Madcap Manor

 Hiya! I'm sorry I'm a bit late with my DT post for  My Time to Craft , I was doing the flower arrangement at Church this morning, and then I had a mammogram this afternoon (ouchies!)  But here am I, faint but pursuing! (My Grannie used to say that, it's probably Shakespeare.) Our new theme is Fantasy or Whimsy.   Fairies, magical beasts, mages, whimsical images of quirky animals or birds or people - whatever takes your fancy. My first card uses 'Magical Day', an older clear stamp from  The Greeting Farm .  This one is out of print, but if you check out the 'Fantasy' tab on their website you'll see another set of cute unicorn images. The papers are from an old First Edition pad which has a unicorn theme.  The background is glittered and I used pearlised card for the mats and  Love from Lizi sway peel-offs  in Teal Mirror, which give some lovely shine.  The sentiment came with the stamp set. My second card is more whimsical, using a very ...

Good morning, and happy Friday! I hope you're all looking forward to a FANTASTIC weekend! If you join in with our new challenge at My Time to Craft you certainly will, as our new theme is Fantasy. (See what I did there?) I have a card for a little girl here, using the adorable Magical Day by The Greeting Farm. The unicorn paper is from Chasing Rainbows by First Edition. I made the image into a banner, adding some Nuvo Drops along the top. The ribbon is from stash and the sentiment came with the image. Go and see the fantastic creations made by my teamies over on the Challenge blog! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Evening, all! I hope you've had an enjoyable weekend! I am relaxing with a bijou sherryette as a chicken casserole simmers away on the stove! I recently made this card for a friend of my daughter. Laura is a writer of horror stories - now, I'm not a big horror fan, but her book Naming the Bones is so very good. Do check it out! The adorable Hello Unicorn is by The Greeting Farm. The paper is gorgeous, it's covered in glitter, and is from an old paper pad by Kaisercraft called 'Save the Date.' Time to check on the spuds and casserole and open the wine! Thanks for looking and have a great week! love Mags B x

Morning, all! Happy Valentine's Day! I apologise for the lateness of this post, we had a rather busy weekend and I forgot! Sorry! Our current Challenge at My Time to Craft! is Love Is All We Need. I used a digi by The Greeting Farm called 50s Sweetheart . The mat is a Spellbinders Heart Circles Die. The papers are from a very old K & Company pad which sadly is out of print. I also used little heart-shaped gems from my stash and two gorgeous glitter peel-offs which came from a kit from Love From Lizi. My teamies have made some gorgeous creations to inspire you - go and see! I hope you're all having a good week. I don't know about you guys, but I find February to be the dreariest month of the year: the weather is always grotty! However, there are yellow crocuses beginning to peep out of the ground in the garden, and soon it will be Spring, hooray! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! Happy Monday! We have a Bank Holiday today in the UK - I hope we have good weather! It's a running joke here that on Bank Holidays we usually get rain!! We also have a new Challenge at Dream Valley which is to use Blue and Yellow on your creation - which doesn't have to be a card! I have been tidying my Craft Hovel yet again, and came across my stamps from The Greeting Farm. They are lovely stamps, such great images and such high quality red rubber. They are easier to stamp than clear stamps, I think. Anyway, when my printer ran out of ink so I couldn't print out an image by our sponsor Cute as a Button Stamps I chose an old Anya stamp from The Greeting Farm. Sadly, I can't find her on the website. I cut her out with a Spellbinders Oval die and layered her onto a Spellbinders Scalloped Ovals mat, and added her to the card with foam tape. I added Spectrum Noir sparkle to the flower in her hair, and a gem from stash. The paper is also from s...

Hi, guys! I hope you're all keeping well! It's a cold, grey day in South East Herts, I'm wrapped up in a lovely woolly blanket! Brrr! Roll on Spring! However, our new Challenge at My Time to Craft is one that makes me think of Summer and Sunshine, it's to have Banners or Bunting in your design! I went with both!! The bunting paper came free with a mag a couple of years ago, I picked out the teal and pink to colour Anya. She is one of three cuties from the Miss Anya Garland stamp set by The Greeting Farm. I went over her dress and socks with a clear Wink of Stella pen, and covered the banners with Glossy Accents. I used a Spellbinders oval die to cut her out, and drew round the same die onto teal card and cut it out, giving a narrow border. Then I added it to my card with foam tape. The long pink banner behind her also uses paper from the same free pack. I left the points loose and curled them slightly to give dimension. The ribbon is by American Crafts and the...

Good morning! I hope your weekend is going well! Our new Challenge at My Time to Craft is 'Fantasy' - a really fun theme! We also have a DT CALL - all the deets are on the blog, do go and see! The DT are a lovely bunch, so friendly and welcoming! Here is my Fantasy card, starring Autumn Fairy a digistamp from The Greeting Farm. I love her sly expression! I coloured her with Spectrum Noirs and glittered her wings. The papers are all from an 'Origins' 6x6 pad by Basic Grey, including the leaves, which were cut using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Leaves Dies The sentiment is from Penny Black Gratitude clear stamp set, and so is the flower motif. Well, I don't know if there is an Autumn Fairy at the bottom of my garden, but there are certainly a lot of leaves! Go and see the fantastic creations from the Team (especially Ema's!) and also the details of the DT Call! Thanks for looking! Mags B x

Good evening, all! If you're looking for my DT card for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Now it's time for Dream Valley Challenges and it's one that everyone enjoys - Anything Goes! Our sponsor is the terrific Robyn's Fetish Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More is proud to sponsor this challenge. Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More, a division of I Did It Creations, was created and is owned by Robyn Weinrib. Robyn offers a wonderful variety of digital stamps and digital papers, designed to meet the needs of all digital paper crafting addicts for every occasion. Robyn’s Fetish Digital Stamps And More is happy to award 3 digital stamps of the winner’s choice to the winner of this challenge. I didn't use a sponsor image this time (due to being even more ditsy than usual!) Instead I dug out a cute stamp from The Greeting Farm I coloured Princess Anya with Spectrum Noirs and fussy-cut round the image. Th...

Happy St Patrick's Day! Here's a card I rustled up to celebrate the occasion - my daughter's boyfriend is Irish and she's spending the weekend in the Republic with his family, I hope they like it! The image is a digi by The Greeting Farm called 'Good Luck Anya.'  I coloured her with Speccies and glittered the 4-leafed clovers/Shamrocks. The sentiment and row of hearts are also by TGF but I can't remember which sets they came from. The papers are by Pink Petticoat, and I distressed the edges with Frayed Burlap DI. The flowers are Prima and the die-cut leaves are by Whiff of Joy. Ribbon and gems are from stash. Nice and simple, eh? It took me a long time to make, mainly because my first two attempts at colouring Anya were really naff! I should practise with my Speccies more, the technique is slightly different than with Promarkers as they tend to be 'juicier'. We live and learn. I hope you're all staying snug and dry. The rain has bee...

I hope everyone had a good time last night! I must admit, I did feel a wee bit fragile this morning! It was the bubbles in the champers that did it, I'm sure, and not the bottle of wine that my old man and I had polished off before midnight struck!! I've made this card for my sister: before Christmas I stayed with her to help her clean her house (which was left in an awful state by the people who'd rented it last year) so I think she'll appreciate poor Anya overwhelmed by the laundry! The stamp came from the wonderful Dies to Die For in the summer, and this is the first time I've inked her! How shocking is that when she's so cute??! Papers are from the Porcelain stack by Basic Grey, which I bought at the Ally Pally in the spring. I've stickled the edges but otherwise left off the embellies, as I think it looks ok without. The MS punches came from the AP, too. I'm entering this card for the anyone for Anya? challenge, which this week is a sketch. The s...

Here's another lil' cutie from the Rollcal set by The Greeting Farm via Dies to Die For The oval card is distressed with Antique Linen and stickled, and there are more stickles on the star I'm entering this into the current Create4fun Challenge which is another colour challenge, this time red, white and blue. The blue bp and card are from stash, the spotty red is from the MME 'Quite Contrary' pack that was free with a mag this summer. I used a Martha Stewart doily punch to give a bit of interest. Ribbon is from stash - I am loving the bow-maker, as I'm sure you can tell! Ok, time for bed. Thanks for looking! luv, Mags x Promarkers: Blush. Dusky Pink, Pastel Pink; Vanilla, Tulip Yellow, Gold; Lipstick Red, Azure

This little lad is so sweet! He's from The Greeting Farm, part of a set that I got from Dies to Die For The papers are Nitwits eerie-sistable too . I'm really getting into digital papers, as you can see! I'm going to enter this for the Anyone for Anya challenge which this week is a colour challenge of green, blue and brown. The card candy is Paperchase, from stash, and the brown ribbon for the bow came from a sweater! I always cut those ribbons off so I can recycle them on cards! Thanks for looking! luv, Mags x Promarkers: Blush, Dusky Pink, Pastel Pink; Cinnamon, Cocoa, Burnt Sienna; Lush Green, Denim Blue

As I'm sure you can tell from the sudden glut of cards, I have been ignoring the housework, huzza! This one is a bit special, because my daughter's friend Louise has a new job and is finding it a steep learning curve. The sketch is a nice one from Anyone for Anya? though I didn't make the blue middle layer quite big enough! Louise loves cute, and pink, and flowers, so I had fun with all the elements! I'm also going to enter it for Cute Card Thursday whose theme is 'Text.' Well, the hugs message (it's a Penny Black clear stamp) is small but important, meant to cheer Louise up! The Anya stamp is 'Summer' from The Greeting Farm's 'Roll Call' set which I got from Quixotic Paperie I love how she's giggling with her hand in front of her mouth - so cute! I distressed and stickled the edges. The gorgeous paper is Papermania's 'Honey and Hugs'. Oh, by the way, the PB Mouse and Stocking stamp I used the other day is 'Xmas Mou...

The challenge at Anyone for Anya? is 'Don't be square' so I made a Diamond fold card. There's a tutorial on YouTube here The image is Amelia and for once I picked the papers BEFORE colouring her! She's off to Devon, where my sister has a summer job working at Lee Abbey . The Diamond fold is easy - though it needs careful measuring, especially as A4 card is 298cm long, which makes dividing by thirds a little tricky. However, I still know how to do Long Division after hem-hem years since maths classes - and the joy of cards is that mistakes can be covered by pretty paper! Thanks for looking! Recipe: Amelia from 'Happy Day' by The Greeting Farm stamped in Stazon on watercolour paper Coloured with Distress Inks: Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick, Tea Dye, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade Orange Stickles on every star! Papers are the gorgeous MME 'Bloom and Grow' Flowers are handmade and the yellow ones are by Kaisercraft. The s...