Madcap Manor

 Morning, all! It's time for a new challenge at  Dream Valley ! We'd like to see shaped cards - any shape except square or rectangular. I made a heart easel card for one of the Mums who attended our Church Toddler Group (Early Birds) with her gorgeous little girl.  Sadly, the family has returned home to Slovenia, as they were finding it too expensive to live in the UK.  Fortunately her husband is an HGV driver, so he had a job waiting for him already, and she is a psychiatrist and will be working from September.  We will all miss them! Anyway, this is the card I made for them to wish them well. The gorgeous paper is from an old First Edition pad and has a spot gloss finish on the roses.  The die-cuts are made with a Spellbinders die set and I dry-embossed them to emphasise the detail. Check out the lovely cards made by my teamies and have a go at creating a shaped card yourself! Thanks for looking and take care! love Mags B x

Hiya! There's a new Challenge at Dream Valley which is to make a Shaped Card - but not a square or rectangle! Think circles, ovals, hexagons, teacups, cupcakes..... We have TWO gorgeous sponsors this time: Cute'n'Crafty and Star Stampz. I have made a Rocker Card - the link is to a useful YouTube tutorial - using Birthday Pebbles by Cute'n'Crafty. I used a Scalloped Circle die for the rocker base, as I find that's a bit more stable. The circle-patterned paper came from an old magazine freebie and the gold-embossed sentiment is by Paper Smooches. I used Broken China Distress Ink round the main image and the sentiment, and Spectrum Noir Sparkle on Pebbles' hat and bow tie. I apologise that this post is a day late! Thanks for looking, and have a great week! love Mags B x

Morning, all! Our new CRAFT Challenge is to make a Shaped Card - but not Rectangular or Square! I used a Teapot template from The Cutting Cafe printed onto a flowered paper from Nitwits. I used some ribbon to trim the teapot and layered 3 daisy die-cuts to decorate it. Our sponsor is The Cutting Cafe Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Hi, guys! We have a new challenge at CRAFT Challenge and it's a good one: Shaped Card - but NOT Square or Rectangular! I have an old octagonal die by Spellbinders which is about 10 cm wide, and I thought it would be ideal for a small card. I drew areound the outside onto a piece of folded cardstock, then die-cut the mat and finally drew around the inside of the die and cut out the patterned paper. The adorable image is Little Boy Blue from Melonheadz Doodles. I added Glossy Accents to the horn. It was lovely to work on such a small scale, the trick is to find papers whose patterns aren't too big. Our sponsor this week is Melonheadz Doodles Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! It's well and truly autumnal today, damp and windy, and fallen leaves are everywhere! Time to have a look at this week's CRAFT Challenge methinks! Our theme this week is Shaped cards - but no squares or rectangles! Instead, go for a circular card, or a hexagon or even a dodecahedron!!! I took the easy route and went with a circle. You'll notice it's another Christmas card! I used Grand Circles and a Grand Scalloped circle and my Grand Calibur to cut the base, gold card, green card and paper (which is from stash and very old!) The 'Noel' sentiment is printed from a fab digi Christmas Alphabet Blocks by Melonheadz Doodles . I hadn't come across them before, but they have some fabulous images, and their alphabets are fun! Melonheadz Doodles is one of our sponsors, the other is: The Stamping Boutique Go and be inspired by my teamies' creation, then take up the Challenge of a Shaped card! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! It's nearly Midsummer's Day, so of course the weather is cloudy, grey and chilly, with intermittent drizzle! A good day for going through cupboards and filling bags to go to the Charity Shop. (WHY did I buy that ghastly bright blue and black retro print dress that makes me look like an elephant??) Alternatively, it's a good day to enter our new Challenge at Dream Valley and this time our theme is Girly Our wonderful sponsor is All Dressed Up Stamps . If you haven't come across them yet, RUN, don't walk, to the shop - the images are absolutely gorgeous! I used So Pretty I made the shaped card base with an XXL Frilly #2 die by Go Kreate, and the layers were cut with a Large Frilly Frame #4. All the papers came from a 12 x 12 'Summer Blues' pad by Tilda. I fussy cut the roses from the same pad and added stickles. There is a strip of lace hiding in there behind the flowers, and some sequins for a bit more girly sparkle! Go and s...