Madcap Manor

 Good morning! It's a really autumnal day here in S-E Hertfordshire: misty, moisty, and the trees on the housing estate are showing off their beautiful leaves.  I love this time of year! Anyway, enough waffle, because we have a new challenge at  Dream Valley.   Our theme is Anything Goes  and it's Just For Fun. I fell in love with Papermania's  Modern Deco  paper pad and when I got it home, after admiring the gorgeous geometric patterns and the gold foiling, suddenly wondered - now, how shall I use this? Well, I came up with one idea - it's a birthday card for my son.  See what you think. Black, white and gold aren't colours I would normally use together.  The airship image is a very old red rubber cling stamp from  Whimsy Stamps , I stamped it repeatedly in black pigment ink - thank goodness for a Misti, which makes it so easy! I cut gold and patterned papers and the image with Lawn Fawn's  Stitched Rectangle stackables  to gi...

  Good morning, my lovelies! I hope you're all keeping well!   Before I get on to our new Challenge at The Holly and Ivy , I have some news! I am going to be a Grandma again next March! My daughter in Ireland has finally given me permission to make the announcement. It's so exciting!   Now back to our normal service. I apologise for the naff photo, the colours are brighter irl. I used an adorable older stamp by Meljen for Whimsy Stamps - I'm glad to say that her images are available through Whimsy Stamps in digital form - though unfortunately not this cute mouse.   The background paper has been hanging around my stash for years, it includes some festive silver glitter. I matched the stripes on the mouse's hat to the colours on the patterned paper to make a change from traditional Christmas colours. The sentiment strip came with a magazine a long time ago, and matches perfectly. I love it when a plan comes together!   Do scurry across...

Hi, guys! Today we have a Blingtastic Challenge for you at Dream Valley. I might have gone a bit Over The Top with my card..... This adorable image is Sweet Blossom by Whimsy Stamps. I coloured her with Copics and added Gold Stickles to the centres of the flowers and the bodies of the butterflies. I added sequins from my stash. The papers are from stash: I used a Martha Stewart punch to make the green border and added some navy Nuvo Crystal Drops and a gold glitter Peel-Off from Love From Lizi to trim the join. The baker's twine has blue glitter threads. The heart is die-cut from gold glitter card, and the sentiment die-cut is made with gold mirri card. Finally I added some Wink of Stella to all the blue flowers on the bp. Do you think that's Blingy enough??? Our fab sponsor is Dies to Die For which is a treasure-trove of crafty goodies!! Have a look at the fab inspiration left for you by my teamies on the blog and get out your blingiest, shiniest, sparkli...

Hello, my dearios! Yesterday I had my latest post-cancer check-up, and I'm delighted to say I'm still in remission! The NHS really is a National Treasure, the staff are amazing and so kind. Thank you, ladies and gents, for seeing me through my treatment last year! But I'm here to tell you about the new Challenge at My Time to Craft which is Winter Birthday. A very useful Challenge, as I have 3 important birthdays between now and January! The gorgeous image is Winter Fairy by Sylvia Zet for Whimsy Stamps. I added a lot of Stickles to the 'fur' on her coat and her earmuffs, and Spectrum Noir sparkle to her wings. The papers are from stash, as is the ribbon, and the snowflakes are cut with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Snowflakes die. As usual my teamies have produced some lovely examples to inspire you, do go and see! Thanks for looking and have a good weekend! love Mags B x

Good evening, all! Yay, it's Friday! Hooray for the Weekend! I signed up for a class at Online Card Classes called 'Stretch Your Stamps 2' - UK pals, the exchange rate between the £ and the $ is pretty competitive, so if you've ever considered one of these classes, now is the time to investigate! Gotta admit, I'm addicted lol! I've been experimenting with some of the techniques shown this fortnight, and it's been such fun! This is a better photo than the original, I hope you can see the glitter embossing over the Darling Daisies line image by Chrissy Armstrong for Whimsy Stamps. Click on the pic for a clearer view! The technique demonstrated by Jennifer McGuire involved using different colours of embossing powders on an image stamped in Versamark in tiny amounts to give a multi-coloured image. I don't have a variety of embossing powders, so I followed a suggestion she made using markers, a Stamp-a-ma-jig, Versamark and clear glitter embossing...

For my DT post for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. Good afternoon! (Though I'm actually posting this on Saturday night, with the Last Night of the Proms on the telly - it's magnificent, as usual!) I hope this time I schedule the post correctly! We have a colour challenge this week, and it's Purple and Green Rather like a monochrome challenge, we ask that you use mostly shades of purple and green on your creations. (Remember, it doesn't have to be a card!) Of course, skin and hair colour don't have to be purple and green - unless your image is of an alien! I have made a Christmas card: The adorable image is by Meljen (have I mentioned that I love Meljen?) for Whimsy Stamps and she is called Holly Christmas Fairy I coloured her with Promarkers and used spellbinders dies to cut out the image and mat. The papers are by Pink Petticoat. The striped green ribbon is from Hobbycraft. The sentiment is also by Whimsy stamps, a...

Good evening, my lovely blog friends! Welcome to my new followers, I hope you like this somewhat ditsy blog!! It's Friday - huzza! I hope you're all looking forward to a great weekend! Here in the UK we will apparently be getting more rain and wind and even snow, so I hope you'll all wrap up warm and remember to take your brolly with you when you go out! It's been one of those weeks when I've been pottering in my craft hovel, working on one card here and another card there. Which is nice, but it's also a sure-fire way to miss the deadline for a challenge, which happened to me with this card and last Saturday's lovely sketch from Sketch Saturday! Too bad! This beautiful image is Silver Fairy by Sylvia Zet for Whimsy Stamps. I love her, she resembles the daughter of a very lovely friend! I fussy-cut her out, and used foam pads on the centre of her wings and also down her body and glued the ends of her wings and her hair flat, to give her a 3-D effe...

Good evening, all! I hope none of you is being threatened by the floods, it looks dreadful on the News. Thanks so much for all your kind words about this $%£*&&& tonsillitis, I was feeling very sorry for myself but you cheered me up. Thank you!! Amazingly, the last fortnight has flown by and once again it's time for a new challenge at Dream Valley This time the theme is 'Non-Traditional Christmas' so put away all those red and green Christmas papers and go for something completely different! What do you get when you add yellow to Red and Green? Orange and Lime! This cute Cozy Cap Mouse is by Meljen for Whimsy Stamps, he came from Bunny Zoe's Crafts I used Promarkers (the list is below) and stickled the fur trim on his hat. The heart has been Glossy Accented and there are dots made with a 'Perlen-Pen'. The papers are Basic Grey 'Life of the Party'. I used a Memory Box Frostyville border on each side, both glittered, and the LotV s...

Good evening, my lovelies! I hope none of you has been troubled by the flooding in some parts of the UK, the pictures on the News have been awful. And, look, it's raining again! I think I'm going rusty. Twenty-six years ago tonight, after a very hot and dry day, I was in hospital with my brand new, gorgeous baby daughter asleep beside my bed. She was so tiny and cute! Now she's all grown up, but she can still be cute now and again, when she's in the mood lol! She also bakes amazing cupcakes, which do my diet no good at all! So when I saw this Whimsy stamp by Meljen at Angel Crafts I just had to buy it! This week, Sacha's favourite colours are red and blue, which is convenient because I could use Nitwits Tour of London papers. They are so pretty! Though every time I go on the website there seem to be more and more totally irresistable papers! The doily, which is Cheery Lynn French Pastry Doily Die from Dies to Die For (they have a sale at the moment! But I...

I began this card back in January! Then I put the image and papers away 'in a safe place' which is always fatal! I only found them yesterday, so this card has taken me 3 months to make!!!!! Should I phone the Guinness Book Of Records?! Wot a plonker! The image is Silver Fairy from Whimsy Stamps - I love her wings, they cry out for lots of lovely glitter! The papers are from Funky Hand I think. Flowers, lace and the gold corner are from stash. I adapted one of the sketches on Dawny P's blog, she has several and they are all nice and straightforward. I'm entering the challenge at Flutter By Wednesdays which this time is 'open' - ie anything goes as long as there's a fairy, butterfly or angel. I'm also entering the Sweet Stampin' Challenge where there is also an 'anything goes' theme. Also I'm entering the Paper Sundaes challenge which is 'Spring Blossoms'. There are flowers in the fairy's hair, as well as on the card! (Tha...

This is the card I made for ye Olde Manne's birthday. He does not do cute, or flowers, or bling, or ribbon! The image is by Whimsy Stamps and I used brown memento ink to stamp it. The background paper is a scrap by Kay and Co. I used a Tim Holtz die for the cogs, which are made with another snippet, and distressed with Vintage Photo ink. He really likes it!!! And I'm rather chuffed at how it turned out, too! My, it's cold! I hope you're all wrapping up warm. Be careful on those slippery roads! My neighbour's son took the corner into our cul-de-sac a bit too fast and began sliding sideways - luckily he straightened up before clipping any parked cars! My heart was in my mouth!! Thanks for looking, and stay warm! love Mags B x

Just a very quick post, my Internet access is very spotty at the moment! We have a new challenge at Dream Valley which is 'Valentines.' The sponsor this fortnight is the wonderful Joanna Sheen and the lucky winner will have £10.00 to spend on her online shop! My card is made with a sweet Whimsy Stamps Valentine girl, which I was lucky enough to win on one of their blog hops! The papers are Nitwits, they're nice and bright! I used Speccies (which Joanna Sheen has in the online shop!) but forgot to make a note of which ones - sorry! Flowers are from Wild Orchid except the rosebuds, which are from One Stop Card Crafts. The heart pin is so old I can't remember where I bought it! Ribbon is from stash, threaded through card cut with a Nesties tag die. Have a look at the wonderful work of my talented teamies, and don't forget, it doesn't have to be a card for any DV challenge - craft however your mojo inspires you! Thanks for looking and stay warm! love Mags B x