady sponsoring us - the wonderful Krista Smith of Saturated Canary What amazing talent she has! And one lucky winner will have a $10 voucher for her shop! The DT were generously allowed to choose an image to use. This is Zorana a dancing gypsy Isn't she gorgeous?! I made a criss-cross pocket to hold a detachable message. The fabulous papers are Basic Grey Pyrus, and I made the base from green card. The message insert is edged with gold card cut with a Nestie die.  Zorana has been coloured with Promarkers and the edge distressed with Tea Dye Ink. This is, in fact, going to a special lady, the author Sarah Rees Brennan who has written a terrific trilogy beginning with The Demon's Lexicon . One of her characters is a magical dancer! I'll be sending this via her publisher as a thank you! So have a go at our Challenge, it doesn't have to ...