Madcap Manor

Evening, all! We have a new Challenge at Dream Valley which is to use Dies and/or Punches on your creation.  Our sponsor is the fabulous Di's Digital Stamps. , check out her adorable images, they are so cute!  Di doesn't supply images for other DT Challenges, I gather it's because she was taken advantage of by people sharing her images, which is of course illegal. So instead I made a Christmas card that is almost entirely made with dies! The Poinsettia die is a very old one from Spellbinders, and the greeting is the Holly Berry Dies set by Concord and 9th.  I used some old Christmas papers from my stash, along with some gold card by Tonic. Then I spritzed the card with Glimmer Mist, which is sparkly in real life but not in the picture!  We also have a DT Call so hop on over to the blog to check out the details!  Thanks for looking, and stay safe!  love Mags B x

Hello, my lovelies, I hope you're having a good weekend! It's My Time to Craft Saturday again! Our Challenge is Anything BUT a Card -go and see the fabulous creations my teamies have made to give you some great ideas! (It's a Challenge I always have to think about for a long time, making a card is my default setting!) I have been playing with Distress Inks and watercolour paper, using Tim Holtz's Wrinkle free Distress technique. (The link is to a Youtube video.) I then made bookmarks, since at the time I was using an old envelope as a bookmark which was a bit naff! I die-cut the watercolour paper with the second largest of the Lil' Inkers Pinking Edge Sentiment Flag die, and also from pearlescent cardstock using the largest of the dies. I stamped the images with Ranger Black Archival Ink: the butterflies were magazine freebies, and the vine is from Butterfly Flourish Swirls by Chocolate Baroque. I made a hole protector with a small circle die, glu...

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree... This is the last Challenge for 2014 for My Time to Craft we are back on January 3rd! I used a Winter Trees die from Simon Says Stamp to cut out various shades of card and paper, then paper-pieced them together. One of these has a card outline and patterned insides; the other has 3 paper outlines glued together for strength, and paper insides. The sentiment is from the Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler stamp set. There's still time to make a quick Christmas Tree card and enter our Challenge! The DT have made some wonderful creations, do go and see them and be inspired! Thanks for looking! love Mags B x

For my DT post for The Squirrel and the Fox please scroll down to the previous post. Ta. It's Dream Valley Challenges time again! Next week it's Mothering Sunday/Mother's Day in the UK, and so that is our Challenge this fortnight. Our sponsor is Kenny K and the winner can choose 3 digis from their website. Not bad, eh? I'm afraid I didn't use a Sponsor image, because I don't have one suitable for a Mum! Instead I used a lot of die-cutting! All the papers are from my 'freebies from magazines' box. The teapot and cups are by Joy! and the others are by Spellbinders. The flock letter stickers are from stash. I wanted this to look like a table with a cloth, a lace mat, and a teaset. I now think it's a little busy - I hould have made the tablecloth out of plain paper - but that's how we learn! Inside the card is a little pocket and a teabag. Make yourself a cuppa, then go and see the fab creations made by my teamies and be inspired to ...

Hi, all! I'm so sorry I've been AWOL, my elderly laptop decided to start freezing - so frustrating! Trying to get online with my phone is definitely not the same, I always hit the wrong letters on the teeny-tiny keyboard! Luckily after a thorough clean of the keyboard with a paintbrush the problem seems to be solved - thank goodness for my daughter, I'd never have thought of that on my own!! So I have to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas but at least I'm in time to say Happy New Year! I hope you all have a wonderful 2013! Just before Christmas my hubby, daughter and I went down to Shropshire to celebrate our granddaughter's first birthday. Her initials are 'L A' so I always think of her as 'Little Angel'! Oh she is gorgeous! She loved her 'post the shapes in the matching holes' house that we got her - at least, I think she did, she certainly enjoyed bashing the shapes together! This is the card I made her: Apologies for the na...

Well, it's not Christmas yet, but it won't be long! So far I have wrapped 1 (one!) present! My son's birthday is December 5th so I tend to be a bit distracted until after that! Cardmaking, though, tends to get intensively Christmassy rather earlier. Here's another 8-incher! The papers and sentiment came from a magazine freebie but I'm sorry I can't remember which :( The sweet Christmas images are The Greeting Farm. I coloured in Speccies, and Glamour Dusted all the fluffy fur trim on their outfits. The mats behind them are cut with a Nesties die and embossed in a daisy pattern with my faithful Cuttlebug. I used more die-cuts on this card: the Memory Box Frosty border, a Marianne Poinsettia set, and a Magnolia doo-hickey swirl. They all came from Crafts U Love I Glamour Dusted the swirl and border, and added Stickles to the veins of the flower. The stars are Paperchase. The sketch is from Inspirational Card Sketches and as soon as I saw it I knew it would be pe...