Madcap Manor

Hi, guys, I hope you had a great weekend! Monday means a new Challenge at Dream Valley and this fortnight it's the ever-popular Anything Goes Our sponsor is the gorgeous Dilly Beans Digi Stamps if you haven't yet come across Dilly Bean's you are in for a treat! Here is my card, it's my first ever Shaker Card and I used the adorable Iidynn's Bear Framed . I'm sorry about the glare over the image, that's the light catching the acetate window. The card base is made with pink Core'dinations cardstock by Bazzill. The paper is Basic Grey from the old 'Bloom and Grow' collection. I used a Spellbinders square die to cut the opening and also the image, and I glued the image directly onto the front of the card base. The paper is attached with double layers of foam tape to give enough height for the sequins and beads sealed inside. The sentiment is Lili of the Valley. Go and see what my gorgeous teamies have done, they will surely inspire you t...

Evening, all! if you're looking for my post for 'My Time to Craft' please scroll down to the previous post. I had 2 cards to make today - one for my Dad's 95th birthday on Thursday; and one for my Flower Arranging mentor, who is in hospital - hopefully not for long. I chose an image of a Bonsai from the Woodware Oriental Elements clear Stamp Set for both cards because both recipients will appreciate it. My Dad learned Japanese after he was invalided out of the Army in 1943 and became a translator at the end of the War in the Far East. My mentor and I went to a wonderful demonstration of Japanese Flower Arranging last year. So you can see that both have an interest in Bonsai!! For my Mentor: The image is coloured with Promarkers. The leaves are stickled, and the pot is covered with Glossy Accents. The 'love' symbol is from another Woodware set, Oriental Ladies. I used a Woodware reverse rounder punch on the corners, and pearls from Hobbycraft for some bl...

Hi, guys! This is my second post of the day, please scroll down to see my DT post for My Time To Craft. A lovely friend celebrated her birthday today so I made this card. She is Indian, so I used different Promarkers than usual for the skin of this Elisabeth Bell cutie - sadly she no longer appears on the Whimsy Stamps site, but there are lots of other adorable images there! The gorgeous papers have glitter and shine, they are New Bloom by First Edition. I used a Spellbinders die to cut the lacy mat behind the image from one of the papers. The flowers are cut with Spellbinders dies from the 'Floral Doily' set. The gems and ribbon are from stash, and the sentiment is Lili of the Valley. I am entering the current challenge at C.R.A.F.T. Challenge which has a complex recipe: 1 image and 1 sentiment - check. Two shapes - Circle and Square - check. Three papers - two square backgrounds, and the third is used for the circular mat and the lower layer of flowers - check. ...

Good morning! It's another great Challenge at My Time to Craft - the weeks are going by so quickly! Our theme is Die Cuts Only - that is, use die cuts and a sentiment but no image. So I made a 6x6 card out of white Centura pearl and trimmed off an inch at one side, then dug out a variety of dies: Two are from Tattered Lace: High Heel Glam and Smaller Bow which I trimmed down and then added a scrap of card behind the knot to give more definition. The oval die and the Floral Ovals dies are Spellbinders Nestabilities. The corners are a Whimsy Shapeology set, and the Sentiment is by Marianne. I used some Papermania card which has a pearlised effect. My daughter suggested drawing lines to join the corners (thanks, Sacha!) but other than that everything has been die-cut. I had such fun making this card!! Please go and see my teamies' fantastic makes, then hunt out your dies and make something gorgeous!! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Sadly, this is the last Challenge at The Squirrel and the Fox I want to thank Linda, and all the DT ladies, for the last 2 very enjoyable years. Good luck, Linda, in whatever you do! For our final Challenge we have a classic theme: Happy Birthday! Our sponsor is The Paper Shelter and I used this adorable Cheerleader The colours in the photo aren't very accurate, the blue should be teal! The papers were magazine freebies (I'm on a mission to use up all of them!). I used the Spellbinders Floral Oval die to cut the patterned mat behind the image. She has been cut out and mounted on foam pads, and her pom-poms have been glittered. There is more glitter edging the sentiment label, which came with the same set of papers. The ribbon is from stash. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, and the little leaves were made with a Woodware punch. Do join in at our last Challenge, let's go out with a bang! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

Good morning! When you read this I will be in Derby with the Olde Manne, the kids and kid-in-law and the gorgeous granddaughter! My niece was married on Sunday, and we all stayed overnight at the hotel where the reception was held. A Four Star Hotel, how posh! In the meantime, here is the new Challenge at Dream Valley . Our theme is Summer . Now, in the UK Summer quite often includes rain, a cold wind, and even hail - but we're going to be optimistic and go for sunshine, the seaside, ice cream - anything summery! Friends in the Southern Hemisphere, I hope this Challenge will remind you of warmer days to come! Our fabulous sponsor is Robyn's Fetish and I have used an image which I've had on my laptop for ages but never got around to using: It's a Dragonfly Day . I used Promarkers, and covered the Dragonfly's wings with stickles and its body with Glossy Accent. The background paper with the butterflies is one I bought years ago, when we still had a local cra...

Good evening, my lovelies! I'm just popping by quickly with a card I made using the Starburst technique and some Lili of the Valley papers. (The link is to one of many Youtube videos, this is also known as the 'Sunburst' technique but 'Starburst' is the name of the faster-than-light travel in the tv series 'Farscape' and since I'm a big fan.....) I made several like this while watching the World Cup last week. Once the papers are cut it's easy to put them together. The sentiment is also LotV and is gold embossed, and the ribbon is from my stash. The only thing to watch out for in this technique is to make sure that directional patterned papers are cut and glued in the right direction so that eg hearts are all the right way round. My daughter came over from Ireland because she had her latest blood tests and report on whether she is still clear of her cancer and I'm delighted to say that she is still in remission! Then tomorrow the Old ...

Good evening, all! Sorry I haven't blogged much this week, I have had some problems uploading pictures to the blog : fortunately my daughter and her wonderful partner are here for the weekend - he is a Jedi Master of IT and has solved the problem! He is a very noble gentleman!!! So here is one of a set of cards I made a week ago, starring the Woodware Patch an Owl set. I paper pieced the owl, using LotV Bonnets and Bowties papers (they came free with a mag!) The beak is pieced with a scrap of gold card from stash. I used a snippet of pink card and a Spellbinders Lacey Squares die for the mat. The sentiment came with the set. I used a stamp from the Winter Gifts stamp set and the matching Tag You're It dies. The tiny flower brads are from stash. Here's a picture of the 4 cards lying on my ironing board: One of the great things about paper piecing is that if you use 4 different papers you can easily make 4 cards!! I hope you've all had a great weekend, ...

Dream Valley Challenges are now on Mondays instead of Sundays. Oops, I know this is Tuesday, I'm sorry I'm late with this! Our new challenge is Monochrome - that is, with the exception of skin tones and hair if you're colouring an image of a person, just use shades of a single colour. Our Sponsor is The Paper Shelter and a lucky winner will receive a $20 voucher for the store! I used one of my favourite TPS images, this is Victorian Beauty I wanted it lo look like an old sepia photo. I used Promarkers, and distressed all the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The papers are by LotV/Nitwits, from the 'Country Lady' pad. One layer is edged with a Martha Stewart Doily punch and there's a strip of card glued underneath it to give some variety. The brown cord is crochet thread. I added pearls to the corners and also to the button on the lady's jacket, and Glossy Accented her mirror. The sentiment is a bought die-cut from stash. This is the perfe...

Good afternoon! I hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend. We have sunshine in S-E Hertfordshire, what a difference it makes, everyone seems so cheerful when the sun shines! Unfortunately I have been fighting off a cold this past few days and it's now Cold - 1, Maggie - 0! I am mainlining Beecham's powders, they taste vile!! Enough medical talk! There's another lovely challenge at Dream Valley and it's Things With Wings - very suitable, I think, with the birds flying about building nests. Our fabulous sponsor is Kenny K and the prize is 3 digis! I used Devilish Donna for my card, which is made for a Goth chick of my acquaintance! I coloured her with Spectrum Noirs, glittered her wings, and then cut her out. The card base is made with purple centura pearl, embossed with a big Spellbinders M-bossibilities folder. I stamped a polka dot border with an MFT stamp called Large Scale Backgrounds - I tried to do an ombre effect. The sentiment on the banner i...

I was asked to make a couple of cards for my friend's brother's birthday. He's a fan of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (Come On You Spurs!) so the card from my friend was quite straightforward. The second was from my friend's kids - both of them love 'Doctor Who' and I went for an 'Alien' theme. The football background paper came from my stash, and the main image is a computer 'Wallpaper' from the net, which I downsized to fit the card. I layered it on silver, white and blue card. The sentiment is heat embossed in blue. The numbers are die-cut from silver card with a Memory Box die. The cute alien is an old digi from Pollycraft. I replaced the original balloon he's holding with a larger one from a 'Simon Says Stamp' Valentine set, and added the die-cut numbers from the same Memory Box die set. The papers are Cosmo Cricket. The sentiment also came from Pollycraft, I embossed it in white. The name is made with some Basic Grey sti...

Happy New Year! And here's wishing you all a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2014! We had the best news ever last week - my daughter is in complete remission from her cancer! The last 6 months have been quite trying, but I've found so much creativity in your blogs, you always cheered me up when I felt low. Never underestimate the encouragement that art can give - because we may call what we do 'crafting' in a slightly deprecatory way, but really it's ART! THANK YOU!!!!! I made this card some time ago for my daughter's boyfriend's father's birthday - he is a gardener, as you can probably tell! The stamps are by Polkadoodles , last year I bought one of their Pen and Paper Circle magazines and this clear stamp set came with it. Unfortunately it seems to be out of print, I'm sorry about that. I did some masking with the hydrangea flowers, the flowerpots and the wheelbarrow. I coloured in Promarkers - and wouldn't you know? I've lost t...